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.
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\nI had first met Peter a few days ago, when Bruce got loose. Bruce is the pink-n-grey galah from next door. He can\u2019t fly, but he climbs over the fence and comes to visit the backyard of the gallery. That\u2019s 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\u2019s hands wrapped around a flimsy fragile bird. Bruce was squawking and flapping about and Peter didn\u2019t seem to be able to calm him down, so he quit trying and let him go. Bruce had cut a small gash in Peter\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n
So Peter\u2019s standing there, blocking my exit, and naturally we get talking. He\u2019s lived in the area a long time. The McCabes are one of the oldest families in Kellerberrin, and he\u2019s shifted around a bit, but seems like this town is where he\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s done it). Later he \u201cwent farming\u201d but the farm went broke at some stage so he moved back into town. <\/p>\n
Peter has the most alarming bright blue eyes, beaming out of his craggy creased tanned face. <\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
* * * * *<\/p>\n
Yesterday was also the day for finding out about Joe, the Malaysian Chinese guy who runs (with his wife) D & J\u2019s \u201cKing of Fine Foods\u201d 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\u2019 \u201cante-room\u201d space. It\u2019s neither in nor out, kind of a unique place in Kellerberrin for that reason. Under cover, but not \u201cinside\u201d. I watched the local \u201cyoung adults\u201d 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 \u2013 weddings and so on.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 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).<\/p>\n
I proposed to Felena and Cristina that we \u201ceat at Joe\u2019s,\u201d and we weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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