Happy Holidays - Cheers to 2012

Santa on the Southern motorway, Auckland

Well, here I sit, finally relaxing at Mt Maunganui after what seems like the craziest of years, taking a deep breath and enjoying a fine glass of champagne. Though it sometimes feels I was the only one exhausted by the events of the past year, my mother- in-law has rightly reminded me that everyone has had a crazy year. I won't be alone then in saying "Cheers - I'm sure glad I made it through that one!"


So, as is often the case at this time of year, its time to reflect, take stock, give thanks, and make sure to get enough relaxation for the next installment. Or....... here's another version we decided on over Christmas dinner last night (and I like this even better):

Look back, look forward, and drink lots of champagne in between!

Looking back

• Mark and Cath had Felix in February and we became fairy god parents
• Went to Melbourne and Rutherglen for Stu's birthday in March.
• Canada for my Mom's big 70 in April.
• Bought a new Car - dogs friendly of course!
• Melbourne again for Adam's big 40 in Sept.
• My baby sis got married in October - a fabulous occasion, complete with lots of family from overseas. 
• A busy year at work - a bit all consuming but kind of rewarding just the same.
• Not the healthiest year - lots of colds and flus so next year will hopefully be a bit better.

 Add a few (too many!) fabulous wine and food events and presto the year was as eventful as ever.
As always, I am thankful for my great family and friends who made this year and this life more interesting. 

Christmas Dinner: Confit Duck with Cranberry Dressing and a nice glass of bubbles

Looking forward

• Tomorrow we are going to visit next year's new additions, our Airedale pups who will be coming home around end of January. I am certain that will keep us entertained.
• We just won a trip to Margaret River in Western Australia, the most amazing prize, care of our favourite wine shop, First Glass in Takapuna.
• Al and I turn a mid way milestone birthday this year (a bit scary! half way to another 'oh')
• We are already muting the possibility of next Christmas in India.
• More crazy work/life balance challenges
• Hopefully some productive new years resolutions on the health front
• And of course lots of fun food and wine events

So....... Here's to the bubbles in between.

Right now here's to relaxing and living for the moment! Next year will be busy enough.

All the best for the holidays, may the bubbles flow for you also, and may you feel nice and recharged by the time the next year begins.

Cheers!
Ev

The view on boxing day from my Mother In Law's House, Mount Maunganui.  A bit overcast, but not too bad  

Wine Age

Decanting and the right glassware. Yes it makes a difference

The one drawback about buying a great wine is that you usually have to cellar it (read wait) for a number of years before its worth drinking.

Old good wine = great wine.
This requires patience....... Not my strongest virtue.

So all the more reason that I would be amazed at the 10 x 10+ year old wines I've had in the period of about a week - it's been completely crazy and reads more like something that perhaps a wine writer might be exposed to, and I feel very fortunate.

So what makes an older wine so great? Many have described this, but I like the words of Hugh Johnson, the well know wine writer -

 "It always takes me a few sips and a silent pause, my nose deep in the glass, to focus and find the measure of the highest quality. Description involving currants and tobacco and tar and strawberries are rubbish when you meet the sheer rightness of great claret reaching maturity."

So, here's what happened in a week:

1. 2002 Vintage Moet Champagne 

2. 2002 Simon Bize & Fils Latricieres Chambertin Grand Cru - an amazing burgundy which went superbly with an amazing Beouff Bourguignon.
3. 2002 Chateau Pichon Longueville - an equally amazing Bordeaux that tasted devine.
4. 1996 Penfold's Grange:  This is the grand puh bah of Australian wines - it is coveted by wine collectors around the world (Mehran take note!) and 16 years has been kind to this wine.  This was rated at 97 points by James Halliday. It had been well decanted and drank as beautifully as one might expect.
5. 1996 Grant Burge Meshach Shiraz: This has got to be close to the top of the list of Aussie favourites (we recently also had a 1999).  A sensational example of what you can expect from cellaring a good Aussie Shiraz.
6. 1999 Vidal Reserve Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon - a magnum of New Zealand unctuous delight which was drinking beautifully.
7. 1993 Coldstream Hills Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - James Halliday's winery.  The master himself.

8. 1997 Cranswick Botrytis Semillon from New South Wales.  Yummo with dessert.
9. 1995 Stonyridge Larose Waiheke Island Cabernets.  Just stunning.  This is an iconic New Zealand wine and it was amazing to see what all the fuss is about.  We've recently bought some 2008. Patience........
10. 1987 St Nesbit Bourdeaux blend - cabernet high.  (The 87 was cabernet, their newer wines are merlot high) I have only recently been introduced to this cult NZ wine and what a treat.




Aged wine....well what good is it without the matching company and food?  Wine was designed to go with food and all of these were.

Jambon Persille

A number of these were served with the most amazing French dinner with some friends who have recently returned from a trip to Burgundy. Marge is a fabulous cook and we were treated to Jambon Persille (ham and parsley terrine) and Boeuf Bourguignon.  Apparently these are served ad nauseum all over Burgundy and one can quickly get a bit too much of these dishes.  (Well, I will be more than happy to put myself to the challenge one day when I make it to Burgundy myself!) As New Zealand's current wine option champs,  Marge and John know a thing or two about wines and the food and wine matches were sensational.

Le Beouf Bourguignon

A beautiful and delicious almond tarte

A few more of these were brought out at Pinot Plus at our regular monthly lab night ... watch this space - Lab Night is about to celebrate 2 years.  This is the ultimate monthly get together over food and wine.

The Larose was brought out by Curt during a Tuesday night dinner at the Pitts.  You have to say that's a bit of a surreal wine to bring out on a Tuesday - almost a bit philosophical - Curt, I still think you should check out "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom.

The St Nesbit was tasted on a Saturday afternoon at a tasting and led to an amazing food and wine experience later on that I will have to get to on another day.....

Matakana: New Zealand's Hunter Valley?

View of Omaha and surrounds from OBV vineyard

Matakana....maybe it's even New Zealand's up and coming Sonoma county....  Ok, that might be a stretch, but wouldn't that be fabulous.

Matakana is only 42 minutes door to door from our Auckland home (according to the new GPS), so it was a no brainer to rent a bach at nearby Omaha Beach for the weekend with some friends as a quick winter getaway.

So......The ingredients of a worthy wine/food country region according to me:

Fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce:
High marks for Matakana.  It's compulsory to visit the Matakana Market on a Saturday Morning.  I got the most amazing winter carrots and root vegetables and some buffalo mozzarella, from which we made dinner that night.  There are also the roadside honesty boxes, which don't have a lot of press outside of New Zealand - it's a bit of a novelty to live in a place where people trustingly leave food and a box full of cash on the side of the road!

A view across Matakana Market from Matakana Market Kitchen

Food: 
The choices are starting to increase, but this is where a huge opportunity lies in my opinion.  Sonoma/Napa really does have the edge on this, but I guess they've been going a lot longer.  Will we ever have a French Laundry or Cyrus (or even Girl and the Fig)?  Who knows, but what we did have wasn't too bad.

Worth a visit: Matakana Market Kitchen. As the name suggests, it's right at the market, so it was the perfect place for brunch. The coffee is good and the menu has some non standard dishes.  I had the Welsh Rarebit which was made with a number of locavore ingredients.  Absolutely yummy.

Welsh Rarebit, Matakana Style

The coffee went down well......

OBV Vineyard for a lunch platter: Talk about a spectacular setting, overlooking Omaha and the coast.  The platter was interesting, but the scenery was really the main attraction.  A notable mention goes to the nice glass of their Montepulciano.  They are onto a winner here.

OBV Vinyard

Other places we didn't go to this time, but which deserve a mention:
Sawmill Cafe in Leigh - this is a bit of an institution which serves good pizza and nice bistro food.
Ransom Wines - great platters to go with some up and coming wines.  I particularly like their 'K Syrah'.
Plume:  Haven't been here but it's getting a lot of good reviews, so might need to put this on the list for the next visit.

Wine:
The wine needs a bit of work before it's at the level of some of New Zealand's other wine regions.  There are a few pockets of brilliant individual wines, but by and large, it's pretty average. Wineries worth keeping an eye on other than OBV and Ransom as above: I do like some of the Hyperion, Heron's flight and Ascension wines.  The big daddy is the Bordeaux blend of Providence. Their wines are in the +$200 range, so more of a special occasion wine and it really is a stunner.

Arts and Crafts:
Well, an honorable mention must go to Morris and James, who do the loveliest pottery.

But...
The piece de resistance for Matakana is its proximity to the coast.  Get your veggies, grab some food and then take a walk along some of New Zealand's most beautiful beaches.  Last weekend we even saw two whales.  I have not really done any whale watching to date, so this was a real treat for me.  It turned out to be a mum and her calf who were splashing around just of the coast.  Allister and I watched them for over an hour, it was just magical.  Attached is the link from the paper the following day.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10829911

Omaha Beach at Sunset

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore.... Omaha

 So I guess we'll watch this space on Matakana.  It certainly is nice to watch it develop and become the Auckland playground.

Dinner of locavore ingredients -
roast vegies and watercress from the market

The Chef's Table at Euro

The other night we had a real foodie highlight - a 10 course degustation at Euro at the Chef's Table.  This would definitely be a top 3 experiences for me to date - it was an awesome time.

Euro's Simon Gault is a household name in NZ as one of the judges on Masterchef but he is also known for his love for molecular gastronomy (think Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adria, from whom a lot of his ingredients come) and The Chef's Table at Euro is his attempt at showcasing some unique and experimental dishes for 8 people at a time seated around a kitchen bar.

Apparently he started The Chef's Table a few years ago but for publicity he recently did a half price deal which we got a couple of seats for.  It sold out very quickly, but the chef told us to watch this space - they'll either do another 'grab one' deal or give details on their Facebook page.

So on with the show:  (it's referred to as 'entertastement' on the Euro web site!)

1. Spanish Bellota ham with creme fraiche and shaved fresh NZ truffles.  We were asked to roll this into a cigar and eat. Only 3 ingredients but honestly, this was a taste sensation and a true example of what can happen if you have the best ingredients.

2. Smoked Caprese Salad.  The first of the 'gastro' dishes.  An array of gastro ingredients such as olive oil which was in the form of little caviars, which was then subjected to smoke under a dome to infuse with the ingredients.

Adding smoke to the caprese salad

3. A deconstructed shrimp coctail.  Probably the most normal dish of the night.
4.  The risotto was to die for. Well, there was half a kilo of butter in the risotto alone, so 'to die for' has a dual meaning!  It was done with an anchovy butter (more heart attack material) and calamari rice.

5.  Favourite Dish: Fois Gras ice cream with sherry vinegar candy floss. The sherry vinegar was freeze dried in a powder form and sprinkled over a candy floss nest. The sweet and savory and textural combination was absolutely mind blowing.

6.  Ravioli.  Ok, in case you thought this was a healthy degustation, the ravioli was made with 300g of flour and SEVENTEEN egg yolks!  Your average home recipe calls for 1 egg / 1 yolk per 100g of flour, and of course this extreme amount of eggs is for the richness (read fat content) of the yolks. The Beurre Noisette had another 1/2 kg of butter....

Some 'crowd' participation

7. Wagyu beef with a venison jus and........  fries cooked in duck fat!  I could feel my arteries bracing themselves but this was certainly good.

8. Freeze dried mandarins and raspberries in liquid nitrogen.  As soon as you put it in your mouth the smoke comes out of your nose and mouth! (OK Curt, we may have to discuss the 'puff' thing!)
9. Deconstructed Pavlova, warm sauce, liquid nitro Pav and fizzy sherbet strawberries.
Hot, cold, fizz, crunch, yum.

The Chef making sorbet with liquid nitrogen

10. Grappa hot chocolate with a a chocolate fig truffle.  Oh my goodness.  I could have drunk a cup of this, not just the pipeful, but once again, an explosion in your mouth.  Definitely a grand finale.

Well,  this is not something we would do every weekend, but as far as foodie treats go, this certainly was worthwhile.  I will have to wait for the butter and duck fat to work their way through my system before the next time!

Olympics, Random Faves and Auckland Graffiti

GO Kiwi's!

So who hasn't been enjoying the Olympics for the last 2 weeks? It's been great to watch New Zealand bring home 5 golds and 13 medals.  Whilst I haven't lost nearly as much sleep over the last 2 weeks as Al, I still couldn't help watching my fair share.

Olympic Faves:

Non New Zealand
1. Michael Phelps in general - what a guy and loved it when he said he was having fun.  (also not quite so full of himself as fellow American swimmer, Ryan Lochte)
2. Usain Bolt in all his events. What a legend. Wasn't it cool when he gave that kid his beanie?
New Zealand
1. Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan mens double sculls - the ultimate 'never give up', come from behind and show 'em what real determination looks like.

GO Mahe!

2. Mahe Drysdale - Rower extrordinaire, who absolutely deserved to be the closing flag bearer after his Beijing comeback

3. Valerie Adams - wow, I shed a tear when she gave her silver medal interview. We'll never know how well she would have done if they actually properly entered her into her event...

Non Olympic Faves:

So other than the Olympics, I have been laying relatively low as I've managed to catch every cold and flu going this winter.  It's given me a chance to read some books, play on my iPad, and generally chill out.

Favourite new on line find 
I'm in love with Jerry Seinfeld's new online series:  ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee.com  If you're a Seinfeld fan like me, this is fabulous.  He picks up various comedians in one of his many vintage cars and gets coffee.  They are 10-15 minute clips and the latest episode I watched was when he picks up Ricky Gervais.  This is quintessential Seinfeld.

Favourite iPad Apps:
To say I love my iPad and iPhone is the understatement of the year.  How did I live my life fully without these?!  Cath was definitely the earliest adopter of us all and always found the coolest apps.  Here are a couple of random ones I am enjoying at the moment.

A Picture of pewter fruit bowl using MarbleCam

1. Kindle - Life before my Kindle Reader App.  hmmmm.....  ok - sure, it's not so easy to get sand out of your iPad if you're on the beach, but hey, I'm in Auckland in the middle of winter so no chance of that anytime soon. I am loving the instant access to great books at North American prices.
2. MarbleCam - takes some cool distorted artistic photos
3. Mashable and Flipboard - cool site for articles which are great for reading over lunch on my iPhone
4. Shazam - this is one I got off Cath for sure.  Let it listen to a clip of any song and it will identify it.

 Almost Favourite App:
Mixtape.co.nz - a New Zealand music collaboration site.  I got an invite from Moochi, one of my fave clothing brands, who put together a mixtape which is worth checking out.  One BIG prob - it requires flash at the moment, so no joy using this on my iPad or iPhone.  Apparently that's coming so I'll be watching this space. (and then it will definitely be a favourite app!)

Favourite Photographer:
And just because this blog seems a bit random, I thought I'd leave you with some random Grafitti shots which Al has captured in and around Auckland. (not just Melbourne has cool grafitti!)

On the wall going down the stairs in St Kevin's Arcade

Found in the middle of nowhere - behind the Caltex petrol station  on Fanshaw St

This is my fave of the Caltex shots.

Caltex 3 - interesting pen names

Mural painted on a wall in Tauranga by NZ artist Timo Rannali

City scape shot in Imperial Lane

Goodlife Weekend in Wellington

We got a great Air New Zealand deal to Wellington so decided to visit Irwin and Michelle last weekend. Despite it being about 5 degrees cooler than Auckland, the weather was beautiful and it was a good excuse to catch up over lots of coffees and be entertained by the mini-me's, Eva and Matilda.

Irwin and Michelle live near Petone which is a neat little suburb that reminds me of Ponsonby - lots of great cafes, neat little independent shops and old buildings. According to Michelle, Wellington has the most coffee roasters per capita in the world.  I'm not surprised as there are cafes and roasters everywhere through the city and the suburbs and the aromas are wafting everywhere. 

Cool stained glass at Caffiend Cafe, Petone

Cafes of particular interest in Petone are 'Caffiend' and 'Go Bang'.  We've been to both a few times now and there's always great coffee, great atmosphere and the cabinet food looks homemade and delicious. 

Fresh Water on tap in Petone

Petone also has the neatest little attraction - the fresh water spring, Te Puna Wai Ora, right in the middle of town.  People come from all over with their big drums to fill up on fresh water.
On Elle's recommendation we also got to the Dowse Gallery in Lower Hutt which is worth a look if your in that part of town. The Hairy McLarey children's book author, Lynley Dodd, was signing books, so there was a queue out the door.

On Saturday night we went into the city and checked out a few of Wellington's attractions.  To me, Wellington has a  real creative, artistic and cosmopolitan vibe that is hard to find elsewhere in New Zealand.  All roads (and good public transport) seem to lead to the city centre which gives it a heart. You can walk pretty much everywhere - people are walking down Cuba St Mall at all hours and it doesn't seem as overrun with hooligans as Auckland's Queen St at night.  


Here was our Saturday night line up: 
First off was 'Matterhorn' for a drink. A very cool bar with an amazing wine list. Wow - I wish this was around the corner from my work! The restaurant is meant to be great also, but that will have to wait for another time.
We then strolled down to 'le Metropolitain' for yummy French bistro fare.  Of course they had good duck confit so how could I not be happy with that?!  
We finished at 'Logan Brown', Al Brown's award winning restaurant, and my glass of Clearview Sea Red and some nice homemade chocolates was the perfect finish. Just the architecture is worth going in for the drink. What an amazing building. I think its an old bank. 


Well, maybe next time we go we'll leave it for a warmer time of year to go to Wellington but it was a great escape for the weekend. In the words of Dr Averil:  O for Awesome!

Irwin and Matilda at 'Go Bang' (so innocent!)

Michelle and Eva at 'Go Bang'

Al and Eva playing with phones in cars....

Matterhorn - very cool restaurant / bar in Cuba St

Al's artistic shot at Matterhorn

Give me dad's pancakes any day!

A picture of significance by a 'local' artist

Cool stainless steel installation on the wall at the Dowse Art Museum

This took up a whole wall at the Dowse

A couple of wind blown birds at Eastbourne 

Al's artistic pier shot at Eastbourne