last Saturday in Chch

Yesterday marked our last Saturday in Christchurch.  With our short amount of time left on the south island (and in NZ overall), we are desperately trying to pack it all in and make the most of it.  Our first stop today was a highly recommended restaurant, New York Deli.  Bret's work friends swear by the Obama sandwich, a glorified BLT, and we were enticed my the Americanism the deli promised.  The deli itself is super tiny with only six seats for diners.  The menu is brief, and the sandwiches are totally gourmet.  Not a fan of the bacon in NZ, we opted to share the beef and pork sandwiches.  They both were prime cuts of hot meat, layered on warm ciabatta and turkish bread.  The beef was slathered with horseradish, wholegrain mustard, and onion jam.  The pork was bathed in applesauce, pork crunchies, and onion jam too.  The owner of the restaurant was great, made the sandwhich right in front of us on a small cutting board.  We purchased an orange mango smoothie to share, and settled into the counter by the window to indulge.  Soooo yummy!

To walk off our delicious lunch, we took a visit into the city center to souvenir shop (finally) and sightsee.  The weather was wonderfully glorious, and after a few hours of walking and stalking (to find the perfect gifts), we lounged riverside to browse through the guidebooks to plan our trip to the north island.  Awesome day!

 

 

New TV!

I admit, I am a fan of America's Next Top Model.  I don't even know why, because for one, I can't stand Tyra Banks.  Here in NZ, they have just finished showing a season from two top models ago, and sadly, that was all that was on television, so I often watched it.  Until now...New Zealand has just started their own version, and it's the first season.  After my long day of cooking yesterday, I was definitely looking forward to putting my feet up and comparing ANTM to NZNTM!

The show is basically the same, a bunch of girls, eliminated weekly, a few judges, and exotic photo shoots.  This first episode was especially entertaining because it took place in Queenstown, where we just visited.  We recognized all the places the girls went, the gondola, on the same parasail we were on, and the cafés lining the harbor.  The host of the show even showed up in the same jetboat we rode in with the same driver!  The NZ models however, have a different look than the ones that Tyra usually goes for, but I am eager to continue watching; next week's episode is in Auckland, which is where we're headed on Saturday!

chef du jour part 2

Today was day 2 of my cooking marathon.  I came into work around 10:30 in the morning, betting for sure I would be out of there by 2.  Boy, was I wrong.  The recipes today, even though they were from the same book, were ridiculously complicated in their directions, difficult to follow, and downright fussy.  I was losing all motivation, and even contemplated quitting altogether.  I persevered...until 5:30, and was sent home with a bottle of wine for my accomplishments of completing the following from my list:

• Fish Sticks
• Chicken Fingers
• Fruit Crumble with pear and apple
• Kumara Mash
• Mash with courgette (zucchini)
• Bubble and Squeak (mash patties with cabbage, fried)
• Salmon Fish Cakes
• Shepherd's Pie in individual ramekins
• Creamy Pasta Beef Bake
• Spaghetti Bolognese
• Pea Puree
• Carrot and Parsnip Puree
• Pumpkin and Sweetcorn

And filled an additionl 60 containers.  No doubt about it, their additional freezer is stocked, and Evelyn will be well fed for probably months after I've left!  Whew!

chef du jour

One of my new assignments as Mary Poppins to the adorable baby is cooking meals for her.  Her mom has bought a baby cookbook and I've already made several recipes that are perfectly suited for the baby's changing eating habits, weaning from milk and blended foods, to more solids and flavors.  Before I leave, I was asked to cook for a whole day, making lots of yummy, freezable dishes for the baby to enjoy for weeks to come.  Excited with the ambition of leaving a lasting legacy for baby Evelyn, I was totally up for the challenge, and love to cook.
  
Kim, Evelyn, and I all went to the grocery store at 9 this morning, and loaded the cart with every ingredient I would need, and about the whole store's worth of Gladware containers and headed for home.  My only responsibility today was cooking, and Kim would be taking care of Evelyn (thank goodness, that would have been quite the juggle).  I set off to complete my list of over 20 recipes.  By 5 in the evening I had completed the following recipes:

• Shepherd's Pie (which looked so yummy that Evelyn's parents and I ate it for lunch!)

• Italian Fish Stew
• Fruity Lamb
  
• Risotto
• Chicken and Pea Pilaf
• Pumpkin and Chicken Bake
• Kumara and Chicken
• Plaice (whitefish) with pea and potato
• Cheesy tomato pasta
• Cheesy pasta
• Veggie pasta

    
It was an extremely long day of cooking, the kitchen was made into a disaster zone, I didn't even complete everything, and I'd filled over 60 containers (and was running out)!  I was invited to come back the next day to complete the list (thinking it would only take me a few hours)...

Bret and I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with his work friends for the last time, celebrating our engagement, and our journey northward!

how I'll miss thee...

rubbish

This post is totally going to make my eco-friendly friends at home (Caroline, Scott, Eric) happy.  Christchurch has just started a new rubbish and recycling program.  Originally, rubbish and recycling were collected weekly on Fridays.  Starting this month, we were given three wheelie bins that are collected fortnightly (every two weeks).  The largest yellow bin is for recycling, and we've gotten into the habit of recycling so much here:  pizza boxes, cans, cardboard containers, newspaper, plastics, etc.  The mid-sized red bin is for rubbish only.  It is a tiny bin for two weeks worth of rubbish.  It is encouraging to try and divide your waste into the three containers to lessen what you're sending to the landfills.  Basically, trash goes in the rubbish bin, including non-organic items and non-recyclables.  The last smallest green container is for organic waste, which is basically our compost pile.  All food scraps, vegetable and fruit peels, and organic waste goes into that bin.

As the program is just starting and we are just leaving, we won't have an opportunity to instill the new practice into our daily regimen.  Although I was skeptical about the amount of trash sorting I would have to be doing, after further investigation, I am actually impressed at the thought of less less less rubbish, and more recycling.  It will definitely have an environmental impact on the already 'green' NZ!

Caterpillars

I've been tracking the progress of caterpillars at the house I nanny for.  Kim's green thumb has brought swan plants into her garden, which are known for attracting monarch butterflies.  Evelyn and I take many a trip to the garden to check them out!

 

It starts off as a tiny egg, that hatches into that dark line on the upper leaves (a baby caterpillar).

And he gets a little bit bigger, eating through the leaves.

And then he gets a lot bigger...he's totally hungry!

Once full, he hangs into a letter 'J' and a cocoon is formed.

As time passes the cocoon gets darker and darker, it's almost as if you can see the colors of the butterfly's wings!

 

Within a couple of weeks, a butterfly emerges, leaving a broken empty cocoon (foreground).

  

Next up, I'll try and grab a photo of the monarchs flitting about the garden!  Every time I see one, I am convinced they're one of the caterpillars I've been watching!