Winter Weekends

I think I've said this before but we've had an absolutely stunning winter. With the exception of a few freezing (not literally) days, it's been sunny and mild. And thanks to my massive down coat, I've been able to sit outside and enjoy the sun!

Tama doesn't like the cold, however, and prefers quick outside trips followed by long bouts of lounging in the sun. He's definitely not a winter kitty and would much rather have us all in the house together. Conversely, Blue is like a polar bear.

I've also sort of kind of maybe possibly started to watch rugby, or at least tolerate it. It's entertaining, to say the least. I never got to this point with American football (and never will) and still can't fathom cricket.


This morning, after I finish rewatching the hilarious Old Spice guy spots, we're heading out for a clifftop walk in Mairangi Bay. We'll make the walk to Browns Bay, have brunch, then walk back. It helps justify the hollandaise!

Brunch!

We continued our theme of having friends over for brunch and hosted Julia, Ian (not to be confused with Iain), and Tash (short for Natasha) last weekend. While I'd like to say our riveting conversation kept everyone around until the late hours of the afternoon, in reality I suspect it was the radiators.

Iain broke all the "brunch" rules and made a delicious roast beef, cooked to temperature for each individual. This was possible only through some serious mathematical equations and two pieces of meat.

Kitten Cafés

Ok, so apparently in Japan you can go to a Kitten Café -- this sounds like the absolute BEST job EVER.

Birfday

Our friend Julia turns 33 this weekend so she invited everyone out for drinks. We're chronically early for events. For us, fashionably late for a 7pm event means arriving at 7:04.

To stall ourselves we decided to go out to dinner.
In Devonport (totally out of the way).
We still managed to get over the bridge and across town by 6:50pm. Arrrggg!

We went to this place (Gypsy Tea Room) last year and it was FUH-REEZING, so I made sure to wear wool socks and a big poncho/coat thing that's more blanket than coat. Thankfully, the place has made the leap into modern times and has heat now. The service is still a little chilly, but we were just there for a few drinks.

By 7.45 most of the guests had arrived, including the guest of honor (who thought she'd put "7.30" on the invites). It's an interesting group, half of whom are from our original New Kiwis group, the other half friends we've met along the way. It was fun getting dressed up again -- it's been really cold lately so everyone was complaining of only being able to wear thick sweaters and jeans everywhere.

Click HERE for some more pictures (if you haven't already seen them on FB).

A Good Two Weeks

It's winter here which means a few things:

1. Clothes take like 4 days to dry unless you have a dryer (we don't).

2. Because NZ has this ridiculous idea that it doesn't get cold, 90% of restaurants have little or no heat. Certainly none of them have central heating. We went out to eat last week and you can see me pictured, right next to a fire with about 3 layers on. The food here was really crap, too. You know how places in really incredible locations (right on the beach, anywhere in Niagara Falls, etc.) often have really bad food? This is one of those places.


3. Blue is doing really well -- getting lots of love and attention!

4. But the winters in Auckland aren't horribly cold, really, so you do get some lovely days where you can sit outside. We had friends over for brunch and enjoyed an hour of warm sun before it got chilly again. Thank god we have central heating!


If you're wondering what that red liquid is in our friend Catherine's champagne glass, it's evil sparkling shiraz. It combines the fun of champagne with the hangover of red wine. It's delicious, but you can only have 2 glasses or you'll hate yourself the next day. Last year they had a party with a bunch of this stuff and we're still talking about it.....

Catherine and her husband Steve just returned from a 10 week honeymoon around the world. Incredible!

iPhone

While everyone in the US fights over whether they want a white one or the black to go with their brand new iPad, over here we're expected to be satiated with crap teaser emails like this.

Dear Anonymous

I hate blogs and websites that require you to sign in, so I've kept the blog totally open to anyone who wants to comment. The problem is, I get a lot of spam that I have to delete.

So, if you choose to comment and you're not some chump trying to sell me on the Top 101 Social Media Tips You're Not Using, please use your name.

Cheers

Lunch

We had a light Sunday lunch at Bees Online, the awesome place with the stupid name where we took Iain's parents. Pictured here is my latest pet peeve: salads served in really deep bowls. I mean, how the hell am I supposed to eat this?!

Wild Jungle Cats!

Blue discovered tree climbing in the new backyard!

I finally remembered my camera!

We went for a walk this morning -- one of my first long walks since my foot surgery. It was only 50 minutes but better than nothing. Last week I went for a few walks at lunchtime, and managed to get down to the Viaduct and all the way around before my foot started hurting. It made for a painful walk back to work, but I'm glad I got out.

It's been raining intermittently all day (welcome to winter in Auckland!) but we managed to have a nice wander through Northcote Point. It's a beautiful neighborhood 15 minutes from our 'hood, on the north shore of Auckland. Full of old villas and fantastic views of the Harbour Bridge, most homes run around $900K+. We actually looked at buying a house here - the price seemed far too good to be true, which it was. The house was right next to the motorway, right as people got off the bridge. We didn't even bother going in. The house pictured here isn't the house, but you get the idea of what the neighborhood is like. And I love the blue roof!

NZ All Blacks

The rugby game was on last night -- NZ v Wales, so we tuned in. Iain watched it, I sat on the sofa posting used clothing on TradeMe.com.

I hate sports, but I'm actually sorta kinda getting into rubgy (and not just because of Dan Carter).

For one thing. the haka is REALLY cool. It doesn't matter what country you're from, seeing the haka is pretty amazing. But of course, this being New Zealand, the commercial break that follows inevitably contains some weird deworming product for sheep. Classic.

Hotel bars

Yesterday we met friends for brunch then decided to wander around the Viaduct by ourselves. It was sunny and gorgeous so we stopped at the Hilton for a drink. I love hotel bars because it always feels like you're on vacation. They have a stunning bar that overlooks the entire harbor. I reached for my camera and realized that yet AGAIN, I left it at home. Damn it! We had a nice wander over to the Westin which was also picture-perfect but alas, no camera. Instead, here are a bunch of house pictures!

Happy Hour

We had a VERY early start on Friday morning. Iain woke up at 4am to watch the Tivo'ed NZ v Paraguay game. I might as well have gotten up, since the cats, ecstatic to have someone awake, began the racing and fighting and meowing extra early.

Because of meetings, etc. we also left the house early and arrived at work around 7.30am. You'd think that getting to work a full 1 - 1.5 hours before everyone else would give one a real headstart on the day but no, there's always more work. Thankfully I left at 5pm.

Later on we met friends at La Zeppa for a few drinks. Our waitress was a large, rude woman who was visibly annoyed that we "just" wanted to drink. I've never understood this -- drinks end up costing MORE most of the time! Although our party of 6 did include a pregnant gal and 2 designated drivers.

La Zeppa is a tapas place, which simply means they charge exorbitant amounts of money for minuscule plates of food, but you can't complain because "It's tapas!". $12 for three tiny pieces of grilled calamari? I know they aren't different from any other tapas place, here or in the US, but it still annoys me. According to people who've experienced REAL Spanish tapas in Spain, the whole concept is enjoying small INEXPENSIVE plates of food before heading off to a big meal. That said, it's still a pretty cool place to go on a Friday night.

For Kate Brill

Hey skank,

Here's a picture of what we have in our fridge.

I hope this lays your fears to rest!!! (Although, I DO say "toMAHto sauce" in restaurants.)

WNED: Canadian Earthquake Felt Across WNY (2010-06-23)

Well this is just weird. So much for that claim about Buffalo "only" getting the snow! Did anyone feel this?

Canadian Earthquake Felt Across WNY (2010-06-23)