Page 354 - The Tigris Expedition

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The Tigris Expedition
hi them the water was cut by fins so tall and sharp that they could only
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belong to hunting sword-fish.
1'" One birthday after the other was celebrated on board. Never i
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! have I seen a raft-ship with so many eminent and inventive cooks.
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Never would I have suspected that raw fish could be served in so
many and tasty ways as Toru managed, Japanese style, admitting mm
. w that he himself was the owner of a small fish restaurant. Detlef’s fish v
soup, Norman’s pancakes, Carlo’s rice specialities, Yuri’s sun-dried y. 1 m
and puddings out of Arab beans, peas, flour and eggs kept fresh M : A
rainbow-runners and Gherman’s chili-peppered dried meat were ,’S; -
unforgettable, and no one could have guessed that two young
Scandinavian students could have produced so many fabulous cakes
1 with a coat of oil. Yet the prize went to Rashad, the inventor of Vi
1 pickled flying-fish a-la-Tigris. I stole into the galley one morning m.
>i ; 1 and wrote down the recipe: Take two flying-fish, clean and cut / f ~77
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them into cubes, % large cup vinegar, Vt cup sea-water, a dash of \ V
olive oil, 1 clove of garlic, plenty of chopped onion, IV2 spoons of /? l, 1
sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, V2 teaspoon pepper, and a dash of whatever
Arab spices he had brought with him.
Yuri’s birthday dinner started with this superb appetiser, con­ / - JT LY
¥ ways, then came HP’s and Asbjorn’s special spaghetti pudding. The r " ' A\\
tinued with dolphin, fried, boiled or served raw in half a dozen
two rascals had secretly drilled a hole in our wooden table and
placed the rubber hose used for inflating the dinghy inside the
pudding. As we were all ready to dig in for the first helping, HP
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solemnly announced that Yuri’s very special birthday pudding
needed some drops of vodka to swell, as we had no yeast. He
poured while Asbjorn secretly pumped with his foot, and to \ ?■ ' \
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every ody s amazement the pudding started to swell. None of the
i miracles of the sea perplexed us more than when the growing l it
pu ing , egan to swell in all directions, until something rose like
someone s mger out of the middle of the pudding, and grew and
grew to emerge as a long balloon with pudding pouring from its r\.
o3. The sail gave us speed and steering possibilities. Norman on the
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yardarm of the mainsail; the crew manoeuvres the sail above the V '
forward cabin and the deck table.
! 54. Rowing in the ocean adds to the sailing speed and keeps the
sailors fit, in this case Detlef and the author. Under our bottom a 1 i ___
uge remora has attached itself to the reed bundles next to a
submerged board which helps the rudder-oars to reduce our leeway.
HI v.
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