Slow Food

Sunday evening we went to a local restaurant called The Bicycle Thief for a five course Slow Food event.

The first course was canapes and cocktails followed by:

Bagna Cauda with witloof, cardoons, baby vegetables and organic rye bread
paired with Cracroft Chase Pinot Gris 2005.

Trio of shared pasta dishes: Gorgonzola Gnocchi, Buckwheat Pasta with Salmon Roe and Crème Fraiche, Butternut Pumpkin and Sage Ravioli.
with San Silvestre 2003 Barbera D'Alba.

Roast Porchetta with Cavolo Nero and Puy Lentils
with Pegasus Bay 2004 Pinot Noir

Masticha-infused Rice Pudding with Rhubarb compote
paired with Lombardo Sicilian Moscato NV

As it turns out the owner of the restaurant sat next to us for dinner, and we had long conversations about the restaurant business and of course - food. The event was held as a fundraiser to help Chef Nik Mavromatis (The Bicycle Thief) to attend the Terra Madre conference and the Salone del Gusto in Turin in October. The opportunity to participate in these events is in itself a great honor as only 1000 chefs from around the world are invited. The concepts learned there will hopefully help further the Slow Food movement here in New Zealand. The food was great and we look forward to getting involved with the Slow Foods Convivium here in Christchurch as we were in LA.

Gaby and I went to the dinner with our good friends J & D here in Christchurch who recently opened Ya-Ya House of Excellent Teas. Ya Ya Tea House is a direct importer of high quality teas from around the world. Last week we attended their first tea tasting event, with a sampling of all the major types of teas including black tea, oolong, green tea, white tea, and pu-erh - all outstanding teas. I never knew there was so much to learn about tea and tea making! My favorite tea at the moment is a Japanese Green Tea called Genmaicha, which looks much different from other teas in that it contains roasted rice grains (I call it the puffed rice tea). Genmaicha has a wonderful aroma and great flavor.

"Slow down, you move too fast/
You've got to make the moment last."
-Simon & Garfunkel

Salazar, Wee Posterboy

When we left the US for New Zealand we had to leave behind our beloved guinea pig Salazar (guinea pigs are not on the list of acceptable animals allowed entry to New Zealand). Salazar is an older loving guinea pig and we were sorry we couldn't take him with us. Fortunately we have a dear friend named Fenella in Southern California who agreed to take in our guinea pig. Fenella runs a fantastic guinea pig and small animal rescue called Wee Companions in San Diego.

As it turns out, Salazar was an eligible bachelor and during his stay at Fenella's he was keen about building a relationship with a beautiful female guinea pig named Cinnamon. We are happy these two guinea pigs have found each other! Wee Companions recently published a poster showing Salazar and Cinnamon together to help increase awareness of their pet adoption efforts.

Gaby and I both really enjoyed the friendship of our beloved guinea pigs and we look forward to the time when we can once again have a guinea pig or two as an addition to our family. We would also like to thank Fenella and Wee Companions for their loving support of Salazar - Thank you Fenella!

"If a pet is what you desire/
Consider adoption as a buyer."

Culture Shock

I am lucky to have a wife who is interested in the arts as well as the sciences. Gaby has encouraged me to stretch my comfort zone and become a more rounded person - that there is more to life than rocks and computers.

Although Christchurch is not a huge metropolis known for the arts (the capital city of Wellington has traditionally been known as a center of arts and culture in New Zealand) we are not a city devoid of culture.

On 9 June we watched a performance of Maui - One Man Against the Gods at the Isaac Theatre Royal. Maui is a character from the Maori Creation Myths who, according to Maori Legend cast a magic hook into the sea and hauled up Te Ika a Maui (the Fish of Maui), the North Island of New Zealand (among other things).

The Christchurch City Choir performed Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil: Vespers in the Christchurch Cathedral 13 August. We braved bouts of hail and blustery winds during our walk to the cathedral. The stormy weather created an interesting backdrop for the Vespers. The choir performed to a packed audience and the acoustics of the cathedral matched well with the powerful voices.

On 9 September the Christchurch Symphony along with the Christchurch City Choir and Tower Voices New Zealand performed Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in D Major Opus 123 at the Christchurch Town Hall. Missa Solemnis is not often performed in New Zealand because it is a difficult piece. The conductor related to the audience many musicians described this piece as the most difficult music they have performed. I informed Gaby this concert was my introduction to live classical music. What struck me most was hearing the human voice as an instrument along with the rest of the orchestra - amazing.

We look forward to attending some great upcoming events.

"The arts make your character gleam/
Like pebbles tumbled in a stream."

The Sky Is Falling!

At 2:55 p.m. this afternoon a meteor entered the atmosphere just over Christchurch, streaked through the sky in a blaze of fire and broke into a couple of smaller pieces before it disappeared. The event created a massive sonic boom that shook many buildings. Folks thought the buildings they were in were breaking apart! The massive sonic booms were recorded by seismographs operated by Geonet.

Of course, during this time I must have been rocking out to Led Zeppelin's Cashmere in the car driving back home from The New World grocery store, because I completely missed it. Oh well, such is life.

"An extraordinary boom did sound/
As this meteor was Christchurch bound."

27/10/2006 Correction: The name of the last track of Led Zeppilin's Physical Graffiti is in fact Kashmir and not Cashmere. Cashmere is a suburb of Christchurch located on the south side of Christchurch, at the foot of the Port Hills, which, coincidentally, according to The Reed Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names was named by Sir John Cracoft Wilson who purchased land at the foot of the Port Hills and named this land after Cashmere in India (Reed notes Cashmere was an alternative spelling of Kashmere in the nineteenth century.)

Nasa Imagery of New Zealand Storm

An intense winter storm hit New Zealand 12 June 2006. As it turns out, the storm was one of the worst in 50 years, dumping snow across much of the South Island. We had snow here in Christchurch which I have posted in Our First Snow of the Season. Around 3-5cm of snow fell here in downtown Christchurch, but much of the Canterbury Plain received 20-50cm of snow, with some areas of higher elevation receiving roughly 1 meter. Snow level was down to sea level with the waves washing up the beach over the newly fallen snow! The heavy snow caused long term power outages to outlying areas in inland and south Canterbury.

This image was captured 13 June 2006 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Nasa's Aqua satellite.



There is also a high resolution version (2.08MB) if you would like to see the awesome detail of this image. Please note the high-resolution version is a large file.

"The view from above tells the story/
Of Winter in majestic glory."

Design Changes

You may notice Te Toroa: The Wandering Albatross has a little different look to it (at least, I hope you noticed :-). Our blog has been a great introduction for me to programming and web design. I have been on a steep learning curve and now feel the time is right to introduce a few design changes.

I am constantly striving to learn all I can about this new medium in the hopes that we may better be able to communicate to you. My greatest thanks goes to my loving wife Gabriella who has diligently provided support for me in my quest to develop this blog and hone my skills. She continues to teach and inspire me in spite of my ignorance and stubborn nature - Thanks, I love you. (My wife says I am turning into a geek.) I would also like to thank Jo Bind for his innovative and inspiring blog Kiwi Tracks. And, thanks to all those talented, artistic, creative folks who have selflessly provided insight into how things work!

I have already implemented some changes. You may notice when you click on an image it will now load a larger version of the image as an overlay onto the page. Also, once a larger image is loaded you may step through all the photos in that post or view each image by itself as you read through the post. I have added some handy instructions for handling the images in the sidebar in case your memory is as faulty as mine, although I am sure you will figure out how it works.

I am currently working on a few other design changes which you may notice as you check back with our blog. Many changes are subtle, but I do hope to add a couple of exciting features in the near future - no, I won't tell you what those features are - you'll just have to watch and see.

Steven

Crater Rim Walkway

On Sunday 03 September we decided to get out and enjoy the fine weather we have been having by going on a hike. The Port Hills, which form the northern extent of the Banks Peninsula, border Christchurch on the south side and offer many great tramping opportunites. The Crater Rim walkway generally follows the crest of the Port Hills from Coopers Knob near the head of Governor's Bay to Evans Pass near the mouth of Lyttleton Harbour (connecting trails make it possible to hike all the way to the end of Godley Head.)

To gain access to the Crater Rim walkway we ascended Dyers Pass Road through the community of Cashmere to Summit Road. At the intersection of Dyers Pass Road and Summit Road lies the Sign of the Kiwi, an historic rest house turned cafe and teahouse. This is one of several historic rest houses built in the early 1900s including the Sign of the Bellbird, the Sign of the Takahe, and the Sign of the Packhorse, all part of entrepreneur Harry Ell's vision for the completion of a Summit Road from Godley Head to Akaroa. The Sign of the Kiwi provides great views to the north overlooking Christchurch. A great place to take a break and have a spot of tea while enjoying the view.

Heathcote Valley from the Bridle Path


As it turned out the Sign of the Kiwi proved extremely popular and we could not even find a parking place, so we decided to continue on towards our planned carpark near the Bridle Path. We headed east along Summit Road and paused briefly at Castle Rocks to check it out. Castle Rock is a prominent volcanic outcrop and popular local climbing area.

Castle Rock provides a great view to the north of the Heathcote Valley and the Bridle Path from Heathcote up the valley to the crest of the ridge where it intersects Summit Road and the Crater Rim walkway. The Bridle Path was hastily constructed in the winter of 1850-1851 to provide soon to be arriving settlers with a route from Lyttleton Harbour north over the Port Hills to the plains which Christchurch now occupies. The Bridle Path is steep; consequently, most luggage and freight was ferried around to the north through the estuary and up either the Avon River or Heathcote River.

Lyttleton Harbour


We parked our car at the Bridle Path carpark to begin our tramp. From the Bridle Path carpark, if you look to the south you can see much of Lyttleton Harbour. To the north you get a fine view of the Heathcote Valley northwards to the estuary. This is also the point where the Bridle Path intersects the Crater Rim walkway. There is a carpark at the start of the Bridle Path adjacent to the Gondola carpark. From the carpark at the valley floor the trail winds its way up to the head of the valley at the Summit Road. From the crest of the ridge the Bridle Path continues over the ridge and descends to the town of Lyttleton.

From the carpark at the Bridle Path along Summit Road we tramped eastward along a section of the Crater Rim walkway along the Mt. Cavendish Bluffs Track, which traverses around Mt. Cavendish and the Gondola through isolated sections of bush and shrub. The Christchurch Gondola is an aerial tramway which begins near the Gondola carpark on the floor of Heathcote Valley and ascends the northwest flank of Mt. Cavendish. At the top there is an interpretive center and cafe. We persevered against the temptation of an ice cream and a spot of tea available at the gondola cafe and continued along the track.

Gondola Building and Clouds


Soon after traversing Mt. Cavendish the bluff track meets up once more with the Summit Road and another carpark. From this point we continued westward along the Mt. Pleasant Bluff Track. The weather was fine, though a bit windy. The track wound up and down along the ridge, so at times we were exposed to the pleasantly cooling winds only to turn a corner and drop back down into a quiet, isolated section of shrub.

Red White and Blue


The ridge in this section of the Port Hills consists of a series of bluffs, and the trail negotiates its way along ledges between the cliffs. In some places the rocks are covered with colorful lichens, which add a bit to the scene. Not long after starting the Mt. Pleasant Bush Track we passed a lookout providing clear views to the south towards Lyttleton Harbour. We continued on for just a short while before we decided to call it a day and head back towards the carpark.

Tramping along the Crater Rim Walkway


We soon made it back to the carpark and decided to finish our short tour of the Port Hills by continuing eastward along the Summit Road and head back down the ridge via Mt. Pleasant Road. Mt. Pleasant Road slowly winds down a ridge through the community of Mt. Pleasant, finally ending at Ferry Road and back home.

There are many tracks to explore in and around the Port Hills and we look forward to exploring more tracks in the area.