A Taste of Hangi

Just as I was getting hoha with waiting for the result of my application to Winz and seriously thinking of closing down- inspired again.  But still broke. To write more later have just heard that my nephew has died and off to Tirohia.

What a time this month has been with both the meal and the hangi.  I finally found out that the Enterprise Allowance which I had been applied for in March had been delayed-  the information supplied did not seem to be enough.  To top it off the worker thought that I had given up on the idea and so did his manager. I couldnt help feeling there was a wee bit of tauiwi prejudice going in.  Anyway we seem to be back on track now with the application.  Surprisingly the manager told me that the department did not fund anythjing for less than two years.  Well the worker says she is confused because I am not a disabled person which is when the criteria applies. Anyway so here I am poor and unable to get the custom I would like.  No one wants to help sell.  They dont mind buying when they come.  I an revising the business plan to see what changes could be improved.  Regular customers is what I need so if you want to come in the door of the shop or send me a text or send me an email or order through this website-haere mai haere mai haere mai.  I have even had to resort to putting up a sign that says prepaid orders only.  Oh if only there was an investor out there who could help me develop the hangi oil from the kitchen to the factory and the fresh meal to the frozen on.  Is there anyone there?

What a month it has been.  For the first time ever I was able to open the shop full time.  I was still undecided about whether or not to call it The Pataka and then I watched the movie Pearl Harbour.  The name of a shop the main characters were standing in front of caught my attention- Kaikai Corner.  Yes you guessed right.  I decided then and there to call my shop Kaikai Kona and asked the blessings of my Polynesian relations for the right to use the name.  Except I changed the last word to Kona.  I even made the signs out of matting.  I painted the three words left the mats to dry and then painted over the lot with polyurethane to help weather them.  Then I asked Woka and Glen to staple them to the barge boards and lo I have a great sign for everyone to see.  I was working from 9 to 9 and in the end I had to stop doing it.  I was falling in and out of bed at home and then running myself ragged trying to do everything myself.  I had many offers to help yet those same people were wanting me to pay them.  Sadly they were on the dole even.  Anyway I was chief cook bottle washer you name it I did it.  I even caught some type of flu bug so bad that one night dear helpful cousin Ngahina or Blacky brought me some tea from his place.  I could hardly lift my head to eat it.  If there is one thing I might say is how grateful I am for the help of the few because the many did not believe in the hangi idea.  Doreen, Blacky, Olga who are always around and n the background Maria Brian Pia Jarod and Ngauira and Andrew.    BUT  even as I wax lyrical about the venture it is in dire need of customers.  And I did find out that the manager of the winz enterprise allowance grant did not grant me the fund saying the application was incomplete.  I completed it and cannot help feeling that my being Maori was a major reason for the decline- sorry delay because I have since  been told that they fund for two years and not for the short term once only $5k.  No one likes a clever Maori especially not a dumb pakeha who I believe needs to give Maori a chance.  I dearly would like to see some statistics on Maori applicants for that fund.  Then the outcomes comparing Maori Pakeha NZ and  Immigrant applicants for failures or successes utilising the grants given.  At a guess I would say that there would be lesser Maori applicants which would make the majority of the applicants failures rather than successes.  Otherwise we would never have heard the end of it.  Oops sorry yep there is Paula Bennet.  Now is she Maori or Pakeha NZ.  For statistics purposes lets call her the 1 Maori success item.  

Well the man left a hua of a will and it looks as though I will need to sell the house just to keep afloat.  There are the house bills to pay and then there are the shop ones top pay as well.  Business is spasmodic but that is what I expected.  I decided to do a 9-2-9 work plan and for the first 10 days it was manageable.  This is Day 13 and I am stuffed.  It has not helped that I have not been able to shake this persistent cough and runny nose.  The effect has been that today I have not felt like working so I havent.  So I have rearranged my working hours.  My family does not seem keen on helping me so I will look to other ways to engage staff.  Is anyone out there a big fat father christmas?  On the cheerful side I have renamed the dhop Kaikai Kona (corner).  I saved myself one grand by doing it myself and it looks more like I wanted anyway.  Now down to getting people in the door to buy the food.  The fish and chips are going down really well.  Lets hope the rest of the menu will too.  This month is te wiki o te reo maori- next week actually-  I plan to have a programme of sampling from Monday on. Wish me luck.  Oh and a long ,ost relative is coming home.  AUgust 3rd a the marae, 12 noon if you are a McCaskill.  Come and welcome them back.

We are in the lst week of June and oh what a month it has been.  World Smokefree Day 31 May Darky Samson my partner slipped silently away to reunite with his ancesors and friends beyond the veil guarded by Hine nui i te po.  And I have not felt like coping with business matters at the same time.  So, I am re focussing on what will work.  Yes the hangi meal is popular but I am well aware that our people are so used to teh ordinary type of takeaway it is going to take some time to get them craving for the hangi and other Maori kai available to them via The Aunty Umu Pataka.  I have purchased a deep fryer and I am going to sell Takeaway Combos.  The emphasis will be on Fresh- Fish, Buns- Salads- Aha ra Food!  I am a staunch advocate of Matariki but alas I dont have the energy to do this as well.  BUT great news!!  The local secondary school is to encourage Maori students to enrol in the Kahikatea Programme where they can attain credits for Marae Studies in particular how to be ringawera- the basic grounding of hui hosting and manaakitanga.  Cool huh.  Maori Fusions will now include Hangi and chips; etc.  Any suggestions anyone?  Text or type in.

We are into Day 18 of selling hangi at the new shop and sales are real slow.  There are two issues to resolve one is Staff and the other is Cashflow.  I have discovered that my method of small business has a technical name.  I am a 'Bootstrapper' which is someone who operates ten basic principles on the smell of an oily rag to get their business u p with conventional businesses who have the business plan and the money behind the.  Maori Fusions is the new catchword for me- the blend of hangi with pakeha kai.  Those that work really well are: PK Frittata; PK Pancake; Hangi Burger, Fry Bread and Mussel Chowder- P standing for Pumpkin and K for kumara.  There will be no more events for me.  Its quite nice looking out on the street and being on the street again. Look elsewhere for the Aunty Umu Top Taste of Hangi Menu for Eating In- Sorry you must make a booking for the food described otherwise it will not be cooked.  There is a Taekway BainMarie Self Service Unit but that is separate to the Eating In Experience.  And I am still looking for an Investor to take the proces from the stainless drum to the stainless steel vat.  About to make a calendar for Matariki now.

Paengawhawha-April 2012
So much since I was last blogging about the hangi.    For the remainder of 2011 I went to the Whitianga Scallop Festival and bombed out.  And I had one of the best spots too.  This year the site price has beaten me.  Then I went to the Atamira and the organisers placed me beside a traditional hangi fundraiser for a marae at Pirongia way.  Another bomb out for sales.  I resorted to selling Eternal water bottles for souvenirs.  It just so happened that there was water in them.  I must say that my hangi song was well received. They allowed me to do some advertising on air so I did a demo.  I also met Meng Foon of Gisborne city.  He is an investor in the bottled Kawakawa product.  What a model of how New Zealanders can be- of Chinese descent and a fluent speaker of Maori.    Incidentally there is a final version of the hangi song so the words witll be changed to day.  Back to some up to date news.  I have started a retail shop in the middle of Te Aroha township on the southern side of the town clock.  It is not signposted yet but the name of it will be THE AUNTY UMU PATAKA Kai Maori Kai Hangi Kai Tapoi Kai Turuhi.  A Detour For Sure.  Last weekend was the first real time for selling and while not that mANy sales, in my opinion it boded well for the future.  One exciting part was learning how to use the Mobile Eftpos machine.  Sales direct to my Bank Account.  I love it.  Part of the plan is to have a Hangi & Show at the end of each month.  Eat and be entertained by locals- polynesian style. It will be a while before I hit the road again.  I have to spend the remaining time he has left with my darling partner Darky.  Also, I am about to take the Hangi Oil from the Whare to the Factory - as soon as I can get some investors that is. Contact me if you want to be one- like do you have a spare five to ten  grand anywhere?? Text 0211050553. Until next month.

Ever forgotten a password.  Well that is what happened to me with this site.  And the fact that I changed my email.  Those two factors took a bit of time before I could get back into the site to make changes, updating and the like. So here we are almost into the Rugby World Cup  and the Whitianga Festival time is upon us again. 17 September 2011 and I shall post again then, with what happened. Oh I added another song for you to sing.  I hope eventually to have written about 10 songs for you to sing while you are cooking my hangi with a brew or two to keep the throats wet and the voices strong.

Since the Scallop Festival I went to the Waiuku Wildfood festival way out in the wops towards Manukau Heads at a place called Awhitu.  What a wonderful day it was there.  Heaps of people and heaps of kai and good music provided by whanau. I met Michelle's husband Peter and then I renewed my acquaintance with Renee whose mother operates the hangi shop in Otahuhu, who then turned out to Peter's daughter!  A very small world.  Apart from all that it was great to spend time with borhter Lance and his family and catch up with brother Wayne and Gloria who came to spend the day out there as well.
To pull my Aunty Umu caravan I purchased a van that I call Nanny Miki.  We went off to the Tauranga Seafood festival where Maria and Bryan were my helpers and hosts for the day.  What a glorious day where people who had not even tried mutton bird before ventured to buy and taste my muttonbird hangi.  Satisfied customers!  Bemused Maori???  I had this brainwave to make paua hamburghers.  I need the Chatham Island paua to make this real for people.  Tasty but a future product I am sure.
The next trip is to Te Rerenga for a Headland Rock Concert from late afternoon to the wee hours.  Buy a ticket and come try my hangi meals and hamburgers.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Whitianga Scallop Festival was wonderful.  I over planned.  I didnt get around to the scallop pate and the wally bread.  I brought the scallops home and ate them.  The week before the festival I rang the scallop factory to order to be told that the scallops might be frozen.    The boats had not gone out because of the weather.  So I sent them a prayer for fine weather so that I could have fresh scallops and I did not want to stand in the rain at the event.  Yes, our prayers were answered.  The day could not have been more perfect.  The most popular hangi meal on the day was---the mutton bid hangi!!!! Next year the hangi menu shall be mutton bird and pork.  Chicken is far too common these days at KFC and not too many hangi chicken meals were sold.  For a whanau event it was real good bonding.  Karis came from the Chathams to help and her fried bread were like doughboys in size- yummy nevertheless.  But the sounds from the Monteith tent must have been heard in Auckland.  The odd strippers provided entertainment from those sitting on the cardboard sandseats sponsored by Monteiths.  And Aunty Umu as my food caravan was noted.  Invitations for other events have been rolling in.  The next event for me is the Te Aroha Classic Cars 2 October then the Wild Food Festival at Awhitu Labour Weekend Sunday and that is October gone.