Cookies for Christmas

Finally made a start making a couple of batches of cookies to enjoy in the run-up to Christmas - spicy biscuits (Spekulatius biscuits in Germany) from my tried and true Doktor Oetker German recipe book which I bought when I first went to Germany all those years ago.  It is the equivalent of the Edmonds cookbook.

The second batch I made were plump buttery Viennese crescents  (Wiener  Kipferl) . They have ground almonds in them.  

Big Day Out

Had a trip up to Orewa yesterday to look at the house which Jane and Adam are busy  staining.  It looks like new.  I hadn't noticed how weathered the cedar had become what with the wind, salt and sand blowing in off the sea whenever there is a storm.  

We got the 9 .15 bus up stopping at Silverdale to go to the market.  Bought apricots and plums, both a bit tart for my digestive system which protested in the usual manner to which I have become accustomed.  Had coffee and an apple muffin before getting the bus on to Orewa where we spent a couple of hours browsing a couple of op shops.  Bought a black camisole at one for $1 which will go underneath my new black floral dress from Jean Jones.  Visited Gladys  and June for a catch-up on the local news and gossip. 

It was a hot day and the tide was right so had a wonderful swim and lounge on the beach before getting the bus back home again. Hope to go up more frequently next year and do a bit of snipping and pruning back to keep the place better under control.

The Festive Season

Sunday marked the start of the season for me with the First Sunday of Advent celebrated at Mass in Ponsonby and the hymn O come O come Emanuel!

On the home front it meant getting out the Advent stand and the handcrafted wreath Eli made at the age of 7 or so  all those years ago.

Time to think about getting Christmas cards started and recall the high points of the year over afternoon tea - little mince tarts and gingerbread cookies which were delicious.

This time next week hope to have made some cookies of my own from a book of Christmas crafts I unearthed from the bookcase, which included recipes for Christmas cookies from different countries around the world.  

Town and Around

Enjoyed a weekend at home in Ponsonby for a change. Good friend Janet came over this-a-way for lunch at our usual meeting place Byzantium where the mini quiches and the panini are tasty and reasonably priced.  Started off at Objectspace where there is an exhibition on Nanette Cameron, Auckland interior designer and teacher who flourished in what is now Te Tuhi in Pakuranga.  

I was reminded of the Sylvia Sandford courses I did at her house, a converted hall in Faulder Avenue in Westmere  round the same time.  It was all very exciting and stimulating learning how to do the various paint finishes, gilding , stencilling and the like as well as theoretical study of domestic architecture and styles of interior design and decoration.  Some of it rubbed off on me and Sylvia was a very interesting person to learn with.  This would have been in the late 1980s or 1990s.

Trotted along Ponsonby Road calling in to the Women's Bookshop for birthday and Christmas gift books and cards.  As always there was a great selection and probably contributed to my dislocated shoulder carrying my purchases home, compounded by my op shop purchases no doubt.Bought the most beautiful apple green duvet cover with stylised white blossom and looking forward to using it over summer. Investigated Milly's which also has a great array of the latest gadgets,and kitchenalia, however I am very attached to my tried and true kitchenwares,  collected over the years in many different countries.

By that time 3 hours had elapsed and I at least was exhausted and had to ring D to come and meet me halfway and help carry my purchases.

Recovered from all that on Saturday and forayed  forth again on Sunday. Mass at Vermont Street first always edifying with the singing of the Samoan choir.  Went downtown in the afternoon to look at the exhibition of children's book favourites through the decades, starting with Beatrix Potter, Wind in the Willows, Black Beauty, Enid Blyton, Dr Seuss, Maurice Sendak and Margaret Mahy to name a few. Will be rereading some of these authors and books in between my current favourite NZ writer, Sarah Laing.

Finished the afternoon with a delicious hazelnut icecream from Giapo's.

Embarked on the new week today by doing a spot of jam-making, one of my favourite activities from now through summer.  Today it was a batch of strawberry and rhubarb jam which turned out well.

Garden tour of the Hamilton Area

Went on a weekend tour of private and public gardens of the Hamilton area.  Apart from four private gardens visited the Hamilton gardens overlooking in part the Waikato River , two garden centres, one farmers' market. Phew! The tour was for members of a garden club which good friend Frances belongs to and there were a couple of seats left on the bus for us.  Most of the private gardens were the pride and joy of women on farms.  

I particularly liked the roses and irises which were in full bloom.  

The Hamilton Gardens were impressive and we picked the Italian Garden to spend a bit of quiet time in rather than try and cram too much in to the hour or two we were there.

Coming upon the Waikato on entering this garden room was a real thrill.  I have added these tranquil pictures to my store of memories I recall if having a wakeful spell during the night and I am soon back to sleep.

The farmers market was a chance to stock up on local goodies - apricot and raspberry jam, fig and walnut bread, asparagus, white turnips and statice.

At the garden centres there was more temptation but I restrained myself and just bought a bunch of sweet-smelling sweet peas and basil plants for the herb garden.  

Life is Good

It usually is but this week I seem to have had a surfeit of very pleasurable things happening in my life.

First the big birthday which threatened to overwhelm me somewhat but got off to a brilliant start with the delivery of a beautiful bunch of very fragrant flowers - stock and Christmas lilies - by good friend Carolyn M  who dropped them oh so early in the front porch to surprise and touch me when I discovered them a little later.  Relished some quiet time at home instead of rushing to the gym as usual, being home to getting in the mail, receiving  some phone calls and E mails,  seeing Eli for lunch and old school friend Pat M from yesteryear (or  so it seems) round afternoon tea time.  

Marked the occasion with a meal at a little French restaurant, La Cantine du Torchon which had gypsy jazz music playing, just the right atmosphere for a celebratory meal.  Started with a kir royale (black currant liqueur and bubbles), progressed to the onion soup, boeuf bougignon and crepes with apple and icecream, all very delicious.

Off to Waiheke then for the long weekend.  Brilliant weather as it often is at Labour Weekend. Visited the art gallery and another smaller exhibition in an old corrugated iron bach, now a studio, browsed the shops and generally had a very agreeable leisurely weekend.  Bowled across the road for a roast dinner on the Sunday night, went to the Waiheke historical museum, a collection of several old beaches and a couple of larger buildings, full of memorabilia of the kind familiar to those of my vintage and older too!  This was on the Monday which happened to be our wedding anniversary so had a celebratory lunch of seafood chowder at a nice fish restaurant overlooking Oneroa Beach.  Delayed the return home another day returning to the mainland Tuesday afternoon after spring cleaning the bach for some early Summer guests.

Spring Clean

I have parts of two rooms looking tidy again after many months of not.  Dusted the windowseat and re organized my stash of woven and knitted bits and pieces waiting for an upcycling moment. For a start I have turned an already recycled Kaffe Fassett-design knitted vest (was a jumper) into a cushion and am pleased with the result.  A stripy cardigan is waiting for a similar transformation.  

Found further energy on the home front and made some delicious strawberry and rhubarb jam, using a couple of chips of rather firm strawberries, not really soft enough for eating au naturelle  and the same amount of rhubarb from the garden.  

Waiheke Weekend

Escaped the city for the island this weekend.  Nice to be at the bach again though the lush green growth everywhere needs gardening and pruning attention. The cinerarias are starting to bloom and by Labour Weekend they will be a riot of colour.  The peach tree is in blossom and the jasmine rankles its heady way through shrubby growth both sides of the garden . It is something fragrant  I can still smell. 

I hadn't noticed these cabbage trees before not far from our front gate on the way to the beach.

Ponsonby Market Day

Had a most congenial day with a former workmate of mine  who came over to Ponsonby to go to the Market Day  with me.  Started off at the parish fair at All Saints Church where I took a bag of my own former treasure  to add to that there on sale.  Came away from there with a couple of things     - a pretty teal Fortnum and Mason tea caddie and a vintage container like one I had as a child.  They were made by crocheting panels of wallpaper and old birthday cards together and you  kept your little treasures or hankies in it.  Couldn't overlook the books and bought an Alexander McCall Smith, whose books I am rereading at present.

Sampled the pancakes with lemon and sugar being made outside a French restaurant and tried out my French on Monsieur. Received a voucher for 50% off the food bill when 2 people dine there on a Tuesday.  Looking forward to trying out la cuisine next week.

Onwards to Chambers with its usual bargains. Purchased some rose soap and a couple of pretty enamel pill boxes.  

It wasn't the weather to be trying on clothes though could well have been tempted by one of the skirts at Carly Harris massively reduced along with the filmy garments I have bought on other occasions  if I had have.  Milly's  next where Carolyn bought a stylish biscuit tin , then Bambina to get out of the wind and enjoy a delicious panini and coffee.  Fortified by that walked as far as the Woman's Bookshop to browse their outside offerings then back along the other side calling in to Wallace Cottons  before walking downhill to our abode in Deepest Ponsonby.  

Happy Birthday Eli

Remembering this day in 1983 and chose this photo from 2013 for today.  

First Day of Spring and Father's Day

A lovely  balmy  Spring  day marred  somewhat from the start by our discovery that the  car had been broken into for the second time in as many months. Glass everywhere and the ignition tampered with and the indicators not working made it undrivqble  so we hobbled up the road to Mass and back  and set about reporting it to Police  and insurance company when we got home.  

Luckily I had made the celebratory nut cake as customary for Father's Day so afternoon tea went ahead as planned.  It was delicious as usual and used up the last packet of hazelnuts I had stashed away.  So the next birthday cakes on the horizon will have to be something different.

The garden is slowly coming to life and requires attention which neither of us are able to give it at present.  In the meantime the irises and the sole tulip add colour to the garden and view uplifting  our spirits as we go about kitchen routines.  

Downsizing our possessions on Trademe  acquired Top Seller status for us a couple of weeks ago, mainly from Dieter's coin sales though with a few bits and pieces of mine from the china cabinets and basement thrown in for good measure. We sold 60 items in a six week period to achieve this status though have dropped back to a more modest number since then.  

My walkie talkie doll, Rosy Primrose is one of my latest sales .

Weekend Away and Monday News.

Had a good Monday after a  lovely weekend on the island, which would have set me up for a wee while.  Seems we hadn't been for weeks what with Dieter and his feet not feeling up to it.

There was stormy weather in the night but fortunately by the time we wanted to go back it had disappeared and the sea was not at all rough.

Had a busy day Trademe-wise.  Dieter sold some coins and a long wooden pipe he got in Yugoslavia in the 1950s.  I sold 2 or 3 books, a recipe book, a big vintage leather suitcase, which has been gracing our front sitting room and latterly the front porch (on its scaled exodus from the house),  and a biography of my aunt's by Lady Fortescue  - for a bit more than I would have got at the book shop in Devonport and I only had to carry it up the road to the postbox.  Not that I don't like a jaunt to Devonport.  Especially when it is combined with a visit to the Stone Oven for a spinach and mushroom pie.

Last time I was in Devonport I heard the most beautiful young soprano I had heard for a while busking

on the corner.  And recently heard her again in Queen St.  This time she had some CDs for sale so gave myself a warm fuzzy and bought one which has been giving us a lot of pleasure as we listen to it while having our afternoon tea each day. Her name is Rebecca Nelson.

Talking of warm fuzzies.  I bought myself a beautiful new dress from Jean Jones for summer.  I was actually sheltering from the rain going into the shop, especially as I had it and the undivided attention of the nice saleswoman who was wearing the same coloured coat I bought there a couple of months ago too.  I can actually wear this dress over  black trousies as is my want these days and have yet to try it on without.  It is black, blue and white and goes nicely over my jeans too.  They had lots of other nice bright tops and things and I am sure I can be tempted again soon.

Anyway had an energetic session at the Y and caught up with friends while jigging up and down on the crosstrainer or striding it out on the treadmill. Our trainer Alison is back from a month away in California so was full of energy for us in the warm-up and cool-down routines, a bit like line dancing.

Toddled down the road to Britomart ( no I lie, waited for the bus to take me there )  and got the belated train out to Glen Innes to meet a friend for lunch at Nosh.  Had the most delicious spinach, fetta and pumpkin seed savoury with a strong cup of coffee, followed by a slice of a caramel and chocolate tart, half a slice I should say!

Then repaired to the choir at the Tamaki Campus for our session with Miona, one of our choir leaders.  She hails from Serbia and has us making all sorts of weird noises up and down the scale as well as more melodious ones I might add. We sang Kumbaya  and Dona  nobis pacem before afternoon tea and on that harmonious note,I snuck out early for the trek home on the buses, having woken and risen very early that morning.

Eli came for a deferred meal, a lovely chicken casserole with bacon, celery and carrot , followed by plum and apple crumble with plums brought back from the Waiheke freezer.

And so the day ended which also included doing copious amounts of washing and other mundane tasks, all of which I do with much more energy after a nice weekend away.

Road trip to Raglan

The four of us friends took off for a short midweek stay in Raglan last week, making good use of the balmy weather we have been enjoying recently.

Left the motorway a few kms before Pukekohe where we had morning tea at my kind of retro cafe,  Cafe Kaos, crammed full of quirky mementoes and furnishings of yesteryear. Out the back there was an amazing area with an eclectic collection of old 70s furniture suites and record covers where they show movies I presume. The cafe had the most delicious traditional home baking and stylish cafe food.  

Enjoyed an exceptional  cup of coffee and a buttery date and orange scone, quite the best I have tasted in the scone line for a long time.  

Browsed the op shops with Frances and although there were some good bargains to be had in the china line I resisted the temptation to add more to my stash .  I noticed a lovely Masons dessert set and a pastel Poole teaset being put out.

Onwards to Raglan on Road 22 arriving early afternoon.  It is a lovely little town with people enjoying the cafe culture and local shopkeepers very visitor- friendly.  Our Post Office cottage was comfortable and above the township, a 3 minute drive to town.

 Had a look at the local museum in Raglan which has a very early Wesleyan Maori mission history as well as the more recent surfing history.   There was an interesting display of a few moth-eaten men's black woollen bathing suits that we might remember from our own fathers.  I remember my own little red woollen bathing suit, anyway. Browsed the shops  which are mainly of the touristy type, some with new, others with old  knickknacks and bric-a-brac. Found an op shop and bought 3 vintage recipe books - a Fielder's one, a Cadbury's one and one entitled Granny's puddings: New Zealand's favourite puddings  which inspired me to make a Lemon Sponge pudding for dessert one evening on our return to Auckland. Used my Alison Holst recipe though which she has simplified  over the years.xx

The next day carried on the sightseeing by driving out to one of the beaches. There were quite a few surfers but otherwise a deserted beach.

Winter Weekend at home in Auckland

Enjoyed another Sunday in Auckland doing things downtown like going to the Central Library, then the Californian Design exhibition at the City Art Gallery with its Modernist examples of furniture, leisure clothing, pottery, weaving and art.

Filled in the rest of the afternoon by attending a free concert in the Town Hall of British music  performed by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.  Music by Elgar, a couple of the Enigma Variations including Nimrod, my favourite, Holst, Benjamin Britain , Percy Grainger among others.  One soloist played a movement of the Grieg piano concerto in A  in a most virtuoso way, bringing a lot of pleasure to the audience.  

A hazelnut icecream from Giapo rounded off the afternoon nicely as well as a look in to Smith and Caughey's winter sale.  

Today wandered down town again on my way to the train station to go to the choir out at Glen Innes. Discovered a deli in O'Connell St. with the most delicious pies.  I sampled a spinach and fetta one with the lightest flaky pastry for my lunch , followed  by a Kapiti  fig and honey icecream.   Both were delicious.

Room with a View

We redeemed our night for two at the Amora Hotel in Greys Avenue last night . I won it at the Mothers Day Fun Run earlier in the year, a spot prize,  and as it was nice and handy to the gym and we were going out for a mid-winter lunch at AUT with the Never Too Old people it was the right time to do so. We were able to go to our room and get ready for the lunch later on and come back afterwards , go out for pizza in the evening, watch a bit of TV and enjoy our buffet breakfast in the morning. It was nice to have a touch of luxury though I had to twist D's arm as I just decided at 8 am and we had to be out the door an hour later with all our stuff for the day and night. In the end he quite enjoyed it too. I think!!


Came home after breakfast and bypassed lunch after the big breakfast. it was a beautiful day so spent some of it in the garden.  Sowed  some Jersey Bennes potatoes which I had forgotten I had, also the new tulip bulbs for this year and some from other years. The ground is hard and sodden for the most part but I found a few holes for them. Getting rid of the oxalis is hard. I don't think we ever will.

Waiheke

Escaped the big smoke for a dose of island sunshine which was very enjoyable.  Alternate weekends in Auckland are enough especially as we are out and about in Auckland all week anyway.  The visit this time was short and sweet seeing we weren't planning a voyage but when the weather was so sunny and balmy warm it seemed a very good idea.  Relaxed at the bach Saturday afternoon  and evening and went to Oneroa this morning, first to Mass at St Peter's where a Franciscan by the name of Father Bernie presided, if you use that word in this modern world of ours.  Probably not.  Anyway he was entertaining and told us all about how he worked as a lay missionary and a priest in the Pacific in earlier years as his response to the call we all have to preach the Gospel and spread the Good News. 

After that had a cup of tea in the foyer, bought a raffle ticket for a blender (if I win it I can replace my big heavy Kenwood cake mixer and blender with this less cumbersome number).  The Kenwood belonged to my Aunt Dorothy who always referred to equipment by its brand  eg the Frigidaire, the Hoover etc. 

She was a very good cake baker too and slices and biscuits of the healthful variety with plenty of dried fruit.  Puddings and pies were always good too . Gooseberry pie, raspberry pie, apple dumplings spring to mind.  

I also have her food processor which I use for making pastry and slicing the grapefruit for my chunky marmelade.  Brought back a bag full from Orewa on Friday so they will get sliced this week sometime.  

Wandered along Oneroa Beach in brilliant sunshine, enjoying the view and the sound of the waves breaking , then repaired to Solar, the cafe with the best muffins in town - feta, onion and spinach , and, cinnamon, date and blueberry (crammed full of blueberries too), accompanied by a latte in a tall glass.  Forgot to take a picture of it all before we had scoffed the lot.  Did take a picture out the window though, the one with the orange flowers.  

Childhoods

Went to a talk at the Silverdale Historical Society today at which one of the members spoke about her Jewish childhood in Germany. Ellen Rothschild was born in the late 1920s in Hildesheim into a well-to-do family.  

By the time she started school Hitler was already in power and soon everybody had to wear an armband on one arm with a yellow Star of David on it and on the other arm a band with a J for Jew on it.  People were told not to patronise Jewish businesses, then Jews were not allowed to be treated in public hospitals or have access to anaesthetics.  They wanted to take Ellen's tonsils out without anaesthetic but she kicked up such a fuss that the attempt was abandoned but a couple of years later she had her appendix taken out with only an injection.  

As a 10 year old she was evacuated to a host family in Budapest who were very kind to her but who couldn't speak any of the languages Ellen spoke but by chance she met a young girl who did and arranged for her family, also Jewish, to host Ellen for the few weeks she was in Budapest while her parents arranged emigration papers for the family to leave Germany.  It turned out the father of this family was Mayor of Budapest.

In November 1938 her father along with other Jewish men was rounded up at 2.30am and taken to the square where the synagogue was on fire.  The fire brigade came and in the guise of putting out the fire turned the hoses instead on the Jewish men forced to witness the horror of Kristallnacht in Hildesheim.  They were then taken  to Buchenwald.

Ellen's mother decided to take her to Frankfurt where her sister and husband and their two mothers were living.  They returned to Hildesheim to find their house full of other Jewish people made homeless after the Gestapo set fire to their houses.  

In 1939 Ellen's father was released from Buchenwald and they made their way to London where Ellen's uncle had been living for a few years.  Six weeks before war broke out the family sailed for Wellington on the Melbourne Star, a cargo ship with about 14 passengers . 

The family settled in Auckland where they lived  first in Papakura where they had a dairy which they left after being accused of being spies as it was near the Papakura Militqry Camp.  Ellen attended St Mary's College where she suffered more anti-semitism at the hands of one of the nuns! So she transferred to Epsom Girls to complete her secondary education. The family  moved to Hepburn St in Ponsonby where they ran the very successful  Busy Bee dairy which is still in Ponsonby to this day .

Her Aunt Gertrude , who had been an opera singer  came to NZ too with her young son after being released from Theresienstadt and taught the NZ opera singer Heather Begg.  Her son became a successful lawyer.

So a very sobering talk .  My mother came to New Zealand in 1939 as nanny to the children of an English couple, the wife of which was Jewish.  I spoke to Ellen over lunch but she didn't know them so they must have been on a different ship.  The Lillies and Mum settled in Wellington where they also experienced the odd anti-Semitic and anti-German sentiment.  

Dieter's childhood in the 1940s under Russian occupation in East Prussia was similarly fraught.  He was a sickly child and because he did not seem to be a very strong child and didn't want to go to school he went a few months later, five months before the Russians bombed their town of Willenberg .

They went from there to Ortelsburg from where they got a train going west.  All went well until they nearly got to Elbing and the train stopped and they were told the Russians had cut off their retreat and were in front of them. The train went  east again to Königsberg where they found accommodation  but then Königsberg was bombed  and Dieter's  mother, sisters and aunt went to the coast where they lived for nearly three years as refugees as East Prussia was no longer part of Germany.  The northern part was occupied by Russia, the southern by Poland.  

There was no schooling except a little in 1947 and by the time the family got to the west in 1948 Dieter was 10 and started school with 6 year olds.  The family was billeted in an old farm house , just a kitchen and a small room for 5 people.  They shifted to another house still very cramped with at least one other family.

My childhood was nowhere near as dramatic.  I grew up in St Clair , Dunedin.  We had a small villa at 21 Onslow St, which later became 26 Albert St, a couple of streets back from the beach where we tended to spend all summer.  My mother believed in enjoying life and we made the most of the beach in summer and had a crib in Queenstown where we went in winter for skiing holidays.  I started school at St Clair Primary school, then when Helen was five we both went to St Bernadette's a mile or so away by tram or foot in Forbury.  

Crown Lynn

Went to the launch of the new handy Crown Lynn book by Valerie Ringer Monk - Crown Lynn collector's handbook at the Women's Bookshop last night.  Bought a copy and got the author to sign it "Happy collecting"' she wrote!! Do feel inspired to collect a few more pieces.  I don't seem to have all that many at present, at least not all in the one place.  Just three pohutukawa dinner plates in the Kelston Ferrostone  Nirvana range, produced in the 1970s, the book tells me.  Oh and a couple of colour glaze cups and saucers languishing in the china cabinet.  And a  beehive mixing bowl. And a very old buff coloured chamber pot under the house. And a very old salt glaze bread crock that I use to hold umbrellas at the front door.  It belonged to good friend Eileen's family who lived in New Lynn in the 1950s and 60s.  So I do have quite a lot of Crown Lynn and more probably that I have forgotten I have.