Pampering and high tea

Today is my friend's 40th birthday. Her partner organised a whole weekend of surprises for her, including a romantic weekend away in Martinborough, a six course meal with wine matching, and various other treats along the way. He asked myself and another friend if we could 'help' him by doing a "girlfriend girly girly soft and fluffy girlish thingie for her" today. Would we mind doing this to celebrate our friend's birthday? We were happy to oblige, especially when he said he had booked and paid for the three of us to have a two hour spa treatment, consisting of a massage, facial and foot bath "with wonderful luxurious copper foot baths and water jugs". While we conceded that this would require a lot of effort on our part, how could we refuse such a good friend? ;-)

And so we arrived in secret at Bodyhaven in the James Cook Hotel. The birthday girl was delivered to the door, very surprised to see us, and with no idea of what was ahead of her. We began with a relaxation massage, the three of us side by side and serenaded by the sound of rainforests. Under strict instructions from my osteopath to change positions every 15 minutes to prevent further damage to a disc in my back, this appeared to interfere with the masseuse's planned routine, so I found myself squirming and wriggling for the best part of an hour or so while she worked around my body. I hesitantly anticipated the facial, my first. I'm not sure what was in the face mask, or what was used to cleanse and exfoliate, but my face and neck is now super-smooth. However, I'm still slightly worried that my hypersensitive skin might start burning at some stage, as I've been known to have this reaction to even the most gentle of products (especially those containing sunblock). Time will tell!

The copper foot bath was ... interesting. Not being someone who is partial to having their feet (or legs) touched in the best of times, I found the temperature of the water almost unbearably hot and had to ask (beg?) for some cooler water to be added to the mix, even though we were assured that "the temperature is correct". Gulp. However, having Earl Grey tea leaves (which supposedly are good for softening skin) floating in the bowl ... well, I don't think I'll be repeating that experience in a hurry.

Then it was on to high tea. I had been particularly looking forward to this as I haven't had high tea before but am hoping to hold an outdoor tea party this summer and I need ideas for what to bake. We were offered a choice of teas or coffee to accompany our food. Starting on the bottom tier, we enjoyed mince savouries and delicate crustless club sandwiches skewered with stuffed olives. The middle tier held sweet treats: miniature cheesecake and brownie pieces and tiny cups of chocolate mousse. On top were small scones with jam and clotted cream, chocolate cookies and strawberries dipped in chocolate.

High tea at James Cook

What an amazing afternoon of pampering with girlfriends! I'd like it known that I'm happy to volunteer my services if anyone else needs 'help' of this kind for future events.

Biography of My Skin

There is something entirely irresistible about delving into other people's lives. We all do it, through movies, tv and books - even newspapers offer us a brief escape from our own lives and a glimpse into someone else's. Biography of My Skin gives us the opportunity to do exactly that. This new show by Stuart McKenzie, and starring Miranda Harcourt, premiered at Downstage last night and I was fortunate enough to win tickets to the preview.

Biography of My Skin is the story of Miranda Harcourt, as told by her husband, Stuart McKenzie. It's hard to comprehend at times that every word uttered was written by McKenzie, although we are reminded on several occasions in the dialogue. He has even scripted some pretty heated arguments between them!

A mixture of live theatre and video segments, also featuring various cameo appearances from various people in Harcourt's life, Biography of My Skin is carefully articulated and well-timed. Non-chronological events from her life are explored to varying depths, and there is something for everyone to identify with. A few are touched on very briefly, others are expanded further, many with humour, and all with raw honesty. I almost expected to see Forrest Gump sitting at a bus stop telling us, "that's all I have to say about that" after the scene where Miranda faces her attacker in prison.

The show opens tonight and runs until the end of October. It's well worth going to see if you are interested in character-driven performances, especially those that allow you a little more insight into your own life.

Sushi for Beginners - Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes burst onto my literary scene a number of years ago, when she was touted among my friends and colleagues as a hot "new" writer. Although it was a while before I finally read one of her novels (Angels - perhaps not the best one to start with), I have long enjoyed Keyes' writing style and her ability to build identifiable characters which inevitably become part of the furniture. Sushi for Beginners (2000) was the first Keyes title I'd heard of, and I have finally read it!

Sushi for Beginners is set in Dublin and the plot centres around the establishment of a new glossy women's magazine, Colleen. We get to know some of the staff and their friends: Lisa, the magazine's "hard and shiny" editor from London, Little Miss Fix-it Ashling, and her beautiful yet spoiled friend Clodagh. The cast expands and a multitude of characters are introduced, yet they quickly become familiar. Romances come and go, and each character finds out more about themselves along the way, some receiving their come-uppance and others finally receiving their due. We almost even come to like the heartless Lisa. Almost. As usual, there are a couple of 'issues' thrown in to the mix, and this time it's depression and homelessness, but they're not the main focus for the plot.

I'm glad I finally got to read Sushi after all these years. Although it becomes increasingly predictable, Sushi is a comfortable, yet satisfying, read for both Keyes fans and newbies alike.

One hundred trillion dollars

100 trillion dollar note
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Our pub quiz team won a special round on last night and were awarded a whole collection of junk and joke prizes. I got to take home the purple fairy wings. :-) We divided up the toffees, someone grabbed the magnetic snakes and ladders game, but we all had our eyes on the money: a 100 trillion dollar note from Zimbabwe. (Count the zeros - there are 14!) We speculated what the note might be worth; guesses ranged from $NZ5, $NZ10, a can of Coke, or even a negative value. I took a quick photo of it with my phone camera before one lucky team member finally claimed it as hers.

This morning, she emailed the rest of our team with the results of her investigations: "I thought I'd let you know that one hundred trillion Zimbabwe dollars is worth about 40 cents NZD, and that's only if you convert the old ZWD to the new ZWD (conversion rate 1 trillion to one) and then exchange those dollars for your NZD dollars." Did she strike the jackpot or what??

The "new" Vegemite

The Vegemite publicity machine is in top gear this week. For years, the question has simply been "Vegemite or Marmite?", followed by lengthy and often heated debate, much like Coke vs Pepsi. For me it's Vegemite all the way and, yes, I can tell the difference. For those of you who reply "neither" ... *sigh*.

This week, the debate has a new dimension added. A few months ago, a new Vegemite product was tentatively launched to complement (not replace) the original Vegemite. Adding cream cheese to the original recipe was meant to make it easier to spread and more convenient to snack on. Taste tests showed that the product wasn't too bad. I haven't tasted it yet myself but am curious about the outcome. An international campaign to find a name for the new product (which most people haven't tasted) was launched, and the winning name was declared iSnack 2.0. What on earth does that have to do with Vegemite? And how was this the best suggestion from a pool of more than 48,000 entries??

The name was eventually given a huge thumbs down ... after several hundred thousand jars rolled off the production line. With these labels now destined to become collectors' items, the public are, once again, being asked to vote on a new name. The timeframe is tight; voting finishes at midday on Monday 5 October. But haven't we already done that?

This time, six suggestions are given and voters are asked to rank them in order of preference. To be honest, they're all incredibly boring and some of them are as random as iSnack 2.0 was. At most, the voting process is probably an attempt by Kraft to milk every last bit of publicity from a campaign that didn't exactly set the yeast spread world on fire to begin with. I have a feeling that, no matter what winning name is announced on Wednesday 7 October, the product will forever be known as the "new" Vegemite.

Apple muffins

Here is a simple way to use apples which are past their best but still good to bake with. Easy variations can include adding 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, 3/4 cup of finely chopped dates, 1/4 cup chopped crystalised ginger and one teaspoon of treacle, or substituting the flours with one cup of flaky bran and 1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour.

Apple muffins

Ingredients
Wet mix

• 2 cups grated raw apples (I left the skin on)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Dry mix

• 1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour (or 1 cup wholemeal flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder)
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

 Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C and grease a 12 hole muffin tin.
2. Thoroughly combine the wet mix ingredients.
3. Combine the dry mix ingredients and mix thoroughly into the wet mix.
4. Place the mixture into prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes.

Apple muffins