blunt?

I have never thought of myself as blunt. In fact, I dislike blunt people, and I strongly dislike people who brag about how they are blunt. You know those type of people, who bitchily say, "I tell it like it is."
That said, here, in NZ,

I am the blunt one.

Apparently. I am learning how to soften my language, especially in my e-mails. I sit for way too long at my computer, trying to figure out a nice way to say something potentially upsetting, when my coworkers and managers can compose a better, almost musically soft and sweet, message-- in seconds. While I'm trying to work on this aspect of my communication, there's a flip side that is really excruciating:

People just won't directly tell me what they mean.

You can't imagine how frustrating it is, to have to guess what someone's circumlocutions really mean. Even more frustrating than figuring out the point-- is figuring out how to respond. Do I directly address what they are indirectly communicating? Is this an appropriate time to express frustration/set up boundaries about the indirect communication? Are they being passive/ aggressive? Are they trying to say something that they feel is awkward or is making them nervous? If they are hiding rudeness, how do I stand up for myself? Should I address their mode of communication, or do I address what I think they're trying to communicate? What the hell do I say??

I have so many examples of this, but really shouldn't post them online.


And the thought occurs to me-- are people going as nuts with how directly I talk about things?

naaa

poi e

We saw a great NZ movie a few weeks ago, "Boy," that reintroduced a cool old song. It's reaching the top of the music charts now, because it's awesome!

Cafe Hopping

Skyped with Sheryl and Herb, and then Roy and Tammie, for most of the morning. So nice to be in touch with family, it makes us feel way less homesick. Sheryl said she found flights from LA to Auckland recently for only $399; we told her to definitely jump on those tix and visit if she sees them again.

We drove to Miramar to try out the famous Chocolate Fish. This cafe, when it was in its old location, was the favorite hang-out place for the actors on the Lord of the Rings movies. The cafe has since moved to Maori land so it's on a restricted license-- it doesn't have the best view and it can't have a kitchen so all the food is sandwiches served on paper plates. Their sandwiches were nice but we didn't stay long. The old Chocolate Fish must've been amazing. The present cafe that that bought out their old building is in a gorgeous location.


I made a new cafe rule-- that if we don't get coffee with lunch, we're allowed to go to another cafe for dessert and coffee. Bryce decided he liked this rule, so off we went to Cafe l'Affare in CBD. It's a great Italian cafe with an awesome vibe. It's yet another cafe recommended by Sally at work. (Sally has also recommended our other favourite cafes: Havanna, also in CBD, and People's Coffee in Newtown). I had a pear-ginger slice and Bryce had a blueberry sour cream square. We walked around the shops after coffee but the city pretty much shut down at 4:00. It's still hard for us to get used to the condensed hours of operation of most stores.

Korean

Not to be too flip, but it's interesting that the week where the situation in S. Korea appears to really be approaching "war mode" is the same week that we try out Korean food for the first time. We went out with a fellow UW alumn and her roommates.

It was pretty yum; it was really neat to roast our food over a wood fire in the centre of our table. Had a Korean beer too, called Cass, and some pretty nice stuff called Soju. Reading up on Wiki, Soju costs about $3-4 US in Korea, but it cost about $10 US at the restaurant in Wellington.

There were small rooms in the restaurant that were rented out for karaoke, so you could have your own little karaoke party. It was pretty awesome. No one thought that they were a good singer, so there was just this fun, laid-back vibe of everyone singing their hearts out. Everyone was super outgoing. Highlights included the fact that I apparently remember every word to the "Barbie Girl" song. ;-)

Music

Awesome song just came out by The Naked and Famous. They're a NZ group and I am so bummed because I just found out that they just played a show last night in Wellington that I missed! We're going to make a real effort to go to some shows now--

Other great NZ groups:

Mint Chicks



Kids of 88



Computers Want me Dead


Phoenix Foundation

tv

I'm getting caught up on a lot of TV. American television episodes run a few seasons or weeks behind the States; and go through quarterly rotations so you're always getting caught up in new television shows. There's satelite tv available called Sky but we don't have that, so we're limited to just a few channels: TV1, which plays on 3 channels, TV2, which plays on channel 2, and TV3, which plays on channel 3, and... guess channel 4... nope you're wrong that's called C4, which usually plays music videos all day. There's a Maori channel and a parliament channel and that's about it.

Right now the tv channels are stuck in a totally boring rotation of shows. Survivor. Ug. House. ick.


But Wednesdays, ahhh. Wednesdays you get Flash Forward and Lost. Wednesdays used to be Big Bang Theory day, but that has been replaced by the hideous Cougar Town.

Here's to Wednesday, until Lost's season finale Saturday night! (We're trying to ignore all the American news stories talking about the finale that already played in the States last week.)

Pouring Rain

It has been pouring down rain since Sunday night. The forecast on Sunday called the storm system, "the worst storm we've had in awhile," which is awfully ominous considering that there's been a lot of really bad storms lately. Tuesday morning we woke up to the clock radio calling the storm "a bomb." Several people were about an hour late to work today because of car smashes on the motorway. There's lots of flooding in the lowlands but luckily we live on a hill. Unluckily, the cable tv went out so Bryce couldn't watch Grey's Anatomy (shhh, don't tell him that you know his secret vice). ;-)

Basic Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkins were selling at New World Supermarket for only $4.99 this week. They are so tasty and nutritious, it's amazing that I can buy a huge ol pumpkin and feed us for a week on it. The problem with buying a ginormous pumpkin is that there's a lot of prep work involved-- a couple hours to cut, peel, roast, and mash. A nice strong guy is usually needed to make the initial slices into the pumpkin. I wish I had an axe. Or a jig-saw.

I make pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin lasagna, and pumpkin soup all week with my store of roasted, mashed pumpkin sitting in the fridge. Tonight was a combination of these foods: soup for appetizer, lasagna for dinner, and pie for dessert. Bryce has requested a moratorium on pumpkin for awhile.

Here's a great recipe for pumpkin soup:

3 cups roasted and mashed pumpkin (Or, 1 big can of pureed pumpkin, I think that's 30 oz).

1 cup chicken stock, vegetable broth, or hot water

1 cup milk or cream
1 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste (I put in about 1/2 - 1 tsp of each in).

If you have a blender, put everything in and puree.
If you don't have a blender, it's ok if you whisk it all together on the stove.

Sprinkle with parsley to serve.

Thistle

Our good friend leaves for the UK on Wednesday, so we had leaving drinks for her after work today at the Thistle. A small part of the floor is made of glass, which reminds me of that glass floor in the Sears Tower. I was brave and stood on the glass floor at the Thistle; I don't think I could do that at the top of a skyscraper.

Monday night highlight: I was introduced to hazelnut liquor called Frangelico, as well as eating french fries with gravy (yum).

I've realized that my blogs lately are all about food but what can I say...

Best Day Ever

The entire weekend was forecasted for rain, but we woke up to gorgeous sunshine that didn't look like it was going to go away. Bryce went for a run while I made a mini-English breakfast (hashbrowns, bread, tomatoes, and mushies with plunger coffee).

We headed to Animates to look at the adorable puppies and then went to the French cafe next door. We realized that we know of 3 French cafes here; they all have French owners and employ French speaking staff. I don't know of any French cafes in Seattle (not saying that they don't exist, just that I'm not aware of them).

We parked downtown and caught the Saturday morning market at Frank Kitts Park. I got some paua jewelry there as gifts; a carved whale bone caught Bryce's eye that we might go back and get later.

On the way to the market we noticed kids playing in inflatable balls on the water.

Off we went to the City Museum, but unfortunately they were changing over exhibits so only a few rooms were open. There was a movie playing of a woman who documented her iwi- leader father getting facial tattoos-- but then in the next scenes he is in a hospital bed being sung Bob Marley redemption song. It was so sad; I couldn't believe that this woman set out to document her father and then he passes away (the next scenes were of his funeral, where his family sung for him again). It was very moving, to see him in life and then go through the tragedy.

After a very round-about journey to find the zoo (the directions online said to "follow the signs" which were not really obvious), we finally found it. There's a zoo cafe out front where miniature monkeys play and watch you through a window. There were blue penguins there (they quack like ducks) and really cool giraffes that were eating up close to us. I had forgotten how huge ostriches were. Apparently a cheetah was watching and stalking me, but I didn't even notice, Bryce says he understands now why I'm afraid of animals out in the wild ;-).

The absolute best part of the whole trip and whole day was the nocturnal kiwi exhibit. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. Once our eyes got used to the dark, we found 2 kiwis. They were soo so so cool. It was so fun to listen for them walking around. You could see their big beaks digging for bugs in the leaves. At one point, one kiwi started making noises and called to the other kiwi, who answered back in the most haunting way. It was amazing.


After the zoo we headed to the Mediterranean market in Newtown. We bought some capellini pasta to try out later at home. At the attached pizzeria, we ordered a pizza and a bottle of wine, which the man at the deli said we had to drink while we were there due to licensing issues. So we stayed there about 2 hours, having a wonderful dinner.

Roti Chanai

The girls and our partners went out to the Matterhorn on Cuba street for drinks. I had an extra dirty grey goose martini which was marvelous and absolutely worth the $19 I paid for it. Afterwards we headed to Roti Chanai (a Malaysian place) for an amazing dinner where Laura learned the word, "rambunctious" (me... that was a strong drink). Found I scored a $12 parking ticket, and then headed to Kaffee Eis on Courtney Place for some ice-cream. I couldn't decide between truffle and tiramasu so I got both, they were both amazing. Bryce got a mixed-berry cone and arrogato, which is espresso over ice-cream.


We were in bed by 9:20 PM, because we're old and get tired easily ;-)

Bla Bla Bla

I just got an e-mail from immigration that my status has changed, but I can't figure out my password to log on to the website and see the info. Last time I tried to guess the password it locked me out. I'm too busy to figure out this stuff~

Finally enrolled for a GP today; now it's time to actually get the health insurance piece figured out.

Sleepy

I can't believe that the days are going to actually continue to get shorter for another whole month. So sleepy by 7:30!!

Got my official job offer in the mail today; I'll be making about $15-20K US less than I would have if I had stayed in Bellevue. Ouch. The price of paradise.

Another excuse to celebrate

So yesterday, May 17, was the day that we originally thought we'd be kicked out of the country. That is, the wording on my work/holiday visa was not very good, and made it sound like the visa expired a year from when I applied. Once I met another coworker from Ireland, though, she explained that the visa actually expires a year from when we enter the country, which of course makes much more sense.

Here's the wording, just so you don't think I'm an idjit:

"This Visa allows the holder 12 months from the date of issue to travel to New Zealand. Date of issue: 17 May 2009."

Apparently the wording means that I had an expiration date on when I could start using the work/holiday visa.

Anyways, the point being that Bryce and I went out to dinner to celebrate that we are still in NZ. We went to this nice Spanish restaurant, Gusto, in Petone. They served truffle soup in shot glasses at the beginning of the meal. Pretty sweet; don't be surprised if I do that one day at a dinner party.

Best Breakfast Ever

Get the toaster out. Click on the wall switch to turn on the wall outlet.
Toast 2 English Muffins.
Dab of butter.
Slices of cheese.
Slices of avocado.
Slices of tomato with salt & pepper.

Make the yummy plunger coffee.

Prepare two kiwifruits.

Heaven!

Take husband to train station and drive to work. Be sure to notice the cute sheep itching themselves on the fence along the way. (Understandable, it rained last night and wool is itchy!)

Thanksgiving in May

Met up with friends at Cafe Vella today in Plimmerton. I love coffee art.


I finally got to try the pancakes with pears and chocolate ganache that I had been eyeing several weeks ago. Off to the Lighthouse movie theatre to see Ironman-- not a bad movie.

We decided on a whim to have Thanksgiving today, so a couple friends helped us cook and eat. There was mashed potatoes, chicken (no turkeys to be found after checking 2 supermarkets), cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, biscuits, shallots and mushroom stuffing, gravy (made by Doug), and pumpkin pie with whip cream for dessert. Doug and Laura loved the biscuits and pumpkin pie, which was awesome as they had had neither before. I learned that shallots are pronounced "shall LOTS."

Laura and I also had hibiscus & champagne cocktails--

Bugs, Cafes, and Penguins

Bryce noticed this stick bug on our front door frame today. We had seen a similar one a few days ago and thought it might have been a twig... seeing the exact same "twig" up close a few days later pretty much verifies it is a bug! It didn't even move as I tried to take a picture of it.

We set out for Newtown, an up and coming district in Wellington for coffee at People's Coffee . We got some extra for our coffee press at home.
There's a t-shirt sold here that says, "Newtown: it's a little bit shit." It's true, as you drive along the street you get the impression that you're in a hoity-toity area, but actually as you walk along the stores you realize that most of the shops are not so snobby. Case in point, a full length flannel nightgown was in one shop's front display window. The shops reminded me of Rottle's on Main Street in Auburn.

After our Cappa and Mochaccino, we walked a long to find a place for lunch. We found a French cafe. Bryce had a croque and I had an amazing dark crepe filled with blue cheese, walnuts, raisins, and ham. I did manage to embarrass myself by asking the French staff for a "crape" instead of a "crep." Even in NZ, the kiwis say "crepe" properly.

We drove off to Miramar to go to the free mini-museum called the "Weta Cave," where props used at Miramar Studios are made. Only a small portion of their props were shown, but it was still a fun little side-trip. We bought a realistic weta bug (the heaviest bug in the world) for Ryan as part of his welcome gift when he visits :-)

Off we went for our usual search for penguins. So far our search has been fruitless and it proved to be so this evening. Here's one of the beaches where the penguins nest:


And here's proof that they're really here:

The beach is along a very busy road. At dusk, the penguins cross the road to sleep underneath the houses. (There are penguin crossing signs along the road). My coworker who has lived in the area said that the penguins sound like crying babies.

Friday Evening

It's been a little bit of a rough week. Some of my parents of the special needs children are so fragile-- I try and handle them with as much care as I can but sometimes it seems that no matter what I do there will be a mini explosion of anxiety. It's pretty stressful when it happens.

Needless to say, relaxing was in order this Friday night. My handsome husband and I went out to Kilim in Petone for Turkish food. I absolutely wolfed it down. Yum.

The staff was a little eager to push us out the door, but I think I'll forgive them because they have amazing food. It's BYO, so we brought our own bottle of wine. We didn't drink it all, so on the drive to the dvd rental place I held the wine up between my feet-- it's nice to have less strict open container laws. That is, I don't think there is an open container law.

Bryce bought some Guinness so I think a Guinness cake is in our near future again...

New Job

I was officially offered a job today working with preschoolers for the Ministry of Education in Wellington. It's a full time, permanent position. So I'll be working with a whole new team starting July 5.

Still haven't heard an update from immigration on our residency application...

Grateful

I didn't think it would happen-- but I think I'm all better!!! Yayyyyy!! Didn't even have to waste $$ on a doctor. Yes!

Weary

I've sorta had it. I literally have a pain in my right side. I haven't been able to eat without pain in a week. I put myself on a bland diet which is making me drop weight like crazy. Off to the doctor tonight if this persists. NZ is kicking my butt big time.

Reading Again

Sometimes I get so busy (doing what, I don't know...) that I get out of the habit of reading. Bryce really took care of me this weekend, saying he knows how much I love to read, and took me to the library (he works right across the square from the huge Wellington Central Library so he can get his own books, but he's not the best at picking out books for me). Our Hutt Library of suburbia doesn't have much of a selection-- mostly historical romance novels. I've started to get pretty good at picking up modern looking books (they usually have some artsy photo on it). We discovered this cool shelf, the "Just Returned" shelf containing books that apparently the librarians haven't had time to shelve. Eureka!!

We found tons of great books on this shelf, including The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which sounded familiar to me when I picked it up. (Turns out several of my coworkers have read it). I definitely recommend it. It was an easy, enjoyable read, and has stayed with me over the past few days. Basically the book goes into explaining how people make choices that can seem so shocking on the outset. I remember realizing around age 19 or so that things aren't black and white (a startling revelation at the time), and this book helps expand on that premis. The book has several other themes, like questioning what a "good life lived" actually is. (The book centres around a girl with Downs Syndrome who leads a happy life that is fulfilling for her).

I also read The Book of Names-- a very quick read; I think I read it in about 5 hours. Definitely not a life changing book but I couldn't put it down.

Julie's Pumpkin-Spinach Lasagna

Here's what I've come up with after several tries and researching other recipes:

1 kg roasted and pureed pumpkin (Or, 1 can pumpkin)
Lasagna noodles, softened
2 cloves garlic
~ 400 g fresh spinach
200 g Feta or 1 cup cottage/ricotta cheese
fresh sage
~3 tbs finely chopped walnuts

Parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt
pepper


White Sauce:
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1 cup milk
smidgen of salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

• Set pot of water to boiling and soften lasagna noodles. Drain and set aside.

• Combine pumpkin with a little salt and pepper, walnuts, and chopped sage (as much as you like).

• Heat olive oil. Cook chopped garlic in oil. Add spinach and a little salt and pepper. Turn off heat when spinach is wilted. Combine spinach mixture with feta and about 1 tbs grated parmesan.
  

• White sauce: melt butter in small pan on lower heat. Whisk in flour. Stir about 2 minutes. Slowly add milk and seasoning. Continue to stir on medium-low heat until mixture thickens.
  

Assemble lasagna in square baking pan:

1. one layer lasagna pasta
2. 1/2 of pumpkin mixture
3. one layer lasagna pasta
4. all of spinach mixture
5. one layer lasagna pasta
6. other 1/2 of pumpkin mixture
7. final layer of lasagna pasta
8. white sauce
   

Sprinkle a little more parmesan over white sauce. Bake around 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until top is slightly browned.


I served this with pear focaccia bread:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1853904

e-mail to Gramma

I made banana bread earlier this week-- I accidentally read "1/2 cup" but the recipe actually called for "1/2 stick" so I put twice the butter in on accident! I opened the oven midway through and the butter had come out of solution and was bubbling all around the bread, eewwww. I had to pour it off. Of course, I still ate some (I didn't let Bryce eat it because of his high cholesterol) and I got really sick. of course. In the rubbish it went!

We just made Guinness cake-- its most important ingredient is chocolate though and it smells so good as it's baking!

Here's the recipe for the Guinness cake-- we have a scale here to weigh things out, but it's in lbs. So we have to go online to convert grams into lbs. Cooking used to be so simple. Now it's all about conversions and substitutions.
http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=20552


Oh shoot I just realized I should've measured all the ingredients that we weighed so we could convert it into an American recipe. Shoot. Guess we'll have to make it again :-)

Rules

My previous post about one of my rules (regarding the train station bar) got me thinking about other rules that I have. Here goes.

• If it's sunny and warm outside, we will drop all plans and have drinks outside at the train station bar (The Jigger!) by our house after work.
  
• If there is awful traffic: get a hotel, go to a nice restaurant or bookstore, or otherwise get off of the road and wait it out. (Also known as the Silver Lining Rule).
  
• Wooden hangers (this rule deferred while in NZ)
• Nice comfy sheets and towels (this rule also deferred while in NZ)
• Show up to family events. Very important rule.
• Keep promises.
  
• Burgermaster no more than once every 3 months
  
• Ice-cream when offered by mom has zero calories.
• Always give rides to people who need it. Drop them off at their door, and don't pull away until you see they're safely inside.
• When offered a free trip/adventure/accommodation, take that person up on it.

• If either spouse has errands in Kent for any reason, there will be BBQ Caveman sandwiches for dinner.
  

New Rule:
Empty change purse for street musicians.

Important principle (useful in decision making):
Time is more valuable than money. (This principle allows me to argue for more vacations!)

Cinco De Mayo

I'm not exactly sure why Cinco De Mayo is a holiday, but it's a holiday that has to be celebrated. (I do know for sure it's not Mexican Independence Day). We went out to the Flying Burrito on Cuba street for--Flying Burritos and margaritas. Laura and a new girl we met from Holland came out too. Before we set out, our coworker Karepa passed out margaritas, which was so sweet of him.


Since none of us were kiwis, we all talked about how we decided to move here-- Laura and Josien took initial trips out here before their big move (I didn't want to go that route because of the expense). All of us have felt the homesickness-- and then loving it here. It's so hard to find a place you love that's not your original home. I just keep feeling a longing for what I had even though it's wonderful here.

Care Package from Mum

Got a care package from mom today! She sent along the snowboard boots Bryce ordered. He wore the snowboarding hat that she picked out for most of the evening.

Two Passions

For the first time in my life, I'm enjoying the gym. I'm actually Excited as Gym Time approaches because I know I can run off some energy and get some awesome endorphins. Our gym is right at our train station which is so convenient-- our train station also has a great bar with outdoor seating so if it's a warm sunny day we can shirk the exercising in a heartbeat.

The best thing about the gym is that replacing the calories lost is pretty much guilt free. We are pretty proud of our dinners. Today I had left over pumpkin soup, Spanish wine (finally getting a little sick of NZ pinots) gouda cheese, salad, and bread from the bakery. Bryce went crazy with his dinner-- two types of curry and homemade naan garnished with yogurt and cilantro. He showed me his plate he was so proud of it.

Through all this eating and exercising I'm still mindful of a recent NYTimes article which discussed that woman's appetites increase so much after exercising that it's almost impossible for adult females to lose weight. Our maternal bodies are so primed to hold onto our cozy blubber that our bodies truly fight us when we want to get rid of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18exercise-t.html

That said--I have Saturday morning all planned: aerobics class at 8:15 am, shower, and then head straight to one of the beach cafes to try out their banana pancakes with chocolate ganache. ah yes.

Arizona Scares Me

I wish I didn't care so much about politics. Or, to put it more accurately, I wish I was not so naive that I continue to be shocked by lack of empathy and critical thought by modern day people.

Arizona

I agree that roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US is a big problem. Immigration needs reform.

Giving police a legal right to stop any person based on reasonable suspicion of being an illegal immigrant (how does one look like an illegal immigrant?) is entirely un-American and scary. It harkens back to Japanese camps in WA during WWII and of course Nazi-era hysteria over Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals.

If I had slightly darker skin or darker hair, there is NO WAY I would go anywhere near AZ. As it is, I am joining others in boycotting anything AZ (no trip to the Grand Canyon for us) for producing such a racist, un-American law.

I've read conservative articles in which people say that if they were detained by AZ police for a few hours, they would be ok with that, as their detainment would be for the greater good of Arizona. Really? I find that hard to believe. How would you feel if your grandmother or your dark haired daughter were detained by police? What country are we in again?

I've also read conservative comments in which people protest strongly against undocumented immigrants because they are "illegal." When told, based on the 14th Amendment, it is illegal to stop people in the US to determine their citizenship status, these same people justify the awful new law by saying the 14th Amendment is wrong.

Really? Part of our constitution is just wrong? Sounds pretty anti-American to me. You can't counter something that's illegal with more illegal. You have to work within the laws and values of our nation.

What many advocates of the law don't seem to understand is that US CITIZENS will be detained in order to enforce this law. It is unavoidable that US CITIZENS will be detained to enforce the law.

As an American, I have inherited the fear of government. Having an official detain me, a family member, a friend, or ANY American or tourist to my country scares me. There are other ways to take care of the issue of illegal immigration. Infringing on the rights of US citizens in such a manner is not one of them.

Here are the companies to consider boycotting:

- Arizona Diamondbacks, Location: Phoenix, Arizona

- Best Western International, Inc., Headquarters: Phoenix, Arizona

- Cold Stone Creamery. Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona

- Grand Canyon

- P. F. Chang’s China Bistro. Headquarters: Phoenix, Arizona

- PetSmart. Headquarters: Phoenix, Arizona

- Sky Mall, Headquarters: Phoenix, Arizona

- U-Haul. Headquarters: Phoenix, Arizona

- US Airways. Headquarters: Tempe, Arizona

Raspberry Lamington Day

Bryce joined me for our first gym class early this morning-- sooo many lunges and squates. My legs felt like spaghetti afterwards, I could hardly walk down the stairs.

We went to Cafe Vella in Plimmerton to replace those calories we had lost-- they listed pancakes with bananas and chocolate ganache on their breakfast menu--yum. Unfortunately I didn't notice that until after I ordered; would it be weird to come back tomorrow morning--?

After meeting up with the sweet Emma for a short walk, we went to a nice little museum in Porirua where I picked up some artsy postcards.

I had asked my co-worker earlier in the week for advice on things to do in Wellington-- she gave me a list of cafes and markets and baked goods to try. Unfortunately I had left the list at home-- but luckily Bryce had seen it on our desk and had remembered some items-- between the two of us we remembered the key words: "Lamington's" "Cuba Street" "Bakery" "Tory Street" and "Cafe L'Affare." We walked up and down Cuba Street to find a bakery/cafe called Cafe L'Affare that made Lamington's. No luck but we did find a cafe called "Floriditas" that looked cute... And the name did seem familiar...We drove to Tory Street where we found Cafe L'Affare on a side road. Success! Walked in and were told they had just closed. But then across the street we saw a cool market I had never seen before that I suddenly remembered the coworker talking about-- Moore Wilson's. We walked in, and inside we saw Lamington's! Made by... Floriditas. Whoops. Bought some Lamington's and went home, where we saw "Floriditas: makes Raspberry Lamington's" written in big letters on top of the list.
Raspberry Lamington--- mmm, I am so sorry it took me so long to find you! But you were so worth it.