Tales from a Café Chick

Honey snaps

2012-01-31T18:49:00.000+13:00

Part 3 of the biscuit bake off happened tonight with a quick batch of honey snaps. This is a small mixture that expands then flattens in the oven. I can honestly say it is one of the quickest recipes I have ever baked from go to woah! The biscuits are a bit too sweet for my liking (and I'm not much of a honey fan) but they will go well when dunked in a hot chocolate.

Honey snaps

Ingredients

50 g butter
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Method

Melt butter, sugar and honey together in a saucepan. Remove from heat.
Add flour, baking powder and ginger and stir until mixture is smooth.
Drop teaspoon lots onto a cold oven tray, leaving enough room for mixture to spread to double its size.
Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes or until golden. Leave on tray a few minutes to cool before removing to a wire rack. Makes 20.

Honey snaps

Gingernuts

2012-01-29T16:27:00.000+13:00

The biscuit bakeoff continues! These gingernuts are very different in texture and taste to the singing variety (which resemble cardboard these days) and were very easy to make.

This time, I learned my lesson and only rolled tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls. It worked; I ended up with real biscuits instead of a flat cookie-imitating mess. I have also discovered that there is a big difference between the cooking time and 'just another couple of minutes' - golden cookies can become decidedly dark in a very short time! They still taste great, though. :-)

Gingernuts

Ingredients

125 g butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 cups flour
pinch of salt
3 teaspoons ground ginger

Method

Cream butter, sugar and golden syrup until light and fluffy.
Dissolve baking soda in the boiling water. Add to creamed mixture.
Sift flour, salt and ginger together. Add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls and place on a greased oven tray. Flatten with a floured fork. Bake at 180°C for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden. Makes 25.

Gingernuts

Telltale signs of ageing

2012-01-23T17:50:00.000+13:00

Time certainly flies. I am often caught out thinking about what year it is, how long I have been doing a particular activity, or how long it has been since something significant took place. The years fall away and long ago events seem like they happened only yesterday. Amazing really, considering I don't seem to be a day older than ... well, that's pretty subjective.

Telltale signs of ageing

A young boy sitting across from you at the airport gate is dressed as a pilot. His uniform looks very authentic and he even has all the correct identification. Then he boards and flies your plane.
A student you taught when she was 8 years old stands up and reintroduces herself to you in a restaurant. You don't immediately recognise her but are thrilled to see her after all these years, figuring she must be about 21 by now. She asks where you are currently working. Her reply to your response? "Oh yes, they are one of our clients." Clients? Since when does an 8 year old have clients??
The sister of another student you taught as a 9 year old introduces herself from behind the counter at one of your favourite cafés. Not only is she now 23 and the café manager, but she has already completed her OE and has returned home to 'settle down'.
The young girl you see in the corridor at work is not here visiting her mother or father (or grandparent) but instead contracted as a consultant, currently conducting a very important staffing review.
A friend posts on Facebook that she just found a bunch of records she didn't remember even having: Wham, Inxs, Tears for Fears, Abba, Grease, Tour of Duty. Another friend comments, "that reads like my dad's music collection." Great.
You have to show a friend YouTube clips of Jem and the Holograms so she can understand what your Sevens costume theme is all about and what she should be wearing.

Someone who looks about 30 offers you their seat on the bus ... oh wait, this hasn't actually happened to me but I don't look forward to the day it does!

Do you ever feel that the world is prematurely ageing around you while you're still too young to even be considered a grown up?

Hokey pokey biscuits

2012-01-21T13:39:00.005+13:00

And so the great biscuit bake off begins! This is the first recipe I attempted from the biscuit section of the Edmonds Cookery Book, primarily selected because I have the ingredients already in my pantry and fancied baking something sweet.

The hokey pokey biscuits recipe is incredibly simple to make and smells delicious in the oven. I rolled my dough balls way too big and made 15 large biscuits (closer in size to cookies) that expanded into each other and went flat ... oops! You definitely don't need to grease the tray before putting the biscuits into the oven as there is enough butter already in the mixture for this. "Press with a floured fork" is an interesting instruction ... there is no way I could get any flour to stay on the fork! I think the flour is just intended to stop the dough sticking as you press it flat. Also, 15 minutes in my oven made them a dark golden colour so I'd suggest watching them closely as the timer nears the end.

Hokey pokey biscuits

Ingredients

125 g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Method

Combine butter, sugar, golden syrup and milk in a saucepan. Heat until butter is melted and mixture nearly boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to lukewarm.
Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to the cooled mixture. Stir well.
Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls and place on ungreased oven trays. Flatten with a floured fork.
Bake at 180°C for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 22.

Hokey pokey biscuits

Biscuit bake off

2012-01-18T19:56:00.000+13:00

The Edmonds Cookery Book (or Edmonds Cookbook, as it is commonly known) has been the staple in any New Zealand cook's recipe collection for the last century. It features a collection of simple, everyday baking recipes that are also economical to make. I finally got my own copy for Christmas (yes, better late than never) and have been browsing through some of the recipes.

As a baker, I have a fairly limited biscuit repertoire. I make some pretty mean chocolate chip cookies and have tried some basic cookie and biscuit recipes in the past, along with gingerbread and shortbread, but nothing fancy.

A thought occurred to me as I looked for something I could bake with the ingredients currently in my pantry. I put it to the Twitterverse ... pretty quickly, I heard back from @NessOldfield and @thedemlz - both had thought similar things in the past! A plan was forming: what if I baked my way through the biscuit section?

There are 23 biscuit recipes in the cookbook ranging from basic biscuits to yoyos. I figure this is a realistic enough goal to work through when I have the time and, as always, I'll share the recipes along the way. Hopefully they will give me enough practice at biscuit baking to leave me ready to tackle fancy stuff like the recipes featured on The Decorated Cookie blog. *drool*

Who's with me?

The Chocolate Seller on Broadway and his kids - Chris Grantham

2012-01-15T15:58:00.001+13:00

It's been a while since I blogged about a book I've read, something I intend to do more of now that I'm making time to read for pleasure. I have just finished The Chocolate Seller on Broadway and his kids by local author and Chris Grantham. Published in 2009, it is the story of Mark Grantham, a man in his 30s who has cerebral palsy, as told by his father, Chris. The title comes from Mark's activity of more than 20 years: selling chocolates to passersby on the street to fundraise for the three children he sponsors in India through World Vision.

Mark has simple dreams: to live independently and to help others, but living with cerebral palsy means that this is anything but simple. For his family, making Mark's dreams a reality is a lifelong journey, some of which Chris shares in this book. There are tiny steps forwards, backwards moves, phenomenal successes and brick walls encountered throughout the story and Chris describes the various measures he, his family and support team took to repeatedly outsmart The System along the way, whose sole purpose often seemed to try and thwart Mark at every step. I was thrilled to find someone I know in the book - a former colleague who is mentioned as having a positive impact on Mark's life. Others do not come off in such a positive light in this open and honest account.

A simple, inspiring read about an everyday hero who doesn't understand what the word "can't" means.

Letter to me

2012-01-13T17:43:00.003+13:00

Well, hello there! How are you? Forgive me for not writing sooner, despite every best intention. You see, the year has started in a crazy busy fashion and this is the first time since composing my recipe for living that the time and motivation necessary to write a blog post have converged. Anyway, here we are!

I started out by rereading some advice I wrote to myself a year or so ago. Gosh, I sounded really onto it then and everything I wrote is equally applicable today. I'm not sure how much of the advice I have actually followed (or will follow this year), but it's refreshing to know that I'm still thinking along similar lines.

So where am I at right now? Well, I've started my recipe for living with some small scale measures. I listen to lots of music at work and have totally fallen for my noise cancelling headphones. Already this week they have blocked out chainsaws, tree fellers, painters, scaffolders, building noises and a multitude of other unpleasantries.

During the week, I baked a just because chocolate cake using a recipe we found at home and of whose origins we are not entirely certain but it was well worth experimenting with. I foresee lots more just because baking and decorating coming up. Yum!

A friend and I are going to walk the Round the Bays in late February and I am aiming to continue with 10,000 steps a day in preparation. Most days I average 8-9000 steps, so that’s a good start. Of course, fine weather helps with my daily total, but I really enjoy the space that a walk with my iPod offers in among all the madness. My almost-daily coffee also is a lovely wee haven. Ahhh.

I'm reading a few books for pleasure at the moment – the first time I've managed this in a while. I began with a recommendation from The Well Ready Kitty and am nearly finished Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran. It's an emotionally heavy read about women in China who have been forced through various circumstances to give up their baby daughters for adoption. I picked up The Chocolate Seller on Broadway and his kids by local author Chris Grantham and I'm about to start Life of Pi by Yann Martel soon as this has been on my TBR list for a long time.

So my recipe has begun well. I am pleased with the freshness of the ingredients and the method is working so far. :-)

Until next time ...
Café Chick

Recipe for living

2012-01-01T11:18:00.032+13:00

I adore Peta Mathias, not necessarily for her cooking or her ostentatious sense of style, but for her unshaking ability to be one person: herself. I recently read about Peta's recipe for living. I thought it was a brilliant idea and the recipe format appeals to the baker in me. I especially love how simple Peta's recipe is; there are three basic steps: wear red, beat egg whites until stiff and never, ever strangle your mother. Delightful!

Last month month, I came across this link to the top five regrets of the dying. I currently stand at 0/5 on this list. I am reminded of the Sunscreen song; I don't do too well on that list, either. That needs to change.

The holidays have really got me thinking. Last year, I finally learned why it's important to put your own oxygen mask on before helping someone else fit theirs; chances are, they're up and running again while you're still gasping for breath. It's unlikely they've even noticed you at all.

So, the new year is a time for some exciting changes. I've decided to create my own recipe for living and focus on perfecting it in 2012. I'm still experimenting with measurements and the order of each step but think at this stage that it's more important to get the ingredients right. What do you think?

Café Chick's recipe for living

Begin by cleansing the palette, peeling away all toxic elements and people. Discard these quickly and definitively; this may be difficult to do, as they tend to find their way back into your ingredients list without you even realising. It is important to review this step at least annually as the elements may have changed during the year and this will alter the flavour of your life.
Bake at every opportunity and not just on special occasions. Share your baking only with those who deserve and appreciate it and indulge in the rest.
Drink one cup of good quality coffee every day. Savour and enjoy it.
Add generous doses of smiles, cuddles and kisses from loved ones, nephews and nieces - the more, the better.
Ensure you ingest liberal amounts of natural light and daily doses of Vitamin D - directly from the source is most beneficial.
Sprinkle everyday life with massages - both giving and receiving. Do not make excuses justifying either.
Play with kittens, nephews and nieces daily. It is important to carry out this step (repeatedly, if possible) before attempting such activities as cleaning the house and folding washing.
Listen to the music you love, even if it is just privately. Use noise cancelling headphones if necessary. Do this for at least a couple of hours each day.
Go to concerts and shows of artists you enjoy whenever the opportunity arises - even on a school night. This is often more enjoyable when shared with someone else but can also be carried out alone; the most important thing is to do it and not let opportunities pass by.
Dance every week, even if it's just on the inside.
Read for pleasure at least once a week, even if it is just for fifteen minutes at a time. Doing this regularly enough will ensure you don't need to recap the plot of your novel every time you pick it up.
Stew at work for the exact number of hours stated in your employment agreement. Check the details carefully as conditions may vary and overcooking (or following someone else's recipe) will lead to a spoiled life.
Remove from heat at regular intervals as follows: at least one day every weekend, one full work day every month or two, and a couple of weeks every year.

What's in your recipe for living?

Coffee cup challenge

2011-12-30T13:53:00.000+13:00

Surfing the net and drinking coffee at home on a rainy summer's day, I came across The great coffee cup recycling challenge. Now, I'm not usually someone who jumps on their environmental high horse, but this really got me thinking. Using reusable takeaway coffee cups is not rocket science; it's just plain common sense. So why don't more people do it?

As a coffee lover, I'm one of those five-coffee-a-week habiters mentioned in the article. Last year, I bought a reusable coffee cup from Coffee Creation and use it daily at work. To me, it made good economic as well as environmental sense as I am charged 50c less for coffee when I use my own cup, which meant it paid for itself in no time at all. It's not big bucks but it all adds up. As colleagues' disposable cups pile up in bins several times a day, a quick rinse of my cup leaves it ready to go for next time and I just throw it into the dishwasher at home in weekends. Easy!

I chose this style over the increasingly popular Keep Cup as I prefer to drink from ceramic rather than plastic, but the concept is the same. Much like using reusable supermarket bags, it is an easy habit to adopt and makes more sense than consuming endless packaging destined for landfills. Actual recycling of these disposable products rarely occurs and is both a difficult and costly process.

At weekends, I will either make a stovetop espresso at home or drink coffee at a local café. Occasionally I'll buy coffee to take away if I'm on the move but this doesn't happen very often. I've got to say that in all my frequenting of cafés, I don't recall any that advertise different prices for takeaway coffee served in your own cup. The wonderful Celcius Café in Petone uses biodegradable takeaway cups and the rest of their coffee production is totally sustainable, too. There may be others, but none instantly come to mind. Perhaps if the financial incentives were spelt out in black and white with two prices side by side then bringing your own takeaway cup would become a more attractive option, benefitting the environment at the same time?

How about you? Do you use reusable takeaway coffee cups? What do you think is the best way to encourage coffee drinkers to adopt reusable cups?

Summer daze

2011-12-27T12:35:00.000+13:00

So, Christmas is done and dusted. The presents have been opened and new homes found for most of them. Overdoses in family and food were consumed in equal measures. The longest day came and went all too soon but has left us time to slide into warm weather and lazy days. We have almost finished our diet of Christmas leftovers and the hammocks have joined our outdoor furniture. We briefly toyed with hitting the sales yesterday before wisely steering clear of the mania. Yes, the holidays are here.

Summer has officially settled in and the past few days have been reminiscent of the holidays I grew up with. Although the weather is set to change before New Year, I'm enjoying lazing about and letting the weather decide our itinerary. It hasn't properly hit me that I'm on holiday for a couple of weeks. Bring on the relaxation vibes!

I have a list of things to do these holidays but will let my energy and motivation levels determine when and if they get done. No doubt these days will fly by and it will be back to nightmare that work has become - something I'm trying to push to the back of my mind and not think about. In the meantime, there are books to read, coffees to drink, baking to do and friends to catch up with ... but all in good time.

What are your holiday plans?

Twelve days of Christmas

2011-12-15T16:35:00.000+13:00

Here's a secret: I'm quite partial to Christmas music when it strictly adheres to the following conditions:

it is only played in December
it is not played repeatedly
there is not a shopping mall or department store in sight
it includes a specific playlist of songs and artists that excludes all the crap ... and there's quite a bit of that around. (Ah, that sounds more like Café Chick.)

So what do I actually like? Well, various versions of the 12 Days of Christmas exist already, including poor Frank Kelly's variation, but I thought I'd create my own over on Café Chick's Jukebox. Actually, it started yesterday but this post wasn't quite finished in time - never mind!

Join me for a bit of Christmas spirit each day. Tra la la la la ... and all that jazz.

Divorce party

2011-12-10T16:36:00.001+13:00

Yesterday, I discovered a new phenomenon after being invited to my first ever divorce party. My life has pretty much followed this pattern: my friends meet a partner, the move in together, they buy a house, they get engaged, they get married, they produce a child, they baptise said child, child turns 1, they produce another, baptise that one ... and so the pattern continues until the numbers get frightfully out of hand. All along the way, I am expected to reward them for their choices and duly do so until I lose count of how many presents I owe whom. A few got divorced, thereby exiting the conveyor belt somewhere between marriage and child #1 and enabling them to start the cycle again, but as far as I am aware none of them threw a divorce party. Until now.

It's hard to know the correct protocol for an event such as this. What does one do at a divorce party? Is it an event for celebrating or commiserating? Who is invited? Are couples, or people with partners, allowed to turn up and be happy in their relationships? No-one seemed to know.

I appealed to the Twitterverse for help. Suggestions came in thick and fast, ranging from "I guess everybody will drink lots of wine and cry" (euw!) to getting drunk and singing trashy karaoke. You've Lost That Loving Feeling was a definite starter.

Work colleagues had their own ideas. A recently separate workmate thought it sounded like a great idea and said she might consider throwing a divorce party of her own with her ex-husband and all their family and friends so they can celebrate ten wonderful years and two beautiful children together. Now, this sounded more like an anniversary to me and I had to check if this is what she meant. No, she confirmed. They were definitely separating.

I don't get it.

As it turns out, the divorcee declared the event to be an occasion of great joy. Although it was a simple dinner with a small group of friends at a Chinese restaurant, it was one she had planned to celebrate for months. I won't go into detail but can confirm that she did indeed look joyous, couples were both invited and welcome, there was wine sans karaoke and tears ...

I still don't get it.

Do you have a divorce party story? Or have you thrown a divorce party yourself??

7 Days Live

2011-12-09T16:44:00.001+13:00

We enjoy watching 7 Days on Friday nights; it has become our way of unwinding after a long week. Last night, 7 Days Live came to town with a show at The Opera House. It was a show of two halves, beginning with short standup routines from each of the comedians before a live set of the tv show itself.

We were glad to see some of our favourite kiwi comedians, including Ben Hurley and Steve Wrigley, joining host Jeremy Corbett and regulars Paul Ego and Dai Henwood on stage. Armed with razor sharp wit and free from the shackles of television censorship, the group let rip on news, current events, local humour and each other during an absolutely hilarious night.

It quickly became clear that the Hutt Valley was going to be the butt of most jokes for the night (stereotypes do exist for a reason!). However, it wasn't long before they honed their jokes even further, with Upper Hutt becoming the natural punchline. The audience was involved in several of the games, including a version of "My kid could draw that" which naturally ended up with dodgy pictures being drawn by audience members before the show, and Captions, where you got to text in a caption to a dodgy photo during the intermission. The fact that neither of us could come up with a caption that was even remotely coherent, let alone interesting or funny in 20 minutes shows just how quickly these guys think on their feet (or butts - they were sitting down after all).

This was an hilarious night of standup comedy and fun. Hopefully there will be another 7 Days Live tour next year!

Cafe Chick's 4th birthday

2011-11-29T19:18:00.001+13:00

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Don't they all? Things started quietly on 29 November 2007, grew a bit, built up a lot ... and now it's Cafe Chick's 4th birthday! Along the way, I've joined Twitter, participated in the 101 in 1001 project, had a go at Project 365 and most recently launched Café Chick's Jukebox, sharing tiny snippets from the soundtrack of my life. Whew!

Enjoy a slice of Café Chick's 4th birthday cake

So, what's up with Café Chick four years on? Well, I still love Wellington. I still love cafés. I still love coffee. (It goes without saying that I will always love chocolate.) Sunshine makes me happy, as does my sweetie and the occasional good book. I bake every chance I get and still am thrilled with my little corner of the blogosphere. Tiny red dots and comments (or tweets) from blog visitors always make my day, even four years after this blog began. :-)

As with every blogging birthday, my Clustr map will archive in a few days and my world map will be devoid of pretty little red (and yellow) dots until my coffee buddies start visiting again. I somehow managed to avoid my map being archived last year, so it is looking beautifully red today. 81,000+ visits during the past two years - gosh, that's a lot of coffee and cake!

I've been a bit quiet lately but am still here and plan to celebrate at least another birthday or two. Thank you to each and every one of you who has dropped by for a cup of coffee, a recipe or a song. It really has been a blast!

Mosquito magnet

2011-11-13T21:18:00.001+13:00

After dropping hints and promises, summer made a glorious appearance today. My to do list went out the window as I made the most of the sunshine, including a long walk, coffee and newspapers, reading a book while sitting in my hammock swing, a few hours attacking the garden and truckloads of washing. Ahhhh.

While buried in the garden (not how it sounds), I made a few discoveries: a lavender bush that we didn't even know was planted outside our window, an almost-dead plant with rotten branches that fell apart in my hands, a 5 cm layer of sand in the drains and a number of creepy crawlies scurrying out from under rocks after their homes had been disturbed. (You can tell I'm not a gardener; all this is novel for me.)

And then I was reminded that it really is summer. If there's one thing that's synonymous with summer for me, it is mosquito bites. Somehow I manage to block this from my consciousness during the year and am always shocked at the first itch before it all comes rushing back.

You see, I am the ultimate mosquito magnet. For as long as I can remember, mossies have sought me out for a quick snack and seem to revel in telling all their friends that I'm both tasty and have skin exposed. Actually, I've been bitten through my clothes before ... and through sheets in bed, or through the teensiest gap in my inesct repellent shield. I have scars on my lower legs and feet from where I have scratched myself to bleeding point and the scabs won't heal - sometimes in my sleep without even realising it.

I've heard it all: "you must be sweet", "they must like your blood", "don't wear shorts/t-shirts/bare feet" (all summer??), "Brand X is the only one that works", and "well, I'm not being bitten" (which is usually followed by a disbelieving look as I madly start scratching for no apparent reason). It's enough to drive me itching mad!

Are you a mosquito magnet, or do these bloodsuckers pass you by?

Ghost chips

2011-11-09T20:10:00.000+13:00

It seems like everyone has been talking about ghost chips lately. To be honest, I haven't had a clue what they were all talking about. It turns out that's what happens when you don't watch ads on tv, or watch them with the sound turned off.

This morning, I saw someone blog about ghost chips, had a few minutes spare and thought I'd watch the video. Yeah, it's kind of funny, but not really what I expected.

Turns out I was watching the wrong video - this version is a send up of what is on tv and makes more sense if you've seen the original ad, which is actually a clever way of addressing drink driving. Also, anyone outside of New Zealand will probably be completely dumbfounded by the kiwi style of humour, but believe me, this is funny for us.

The madness meme

2011-11-06T19:52:00.000+13:00

I haven't done one of these in a long time. Here's part 1 of The Madness Meme from Sunday Stealing. No guarantees there'll be a part 2 from me next week, though!

Have you ever licked the back of a CD to try to get it to work?
What the - seriously, what does that do? I guess that's a 'no'.
What’s the largest age difference between yourself and someone you’ve dated?
7 years.
Ever been in a car wreck?
I've been in a couple of small car crashes but nothing I'd call a wreck.
Were you popular in high school?
I definitely wasn't one of the popular girls, but I had a lot of friends, many of whom I am still in contact with 20 years later.
Have you ever been on a blind date?
No - and I never would.
Are looks important?
Unfortunately, sometimes ... but not in the big scheme of things.
Do you have any friends that you’ve known for 10 years or more?
Yes, several.
By what age would you like to be married?
Whoops - well and truly missed that age.
Does the number of people a person’s slept with affect your view of them?
Sometimes ...
Have you ever made a mistake?
All the time - far too many to count.
Are you a good tipper?
Thankfully we don't tip in New Zealand. I'd probably tip grudgingly if it were brought in here.
What's the most you have spent for a haircut?
$60ish.
Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?
Yes, but only while I was a teacher myself. (We were together for three years.)
Have you ever peed in public?
Euw. No.
What song do you want played at your funeral?
Closing Theme from The Muppet Show.
Would you tell your parents if you were gay?
No.
What would your last meal be before getting executed?
Beatles or Stones?
Beatles, definitely - but the Stones aren't too far behind.
If you had to pick one person on earth to die, who would it be?
Don't go there. I wouldn't mind having a guarantee that all trace of a couple of bands could be wiped out, though.
Beer, wine or hard liquor?
Wine, although I'm not much of a drinker.
Do you have any phobias?
Nothing I'd consider a phobia, but I'm not too impressed with creepy crawlies.
What are your plans for the future?
Cure cancer and create world peace ... seriously, I learned to not make plans for the future a looooong time ago.

Your turn?

Summer's coming

2011-10-30T15:55:00.002+13:00

Spring is my favourite season of the year for many reasons, one of which is that summer is on the way and the best is still to come. I'm not a beach babe by any description and reach a melting point somewhere around 25°C, but the thought of long days and heaps of sunshine are a welcome tonic for my soul.

Signs that summer is almost here:

I can safely wear 3/4 pants and short sleeve tops all day without worrying if the 5 spare layers of clothing I have brought with me will be enough to be keep me warm later in the day.
My straw sunhat gradually becomes an essential item of clothing.
White limbs are are everywhere you look. Some are practically translucent!
50+ women proudly put their cankles on display. (I'll never understand this one.)
Barbeques become the most commonly planned meal, even for those of us who are only just barbeque-tolerant.
Days no longer end as soon as I arrive home from work. In fact, it's almost like there's still another half a day to go before bedtime. Bonus!
Jandals become uniform footwear.
Gelato becames my preferred means for ingesting calcium and dairy products.
Strawberries and other summer fruits start appearing in shops and gardens.
Lawnmowers and weedeaters provide the soundtrack during daylight hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
I can get 17 loads of washing done and dried outside in a single day. *

What are your telltale signs that summer is on the way?

* Actual numbers may vary, but you get the point.

Well, I never

2011-10-25T17:55:00.000+13:00

I'm sick at home today after what was a relaxing long weekend. In between napping, I've tried reading my book but a pounding headache has seen me resort to randomly surfing the net and reading blogs from days ago. That's how I found Moata's post about things she has never done.

I got to thinking about things I've never done in my lifetime. Not big life changing, world saving, reckless and radical stuff, or major regrets, but small or quirky things that others might be surprised to learn. For example, I have a friend who has never pumped petrol into her own car. Mind you, she does introduce herself at staff meetings as Princess. I started putting together a list just like Moata's. (I've even stolen the title.)

Without resorting to anything dodgy, here are a few things I've never done.

Things I've never done but would like to do someday:

Build a house. I have the perfect plan in my head and it would be awesome to see it come to life.
Own a smart phone. Maybe one day ...
See a live rugby test match. I probably should have done that during these past few weeks while the world cup was invading our home turf.
See The Nutcracker on stage. I listen to Tchaikovsky's score every Christmas and have seen a few performances on TV, but never live.

Things I've never done and feel indifferent about doing:

Eat caviar. Just to say I have.
Be in a food fight. Such a waste.
Own a hairdryer. Find out why here.
Purchase individual songs or albums in iTunes (or similar). I prefer to cut a high quality copy of music from CDs instead.

Things I've never done and have no interest in ever doing:

Have a manicure or pedicure. Conjures up images of a spoilt French poodle for me.
Buy something on credit or hire purchase, have a bank loan (apart from mortgages) or use an overdraft.
Jump out of a plane, off a bridge, or onto/off any moving target.
See the second and third Lord Of The Rings movies or read the books. I sat through the first and that was more than enough for me.
Read a trashy Mills & Boon romance - and I don't accept the 'how do you know they're bad unless you've read one?' rebuttal, either.
Get drunk.
Gamble with real money. I'd may as well just throw it away.
Smoke a cigarette or take illicit drugs. That often makes me the odd one out in groups.
Get a tattoo.
Pretend I was sick to get off work. Seriously - I even took annual leave once to have an operation and worked full time during my six week recovery period.

What's on your "I've never done ..." list?

Things I have learned recently

2011-10-21T09:01:00.001+13:00

They say you learn something new every day. That's certainly true in my profession. However, there are times when the things you learn really take you by surprise and at times when you least expect it.

Here are some examples of things I have learned recently and that have had me scratching my head in wonder:

It's not dodgy; it's different. Looking at things differently makes something dodgy ok. Apparently.
There is a thing called chattiquete, ie etiquette for online chats. After 10+ years in e-learning, this was news to me. If you want to say something, you type in !. If you want to ask a question, it's ? and if you have finished the conversation, it's ///. Well, I'll be!///
Once you know that a colleague announced at a workshop that she wasn't wearing any undies that day, it is very hard to take anything she says seriously from then on in. Unfortunately, you can't unring a bell.
Griffins Collisions sound good and taste mighty fine, but between you and me I actually prefer the original flavours on their own. There, I've said it.
Waking up thinking it's Saturday when it is actually just Tuesday morning is no fun at all. It is even less fun when you do it two weeks in a row.
When a grownup says they like Katy Perry, sometimes they're not joking. !

What have you learned recently that has caused you to raise an eyebrow?

Bad hair day

2011-10-18T19:08:00.000+13:00

Hair is a funny thing. The state of our follicles, or lack thereof, can be either a person's crowning glory or the bane of their life. Still, everyone seems to have a bad hair day story sure to elicit instant sympathy and knowing nods from anyone who cares to listen.

I always know when it's time for a haircut. Once I get to the stage that all I can do is wear my hair up or tied back, it's time for a tidy up. Actually, I'm pretty low maintenance when it comes to hair. I suppose hair is a bit easier to maintain when it is long and straight, hence there are very few products lurking in my bathroom. I don't even own a hair dryer - and if I did, seriously, who has time to style their hair and fry their brain every day? Sure, I'll drag hair straighteners through my hair every now and again, but can't imagine subjecting myself to this process on a daily basis.

I used to work with someone who could seriously be up to an hour late for work if she couldn't get her long, flowing locks right in the morning. I have friends who fret at the first sign of rain, lest their hair start to curl or (shock! horror!) friz after being invaded by sinister raindrops. Years ago, a friend was lamenting yet another bad hair day when she announced that she thought we'd all be better off without hair at all; she wished people just had heads and left it at that. I notice she never shaved her long hair off like she threatened to ...

It amuses and astounds me in equal parts when I hear people in their 40s/50s/60s whose hair is very obviously dyed talk scathingly about others whose hair might be a different colour to what they expected. Maybe the chemicals invading their scalp over the years has helped them conveniently forget that their hair colour hasn't been natural since the 20th century, or do they simply think that no-one has noticed?

A few months ago, I was waiting near the entrance to The Warehouse and overheard a conversation that a passerby struck up with a woman who happened to be standing nearby. Looking up, I noticed that the woman was quite young and completely bald - arguably an unusual sight but not one that I'd feel the need to comment on. The passerby noticed she was wearing a pink hoodie and assumed this 'poor woman' was suffering from breast cancer and standing there to collect money for a good cause. No, the woman replied; she just has alopecia. Apart from having lost all her hair 27 years ago at the age of 4, she is and always has been perfectly healthy. No, it doesn't cause her any bother and no, it will never grow back. The passerby checked (more than once) that the woman didn't in fact have breast cancer like her sister-in-law had. She insisted that the woman must be so brave to go out without wearing a hat or even a scarf ... "Why?" the woman tried to interject (several times). "It's only hair."

And that says it all, folks. On even the worst bad hair day, it will be alright as long as we remember: "it's only hair".


Remember - bad hair days were cool in the 90s

10,000 steps a day

2011-10-10T20:45:00.000+13:00

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

Spring is here and summer is just around the corner. The days are getting longer and warmer. It's time to lose the couch potato status that is synonomous with long winter months. But where to start?

My workplace is taking part in the 10,000 steps a day programme. Teams of four have got together with the intention of walking the equivalent of from Cape Reinga to Bluff (New Zealand's northernmost and southernmost points) during the next six weeks. We plot the number of steps we've walked each day on a map of New Zealand and see how many kilometres it translates to, which is pretty cool even if the conversion rate is somewhat unscientific.

To help move us along, we have all been armed with pedometers, drink bottles, sunblock, chapstick and sticking plasters (are we expected to hurt ourselves just walking??). The streets around work were a good target for games of I spy today as pairs and groups of coworkers could be spotted out pounding the pavements. I'm predicting that the days of this project and the numbers of walkers out walking will progress in inverse proportions. Never mind - the intention is to start people off and get everybody up and about.

So how far is 10,000 steps? Even if you don't manage to get out for a dedicated walk each day, the steps soon add up. I've discovered that a jaunt around the supermarket is about 2000 steps. Walking from home to some of my favourite cafés adds about 1000 steps each way and a quick 10 minute walk around the stream at work clocks up another 1500. Grabbing a coffee from the cafeteria adds a few hundred more steps each way and 10 minutes of dedicated exercise (swimming, cycling, Zumba, sport etc) qualifies for another 1000 steps.

So that's my challenge for the next six weeks: to walk the equivalent of 10,000 steps or more a day. Who's with me?

Special treat salmon

2011-10-08T20:21:00.000+13:00

A while ago, a colleague introduced me to The 4 Ingredient Cookbook. I browsed through the recipes and decided that this book would revolutionise meals in our home. Imagine the creative yet tasty meals I could whip up each night with just four ingredients! A year or so on and I have cooked just one recipe from this book, but it has become a favourite.

This recipe for grilled salmon steaks is incredibly easy to make. Salmon is something of a special treat for us, hence my name for the recipe. The measurements are approximate and can be adjusted according to taste or however for whatever quantity of fish you are cooking. I say grill/bake as it depends on whether I am cooking something else in the oven at the same time - we usually have this with roasted garlic and herb potatoes. I also find the recipe works well with other strong flavoured fish (such as grouper).

Special treat salmon

Ingredients

4 x 2.5 cm thick salmon steaks (or fillets)
garlic salt
worcestershire sauce
30-50 g melted butter

Method

Place salmon steaks on a baking sheet and sprinkle both sides with garlic salt.
Splash worcestershire sauce and butter on top of each steak and grill (or bake) for 3-4 minutes, depending on thickness of the salmon.
Remove from grill and turn each steak. Splash worcestershire and butter on top and grill for 3-4 minutes. Fish is ready when it is slightly flaky (but be careful to not overcook).

Crunchy chocolate slice

2011-10-03T21:07:00.001+13:00

I found this recipe for a traditional crunchy chocolate slice in yesterday's Sunday Star-Times. The ingredients are simple but I found that the recipe was missing a vital step or two, so I guessed when to add the cocoa. It is a small mixture so spreads quite thinly when using a standard 20 x 30 cm slice tin but the baking powder means it expands a bit in the oven. It also meant that I needed to double the icing ingredients to those below.

Crunchy chocolate slice

Ingredients

170 g butter, softened
115 g icing sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup cornflakes

Method

Cream together the butter and icing sugar using an electric mixer. Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa and combine.
Beat in the vanilla essence.
Add cornflakes and mix by hand. Press into a greased slice tin (20 x 30 cm).
Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Chocolate icing

Ingredients

2 cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons butter, softened
2-3 tablespoons boiling water

Method

Beat together the icing sugar, cocoa, butter and boiling water together. Add boiling water until desired consistency.
Spread over cooled slice. Cut into squares when the icing is set and store in an airtight container.

Delete cookies

2011-09-30T10:21:00.000+13:00

A smile for your Friday. :-)

Daily deal overload

2011-09-26T09:45:00.000+13:00

I used to be quite a fan of daily deal sites. They certainly help deal to my fear and loathing for shopping. There are dozens of them around and more springing up as we speak. Each new site launches with a hiss and a roar, offering great bargains on products or deals for restaurants that I actually use with the sole intention of filling up my inbox each morning. Yes, I know there are sites which syndicate all of New Zealand's daily deals in one place, and you can also follow a whole bunch of them on Twitter. My point is that after the initial fireworks they inevitably settle into a rut of canvas photo blocks, dental checkups and bikini waxes. That's not to mention all the sites that recycle their same deals (or try to repackage them in weekend 'marathons') or offer a 'last chance' for four days in Phuket every day of the week ... enough already!

Today, I unsubscribed from most of my daily deal email subscriptions. A few which I use regularly (and have had great service from) remain, but the rest have gone. Disappeared. Vanished! I notice that one sale site I unsubscribed on Saturday is still sending me notifications; I hope that stops today.

Here's to a zen inbox!

Sarah's Key

2011-09-25T12:31:00.000+13:00

A colleague and I were talking about movies recently and she told me the story of Sarah's Key (2010). This adaptation of a French novel follows an American journalist, Julia, as she investigates the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942 in which a massive Nazi decreed raid of more than 13,000 Jews were arrested and rounded up in the veledrome before being sent off to Auschwitz by train.

A young girl, Sarah, attempts to defy the authorities carrying out the raid by hiding her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment. Promising to return in a few days to retrieve him, Sarah's family are irrevocably torn apart and the next part of the movie shows Sarah's plight to escape her concentration camp and return home to retrieve her brother.

(It's actually quite hard to write about this movie without revealing spoilers.)

Throughout the course of her investigation, Julia uncovers a direct link to her inlaws' family apartment in Paris, something that makes her distinctly uncomfortable.

I found this movie truly moving and woke up this morning still thinking about it. Sarah's Key tells of a lesser known but extraordinarily horrifying part of the Holocaust and shows how human nature will always attempt to triumph over evil. Very highly recommended.

Here is the theatrical trailer for Sarah's Key:

Happy Friday

2011-09-16T16:34:00.000+12:00

Some days are great days, just because. Today has been one of them. Nothing has been particularly spectacular, but the sun is shining on yet another lovely spring day and lots of little things have happened to make today and great one.

Here's what makes today a great day for me:

Someone randomly coming into our office offering us baked treats - a chocolate box or a sugared doughnut. Chocolate for breakfast? Don't mind if I do!
Having my new career (finally) confirmed in writing. Contract: signed, sealed, delivered.
Our manager bringing us home made chocolate cake that was left over from a meeting. We polished it off in two sittings. (Mental note: I must get myself invited to meetings that have chocolate cake at them.)
Coffee made by a superb barista. How we miss her when she is away.
Cheese Scone Friday with a colleague. As we sat down to enjoy our coffee and scones, we also conveniently managed to solve the problems of the world. Isn't the world lucky?
Lots of sunshine on a lovely spring day.
Our team winning our social petanque match during pool play at lunch time.
More chocolate cake for afternoon tea.
Feeling like I am actually getting somewhere at work.
It's Friday - and it has been all day. The only thing that can top that is Saturday and Sunday. Speaking of which ... it's time to go home and get the weekend started. :-)

Happy Friday, folks! How has it been for you?

Things I love about spring

2011-09-13T12:35:00.003+12:00

A few weeks ago, I set up a Pinterest account. It seemed like half the people I follow on Twitter and a big pile of Facebook friends were all jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon so I thought I'd go along for the ride. I imagined myself tagging to my heart's content and creating endless pretty boards of all my favourite things. *sigh*

To be honest, I don't really 'get' Pinterest. I know it's about tagging images you like and keeping them as a kind of online record, but I'm more inclined to think in terms of bigger concepts or websites than images which represent these. Yes, I understand it could be a handy tool if you are planning a wedding or something (which I'm not). Other than that, I'm at a loss. Can anyone enlighten me?

I do, however, have favourite things that I'd love to share, so here's a blog post à la Pinterest style. The theme is Things I love about spring - there is so much to enjoy right now. :-)

daffodils

lambies

daisies

freshly mown lawns

apple blossom

ducklings

freesias

daylight savings and sunsets

cherry blossom

What do you love about spring?

* These images are not mine and I'm not claiming them as my own. Used without permission.

Sultana cake

2011-09-11T17:34:00.000+12:00

This recipe for standard sultana cake is one that I have been baking for years. It is very simple to make and I just mix it all up in a big pot - no creaming or mixing required. I throw it all into a square silicone pan and notice that it takes less time to cook than it does in metal cake tins but the result is similar. Serve it uniced. This cake is especially delicious when fresh out of the oven - just leave it to cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. It also stores well in an airtight container.

Sultana cake

Ingredients

340 g sultanas
225 g butter
3 eggs
almond or vanilla essence
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

Boil sultanas in water for 8 minutes. Drain, then melt in the butter using the heat from the sultanas. Stir well.
Beat eggs in a bowl with a fork. Beat in a few drops of almond or vanilla essence, then add sugar, flour and baking powder.
Add sultanas.
Pour into a greased square cake tin.
Bake 180 degrees Celsius for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and cooked in the middle.

Sultana cake

All-TIME 100 best nonfiction books

2011-09-06T18:14:00.000+12:00

I'm a self-confessed bibliophile, even if I have substantially less time to read for pleasure these days. I occasionally attack some of my ever-growing TBR list and can't pass a library display without grabbing at least one book, which will most likely end up unread and due back before I've even had a chance to open it. In my ideal reading world (and at my reading prime), I would alternate each novel with a nonfiction title, usually a biography of some sort. However, it's been a while since I've managed anything even remotely like that.

The All-TIME 100 best nonfiction books list according to Time Magazine started doing the rounds today. The list covers a range of nonfiction titles published in various genre since 1923, the year that Time began. Time also has lists of the top 100 fiction books, movies and other categories.

I perused the nonfiction book list, going further and further into each section and searching for something I'd read. I'm surprised (and slightly ashamed) to note that I have actually only read one complete book from this list, On Writing by Stephen King, and started (but not completed) another one several times, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I nodded my head at a few more, but this list largely remains uncharted territory for me.

I now have a substantial TBR nonfiction list to start chipping away at. :-D

How about you? Have you read any books from this list? Do you have any recommendations? Are there any nonfiction books you'd add (or subtract) from this list?

Grease - the singalong version

2011-09-03T16:06:00.000+12:00

I think I might have discovered the ultimate girls' night out: Grease - the singalong version. I'd seen this event advertised and lamented the fact that my best friend, another huge Grease (1978) fan, lives in Auckland. I couldn't think of anyone else I'd ask to go with me (you can imagine what my sweetie's response would have been) so let it pass. Yesterday, I was chatting with a friend at work when she said, "I've got something really random to ask you, and don't take this the wrong way, but would you be interested in going to the singalong version of Grease at the Embassy tonight?" She saw my face light up and was relieved to realise she'd asked exactly the right person.

My friend had no clue what a die hard Grease fan I actually am. Others think they are, too, but they didn't measure up last night; out of a theatre full of wannabe Sandys and pink wigs, very few seemed to know the script, the songs playing on the jukebox, the dance moves ... am I being too fanatical? Perhaps, but that's what happens when you've watched your favourite movie several hundred times since you were 8. I didn't understand most of what was they were saying or doing for several years, even though I could recite almost every line, but loved every minute of it. Ahh, the age of innocence.

After about 15 minutes, I realised that I'd never actually seen Grease on the big screen, and here I was watching a karaoke version with hundreds of people swigging Pink Lady slushies (strawberry syrup, rum and lime) and T-Bird cocktails from plastic Martini glasses. The audience cheered loudly as each character appeared on screen for the first time and ohhed when they saw Kenickie, as Jeff Conaway died in May. They whooped and whistled every time Danny and Sandy kissed and booed disapprovingly when Cha Cha DiGregorio ransacked Danny to take out the dance off trophy at the prom.

One of my favourite songs from the movie is today's tune spinning on Café Chick's Jukebox - check out (and sing) the awesome Summer Nights.

Random Acts of Kindness Day 2011

2011-09-01T10:02:00.000+12:00

It's 1 September, which means that it's the first day of spring! Daffodils, lambies, and apple blossom are our rewards for surviving winter and promise us that sunshine and warmer weather is on the way. We'll have baby duckies visiting us at work within the next few months and Tulip Sunday is just around the corner. *contented sigh*

It is also Random Acts of Kindness Day here in New Zealand, which I was reminded of via Twitter this morning. Two years ago, I popped some baking into a few letter boxes. (I don't know what I was up to this time last year - somehow the day just passed me by.)

This morning, as I went to buy my regular coffee, I paid for another and asked for my barista to not tell the lucky recipient who the gift was from but to just give them this "You've been RAKed" card. "Ah, it's Random Acts of Kindness Day!" she said. "I wondered if we'd get any of these."

It was a quiet morning in the cafeteria but I hung around discretely for a few minutes to see the reaction of the next person (I couldn't help myself). A very good friend walked in ... I watched ... and she only ordered food - sooooo close! I have no idea if anyone will 'pass it on' but my goal of randomly brightening someone else's day has hopefully been achieved. I'm sure the barista will fill me in tomorrow on where my RAK ended up.

Did you RAK someone (or were you RAKed yourself)?

Café Chick's Jukebox

2011-08-30T11:37:00.002+12:00

Although I am a musician, and music is one of the most treasured gifts I am forever thankful to have inherited from my father, I'm incredibly private about sharing what I listen to with people around me. I listen to most of my music either in the car (but only when I'm not driving someone around) or on my iPod, which allows me endless private indulgence.

Driving home from our holiday last week, I felt brave enough to give a couple of playlists from my 'big' iPod a spin. I was pleasantly surprised to hear and rediscover many of the songs that simply don't fit on my 16GB iPod touch and responded by giving my sweetie a running commentary about each song that played, of which I am sure he absorbed and appreciated every random detail I espoused. (Don’t worry – I don't even kid myself about that one.)

An idea was hatched: I would start a(nother) blog. This one would be about music and feature some of my favourite songs, as well as songs which have musical significance for me, or songs that have simply captured my musical imagination. My sweetie saw it coming as soon as I said, "I have an idea". However, by then, Café Chick's Jukebox was virtually already born.

Goodness knows that the blogosphere needs a new addition as much as I need yet another blog to maintain. I gave it some thought then appealed to the Twitterverse to provide the voice of reason and talk me out of committing to yet another project, all the while secretly knowing I would ignore anything anyone said and go ahead anyway. I got this advice from the lovely @hazed_confused: "You could always just devote a day of the week on your current blog to music..?" ... "Musical Monday?" Ah, great idea! I chewed over it briefly then confessed to having had no intention to listen to sensible or logical advice and that would probably go ahead with the daily blog format anyway. "Well you can always give it a go and if it's not working try once a week, or a weekend feature or something along those lines." Even better!

I've started drafting a few posts, thinking I could write them in batches and upload them daily around midday; we'll see how long that routine lasts for. I'll set my 'big' iPod to shuffle and you'll gradually get to know me through the music that formed the soundtrack to my life. (Even I know how cheesy that sounds.) I assure you it will be random and there might be a few surprises along the way. Earworms are more than likely to feature and be created. I hope to introduce you to 'my' way of listening to and learning music but don't expect it will be the same experience for you as is it for me.

Here are some things I can promise you about Café Chick’s Jukebox:

I will aim to blog about a single song each day.
It will be yet another self-indulgent blog in true Café Chick style. Whether or not anyone tunes in is irrelevant; this blog is more an expression of myself through my greatest love. You wouldn't expect anything less than that, surely?
As with Project 365, I will start out with the best of intentions and then be incredibly hard on myself up for not meeting my own self-imposed workload before finally getting over it all and posting whenever it suits me. Indulge me, please.

So, drum roll, please ... tune in and turn it up - Café Chick’s Jukebox is now playing!

Musical flash mobs

2011-08-27T11:02:00.000+12:00

I love the delight that a highly orchestrated music or dance flash mob imposes upon an unsuspecting audience. Flash mobs are all the rage at the moment. This clip of Do Re Mi from The Sound of Music at Antwerp Station in Belgium looks likes so much fun. I'd have been right in the middle of it, that's for sure! Watch it on full screen for best results.

I’d love to try organising something similar to this ukulele flash mob and I hear there are plans for a dance flash mob in Wellington sometime in October (although you didn’t hear it from me). I also recall hearing about a Christmas carol flash mob at a mall in Christchurch last year but haven't yet managed to confirm whether it actually happened or was simply a figment of my overactive musical imagination.

Flash mobs aside, there is something about music and dance that has the power to touch everyone in a crowd, friends and strangers, even for just a brief moment in time. I was reminded of this on my ski trip this week. At the end of a tiring day on the slopes, there were probably 50 or so people returning ski gear they had hired. Boots were being unlatched, skis stacked and aching feet and legs being relieved of their loads. The radio was playing and suddenly a few dozen people join in with the chorus to Daniel Boone’s Beautiful Sunday. I looked up; the staff were also singing along with everyone around me. The grins on people’s faces was magic and I had that song in my head all the way back home.

Years ago, after a Christmas gig at a flash hotel in town, my band packed up the last of our gear and headed to a less than classy joint for a 3 am snack: McDonald’s in Manners Mall. I realised that now it was after midnight, it was our bass player, Aaron’s, birthday. Aaron’s a quiet, shy guy. Tim, our singer, was the opposite. “Oh, it’s your birthday!” Tim announced and started singing the first line of 16 Candles by The Crests. We’d created a birthday flash mob at McDonald's at 3 am! Here’s how it went:

Tim [singing]: Happy birthday …
A rather large woman with a falsetto voice à la operatic style [singing]: Happy birthday baby, oh …
Some random guy from over the window [singing]: I love you so
And then, the clincher … a guy with a deep voice [crooning]: Ooh …

It was AMAZING! Aaron turned the deepest shade of red I’d ever seen on a human being, Tim was in his element, and the rest of McDonald’s looked around in a drunken, confused delight.

Priceless.

Have you ever come across musical moments like these, or been lucky enough to experience an actual flash mobs in the flesh?

Holiday mode

2011-08-24T15:35:00.000+12:00

We are away on a much-anticipated holiday this week. A whole week off to relax, recharge our batteries, breathe in some mountain air, drink lots of coffee, read a few books and spend some quality time together. Oh, and ski. (That’s more for my sweetie; I gave it a go and have the bruises to prove it, but that makes for another blog post.)

I can’t help but observe how our behaviour changes as we leave the vicinity of home and take up temporary residence elsewhere.

Random holiday musings:

Our usual, and comfortable, state of disorganisation evolves into military precision when planning supplies. For example, x number of days away equals x = 1 pairs of socks or underwear, and our rations of drinks and snacks is calculated to ensure we could supply a small village should a disaster occur.
If travelling by car, we’ll practically pack everything except the kitchen sink but still forget ‘essentials’ such as spare keys and snow chains, remembering them just as we are heading out of town but too far away to bother going back home to get them.
Watching or reading the news might as well be considered researching a different planet, so little relevance do issues of the day have on our temporary state of being.
A week without a telephone and limited mobile reception is absolute bliss. A week without internet, however, is a different story.
Time and distance become relaxingly fuzzy. We talk about places being ‘just up the road’ from where we’re staying, when really Turoa is 30 mins away, it’s 45 mins to Whakapapa and the hot pools at Tokaanu are at least an hour’s drive away.
We refer to our accommodation as a lodge simply because it’s close to where skiing happens, even though it is just an old boarding house with no insulation, fridge, microwave, or tv and you can see your breath in the hallway as a result of the draught coming up through the floorboards.
The ratio of books in my bag (or downloaded onto my iPod touch) vs books actually read is roughly 1:3.
Every cat’s meow sounds like the kitten we left at home in the capable hands of a flatmate.
Whereas I would never venture further than the supermarket in my baggy track pants and non-matching polar fleece (and even then only in an emergency), this becomes my uniform when holidaying in a cold climate.
No matter how cold it is or how many layers I am wrapped up in, I will always see one of the locals walking around in shorts.
While we usually need to haul ourselves out of bed for work each morning, and sleep ins are craved and duly savoured, our body clocks can resemble that of birds while on holiday. We’ll be up early to catch the first lifts on the mountain then retreat to the cosiness of home or bed as soon as the sun goes down.
Even though it takes just 5-10 minutes (3 songs on my iPod) to walk around the boarded up ghost town we’re staying in, I’ll still go out for a walk to ‘have a look around’.
Whereas I may resent the intrusion of study into my precious hours off at night or during the weekend, I will embrace a day of solitude sans distractions to work on an assignment and complete a course during my ‘time off’. Go figure.
A fan heater becomes your most essential accessory.
A caffettiera and fresh beans are my best protection against small town coffee.
It is impossible to pack too many plastic bags.
There’s no place (or shower) like home.

#DailyBitch digest

2011-08-20T09:37:00.002+12:00

We're off to the snow for a week. I guess it's ironic going to the snow after it came to us in such spectacular fashion earlier this week, but we've been looking forward to going away for quite a while now. We've packed up the car with far more stuff than we'll need but are bound to have forgotten some essentials. It will be good to have a change of scenery, time to catch up on some reading, drink lots of coffee (I've stocked up on fresh coffee beans) and catch up with a couple of friends during the week. Oh, and take some (more) skiing lessons. *gulp*

I don't have a fancy/smart phone that can get online so can't guarantee internet access during the week. How will I cope with a week offline? Well, I've managed it before (kind of - just) but hope to be able to check things on my laptop or iPod touch occasionally ... hopefully.

Just in case I can't get online every day, I'm going to post a digest of my #DailyBitch tweets in advance, because I know the Twitterverse will be hanging out for them each day. ;-) Really.

#DailyBitch digest

Saturday 20 August: "I want a man who is rich, sensitive and neutered." #DailyBitch
Monday 22 August: "I've stopped blaming my parents and started blaming my children." #DailyBitch
Tuesday 23 August: "Life is so much less stressful if you ignore." #DailyBitch
Wednesday 24 August: "I never hate myself in the morning; I sleep past noon." #DailyBitch
Thursday 25 August: "Nice outfit, girl. Skank convention in town?" #DailyBitch
Friday 26 August: "Some of my deepest insights are based on a lifetime of not giving a crap." #DailyBitch
Saturday 27 August: "The more men change, the less their underwear stinks." #DailyBitch

See you on the other side!

2011-08-19T15:38:00.001+12:00

Goodness knows I don't need another online time waster. I chew away at enough spare time maintaining three Twitter accounts, 2.5 blogs, Facebook, Google+ (ok, not completely into this one), delicious and Diigo online bookmarking, various online forums and numerous other web 2.0 goodies. That's in addition to far too many emails from 1 day deal sites and entering competitions from anywhere that entices the competition junkie in me. Oh, and I teach online, too.

So why, oh why, am I intrigued by Pinterest when apps like my Flickr account bit the dust barely after I got them off the ground? Is it because I can collect up pretty things to look at when I need a boost? Or because it's going to fulfil a fundamental need in my life? (I don't expect it will.) I suspect that, like other personalised web 2.0 tools, it's because it's all about me - and why wouldn't I want to see all of my favourite things all in one place? (Actually, Facebook and Google+ pretty much do the same ... oh, and Flickr, or maybe even my blog? Hmmm.)

If you want to follow my Pinterest boards, or think I should check out yours for inspiration, come on over or grab a cup of coffee and leave me a note pointing me in the right direction. I'm still getting the hang of things but am sure that I'll quickly become addicted. I suspect my Pinterest boards will grow and evolve exponentially in the next few weeks before I eventually cull everything and go back to basics, just like I did with Facebook.

As I get going, does anyone have any words from the wise re Pinterest?

On being prepared

2011-08-16T09:22:00.000+12:00

OK, so last night turned out to be the acid test and we failed it abysmally. My sweetie thinks we did just fine and that I'm just being grumpy and negative; I beg to differ. Let me explain ...

I have been really enjoying the cold snap we've been experiencing these past two days, mostly because it is uncharacterstic but also because I know it is short lived and we're safe, warm and dry at home. I drove home from work through hail and squealed with delight at the white state around me, which was punctuated by some pretty impressive thunder. Cool!

The power was off when I got home but there was enough fading light left in the day to see things. The power came back on shortly afterwards and normality resumed. Apparently the outage lasted around 30 minutes. We warmed up by the heater (which is gas powered) and put off doing the supermarket shopping in the hail.

The streets were literally white as we drove to the supermarket; believe me, this just doesn't happen when you live so close to the sea. Thankfully, the weather conditions left the supermarket relatively empty during what is traditionally a very busy time of the day. All good. We unpacked our groceries and put dinner in the oven.

The power surged a few times as we watched the weather forecast, and we thought about reconnecting the UPS to protect our electronics, then it cut complete. The gas heater was still going strong and between us we managed to get some light from the torches on our keyrings and mobile phones. One good torch was sitting in pieces on the coffee table, waiting for fresh batteries. I'm a candle lover and I knew I had a bag of tea lights in the bedroom, but we weren't sure where a lighter was and had few containers to sit them on once lit. Another torch was sitting by the mirror and also waiting for new batteries. Dinner had stopped cooking. The kitten thought it was time to play ...

After everything that had been said about being prepared for an emergency, and despite my best intentions, I still hadn't got around to preparing an emergency kit at home. There had been a recent drive at work to assemble personal survival bags, and I'd got mine started by adding a few basic items, but only got as far as bringing the list of what we'd need home.

We soon found candles and a lighter and thankfully the gas heater was going strong, but a one hour power cut on a cold, stormy night left us twiddling our thumbs in the dark and running on battery power. (I drafted this blog post on my iPod touch.) It was a timely wakeup call that things wouldn't be so cosy after a disaster, when we'd likely be without any facilities like power, water, gas or sewerage.

Mark my words, I am going to sort out our emergency kit THIS WEEK and I urge you to do the same. (Yes, this is the pot calling the kettle black.) We're lucky to have been safe, warm and out of any danger; this won't be the case if disaster strikes. I'm probably more annoyed with myself for not being prepared than worried about how things could have been. Either way, the time to sort things is NOW.

Emergency survival kit

Here's what you need (from Get Thru):

torch with spare batteries or a self-charging torch
radio with spare batteries (and know which radio station/s to tune into)
wind and waterproof clothing, sun hats and strong outdoor shoes
first aid kit and essential medicines
blankets or sleeping bags
pet supplies
toilet paper and large rubbish bags for your emergency toilet
face and dust masks

Check all batteries every three months. Battery powered lighting is the safest and easiest. Do not use candles as they can tip over in earthquake aftershocks or in a gust of wind. Do not use kerosene lamps, which require a great deal of ventilation and are not designed for indoor use.

Food and water for at least three days:

non-perishable food (canned or dried food)
food, formula and drinks for babies and small children
water for drinking - at least 3 litres per person, per day
water for washing and cooking
a primus or gas barbeque to cook on
a can opener

Check and replace food and water every twelve months. Consider stocking a two-week supply of food and water for prolonged emergencies such as a pandemic or earthquake.

That time it snowed in Wellington

2011-08-15T15:53:00.001+12:00

Yesterday, 14 August, shall forever be referred to as That Time it Snowed in Wellington. There's even a Facebook page set up to commemorate the event. Living half a block from the beach, I could see snow flurries in amongst the falling rain but nothing that could settle on the ground so I didn't feel qualified to join it. Today, however, is a different story. It actually snowed at work - and not just up in the hills! I might join that group after all. ;-)

Let me explain. Wellington has its hills but, being nestled around a harbour, snow is about a once in a decade occurrence - and even then we're just talking about light flurries and a chill in the air. It is extremely rare for us to see this icon on the weather report and snow days are simply unheard of. Not today, though. We have real snow today.

I was having a serious meeting with an external delegate this morning discussing exciting things like financial obligations, contracts and senior management sign off when suddenly my guest looked past me out the window and said, "is that pollen falling or is it snowing?" We jumped up to check out the icy bits falling, our faces a picture of glee. Snow - real snow! Later, back in my office, we noticed the snow flakes getting heavier and starting to settle. The three of us found another window with a better view and were pressed up against just like kids. True, we weren't exactly making snow angels on our cars, but the excitement of snow practically at sea level is enough to bring out the inner six year old in all of us.

The snow got heavier this afternoon and staff members were advised to leave early and drive safely if they thought there was any risk involved in leaving work later in the day. Daycare centres were closed and parents were called to pick up their children so everyone could get home safely. It's all terribly exciting for those of us used to life at sea level.

A Russian colleague is simply laughing at us carrying on like a bunch of over-hyped children; she maintains that what we are experiencing barely resembles snow at all and that it quickly becomes a nuisance rather than a novelty when you experience it every day for several years. Spoil sport.

Are you snowed in? Or even close to it? (Go on, indulge us. We're loving it!)

Chocolate festival

2011-08-13T16:40:00.001+12:00

I have long been a believer that chocolate could quite possibly be the world's most perfect food. It seems I am not alone in my thinking, as this weekend the InterContintal was hosting the New Zealand Chocolate Festival, a Wellington on a Plate festival event. Chocolate heaven!

We had tickets to this morning's session. When it is too early to start eating chocolate? Never, it turns out; a large crowd of mostly women joined me in chocolate for breakfast. We tasted our way through a multitude of samples by chocolatiers from all around the country. Chili and sea salt based chocolates seemed to be flavour of the month, although more unusual varieties were also available.

Shoc Chocolates proudly had the 'weirdest' flavours (they said it themselves!), offering curry and pappadam white chocolate, chilli and lime, pink peppercorn and lemongrass chocolate - a bit much for me but others seemed keen. She's Chocolat bus from Christchurch looks like it would be an interesting ride. Other highlights for us came from Bull Rush Chocolate; we liked their 72% dark and dark chocolate hokey pokey truffles. Bohemian were offering full sized samples (yay!) and the truffles we liked were dark (hard) nougat, Cointreau ganache, milk vanilla cream and dark praline cream. De Spa also had a very delicious hazelnut cream truffle. The most unusual 'find' for us today was the discovery of chocolate stout from Renaissance Brewing Company.

We learned stuff about chocolate, too. I knew that chocolate is best eaten fresh and De Spa confirmed this by saying their filled chocolates should be eaten within two months, or three months if they contain alcohol, as the filling seeps into the chocolate and actually dries it out from the inside. Just as you wouldn't eat stale bread, you also shouldn't eat stale chocolate, so check your pantry and if there's chocolate hiding there, deal to it quickly!

We were then taught how to use all our senses to savour chocolate during a tasting session held by Swiss chocolatier Rene Fellmann. This man certainly knows his stuff and we learned about the best types of couverture chocolate. Our sampling cups contained a dark sweet chocolate (yum!), a stronger dark, a single origin bitter dark from Ghana, a pleasant white, and 36% milk chocolate with a hint of caramel. *drool*

Overall, it was a great day for sampling and buying chocolate. Personally, I would have enjoyed learning more about how chocolate was made and seeing more of it being moulded. The demonstration sessions had queues forming outside the room at least 20 minutes beforehand and could only seat 50 people so they could probably have done with a bigger room (or more frequent sessions). The most 'popular' stalls were those with friendly staff who interacted with the public; we wondered why some had nobody visiting them and quickly realised it was because the person behind the table was standing there silently guarding their samples - a missed opportunity, in our view.

Here are some photos to make you drool:

Chocolate towers


Le Cordon Bleu cooking school cupcakes - what a neat promotional idea!

Chocolate fountain -
marshmallows provided

Scrumptious treats at Bordeaux Bakery

2011-08-12T10:39:00.089+12:00

Last night, my baking buddy and I attended our first Wellington on a Plate festival event for this year. We met a year ago at the Welly on a Plate patisserie class at WelTec and have met up since then for regular coffee sessions to talk about baking. (It helps that we also work at the same place, something we discovered at the patisserie course!) We drooled over this year's programme and signed up as quickly as we could for some events, but despite being promised pride of place at the top of one event's waiting list, only managed to get into one together. Luckily, it was a goodie!

Hosted by Feast and Vine, Bordeaux Bakery was the setting for an event called Scrumptious Treats. As a café, Bordeaux has seen better times. However, there is no denying what they are best at: baking (and, in particular, pastry).

This is the first time the kitchen at Bordeaux has been open to the public and owner/pâtissier Jean Louis gave us a tour looking at the amazing kitchen equipment imported from France. Everything starts cranking up from 1 am each day and most of the baking is finished by 2-3 am (or 5 am at the latest), leaving the bread enough time to cool so it isn't too hot when it is picked up by the other Bordeaux bakeries at 5.30 am. We felt like miniature cartoon characters wandering among the huge ovens, fridges and mixers that would put my little Kenwood cake mixer to shame.

Now THAT'S a mixer

Jean Louis showing us one of the fridges

We headed back into the café for a demonstration on making Bordeaux's most popular dessert, duchess cake. It looked so simple when Jean Louis whipped up some chocolate mousse then piped it onto a frozen merinque before coating it in more chocolate mousse and dipped it into grated chocolate. Mind you, he certainly had all the right tools and the best ingredients imported from France. Check out this chocolate grater!

Chocolate grater

Sauterne and a blueberry tart -
the perfect wine and food match

We then had a lesson on wine and food matching; it's quite a science. Basically, acidity is king and it's all about balancing acidity and the flavours in the wine with whatever you are eating. A common myth is that you should drink similar flavours to what you are eating; this will cancel out the taste and you'll just be left with acidity. To cut a long story short, we were told that this 2007 sauterne (dessert wine) was the perfect match for the acidity of blueberries in this tart, and I'd have to agree. The sauterne was very pleasant on the palette, infused with apricot, cinnamon and cloves and is quite honestly the first dessert wine I have actually enjoyed drinking.

Advertised as a two-hour event, we were finished after 1 hour and 10 minutes, which is a bit cheeky but we got to take home a duchess cake each, so that (kind of) makes up for it.

Musical sacrilege

2011-08-10T08:38:00.000+12:00

Being female and of a certain generation, there are a few musical movies that, as soon as their titles are mentioned, will garner a uniform reaction from my peers. (Females, that is; the guys just roll their eyes.) I wouldn’t go as far as saying they form the soundtrack to my childhood, but they were significant at the time and therefore eternally timeless.

Footloose (1984) was incredibly memorable for me, but not because it was a particularly great movie (it wasn't) nor because it spawned a few pop hits that you’ll hear on high rotate at certain Courtenay Place establishments on a Saturday night. Footloose was the first movie I was allowed to see at the cinema without parental supervision. A friend and I went with her elder sister and her friend; this was pretty radical back in those days. I remembered very little about the movie itself except for one girl trying to get out of one car window (while it was still moving) and into another moving car. Racy!

Then there was Grease (1977). This is my ultimate favourite movie and one of just four I own on DVD. There’s nothing that this movie doesn’t have: sassy characters, great music, fast cars, and fabulous 50s style cool. I know every line and lyric by heart but didn’t particular enjoy the stage show. I shudder at the thought of this movie ever being remade; Grease 2 (1982) was bad enough. Here's the cool opening theme:

I grew up watching the TV series Fame on Saturday afternoons. Admittedly, there wasn’t much on TV back in those days, but Leroy and the gang with their leotards and legwarmers were the ultimate in cool. I still get a bit choky when I hear Starmaker by Kids from Fame. Go on - indulge yourself:

However, while nostalgia is a fine thing, tampering with something that should have simply been left alone is disastrous. Even the trailer for the 'new' Fame (2009) movie leaves me cold. What do you think?

And then I read yesterday that Dirty Dancing (1987) is to be remade. I am outraged! Doesn’t anyone remember Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)? No, of course they don’t, and those that do simply grimace at the memory. Poor Patrick Swayze will be turning in his grave; no other actor could say, "nobody puts Baby in a corner" as cheesily as he did. Sure, they might cast a female lead who can actually act (or dance) this time, but it won't be the same. Here's the original trailer. Just hearing the soundtrack brings it all back.

Personally, I blame the truly puzzlesome Glee phenomenon for all this. So what do you think about remaking classic movies – special or sacrilege?

Condensed milk icing

2011-08-05T09:09:00.000+12:00

I have it on good authority that espresso with decadent chocolate cake is an exceptionally well balanced breakfast for one day a year. ;-)

Decadent chocolate cake

Needless to say, the cake turned out incredibly well but I wasn't sure what I'd use to ice it. @UpsideBackwards suggested I make condensed milk icing instead of plain buttercream frosting and pointed me to this link. (Scroll down and you'll find it.) Brilliant! I added cocoa to go with my chocolate cake and, needless to say, it really was the icing on the cake. The texture was light and fluffy and I'll probably used condensed milk more often when decorating cakes and cupcakes from now on.

Condensed milk icing

Ingredients

150 g butter
350 g icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2/3 cup condensed milk

Method

Soften butter or remove from fridge at least 30 minutes before making icing.
Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat on high with an electric mixer until fluffy.
Add sifted icing sugar, cocoa and condensed milk and beat until smooth and fluffy.

Decadent chocolate cake

2011-08-03T20:05:00.001+12:00

It is coming up to birthday time and that means one thing: birthday cake. I have made decadent chocolate cake once before and it turned out beautifully so decided to give it another go. The recipe I used came from the Food Lovers website and was simple to follow. I used Whittaker's 50% Cocoa Dark Block but would also happily use Whittaker's 72% Cocoa Dark Ghana for those who particularly dark chocolate with a bite.

Decadent chocolate cake

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coffee powder
1 cup hot water
250 g butter
200 g dark chocolate, chopped
2 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 140º C.
Place coffee, water and butter in pot and melt. Add chocolate and stir gently. Once smooth, add the caster sugar and stir until dissolved.
Pour mixture into a large bowl and beat in dry ingredients. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Beat well with electric beater.
Bake for 1 1/2 hours on a regular bake setting (not fan) in a well greased and lined 23 cm cake tin. Check progress after 1 hour.

The cake is in the oven as we speak (so no photo yet) and smells simply divine. Depending on how much time I have before the birthday dinner tomorrow night, I'll either ice it with chocolate buttercream frosting or serve it slightly warm with whipped cream. Mmmmmm.

Vampires, zombies and other creatures of the night

2011-07-28T12:42:00.001+12:00

A couple of weeks ago, my sweetie starting watching the new series of True Blood. I'll be the first to admit that I don't get what the big deal is with vampires (or zombies, or werewolves, or any other creatures to that effect). Apart from enjoying the tv series Being Human and the irrepressible Count von Count from Sesame Street, I've never understood the appeal of brooding, teenage blood suckers and things that go bump in the night. Can't everyone see how fake it all is? I tweeted as much and went to bed with a non-vampire book.

Imagine my surprise the next morning to find these posts in my Twitter stream:

It would seem that creatures of the night do in fact polarise people; as one person pointed out, you either love or hate them. (I'd argue that I'm indifferent to them, but that's probably just semantics.)

And now there is something called The Walking Dead, eagerly anticipated by zombie fanciers and horror connoisseurs all around the world. My Facebook and Twitter streams were full of it yesterday. For me, Wednesday nights will now mean an early night with a good book.

So, who can enlighten me on the appeal of such characters and stories? What have I missed?

Amy Winehouse qualifies for the 27 Club

2011-07-24T12:52:00.000+12:00

I woke this morning to the news that musician Amy Winehouse had been found dead at her London home. I can't say I'm at all surprised but I am more than a little saddened at the loss of a great talent well before she should have hit her prime.

Amy Winehouse's lifestyle was truly a train wreck in progress; no-one really wanted to see the chaos she was creating, yet they also couldn't look away. Her battles with drug and alcohol addiction, along with those ridiculous eyelashes, were parodied by many, including our own Beatgirls. It's a real shame, as it totally overshadowed her musical talent while supplying the tabloids with endless fodder.

Right from the start, I could tell that Amy Winehouse was something different. She wasn't merely a singer; she was a very talented musician who acknowledged her musical influences by giving them a a contemporary twist. I eagerly awaited the follow-up album to Back to Black that never came.

So it looks like that 27 Club may have a new member. The 'Club' comprises a group of influential rock musicians who died at the age of 27 and its current members include Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Later, Kurt Cobain was added. I'm sure Amy will make it onto the list sometime soon; she would certainly qualify.

RIP Amy Winehouse. Hopefully you will find the peace in death that eluded you in life.

Amy Winehouse (1983-2011)

Image source: http://www.amywinehouse.com
Used without permission

Pikelets

2011-07-23T15:50:00.001+12:00

I've been known to go out of my way and in some pretty wretched conditions when a good coffee is called for. However, I have been beaten today by the weather gods who have dished up a howling southerly sprinkled with icy rain. I briefly ventured out to a local café for a latte; a couple of my usual warm, cosy haunts were full ... so I changed my plans and stocked up on some java beans from Coffee Creation to make myself an espresso in the comfort (and shelter) of my own home. But, of course, I needed something to go with it.

Not my pikelets
but you get the picture

I can whip up a batch of pikelets in practically no time at all; I have been making them using my mother's recipe since I was about 8 years old so have had plenty of practice. They go extremely well with coffee on a wintry afternoon, or at a tea party, or as a snack, or ... almost any time!

Pikelets

Ingredients

1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 cup milk

Method

Beat together the egg and sugar.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
Alternately add flour and milk to the egg and mix well until you have a smooth, slightly runny mixture. Add more milk if required.
Cook dessertspoonfuls of mixture in a non-stick frypan over a medium-low heat. (I spray the pan first with canola spray but you could also melt a little butter.) Flip when air bubbles start to appear on top and cook the other side.

Priceless

2011-07-21T09:45:00.000+12:00

Just like the Mastercard ads say, there are some things that money can't buy; they are priceless. I've seen first hand the joy that a young child can get from playing with a cardboard box or wrapping paper in preference to the expensive gift contained inside. In the midst of a crappy day yesterday, a one-minute phone call from a gorgeous 3-year-old instantly made everything feel better. Yes, totally priceless.

Not for our princess

Our kitten seems to be from the same school of thought. We bought her a scratching post - not one of those big elaborate ones with several platforms for climbing up and into to, but a simple post that we had hoped would entice her away from scratching our furniture (or carpet). She is terrified of it. It seems to be the fuzzy carpet-type base that she's afraid of most; she'll do anything to avoid touching it but can sometimes be convinced to play with the post part if we lay it on its side and show her what to do. She has gone through stages playing with squishy rugby balls, ping pong balls and a laser pointer, but her preferred recreation materials are those we haven't paid for - and I'm all good with that. Currently, her favourite 'toys' are screwed up pieces of paper or envelopes, various leaves she has brought inside and a boot lace tied to a stick. Endless fun!

The pet shop gave us a cat tunnel when we stocked up on kitten pellets this weekend. We thought we'd give it a go but, given her previous track record with purchased cat toys, weren't sure how she'd react. Turns out she loves it and immediately started running through the tunnel and rolling around inside it. She must have known it was free; if we had bought her something similar, she'd probably turn up her pretty little nose and walk away.

I love this Mastercard ad. Money bought the essentials, but the resulting feelgood factor was truly priceless.

What is priceless for you?

Ukulele flash mob

2011-07-19T16:05:00.000+12:00

How's this for something cool?

A colleague sent me a link this morning to an article in the Manawatu Standard about a ukulele flash mob that appeared at a shopping mall food court in Palmerston North on Saturday. Starting off with a single ukulele player strumming and singing The Beatles' classic song "Let It Be", 25 ukuleles (smuggled inside shopping bags), 50 singers and various members of the public progressively joined in, much to the surprise and delight of the crowd. Wow!

You know what I'm thinking, right? Yes, I know it's already been done elsewhere so the idea wouldn't be entirely original, but surely somebody would be brave enough to join me in a local ukulele flash mob?

Citrus tart

2011-07-16T09:15:00.000+12:00

I'm quite partial to citrus tart but am a very amateur pastry maker. Last year, a friend and I learned how to make a pear and almond tart at a patisserie course for Wellington on a Plate. This year, we have already signed up for Scrumptious Treats at Bordeaux Bakery and are on a waiting list for Hands On Pastry Making at Floriditas. The art of pastry shall evade us no more!

The Chelsea Sugar website has lots of simple baking recipes available including this one for citrus tart. It is super easy to mix in a food processor. I'd imagine a cake mixer would do a similar job for the filling but the pastry base might not be quite so fine. I might try using a mixer next time at my peril. Also, I found that my flan tin didn't seem to need lining with paper, so I'll so what happens without baking paper.

Citrus tart

Ingredients
Base

125 g butter, softened
1 cup flour
1/2 cup icing sugar

Filling

1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
grated rind of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons custard powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
icing sugar to dust

Method

Base: Place the butter, flour and icing sugar in a food processor and run the machine until the pastry clumps together in a ball around the blade. With floured hands, press this mixture into the base and up the sides of a lined 21 cm loose-bottomed flan tin. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (The pastry will set quite firm but bakes best from cold.)
Preheat the oven to 180º C.
Place all the filling ingredients in the cleaned food processor and run the machine until well combined. Pour into the chilled base. Bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden and the filling set. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Citrus tart

Good morning

2011-07-13T16:46:00.000+12:00

Yes, I know it's the afternoon but good morning kind of gives the flavour for this blog post. I was looking back through some unpublished draft posts and came across one with what seemed like a few random words but, upon closer inspection, made more sense.

Let me explain the title. To me, good morning is an oxymoron - you know, a phrase or figure of speech which combines contradictory terms. I have no objection to mornings; I just wish they wouldn't start so early in the day. Fun run is another oxymoron. Seriously, whoever looks like they are having fun while they are running? There is a list of funny oxymorons (or oxymora) which include examples such as adult male and clear as mud.

I looked at the words on my list and realised I'd written down some examples of personal food oxymorons. Yes, they're technically not oxymorons at all, but the principle remains: for me, they are examples of two things I like coming together to make something I intensely dislike. (There are some examples of actual food oxymorons here, but I like my definition better.)

How can it be possible that the sum of all the ingredients turns into something so contradictory? Here are some examples:

I love coffee. I love cake. I love coffee and cake together. But, coffee cake? No thanks!
I love cheese. (Mmmm, cheese.) And we already know that I love cake. So cheesecake would make perfect sense, right? Nope. Not for me!
I especially love chocolate. I also love hot cross buns - it's a heaven food for me. However, chocolate hot cross buns don't appeal to me at all.
Fruit jam. This one is slightly different. I love fruit and berries and I love sweet, sugary things. So why don't I like jam of any flavour?

What is an example of a food oxymoron for you, ie two ingredients you really like to eat coming together to make something you dislike?

Empathy quotient

2011-07-10T17:12:00.001+12:00

I read an article in today's Sunday Star-Times entitled Despicable me. It had nothing at all to do with the movie of the same name; instead, the article was referring to the author, Adam Dudding, and his apparently low score on the Empathy Quotient (EQ) test. Created by psychology professor Simon Baron-Cohen, the Empathy Quotient is intended to measure how easily you pick up on other people's feelings and how strongly you are affected by other people's feelings. There are sixty questions resulting in a score out of 80.

I thought I'd score somewhere slightly above average. You can take the test here. (Beware questions with double negatives; I had to read a few through several times to select the answer I wanted.) My score was 53, which is just above average and a little above the average score for women. The descriptor for this score is: "You have an above average ability for understanding how other people feel and responding appropriately. You know how to treat people with care and sensitivity." I'd say that's about right for me most of the time.

So how did others score? Infamous broadcaster Paul Henry proudly scored 24/80, which is considered low. This kind of score is also common among people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism. Children's author Joy Cowley scored 62/80, which is above average. Although synergies between some scores and professions might seem obvious, this is not always the case. Former finance minister Ruth Richardson, with a score of 55/80 (above average) is an example of someone whose personal empathy differs to that requierd by her professional persona.

What's your EQ? Is it an accurate reflection of your personal empathy?

Meet the Churchills

2011-07-08T15:49:00.000+12:00

Once again, we were the guests of the wonderful folk at Circa Theatre last night. Meet the Churchills is a new play by Paul Baker. Set in the drawing room of Randolph Churchill's 18th century house at Stour, Suffolk, we meet four members the Churchill family on the occasion of Winston Churchill's 88th birthday. What would for many be a joyous occasion was instead described as a 'mending' day, and it became apparent as the drama unfolded just what was to be mended: the family dynamics. Not quite putting the 'fun' into dysfunctional, there were clearly many issues influencing the Churchill family and their relationships.

Rather than celebrating his 88th birthday, Churchill simply wanted to die, a fact he stated boldly several times during the day along with other lamentations about his family and current state of being. While his physical body was weak and wheelchair-bound, Churchill's tongue remained flexed and razor-sharp, throwing out many toxic one-liners which transparently illustrated what he was thinking. However, his wife, Clementine Churchill, kept up line for line, which was clearly no mean feat.

The play is very well performed, if a little drawn out at times. Light entertainment was provided by the somewhat troubled character of Lady Audley, Sarah Churchill, and the narrative is woven together by a fictitious historian, Dr Stephen Jenkins. Meet the Churchills is currently showing at in Circa One until 16 July.

Country charm

2011-07-05T16:03:00.000+12:00

I've driven around various parts of rural New Zealand countless times over the years, gradually increasing the surface area of the terrain I cover while also retracing the main arterial routes, particularly in the lower North Island. As we were driving back from our ski trip on Sunday night, I was reminded of events or things I'd seen when searching for food or drinks at particular locations.

In some towns, there is a little more evidence of successful urban crawl. In others ... well, let's just say that the effort is appreciated and could even be considered delightful, but I'd say they're better off sticking to specialising in country charm. I've come across several of these places over the years.

Coffee fix

One morning, after several late nights in a row, I had an early start and needed to be in Marton (about 2 1/4 hours north of Wellington) by 9 am. We left home around 6 am and were looking to be early so decided to stop off at a little cafe in Bulls that we could see was just opening for the day. Coffee time! We were offered fruit muffins straight from the oven and I asked for a long black to go with it. The owner proceeded to make me a short black (espresso), then boiled the kitchen jug and topped it up with boiling water - right in front of me and all the while still chatting animatedly. I was so shocked, yet in such desperate need of sleep, that I couldn't simply give it back. I don't think I finished that cup.

Speaking of coffee, the Chatham Islands are not exactly known for their café culture so I was interested to see that a new café had opened up not far from us. I didn't expect the earth but was looking forward to some 'real' coffee, after stretching my ground beans to last for nearly a week when using my stovetop espresso maker. I decided to check the café out the first day they were open after the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately, the plane from Wellington that morning hadn't brought coffee beans as promised, but I was offered instant coffee instead if I wanted it. Thank you, but no.

Another time, while staying with a group of friends at Himatangi Beach one summer, a few of us decided to visit the local cafe for a morning coffee. One tea-drinking friend ordered English breakfast tea, instead. However, she was served with Earl Grey tea, something she describes as 'tasting like dishwater', which she'd drink if she liked dishwater, but unfortunately she doesn't like dishwater. She endearingly pointed out her dilemma to the manager and he happily replaced her dishwater with English breakfast tea, but remarked that he knew nothing about tea and that "it all tastes the same to me - horrible". Actually, I agree with him on that one! ;-)

Eat (and drink) much

Driving from Wellington to Auckland (about 8 hours) after work on a Friday night, we were starting to get hungry. The further north we drove, and the later the hour, the fewer food places were open for business. Not too keen on the usual takeaways, we came across a Chinese smorgasboard in Taihape which looked promising. The sign on by the door still makes me laugh all these years later; it simply said, "Eat much you like". Well, I guess the description was accurate. ;-)

Finally, travelling through Lyttelton, we had caught the bus across town from Christchurch city (very much pre-earthquakes) and were waiting for a ferry to take us to Diamond Harbour for a wedding. It was an incredibly hot day and we were sweating in our wedding clothes while carrying our overnight bags. We spotted a corner pub and decided to pop in for a cold drink. Someone ordered a refreshing Red Bull and vodka. The publican looked disgusted. His response: "We don't serve any of that fancy stuff here." Ouch! We'd been suitably told off!

Have you encountered country charm that, despite the best of intentions, has not quite got it right?

Ski trip

2011-07-03T22:09:00.000+12:00

We have just got back from our annual snow weekend. It was a wonderful weekend out of town with about forty of us staying close to Mt Ruapehu and spending a couple of days skiing and relaxing. I had my first ever skiing lesson along with a few others from our group. I won't pretend I enjoyed it; not only was it incredibly hard, but our instructor seemed to omit many of the fundamentals, like how we should be standind/leaning, how to stop sliding sideways down the mountain, what to do with our arms, and, most importantly, how to get up every time we fell down. I have a ski pass for two more lessons before the end of the season but will have to psyche myself up to try again. I'll give it a month or so and then see.

Here's a run down of our weekend away.

The public toilets in Levin are positively weird. Not only do they talk to you, but the voice informs you have you have a ten minute time limit!
The Whanganui River looks deceptively beautiful as it reflects the street lights on a clear, dark night.
Penny Arcade is an unusual, but not unpleasant, earworm to have on a night time road trip.
Driving up a mountain with three passengers and into sunstrike is kind of freaky.
Apparently there is a ski boot for everyong. I'm not sure mine was up the mountain on Saturday but apparently we were 'getting closer'.
Make sure your merino top tucks all the way into your ski pants. Gaps = cold.
Get up the mountain early. It tooks about 1 1/2 hours to get everybody's passes and ski gear sorted.
Ski staff are incredibly helpful. It also seems compulsory for them all to have a deliciously exotic accent.
Wearing too many layers is just as bad as wearing not enough when skiing. I never thought I'd be sweating on a snowy mountain.
Ski instructors are an endlessly patient and encouraging breed of person. Even when I fell over just by standing still, I was assured just how well I was doing. Bless.
Despite trying really hard to not be paranoid about reinjuring the ankle which boasts a reconstructed ligament, I couldn't relax on the mountain and really struggle during the lesson. :-(
Skis are not a natural extension of my feet.
Bruises are unfortunately inevitable.
Trying to put a baby goat into someone's room after midnight is not a good idea. Oh wait - that sounds dodgier than it actually was, but I'll explain another time.

Bei Mir Vist Du Schon

2011-07-01T09:35:00.001+12:00

Every now and then, the musician in me falls in love with a particular song or artist. I’m enjoying rediscovering Stray Cats at the moment. Adele has caught my interest. But I had my iPod on shuffle this morning and it threw up a couple of gems I hadn’t listened to in a while. The first was Song For Guy, a song I need to be absolutely in the mood for as it has the ability to instantly transport me back to a funeral from many years ago that I really don’t wish to relive.

And then I was rewarded for my efforts with The Andrews Sisters’ Bei Mir Vist Du Schon. Wow – talk about a beautiful blast from the past. I first heard a version of the song at a dance class a few years ago and was fascinated by the sound, the instrumentation and the changes in tempo. Asking around, I learned it was by Janis Siegel and came from the Swing Kids (1993) soundtrack. I had to have it. I searched for other versions and listened over and over, analysing every detail – pure bliss for a musician. I’m not too fussed about The Puppini Sisters’ version but can appreciate their arrangement of the song nevertheless.

Here is a musical interlude for you to enjoy on your Friday.

The dealing's done for Kenny

2011-06-30T15:50:00.001+12:00

This post is long overdue; so are a number of things with me at the moment, but that's another post in itself.

There are many curious characters who make up the fabric of the night life in Courtenay Place. You're likely to come across them at least every weekend and usually in the wee small hours. Some are more sociable that others, but all have their quirks. There's the infamous Blanket Man who is quick to abuse anyone who crosses his path, the guy who gets off a bus outside the Star Mart and asks for $2, the 'superstitious' guitarist, who plays Stevie Wonder's Superstition almost continuously outside the National Bank ... and then there was Kenny.

'Kenny', little known by his real name, John Adams, died of a brain tumour on 6 June. He was street performer with many strings to his entertaining bow, least of which was his musical ability, yet that is what he will most likely be remembered for. That, and his ongoing petitions to the Wellington City Council, appealing to Noise Control to have his impounded amp back. Yes, apparently the residents of Courtenay Place were not all Kenny fans.

Kenny petitions the WCC
to get his impounded amp back

I was beaten to the punch by Blog on the Tracks for already writing much (or much more) of what I might have written about Kenny myself. I didn't hear him recite Shakespeare, but I do recall catching snippets of Rudyard Kipling's If during late night jaunts down Courtenay Place during the mid-late 1990s. More commonly, I came across Kenny somewhere along the fence by entrance to what is now Reading Courtenay (but was at the time under construction), a drunken crowd around him dancing and singing along to whatever he was trying to play at the time. One night, I wandered past to see a clearly tipsy woman with her around Kenny's shoulder and trying to get him to do the can-can with her; turns out it was my best friend at high school, who I hadn't seen for a few years but was not at all surprised by her efforts that night.

Word has it that in the early days, when asked to play The Gambler, he claimed to not know it, yet is what he is most commonly associated with. Whether he ever actually learned to play the song is questionable, but it quickly became part of a very limited repertoire for Kenny.

As a young musician, I think I was most offended by the terrible sound quality emanating from his microphone, which was gaffer taped inside his leather jacket and hooked up to a crummy 40W amp. His guitar wasn't much better. The fact that he barely knew how to play it was simply par for the course. And, yet, he had crowd-pulling power.

There was no sendoff for Kenny, although locals have called for a tribute. Kenny finally 'broke even' and is hopefully now entertaining the crowds in sky - if he ever managed to get his old amp back, that is. ;-)

One last time for 'Kenny':

Image source: http://static2.stuff.co.nz/1308564060/947/5168947.jpg
Used without permission

First world problems

2011-06-24T18:17:00.000+12:00

I quite like the Twitter hashtag #firstworldproblems. Much like my #DailyBitch tweets, it is a way for spoilt brats the world over to realise just how they're behaving while still having a moan. Yep, we know that there are really tough things and unspeakable horrors happening out there. Some are closer than others; I can't begin to imagine how hard it would be living in Christchurch after all the earthquakes. So, #firstworldproblems is a fun way of letting off steam while quietly getting over ourselves. There's even a website dedicated to collecting all the moaning tweets using this hashtag.

I've had a few #firstworldproblems this week. The list includes, but is not exclusive to, the following:

Our regular barista at work is on holiday for four days. Four days! (Work days, that is.) Colleagues brave enough to experiment with the replacement barista's coffee either poured theirs out or left their drinks unfinished. Some even resorted to drinking instand coffee. I know - unheard of! So, to recap, we've had four days of:

bad coffee
scalded milk
no coffee at all. (I chose this option - I figure it's safer than being disappointed.)

Cheese Scone Friday was thwarted not only by our barista's absence, but also because a catering order must have taken priority in the cafeteria kitchen meaning the cook resorted to using pre-made generic scone dough from the freezer and sprinkling some grated cheese on top. Most were left still unsold at the end of the day.
Installation of our new kitchen is progressing slowly. Things always take longer than anticipated but, remember, I am coffee-free at the moment and without a hot plate at home to make coffee for myself.
I will probably miss Wellington Open Day on Sunday because I'll be sorting out the new kitchen and making sure the new flatmate is ok moving in. His room is currently filled with the contents from our old kitchen and the lounge contains cabinets and finishings ready for the new kitchen.
Our scenic helicopter flight has been delayed so many times since early May due to bad weather that we're now on a waitlist to be called at short notice if the weather is fine during the day each weekend.
It's only just started snowing at Ruapehu, one week out from our ski trip next weekend. What is a ski trip without snow? Well, actually, this is my idea of a snow weekend, but you know what I mean.

Such a hard life! (I know - not really. In fact, I don't believe that at all.) What #firstworldproblems have you been suffering this week?

Travel envy

2011-06-18T17:11:00.000+12:00

Over a leisurely coffee on a dreary and rainy Saturday afternoon, I read a column in The Dominion Post by writer Craig Cliff called Travel sickness. He's not talking about the various ailments including, but not exclusive to, Delhi belly or sunburn that can turn even the most lavish dream holiday into an expensive nightmare. Instead, Cliff was describing society's preoccupation with travel envy, where anywhere else but here seems like a better place to be right now. He refers to this as the 11th commandment: thou shalt not cover thy neighbour's OE.

Think about it. Yesterday, I learned of the travel plans of two colleagues. One is going to spend two weeks travelling around Israel and France while the other looks forward to 3 1/2 weeks in northern Argentina in September. This is on top of the workmate who is currently languishing in the UK for three weeks. Apart from an upcoming skiing weekend at a mountain that has yet to see any snow, I have nothing to contribute to these conversations except for a fleetingly envious drool. I'm doing it now! As we approach the winter solstice, warm and exotic destinations seem more enticing than ever.

On occasion, when I have had an exciting holiday to look forward to, I've been fascinated by the response from people I've told. Almost every time, I hear my pet hate comment: "oh, you're so lucky!" Lucky? Luck has very little to do with saving for, planning, booking and organising anything, unless of course I'd won the lot. Now that would be lucky. (I'm still working on it.)

As someone whose list of places I'd like to travel to exceeds even my TBR list, it's not hard to evoke a bit of travel envy in me. Give it a try; are you planning an exciting trip (big or small) right now? Or are you also experiencing travel envy? Go on - make me envious.

Skite cake

2011-06-11T22:41:00.000+12:00

I made Russian fudge a couple of weeks ago and have had half a tin of condensed milk sitting in the fridge since then. Now, it would be a shame to waste it, right? I didn't necessarily want to make fudge again, but most baking recipes I've come across require a full 400 g can of condensed milk. A quick Google search using "200 g condensed milk" revealed something called skite cake from Ladies, a Plate - sounds good. The finished product is a slice with a slightly chewy base, chocolate syrup icing and a layer of chocolate caramel in between. All good!

Skite cake

Ingredients
Base

115 g butter
100 g sugar
1 egg
140 g flour
1 tbsp cocoa
½ tsp baking powder

Filling

200 g sweetened condensed milk
55 g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp cocoa

Icing

3 tbsp water
45 g caster sugar
45 g butter
190 g icing sugar
3 tbsp cocoa

Method
Getting ready

Preheat the oven to 180º C.
Grease a shallow 12 x 8 in/30 x 21 cm tin and line the base and two sides with a piece of baking paper.
Soften the butter and bring the egg to room temperature.
Sift together the dry ingredients.

Mixing and baking

Cream the butter and sugar until well combined – you can do thin is a food processor or mixer. Add the egg, then the dry ingredients and spread the mixture evenly in the prepared tin. [I had to ditch the baking paper and press the mixture in with my fingers as it was very sticky, wouldn't spread and kept lifting the paper.] Bake for about 20 minutes until firm and cooked.
While the base is in the oven, combine the filling ingredients in a small saucepan and heat gently together, stirring until well combined.
Pour the hot filling onto the cooked base. Spread it out evenly and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Set aside on a rack until cool.

Finishing

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl.
Gently heat the water, caster sugar and butter in a small pot until the butter melts. Simmer for one minute to form a syrup.
Beating all the time, pour about ¾ of the syrup onto the icing sugar and cocoa. Add the remaining syrup if necessary to make a smooth, fudgy icing. Add a little hot water if it's still too thick. Spread over the cooled base and leave to set for about 20 minutes before cutting the skite cake into about 32 fingers.

Skite cake

Things to do when the network is down

2011-06-10T11:05:00.000+12:00

The network has been up and down like a yo-yo this morning before finally crashing in spectacular style a couple of hours ago. Sure, it's frustrating for most people, but when you have the word online in your job title ... well, it's like trying to knit with one arm tied behind your back.

We started out pretending that we could work independently of the network for a bit, but that doesn't leave much when every single file is stored centrally. Emails are also down, along with our intranet, printers etc. Time to surrender to the machine and find other ways to amuse ourselves.

Things to do when the network is down:

Cheese Scone Friday. Make it a good one.
Arrange absent colleague's teddy bears into dodgy positions and/or hide them in questionable places around the office. Endless fun.
Move stuff around randomly - walls, wires, furniture, desks. Yes, we're easily amused.
Socialise - I mean, 'catch up with colleagues about important issues' over in the other block.
Buy lots of random and unnecessary crap off the daily deals sites. All of them.
Read the news. Again.
Clear your Google Reader RSS feeds until Outlook starts working again.
Read a book - you know, of the paper variety.
Cross our fingers and pray for a big dumping of snow soon in time for a ski trip in a few weeks.
Organise coffee dates for the weekend. Lots of them.
Hold a meeting.

Any other suggestions?

Golf driving range

2011-05-31T12:11:00.000+12:00

Mondays are not known to be big nights out in our household. However, last night, thanks to a Grab One voucher due to expire on Thursday, we tried something new and went to the Silverstream Golf Park driving range. I can be partial to a spot of mini golf but have never played golf for real (nor do I aspire to). Whacking balls is a different story, though. ;-)

I know the absolute basics in theory about how to swing a golf club. This doesn't guarantee that is actually works in practice. The closest I have ever had to a golf lesson was taking part in a Kiwisport golf session where the children were taught the technique for swinging a golf club by using a giant flag. If the flag made a 'snap' as it was swung, you're doing something right. With this in mind, my objective last night was simply to hit some balls. Distance, height or 'targets' would be a bonus.

I'm pleased to say that I hit most of the 100 balls in my bucket first time! A few were too low, most were wonky, but some hit the 50 metre mark (just) or rolled beyond. Yay! Here's how the night looked for me:

Wellington Food Show

2011-05-28T16:57:00.000+12:00

On a dreary Wednesday afternoon, I received a phone call from the lovely Karen at Menumania. Would I like tickets for the Wellington Food Show this weekend? Wow, would I ever! I'd been keen to revisit this mecca for local foodies ever since going to the very first Wellington Food Show ten years ago. Somehow, it became one of those events I'd go to 'another time'. Not any more!

Naturally, we chose the busiest time to arrive: Saturday lunch time. To my delight, I found whole stalls dedicated to each of the basic food groups: chocolate, cheese and coffee! There were also plenty of competitions to enter, allowing me to feed my inner competition junkie. @muffinmum had tipped me off that there was a stall selling waffles so I finally got to complete another 101 in 1001 activity: #89 - Eat waffles for breakfast/brunch, thanks to the Golden Malted stand. Yummy!

I spent some time with the lovely folk from Flight coffee and learned all about some different brewing methods. I sampled a Brazilian coffee bean brewed in three different ways: siphon, Chemex and the V360, time time blending the Brazilian beans with a Guatemalan dark roast. This one appealed most to my strong, dark, Italian coffee palette. On my next town day, I am definitely going to head to Memphis Belle Coffee House and try one for real.

We tasted so much food and wine that when we saw daylight through the windows, we thought we'd made it back to the beginning again only to discover that we were just halfway around the stadium! There was so much on offer that we left after about three hours feeling absolutely full, as well as sampling wines from several different vineyards. I chatted to the delightful Annabelle White about a breakfast event I attended with her several years ago and we both drooled over the latest Kenwood products on display. I finished the day with coffee from Caffe L'affare and came home with a bag full of goodies.

Here are some of my other delicious discoveries of the day:

Donovans Chocolates. Rich and creamy, I especially liked their dark 80% cocoa bar, dark peppermint 80% cocoa bar and milk chocolate bar. These would make a yummy gift.
Silk Road Foods. Fresh meals and sauces, locally made and ready to heat up. We bought pouches of butter chicken and Moroccan chicken stew to stock up our freezer.
Rileys butterscotch vodka cream. This slipped down very nicely.

Wellingtonian foodies, if you haven't been yet, make sure you get down to Westpac Stadium on Sunday and catch the last day of the show.

Russian fudge

2011-05-27T19:46:00.001+12:00

I love fudge - the sugary kind, not the one with the creamy texture. Fudge is the one treat I am guaranteed to buy at the fair. There's nothing quite like fair fudge!

My mother used to bake a fair bit while we were growing up but never made fudge. One night, while she was out, Dad and I decided to give it a go. How hard could it be to make chocolate fudge? We found a recipe and started heating ingredients up in a pot.

Things didn't look quite right and we couldn't figure out why. Mum arrived home, not impressed that we'd started baking in her clean kitchen while she was out ... and we were obviously doing something wrong. She took the pot and started stirring. Hmm. It still didn't look right. She decided to 'check' the fudge by poking her right index finger into the mixture. WTF??!

Here is a summary of the events that happened next:

There was a loud scream. Several, actually.
Mum's finger was quickly removed from the pot of boiling sugar and put under a running cold tap.
More screaming and a fair bit of swearing. Dad and I were told off. Mum put her finger back under the water. [Repeat several times.]
Mum eventually moved her finger to a glass filled with ice cubes. The ice cubes melted. [Repeat a few more times.]
Around 11 pm, Dad is ordered to bring Mum to A&E. The latest ice cubes in the glass melt before she even gets into the car. Cue: more screaming and swearing.
Mum arrives home with a large surgical bandage on her right index fingertip. She had entirely burned her fingerprint off.
Fudge is loudly declared as a banned food in our kitchen, never to be made again.

After a few days, Mum was allowed to take her bandage off to change the dressing. The skin had blistered and as the old layer of skin fell off in a single piece, so did her fingerprint. (It eventually grew back and stayed on permanently.) The thing is, to this day Mum will insist that it is our fault she burned her finger. Go figure.

I came across a recipe for Russian fudge on the Chelsea Sugar website earlier this week and felt brave enough to try making fudge for the first time since that fateful evening 25 years ago.

Russian fudge

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups sugar
125g butter
3 Tbsp golden syrup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
200g sweetened condensed milk (half a standard tin)
2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Place all the ingredients, except the vanilla essence, into a medium-heavy saucepan. Warm over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for about 15-20 minutes until it reaches the soft ball stage (120°C).
Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until the fudge is creamy and thick and has lost its gloss. Pour into a greased 20 cm cake pan. Score the top and break into pieces when cold.

The result? A yummy, sweet treat and, most importantly, no fingers were burned in the making of this fudge. Yay!

Wellywood - Yeah, right

2011-05-23T11:03:00.000+12:00

It's not often that I comment on current events or issues via this blog. I don't tend to join Facebook protest groups that pop up from time to time objecting to everything from television shows being cut to child abuse. Sure, I understand that people want to feel they are taking action, but I don't imagine they are overly effective. Today, I'm standing on my soapbox along with the rest of them.

For those who may have missed all the fuss brewing in our local teapot, the owners of Wellington Airport have decided to recreate the iconic Hollywood sign in the hillside next to the Miramar cutting. They perceive it to celebrate our local film industry and put Wellywood (not that I've ever heard Wellington called that by a local) on everyone's bucket list.

How embarrassing.

The media, social and otherwise, must be loving it. Articles, stories and editorials are popping up everywhere and opinion pieces are rife. An airport blockade protest is planned for tonight, but still Wellington Airport CEO Steve Fitzgerald remains defiant in a toddler-style tantrum worthy of the Minister of Education. Apparently no amount of outrage, objection or common sense will change his mind and construction of the sign will ahead in time for the rugby world cup in September. Don't get me started on what this pseudo deadline has meant for our country in regard to issues you wouldn't even begin to imagine elsewhere.

Not only is the proposed sign cringe worthy, but it is unoriginal, tacky and lacks any fibre of creativity - something which we Wellingtonions are supposed to be celebrating. Copying an existing concept in the name of creativity does not even make good marketing sense.

Here are some of my ideas for alternative signs. They certainly would be more appropriate.

Actually, I think this would make the best sign of all:

Come on, Wellington. We can do better than that.

Beach Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones

2011-05-21T10:53:00.001+12:00

It's fascinating to see how the other half lives.

Beach Babylon is the fourth book in the Babylon series by British writer Imogen Edwards-Jones. Much like the book and tv series Hotel Babylon, it takes readers behind the scenes of a five-star tropical island resort (in a fictitious location, but probably somewhere near Bali) and follows the general manager around on his duties over the period of a week. For the purposes of the book, the events taking place during the 'week' are a condensed version.Just as well - this 'week' would be enough for any manager to hijack a case of $2000 a bottle champagne and a luxury yacht before highfooting it to the nearest (temporary) sandbank and skulling the lot!

The characters, or caricatures, rather, come to life as each new crisis arises, tempers fray and tempestuous guests alternate between demanding the earth and behaving badly on it. The phrase spoilt brat frequently comes to mind, as does the golden rule, ie those who have the gold make the rules.

A light, entertaining read. As for living like the other half - no thanks.

Danny Bhoy - Messenger (Please Do Not Shoot)

2011-05-15T09:50:00.001+12:00

It's been a while since we've been to a live comedy show. The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is in full swing. Last night, we saw Scottish comedian Danny Boy in action.

Danny Boy is one the festival's international headliners. His new show, Messenger (Please Do Not Shoot) started out with Danny poking fun at himself in a variety of contexts, including anguishing about not being able to have his name up in lights, before moving on to talk about everything from the upcoming Rugby World Cup, the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar, Vikings, learning French at school, Australians, coffee and tea drinking, living in the US, rain (very appropriate in Wellington this weekend) and his somewhat less than ideal stint on the David Letterman Late Show. If nothing else, his adorable Scottish accent was enough to grab the punters' attention. A very entertaining night out.

Feijoa king

2011-05-06T21:36:00.000+12:00

I was working out of town today and drove to Palmerston North along with two colleagues from neighbouring organisations. We passed several fruit and vege market stalls on the way, but one advertising cheap feijoas caught one colleague's eye - she was planning a chutney-making session. We promised her we'd stop on the way home.

We almost missed the turnoff into a tiny country driveway with a handmade sign advertising feijoas for $1 per kilogram or two bags for $5. We followed the lane around a winding garden to a quaint little stall fitted with an honesty box. Lo and behold, another car had pulled up and we were actually a queue for feijoas next to a tiny country cottage. Now, I wouldn't say I dislike feijoas. I just never imaged they'd be something to queue for! The first car drove off with their purchase.

A bustling feijoa stand complete with honesty box

This is when the owner appeared. He was asked for four bags of feijoas for $10. The problem was, there was only one filled bag in the box; he would need to bag three more. If we could move our car out of the way, he could get started.

Hmm, ok. The driver moved our car further around the little garden roundabout and parked up to the right of the stall. 'No,' the owner said. 'What if another customer comes along and you're blocking their way?' Now, granted that we had already encountered one feijoa queue, we weren't exactly expecting an influx of traffic from the main road to fill up the tiny garden area in the next minute or so.

Still, he was insistent. The feijoas would not be bagged until we had driven around the tiny roundabout (again) and parked alongside the cottage so all the other customers could still get to the stall. Despite our protests, he snapped, 'it's just that I have three bags to fill and if you could just move then I can get started'. We laughed, but he didn't. The car was duly moved; the feijoas were bagged. We left, still laughing. No other customers came along.

I suppose we all need to feel like we're king of our own castle sometimes. Long live the Feijoa King!

Duvet days

2011-05-05T14:27:00.000+12:00

We're having a couple of duvet days. It's unusual for my sweetie and I to be sick and off work at the same time but the winter lurgies have tackled us both. I can assure you that two days at home while feeling like this is not what it's cracked up to be. I thought I was feeling well enough to face work today (albeit slowly) but didn't want to jeopardise my day working out of town tomorrow. Seems like a wise choice; although I need to pop in to the office later on to pick up some things for tomorrow, I'm positive I wouldn't have lasted the day.

And so we have been rugged up at home, alternating between feeling hot and cold, whispering so as to not aggravate our sore throats and generally feeling sorry for ourselves. We've had our fill of comfort food (chicken and corn soup two nights in a row) and watched a couple of trashy movies (The Runaways and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - neither of which I'd particularly recommend). I've started a book but my concentration is sorely lacking. I daren't bake, even though some over-ripe bananas are begging to be turned into banana loaf. Woe is us! ;-)

Our kitten has recovered well from her surgery last week and we are literally counting down the hours until she gets her stitches out later this afternoon. She is letting us know very loudly that she has enough of this cabin fever. She is even less impressed that we are both home during the day and too lethargic to entertain her!

On the plus side, my supply of coffee and Berocca has been put to good use. I'm enjoying some new sounds thanks to a couple of CD purchases (well, not so new - Curtis Mayfield and Bob James). Friends (and the Twitterverse) helped solve my knitting woes and I am going to knit a moss stitch throw rug, just as soon as I get some wool. I've even found a Stitch N Bitch group to join!

How has your week been? Are you managing to keep the winter nasties at bay?

Knitting woes

2011-04-30T16:19:00.000+12:00

My grandmother taught me to knit when I was about 8 years old. She also taught me to crochet and I crocheted two single bed-sized blankets from my neighbours' leftover wool before I was 10. I knitted a few things as a teenager, including a number of scarves and jerseys. Then I fell in love with counted cross stitch and attacked it in a somewhat obssessed manner for the next 15 or so years.

While I was a classroom teacher, I taught a class of 9-10 year olds to knit. Most of them specialised in creating the lace effect, ie holes everywhere, but one or two boys in particular excelled at the art and went on to knit various items of clothing for their families and also for me. I wonder if any of them now knit as young adults?

During that time, I knitted a couple of warm jerseys and wore them in the years following, but that was the last time I picked up knitting needles. These days, knitting has become fashionable again and knitting circles are popping up all over the place. Having just about finished what will probably be my last large-scale cross stitch project, I've thought about knitting something for this winter. But what to knit?

I spent time looking at patterns in four different knitting shops this week; no luck. I thought about knitting accessories, rather than full on jersey-type projects, but other than baby stuff (no thanks) or knitted toys, everything looked a bit too intensive. A friend suggested I knit a throw rug. Great idea! One or two patterns caught my eye but they were part of books costing $20+, which I thought was quite excessive for someone who was really just after a single pattern. I obviously don't look like a serious knitter, as not one person in any of these shops asked if they could help in any way. *sigh*

The Twitterverse has been helpful and introduced me to Ravelry, Knitty, Free Knit Patterns, The Daily Knitter and Lion Brand Yarn patterns. I have spent this afternoon trawling through them in the hope of finding just the right project to start on. I've made a little bit of progress - not there yet, though.

How about you - do you knit? Do you have a current knitting project? Where are good places to go for knitting ideas and inspiration?

Cone of shame

2011-04-26T19:05:00.001+12:00

It's been a big day for us as fur parents as our 5 month old kitten was spayed and microchipped today. Just as she was getting the hang of the cat flap and accustomed to the freedom it offers, her coming and going privileges have now been revoked. AND she was starved all night. How cruel are we?

The operation went well and kitty was discharged with strict instructions to stay quiet and inside for ten days. Hmmm. Have you ever managed to keep a 5 month old kitten quiet? No, neither have we. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

After her first meal since last night, kitty decided to start the clean up job. She is a very appearance-proud kitten in the best of times, meticulously licking herself clean well after we'd consider the job complete. She set to on her wound ... despite my best attempts to distract her, I could see that there was no way I'd be able to keep her tongue away from her stitches for more than a few seconds and that there was only one thing for it: the dreaded cone of shame.

After a few failed attempts to singlehandedly hold kitty down and do up her collar and cone, I realised that we were getting nowhere fast. Being home alone until later in the evening meant that my partner couldn't help. It was time to call for backup. A friend and fellow cat mum came over and together we negotiated kitty, her collar and the plastic cone. The first time we did up the collar, she fell forwards onto her face (cone), wriggled backwards and ran towards the door with a "you can't catch me" look on her face. Wrong! We tried again and finally managed to do up the collar, during which time we heard several very angry, low growls.

Kitty is not impressed.

Admittedly, I did take a quick video of her trying to run backwards out of her cone but will protect what's left of her dignity by not posting it here. It's more than a little amusing, though. ;-)

Kitty is now sitting sedately on the arm of my chair and feeling suitably sorry for herself. I get the feeling it's going to be a long ten days for the three of us.

Good Friday brunch

2011-04-22T14:58:00.011+12:00

The long weekend has begun. Bring on the chocolate!

It was so lovely to sleep in for a while this morning. Of course, our kitten decided that it was time for us to wake up and play with her at 6.15 am (as per usual). I think her idea of a long weekend is enjoying having us at home for several days in a row with the sole purpose of playing with and entertaining her.

Later this morning, we had some friends over for a Good Friday brunch. We made buttermilk pancakes (soooooo yummy!) and we had hot cross buns with freshly ground coffee. It was great to catch up with a friend visiting from Germany. She is a specialist pastry chef and I am looking forward to gleaning as much baking expertise as I can muster from her during her stay.

This is the first of my 101 in 1001 activities I have belatedly picked up: #39 - Host a brunch for friends. I'm loving this Easter break!

BeatCamp!

2011-04-21T15:44:00.001+12:00

"He was a famous trumpet man from old Chicago way
He had a boogie style that no one else could play ..."

... and that's how it all started. Last night, we had the pleasure of attending BeatCamp! at Circa Theatre, thanks to Circa on Twitter. We all know I love music, a good show and winning stuff. The perfect combination!

It's been a few years since I last saw The BeatGirls in action. They make great fodder for girls' nights out. As always, their show is a polished performance, well researched, with perfectly synched harmonies and choreography and stunning costumes to match. Taking us on a musical journey through the military ranks to today's pop, it was great to hear some of the classics given a contemporary spin. We had excellent seats in the middle of the middle row - not only a perfect view, but our position ensured we couldn't be 'recruited' to become part of the cast! ;-) The second half of the show fired particularly well, starting with an Amy Winehouse/Motown-style set and ending with a fitting girl group bang.

BeatCamp! runs at Circa until 13 May - a feelgood night out for all.

Planning for Easter

2011-04-19T19:07:00.001+12:00

I love the Easter break. It's the only time of the year when things truly slow down (or stop). A tradition of bad weather means that some long, lazy days can be had. As much as some people complain about the legislation dictating restricted Easter trading hours, I really enjoy a few days when there are few people about and even fewer places to be. Contrary to Christmas, there is far less pressure building up to the 'big event' and no requirements to be in several places at the same time. This year, Easter backs onto Anzac Day in New Zealand, essentially 'robbing' us of a public holiday; that's unfortunate, especially after missing out on Waitangi Day, which fell on a Sunday.

We aren't going away this Easter and will be at home for the holidays. There will be a fair bit of family time, some things to get done around the house and, hopefully, lots of relaxation. I am having an extended break and will be on leave for following week. I can't wait!

Here's what I've got planned for myself:

Start a knitting project for winter.
Have friends over for buttermilk pancakes and hot cross buns on Good Friday.
Bake molten chocolate cakes for my family's Easter dinner.
Bake a carrot cake for my sweetie's birthday dinner.
Eat chocolate. Come on, it's mandatory at this time of the year!
Get a haircut and get a real job. It's not the first time I've said that. I usually just get the haircut.
Have our kitten spayed and microchipped. Oh, she's going to really love us after that. (She'll get over it.)
Catch up with friends for coffee and lunch.
Go for walks when the weather is fine enough to do so.
Watch a few DVDs.
Read, read, read.
Sleep, sleep and sleep in. (Kitten, please take note!)

What are your plans for the Easter break?

Top 100 movies

2011-04-17T21:35:00.000+12:00

We watched The Godfather (1972) on DVD for the first time the other night. Yes, I know it's a classic. Yes, I know it's supposed to be one of the best movies of all time. Yes, I know it was released before we were born and we've only just watched it nearly 40 years later.

I got to thinking about all the other 'classic' movies I have not yet seen. We subscribe to Fatso and have a list of DVDs we've ordered to have sent to us. I keep a list of movies (and books) I'd like to see on my phone so, when faced with the task of topping up our list, I can remember the brilliant idea I'd had earlier but forgotten at that crucial moment. ;-)

Now that winter's here and it would seem that hibernation is not an option, it might be a good time for us to catch up on some movies from the IMDB top 250. Maybe we start ordering up some more from the list? 250 might be a bit ambitious for one winter and I've already seen a few of the top 100. Do we start from 100 and work our way up to #1, saving the best for last, or just pick random movies as they become available?

Here are the titles I've seen from the IMDB top 100 movies list:

Rank	Rating	Title	✔
1.	9.2	The Shawshank Redemption (1994)	✔
2.	9.2	The Godfather (1972)	✔
3.	9.0	The Godfather: Part II (1974)
4.	8.9	The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
5.	8.9	Pulp Fiction (1994)	✔
6.	8.9	Schindler's List (1993)	✔
7.	8.9	12 Angry Men (1957)
8.	8.8	Inception (2010)	✔
9.	8.8	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)	✔
10.	8.8	The Dark Knight (2008)	✔
11.	8.8	Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)	✔
12.	8.8	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
13.	8.8	Seven Samurai (1954)
14.	8.7	Fight Club (1999)
15.	8.7	Goodfellas (1990)
16.	8.7	Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)	✔
17.	8.7	Casablanca (1942)	✔
18.	8.7	City of God (2002)
19.	8.7	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)	✔
20.	8.7	Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
21.	8.7	Rear Window (1954)
22.	8.7	Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)	✔
23.	8.7	The Matrix (1999)	✔
24.	8.7	Psycho (1960)
25.	8.7	The Usual Suspects (1995)
26.	8.7	The Silence of the Lambs (1991)	✔
27.	8.6	Se7en (1995)	✔
28.	8.6	It's a Wonderful Life (1946)	✔
29.	8.6	Memento (2000)
30.	8.6	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
31.	8.6	Sunset Blvd. (1950)
32.	8.6	Forrest Gump (1994)	✔
33.	8.6	Toy Story 3 (2010)	✔
34.	8.6	Leon: The Professional (1994)
35.	8.6	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
36.	8.6	Apocalypse Now (1979)
37.	8.6	Citizen Kane (1941)
38.	8.5	American History X (1998)
39.	8.5	North by Northwest (1959)
40.	8.5	American Beauty (1999)	✔
41.	8.5	Taxi Driver (1976)
42.	8.5	Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)	✔
43.	8.5	Saving Private Ryan (1998)	✔
44.	8.5	Alien (1979)
45.	8.5	Vertigo (1958)
46.	8.5	Amélie (2001)
47.	8.5	Spirited Away (2001)
48.	8.5	The Shining (1980)	✔
49.	8.5	WALL·E (2008)	✔
50.	8.5	Paths of Glory (1957)
51.	8.5	City Lights (1931)
52.	8.5	The Pianist (2002)
53.	8.5	Double Indemnity (1944)
54.	8.5	Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
55.	8.5	M (1931)
56.	8.5	A Clockwork Orange (1971)	✔
57.	8.5	The Lives of Others (2006)
58.	8.4	The Departed (2006)
59.	8.4	To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)	✔
60.	8.4	Aliens (1986)
61.	8.4	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)	✔
62.	8.4	Requiem for a Dream (2000)
63.	8.4	Das Boot (1981)
64.	8.4	Reservoir Dogs (1992)	✔
65.	8.4	The Third Man (1949)
66.	8.4	Modern Times (1936)
67.	8.4	L.A. Confidential (1997)
68.	8.4	Chinatown (1974)
69.	8.4	Life Is Beautiful (1997)	✔
70.	8.4	Back to the Future (1985)	✔
71.	8.4	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
72.	8.4	The Prestige (2006)
73.	8.4	Black Swan (2010)
74.	8.4	Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
75.	8.4	Cinema Paradiso (1988)
76.	8.4	Raging Bull (1980)
77.	8.3	Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
78.	8.3	Singin' in the Rain (1952)
79.	8.3	The Green Mile (1999)
80.	8.3	Rashômon (1950)
81.	8.3	Some Like It Hot (1959)	✔
82.	8.3	Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
83.	8.3	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
84.	8.3	Amadeus (1984)	✔
85.	8.3	All About Eve (1950)
86.	8.3	The Great Dictator (1940)
87.	8.3	Bicycle Thieves (1948)
88.	8.3	Full Metal Jacket (1987)
89.	8.3	2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
90.	8.3	Braveheart (1995)	✔
91.	8.3	Inglourious Basterds (2009)	✔
92.	8.3	The Apartment (1960)
93.	8.3	Downfall (2004)
94.	8.3	Gladiator (2000)
95.	8.3	Metropolis (1927)
96.	8.3	Up (2009)
97.	8.3	Gran Torino (2008)
98.	8.3	The Sting (1973)
99.	8.3	Oldboy (2003)
100.	8.3	Unforgiven (1992)

How about you? How many movies have you seen from this list? Have you got any good recommendations for us to try?

Hunting for mojo

2011-04-12T15:26:00.000+12:00

I've temporarily lost my blogging mojo or, more specifically, my ability to finish things I've started. Does anyone know where I might find it?

I'm not going to write about how I've got nothing to write about (or apologise for it). I won't even tweet about it. I know my mojo will be hiding somewhere. I have several posts started on this blog and my professional blog, along with several books and an almost-completed sewing project. There's some pretty big stuff going down at work at the moment - stepping in the right direction, but there is a long way to go yet. I'm sure this is contributing to my lost mojo. So, here's an abbreviated post of sorts until my mojo returns.

We went to the Government House open day on Saturday. I started writing a blog post about it but didn't finish uploading the photos I took. You can sure see that a whole lot of cha-ching has gone into the project, even without the appearance of apparent bling. I might get around to posting it someday.
We had dinner at Two Black Sheep Cafe and Baa on Saturday night and used our Spreets vouchers. We're doing well with getting a life via various daily deal sites.
I had a great girls' night out at Cafe Pasha on Friday night. I was completely thrilled when a young lady introduced herself to me as one of my former students. She was an 8-year-old in the second class I taught way back in 1998. Wow, she's all grown up now!
We are at the initial planning stages of renovating the kitchen. The renovations will be modest but exciting none-the-less. (That's another blog post I've started.)
Our kitten is now a very active and affentionate (like that word? = affection and attention) teenage cat. We are trying to train her to use the cat flap. She will go through it if pushed through paws first but would rather train us to open the back door for her every time she wants to come and go. It's a battle of wits!
I've got a great story about a friend's daughter's dinner party that I started writing about. Guests were required to bring a partner, a foreigner or an animal. Until I post it, you can let your imagination join the dots.

How's your week going? Have you ever lost your blogging/writing/tweeting mojo? Where did you find it?

Beer 101

2011-04-06T12:31:00.000+12:00

I'm not much of a drinker, even though I can sometimes be partial to French champagne or an occasional wine trail. My brother is a professional beer brewer; I am a competition junkie. Last week, our interests converged when I won an evening of beer tasting at The Malthouse. My partner and I were two of the first graduates of Beervarsity, having 'passed' Beer 101.

The evening was hosted by beer writer and judge, Neil Miller. Neil's a talker, that's for sure. I'd imagine many a tall beer tale has flowed from his lips (or pen) over the years. In fact, the way Neil tells it, beer is largely responsible for civilisation as we know it. In the past, beer was traditionally brewed by the women of the house for their families as it was safer to drink than water. Now brewed on every continent, beer is apparently the third most widely consumed beverage, following only water and tea for the #3 spot. Yes, more beer is drunk around the world than wine or coffee. *gasp*

So, on to the tasting. We got to sample five beers, including a surprise from Neil's own cellar.

Tuatara Hefe. This yeast beer was my pick of the evening. Cloudy in appearance, the hefe is sweet and creamy with distinct traces of banana and without a bitter aftertaste.
West Coast Marzen. All the way from Westport, this is a German style beer traditionally brewed in March (leading into summer in the northern hemisphere). It has a rich, dark caramel colour and a bitterness resulting from the type of hops used. This is probably an acquired taste.
Epic Pale Ale. Epic by name, epic by nature, or so Epic Beer on Twitter would have you believe. This fruity (grapefruit) American pale ale has a pungent smell and lingering bitterness.
Tuatara Porter. This dark beer is poured flat (not fizzy) from an English hand pump and its texture thickens as it warms. Gushing with a rich malt flavour, I couldn't honestly taste the promised chocolate - and if anyone is going to hunt out and find chocolate, it's me! Not a beer I'd choose to drink.
Neil's special surprise - a chimay brewed by monks in one of just seven Trappist breweries worldwide, vintage circa 2003. This beer had a rich aroma of figs and raisins and tasted more like wine than beer. Magnificent!

Day 1001

2011-03-29T09:03:00.000+13:00

Today's the day! It is 1001 days since I started my 101 in 1001 project. What a ride it has been!

In June 2008, I came across the Day Zero website and browsed a few blogs that people had linked to. "What an ambitious project!" I thought, never seriously considering taking part myself. I was interested to see that people had set themselves big goals and small ones, one-off and ongoing. I began toying with the idea of starting the project myself but quickly discounted it. I didn't think I could come up with 101 activities for a list like this. Jeepers, how short sighted was I?

I sat down and started brainstorming. About 60 activity ideas 'fell' out of my head within the first half hour. The list kept forming but I thought I'd make it a private project. Why? Probably fear of failure - it's hard to admit things might not have gone right when you're a perfectionist. I quickly abandoned that idea, started rearranging my blog to incorporate the project and went public. Best decision I made!

My 'official' tally shows 80 activities completed. According to #100, that leaves me with $800 saved to spend how I please. I toyed with the idea of using this money to buy the art prints on my list (#24 - a Michael McCormack painting/print of Island Bay, #98 - Vettriano’s The Singing Butler and #99 - Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night) but thought it sounded a bit like cheating. I've been eyeing up some more kitchen goodies, namely a breadmaker, a food processer, and a good set of knives. It might be a while before I actually get around to buying them but they're on my wishlist.

Would I do it again? Absolutely - just not for a while. There is still some unfinished business from this list that I want to attend to first, some of which I already have definite plans for and others which I'll make happen in time. I'm not going to lament over the activities I didn't complete during this time. Instead, I want to celebrate all the things I did achieve and manage to do for myself. I'll keep rolling over the remaining activities and continue to blog about them as I tick another off my list.

For everyone who has come along for the ride, or even worked on their own list, thank you for your support, comments, encouragement and questions. Being part of an online project like this has been an amazing way to get to know bloggers from around the globe and the Twitterverse. Woo hoo - it's time to celebrate!

Heaven food

2011-03-26T17:59:00.001+13:00

Years ago, I read The Lovely Bones, a novel by Alice Sebold. In it, the main character, Susie, is raped and murdered and watches over her family from heaven. The great thing about heaven in this novel is that it is entirely created by the imagination and dreams of the person who has died. Actually, it turns out that Susie is in limbo, but that's not the point. (That's not a spoiler, either; it sets the scene for the movie.) The movie of the same name didn't quite capture what I imagined Susie's heaven (or limbo) to look like, but there were elements that worked out fine.

Anyway, shortly after reading the novel, some friends and I were discussing 'our' heavens. The conversation turned to food. What food would you eat in your heaven, continuously and for all of eternity? (Don't worry about the side effects or calories - this is heaven. You'll be fine.) My heaven food list looked like this:

chocolate (you can also drink this - clever isn't it?)
cheese
cashew nuts.

Many years on, my list remains in tact. You see, I've been pretty smart. Some of my heaven foods come in various different forms, which means I'd still have variety. However, from time to time I think about what else I might include in my heaven food list. If I were to extend it, here's what I'd add:

strawberries
coffee (made by my favourite barista)
home grown Italian tomatoes
hot cross buns
raspberry cream buns (but without the jam - my guilty pleasure, although it's been years since I last had one)
tiramisu (or any Southern/Central Italain creme-based dessert).

How about you? What food (or drinks) would make it to your heaven food list? Be prepared to eat it continuously for all of eternity ...

Fascinating Aida

2011-03-17T16:38:00.000+13:00

A colleague emailed a link around our team earlier this week; you know how it goes. I saw that it was a video and left it for later when I had more time. Within a minute or so, fits of laughter erupted from several desks - obviously others had decided to view it straight away. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Fascinating Aida is a British satirical comedy singing group that has been around since 1983 and their work speaks (or sings) for itself. For anyone who has ever been lured by the temptation of cheap flights, the ladies have got some words of warning. I especially love the verse that begins at 2:30 - so very appropriate on St Paddy's Day.

If you're hooked (I was!), firmly plug in your headphones and listen to this one:

Enjoy!

Book worshipping

2011-03-13T20:42:00.000+13:00

I was sitting in the sun outside Cafe Reka today, enjoying a cappuccino and reading the Sunday Star-Times - the perfect lazy Sunday morning. I came across an article by Grant Smithies called Treasure in the margins. The title appealed to the bibliophile in me. However, what followed was truly distressing for a book lover like me. It began with the following admission:

"My name is Grant. I am a book abuser."

*gasp!*

Of course, I always knew there were book abusers out in the wide world but, much like confessing to being a grown-up and still getting a kick out of pulling the wings off flies, I didn't think it was something anyone would want to be caught doing, let alone openly admitting to!

As a lifelong book worshipper, I see books as objects of beauty, worthy of treasuring and in need of fierce protection. As a child, I was the one who pointed out to librarians that certain books needed some TLC, putting them in a pile to be lovingly repaired with magical librarians' Sellotape (the type that doesn't turn yellow as it gets older).

You can guarantee that after I've read a brand new book, its condition will be immaculate enough for resale without anyone knowing it has already been read by someone. No broken spines, grubby marks or dog ears for me. Heck, I get annoyed when people don't refold a newspaper neatly! I don't like authors (or gift givers) writing messy inscriptions inside the cover and, if I absolutely must label a book with my name, it is hesitantly whispered in pencil.

This somewhat OTT tendency to mollycoddle books means that I am reluctant to lend books to certain people lest they return in less than impeccable condition. (I'm expecting them to return; for those that don't, that's another blog post.) For example, I have a friend who says she likes to see all of the two pages she is reading laid out flat in front of her. "But what about the spine?" I once asked her in a slightly alarmed tone. "What about it?" she replied, clearly bemused. I have mentally crossed her off my 'so-and-so might like to read this book after me' list.

Marginalia? Not for me, thanks!

Apparently there is something called marginalia, where scribbles and comments are legitimately left in the margins of books. Sylvia Plath did it. So did Sir Walter Raleigh, among others. If you find a book that has been graffitied by a famous dead person, said book can become incredibly valuable. But surely that still doesn't make it right!

How about you? Are you a book abuser or a book worshipper? How tolerant are you of the 'other' kind of readers in this world?

Sorting out resources

2011-03-07T09:35:00.001+13:00

OK, we're getting down to the nitty gritty. Two 101 in 1001 activities I have attempted on several occasions (and this one, too) have been hanging over my head for far too long. #44: Sort out/purge my teaching resources and #45 Sort out/organise my MEd resources aren't as easy as they sound. Part of these tasks have also been psychological; I know I'm no longer a teacher in the traditional sense (and don't wish to be) but I still possess the magpie instinct that many (or most) teachers have. "This might come in handy one day."

This weekend, I was at the stage of re-sorting the stuff I'd already sorted and put away in boxes on previous occasions. I'd kept too much stuff 'just in case' and needed to purge it for once and for all. In among all my notes and resources, I came across this quote:

"In order to move forward, we need to leave something behind."
Michael Pohl

So very true! With renewed vigour, I extracted copious amounts of by-products of trees which are now destined for recycling. Some things made it to the bin; others went in my 'take to work' pile - and only things that I know I will actually use or refer to. My nephew was thrilled with the collection of fancy stickers. gel pens and colourful note paper that he acquired.

Confessions:

I still couldn't quite bring myself to throw out my curriculum documents. I know they're (almost) obselete with a new curriculum, but I'll wait until I can say the first half of this sentence without the word in brackets before disposing of them altogether.
A few poetry books and thinking resources are still in my boxes. Just because.
Because I can access the majority of my research resources digitally if I need them (they're well-referenced), most of the paper copies of readings are now headed for the recycling bin. However, I couldn't get rid of my course books of readings yet, 'just in case' I'm ever silly enough to start the PhD that is lurking at the very back of my mind.
I have been looking for my gun stapler for a looooong time. I'd been told that you're not a teacher if you don't have a gun stapler. There is nothing that a gun stapler (or a glue gun) cannot do! Although I'm no longer a teacher, I still really, really wanted my gun stapler. I found it in the final box of stuff I was sorting. I am now ready to take on the world!

Recipe book

2011-03-06T12:23:00.000+13:00

Like most cooks and bakers, I have built up quite a collection of recipes over the years. While I am not the type who is attracted to buying massive tomes featuring glossy images of perfect meals that I'll never realistically cook for myself, I have still managed to collect a number of recipe books and screeds of loose leaf recipes from endless sources. I have been looking for free online recipe organisers which allow me to submit my own recipes to a private collection, then sort by meal type, ingredients, time etc ... a bit like the awesome Dinner Spinner but entirely personalised. Doesn't that sound useful? Turns out that such a tool doesn't exist (or perhaps I just haven't found it yet?).

Plan B was to type all of my recipes into a master Word file, hit 'print' and then collate them into a ubiquitous ring binder with dividers for each meal type. Not quite as sexy but incredibly functional. Even though it took far, far longer than I ever imagined it would, my recipes are now finally sorted into a master folder of sorts and my recipe books are neatly arranged on one shelf. How long they stay that ordered is another matter ...

I'm slowly ticking off the remaining 101 in 1001 activities on my list: #46 - Organise recipes.

Ongoing goals

2011-03-05T09:36:00.000+13:00

The end of my Project 101 in 1001 is near! I have already conceded that I won't complete all the activities on my list before my official finishing date of 29 March 2011. That's ok, as I will keep working towards them - they are still things I want to do.

In nearing the end, it's time to evaluate some of the ongoing goals and activities that I set for the whole duration of the project. Here's a roundup of those activities.

#1: Read at least one book per month
This has been a most enjoyable goal. Although it seems like a relatively simple goal, some months have seen me left with very little time to read for pleasure.

#7: Blog at least three times per week
I have managed to do this across all three of my blogs (including Project 365) and will aim to continue for the foreseeable future.

#12: Play the piano at least once a month
I long for the day when I can retrieve my piano from my parents' music studio and have space for it in my own home. In the meantime, I have made do by playing for short stints when I visit for family dinners.

#48: Find something to be happy and thankful for each day
OK, so it's not yet the end of the month and I still have some days to go, but I think on balance I have achieved this goal, even when times have been tough. Given recent events, I have soooooo much to be happy and thankful for.

#100: Put aside $10 for each goal achieved
This money has built up. Although I haven't finished the whole project yet, I have managed to transfer $10 for each activity completed into my savings account - the total currently sits at $750 and growing. Now, what to spend it on to reward myself ...?

Mystery recipe

2011-03-04T12:32:00.000+13:00

Last night, as we were having a tidy up at home, my partner handed me a small piece of paper with a handwritten recipe on it. "Do you need this?" he asked. The handwriting was mine - very neat, too - and it seemed to be complete except for one thing: the title. I have no idea what the recipe is for or when I would have written it down!

To all you bakers out there, I am asking for help in identifying my mystery recipe. I thought about baking it and seeing what turns out but have no idea what kind of tin to use. The inclusion of cocoa rules out it being my sister-in-law's sponge recipe. Given the relatively short cooking time, and the quantity of ingredients, I'm guessing it might be for brownies, cookies or a slice. Google hasn't really helped. (It's unlikely to be cake, right?)

Mystery recipe

Ingredients

115 g butter
115 g caster sugar
2 eggs
115 g self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp cocoa

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time.
Sift over flour.
Stir in milk and cocoa.
Bake for 17 minutes.

Bakers, any ideas?

Purple Cake Day

2011-03-01T15:57:00.000+13:00

Today is Purple Cake Day, a wonderful event held annually on 1 March to celebrate the children in our lives while empowering those in need around the world. I love purple , I love cake and I love children - this is the perfect event for someone like me!

We organised an afternoon tea for our team at work and arranged for a few of us bakers to get cooking. I got busy making vanilla cupcakes with purple frosting. We purpled up the office and invited staff to bring a cuppa and a donation to join us. A very creative staff member and her nine-year-old son made some beautiful handmade cards which were 'sold' for a minimum donation. Here is our purple spread:

Vanilla cupcakes with purple icing

Purple lemon slice made by one of the lads

Stunning handmade cards for sale

Banana cake made by another one of the boys

In light of last week's earthquake in Christchurch, we were keen to expand our event and be able to donate to both the Kenbe La Foundation as well as contributing directly to New Zealand Red Cross. The response from colleagues was excellent and we managed to raise a fair bit of money for both charities. It was also a great way to bring our staff together and focus on something positive. I'm very keen to take part in Purple Cake Day each year and support this wonderful cause.

Charity begins at home

2011-02-25T10:59:00.001+13:00

It has been a truly devastating week for New Zealand in the wake of Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Christchurch. We are safe and well in Wellington, which is strangely ironic as we have long held the uncontested title of Earthquake Capital and have been expecting 'the big one' for at least as long as I have been alive. Going about our everyday business while waiting for word from friends, family and colleagues in the midst of this tragedy just 300 km away is strangely surreal. People are asking themselves: what can I do to help?

There are various organisations collecting cash donations or accepting gifts on behalf of the public for distribution to aid and rescue centres. (Just beware of the scams floating around!) One event Wellingtonions can get involved in is The Great Sunday Bake Off, where good old-fashioned baking (along with canned food and toys) can be dropped off at central city locations on Monday morning for delivery later that day. There have been suggestions that the bake off instead becomes a big bake sale, as cash donations are the best way to ensure a co-ordinated approach from charities. I see the logic in that so will wait for the official word from bake off organisers before going ahead.

Our workplace had already planned an afternoon tea on Tuesday 1 March to celebrate Purple Cake Day. A few of us bakers are lined up to provide yummy treats for gold coin (or more) donations to support this very worthy cause which is raising money to support children in need in the wake of last year's devastating earthquake in Haiti. However, in light of this week's events, we have been thinking more and more that charity begins at home. It's sometimes hard to know who to support when there are so many in need. I think Mother Teresa said it beautifully:

"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest to you."

Therefore, we have decided to make a nominal donation to Kenbe La Foundation for Purple Cake Day on Tuesday with the rest of our monies raised donated to New Zealand Red Cross. Charity does, indeed, begin at home.

A matter of perspective

2011-02-22T15:15:00.078+13:00

It's easy to complain that we've had a bad day or let off steam about something irritating or annoying. Sure, I was late for work today because my kitten decided to keep playing hide and seek long after I'd stopped. The shine of what was my dream job has now dulled to a dim glow that I sometimes have trouble locating at all. I'm carrying the brunt of several vacant roles and hitting brick walls at every turn. Of course, there are the everyday stresses that everyone experiences. However, I'm healthy, safe, have a home to live in, a wonderful partner, family and friends, food to eat, money in the bank, and I'm happy. After today's devastating earthquake in Christchurch, and following on from the earthquake on 4 September 2010, there will be tens of thousands living the Canterbury region who might not be able to say the same.

Over the summer break, we caught up on watching the BBC documentary series Earth: The Power of the Planet. In each episode, geologist Dr Iain Stewart explains the effects and importance of a specific force of nature, such as wind, ocean currents or volcanism. He also looks at the various ways it shapes the planet itself and influences life on Earth, often in conjunction with other natural forces. Apart from Stewart's Scottish accent making everything sound even more convincing (and appealing), what I love about astronomy and geology is the sense of awe that comes from comparing our individual lives with the magnitude of the earth and space; we are merely blips on the horizon, if we register at all. The universe will keep going well after we're gone, even taking into account its changing form. In concluding the series, Stewart said something along the lines of, 'no matter what happens, the earth will survive - it's people that won't'. That really puts things into perspective.

To everybody who safe and well, don't let a day go by without realising how precious life is. Appreciate life's simple pleasures as well as big treats. Blow bubbles in the sun and play the ukulele. Help others but also take time out to watch the clouds go by. Dance, sing and watch the sun set. Life is all too short and the future is promised to no-one. Oh, and make sure you have an adequate earthquake emergency kit at home and work - that will be this weekend's job to do.

Kia kaha, Christchurch.

Mojo high tea

2011-02-21T08:24:00.000+13:00

Although I am a big fan of coffee and dislike tea immensely, I hold a fascination with the concept that has become known as high tea. There is something about tiny portions of tasty food served so elegantly that appeals to the baker in me. A few months ago, I joined the hordes buying Grab One vouchers for high tea for two at Mojo - all the trappings of high tea served with real coffee! It took several weeks for a booking to become available and yesterday afternoon was our lucky day.

After perusing the tea menu, we ordered coffee anyway. Our food came out on a three-tier stand:

Mojo high tea

The food on offer today was average; nothing in particular stood out. We started at the bottom and worked our way up the tiers. The club sandwiches had some tasty fillings but the bread was hard - probably sitting out on the counter for too long. We enjoyed the risotto balls and the cherry tomato in a flaky pastry cup. Dry scones with jam and cream and then some spicy rhubarb mini muffins followed. The cherry and pistachio nougat was a great way to finish, along with the milk and dark chocolate truffle. Definitely an afternoon tea for the girls!