Welcome 2010

Happy new year, dear readers.  I hope that this year, 2010, will be better than the last, but honestly, do you think it will? I suspect more of the same bullshit. Ok, that's totally pessimistic of me, I know. For the record, my new year resolution is to "be a better person" and this probably includes having a more positive attitude. Really, what do I have to complain about that is so bad? I have a job that I like, a husband who loves me, 2 dogs and 2 cats who need me and are nice and cuddly, and I live in an absolutely gorgeous country that's not overpopulated (yet), New Zealand.  I also lucky to have good friends here, many of whom I saw over the xmas/new-year holiday.

We certainly have enjoyed gorgeous weather lately, and it coincided neatly with my holiday time off.  Darin and I headed up to our land in Maungaturoto on Boxing Day and camped for 4 nights. The first day we went scuba diving with Poor Knights Divers.  We have dived with them before, and they are really great. They took us to Tye Dye Arch and Blue Mao Mao Arch, both places we hadn't been before and are infrequently dived due to conditions.

We were lucky to hit a calm day.  There were tons of fish, stingrays, eels, and nudibranchs.

The colors on the rocks were amazing. It was an excellent way to spend a day off work. When we returned to our garage on our land, we filled up a plastic tub with fresh water, from our tank that collects rainwater from the roof, to rinse our dive gear. Then we hung our gear on our trailer to dry. We had a hot shower using our propane water heater, which is hung in a private location in the trees behind the

garage.  The dogs obviously couldn't come, so we left them in the orchard. They seemed to handle this just fine, so we did it again the next day when we visited Bayley's Beach and Kai Iwi lakes.  Both places are so beautiful, just look at these photos.

Trout are stocked in the sand dune lakes of Kai Iwi, and I waded out into the soft sandy warm water to cast into the deep part of the lake. We didn't get any nibbles, but it was still a great afternoon.  Afterwards we drove to the west coast beach, Bayley's, which remided us a lot of the Torrey Pines beach reserve in San Diego, only bigger, and you can drive on Bayley's (and no Torrey Pines).

We spent the remainder of our time up north on our land getting work done, playing with the dogs, and reading. 

I recently read Night Watch, a Russian novel about "others", made into two movies which are really fun, Night Watch and Day Watch.  Thus I followed up with the Swedish vampire novel, Let Me In, made into a movie also, Let the Right One In. The book was excellent, better than the movie!

We celebrated New Year's Eve with friends and MEAT. Here's Darin, Master of the Grill:

 

I got some great specials at the butcher shop on the 31st, because they were to be closed for the following two days.  I used the leftover beef rib meat (yummy!) in a home-made chili with whole, dried New Mexico and chipotle chilis, which I've brought from the US and keep in either the freezer or

refridgerator, ground up in a coffee grinder. 

We've borrowed my sister's wood chipper (visions of Fargo, the movie!) to do some yard work. Our yard has been seriously neglected, and the previous owners planted a lot of plants, so this quickly grew into a huge job.  It's great to have all the wood chips to put into the compost, under the plants, and on the path around the garden. 

The garden is looking pretty sad, unfortunately.  I had one good cucumber, but the ones on the vines now are turning yellow and the leaves have the powdery mildew. The zucchini has the blossom end rot and is getting the mildew as well. The cabbage (my first) looks pretty good, despite all the green catepillars eating the leaves.  The lettuce I pulled out and fed to the chickens because it was stunted and started to bolt before really growing at all.  The silverbeet (aka chard) looks really good though, and the tomatoes are setting fruit.  I have two tiny jalapeno peppers.  I guess I'm a lazy gardener; I don't weed, feed, or water as often as needed. 

One more day of vacation, then back to work.  I'll be opening two trials for recruitment in January that I helped set up: One is a radiotherapy trial for prostate cancer, the other is a medical oncology trial for Wyeth's HER-2 + breast cancer drug, neratinib.  Should be exciting! 

Fiordland is gorgeous

In November, I took a week off work to fly to the South Island of New Zealand. We flew to Queenstown and did a driving tour around the Fiordlands. Darin and I rented a camper-van from Jucy rentals, and drove to Manapouri, to Te Anau, to Milford Sound, and back to Queenstown.  We camped every night except in Queenstown, where we enjoyed a hot shower and soft bed. 

The campgrounds were great, all have shared toilet and kitchen facilities, for no extra fee.  November was early in the spring season, so the cost  was reasonable for the camper rental. The camper had a stove, sink, water, small refridgerator, and bed (assembly required), with sheets supplied.  There were curtains on the windows and storage space beneath the benches. Nothing bad happened with the rental, but next time I will pay a bit more for a bigger camper. The one we had, called a "campa", had an uncomfortably sloping passenger seat and  a crap stereo that wouldn't play the CDs we'd brought.

We splurged on an overnight boat trip on Doubtful Sound with Real Journeys, and were not disappointed.  It was just great; the staff was talented, the food was delcious and plentiful, and the scenery was stunning-  we'd do it again and recommend it to others. It was cold, but we were dressed warmly. I had my down

jacket along but didn't need it after Doubtful Sound.

The next stop was Milford Sound, where we camped 3 nights. This was also worthwhile, because we got to see a lot of the attractions of the area.  This included the Kea, the NZ mountain parrot, which is very cool. We had great weather, but when it rained on the day we departed, this was beautiful too, because all the mountainsides were covered in waterfalls.

We enjoyed kayaking on Milford Sound, and the hikes were also grand.  Here's Darin pointing at the Darren Mountains (misspelled, obviously).

Sometimes you get disappointed, but sometimes you get happy.

My husband emailed me while visiting the US, "I just bought you the greatest thing. You will love it." He didn't reveal what it was, but said it was taking up most of his luggage.  I was advised by a friend to not get my hopes up, since this was a GUY buying a gift.  I was impressed when he unpacked it back in Auckland, and extremely happy when I got to use it the first time. What is it you ask? Check out the photo below:

That's me giving my dog Fargo a bath, with Ruby behind me.  The gift is a portable, propane water heater. 

You connect the hose from the faucet, the propane tube into the heater, and the white tubing in the center pumps out hot water to a shower head.  The temperature and water flow rate is adjustable.  The beauty part about it is the not freezing water! Much more comfortable for me and the dogs, and the soap seems to work better as well.   Usually doggie bath time is when we are all tired and sore, so to have the warm water takes away a bit of the discomfort. Also, Darin and I can take it up to our land in Maungaturoto and use it up there.  I really do love this little water heater! Isn't it adorable? It's so practical. Never underestimate the power of hot water!

This past week Guy Faukes day was celebrated. As Nov 5 fell during the week, the fireworks were scheduled for the weekend. We went to Kumeu to see the fireworks show on Friday night. We saw many fireworks going off from people's yards on the drive home.  As we turned onto Scenic Drive, we saw a dog running downhill as fast as he could go, down the middle of the street.  Darin stopped the car and I got out and tried to get him to come to me. He was so scared, and I was so worried about him in the middle of the street. People drive pretty fast coming down this hill, and sure enough, one was coming. I flailed my hands and yelled, Darin flashed his lights, but the jerk didn't even slow down. I saw the dog go on the opposite side of our car, into the oncoming car's lane, and fully expected to see a dog's body go flying through the air.  When he reappeared behind our car, I called to him again and he came to me. Whew! He was a sweet red Staffordshire Terrier, and had his tail tucked firmly between his legs.  I got him into the car, and we drove up the hill. We put him in a dog crate on our front porch and called the Waitakere City Council phone number on his registration tag.  Amazingly, someone answered the phone at 10 pm.  They called the owner and connected us. His wife showed up to pick up Simba a few minutes later; they live about 200 meters uphill from us. How great is that? What a happy ending! But it gets better:

The neighbor showed up with her daughter to deliver this sweet thank you. 

The disappointment I refer to in the title was the recipe for Rogan Josh I prepared from a slick new cookbook I borrowed from the library, Curry, Classic and Contemporary by Vivek Singh. I had some goat meat from the freezer which I used in place of lamb, but the recipe called for leg and I had loin and shoulder, still on the bone. 

You would think that Rogan Josh made from scratch would be pretty awesome, right? I made a special trip to the market for whole cinnamon stick and black cardamom pods and ghee.  I cried my way through two large onions to make this, even doing the beetroot-in-a-soaking-bag trick to make the sauce red (didn't work so hot).  The result was edible, but not worth the effort it took.  I did have fun trying it though, and I recommend you listen to Metallica's S & M while preparing all the ingredients in advance.  I also recommend reading the recipe in full repeatedly before following it.  I didn't have any problems with the recipe but in the past I have had the unpleasant experience of burning the onions- that sucks.

Anyway, I have photocopied some of the other recipies and will try them. I bought some yellow splilt peas awhile ago and will have to try that some time.

Much less disappointing was the book Watchmen, the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Recommended!