Chris pulling the trailer

The other day I mentioned that I could see Chris pulling out of the gas station with the trailer in tow. Here it is with maximum magnification from our little digital camera.

In case you missed it the trailer is yellow and the car is green, it is pulling out just at the bend of the major road.

That is the view from my window, of course I am usually looking at the mountains which I had to crop from the photo so you had a prayer of a chance of seeing the car.

My own bread recipe.

I just meandered over to the keyboard to write down the recipe for a new bread that I am creating! Not much of a variation from some of the reliable standard ones out there but still my own recipe.

350 grams 100% Hydration 100% Rye Starter

650 grams Water

1075 grams White Flour

0 grams Salt.

Yes you read it no Salt!

Of course it ought to have 20grams of Salt. I wonder if I should even bake it. Ugh. I was planning on running a loaf to each of the neighbors as a ways of introducing myself tomorrow evening. Maybe I will make a poolish and go to bed!

Hamstrings and friends

Just yesterday I was marveling at how high I could kick in Tae Kwon Do. Then about 1/10 of a second later I was on the floor marveling at how much pain a hamstring can cause the human body. If you have never experienced this unique marvel I would place it somewhere between a back going out and stubbing your little toe. Especially as, for me, the pain was between my waist and heel on my right leg.

The guys had to pick me up off the floor (not easy) and walk me over to the side of the gym. I was fortunate in that a trainer was at there, and even more fortunate, that he spent the better part of an hour stretching and massaging my leg as I educated him to the subtleties of American profanity. At the end of his ministrations I was able to walk.

Fast forward to today, Monday the 25th of October when our new furniture arrives!

I was on point to pick it up from the other side of the bay and lug it into and out of the trailer. But alas my hamstring has tipped the scale in favor of watching the fun. As I type Chris is driving the car, with the very same trailer as we had on move day (I know for I saw her pull out of the gas station with it attached to the car, I can see it from my office window,) to go pick up the lounge suite and bring it here.

Now this is where the friends come in. Two phone calls, two guys said sure. They will be here in about an hour to coincide with my wife's ETA. And to haul the furniture for me.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Why I love this place

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10682269

... only in New Zealand

Views from on high

Pictures never do the view justice. Here is the view from the front of our home. We can see this from our lounge, and two bedrooms.

This it the view from the south which is what I see when I look up from the computer as it is out my office window.

The house sits up on the hill with a pretty substantial drop. The "Front Yard" is 12 feet or so from the front deck. I will post pictures of the house itself and the various rooms in the near future. It is raining now and I am going to go sit in front of the fire and read.

My only regret

is not getting a picture of everyone who helped with the move ...

... Left to right: Chris, Andrea, Dave, Mark, Paul and Elliot

We moved!

The move took 1 hour and 36 minutes. Lunch took about 3 hours! We are in the new house with lots of unpacking to do.

We have gone back to the old house to give it the final clean. Then we are done!

We are tired but content.

PS - No internet or phone at the new house so you will have to call the cell for a few days.

We are moving!

This is the bait I am using

To get everyone to come and work

Today is move day

Musings

I am packing my office getting ready for the move this next Saturday. There is not much to pack as I have not completely unpacked from the previous move. I will have to get some pictures of this place, strategic pictures as I don't want to remember this home with floor to ceiling piles of boxes. :)

Recording our New Zealand adventure seems kind of strange now. We are no longer living an adventure, we are living a life down here. This place is home. Yes I can still recall the first time that I drove down some road or another - for instance just yesterday we were at a TKD tournament (another posting on that will come soon.) and I recall the time we had first gone to that area of Poriarra - but it no longer as the awe and wonder it use to. I expect when I go back to the US I will cringe at driving on the right side of the road and wonder why every business has a back-lit sign.

I will keep the blog name. Life is an adventure and it is good to be reminded of that fact.

Party

Yesterday we went to a friend's house to celebrate his birthday. The man of honor, Dave, runs our TKD club. They moved houses at the same time we did, which was quite sad as we moved pretty close to their old home! This was the first time we had seen their new place out in brooklyn it had a great view and as to be expected was buffeted by the wind.

All the adults from TKD showed up with plenty of the children and all had a great time. There was no birthday cake, presents or singing, Dave and Kirsten said it was to be very low key. There were two curries (Chicken and Potato) on offer, chippies (that would be potato chips) and dip. I brought over a couple of coffee cakes to share but dug into the Pavlova which was just amazing!

The conversation was riveting, the jokes I really can't repeat in this blog. Everyone had a great time. Chris, Dennis and I were the last ones to leave at 11:15pm. We were there a good hour or so sitting down chatting about differences in life between the US and NZ.

What I left with was there is not much of a difference. Life goes on we are all working to pay our bills and give our children advantages we did not have. But I also left with a closer friendship that I had before.

Chip buddy

Go to your local store and buy a bag of cheap white bread, ketchup and some margarine or butter. Then on your way home stop and get some hot fresh chips - that would be thick cut french fries in the states. (Yes you know where this is going.)

When you get home butter the bread, put a few chips on half the bread, ketchup to taste and fold the bread in half. Eat. You have just had a chip buddy.

I had a chip buddy Friday night after taking Dennis and his friend, Hamish, to the beach and some mini-golf. We went to Hamish's home for fish and chips and where I was introduced to this Kiwi delicacy. Now just to set the record straight it was not Hamish who told me about it; it was Paul, Hamish's father, who not only told me about it but demonstrated it with a look of lust in his eye that, while I enjoyed the chip buddy, I do not quite comprehend.

In fact Paul had been talking all week about the chip buddy as we had planned this event the previous week (Paul at TKD grading partner.) I had no idea what he was spouting on about but just smiled and nodded knowing I was in for another cultural experience. A quite enjoyable one at that.

Go get yourself a chip buddy, I Highly recommend it!

View from Awarua

This is the view down (literally) my road as I walk/drive into town. It was taken one sunny afternoon.

Just an interesting house I saw

The hills of Wellington have an interesting architectural impact. I saw this house while I was tramping through the bush over by Newtown.

Went for a walk Sunday

Took the family up the moutain for a bird's eye view of Wellington and the South Island on Sunday. As Dennis was not feeling very well Chris and I figured we would take him up about half way to Mount Kaukau, and then she would turn back and I would continue the journey.

When we got just short of half-way I snapped this picture, our home is just before the valley opens up. (If you look real close you will see a blue roof our home is the green room just up the hill from the blue roof. Got it?)

We continued to the sign (no picture unfortunately) and I gave my coat to Chris, it had my keys and as it was much warmer up in the sun than I had thought it would be I didn't need it at all. Well she and Dennis turned back to go home and I wandered up the hill.

It is so hard to describe how beautiful it is up there. Once I rounded the bend and went up a wee bit this is what I saw.

Still the picture does not do it justice, even two pictures. That would be 2000 word essay worth cannot describe how it feels to be up here. Notice the South island in this picture.

It is desolate up here, all you really see is pasture, sheep, water, and some mountains in the distance. Turning to my right the valley to the north.

Just to the right of the above picture is Mount Kaukau my destination.

I do wish that I had taken my camera with me as the pictures would have been so much better, but these are not too bad for a cell phone. Plus the cell phone add the extra benefit of not having one of those lanyards to carry it with, so I had to put the phone back in my pocket. This was a good thing, for as I put my cell phone back into my pocket I noticed that I had my keys!

Now you may remember that I gave Chris my coat with my keys in it so she could unlock the house. So here I am on the ridge, Chris expects that I will be two hours behind her; and she has no way to contact me. I may have my phone with me she does not have hers.

So I quickly start to go back to the house. Run on the flat (I don't run downhill.)

I did enjoy the view of the valley on the way down, there were at least two better photo opportunities than the one I took, however they will have to wait for my next trip up the hill as I was in a hurry.

I finally did make it home to an open door and a happy family. Inquiring as to how they entered in the house I found out that my son had crawled through the bedroom window. Few windows here in NZ have screens, so no damage was done. But I was still impressed as there is only about 6" wide opening.

Dennis was quite happy with himself for having crawled through the window, especially given that he had his mother's approval.

Another Ozzy upset

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10677899

... only in New Zealand!

How to Steam Bread

Either turn the computer or your head on its side to get a view of the steaming.

That is a standard sunbeam capachinno machine I picked up on trademe for $50 and a $3 hose from the local hardware store. You can see one of the foil roasting pans $1.50 on the counter to the right (or below) which I put over the bread. The steam hose then goes under the bread for about a minute. Then anywhere from 10-15 minutes later I open the door and take out the foil pan.

Does a wonderful job of injecting steam into the oven.

Bread of the month

This months bread was Ciabatta. Every month I am going to make a different bread. The only rules are that it has to be sourdough, and the only reason for that rule is that when you keep a bug going there is plenty that gets thrown away so may as well find a use for it.

I made this ciabatta three times last month, and then again today. Every one of them turned out delicious with a beautiful crumb and excellent crust. These loaves have a wee bit more whole-wheat flour than I had been using in the past. A nod to the general health conciseness of my tasters.

They are cooling as I type. I can't wait to taste them this afternoon!

I found this particular formula on farine's english blog ...

http://www.farine-mc.com/2009/07/tweaked-ciabatta.html.