Red sky

I took this a couple of weeks ago at sunrise when we were due some bad weather:

We've had the most amazingly good winter so far, with bright sunny days and blue skies. The above mentioned bad weather lasted about three days, then we returned to bright sun and blue skies again.

Another southerly blast is supposed to be due any time, with snow in the hill suburbs of Dunedin.

Dunedin Farmers' Market

On my way home from the airport last weekend I thought I'd stop in at the Farmers' Market for a change. I live a good 20 minutes from town and can't really justify the petrol use (or, to be honest, drag myself out of bed) to go in on a Saturday morning unless I have a specific purchase I need to make.

Our Farmers' Market is held at the railway station, we no longer have any passenger services apart from tourist excursion trains. I parked on the other side of the tracks and walked over the overbridge, then down the platform …

… past the old booking office, which is very beautiful …

… to the far end of the station. Here are a few photos:

Even one of the local boutique breweries has a stall:

And this African band was entertaining the shoppers:

This is what the Railway Station looks like from the other side:

A few years ago the city council decided to install formal gardens in front of it, I love watching them change with the seasons.

This knot garden stays the same, of course:

But the flower beds are constantly changing:

At the moment this one is mostly parsley, of all things.

I bought some pork tongues and smoked ham hocks from the guy from Havoc Pork, and arranged with him to order a leg for this year's prosciutto.

I turned the pork hocks into this terrine:

It's the same as this one, but I went a bit easier on the butter and mustard, and lined the pan with some of my prosciutto.

And with the tongues I made this pressed tongue thingy:

It was only $3 for four tongues, which is pretty good value.

Local wildlife

This seal (or whatever it is) was this morning basking on one of the little beaches I pass on my way to work.

Some scenes from my Christmas Holiday

Lake Tarawera: The bach we rented was across the road from this wee bay. It was a real traditional bach, furnished with cast offs from peoples' homes. It even contained a gramophone and some records. My brother anchored the boat here every night.

Paul's boat is the one on the right. This is the start of the track between Lakes Tarawera and Rotomahana.

Goodness knows what this shelter is in aid of - it looks like a bus shelter made of punga logs but there's only boats, and very few people, for miles:

On the track to Lake Rotomahana. All of this bush has grown since the Tarawera eruption of 1886:

Lake Rotomahana, with Mt Tarawera in the background:

Nephew, niece, and their friends, at the Lake Rotomahana end of the track:

Huka Falls, just outside Taupo:

The view from the house we rented in Taupo:

And again, about 45° to the left:

This house was more like a proper rental house than a bach, this is my bedroom:

It was pleasantly cool, although it had no view. My brother and sister-in-law's room was at the front of the house with the view and the heat, and all the kids had a big room downstairs, furnished with three single and one double beds, plus a set of bunks.

We visited Café L'Arté for brunch, and all very much enjoyed the outdoor mosaic living room:

And the reason for the trip? This bit of water is where my brother and I scattered our parents' ashes over the back of the boat.

It was one of Dad's favourite fishing spots, and he and Mum spent many happy hours there in their boat.

Elderflower cordial

The gooseberries on my bush are getting bigger, so soon I will be cooking them. There are a lot of recipes out there that want elderflower cordial to with the gooseberries, so I thought I might have a go at making some.

So, first pluck your elderflowers. This required an expedition around the corner to a bit of public bush - there are elders growing all along the road from town to my house, but most of them are on someone's property.

I went down to the Broad Bay slip site, which is a bit of hill which was slowly slipping into the harbour until the conservationists planted it with lots of native plants. It's a sort of native bush reserve, but there are plenty of exotics around the perimeter.

There were two different trees with little white flowers, so I picked some of each to bring home and identify. I was pretty sure that one of them was hawthorn, but this one should be elder:

I'm only making a little bit - I don't know if I like it yet.

Here's my car down at what passes for a car park:

And here's the track I followed:

A family of Paradise ducks taking their lives in their hands wings:

Anyway, I pulled all the little flowers off their whatever it's called …

… and put them to soak with a couple of slices of orange and lemon  in some sugar syrup:

If it turns out to be delicious, I'll go for another expedition to pick more.

Beautiful spring days

So since Saturday, when I was grumbling about the weather,  it's been gorgeous.

Of course, for the last three of those gorgeous days I've been shut in my office during the day, but at least I get to look at this …

… out of the window, and go for a lovely walk in the sun at lunchtime.

Miserable spring day

These photos were taken from my bedroom window. The first is across the hill, showing my lovely dwarf blossom tree getting blown to bits, the weeds growing rampant in my garden,  and a couple of sheep through the fence …

… the second is angled down the hill, showing the grey skies, grey harbour, and my neighbour's mottley lavender hedge:

Last weekend I was away "with the boys", partying in Timaru. Haven't really done any cooking recently, and all this weather makes me want to do is curl up in bed with a book. Which I am about to go and do, prior to getting ready to go out for dinner with the visiting brother of one of my friends tonight.

Sheep acting like sheep

I've been away in Christchurch for the weekend at a motorbike race meeting (that's why I didn't post any cooking), and on the way home my eye was caught by a number of sheep following each other around hillsides in single file - as in the proverbial sheep. Usually sheep just mill around with their noses stuck to the ground eating grass. When I got home and looked over the back fence I saw this:


More sheep being much more sheep-like than normal. I wonder if it's seasonal.

I've been eating snacks so far this week. I made another salami last night, and couldn't be bothered cooking a proper meal. I cut up a few pork trimmings, rubbed them in salt and curry powder (I like the flavour of curry powder, I don't care how unauthentic it is), quickly fried them …


… added some yoghurt, and ate them:


It was good too.

While I was making the salami and cooking up my 2 minute curry I was also boiling up some chicken carcasses for stock. I got three from the supermarket for about $2.50 and they actually had a decent bit of meat on them. After I'd made the stock I picked all the meat off the bones …


… mixed it in with a little soy sauce and mirin, and fried it in the fat from the top of the stock for a long long time until it was pretty nearly dry:


… I put it in the fridge where it should keep quite well. I can use it as a topping for rice or, as I did tonight, mix a little of it in with a vegetarian curry for extra flavour and protein.

Labour Weekend

Last weekend was New Zealand's Labour Weekend, and this was me during part of it:


Some motorcycling friends of mine came down from the North Island to a party weekend in Timaru, a couple of hours drive north of where I live, so I drove up after work on the Friday to meet them. On the Saturday we went for a ride to the Levels (Timaru's motor racing track) where the South Canterbury Post Vintage Motorcycle club was having a race day and bike show to mark its centenary. I'm imagining it can't really have started off 100 years ago as a "post vintage" bike club, there not being a great deal in the way of vintage motorcycles around at the time, but that's what it has become over the years.

This little Rickman Metisse is what people used to ride while scrambling back in the 1950s; a friend of mine owns one, although in nowhere near as good nick as this:


This one has a Triumph motor in it I'm pretty sure; there were about three others on show, one of which had a Norton motor, the others were Triumphs.

This 1974 Triumph Trident was absolutely mint:


These speedway bikes were raced back in the day by Ivan Mauger, who was attending the centenary:


I was rather taken by the wicker sidechair on this one:


I can just see myself in a big flowery hat sitting in it being driven around at ~30kph.

But this one was my favourite:


No-one knew exactly what motor it had in it but it was a Triumph single cylinder, around 350cc. Lovely wee thing it was too.

This is us parked at the track (well, not me, I'm behind the camera) totally surrounding that cute wee mini; I wouldn't have minded it either. They stick to the road like glue.


It was a gorgeous day for a ride, and after we left the Levels we rode out to the pub at a rather picturesque little place called Cave …


… where we had a couple of drinks outside in the sun before riding back to Timaru to party all night. Not very successfully on my part - I crashed at about 5am. Getting old.

Next day we lazed around in front of the television, then my best friend of "the boys" and I went out and got sandwiches from Subway for dinner and ate them at Caroline Bay:


I hadn't been there since a family holiday about 45 years ago, although I've driven past it a number of times.

It's really rather lovely; this is the edge of the bay …


… and around a wee bit further is the port of Timaru and this memorial to fishermen who have lost their lives at sea.


On a more cheerful note, look at these eggs I was in the process of overcooking:


I couldn't believe it; out of three eggs, two were double yolkers. The next day was the same! One pack of six had four double yolked eggs. Some sort of mutant chooks, we decided.