N is for...

New Zealand:

A Pacific country of two major islands (the North and the South) along with Stewart Island in the far south and some smaller islands, New Zealand is a country of great beauty, with many fascinating things to see and do. 

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New Zealand's indigenous people, the Maori, are deeply religious and closely bound by their legends and beliefs to the land they inhabit. The powhiri or maori welcome service holds rich significance and is sealed at the end by the hongi, a touching of noses with the Maori elder or host.

Cape_Kidnappers_03In a country where sheep outnumber humans 8:1, it goes without saying that the wool and lamb industry is very important. New Zealand's rich pastures are ideal for raising sheep which have been bred here since their introduction by the early white settlers.

In some garments, wool is sometimes mixed with downy-soft possum fur. Unfortunately the brushtail possum, introduced from Australia years ago is a pest of major proportions and is responsible for the degradation of forests in this country.

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One of the major drawcards in recent years is New Zealand's fine wine industry in both the north and south islands. As always happens, good wine demands the appropriate food. 

Hawkes_Bay_08Now there are cheese-makers, trendy cafes, bakers, olive growers and some of the finest fresh fruit and vegetables you'll find anywhere. The best way to see all these of course is to pick up a map and self-drive. In country areas plan a day of wine tasting; in cities and larger towns restaurant-crawl, dropping in to several places for just a taste of their offerings. There's so much to see, it's best to plan a longer time than you at first think you'll need.

queenstown

Add in to the mix some of the world's most stunning scenery and birds that exist only here: kiwis (of course!) and parrots, and  others like this gannet (below) sometimes called a booby.

Cape_Kidnappers_06The young birds launch off from their cliffside nests on the South Island and, unsure of how to land, just keep flying until they arrive in the southern states of Australia. Here they spend a bird's version of a 'gap year' and finally fly home at last, pregnant. Well, ready to lay eggs anyway, in the same nests they left many months before. True story! Read more interesting facts about New Zealand.....

 

Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumbria, United Kingdom:

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Named for the river Tyne which loops lazily through it, between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead its waters are  spanned by many bridges. One, the Tyne Bridge, is the predecessor of the more famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, designed and built by the same company and opened just four years beforehand in 1928.

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The nearby Farne Islands are a half hour boat trip from Seahouses, a village on the east coast not far from Newcastle. Visitors to this outpost in the chilly North Sea, disembark onto Inner Farne, a guano-spattered landscape of rocks and rough bushes, the sky above thick with some of the 100,000 wheeling, screaming protected seabirds which nest on these islands. Almost immediately an arctic tern (or more likely a dozen of them) will dive-bomb, screeching. More fun are the Atlantic puffins, the cartoon creatures of seabird-land.

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Around fifty kilometres north of Newcastle, at Alnwick (pronounced Annick) Castle, almost on the Scottish border, F&T's visit coincided with celebrations of the 800th anniversary of the Percy family's incumbency. The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland's family have been here all that time, and now was the time to celebrate it. In the cobbled town square, there were sword-duels, medieval instruments - and a town crier of course - and the crowd applauded as the Duke and Duchess graciously presented prizes to the town's schoolchildren. In the rain, too. Noblesse oblige!

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The Gateshead Millennium Bridge tilts and opens to allow shipping through. The rest of the time it has a pedestrian bridge and on rare occasions hosts rainbows too! Read more...

 

Noumea, New Caledonia:

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Noumea is not a country, it's a port city, located on the south-western corner of Grand Terre (which roughly translates as 'big land'), the cigar shaped island that makes up the bulk of New Caledonia, this self-governing TOM which since 1956 has been a Territoire Outre-Mer, which is French for 'overseas territory'.

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The city (population around 135,000) is a mixture of European and Pacific island cultures. At some shops brilliantly coloured shirts and dresses flutter alongside shell necklaces and carved wooden boats. Across the street a provedore sells French wines, pate and brie. Baguettes and breadfruit, taro and chevre, the flavours of Noumea are as diverse as you like. Even the faces of local people show the blend of cultures.

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Nuts, nuts and non-nuts:

walnutNuts have been described as 'a fruit built like an oyster'. They were originally served by the Romans along with alcohol to prevent drunkenness. The custom, but not the belief, still persists with beer nuts.

Nuts contain tryptophan, an amino acid that is calming. So calming, in fact, that Buddha prescribed a diet solely of nuts, figs and dates.

To be exact, a nut is a hard-shelled fruit with a single seed. So walnuts (once thought to be 'brain food' because of their distinctive shape) cashews and peanuts are not, technically, nuts.

Brazil nuts grow inside a large round fruit and are packed in much like the segments of an orange. The whole fruit is very heavy and when it is ripe it falls and can imbed itself in the ground or injure anyone unlucky enough to be underneath at the time.

Cashews, related to the sumac tree, are a native of Brazil, so perhaps they should have - they grow inside a large apple-like fruit which contains a poisonous oil and the 'nuts' have to be carefully extracted and roasted to rid them of any residual nasties.

macadamianuts

Macadamia nuts, named after Dr John Macadam, are the only Australian food to be commercially cultivated in this country. Hawaii also produces them but there they are called Hawaiian nut. They are low in saturated fats. Walnuts (the name translates 'foreign nut') are the fruit of a tree which is a member of the same family as the peach and olive. They were once believed to be 'brain food' because of the shape of the kernel.

Peanuts are not nuts but are legumes, like peas and beans. George Washington Carver developed over 300 uses for them and there is even a peanut museum at Tuskagee University, Alabama, where he taught and researched. In southern USA they are often called 'goober peas' or groundnuts. Although peanuts are native to Brazil, they have been discovered in Peruvian tombs dating back to 950BC. Peanuts reached the US on ships carrying slaves from Africa. Brought for use as food while en route, the surplus was dumped in America and planted.

Pistachios, the world's only green nuts, were imported to Rome from Syria by Lucius Vitellius, a Roman epicurean. In the Bible, Aaron's rod was made to blossom and bear almonds. Although the blossom is delicate pink, the nuts are white inside the brown skin. The Egyptians used almond oil to prevent wrinkles and today it is still a useful ingredient in many cosmetics.

All nuts contain fat - up to 60 percent - but it is either monosaturated or polyunsaturated and recent research suggests that this is balanced by other enzymes and nutrients they contain such as B vitamins, vitamin E and minerals such as calcium phosphorus, iron, zinc and magnesium.

Nuts are a good source of fibre and protein and are useful in vegetarian diets. Because of the fat content, nuts can turn rancid when affected by heat. Keep them in a cool place, even refrigerated or frozen for longest storage.

 

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