Kenny & Becky Kapp: Chicken Bend Ova

Chicken Bend Ova

You may remember from our post two weeks ago we mentioned a couple of interesting menu items that we noticed at Nauti Ruby's diner on the wharf. Well we finally made it back for dinner and decided to be brave and order the Chicken Bend Ova and the Porkism. The Chicken Bend Ova was two breaded chicken breasts with two slices of cheese, pineapple and bacon between them all smothered in a pineapple sauce. Lepeka really liked it and gave me a bite to try as well. It was quite good. Next came the Porkism which is basically a boneless pork chop covered with BBQ sauce. I know I make these both sound so delicious but they actually were both very good. I would rate the Porkism as one of the top 3 things I have eaten at a Tongan restaurant.

Porkism - The widely-held belief that pork is
awesome (definition from the Urban dictionary).

We're not sure where either of the menu names for these entrees came from as they are not Tongan words (other than ova means over in Tongan). Lepeka passed on that she's pretty sure the Chicken Bend Ova was named for the number of calories it contained. They were both reasonable priced (about $9. USD) well cooked, and presented with some frilly carrot and cucumber shaving (evidently they've been watching Chopped on the Food Network channel).

This week I hit my first dog with the car. We were only driving about 20 MPH when he darted across the road at the last minute and we hit him pretty much front and center then rolled under the car. He did stagger off the main road. Even though I was going pretty slowly I'll be surprised if he survives. He was kind of a grown puppy and it certainly makes you feel sick when something like that happens. I guess I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often in Tonga as the dogs run free. Maybe it does and we just don't hear about it.

Over the course of the next few hours of driving I barely missed a small piglet, a pigeon, and even had a cow wander across the road in front of me. Then last but not least a chicken and her chicks scampered by (unscathed) ... so why did the chicken cross the road??? Apparently they're Tongan and crossing the road is a Tongan animal thing to do. So next time someone asks you why the chicken crossed the road you'll have an answer ... because it's Tongan.

Holy cow it's a Molokau! We found this little guy on the sidewalk (already dead) and had to snap a photo. Then after walking away, decided I needed some perspective in the photo so when we went back I placed a quarter sized coin so you can see how big these creatures really are!

Who are you and what are you doing in our car?

One of our regular responsibilities involves taking missionaries to the dentist and then back to their MQ's after their appointment. Sometimes they miss their fafanga (meal) so we make sure they get food and then we try to get them back into their normal daily activities as soon as possible.

While we're driving to and from we usually get to know these missionaries pretty well as they talk about their pre-missionary life and their families. It helps us build good relationships and often uncovers a few other minor ailments that we can help with as well.

As an anecdote, we took two Tongan missionaries to the dentist on Thursday morning to finish up a little bit of work (one from two different MQ's) and when we took them back they stated that their district was doing ngaue ofa (service project) today so we told them we would wait while one of them changed clothes then take them to the other MQ and then on to where the rest of their district was. When the first missionary came out to the car the other one asked him, "who are you and what are you doing into our car?" I guess that was his way of saying, "you forgot your name badge." Anyway we thought it was pretty funny at the time.

At the Missionary Quarters in Fasi. What could be more natural than a jar
of hair gel stuck to the ceiling? I think they were just testing its staying power.

This seems to be a good way to hold a roof on. Pile lots of big rocks on it.
You can also use it as a handy place to story your stroller and chain saw.