Friday, September 30, 2011

New Fav Song: Gotye

Okay the video looks a bit scary but I definitely recommend downloading the song on itunes, Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know
(Aus and Kiwi singers):






Sunday, September 18, 2011

Sunday mornings

Sunday mornings I usually go with Bryce or Anna on a short walk to the market by Te Papa. Buying flowers for my foyer is one of the highlights of my week. (The other one being pouring myself a glass of wine in the staffroom Friday at 4:30 after tearing myself away from the computer).

Flowers are usually so expensive at the supermarket and florists, but I got these purple flowers for $10 NZD at the market.

Usually Bryce and I buy crepes from the real and true French dude at the Crepes a Go Go stand at the indoor Market-- This morning we decided to forgo the frenchies for some home made ones. While we're in NZ we're making an effort to buy all the foods that taste best here: honey, beef, kiwifruit, scallops-- so naturally we try and have kiwifruit filled crepes at home. Kiwifruit costs about 10 cents each; can't beat that.

The rest of the day I usually spend trying to get Bryce to go to a museum while he tries to get me to walk to the snowboarding store with him. In the end we get so lazy with skyping and internet-ing that the least lazy one will go a few doors down for take-away Vietnamese (go #37!) for dinner. (That is usually Bryce.)

And that's our Sunday.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

On Passwords and Keeping Current & Warm

Creating usernames and passwords for everything is so annoying isn't it? I counted; I have 20 different accounts. Ug. I wish there was a work around. The worst is when I have to put in a password to read research articles-- jeez seriously please let ANYONE read research articles; don't we want a more educated, well-read world?

https://www.hanen.org/special-pages/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fMyHanen%2fHome.aspx

In other news, I'm actually reading research articles! Go keeping current! What motivates me is the older ladies in my office who recommend "chewing" as a way to improve speech.**

**(Please note, chewing in no way helps you talk better).



A friend of mine and I took a walk to a waterfront bar, the FoxGlove, last week, for a "working lunch." We sat outside, ordered the yummiest nibbles, and even read and discussed research articles. It was sunny and amazing. Winters in Wellington are great for these type of days, and make me forget the Antarctic winds. The weather was so cold one night last weekend that there was a power cut due to overload at the power station.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Tree of Life Sucks!!!!

Saw "The Tree of Life" at the Wellington Film Festival tonight. There wasn't much to like about it except for the female lead's gorgeous vintage "day" dresses. Other than that, it was pure crap.

  • TOO LONG
  • Hardly any story line.
  • There were DINOSAURS in it. Dinosaurs that stepped on each other's heads and then decided not to eat each other.
  • Little flames of God that talked, throughout the movie. Does that sound like a movie you want to see?
  • When the mother prayed to God about why her son died (btw we have no idea the circumstances of his death), there is about 20 minutes of pictures of space, "evolution" like dinosaurs with fins crawling onto a beach, and volcanoes.
  • the movie has no ending. It just ends.
  • Sean Penn is in the movie and it's not quite clear why.
This 2.5 hour movie is not worth your time or money, it wasn't worth ours! I wish I could delete it from my brain. What a pretentious load of crap!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Penthouse Cinema Ginger Loaf

My friend Tash introduced me to the wonders of the ginger loaf at the Penthouse Cinema in Brooklyn. Pairing it with lemonade is divine! We are lucky enough to get their recipe from last week's newspaper; we're baking it tomorrow.

Penthouse Cinema Ginger Loaf
(makes 3 loaves)

Grease and line loaf tins. Preheat oven to 160C.
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice (Do you know what this is??)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
850g golden syrup
250g butter, roughly diced
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups milk

Bake 60 mins and cool in tins overnight.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Electric blankets

When Bryce and I moved here we learned about the wonders of what we called "bed warmers." Put both sides of the bed on maximum #3 about 45 minutes before bed --- heaven! Especially in that first month we lived in the poorly insulated little house in Christchurch-- 33 degrees F many days. It was over a year before we learned that these pads-- placed under mattress pads, were called "electric blankets," not "bed warmers." We've had them in our Normandale house, our Makara house, and most hotels we've stayed at-- but never in hostels.

We made a mistake on Sunday. Huge sale on electric blankets-- $14 instead of the usual $99. We forgot to pick it up. AAGH! Cold sheets! Night after night!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Vintage Ski Poster

While in Pahia over the summer in January, I found a great postcard of a vintage poster about skiing the Tongariro. I gave it to Bryce when I saw him in the States; and he found out that we could get the picture printed to poster size if we buy rights through the National Library. We did that for $20, and today Bryce got an "A1" sized poster printed. Can't wait to frame and hang this one.