June 2008 Archives

from The New Zealand Herald:

Rug Up, Winter's Got More Shivers Ahead

"Black ice, strong winds and surface flooding made driving in the Wellington region treacherous, and the MetService said almost 100mm of rain fell in the hills east of the city."

That's right, Dan: you read it correctly. Schooled.

I was a latecomer to the alcohol-appreciation party: long after my fellow Ascenders had discovered the joys of Saranac's many excellent brews I was taking MGD baby-steps in the Penn State dorms. So imagine my surprise then at Mr. F's blank look when I ran through my new list of New Zealand favorites.

Emerson's 1812? Wigrams Dunkel? Epic IPA, brewed in his very own fair city (recently ranked fifth in global quality of living, seven above our own)? He had heard of none of these outstanding beers. I was amazed.

Shortly after we arrived in Wellington I purchased a six-pack of Monteith's Original Ale, hoping to find some distant cousin of Saranac's: the label made claims to the pale ale family, that it's taste was dominated by hops. After cracking one open, I called him up.

"What the hell is up with this Monteith's crap?" I asked, not realizing it was one of his favorite beers. "It calls itself a pale ale? It tastes like Coors."

Silence emanated from the receiver. I had come all this way, over years and careers and oceans, only to deeply wound my friend's taste in beer. I think I could hear Joanna gasp in the background. Short of insulting his wife, I'm not sure what I could have said to hurt him more.

Fortunately Christian is thick-skinned and not one to take my attempts at humor to heart. He also knows it'll take more than a few beers to pay him back for introducing me to Old Speckled Hen, Kilkenny, Saranac and AC/DC. We shared some of my new favorites this weekend, after a glass of the Laphroaig single malt he brought me upon our arrival. I hope he enjoyed them as much as I have.

And yes, we bought them all at Moore Wilson.

Last Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and drove to nearby Haitaitai Park and hiked up to the Mt. Victoria Lookout. The day started out fairly overcast but then cleared off to beautiful blue skies. The park was amazing, basically a forest full of Grandfather Trees (for anyone who remembers the huge old tree in the woods behind our house on Howard Hill).

We were all tired by the end but Sophie & I still tried to find the area where 'The Road' scene (where the hobbits hide under a tree root from the Black Rider) was filmed. Sophie stuck it out to the end but Josie fell asleep before we got back to the car.

Apologies for the upload lag, we used up our monthly internet allowance at the beginning of the week and were limping along at dialup rate until today!

My Grandma has used a clothesline for as long as I can remember. I used to think she did it just to give her foster kids something extra to do around the house. But with the foster kids long gone and an energy efficient dryer sitting in her garage, she still insists that it saves money to dry your clothes on the line.

Here in New Zealand, almost every house has a clothesline that is in constant use. Some people don't even own dryers. I remember being insistent that we have a dryer in our house because of all the laundry the girls make. However, electricity is also very expensive here so not only do we have a very energy efficient dryer, we also have an energy efficient clothesline.

So after we moved in and I decided to try and be eco friendly by using my clothesline, I gave Mean Mary a call for some advice on how to properly hang things. She was a little sassy (when isn't she) but then seemed pleased that I had finally come around to her way of thinking. Clotheslines just seem to make so much sense! I mean, maybe not in the cold winters of upstate New York but definitely in the summer and fall. Think of all the money I could have saved by drying my clothes outside.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a social stigma in the States that goes along with drying your clothes outside. You're poor. I remember thinking that any time I saw someone drying clothes outside or if we were in a neighborhood where people were drying their clothes on the balcony. "Oh, this must be a bad neighborhood." Both of the houses we've owned have actually banned you from drying your clothes outside or installing a clothesline due, I am guessing, to the eyesore that clothes drying in the breeze causes.

I am a convert. I love the clothesline. I don't even mind the extra work that it causes. True, I do use my dryer if it is raining or if I need to get the one sheet that we have for Josie's crib dry before her nap but for the most part, I dry my clothes outside and I love it.

Why sure, come on over! What's that? It's too expensive to fly over just for lunch, and besides it'd be breakfast the next day before you got here? Ohhh, you're really wondering what happened to our ongoing and incredibly mundane series of posts about food.. well never fear, we haven't forgotten you foodies!

Typically we eat lunch at home, in the very sunny eat-in-kitchen of the house we're renting. Brandie & the girls pick me up from the office anywhere between noon and 1pm, and I get an hour to play before going back to... well, play some more. Usually I drive the car back to work for the afternoon, which saves Brandie from having to pick me up while dinner is on the stove.

If left to their own devices I think the girls would eat peanut butter and jelly for lunch every day, but we try to mix things up with "toasties" (grilled cheese) or leftovers. In that department we've had a variety of new dishes from Brandie's research into the local fare (see future post on dinner), as well as old favorites like risotto and pasta or take-away from the Indian restaurant around the corner. Both girls still love hummus and carrot sticks, as well as sliced apples (no skin, please!) or banana.

There are plenty of great options for eating out, but we've been limiting ourselves to that treat only once a week (or less, as the budget demands!) Maranui Cafe is probably our favorite lunch-time destination, followed by Eva Dixon's as a close second. Both serve great food in a very casual, toddler-friendly atmosphere. If I need to work through lunch, there are a variety of caterers that magically appear every day to sell sushi, sandwiches, salads and soups as well as great "veg" to make my own.

For drinks, we usually get coffees or just drink water while the girls prefer the local apple juice. It's closer to cider than apple juice at home, very cloudy and fresher-tasting. On occasion I also like to have an L&P (Lemon & Paeroa), which is a lot like ginger ale.

We hope you've enjoyed our latest thrilling episode: try not to lose any sleep until our next one!

So admittedly, my interest in watching sports was left alongside my taste for Zima and tolerance for cold bleachers and smelly gyms back in high school.  However I have watched rugby several times since arriving here and am amazed at lack of pads, penalties, time between plays and absolute brutality that these players display on the field.

I knew that the All Blacks were playing Ireland yesterday but that's only because my neighbor had mentioned that he and his family were going with a large group.  I thought to myself, "I hope I can find a good parking spot for Sex and the City tonight."  That was my level of interest before I entered an Irish pub on Courtenay Street last night.  My friends and I arrived before the game actually started and within 10 minutes it was pretty obvious we were the only people who weren't there to watch the game.  The pub was small but still was equipped with two large flat screen televisions, one on each end of the bar. The bar filled up with people in green, we ordered some terribly good fried food and Kilkenny and then the opening ceremonies of the game began.  

The Irish team sang their own anthem (I assume that is what it was) then a young singer performed one of New Zealand's national anthems 'God Defend New Zealand'.  We all commented on the rain and were amazed that it had started raining so hard since we had entered the bar.  And then I saw my first live haka performed by the All Blacks team.  I was moved to tears.  It filled me with emotion and pride to see 'my' team performing with such passion before playing this sport.

A haka is a dance and I'm not talking about the Super Bowl Shuffle here.  This is a Maori traditional dance that has been performed by New Zealand rugby teams since as early as 1884.  The All Blacks haka "Ka Mate", is a war cry and I know that if I were on the other side of the field, I'd be wetting my pants before the game even started.  If you are interested in seeing the All Blacks perform, here's a great link.  NZ Maori - Haka