So this song was somehow written about my life? How did that happen?
Also: Is this from Sweden? Yes.
How many countries can you name? How many of those could you point out on a map? How many of THOSE do you know anything else about?
Wandering Wednesday aims to profile many of the world’s countries, regions, territories, etc. – any place, really – with basic facts, regional curiosities and (hopefully) beautiful images. They may or may not go in any sort of order and the factuality of statements is only as good as it is on Wikipedia (unfortunately I cannot verify every tidbit by visiting each location). For now I will work up from the bottom of the list of countries by population found here.
Pitcairn Islands
(via Wikimedia Commons)
Pitcairn Islands is not actually a country but is a British Territory, located in French Polynesia. There are about 60 people living on one of the four islands (and none on the other three), and this island is only accessible by boat. They could fill up my apartment complex and have room for all of their belongings too… Neither facts nor photographs of this place are particularly abundant, which may have something to do with the lack of electronics shops in the main town.
This map best demonstrates the remoteness of these islands. (via Wikimedia Commons)
The islands were settled around 1790 by a handful of mutineer sailors and their families who got off to a rocky start. There have been at most 233 folks living there at one time. Pitcairn Islands is the world’s smallest democracy; the head of government is the mayor!
Pitcairn is home to one (introduced!) Galapagos giant tortoise, Turpen. It is also home to one bar, one internet connection, two (!) cars, and one really intense public service program, which requires anyone of adult age to help maintain the island’s roads. Most of the folks get around using ATVs if the distance is too far to walk (it usually isn’t).
Image via Travellerspoint
Tourism comprises about 80% of the islands’ economy. All electricity currently comes from diesel-powered generators and only runs for 10 hours each day (though there are plans to build a wind power facility in the near future!). So it’s not exactly a luxury destination yet, but if I’m ever in the area I would definitely paddle in and say hi to the turtle and these hardy islanders, if only so that I can update this post and add to what little information I have been able to find.
‘Tidings‘, 2001
‘Sky-Rolled-Up‘, 2005
‘Russian Tree‘, 2010
So maybe Saturdays here should be reserved for reminiscing on what you cooked during the week, what worked, what didn’t, etc. (That way I don’t do it during the other 6 days of the week.) Sadly, they will probably be mostly pictureless, because, well, no lighting equipment in the kitchen and I don’t usually think bad pictures are worth posting. (This one’s just ‘meh’.)
They match my countertop.
Let’s start: This week was all about lentils. (Well, watermelon too. But I didn’t cook that.) I made two new dishes with lentils this week, the first of which was Vegetarian Lentil Burgers from 101 Cookbooks. I loved this recipe and I’ll tell you why: it only has 6 ingredients. Sure, it took me a few hours to get through boiling everything and processing and chopping, but I ended up with 12 really satisfying burgers (plenty to keep in the freezer). If you’ve only had bad experiences with ‘veggie’ burgers, maybe making them fresh and at-home (and adding your own custom blend of spices) could change your mind.
Well, during the course of making those burgers I made a booboo and unintentionally cooked MANY more lentils than were required, so they sat in my freezer for a day or two until I decided what to do with them. I didn’t want to make lentil soup, or daal, or anything hot. So I searched and searched the interwebs and finally came upon this delightful blend of lentils, goat cheese, crisp onions and roasted tomatoes from Serious Eats (who really got the idea from Sprouted Kitchen). This was probably as much work as the lentil burgers but was even more tasty and satisfying I think, as it is more of a meal in itself. The boyfriend liked it, and so did our dinner guest, so I will be keeping this dish on standby in my kitchen indefinitely.
I guess the take-home message for this week is
1) lentils freeze very well and
2) cherry tomatoes are REALLY good sliced in half, tossed with olive oil and garlic granules, and roasted at 325F for 30-45 minutes or until they shrivel a bit. *nudge nudge*
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