Entries from October 2009 ↓

Haven’t had a Xero baby in a year or so but Benjamin arrived at the weekend. So I’ve done a vest for the summer months almost upon us.

When my hands get hot (ironing, housework, walking) the veins down the back of my right hand really stick out. I was staring at the most bulgy one this morning and lamenting the time it was dented.

It was many many years ago when I had my wisdom teeth out (before I started howling on the slab):

Nurse: this is nothing to worry about, just a little prick like a blood test

Me: but I’ve never had a blood test

Nurse [to the anesthetist]: wow, we’ve got an innocent here – never had a blood test!? That’s unheard of! [To me] In that case it’ll be like a harmless mozzie bite

Me [as she jabbed the back of my hand]: WAAAAAAAAAAAAA …. [sleep]

Mozzie bite?! No way! That jab altered the course of my blood flow! That once-straight vein turns a corner on the back of my hand now. It’s damaged!

Made Blenheim fritters again for dinner tonight – spurred on a bit by Julia we accompanied the fritters with asparagus and some homemade aioli. It was very VERY delicious.

Just saw the movie Julie & Julia – I read the book a few years ago and really enjoyed it and the movie was fantastic. The story is of government agency temp Julie cooking her way through The Art of French Cooking by Julia Childs in the year of her 30th birthday. It’s a great story of cooking and how Julia Childs became the household name she is.

Must have a rat through Mother’s stack of cookbooks to see if she has a copy, I don’t think she does, but I probably can’t consider myself any kind of cook if I don’t try something from the book. And the recipe I should try should probably be boeuf bourguignon although all the red wine and mushrooms puts me off. Perhaps I’ll do it for The Mister.

The story was lovely. Meryl Streep always does such a brilliant job of taking on the characters she plays and her portrayal of Julia Childs was wonderful. Had me in tears a few times and now The Mister and I are doing our best Julia Childs impression every time we make eye contact “Helloooooooo!” Which turns out to be fairly often!!

We’re going “to beeeeeee a part of it! New York! New Yo-ooorrrk!”

YIPEEEEEEE it’s official. We’re off to live in New York next March for 4 months. It’s a dream come true. We’ve been working on plans with Xero for a while now to find a time when we could work from home and we choose that home to be an apartment somewhere in Manhattan. And we’ve finally made it happen.

We’re going in March so that we get 4 months before the height of summer, and so that we have a decent amount of time there during baseball season. It’s going to be freezing in March, and quite changeable – I’ve been looking at the temperatures over the last couple of years – anything ranging from daytime highs of minus 7 to 25!!

We’re in the throes of organising airfares and investigating furnished short term rentals. It’s going to be a big change for us and our teams – although we have quite a few people working remotely now so I’m sure we’ll all just adapt.

It’s just so great Xero can let this happen for us. I can’t explain the breathless excitement and bursting feeling in my heart sometimes when I realise it’s going to happen. Not quite counting the days but definitely watching our spending – obviously this will not be a cheap exercise and the last thing we want to worry about when we’re there is running out of money. And trying not to think that we WILL have to come home.

We’ve added a Canadian to our urban family and she holds a Thanksgiving feast each year – Canadian Thanksgiving is mid-October and she has her dinner at Labour Weekend, so off we went last night (man, 3rd night out in a row, feeling very tired and grainy today!) It was pot-luck which I just can’t remember doing for ages and ages so we picked carefully – something that we know we can make, something to feed 13 people, something with a kiwi touch and something orange or could be served in an orange dish in order to make an orange impression on our new friends. Yep, you guessed it – Mother’s Kumara & Orange Bake in the big orange casserole dish!

Finally got the knack of the mandolin for slicing the kumara – it’s a rather dangerous utensil for one to loose one’s temper with (… ahem …) and ever since it bit The Mister last year there’s no way I’m going to let it get the better of me so that I have to pass it over to him because I don’t want him to get hurt again! But I was on a roll yesterday – must’ve been more than a hundred slices of kumara!

Actually we have to admit it turned out great! We thought it might have a bit much cream in it but it was cooked perfectly and rested for about 45 mins after cooking because we had to wrestle the searing hot dish into a sturdy bag and transport it along Cuba Mall to the dinner venue. So all the cream was nicely soaked up before we served it. Everyone was so impressed and there were mumblings of ‘Wow, who made this? It’s SOOOO good.’ Yaaay!

It’s Mother’s recipe from the Awakeri Community Complex Cookbook 1998! Check it out.

So now we turn our attention to our 4th Thanksgiving dinner in late November. Each year it gets a bit bigger, I think this year will be too, so even though we love the idea of everyone around the table we might have to go for the buffet and sit where you can approach. Here are last year’s photos for a trip down memory lane – prep time and dinner time.

Went to the show last night. My god. What a fantastic evening! I’m not really a musicals person, have seen Cats, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera all when I was a teenager or early 20’s, The Producers in New York 4 years ago, and that’s it. However I really enjoyed the Mamma Mia movie when it came out – I went last year on my own when The Mister was in Las Vegas and I couldn’t believe how sore my face was at the end of it. I just could not stop smiling.

And that’s how it was last night. Show was at the Queen’s Wharf Arena which really is a big barn of a place and the makeshift tiered auditorium seating is rather uncomfortable and extends miles away from the stage. Our seats were pretty good – in the front row of the second section which was possibly just a bit far back but offered an unencumbered view – mind you we booked them back in February!

It didn’t dawn on me until they started singing Mamma Mia that hardcore ABBA or Mamma Mia fans would be there – groups of middle-aged ladies whooping and hollering and standing up and waving their arms in the air. I felt quite embarrassed for them. And very angry at them when they wouldn’t clap in time! Luckily no-one stood up in front of me. And I was glad people didn’t sing along either.

The singers’ voices were quite different to opera – pretty much all of them had very strong, fantastic, spine chilling sound when they were in their mid range and really let go, whereas I find opera singers to be much stronger throughout their entire range. But it just didn’t matter – no-one was terrible, the dancing was truly amazing and it was fascinating to see how many of the cast resembled actors in the film – I’m sure that’s the wrong comparison to make, but I saw the film first.

However right at the end, everything changed and I was up on my feet with the ladies – singing at the top of my voice (well, the bits I knew) and jumping up and down in front of my seat, attempting actions that everyone else seemed to know already and waving my arms. And so was The Mister! It was such a great night we went and brought more tickets today to go again!!

Am try to get out of the office for a walk in the afternoons, even if it’s to a Fuel Espresso bar that’s on the other side of town – probably doesn’t count as proper exercise but for me new air is just as important. On my walk yesterday I noticed silverbeet flourishing in the traffic islands outside Kirkcaldie & Stains! I wonder if people pick it for dinner? I guess it’s probably got dog pee and traffic gunge all over it but quite a good idea. I’ve seen rosemary growing rather prolifically down the side of concrete gardens in the city and botannical gardens before and thought it quite handy – usually you only need a stalk for the roast lamb or pizza, not a whole bunch, so if you could just grab that stalk out of a city vegie patch that’d be great!

I’m really not keen on the upside down poses (’inversions’ is the proper term) that we have to do at yoga. I don’t like the blood rush to my head which eventually makes me feel quite dizzy and sometimes nauseous. We do hand stands, head stands, shoulder stands, forearm stands and sometimes hand upside down from ropes. In the advanced class we seem to do quite long headstands however the teacher noticed I haven’t really been taking part the last few weeks so said I could hang upside down instead for less strain on my neck. That’s not really the problem but I took up his offer anyway. It’s actually quite relaxing and you can feel it’s good for your back but I can only do it for a minute or so, not 5 minutes like others can.

I finally asked the other day what the point of all the upside down stuff was – what’s the benefit of all the discomfort on my part. Seems it’s an ‘opposite process’ i.e. you’re always on your feet and it’s good for the soul to take an opposite view of the world now and then. And physically, with your feet above your head it forces new blood from your heart to be pumped to your brain, which is a good thing. Flushes out toxins and exercises blood vessels by forcing your blood to flow a different way.

These are good things for me, so I’ll approach it with a different feeling now, one of ‘this is good for me’ instead of dread!

I didn’t realise The Avon Lady was still going strong! A few days ago we got home to find an Avon catalogue in our mailbox – first time since living in the building. Perhaps we’ve been saved from these type of catalogues over the last few years in the same way we’ve avoided trick-or-treating kids – apartment building glass doors with a security pad are a great deterrent!

However it seems one of our new neighbours is an Avon Lady. I perused the catalogue and it was nothing like I expected. I thought The Avon Lady sold make-up, hand cream, floral smelling body wash and such. However in this catalogue there is a range of stuff – Christmas brooches with ‘precious’ stones, ’slide and glide’ all-in-one plastic scissor apparatus, angels and fairies book, strange African lady statue, Noisy Surprise Thomas & Friends push-button book, jandals, watches, sundresses – however, still the hand cream for $2.49, pot pouri spray and foot deodorant. What a world of discovery!

Oh, I’ve just looked at their site, http://www.avon.co.nz, perhaps it was a Christmas special catalogue because the one online seems to be more like what I expected. Just make-up and stuff.