So Long and Farewell to my Favourite Japanese Restaurant - Yama

As mentioned in my previous blog, the Yama restaurant closed after a very big night on 29 June, 2008.  It was a very BIG final night for all the regulars who've enjoyed the cuisine, the booze, the friendly insults and occasional service delays at the restaurant owned by my good friend Masami Kawano, aka Sammy-San.

The theme for the night was well demonstrated by Sammy-San, right from the outset!

Sammy-San wasn't fooling anyone.  That cup, normally used for Japanese Tea was, on this occasions, filled with Sake.

The official photographer for the night was Mayo-San, the son of Mayo who was supported for this special occasion by Sammy's wife, Masai-San.  I couldn't believe how Mayo had grown in all the years that I was a regular at the Yama - while neither Sammy nor Masai had aged at all!

But this night was also about the staff and the regular customers - one of each is seen here.

Another of the regulars was Dan, who never failed to turn up with at least 2 hotties!  Whoever it was who said that Koreans wouldn't enjoy Japanese cuisine never met Dan and his very special friends!

Some of the many regulars who turned up for this last opportunity to enjoy the food, the booze and the friendship associated with the many years that the Yama was open.

Wine, women and now song! Yes, the well-known Johnno was there with his new Blues Band to sing such favourites as "Turning Japanese".

On 12 July, 2008, the regulars got together to say "thank you" to Sammy, Masai and Mayo for all the years that they gave to us.  The venue was the home of one of the regulars, just around the corner from The Esplanade, Cairns.

Yes, of course there was food there - Sammy provided all the Sushi and Sashimi, while the regulars provided the cake and utensils.

Oh yes, the regulars also provided the booze... all sorts of booze from soft drinks to Sake to beer to champers!  The Esky had to be kept refilled on a regular basis, from several fridges.

Oh yes, and there was also an almost traditional Aussie barbecue that was very popular with everyone.

Dan excelled himself on this night by bringing not 2, but 3 of his disciples.

Finally, Sammy-San was encouraged to undertake the ceremony of cutting the cake.  Maybe it should've been rice cake, but we couldn't arrange that on short notice.

Despite the obvious short-coming of it not being rice cake, Masai was the first to tuck in.

After all was said and done, we were pleased to see that our work was done on this night!

Thank you for all the greatly enjoyable memories Sammy-San! 度も有賀とございます正巳さん！

How To Make A Paradise Roll

And now for something completely different!

Around about 11 or so years ago, while at my favourite Japanese restaurant in Cairns, the Yama, there was one night when trade was slow.  This coincided with me wanting to try something that was just a bit different to my normal fare, but it was one of those times when nothing on the menu overly appealed to me.  Chef Sammy-San was always known to experiment with different things and different ways of making new things for the menu and they were mostly excellent but, on this night, he wasn't experimenting.

I found my own thoughts beginning to drift to an experiment of my own, to create a new Sushi roll that just might find a niche market at the restaurant.  While sipping Sake and slowly devouring a bowl of Edamame, my thoughts began to crystallize when I thought about some of the things that Sammy-San had already invented.

Little by little the thoughts came together.  Take some fresh Salmon, add crispy grilled Salmon skin and some Avocado and place inside a sushi roll.  But, no, not just an ordinary sushi roll, oh no, this one had to be thick and it had to be inside out - and, yes, for a finishing touch, the fresh and grilled ingredients would be wrapped inside a sheet of egg.

So this is what transpired on that night.  Start by taking a strip of freshly cut Salmon skin and salt quite liberally :-

 

While waiting for the Salmon skin to be grilled nice and crispy, take a sheet of egg from the stock, like so :-

Next, take a sheet of Nori and liberally add Sushi rice, spread as evenly as possible over the full length and width of the sheet, like so :-

Now take the sheet of egg and place on a rolling mat, then invert the rice and Nori onto the egg, like so :-

It is then necessary to await completion of the grilling of the Salmon skin - a crispy and tasty piece of which is then added, together with a slice or 2 of Avocado, like so :-

Now add some generous cuts of fresh Salmon and start rolling, like so :-

Once firmly rolled, cut in half using a very sharp knife, then cut each half into generous portions, like so :-

Arrange tastefully and artfully on a nice wooden Sushi dish, garnish with colourful green weeds and serve with Wasabi and Pickled Ginger.

If you're as lucky as I was on that night, you'll even get the rest of the crispy Salmon skin to crunch on :-

And there you have a tasty, substantial and quite different type of Sushi roll.  It is also served with Soy Sauce, though the flavour doesn't do the roll any favours.  You might also find, as I did, that Wasabi isn't needed either as it doesn't help the delicate flavour of the meal.  Some Ginger goes very nicely with it though.

It became instantly popular with most of the regular customers and, for a long time, it featured on the "specials" board.  It took a very long time to be incorporated into the menu because Sammy-San felt that the preparation time, especially long because of the need to grill the Salmon skin, might not be popular with customers who simply wanted to eat quickly.

Despite this, there were many orders for it over all the ensuing years until the Yama closed, on 29 June, 2008.  During that time, the only occasions when ordering Paradise Roll was actively discouraged was when it was part of a "take-away" order.  This was because the Salmon skin could lose its crispness during a lengthy drive back home before being eaten.

Sammy-San is still around and often encounters many of his regular customers who will always have something nice to say about the Paradise Roll.  This was my one and only contribution to Japanese cuisine and my only claim to real fame - if I'd been on a commission for the sales that ensued, I'd also have been very wealthy indeed.

Other Memories of Papua New Guinea

Welcome to another rambling effort to convey memories of PNG, some of which don’t specifically relate to flying around the country.  As with my previous efforts, most of the photos herein originate in the years “BC” (Before Cyberspace) so were captured using real film (either in the traditional glossy print or slide format) in real cameras.  In those days, one had to await the processing to find out whether the results were good, bad or anywhere in between.

Of course, to suit these more modern times of electronic format, they all had to be scanned into digital form and, as that happened some years after the recorded events, photo quality suffered a bit and some images may not be especially sharp.

Below is a photo of me, on the first day of being issued with the official uniform of the Civil Aviation Authority of PNG.  Within a year, it was already out of date because the organisation had changed its name to Civil Aviation Safety Authority of PNG.

Memories Around Port Moresby

The first car I had in PNG was this Mazda 323.  It was a company car that was allocated to me due to my status as the Chief Flying Instructor.  It was a good, reliable car, which was all it needed to be.

Early in 1984, I took an uninvited, personally guided tour of the Haus Tambaran – the National Parliament building of PNG, in Waigani.

Back in 1984, the Sea Park was still in operation at Ela Beach and the show was about as good as anywhere else in the world.  It didn’t have the space to accommodate the larger creatures, such as Killer Whales, but they did very well with what they had.  It’s a shame that it no longer exists.

Koki Village, Koki Market and a small part of Badili, around 2 kilometres from downtown Port Moresby.  The Sir Hubert Murray Highway has, in more recent times, been extensively re-arranged here and, for once, the change was actually an improvement to handle increased traffic flow.  Back in 1984 though, there wasn’t anything like the amount of traffic on the roads – though one still had to be watchful of the unpredictable movements of the many PMVs (small buses), so at least that aspect hasn’t changed.

This is Porebada village, along the coast to the northwest of Port Moresby.

This is how the downtown area of Port Moresby looked in 1984, before the re-arrangement of the wharves and the relocation of the Royal Papua Yacht Club.  I liked the old “yachtie” very much and was a member for all my early years in the country.  Club membership was just another perk of the job, which made it even nicer.

Periodically, the DC-3 at Air Niugini Haus had to “land” to be cleaned and repainted.

This was the scene at Jacksons Airport on the occasion of the funeral for prominent politician, Sir Iambakey Okuk.  It had been feared that, on this day when his body was to be transported back to Kundiawa, there might be rioting so Police and Defence Force personnel were everywhere and many people were given the day off work.  In the event, however, it was quiet and orderly.  In this photo, taken from the old Control Tower, the Dash-7 that carried his body is taxying out and people are beginning to disperse.

This is a scene from the first (and, so far, only) Pans Ops Instrument Procedure Design course to be run in PNG.  It was held at the University of PNG and run by procedure design staff from AirServices Australia, in 2002.

Working out radar vectors in the old “Radar Shack”, using the point-and-click technique.

This is an Air Niugini publicity photo that appeared on postcards.  It depicts the old “paddle steamer”, aka Dash-7.

This is yet another Air Niugini publicity photo that appeared on postcards for a while.  Yes, back in 1984, the airline operated 2 B-707 aircraft and had services to Honolulu, among other places.

Memories Around the Country

In the village at Woitape in the Goilala District of Central Province.

The Children’s Ward of the hospital at Fane Catholic Mission, Goilala District, Central Province.

Setting up the DGPS in advance of a flight check at Kerema – well, I did say this blog wasn’t specifically about flying, didn’t I?

A street scene in downtown Goroka – the home for major Third-Level airline, Talair.

At the Flight Deck Bar of the Bird of Paradise Hotel, Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province.

On a beach near Guasopa Village on Woodlark Island, Milne Bay Province.  The white sandy beach and turquiose water seemed to go on forever.

Memories of World War 2 in Paradise

Wreckage of Japanese aircraft adjacent to the airstrip at Gasmata, West New Britain Province.

The remains of a B-24 at the former US Army airfield at Dobuduru, near Popondetta, Oro Province.

The remains of a B-25 at Girua Airport, Popondetta, Oro Province, forms the backdrop to 3 people who were there on a completely different mission.  Obrad Puskarica of Airways New Zealand, John Regan and yours truly of CAA PNG.

 At the Coastwatchers Reserve, Rabaul, East New Britain Province, some years prior to the dual volcanic eruptions.

Another reminder of the war fought in Paradise is this Japanese anti-aircraft gun, which is preserved at Coastwatchers Reserve.  At one time, there was even a Japanese Zero here but it has long since disappeared, unfortunately.

The remains of a Japanese “Betty” bomber near the old Rabaul aerodrome.

 The remains of a Japanese Zero, or similar, at the small war museum at Kokopo, around the other side of the bay from Rabaul.

 My brother, Alan, inspects this example of a Japanese tank at the war museum at Kokopo.  He remarked that he’d had trouble fitting inside, let alone with 2 other crew members!

Other Distinct Memories

This is the ferry wharf for Arovo Island Resort.  It is the only connection with the outside world, with ferry trips running to and from Kieta on Bougainville Island.  The events of 1989, which shattered the economy of Bougainville by closing the Bougainville Copper Mine, also marked the end of this once truly fabulous resort.

During the ferry trip back from Arovo Island to Kieta, after a great overnight stop, I spotted the rusting remains of a Taiwanese fishing boat, hard aground on the sparkling white sand beach that surrounded the island.

Norm Sellen was a VIP passenger on P2-DCA (Beech C-90) for the flight from Misima to Port Moresby in June, 2001.  He had been found near Tagula, Sudest Island, Milne Bay Province by the PNGDF, the day after he was forced to ditch his Twin Commanche in very bad weather.  The PNGDF Arava had to refuel at Misima so he was transferred to my aircraft for a jubilant return to Port Moresby – and not a few drinks thereafter!

On 8 April, 1988, I commissioned the newly-installed AT-VASIS at each end of the runway at Vanimo.  The job was finished bare minutes before the inaugural Air Niugini F-28 service arrived.  I think the Captain might’ve been Grainger Narara but, in any event, in seeking his views on the upgrading of the aerodrome, I phrased the question rather poorly.  “How did you find the strip, Captain?”  He replied “I simply taken off from RWY 28 at Wewak and kept going… it was easy”.  Yeah mate, thanks for that…

This is the PNG border checkpoint at Wutung, on the road from Vanimo, to Jayapura.  On this particular day, the checkpoint was open so it was possible to get a stamp in the passport.

After negotiating a “no man’s land” from the PNG border checkpoint, one arrives at the Indonesian border.  The checkpoint is the building in the background and there is always someone on duty to check that you have a departure stamp from PNG in your passport.  If you don’t have that stamp, they’ll either send you back to get it, or charge a “fee” for the trespass.

24 October, 2002, was the date of Air Niugini’s inaugural Dash-8 service to Talasea, West New Britain Province.  It was a big affair and everyone was there to witness it.

Representatives of the Provincial Government were among the official welcoming group, as were children who presented welcoming gifts to the arriving passengers.

The event also brought out some Huli dancers for a sing-sing to mark the occasion.  I thought that was a tad strange because the Huli people come from the Southern Highlands Province of mainland PNG.  Perhaps there were no local dancers available?

I wish that there could’ve been more memories to share but the sad fact is that many of the photos I took, using real film either turned out poorly or have faded too much over time to be of any value in reproducing.  The advent of digital cameras has killed off an entire industry that was involved in the processing of film, slides and movies but at least you know right away whether or not the photo is any good.