Posts from 2013

Posted on Sat, 02/02/2013

The restaurant kitchen at Somerset has always been predominantly male. That is not because of any special game plan on Ricks and my behalf , but rather simply the way it has unfolded. When we?ve been looking for staff,...>>>

Posted on Sun, 03/02/2013

During some circular internet reading yesterday, ( I start on a website I go too regularly and end up on an interesting article that has links to other articles on the same subject...), I ended up reading this truly outstanding...>>>

Posted on Mon, 04/02/2013

We had a very pleasant lowkey evening last night, which was Courteneys last before she flies out to California to her teams two week training camp. She will be back after that for another 5 weeks or so, before the racing...>>>

Posted on Mon, 04/02/2013

We have two sources of music in the restaurant. A reasonably large collection of CDs that I've built up over the years, and which we load into the system, 5 at a time, and thanks to Roz now set on random play, something I...>>>

Posted on Mon, 04/02/2013

We went over to the Mount this am, not that there was much view from the top, with such low lying cloud ? but given how much we all need the moisture for the parched earth, I decided not to mind too much. Usually the good...>>>

Posted on Tue, 05/02/2013

Courteney will be landing in LA about now ? waiting for the first text or skype to come through, but will possibly be another few hours, until she gets picked up by the team manager, and taken to where the whole team are...>>>

Posted on Fri, 08/02/2013

Maybe its because I?ve finally got my home kitchen back to myself, and am no longer encountering other bodies in there, when I plan on cooking something, that I?ve suddenly found myself amidst a plethora of recipes that...>>>

Posted on Tue, 12/02/2013

Courteney has just sent thru a request to get good friends of ours to tape the Sky TV coverage of  the Elite National Road Champs, so she can watch it when she gets home next week. It includes coverage of both the male...>>>

Posted on Tue, 12/02/2013

Well, well, well. ...  Maree had told me that a very cute bakery had opened up just round the  corner from her house in Edgecumbe road, and I?d spotted it last week when I flicked into the Gluten free store, but...>>>

Posted on Thu, 14/02/2013

Have just taken a phone call at home from a very close friend who wants to bring his sons in for dinner tonight because Thomas heads back down to Canterbury university tomorrow.   Valentines Day is kind of a standing...>>>

Posted on Thu, 14/02/2013

Courteney will be just about be finishing her 2 week training stint with her team, in Califonia. She flies home on Sunday, to get in another 5 weeks or so of intense training before heading back to America and the start of...>>>

Posted on Fri, 15/02/2013

The commercialisation that surrounds Valentines Day, and the attendant pressure that people get to feel over being seen to be doing something to affirm their love, is something that I have some major issues with, as people...>>>

Posted on Wed, 20/02/2013

Had been reading a serious article on the shrinking birthrates happening in America, Germany and Japan, and the economic implications that that potentially has, in years to come, and flicking quickly thru the Comments, where...>>>

Posted on Fri, 22/02/2013

Lots of queries from people about  what 2013 holds for both our girls, and  where Courteney is concerned I often wish I had a computor handy at the restaurant, to show people a series of photos like in  this...>>>

Posted on Sat, 23/02/2013

Yet another hot, dry day - part of the continuum of this amazing summer we're having...I'm about to head out for a walk, to clear my head before what is going to be a busy service tonight. We're slightly understaffed out...>>>

Posted on Sun, 24/02/2013

A depressing, albeit unsurprising article thats worth reading, on how ( and why) the companies that manufacture snack food are keen to hook consumers in, and why that process has contributed significantly to the dramatic...>>>

Posted on Tue, 26/02/2013

A gross generalisation I know, but New Zealanders  tend not  to be interested in drinking wine styles that they are not familiar with. For that reason Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir are the biggest...>>>

Posted on Tue, 26/02/2013

Beautiful words ( I think!), from a female chef......>>>

Posted on Tue, 26/02/2013

Butter gets much discussed in cookschools ? not fortunetly in the way it used to be, when people often asked what they could use instead of butter when it came to baking. For a number of years there was a deeply marketed...>>>