Reader Blue Maas sent this photo of her at tortoise feeding time in the Galapágos. Her caption is indented:
Is of the feeding time / The Salad, Saturday, 19 June 2010, for the tortoises upon Floreana Isle, one of the 27 Galápagan Isles. The salad’s leaves are as gigantic as they themselves are !Bulkiness upon my chest is because under my clothing is a neck wallet with all of my money and my passport and id.I could not risk leaving it all behind at the hotel upon Puerto Aroyo on Santa Cruz Island … … as Floreana Isle is a two – hour speedboat trek away from that hotel.
AH, What a nice photo. I figured Blue had been to the Holy land.
Neat picture!
Very nice pic, blue. Thank you. Sounds like it was an exciting speedboat ride in the ocean.
How wonderful to have seen that! Thanks for sharing. Looks like they are doing a good job of keeping that tortoise line going.
Gosh! How wonderful that must have been! And you didn’t just observe them, you got to feed them. That’s very cool. Those greens look mighty juicy — what did their chomps sound like.
I’ve wanted to to the Galapagos and to Antarctica since childhood. Doubt that I’ll get to either, now, so I experience those places vicariously, such as here with you. Thanks.
That is a wonderful photo Blue! I wonder how long it will take them to finish all that?
Thanks for sharing this. I love it.
Great picture. Love it.
Lovely and with happy turtles.
Great photo Blue
Groovy pic Blue – thank you. I am glad these giant beasts are slow & vegetarian!
FYI there is an initiative CLICK THIS LINK to ‘resurrect’ the 150 years extinct Floreana giant tortoise Chelonoidis niger [recently called C. elephantopus] – really of course a close genetic copy of the original via selective breeding of closely related species.
Love the photo Blue, and those tortoises steal the show! I can almost hear them munching on the veggies.
I’m going to have to consider jumping into a salad bowl and just tortoise away on the greens! 😎
Don’t forget the Galapágos Island Dressing
Natch.
Do you mean this recipe https://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/1326270/galapagos-islands-dressing? I thought it would be composed in the main of edibles native to the Galapagos but no. Nonetheless, I might try it.
Bloody hell JH! I thought I humorously Coyned “Galapágos Island Dressing”, but it exists as a recipe! I must be an an idiot savant cream puff or summink.
P.S. Not a good recipe. I expect a finch to be in there somewhere, but no bird parts at all. Substandard.
LOL.
I googled just for the hell of it and couldn’t believe there was the recipe but you’re right, it isn’t a good salad dressing recipe.
I’m kinda partial to Salmon Rushdie, a recipe I concocted a long time ago — I like it better than his books.
And chapeau, to “Coyne” a word is the way I’ll spell it on this website from now on.
Salmon Rushdie dressing sounds intriguing – given that there’s not much of interest one can do with any fish from a culinary POV. The idea tickles my fancy, though honestly it’s not hard to produce a product better than his books – he’s an intellectual over-writer interested in wordplay that detracts from the narrative. He’s admired for his technique because it’s ‘cleverness’ that counts in the world of criticism more than telling a story well.
That’s why Hemingway is admired in literary circles while Elmore Leonard doesn’t get enough appreciation. In the long run I think Leonard will be remembered.
My Salmon Rushdie isn’t a dressing, it’s a piece of salmon (wild, of course) roasted with a green sauce. I haven’t made it in quite some time but as I recall, the sauce is made up of lot of fresh green herbs, such as Italian parsley, chives,chervil, mint, etc, (whatever you think would work), and some spices including a dash of cayenne, a bit of garam masala (and turmeric?), maybe some other spices that I can’t recall now, all put through the food processor and poured over the salmon. Reserve some of the sauce for the table.
I concocted that long ago and recently found that, just like you with the Galapagos Salad Dressing, it’s almost identical to a genuine Indian fish recipe – this is NOT fish curry. Here’s a version but there are many more https://www.thespruceeats.com/fish-hara-green-masala-1957443. Here the fish is steamed. I wouldn’t use garlic or cinnamon as with the white fish because salmon has such a distinctive flavor I don’t want it to be overpowered with those ingredients.
Nice recipe JH. I’ve printed & magnetted to the white, magic cold box that lights up when I open it thingee.
Try it out sometime and let me know what you think. It’s really pretty much a go-by-your-own-taste recipe.
You could cook the salmon with the sauce or cook it plain and sauce it afterward. You could chop the herbs (as opposed to running them through the processor) and roast the salmon on a bed of herbs. Oh, I’d also add some leeks but not onions. Lemon or lime at the table for those who like that (I like lime). The salmon over there must be to die for.
The cuisine on our live-aboard dive boat was pretty darn good (2010). Not sure about the dressing, but hearty food indeed. The kitchen staff and others were all Ecuadoran, and quite effective. As we were diving 3 times a day in the cool Humboldt Current (7mm wet suits) , our caloric requirements were huge. We had breakfast of eggs, bacon, steak, chicken, and potatoes. Lunches of chicken, steak, pork, soup, sausage, and cheese, salad and fruit. Dinners of all the above plus wine. We did not go hungry, by any means. The one thing that was not up to snuff was the apple juice, which they made by putting whole apples into a blender. The seeds, stems, skin, etc. were part of the offering *choke*. But, all in all, the Galapagos Aggressor III was a wonderful experience, above and below the surface of the ocean.
“7mm wetsuit” that’s a small size condom you’re referring to I guess.
It kept onboard pregnancies to a minimum.
Otherwise that selection of food stuffz is excellent. [though lacking in finches I notice once again].
We were not to sure about the chicken.
This thread, Mr rickflick / Mr Fisher, is
hilarious ! I am lovin’ it !
And that spread, Mr rickflick !
Yes, I utterly concur. By its visitors
Ecuadorians soooo do right gustatorily !
That third kiddo o’mine who turns 40 today ?
I ‘ll hafta tell him in re your post. He and
Spouse are quite ( albeit novice) novice divers
and ‘re always seeking out terrific spots
to … … submerge themselves ! Thanks !
Blue
N i c e.
Who said that a tray of raw veggies is the least appealing snack?!
I’m thrilled that you got to experience this and share this with us, Blue. It’s a desire of mine that will likely go unmet, and I’m so happy that other people are living large, visiting among the wild and blessed beasts.
As they say in Michigan, “Go, Blue.”
Ms Haniver is correct: there IS chomping ! The tortoise’s oral cavity is gargantuan and, with chewing or yawning, vastly visible. Just w i l d ! I loved looking ALL the waaaay down their hatches ! And, Mr Mark R: don’t they though ?! = “steal the show ! “ I was bloody mesmerized ! I mean for literally moments’ time I could not move. I just looked and looked and gawked and gawked. For a hermitess the Galápagan Isles is THE place to be. One, by silently looking, can meditate. For days and days and days and, if unwanted or if like Mr Darwin, not have to people – ize. At all ! The bowl + dressing, Mr rickflick / Mr Fisher ? ‘Tis a p e r f e c t metaphor ! Precious !
One can put this pilgrimage together within eight days’ time. From start to your first flight’s departure. I am serious here. I was throwing back a hard lemonade at a Sunday evening’s ‘hood / block party, listened to a high school biology teacher’s soliloquy, long and loudly moaned when .that. June’s journey was the topic then being made known and, thus then, was myself asked IF I wanted to go there, too.
“Aaaah, yeeeeah. For o n l y 50 years’ time ! Ever since I was 12. What ? $10,000.00 ?”
“O no. No.”
“What ? $5,000.00 ?”
“Uh – uh. Less.”
By the Monday eight days’ time later with, luckily, a passport purchased years’ time previously “just in case” a need for one ‘ld arise and, again luckily upon it, just over six months’ validity – time left before its expiration ( required by the country of Ecuador ! IF a USA citizen is traveling there ! ), I boarded a flight out of Des Moines International and found myself past Miami and on in to Guayaquil, then Quito and stat on to THE one lone airstrip ~ 600 miles westerly within the Central Time Zone, with the correct antibiotics’ stash and ( no further ) vaccinations needed and USA – type currency used by Ecuadorians ! … … that airstrip upon the Galápagan Isle of Baltra for a grand total of $4,125.00. I am serious here. June y2010, for a nine days’ trek of ( previously taken – antiemetics’ ) speedboat – touring nine of its islands thereat.
It was glorious and I still find it difficult to believe that: I have actually been there.
It IS altogether as awesome as can possibly be imagined.
Helpful things to know … … preferably before booking, for there, … … A Thing:
i) Use the always – .onboard. yacht – or ferry – boat touring type of travel. When there. One sleeps at night betwixt the distances of the various islands during one’s visitations thereto. No need for antiemetics. Which are, with speedboating out daily from a centralized hotel – base, very much required by very many persons. And a lot of looking – and exploring – time is s a v e d … … when one is away from those daily, daytime stints out upon the Ocean’s water. The berths and always – onboard nights’ stay would have, then, been about $1,000.00 more. Quite likely, worth the extra dosh, however.
ii) Go in Junes or Julys or Augusts. As is ITS wintertime. I mean to truthfully state and cannot emphasize this season there enough. I was there for nine full days. Lowest temperature 7˚ Celsius / 45˚ Fahrenheit. During nine days’ time, I had alight upon my skins NOT ONE mosquito. Not one. My guide told me North Americans want to come during .their. wintertimes. Big mistake. The flying, biting insects are, then inside the Galápagos, near – to – unbearable, he decried.
iii) IF you are ‘there’, then DO take in as well the touristy “equator” stuffs about 26 kilometers north out of Quito. I had had a guide and a shuttle and, before boarding its flight back to the States, took an afternoon out and over to this site. Very cool. It has, there right at THE Equator, “experiments” one can do; and I am proud to announce that with a raw egg inside its unbroken shell, I am the owner of an officially signed certificate that states that: I am at THE Equator able to balance that egg upon a ¼ – inch nailhead. While my comporting one leg and foot within the Northern Hemisphere and the other leg and foot within the Southern Hemisphere. ( Not to gloat too, too much: out of all of the tourists there gathered ? I was the ONLY ONE able to perform this balancing act ! that afternoon. Yeah. )
iv) Since I was there ? An entire family out of central Iowa ? For its destination – reunion before one of its kin, older and upon her bucket list for ages too, died ? All 17 members of that clan … … went. Together. W h o a ! That ‘ld take more … … prior planning !
Totally T R U E, indeed, Randall: It IS … … Our Holy Land.
Go. Do not hesitate. Just go. I promise: You will love it. All. We atheists ( ‘re told we ) have no spiritual experiences ? ! I so DIFFER ! For me ? = being ( except when a wee kiddo with 13 to 21 barn cats at any one time for years and years ) serially and perpetually owned by Felidae, in attendance at all of Woodstock and This Trek ? plus One Other = GROWING ‘em all in to their first selves and bulldozing out human babes ? ! ( Today, upon 28 September exactly 40 years ago, was my third, and last time, experiencing … … ) … … THAT !
Blue
.
Not sure I followed all of that, but, sounds much like my scuba diving trip, minus the scuba, 10years ago. A trip of a lifetime.
This must be your longest WEIT comment ever Blue & it is most excellently interesting. Good show.
Do you have cats now? I think you said you’ve made three Kumans, but what’s the kurrent Kitty Kituation?
I do, Mr Fisher. Thank YOU for asking !
Or, rather, Mz Gemma Gillian, dilute calico
Maine Coon longhair – rescue deigns to thank
you for your asking after her health. And
all.
I was told two years ago, at rescue, that it
was thought that she was 11 years then.
A long, long and so ( sadly a ) common story
shortened: her previous owner ( an oldest
old woman ) had died and she ‘ad been
shuffled around several joints for over
a year’s time … … barely eating a thing.
Bony and without luster. Now, … …
revitalized. Finally.
After Mz Moxie Grace OwlFace, then Mz Déjà
then Mr Zephyr ( pronounced only as Zay –
FEER cuz its staff was studying French
at the time ).
Blue
Some cats have all the luck. 😎
Lovely. I want to see receipts. i.e. please send moggie photos to JAC for publishing on WEIT if you can. Let’s demystify the Blue [Dylan didn’t day that – it was me] now that you’re safe here from the pollutants that are now banished from these pages [again me, not Dylan]. x
daysay” … … if you can.” I cannot, Mr Fisher. I have no camera and have not since the earliest 1970s; lost, amongst very many other deals in that divorce. I do not own, and never ‘ve had a cell phone w a camera. There are no moggie – pix, that is. The photograph of the tortoises within their salad bowl e – came to me from my Galapagan guide with the caveat that I could ‘own’ it and do with it as I wanted to. That one is, of me, THE only fairly recent one I had. To submit to w e i t. Hermitess – / Recluse – like: no camera / no selfies. Blue
Such a pity! You could mail a paw print to Jerry perhaps. 🙂
Or photocopy said moggie at the print shop!
a quite accurate doppelgänger for
Mz Gemma Gillian, actually: http://49.vanillamg.com/pin/473722454554428623
Blue
Thank you pretty & regal both
Great to put a face to the name Blue!
And thanks so much for all the advice about going there. Even from NZ, a lot will still be helpful if I’m ever able to make the trip.
🐾🐾
tell all
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