Yep, it was a tuna kinda day.

We were delighted when the skipper off the large yacht Gliss dropped by with…you guessed it… tuna! They caught a bunch of yellowtail a couple days ago and had said they would drop some by, but today they caught a huge dogtooth tuna – it was about 4 foot and when they came alongside they said, “Do you have a bucket or something?” Yup, we got a bucket of tuna. I gave them a couple cold beers in return and we chatted a bit before they headed back. Nice guys.

Back to the bucket. I think the two huge “chunks” they gave us must have weighed 8 lbs or more. I filleted them into 10 steaks, froze as many as would fit in the freezer, made ceviche from the scrap and took a nice hunk and made sashimi for lunch. So, lunch, cocktails (tuna ceviche with our Charismas) and tuna for dinner. A nice 2 inch thick fillet, rubbed with wasabi, coated with egg and dipped in flour mixed with cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper then fried on a very hot cast iron pan with oil and butter. Two minutes one side, one minute the other. Just the way Ann likes it – red in the middle. Drizzled with soy/wasabi and fried rice with peas and carrots on the side (OK, the peas were dried and I boiled them with the carrot for a while, but they tasted good). Ann, the tuna fiend, is very happy.

We went into the village late in the day as we were invited by Lo and Shaney, two of the 12-year old girls, to a “play”. Well it turned out to be more of a traditional Fijian song/dance thing, but it was delightful.

On the way in, Ann checked on her “girls”, the weavers. Well, now that she has introduced them to quilting they may not go back to weaving. They were still cranking away at a project she started them on yesterday. They were very proud to show the progress they made and Ann was impressed. From Ann – yesterday’s project was with hexagons – a difficult angle in quilting. So today I took in some examples of a basic 9-patch and some precut 2 ½ squares to play with. By the time we came back from the play my protégés had completed their first 9-patches. And they were beautifully constructed and hand sewn. But most important were the proud smiles that showed them to me. I love it!

So…bought a few papayas and headed back to Charisma. A lazy day. Tomorrow, may be even more so although I may get a chance to go diving with a couple of other cruisers who are talking about going. We’ll see.