Yes I really live on an Island with a tribe of Natives

[mack 10]

looks slightly better in the pot,lol have to see if i can try one...
mack.

 

[nvthis]

That is one big, badass bowl of Halloween right there...

 

[Organic joe]

Wow that fruit bat doesn't look so good but how does it taste is it kinda sweet cause of its diet?

I'd try it just to say that I did have u eaten monky brains? They say that brains are good for u...

What other excotic foods do u eat?

 

[masamaaso]

Wow that fruit bat doesn't look so good but how does it taste is it kinda sweet cause of its diet?

Not sweet ,,their red meat and taste a lil gamey, the roasted one was when the wifes family thought they were gonna have a lil fun with me, they didnt realize who they were dealing with at the time,, when her dad set it down grinning and laffin I reached out snapped off a foot with some meat hanging off it and Gnawed all over it flopping a little bare bone back on the the plate. The old guy just stood there, my wife whispers to me to make a big deal out of eating it or I was going to take all the fun out of it for her dad, so I did.

I'd try it just to say that I did have u eaten monky brains? They say that brains are good for u...

What other excotic foods do u eat?

We dodnt eat them often, but yea when we do nothing gets wasted,, the scrotum sacks make the coolest lil stash bags, softest leather youll ever feel..
As far as exotic foods thats hard to say,,we eat a lot of mainstream foods, pork, chicken and a lot of fish, I'd say the sea gives up the most odd balls, one I like is baby conk, and i mean baby,,ya need a thin wire to dig um out of the shell and are tasty ass hell but you need 7-8 to get a mouthful,kinda like eating sunflower seeds, ya need a lot. Ive gotten to really like small reef fish, one in a the trigger fish group ,, tastes like its been buttered right off the grill, but are a small type of trigger fish, so again ,,,ya need alot to get a good meal, giant clam is tasty and I mean giant,,,the size of the tire on you car size giant, and it cooked up stew style with goats milk and tastes like your sitting at Four Seasons on M street, this one only comes 2-3 times a year so its a treat... One I dont eat Is blood intestines and it is just as the name says,,,pig intestines fresh from a dead pig (gotta still be warm) chopped up blood drained then stewed with spices, at the end the blood is added back to the hot stew where it then turns kinda black and gets really thick,,ready to serve,,,TO SOMEONE ELSE............. To turn the tide some theres a small oblong fruit thats very sour,,like a lime x10 and most here dont like it, and get freaked when Im eating it, I love it,,, I dice it up and make sauces and relishes out of it, its great on tuna (our main fish staple) and other seafoods..

That is one big, badass bowl of Halloween right there...

Can ya see leaning out yer door with that for the trick or treaters

looks slightly better in the pot,lol have to see if i can try one...
mack.

Im with ya here,, the roasted bat is ok,, but the stew style is better,,got lots of herbs and spice tossed in, only draw back with this one is some times the little teeth come loose and get lost in the stew, if you ever do get the chance have at it,,its red meat,,, gamey but red meat none the less.

 

[nvthis]

Man, I am a seafood junkie.. I can seriously see the attraction. Baby conch sounds heavenly. It's a rare treat in the states. But I can imagine there are probably countless little types of sweet shellfish everywhere there.

I've never tried giant clam that I know of.. I would be interested to see how they are harvested. They kinda cement themselves to their surrounings, right? Sounds challenging., but yeah, when it comes to bang for the buck, those things gotta be worth it. Theirs gotta be just a ton of meat in there.

 

[Tonatiuh]

this thread is a page turner for sure.
tagged and waiting for the next installment
peace-T-

 

[mexcurandero420]

Enough meat on this one.:jawdrop:

Keep on growing

 

[buddymate]

One I dont eat Is blood intestines and it is just as the name says,,,pig intestines fresh from a dead pig (gotta still be warm) chopped up blood drained then stewed with spices, at the end the blood is added back to the hot stew where it then turns kinda black and gets really thick,,ready to serve

Dinuguan

Theirs gotta be just a ton of meat in there.

Not as much meat as you would imagine in a giant clam mate,more shell than anything else,we used to break them open with a crowbar and eat them raw.
mercurandero,that pic taken in mindanao or sulu&jolo?Best way to get fruit bats is to shoot them when they come to feed on ripe mango trees,spotlight and .22 always works for me.

 

[masamaaso]

Man, I am a seafood junkie.. I can seriously see the attraction. Baby conch sounds heavenly. It's a rare treat in the states. But I can imagine there are probably countless little types of sweet shellfish everywhere there.

I've never tried giant clam that I know of.. I would be interested to see how they are harvested. They kinda cement themselves to their surrounings, right? Sounds challenging., but yeah, when it comes to bang for the buck, those things gotta be worth it. Theirs gotta be just a ton of meat in there.

I got lucky on the seafood thing for sure, and yea there are lots of small shell used for food, the wifes mom make a great soup thats flavored with ginger its just a semi clear broth with shells,,,eat a shell sip some broth, when the weathers bad the boys will fish on the inner reef just off the beach and shells is always the stand by if theres no fish caught, during extrem low tides everyone will go out and collect shells, ending in a really big pot full of the ginger soup and a party or some sort.
The giant clams here are about the size of a laptop, lil bigger , lil smaller ya know,,Usally find one when we're diving for pearls, and yea their stuck to the reef pretty good, we dive in turn each taking a few smacks at the back side of the clam with a wedge shaped stone until the coral or rock breaks, if there on rocks it can take hours, corols not to bad. The meat can be bigger than yer fist and after cutting the dark part out yer left with a pure solid clam meat, Like a Montauk clam only really really big, I've sliced and grilled um pan fryed um and stewed um and its tasty either way. They eat a little chewy, maybe gummy is a better word, my fav is soaking them in a little hot pepper vinegar overnight and then open flame grilled till browned takes some of the chewy out and adds a little crisp in..
Now heres the thing,,,, being theres not a lot of people,, in a small Archipelago,, finding a giant clam can be a big deal,, the cruise ships and private yachts will pay a guy enough money to feed and put new rags on his family for a year or more, and the bigger the better, guys lay claim to um like gold mines keeping the location secret and wait for them to grow before taking um, theres talk of guys been waiting over 20 years before they harvest the clams they've been cultivating.

 

[SeaMaiden]

I'd love to see a pic of the giant clams. I used to grow out a few different species, and I can still remember my excitement when I got a letter from Samoa about a new clam farm the fisherpeople had started, just for the aquatic ornamental trade.

Clams direct, fellow by the name of Barry. He's the giant clam guy.

I'd always been told that Tridacna spp are too tough to eat, and I always wondered if that was really true. I know that you don't automatically die if you're stung by a lionfish, or even by a coral catfish, so I've wanted to chalk up inedible bivalves to the urban legend-tellers.

 

[Mrs.Babba]

Masa

Dude boring is good allows for self introspection and from your writing I think you have a good dose of it. Too many "things" in today's capitalistic world gets in the way of our own thinking. Silence can be deafening if you know what I mean.

Great story I keep coming back to read it but also to feel it.

Thats how I felt when I first read this thread, its like we are almost there on the island with masa!
Whoah that bat is crazy!! Its just a different life there, like a different planet
Keep it coming masa

 

[MJBadger]

True natives will always outlast the mad world of corporate & greed if left to their own devices because they understand the need to conserve the natrual resources .
Let us hope that the mad world dosen`t come in & grab anything valuable & destroy the life of said people .

Love this thread .

 

[masamaaso]

I'd love to see a pic of the giant clams. I used to grow out a few different species, and I can still remember my excitement when I got a letter from Samoa about a new clam farm the fisherpeople had started, just for the aquatic ornamental trade.

Clams direct, fellow by the name of Barry. He's the giant clam guy.

I'd always been told that Tridacna spp are too tough to eat, and I always wondered if that was really true. I know that you don't automatically die if you're stung by a lionfish, or even by a coral catfish, so I've wanted to chalk up inedible bivalves to the urban legend-tellers.

Ya know out of all the cool shit I have here an underwater camera is one thing I dont have,,,yet ,,looking at the Gopro heroII,, a friends got one and they are bad ass,,maybe Jan Feb got other pokers in the fire right now collecting stuff for xmas for the boy.
As far as tough to eat,,,best thing For me to compare it with would be gummy worm candy,,has about the same chew and bite to it, the biggest one Ive eaten was about fist size,, never seen the inside of any of the real monsters, and I only know where one is. The ones we usally see are about the size of a laptop. Theres a clam farm in Palau now ,,off one of their southern islands, never been there,, was hearing about it a year or so ago from a Nat Geo team that stopped here heading for Bali, thats really all I know about it. Best I can do on a foto for now would be a shell and thats not what ya wanna see..

Thats how I felt when I first read this thread, its like we are almost there on the island with masa!
Whoah that bat is crazy!! Its just a different life there, like a different planet
Keep it coming masa

Always good to hear from you, hope the days going well for ya..
Not to sure whats going to happen next,, Coffee is starting to ripin up and the extra rains got the trees full of cherries, so we'll probly be heading there in a few weeks to get in on the harvest because if you don't pick-um you don't drink-um and I'm a coffee junky, when I found out about the coffee farm It was sweet music, now its my pet passion here, we've planted over 2000 trees in the past few years, yea the coffee farm is cool, but now when I say "farm" its really just a big area in the jungle thats been cultivated with coffee trees, so before I go on with it here, we'll wait till we head over that way and do a nice post on it,, couple weeks or so ..

Got bud troubles hitting me right now,,constant rains cold wet nights no sunshine has lead to mold on my budding plants.

 

[darkstar270]

Thanks for this thread Masa! Winter/lake effect snow is on it's way in my part of the world. I'll be living vicariously through your stories

 

[gingerale]

Have you thought about putting up some plexiglas roofs over your weed plantation along with some minor irritation work to keep the rain off the buds? Loving this thread. I was just thinking about this earlier and pondering how in this very thread, a little piece of WWII history, the old man's story was exposed to the world at large for the very first time. Amazing story. I wonder, what prompted the natives to kill and behead the Japanese? Was that just due to general hostility towards foreigners, or did they somehow know or suspect the Japs were up to no good?

 

[standsideways]

you sir, have just provided me with more genuine fun,thrill,suspense, and laughter(mostly at the solar guy) than ive had in a long time!

f'n awesome to read your stories, see your pics, and hear about the lifestyle you are adapting to(quite well i might add!)

keep the stories and pics coming, it is TRULY INSPIRING!

cheers from Canada!

EDIT:you should REALLY REALLY be writing all this down physically somewhere, it would make an amazing book one day heck, even just stories for your son to one day read, his dad has sure been there and done that a few times over

 

[tamworthrope]

Ya know out of all the cool shit I have here an underwater camera is one thing I dont have,,,yet ,,looking at the Gopro heroII,, a friends got one and they are bad ass,,maybe Jan Feb got other pokers in the fire right now collecting stuff for xmas for the boy.
As far as tough to eat,,,best thing For me to compare it with would be gummy worm candy,,has about the same chew and bite to it, the biggest one Ive eaten was about fist size,, never seen the inside of any of the real monsters, and I only know where one is. The ones we usally see are about the size of a laptop. Theres a clam farm in Palau now ,,off one of their southern islands, never been there,, was hearing about it a year or so ago from a Nat Geo team that stopped here heading for Bali, thats really all I know about it. Best I can do on a foto for now would be a shell and thats not what ya wanna see..



Always good to hear from you, hope the days going well for ya..
Not to sure whats going to happen next,, C

offee is starting to ripin up and the extra rains got the trees full of cherries, so we'll probly be heading there in a few weeks to get in on the harvest because if you don't pick-um you don't drink-um and I'm a coffee junky, when I found out about the coffee farm It was sweet music, now its my pet passion here, we've planted over 2000 trees in the past few years, yea the coffee farm is cool, but now when I say "farm" its really just a big area in the jungle thats been cultivated with coffee trees, so before I go on with it here, we'll wait till we head over that way and do a nice post on it,, couple weeks or so ..

Got bud troubles hitting me right now,,constant rains cold wet nights no sunshine has lead to mold on my budding plants.

Oh mannnnn Masa this adventure gets better and better!!!! I love coffee and the darker the better. Nothing like a nice espresso. I'm dying to know it must be better when you freshly harvest it?? Please keep this thread up through the bean harvest.

 

[Darkstarlive]

What the fuck is that!!

Enough meat on this one.:jawdrop:

View Image

Keep on growing

 

[masamaaso]

Thanks for this thread Masa! Winter/lake effect snow is on it's way in my part of the world. I'll be living vicariously through your stories

Sounds good lad our "summer" is supposed to be rolling in any time now so I'll be putting up some tropical shots,, I'll be sure to have something nice so you give yer self a mental warming.
I stayed in Naperville for 16 months, didnt like that cold wet stuff you guys call sn sn snn-ooow...see, Hate it so much I Cant even say it right.

Have you thought about putting up some plexiglas roofs over your weed plantation along with some minor irritation work to keep the rain off the buds? Loving this thread. I was just thinking about this earlier and pondering how in this very thread, a little piece of WWII history, the old man's story was exposed to the world at large for the very first time. Amazing story. I wonder, what prompted the natives to kill and behead the Japanese? Was that just due to general hostility towards foreigners, or did they somehow know or suspect the Japs were up to no good?

I keep playing with the idea of a plexi roof, but also keep gambling on the weather, when I first got some seeds it was hot and dry, i was carrying water twice a day(before I got some barrels), as soon as I set up a lil roofing area the rains will go the dry will come and the need for a roof is gone. Our weather patterns are all messed up as well ,,,we went from rainy season to a wet season back to rainy season, supposed to start clearing but hasent yet, so when it does go dry I got a feeling its gonna be a long one...
Extreamly cool observation on the history lesson, I never looked at it like that. What was the reasons for killing the Japanese ??
I'm going with fear, it's one hell of a dangerous emotion, their fear and savagery could have very well saved them from being slave labor, of course 70 years later the mining companies have a good lock it.

Ight we caught a few shrimp just as the sun was going down time to toss um on the grill,,and hey,,,,,,,,,,,, thats a full size weber.

 

[nvthis]

Ight we caught a few shrimp just as the sun was going down time to toss um on the grill,,and hey,,,,,,,,,,,, thats a full size weber.

I'd take that over lobster any day of the week...