bilateral kellerberrin

Yesterday I hung out with a character called Peter McCabe. He was standing in the doorway of the craft barn, watching the world go by.

I had first met Peter a few days ago, when Bruce got loose. Bruce is the pink-n-grey galah from next door. He can’t fly, but he climbs over the fence and comes to visit the backyard of the gallery. That’s where Dawn finds him each time he goes walkabout. Peter had taken it upon himself to ferry Bruce home. He lunged at the bird and grabbed him in his hands. Big grimy worker’s hands wrapped around a flimsy fragile bird. Bruce was squawking and flapping about and Peter didn’t seem to be able to calm him down, so he quit trying and let him go. Bruce had cut a small gash in Peter’s finger. A minute later, Dawn came down the lane and stretched out her arm. Bruce hopped on and scooted up onto her shoulder, and away they went.

So Peter’s standing there, blocking my exit, and naturally we get talking. He’s lived in the area a long time. The McCabes are one of the oldest families in Kellerberrin, and he’s shifted around a bit, but seems like this town is where he’s happiest. I think he said his family was living in Perth until the second world war, and then his parents broke up and his mother brought them out here again. Peter’s dad fought in New Guinea. His dad never talked about what he experienced there, but from what I could gather, that war experience was a big factor in the breakup. Peter has worked as a shearer and a farmhand and a wheat packer or something like that (you name it, he’s done it). Later he “went farming” but the farm went broke at some stage so he moved back into town.

Peter has the most alarming bright blue eyes, beaming out of his craggy creased tanned face.

Today he was there again, standing in my doorway. He seems to like the fact that Dawn and Pip are out every day painting the front of their house (they live in the ex-Commonwealth Bank building).

Pauline said that Peter was one of the smartest men in town, in his day. Nobody really knows what happened. He had been working as an accountant for a while. Something to do with alcohol.

* * * * *

Yesterday was also the day for finding out about Joe, the Malaysian Chinese guy who runs (with his wife) D & J’s “King of Fine Foods” aka the TeaRooms. Cristina wanted to go there for a bite to eat at lunchtime. I had already eaten, but I tagged along. She had a fairly fresh-looking vegie spring roll. Joe gave me a free cup of Chinese tea. It was good. Not very hot, but clean and tasty. I sat there, drinking my tea, in the TeaRooms’ “ante-room” space. It’s neither in nor out, kind of a unique place in Kellerberrin for that reason. Under cover, but not “inside”. I watched the local “young adults” playing footy over near the public toilets on the other side of the highway. It occurred to me that if Joe has Chinese tea on the go, he can probably cook a good meal too. I looked up, and there in front of me was a sign about catering – weddings and so on.

I asked Joe about what he could do. Of course, I was thinking that maybe he could cater the gallery dinner for us. (After each exhibition opening at the gallery, there is a dinner – lately, they have been catered by Michael and Albert, who do a sort of Italian-ish thing for $25 a head). Joe said he could do it for $15, and it would be pretty special. Joe has worked at many restaurants around the place, Aussie and Chinese. I fired off several dishes to gauge his reaction. Salt and pepper squid: check. Chinese broccoli oyster sauce: check. What about other vegie stuff: he started going on about different kinds of mushrooms, something called a buddha dish, and an omelette thing. They sounded great. I was warming up to Joe. He can also do dumplings and steam buns. Yes. He may do sweet and sour whatever for the local market, but this guy knows his stuff (at least, the stuff I like).

I proposed to Felena and Cristina that we “eat at Joe’s,” and we weren’t disappointed. All his dishes were fresh and hot and gutsy in flavour. He made a mean kai-lan (sort of chinese broccoli) with ginger and garlic sauce with huge chunks of ginger.