Christmas comings and goings on

I am rather tired but it's a pleasant type of weariness after everything is over.  Dieter came home for good on Christmas Eve.  His smile and happiness on hearing that was to be at the family group meeting on Tuesday was a joy to behold.  He had been led to believe it may only be leave for a night and a day.

We had our first visitors half an hour after he got home, my nephew and his wife, so he didn't get time to adjust really.  It is only today that things are "normal" again and I will be taking some time out to cosset myself too.  

Eli came on Christmas Eve for our celebratory Christmas meal, along with good friend Pamela. 

Eli gave us a wonderful book Tangata whenua an illustrated Maori history which I had been going to buy as well and made a special trip to the Woman's Bookshop on Wednesday morning to do so but for some reason didn't. Just as well.  

He was not up to going to Mass on Christmas Day so I got a taxi down with Kerry from the gym who had wanted to go to the Cathedral at 11 too, and left him with some trepidation to put the dinner in the oven. However it was me who burnt the carrots later on while trying to multitask. I quickly rinsed them and cooked some frozen peas to mix with them to mask any residual smokiness! 

Used all my special China for the meal - Meissen I hadn't used for years and another lovely blue and white dish for the strawberries plus a nice Christmas cloth and it was most enjoyable and having company too was nice.  Christmas tea of cold turkey roll, ham and salad for just the two of us was also very nice.

Tonight Eli is coming for dinner which I will concoct out of leftovers, though I think as I am trifled out I may serve a little Christmas pudding which has a whole candied clementine in the middle from Nosh for our dessert.  

Not sure if we will get to the island.  Certainly not today and will see what tomorrow brings as the upheaval of carting food etc over is something I find too daunting to contemplate.  Maybe an evening trip involving just breakfast and lunch the next day would be less of a hassle. 

Thanks to friends and family for your support when the going got tough over the 7 weeks. Looking forward to 2015 in the hope that it will be a more memorable year than 2014. Arohanui.

Christmas Cookery

Started off by making some lemon honey to give away as  gifts.  Good friend Sue gave me some lemons recently which need using up and this is a good way to do so.  I picked up a little book of Christmas cooking by Alison Holst recently and decided to use these recipes on the whole this year and not waste time trolling through my folders of recipe clippings looking for other options.  

Next on the list was a pineapple Christmas cake. It got a bit dark around the edges but I have cut the burnt bits off and the cake itself is moist and  tasty.

Made a new type of pastry with sour cream in it and thought I would use it for my little Christmas mince tarts.  It turned out to be more of a puff pastry so I'll make another batch later with some proper shortcrust pastry.  I made the fruit mince myself from that little book too.  It is made in the food processor and has Apple in it too so it is not so dark and strong-tasting as the bought stuff is.

Last but not least I made some Spekulatius cookies this morning from my old Dr Oetker cookbook I got when I first went to Germany all those years ago.  

Out and About

It is that time of the year when everybody wants to meet one more time before Christmas.  Met up with a friend for coffee in a cafe in one of the high-rise towers down the bottom of town .  There were two big cruise ships in town, dwarfing the ferry and old ferry building edifices, so quaint in comparison.

Another day I went with some friends to a Parnell cafe in an old villa in Brighton Rd and from there to the Rose Gardens, lovely as always. 

Waiheke Mid-Week

What with D in hospital I decided to have a bit of respite over on Waiheke in between visiting him and carrying on with my normal activities.  He has had ongoing digestive problems, trouble with  swollen feet and also is feeling depressed, now the main problem.  They say he will be home well before Christmas.  

I like the weekday atmosphere on the island.

This is the lovely scene that greets you on entering Matiatia Harbour. 

Bought myself a Monet jigsaw puzzle for a couple of dollars at the op shop and repaired to Solar cafe to catch up on my emails over a flat white and an apricot and vanilla muffin, crammed full of apricot bits I might add.

The garden at Solar is full of colour and greenery, but also featuresitems from yesteryear like this old pedal car. 

The deli pictured below has organic fruit and vege as well as delicious Turkish bread made on the island which we often buy. Next to it is a lovely craft shop of local arts.and crafts.

Auspicious Occasions

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Had a very pleasant birthday on the island as usual.  Went out to a French cafe in Surfdale for a galette with a chicken, bacon and mushroom filling, followed by a nice cup of strong  coffee.  The weather was great on Saturday too, and passable the other two days.

Today is our 36th wedding anniversary so remembering that happy day in 1978

Anniversary spidery chrysanthemums in an old Hungarian Toby jug vase bought in Hungary in the 1960s.

Dieter picked this fragrant rose and rosebud and the first sweet peas for the lunch table today.

A splash of colour in the front garden - one of several yellow flag irises.

The very fragrant heavy double roses are about to bloom too.


Eli finishes his information and communication studies  course at Aut this week and has a three month full time job starting on Wednesday. That house of my mother's where he has been living for the last 7 years is about to be renovated. 

St. Francis and the Blessing of the Pets at Surfdale Reserve

Stayed a bit longer on the island so we could attend the Blessing of the Pets ceremony and liturgy conducted by the two Anglican ministers, held conveniently down the road near the beach. 

 Sat next to friend Colleen and her elderly poorly tabby cat , Purrsia who reminded us of Malkovich, R.I.P.  Next to us on the other side was a lovely white dog who was very interested in Purrsia but was kept away from her by her owner.

Solar Cafe in Oneroa

Is one of my favourite places on Waiheke Island.  It is part of our Sunday ritual when we are over.  First we go to Mass which this morning was taken by a Franciscan Father Bernie Thomas, who is called the Assisting Priest.  He used to be a relieving priest but liked it so much that he is sharing the ministry down here.  His sermons are straight from the heart and always interesting. 

Then we get the bus into Oneroa, these days going to the new library which is open on a Sunday too.  Picked up a Patrick White novel to read today,  "The hanging garden" which from a cursory glance is an unfinished novel of his, set in Sydney 1942, about two children spirited away from wartorn Europe to spend the war years in Australia. 

Following the library we go to the Community Art Gallery which  this week has three different exhibitions - one of recycled art, a Jeff Thomson corrugated iron one and one other.  Liked the artworks using recycled materials and hope to make my own for an exhibition next year. Knitterati are having one out at Corbans in Henderson.

Then finally Solar for a ginormous streusel muffin for me and a savoury one for Dieter. Mine had grated apple, white chocolate, berries and cinnamon; Dieter's,  red onion, cheese, fetta and sundried tomato.  

By this time it is time to pick up some fresh Turkish bread made on the island and get the bus home for lunch.  My mouth is watering and off I go to buy the bread. 

Daylight Saving

Looking forward to enjoying a bit more daylight at the end of the day.we have taken to enjoying a late afternoon stroll and a later evening meal and later tv viewing. The first photo is at our present house and the flowers in gardens along our usual route .  The two little cottages are ones we owned thirty years ago not far from our present domicile. 

Fathers Day

LP

The day dawned  sunny and warm so Dieter and I decided to make the most of it.  Though we don't seem to get out of Auckland often these days, there Is nothing to stop us hopping on a bus and going 

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to another suburb for a change, as long it doesn't involve too much walking for Dieter.

We started off the day with a leisurely breakfast before driving up the road to the carpark and getting the bus down to St Patrick's Cathedral for 11am Mass.  I enjoy the singing and music and join in lustily.

Trotted downtown, picking up some sandwiches before getting a slow bus along the waterfront to St Heliers .  The bus was full and traffic was heavy.  Spent some time at the beach before inspecting the op shop and library and having coffee and cake at a beachside cafe.

It was a beautiful Spring day and 18 degrees and time we had a bit of warmth again. 

E came round in the late afternoon and I cooked a delicious meal of pork fillet roasted on a bed of onion and apple, seasoned with fresh thyme. Ran out of oomph by dessert and had the usual fruit salad and yoghurt as is my custom in such situations.  

Island bliss

Another glorious Sunday morning up at Oneroa after Mass. Just had the most delicious muffin at Solar which I will have to try and replicate - raspberry, cream cheese and lemon. 

Went to the new library again yesterday which is lovely and spacious and a great place to while away a half an hour.  Carried on upstairs to the Community Art Gallery to look at a photographic portrait exhibition and a browse in the craft shop.

Weekend at Home

Another one of these which I was not anticipating but eventuated and turned out not too bad in retrospect.  Saturday was brilliant weather but D was not up to a trip to the island so I acquiesced and we actually had a pleasant day locally with a trip to to the library to return books and read the paper in comfort at a table.  

Drove to the supermarket to get some hoki which was on special at $10 and tried out a new recipe - baked in the oven, sprinkled with fresh thyme and topped with seasoned panko crumbs and melted butter. It was delicious and so much easier than the usual flour-egg wash-crumb routine. Polished up my lax baking skills with a batch of courgette and corn mini quiches and some fudgy chocolate muffins.  

Lunched at a Richmond Rd deli, and enjoyed a curried chicken pie, followed by a nice hot latte and a slice of pistachio loaf.

Sunday I was meeting good friend M to go first to a concert by the Auckland Youth Orchestra in the Town Hall. The solo cellist, Edward King in the Schumann cello concerto was excellent and I enjoyed the Dvorak Carnival overture before and the Sibelius Symphony no 1 afterwards.

On to Giapo's for a Christchurch hazelnut icecream before checking out the entries in a architectural competition for an apartment block at the Art Gallery.  One of the five finalists are the architects who are doing the remodelling of our Herne Bay house.  They are submitting the plans for the building consent to the Council today so it won't be long now. Their apartment block entry is imaginative and innovative and I wouldn't mind living in one of those apartments should they win.  However I am not so keen on Mt Eden as a suburb .

The house is considerably more comfortable now that we have shifted the television into our sitting room with the heat pump. It is closer to the other rooms in the house we use too.

Ponsonby Saturday

Ponsonby on a Saturday morning is one of my favourite pastimes when we are at home on the weekend.  This morning we started out at the Hospice Op Shop where I never have any trouble finding something nice to buy.  Today it was two pretty Laura Ashley teatowels and an eye bag which I am hoping will sooth my brow which is wracked with frequent headaches at present. And an updated Edmonds microwave cookbook for $1.

Onwards after that to the library to read the Herald in comfort and quiet at one of the large tables, then to choose an armload of books for the weekend - a Margaret Forster novel, traveller tales from Poland and China, a NZ gardener magazine and a biography of a woman who traces her birth parents, her Scottish mother and Nigerian father.  Where to start first!

Jumped on a bus after that to go to Artstation now called Studio 1 to pick up a 3rd term programme and look at the current exhibition of Pakiri paintings by Aroha Gossage which I liked . I like the idea of doing art myself, upcycling remnants of my more creative past into something relevant to my present experience.  Unfortunately the course I chose is not going to proceed as there are not enough participants so will try something similar on my own. Watch this space!

Back on the bus down to Ponsonby Central for a bite to eat at Bread and Butter which has fabulous bready goods and cakes. I like the soft filled pretzel rolls, this time with bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado followed by a strong coffee and slice of cinnamon flavoured banana loaf, worth trying to replicate with the big bag of bananas I bought from Nosh yesterday.

Wallace Cotton had a sale so in we went and I found and bought the cosiest fairisle beanie and gloves to wear straight out of the shop on a cold bleak day.