Posts from 2012

Posted on Tue, 03/01/2012

This link to New Year wishes was sent to me, somewhat predictably by a Scotsman!  We didn't have the words to Auld Lang Syne handy on New Years Eve itself, as we stood on a deck and watched the midnite fireworks over...>>>

Posted on Tue, 03/01/2012

Back at work! I slept in this morning, which hadn't been my intention. While I hadn't exactly planned on being over at the restaurant at the crack of dawn,  I had thought it would be nice to start the new year, with...>>>

Posted on Fri, 06/01/2012

I am home alone at the moment , Rick has gone down to Christchurch to support Courteney for when she races tomorrow in the road race at Elite Nationals, and maybe its becos I'm pottering around on my own, being somewhat selfindulgent...>>>

Posted on Sat, 07/01/2012

I am beyond excited! Courteney has just ( literally only moments ago!) got 2nd in the Road race at Elite Nationals. I'm waiting for Rick to ring me back - he's videoing the medal ceremony at the moment I think,. I've been...>>>

Posted on Sun, 08/01/2012

Am just about to head out the door to pick up Rick and Matt from the airport. Benson caught a pheasant down below this morning to my distress, and is currently in his run demolishing the remains. I really do believe that...>>>

Posted on Sun, 08/01/2012

My husband came home today, and I have both my daughters heading home tomorrow , one from Christchurch and one from National Park, and tomorrow night I'll cook dinner and we'll all sit round the table and talk about stuff,...>>>

Posted on Fri, 13/01/2012

I figured that the sheer, uninhibited gorgeousness of this baby's laugh just had to be shared... Such joy! - such happiness! In a world where there is too much horribleness, sometimes its rather nice to be reminded that...>>>

Posted on Sun, 15/01/2012

I  confess to a bit of a magazine fetish, and I have found that reading online will never take over from that initial frission of pleasure which I get when I sit down to savour a pile of clean, crisp new magazines. And...>>>

Posted on Wed, 18/01/2012

Due to the steadfastness of a very matter of fact friend, I find myself on a Wednesday, required to be out of bed at the previously unheard of hour of 6am, and now a few short hours later, I've been to the top of the Mount...>>>

Posted on Wed, 18/01/2012

I have read books on the subject of the dropping of gastronomic standards in France. A subject of much chestbeating in a country that has for centuries considered itself superior to all others. But MacDonalds has got more...>>>

Posted on Thu, 19/01/2012

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Posted on Thu, 19/01/2012

I am currently sitting writing the addresses on my second box of envelopes for those people who still want to recieve the newsletter by conventional mail. It takes me about two and a half hours to do a box, and is something...>>>

Posted on Fri, 20/01/2012

This looks like a movie I gotta see, purely out of curiosity though, and not becos I want to in any way emulate the ambition of these guys to pass the Master Sommelier exam. I love wine, and I love the process of tasting...>>>

Posted on Fri, 20/01/2012

Professional cycling has become Courteneys life, and her calender year revolves around the major Tours. On Boxing Day she flew down to Nelson for the Tour de Vineyards, and from there she headed on to Christchurch for the...>>>

Posted on Tue, 24/01/2012

The next couple of weeks will probably be our biggest 2 weeks in the entire year for catering. We have a number of events on, and those include 2 large functions, both of which have required alot of background organisational...>>>

Posted on Wed, 25/01/2012

Be warned! I've rediscovered TED, a bountiful source of knowledgable people talking about their passions, so the videos I get excited about and want to link too,  like this one, will probably be ongoing... We're quiet...>>>

Posted on Thu, 26/01/2012

We get alot of compliments on our bread at the restaurant - bread we make ourselves, using a starter. It was quite an uphill process to learn the ins and outs of making bread, even one as relatively straightforward as ours. We...>>>

Posted on Sun, 29/01/2012

Finally! They've formally announced the team Courteney is racing for in the States this year - Team Optum - a renamed ( becos of new sponsers), Colavita, previously one of the top teams. Our girl flies out in just over a...>>>

Posted on Mon, 30/01/2012

I was given a flight as a birthday present last year - the son of good friends who's training to be a pilot was going to take me up in a little Cherokee for a swish around the region. Couldn't have been less enthusiastic...>>>