haleav

Saturday, July 11

Today, I bought some haleav at market. It's some kind of shellfish.

I asked Skita if she would show me how to open the shells and cook the insides, and she said she would. But later in the afternoon, she came by to tell me that she was leaving to go to another island for a Sunday School meeting, and that Nancy would help me with the haleav. (I'm still learning the Melanesian art of saving face and going through a third party.)  When I went to find Nancy to tell her that I was ready, she had gone to the garden, but her sister helped us.  It was harder than it looked! First, you took the knife and scraped some of the edge of the shell. Then, you inserted the tip of the knife into the scraped edge and wedged in the knife until you could easily slide it around and open the shell. Opening was the hard part, then it was easy to extract the meat. Benjamin and I poked ourselves a couple of times. I think I opened only three, and Nancy's sister opened most of them. She was an expert, and I enjoyed getting to know her as I struggled with the shells.  After we had opened all of the shells, we boiled the contents. I also cut up some greens and squeezed some coconut milk.  After the haleav were finished cooking, I drained them and put them back in a pot with the coconut milk and greens. I also started some rice cooking in coconut milk.  While everything cooked, I learned that she had gone to school in Honiara to be a teacher, but had gotten sick and had to come back to Marulaon. She gave me the name and phone number of a cousin who lives in Honiara and can help us with our language learning while we are in town. I sent her home with a big bowl full of rice, greens, and haleav, and still had enough to share with another neighbor before we ate supper.