20 May 2013 by Kim

Queenstown, New Zealand

What a beautiful part of the country!

It’s unusual flying into Queenstown for the first time. Growing up I constantly saw images of our epic landscapes; snow capped mountains with streams running between them and not a person in sight. Exposure to these images increased in the years following New Zealand’s transformation into Middle Earth. But now, making the sharp right turn toward Queenstown’s airport, those images are very real and present.
So real I heard that pilots flying into Queenstown have to be good enough to ignore warnings coming from the safety systems telling them they’re going to crash into a mountain. (Nervous collar pull.)

I always expected that these sorts of landscapes could only be accessed with a lot of money, a helicopter ride, or a two day trek in the snow. Not the mere act of standing on solid ground with Lake Wakatipu on one side and Queenstown’s low profile city centre on the other side.

A large number of Queenstown’s population is transient, travelers there for a few months, a few weeks, a few days. It’s easy to become a local, just stay put for a couple of years. I wonder if everyone is so nice because they know they’ll be gone soon…or you’ll be gone soon.

We ate some incredible food in our four days. The coffee wasn’t half bad either.
If you can afford it then Amisfield Winery is well worth the visit. We loved Kappa for more affordable Japanese food. I was impressed with the coffee I tried at Vudu in Queenstown, Espresso Love & Cafe Mondo in Arrowtown, and Kai Whakapai in Wanaka.
All of the rumours about Fergburger (and Fergbaker) are true: huge cheap delicious burgers and fast friendly service. And if you’re a sweet tooth like me go try some of the many fudge varieties at one of the Remarkable Sweet Shops.

See all of my Queenstown, Arrowtown, and Cromwell photos on Flickr.

In the end it all comes back to the view. Wander around the gardens at the lake (try not to get hit by frisbees on the frolf course), take a trip up the Skyline gondola, and if you’re as lucky as I am get your friends to take you over the Crown Range and eventually on to Cromwell for a classic Southland Cheese Roll next to Lake Dunstan.

Amisfield Winery: We tasted some wines at their cellar door and then sat in the sun to share a charcuterie board with wild rabbit rillette & apricots, dried venison sausage, chicken liver mousse with pistachio crust, pickled vegetables, and sourdough; huge slices of pork belly with barley and blood orange; and a spiced kumara tart with caramel walnuts and vanilla ice cream for dessert. I loved the noble sauvignon blanc so much I had to bring a bottle home with me.
We got out just in time to cross the road and catch the bus into Arrowtown.

Amisfield Winery food

Our first night in town was a bit cold, but still fine enough to eat our burgers down by the lake. For the most part though we were totally over prepared, the sun shone and we found ourselves having to strip off coats and thermal layers.

Queenstown Gardens and Lake Wakatipu

Skyline Gondola

Lake Wanaka

Arrowtown and the Millenium Walk

See more of my Queenstown, Arrowtown, and Cromwell photos on Flickr.

16 May 2013 by Kim

365 in 2013

Tuesday, May 7: J Walter Weatherman doing a good job minding the weather.

Wednesday, May 8: Back at Caliente for more farewell drinks. They forgot to make my cocktail so made it double strength as an apology (we know the manager). ‘Twas very strong indeed!

Thursday, May 9: Jerk! I’ll be sending this over to Made It on Victoria St next week.

Friday, May 10: Life in hospo. At least the Thunderbird crew have a sense of humour!

Saturday, May 11: Flying to Queenstown is worth it just for the magical view from the plane. Snow capped mountains and crystal lakes.

Sunday, May 12: Chris & Diana picked us up from Queenstown & acted as our tour guides for the day. We drove over the Crown Ranges and stopped for photos & a chance to ward off car sickness.

Monday, May 13: A long walk on the Arrowtown Millenium Trail was a bit painful with a belly full of delicious Amisfield Winery food, but well worth it.

19 April 2013 by Kim

Legalised Love

On Wednesday night New Zealand MPs voted 77-44 in favour of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill.

It’s been a long, nerve-wracking nine months since Louisa Wall’s bill was drawn from the ballot. A long wait since that first support march in August 2012. But it’s here, it’s done, and I couldn’t be more proud of how far this country has come.

While I’m overjoyed that we have elected politicians that have been supportive of these changes their whole lives I also think it’s worth mentioning those that changed their previous nos to ayes. It takes some courage to actually listen to the debate put in front of you and realise you were wrong.

12 March 2013 by Kim

Get pickled

Holy moly. Last night we went to Pickle with Brendan’s family.
We were lucky enough to try the Pickle Dinner Party which we’d seen on the menu last time we were there. Basically you choose either the $35 or $45 option and talk to the chef about what you particularly like on the menu, what you dislike, and declare any allergies. The $45 menu gets you some fancier ingredients and a couple of extra treats.

Our table of six was easy, the Pickle menu is always amazing so we all took turns reading things out and exclaiming yummmmmm. The chef could do what he liked as far as we were concerned.

It was pretty much amazing. You get to try an incredible number of dishes without getting overfull and the price makes it easy to give it a go.

Here’s what we had, all food was shared on the table, except for when it obviously couldn’t be.

Frickles (whole fried pickles)

Sliced raw vegetables with avocado and ash salt - Pickle

Raw sliced vegetables to dip in avocado and ash salt

Asian salad with pulled pork - Pickle

Individual Vietnamese salads with pulled pork
Soy soba

Carne salada with rocket and parmesan - Pickle

Carne salada with rocket and parmesan
Kingfish ceviche
Crumbed fish sliders with tartare

Clear tomato soup - pickle

Clear tomato soup

Salmon with cucumber balls in a butter sauce - Pickle

Warm salmon with cucumber balls in butter sauce
Lentils with fried cheese and grilled vegetables

Duck on black rice with orange and sesame - Pickle

Duck on black rice with orange, and sesame crackers

Chicken with basil pesto - Pickle

Chicken with basil pesto

Mini creme brulee in egg shells - Pickle

Creme brûlée

Jars of chocolate mousse with salted caramel fudge - Pickle

Chocolate mousse with chocolate crumbs
Salted caramel fudge
And a white chocolate, raspberry, and peppercorn chocolate bar to take home.

Phew!

(sorry about the photo quality dropping dramatically as the sun went down.)

15 January 2013 by Kim

Wayward, Newtown

Smoked meats and giant chunks of bread, American whiskey, outdoor dining. Joe and Mike nail it again at Wayward with a small, perfect menu. Everything is affordable and unpretentious, so much so that some of the beer is offered in cans and probably what you were drinking 10 years before craft beer became a thing. (If you’re really buggin’ for a wider range of craft beer you can head inside to Monterey.)

My favourite was the spiced rye – a $6 shot of Wild Turkey Rye with spices added by the Wayward crew. It was sweet and almost worryingly easy to drink.

The fries were crispy, the smoked brisket tender and smokey, the sauce and coleslaw added moistness to dip the giant chunk of bread in. Everything served on wooden boards which made for easy cutting and scooping, and thankfully with the outdoor setting I didn’t feel too bad for being an incredibly messy eater.

29 August 2012 by Kim

29 August 2012 – Marched for Marriage Equality

That’s me in the photo I stole from Stuff being squinty in the sun wearing a lei I was given on the way.

In the hot sun at the very end of winter we marched from Civic Square to parliament to celebrate and support the first reading of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill.

If this bill passes through the many hoops it needs to pass through it will mean that 2 people, regardless of gender, sex, or sexual orientation will be able to marry in New Zealand.

15 August 2012 by Kim

Arthur’s Whisky Breakfast

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Arthur’s Whisky Breakfast since booking tickets back in June.

On arrival at Arthur’s we were taken up the stairs and shown to our designated seats…not with our friends. We hadn’t booked tickets together but had naively assumed we’d be able to sit wherever we liked. Thankfully the team at Arthur’s (and Martha’s!) know service well and didn’t let it register on their faces just how annoying we were being messing up their seating arrangements. It was all okay in the end, Brendan and I sat at “the best table in the place” with Laura, Tim, and Paul.

A menu sat at on our plates showing us what to look forward to and coffee orders were taken (not included in the price but rich and delicious). An introduction to the Whisky Breakfast and Arthur’s was made by co-owner Anita (McLeod, wearing the McLeod tartan) and we were given a brief history lesson on the building. Courtney was introduced as our taste master for the morning and our first course of cranachan was served with Macallan whisky.

Next the kedegeree was served with a Japanese whisky. We’ve been wanting to try Japanese whisky for a while and this one bought out spiciness in the kedgeree beautifully. Courtney told us to save out money for something better though. The Yamazaki has taken advantage of recent awards won by Japanese whiskies and flooded the market. I loved the smell of Yamazaki, it reminded me of fruit mince, and the taste was fine if a bit sharp. But Courtney suggested us buying one less bottle or saving a bit longer to get something better like Nikka Yoichi.

A rabbit pie with whisky onion jam was served with the Islay classic Laphraoig. I love Islay whiskies with their strong smokey peat flavours.

Finally we were served a whisky hot chocolate with shortbread. Ardmore whisky mixed with dairy milk chocolate that we just didn’t want to end.

Despite the incredible food and whisky on offer the highlight was hearing Courtney talk about the whiskies and her job as the spirits equivalent of a sommelier.

Selling spirits for Moore Wilson’s she sometimes had a few hundred open bottles sitting on her shelves, Courtney refused to let a customer spend big money on stock without having tasted the product. Likewise she said she doesn’t approve of people selling spirits if they don’t like drinking themselves, and she’s sick of bar staff at good establishments knowing long histories of their cocktails and nothing about the whiskies behind the counter.

Arthur’s Whisky Breakfast tickets sold out weeks after going on sale but if you’re attending on either of the next two Saturdays you are in for a treat!

27 June 2012 by Kim

Wellington on a Plate

A Monday night, dark and wet as most of them are at this time of year. My friends in high places are at the 2012 Wellington on a Plate launch, but I’m somewhere better…in bed with the WOAP site and at least 30 tabs open to investigate the offerings.

The offerings this year didn’t grab me as quickly as 2011, there’s a lot of hapuka (fish) and Parkvale mushrooms on the menus (delicious no doubt, but not exciting), but the more I look the more I like.

When the printed programme was released I painstakingly went through it marking the tastiest sounding dishes in the Dine section. I gave extra points for a menu that made me want to eat everything.

There are surprisingly (and sadly) not many vegetarian entries this year. Especially in the burger section which was won by a vegetarian burger in 2011, and yet there are three dessert burgers on the menu. Was this a result of the collective unconscious or are dessert burgers being paraded on the NY food catwalks?

My picks for each section:

Event

Arthur’s Whiskey Breakfast – $80

This will be the first time I attend something from the WOAP Event section and it really wasn’t a hard choice. Breakfast and whisk(e)y, two of my favourite things. A four course breakfast with matched whiskeys sounds like heaven.

I’m super excited to be attending on the 11th.

Burger

Mexi Jalapeño Popper Burger – $17.50

Lower Hutt’s Hot! Like a Mexican! (formerly Las Margaritas) burger is going to get me on a bus, that’s how good it sounds. Beef, jalapeno, onions, salsa, and sour cream with a side of corn chips and guacamole.

It’s also the only burger in Burger Wellington that has a vegetarian option.

Dine

Fork & Brewer Lunch – $25

This was by far the hardest section to pick just one offer from. But the Fork & Brewer know how to win a girl’s heart: with mac & cheese. Or more precisely – Mac & Beer-Cheese: Macaroni served with a Scotch ale beer–cheese sauce and smoked pork lardons.

Their lunch menu includes 2 courses and a glass of Wellington regional beer. I’d pair the mac & beer cheese with beer brioche pudding and a dark beer that will compliment the rich meal (go big or go home!).

This August is going to be an expensive month with the NZ Film Festival and WOAP both on. But they’re worth saving your dollars for.

14 April 2012 by Kim

Zoo Do

I’m so lucky to have friends that give a middle finger to the rules of what an adult should and should not do. This is how I came to spend the night at Wellington Zoo with 30ish other adults and two kids at the type of sleepover usually reserved for school groups and children’s birthday parties.

Our zoo minder Kim did her best to change her usual sleepover routine into something more suitable for the big kids and we had a lot of fun despite the wet night, thin mattresses, and snoring. The morning after was beautiful and bright; the animals were out and about celebrating the first sun in days. We explored the grounds before the zoo opened and forgot that we hadn’t slept the night before.

During our morning explore I added a new animal to my favourites list. The Nyala males are beautiful punk looking antelopes and the females are pretty and Bambi like with their red fur and white markings.