Patiently we have waited for a celebration to bring the lobster our of the deep freeze. We're so close now to getting that blinking unconditional approval for our house loan that I foolishly whipped the lobster from one side of the pidgeon pair into the other for a s-l-o-w defrost.
At 4pm this afternoon the mortgage broker emailed to say the bank was running behind, and we may again need to increase the cooling off period before we sign on the dotted line. In the old days, when purchasing, the whole loan agreement was based on mortgage approval. These days, we risk a reasonable sum of money to take the house off the market, in the meantime the banks faff around like a bunch of green water fairies. While they faff, the legal process continues and we keep extending our cooling off period. This is all good if we were only risking a small amount of money, but until we get approval nothing is guaranteed. And then, the longer the cooling off period extends the shorter the settlement period becomes. Let's talk squeeze folks, freaking heck we're moving tomorrow!
So, with my lobster now cool and defrosted, and the bad news coming in from the mortgage broker i was none too cheery about hoiking out our celebration dinner.
I'm positive the lobster felt the same way. After it's preboil, in readiment for the thermidor sauce, sonny set to cut it up in preparedness. Oik...yuk...the mess that came out of the lobster was not pretty. Our 3kg lobster was a mess of guts and muck and very little meat. This poor lobster had seen better days and could possibly have been anorexic (and on steroids becuase it's shell was huge and fat and very enticing looking).
While sonny's over on one side of the kitchen pulling apart our (mucky) crayfish, I was at the other end of the kitchen making a thermidor sauce. The sauce wasn't meant to be curdled but somehow within in more than a few minutes of heat the milk curdled. The milk had been fine yesterday and was earmarked for a rice pudding. Today, no, it wasn't going to play nice. Lucky really. We didn't have a lobster to play with either.
I reckon the damn mortgage witches were against us! Lobster wet and flabby. Sauce curdled and inedible. There was to be no celebration. I'm not one for over speculating (yeah, right!) but I hate it when things get out of order. I'm wondering if those boring busy-bees at the bank are now, after today's housing prices news, sitting in their little grey padded cubicles rethinking every un-approved housing mortgage and working out if they should hold off for another six months or so before they say yes!
Tonga anyone?
This shot was taken one day when we travelled west on Tongatapu for a picnic. Just over the ridge of rocks in the middle of the pictures is perfect coral and snorkelling grounds. The sea gets a bit rough over there, so you won't find my white ass hopping along, but for other more seaworthy people it's meant to be beautiful. On the sandy side of the reef its perfect for the littlies. High tide and it's hip deep if you are short. Low tide and it's full of all manner of walkabout creatures. Enough to keep you interested and not too much to upset. We also nabbed a bucket load of sea urchin here. To me, slimy snot like fishy slips, to some others (Neil Perry and his like, a delicacy). It's all here for the taking.
Notice too the looming storm in the background. Whilst the weather was quite balmy, we sat and watched this weather roll in fast. One minute black clouds, next we could see rain, and then in the distance little willy willys. I don't know what a willy willy is in any other language, but I fair love seeing them dance on the distant water.
Maybe I should have waited until we could have these lobsters again before we had a celebration. 50TOP ($35AUD) for the whole basket of them, freshly speared in the morning!
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