How old is your baby?

Babies are curious creatures. They elicit polarised reactions from other human beings; some turn to mush at the sight of a gurgling miniature human being and start cooing appreciatively, while others couldn't be more eager to get away from the squirming/slurping/sleeping bundle placed before them.

There are certain protocols that are expected from baby admirers (that is, anyone in the immediate vicinity of their parents or grandparents), regardless of which camp they belong to. It seems easy to get it right: throw out a generic compliment (which the parent always accepts as their own achievement, eg 'he's cute', followed by 'thank you', as though it was something they have done themselves!) and you're off the hook. So long as you get it right, that is.

A few years ago, I was staying at family-run beach accommodation in Samoa. They would serve up communal meals each night and sometimes join us for dinner. One night, a burly baby dressed in a blue stretch-n-grow crawled among the guests, under the watchful eye of an aunt. Someone picked the baby up and asked, 'what's his name?'. 'Felicity,' was the reply. Oops. It was left to another guest to break the embarrassed silence.

A former colleague of mine, Jenefer, had a great strategy for avoiding potential minefields like this. When faced with a pram containing a baby of indiscriminate sex and being expected to front up with a suitable comment, she would ask, 'how old is your baby?'. She figured that the parent would gush, 'oh, she's 11 weeks on Tuesday', or something similar, giving a further clue to go on with. Jenefer insisted her strategy was fail-safe; it was hard to find fault with her logic. I stored it away for future use.

We spent last week near the mountain, where my sweetie grabbed various opportunities to ski during breaks in the weather. One afternoon, I sat in a sunny spot in an upstairs bar at Turoa along with various other non-skiers similarly huddled over books, puzzles and other time-filling activities. A young father with a tiny bundle dressed up in a white bear snow suit, complete with little ears, sat near me. I couldn't tell if the baby was a boy or a girl, and briefly contemplated using Jenefer's strategy before going back to my book, deciding that I didn't really need to know either way. Another guy ambled over to him. Here's what they said to each other:

Observer: How old?
Father: 12 weeks.
[End of conversation]

And that was it. A grand total of four words exchanged and possibly a tiny nod or similar gesture to round off their conversation. No other questions, no politely interested or admiring comments about 12 weeks being very young for a baby's first experience skiing, and absolutely no clues about gender. Nothing at all. Maybe it's different for guys and they're somehow exempt from the obligatory gushing required of women? How can they cut to the chase so quickly and easily and get away with it? Or does this peculiar piece of societal convention just not matter to men?

Boomrock Spanish Fiesta

View from Boomrock

I have really enjoyed all the Wellington on a Plate events I have attended this year. (To quickly recap, Discovering artisan cheese, Cupcakes and cocktails, and Making great patisserie at WelTec.) There were many other appealing festival events on the list but, after careful deliberation, these were the ones I'd chosen and managed to book into. That's where the Twitterverse is so amazing; I was the lucky winner of two tickets to the Boomrock Spanish Fiesta.

My sweetie and I spent an amazing half-day experiencing Boomrock in Spanish-style. After being picked up from the centre of town, we were bused out to Boomrock Lodge, featuring a beautiful view of the west coast of Wellington. Greeted with a glass of Freixenet Cordón Negro, we were handed five more drinks tokens for the rest of the afternoon. (Let's just say that several of our tokens were 'spent' on this bubbly, described as a medium bodied, dry sparkling wine with apple, pear and dry citrus - yum!) The tapas started doing the rounds; they literally melted in our mouths - real taste sensations.

As part of our prize package, we were able to try claybird shooting. I hadn't done this since I was about 7 years old and went with my father to the Chatham Islands gun club. I don't think I hit anything (I probably didn't even shoot by myself), but I'm proud to say that I hit two claybirds yesterday - one with help and the other entirely on my own. Woo hoo!

Our entrées were ready. We took our places at the beautifully set tables and started on a seafood feast. The steamed mussels and Cloudy Bay cockles were absolutely delicious, cooked with tomatoes, sherry, onions and fennel bulb. The other entrée included grilled sardines; I'm not a huge fan of these salty, bony fish so switched back to the mussel dish.

An elegant table setting

The feature dish of the day was our main course, a gigantic seafood paella made by guest chef Ian Hornblow. While we were out shooting claybirds and drinking on the deck, he worked on mixing up the ingredients to create a tasty masterpiece. Cooked to perfection, this was a stunning way to feed a large group.

Making a giant seafood paella

A seafood paella masterpiece

It seemed a shame to break up such a beautiful creation in order to feed the masses.

The recommended accompaniment for the paella was a glass of Torres Gran Vina Sol Chardonnay. Served with lemon, mussels and a king prawn, the flavour was subtle enough to appreciate all of the types of seafood (including crayfish) in the paella. As you can see, the serving size was very generous; regrettably, I couldn't quite finish all of mine. After all, I wanted to leave some room for dessert: churros with a rich chocolate sauce.

Seafood paella is served

We concluded our afternoon of feasting with shots of Baileys on ice then tea and coffee. We had a fantastic afternoon at Boomrock. It is a stunning venue and I see from their website that they host various corporate functions and events. I wonder if I'll be lucky enough to be part of one of these in the future?

Ukulele madness

I'm mildly obsessed with ukuleles at the moment. Can you tell? Three of my 101 in 1001 activities are ukulele-based and I am having a lot of fun spreading some ukulele madness around.

On Saturday afternoon, I arrived in to town with a bit of time to spare before meeting a friend for coffee. I decided to look for a ukulele tuner, as it can get noisy and confusing trying to tune 8-10 ukuleles all at once at the start of our ukulele orchestra practice each week. I bumped into a couple of managers from work, both of whom had expressed interest in joining our orchestra, but neither who had actually turned up to practice. One of them assured me she had a ukulele at home and would bring it on Tuesday; the other said she just needed to buy one but hasn't managed to get to the music shop yet. I pointed four shops down the street and said, 'that's where to buy them from - and I'm just heading there now to buy a tuner'. Suddenly, the three of us were wandering down to Alistair's Music. A short time later, she left with a stunning, purple Gypsy Rose ukulele under her arm and I had my tuner before we all went out separate ways again. Awesome!

On Sunday, three of us went to the ukulele lounge at the Southern Cross. Hosted by the Wellington Ukulele Collective, this is a regular jam session for people wanting to get together and learn new material, or just practise and improve their playing. We came away with lots of ideas and some new music, most of which we'll have to wait until our group are beyond playing the four basic chords, but lots of things we can work towards.

Today is our regular ukulele orchestra practice at work. Each week (or two), we plan to learn a new song to sing and strum while revising a couple we've already practised. It's slow going with a wide range of ability but sooooo much fun. I love it when new members arrive; I love it even more when they come back again, as it shows we haven't scared them off yet! Our wiki is growing along with our group and word is spreading that our ukulele orchestra is the place to be on Tuesdays. Progress!

Discovering artisan cheese

Last night, a friend and I went to The Empire in Petone for a cheese feast. Mmm, I love cheese! Another Wellington on a Plate festival event, Discovering Artisan Cheese was co-hosted by Paul, owner of The Empire, and Wendy, owner of cultured, a specialist cheese shop right around the corner from me. Paul matched the various cheeses (and accompanying food) with beer, wine, or cider while Wendy demonstrated how to make mozzarella in just 30 minutes.

Cheese tasting

First up was the Red Leicester. This firm, hard pressed cheese was really well matched with the house bitter, Empire Ale. Quite strong in flavour without being overpowering, I could happily have eaten more of it with bread or crackers. In between each cheese tasting, we sipped Mac's Green Apple; apparently cheese tasters eat a slice of green apple to cleanse the palette, and this was a refreshing alternative. Next, we tried a Cheshire cheese with pear paste and served with a creamy Boddingtons Pub Ale. I could have eaten this all night. Crumbly, yet strong in flavour, the pear paste set off the flavour and created an exquisite taste combination. Our third sample was the Sunset Blue, a creamy entry-level blue served at room temperature. Paired with a distinction port, this was too much for me. (I'm not really a blue cheese fan.)

Wendy started demonstrating the process of making mozzarella, using a 30-minute recipe, fiore di latte. This was vastly different to the process I've heard that my Napolitani friend's family use, which can take quite a long time and has resulted in his mother sporting red and scalded hands from time to time. Meanwhile, Paul went about preparing bruschetta, which was paired with a Wairarapa Pinot Noir, Russian Jack. (I must say that I was very impressed with Paul's Italian pronunciation - not to mention his cooking skills!)

Paul makes bruschetta

While Wendy continued with her cheese making, Paul prepared pan-fried halloumi with roast pear and walnut salad. Wow, what an amazing taste sensation that was, especially as the dressing contained raspberry puree. We enjoyed this with a refreshing Mac's Isaac's cider.

Wendy makes mozzarella while Paul prepares a halloumi salad

We went home with tickled taste buds and a thirst for more. Apparently they are looking to host further events like this in the future; I'll be there after enjoying the ultimate wine (beer) and cheese evening!

Cupcakes and cocktails

Wellington on a Plate is in full swing. Last night, a friend and I went along to Martha's Pantry for Cupcakes and Cocktails. Going by the almost-exclusively female group that had assembled, it would appear that others had the same idea as us: a fun night out for the girls. We were warmly welcomed with a Pimm's winter cocktail and tiny club sandwiches à la high tea, put on our pinnies and took our places at beautifully decorated tables.

An elegant welcome at Martha's Pantry

Martha's Pantry has a long tradition on its premises and is operated in family-style; we met the two sisters who own the café, their mother, their cousin (who taught me cupcake decorating at Tempt last year) ... the embedded family culture was obvious. We were given the super-simple recipe that Martha's Pantry use for their cupcake base. This would be good to try if I need to whip up some cupcakes in a hurry, as everything goes into a blender for just a few seconds and then straight into the oven - easy peasy!

While the cupcakes were cooking, we were given a lesson in cocktail making. We learned about using jiggers (yes, that's a real word), Boston shakers, and practised making a cocktail for ourselves - lots of fun and noise! Then it was on to decorating cupcakes Martha's style. Their secret seems to be using large piping nozzles on little cupcakes, making one simple, fluid movement to ice the whole cake. Again, their icing recipe was very simple, so this might become my quick-fire backup.

Cupcakes and cocktails

We piped some white chocolate onto baking paper, then finished our decorating by making some delicate tape roses out of sugar paste. The sugar paste was very soft and crumbled easily so this style of rose was probably easiest to make from it. The result was a pretty, elegantly styled cupcake perfect for high tea (or dessert, as it was night time) and a fabulous girls' night out.

Rose cupcakes

Patisserie class

On Sunday morning, I took part in a one-off patisserie class, Making Great Patisserie with WelTec, one of the Wellington on a Plate festival events. With just sixteen places available, the event quickly sold out. On arrival, we were welcomed with a cup of Celcius coffee and a mini lemon tart - a taste of what was to come. With the guidance of patisserie tutor Paul Gibbs and two students in his current patisserie class, we had the most amazing morning learning how to make pastry and gleaning gems from their wealth of cooking knowledge.

Two recipes were on the menu for the morning: choux pastry (which would become chocolate profiteroles) and pear and almond tart. I've never really tried making pastry before, apart from my cousin showing how to make chocolate eclairs years ago; it looked like a lot of hard work to me and I thought there was far more that could go wrong than with regular baking. Apparently lemon, or citrus, tart has more possible factors that can go wrong in a 3-hour session so, although we didn't get to make it ourselves, we were given the recipe to take home and try.

We mixed, beat, creamed, dipped, sliced, piped, and gently added ingredients all morning. We looked very professional in our white dust jackets. We grinned as we took our creations out of the oven and moved on to the next task, made easier by having all the ingredients pre-measured and stored in separate containers - I wish someone could do this for me at home! My cupcake piping skills came in handy when dropping profiterole mix onto the oven tray; it also meant that I could evenly pipe frangipane on to the sweet pastry base when making my pear and almond tart.

Profiteroles straight out of the oven

Paul shows us how to dip profiteroles in chocolate

Magic trick - Paul removing the flan tray in one swift move

I have been hoarding a voucher for The Cake Shop since Christmas, acting like the proverbial kid in a candy store looking at all the great things I'd like to buy online. I've now decided to stock up on some pastry-making items so I can try making it at home and add patisserie to my baking repertoire.

And  the result? Well, let's just say that a friend and I were going to meet for coffee on Sunday afternoon. As I had gone home with about 20 creamed profiteroles and a whole pear and almond tart, I put the coffee on and she came around for Sunday afternoon treats. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday!

Chocolate cream profiteroles

Pear and almond tart