penguins and poles

/ erect crested penguin via nzbirds /

in honour of endangered species day, i am highlighting nz's erect crested penguin. not only because penguins are adorable, but it means i can easily segue into my visit to the international antarctic centre during my layover in christchurch coming home from singapore (good segue, right?).

/ polar humour /

the place was actually really great and so conveniently located next to the airport. i definitely recommend a visit if you ever have a layover in christchurch - just follow the blue penguin prints on the sidewalk!

/ in the polar room /

one of the attractions is the polar room, where there is real snow and ice and a simulated antarctic blizzard. 

/ brrrrr! /

you can put on one of their winter jackets and go play in the snow, which might sound pretty boring to someone from a country that actually gets snow, but it's a relative novelty in most parts of new zealand.

/ i couldn't resist /

i couldn't resist the somewhat gimmicky 'stand on both poles!' display, so i did. unfortunately no one was around to take my picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

/ i'm on both poles! /

life lessons from a cat

this weekend, our little family suffered a loss of one of its members - aston. after a weekend of grieving over the hardest decision we've ever had to make, i want to make sure i reflect on how amazing the past four years with him have been.

aston was such a special cat - the most cuddly, affectionate, and fluffy ball of purrs (or purr factory, as hemingway said). i had never met another cat like him. in fact, i am pretty convinced that he was our little four-legged angel. he helped us through years of uncertain plans, endless amounts of studying, and a new marriage and never minded tears in his fur or us laughing at his quirks.

he has taught us life lessons and left holes in our hearts; he will be sorely missed. rest in peace aston, we love you dearly.

want!

/ cat false thigh high stockings by seoulrhythm /

how cute are these???

this is why i run

/ hungry, hungry hippo at george cafe in tauranga /

yep - there's the reason right there - food. i love food.

opiki school 6k race

a couple of weekends ago reuben and i ran the opiki school 6k race. ok, i wasn't really racing so much as just trying to finish and reuben was just there as backup, but i did it. and now i can say i don't like racing.

but as much as i don't like racing and swore i would never like running and even struggle to fit running into my life, i do enjoy the benefits of being more fit. and it means i can eat things like this (cue the recap of the past few weeks of my life as summarized by food):

home cooking (and drinking):

/ yummy pinot noir and reuben's delicious bruschetta experiment /

another careme cooking class, which i attended with reuben's dad and came home with a pet sourdough starter:

 

/ a whole day of cooking, eating and drinking /

/ brioche /

/ smoked chicken /

/ sandwiches with wholemeal bread /

/ calzone /

/ wholemeal and sourdough bread with a bit of cheese /

my surprise 30th birthday party! (thanks reuben):

/ delicious caramel mudcake with chocolate icing /

/ the last bottle in the country /

a weekend trip to tauranga, where it rained the entire time. luckily restaurants are still open in the rain. first stop was taco, taco in taupo on our way up:

/ gingerbread margarita - much tastier than it sounds /

/ chicken burrito /

/ beef quesadilla /

then delicious george cafe for breakfast near mount maunganui (aka THE mount):

/ spanish eggs /

/ eggs and bacon /

and finally, tapas for dinner in tauranga at comida:

/ lemon and basil martini /

/ all sorts of deliciousness /

/ sangria! /

eat, drink, dress party. some work mates and i put together a foodie group where we have themed dinner parties every once in a while. because it was school holidays, we decided to throw one earlier this week where each person could pick their own theme which had to tie into your outfit, your dish and your drink. reuben and i went as salt & pepper and we brought old bay spiced prawns with lime mayo dipping sauce, peppered potato soup, salted caramel martini, and a 3 pepper bloody mary. other themes included teenage mutant ninja turtles, safari, mexican and high tea.

/ pass the s&p please /

/ the dishes /

/ and even some desserts /

as much as being fit is a motivator for my running, i definitely couldn't do it without the help of my energetic hubby and, most importantly, the training and motivation from holly of run with holly :) go check her out if you're interested in starting a running adventure (yes, i think adventure is the right word) or even if you just want to read her ever-entertaining blog.

now i am off to singapore to see some sights and probably continue to stuff my face with delicious food. see you soon!

extinct monster makeover

i would love a 3d printed stegosaurus in my house!

tonight's happy thoughts

/ nocturne by martin wittfooth /

love, love, love martin wittfooth's paintings! so stunning.

you know what i also love? food. and this weekend will be a great weekend of celebrating with food! i started tonight by making some white pepper, nutmeg and reisling applesauce. i had to stop myself from eating the whole pot. tomorrow morning i'll be taking another careme class, this time on bread making. then there's a pre-birthday dinner, birthday breakfast and family birthday dinner - whew! i might be drooling a bit already.

day out in wellington

/ posing with a komodo dragon /

reuben and i decided to go down to wellington for one sunny saturday a few weeks ago and do a few things we hadn't done before, and a few that we had.

/ reuben's new meerkat friend /

first stop: wellington zoo

/ reuben posing with the sun bear /

second stop: sweet mother's kitchen

/ pork burrito /

third stop: mt victoria lookout

/ looking out over the harbour /

fourth stop: richter city (wellington) v pirate city (auckland) roller derby game - the game was awesome, two good teams and a really close result where wellington won over auckland for the first time

11 days

/ apple cobbler cupcakes with pumpkin pie frosting by cupcake project /

only 11 days til my birthday! have you checked my wishlist? :) here's an update for you:

/ bob via super carlos /

amazon gift voucher for kindle books like a street cat named bob.

/ via blackmilk /

sheena dress by blackmilk... or pretty much anything else by blackmilk!!

/ via ballerina project facebook page /

subscription to ballerina project. or even better - pledge to their kickstarter campaign!

it's been a while

/ what i'm reading: chesapeake by james michener (photo: ecruelephant) /

it's been a while since i've made a post because i've been so busy lately - traveling, running, working. you name it, i've been doing it. or at least it feels that way. but don't fret, here's a recap from the past 2 months! check out more photos on my picasa album.

/ the happy couple /

in january, we were back in hawke's bay (one year after our own wedding in the bay) for pam & dave's wedding. it was even sunnier and hotter than our wedding, but all in all a good day. best part was hearing reuben emcee ;)

/ our table /

/ my diy tassel earrings worn for pam & dave's wedding /

because we were spending a couple days in the napier area, we decided to go visit te awa winery where reuben and i had adopted a row of vines for jan & chris. as part of the 1-year adoption package, you get to visit the row with one of the winemakers and put your name on it. in addition to learning lots about the vines and how they're grown, we also got to taste all of their delicious wines.

/ visiting jan & chris' row of syrah vines at te awa winery /

new additions at te manawa - frogs! plus the weta are growing up fast. the last i counted, we had 20 babies and juveniles.

/ young southern bell frog at te manawa /

 / babies! /

now we're just waiting for our doc permits to come through so we can get wellington green geckos at te manawa. it's been a very long process, so fingers crossed this happens before i finish my contract at the end of april.

/ gold and pave diamond serpent bracelet on ahalife /

happy year of the snake! i found it particularly interesting to read all about holly's adventures in singapore for chinese new year. especially all the food :)

/ i'm hidden in the back on the right /

lorna's hens party was a blast. i've never done life drawing (though i guessed that this would be the activity!) and even worse, we had to use charcoal, which i have always hated using in my art classes in the past. but i was having such a blast and actually really enjoyed using the charcoal for flesh tones and texture. we, of course, went on to complete a list of challenges later in the evening, but i won't detail these here.

/ image courtesy of jo crabb /

it's no secret that reuben and i love food, so we decided to step up our game and learn how to make some delicious things by taking careme cooking's master class. you can read reuben's review of the class, but i'll sum it up by saying it was a great experience for a very reasonable price. in fact, we both booked second classes. reuben went to a brunch class today with his mum and i'll be going to a bread class with reuben's dad in april.

/ verrine provencale and a side of palliser estate's bubbly /

/ blini with creme fraiche and smoked salmon /

/ seafood mille feulle with homemade puff pastry /

/ smoked duck breast salad with spiced puy lentils /

/ berry charlotte /

a few more snippets:

/ now i see why my garden wasn't growing this summer /

/ my first and only red tomato grown on my balcony /

/ i bought a bike! /

/ wayne & adam's red carpet themed engagement party /

/ in the photo booth at lorna & ben's wedding

/ lovely lorna & ben /

/ checking out a tournament at the rangitikei polo club /

/ celebrating st. patty's at leesa & andrew's house after a hike in totara reserve /

and this weekend, reuben and i spent most of the day down in wellington:

/ the afternoon started with a visit to the wellington zoo /

/ reuben bonding with the meerkats /

/ lunch at sweet mother's kitchen /

/ richter city (wellington) versus pirate city (auckland) derby game at tsb arena /

despite a million and one timeouts, the richter city game was awesome and they managed to squeak out a win by 2 points.