Vanilla Shott

Sipping a latte this morning, I looked into my pantry and made a shock discovery: my little bottle of magical vanilla Shott coffee syrup was almost finished. Eep! How did it go down so fast? I quickly added it to both my shopping list and the list of my favourite things.

Vanilla is no longer a code word for "plain" or "flavourless" like I remember it growing up. True aromatic vanilla bean with its full flavour is seeing a resurgence in cooking and baking. When added to coffee (either black or white), it takes on a whole new form. Use vanilla Shott in place of sugar for a sweet, full flavour. Just 10 ml is enough for me but the sweeter teethed may prefer to opt for the full 25 ml recommended serving.

You'll see the Shott range in cafés and various food stores. In my humble opinion, caramel Shott is great in hot chocolate drinks but vanilla reins supreme in coffee. I also love that Shott is a local company.

A day at the fair

Our extended family is growing and now there are more birthdays and occasions that require gifts than ever before. We have a shelf at the top of the wardrobe where we stock up on gifts during the year (online shopping is great!), but this week's birthday has cleared out the present cupboard. Time to go shopping!

It is a beautiful summer's day, which is perfect for the annual Petone Rotary Fair. Living a stone's throw away from Jackson Street means we don't have to tussle for parking in and out of the side streets and can be in among the action within minutes. It is tempting to pimp out our driveway for profit on days like these ... today, it was occupied by a friend who was thankful she could bypass all the commotion and drive straight into a guaranteed car park.

The fair featured the usual assortment of stalls and entertainment as well as all the Jackson Street shops open for business. There were possibly fewer this year as the street seemed less crowded and more pleasant to wander through. We went in search of the usual fair grub (coffee, fair fudge - sadly, chop suey was nowhere to be seen this time) and enjoyed fresh spring rolls, dim sum and roti with peanut sauce from various street vendors. I picked up a few gifts for family members (I'm great at shopping for others), including some gorgeous wooden toys and this adorable set of book ends for the newest reader in our family.

How could any new reader resist these book ends?

Further up the street, there was a stall I'd never seen before. I don't recall the name of the company, but couldn't miss the product they were selling: coffins. Now, I know there's no reason why we shouldn't demystify death and it's probably very practical to think of these things in advance. I just didn't expect to see coffin samples nestled in among baby clothing and colourful children's toys at an event like this. We didn't linger.

A day at the fair is a great way to celebrate and support local businesses and crafty people from all around the region. I was thrilled to start restocking our present cupboard again but will say no to a buying a coffin for now.

Project 365 has begun

I have now officially started Project 365. For the next year, I will endeavour to take one photograph a day and post it online.

I've got to say that the stormy weather we had today (again) almost put me off; there wasn't much that was exciting enough to capture within the four walls we've been confined to for most of the past week or so. However, I was proud of myself as I trudged down the street to the beach, where I'd seen some windsurfers struggling against the choppy sea a few minutes earlier. I felt like a professional photographer in the line of duty as the sand whipped up against my face and I raced out, battling the elements, to capture my subject while the light was still good ...

By the time I got Petone beach, the conditions were worse than before, the sky had already started to darken, but there was a lone windsurfer still braving out the tide. I could just make out Wellington city in the background, and even he was hard to track for this photo. I thought the sky looked incredible, though, so snapped away.

You can follow my Project 365 here - Cafe Chick's Project 365.

Carnival fever

Yesterday was a day of carnivals and festivals in town. The Petone Rotary Fair was in Jackson Street yesterday, just around the corner from us, so we meandered along during the day. A small version of the Martinborough Fair, around 300 stalls packed about 2km of Jackson Street, complete with live music and kids' rides. We came away with our fair fudge (of course) and some raspberry-chocolate liquorice; what else is there?


And then it was the big one: the biennial Cuba St Carnival. Several streets in downtown Wellington were closed to make way for stalls, temporary bars, more than 80 bands, and other entertainment. This is topped off by the mardi gras style parade at 9pm. It's hard to describe the parade; the weirdest and most wonderful floats wander past you and the costumes and effects get better every year. We had friends dancing with a couple of the salsa floats. It's the kind of event that just makes you want to get up and shake something.

Whoever decided to plan both of these events must have missed a visit by the logic fairy. It's unfathomable that two large-scale events like these could take place in the same town at the same time and on the same day. What were they thinking?? Both were well-attended, and my friend's band, Shenanigans, managed to play at both events, but stall holders wouldn't have been so lucky. It will be interesting to see what happens in future years.

Petone Winter Carnival

The Petone Winter Carnival was on today, after being postponed yesterday due to bad weather. I didn't make it down to the foreshore during the day, but could hear drumming and carnival noise during the afternoon. We went to watch the fireworks tonight, as the foreshore is only half a block away from here. They were set off from the Petone Jetty and could be seen across the harbour. They were so pwetty!

The Pelorus Trust sponsors fireshows a couple of times a year and everyone heads down to the waterfront to enjoy them. Tonight's show was 15 minutes long and supposedly simulcast on a radio station, but the music finished a couple of minutes before the big finale ... never mind, the big bangs announced the end of the show instead.

I absolutely love fireworks. Roll on Guy Fawkes Day! :-)