What the hell happened in July/August 2011

July 2011 has been full of events. It featured the 5 year anniversary of my thyroidectomy, my birthday on the 17th, and the 43rd New Zealand International Film Festival.  The birthday overlapped with the NZIFF, so I saw a film that day and had dinner with my sweetie at Dine, Peter Gordon's swanky restaurant downtown.  I ordered the twice cooked free-range pork belly, and it was divine.  

I commemorated the thyroidectomy by having another (unrelated) surgery. This also was during NZIFF and prevented me from attending a few films I had tickets to. I also missed 4 days of work. I had seriously underestimated the recovery time, and 3 weeks later, it is still giving me some niggling pain. I had convinced myself that it would be no big deal- outpatient surgery, nothing serious. I was wrong, I felt really wrecked and  I hope I don't have to do that again. I did manage to see many films, despite this. I was a volunteer usher again this year, but only ushered a handful of films so that I wouldn't burn myself out. You can visit the NZIFF website link above to find out more information about the films if you want. The films I ushered were (category and comment in parenthesis):

1. Animation Now (my favorite was a mash-up of artists called Guard Dog. Others were hard to watch)
2. Supinfocom (also animation, some excellent work)
3. My Reincarnation (Framing Reality. I liked this better than I thought I would. A documentary about an Italian born son of a Tibetan Buddhist master) 
4. Pina (Framing Reality. A 3D contemporary dance film that worked really well as 3D. Beautiful.)
5. The Last Circus (Incredibly Strange. Beautiful Spanish film about killer clowns. A death match on top of a giant cross. I would have paid to see this one)

The films I bought tickets to were:

1. Cold Fish (Incredibly Strange. Japanese dark comedy horror. Took awhile to get going but was awesome- shocking and creepy!)
2. The Innkeepers (in the Incredibly Strange category, but didn't fit definition IMO. A ghost story- really good, not cheesy.)
3. Snowtown (New Directions, for new directors. Disappointed in this Aussie feature depicting the true crimes of serial killer, but too much unexplained.
4. Sleeping Beauty (New Directions. So disappointed. So pointless, so, so, annoying that I sat in the horribly uncomfortable Sky City Theatre seat through the whole thing, expecting it to go somewhere. Another Aussie film)
5. Hobo With A Shotgun (Incredibly Strange. Brilliant!! Technicolor mayhem and gore with a great story and spot on acting. Loved it. Check out the trailer in the link for a preview. Ha, I just watched it again- still funny.)
6. The Future (New Directions. Miranda July's second feature. I loved her first: Me, You, and Everyone We Know, and this one was equally as endearing and thoughtful and funny, but more sad than the first.)
7. Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure (Inside Stories.  Fun and interesting)
8. Sons of Perdition (Framing Reality.  Documents the lives of boys exiled from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints cult. Sad and compelling. 
9. Nosferatu (Big Nights. One of my favorite films of all time, the first vampire movie by FW Murnau. It is silent with dialogue in text between images, and the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra played the score. Shown in the Civic Theatre, it was quite something. Unfortunately, it gets quite warm in the upper seats where I was, and having seen this film many times before, I dosed off repeatedly.) 

So that totals 15 films. It was a good fest.

Fast on the heels of the Film Fest was Beervana, a craft brew festival in Wellington. We got to see Mt Taranaki from the plane window, which is usually covered with cloud. It has a cap of snow at this time of year. I like how it rises off the flat land and is framed by the ocean.

Darin and I put the dogs in the kennel and flew down to attend the awards dinner on Thursday and the Beervana event on Friday. My sister and her husband were also there. The dinner was excellent, with many different kinds of NZ beers and ciders for drinking. I enjoyed it more than the Beervana event, because Beervana was crowded and the people pouring the beers couldn't answer some quesitons I had about what I was tasting. 

Wellington has great food. I've eaten at the restaurant Sweet Mother's every time I've been to Wellington (3 times), it's become a tradition. We also found some great Mexican food, thanks to my sister. This place is tucked into the  back of an alley off of Cuba St. No burritos here, only enchiladas and tacos. The guy said that burritos are not what people ate in Mexico City. His mole sauce was terrific.

I also did a bit of shopping (new hat, wallet, and tried on boots) and bummed around the hotel room, eating sushi and watching How To Train Your Dragon (twice). I like that the Night Fury dragon looks like a cat.

Happy Birthday, Fargo!

My Rottweiler Fargo had a birthday party today, and we were so pleased by all the people who came to see him! Seems like such a frivolous thing, to have a birthday party for a dog, but 12 is OLD for a Rottweiler. In the photo, I am holding the liver cake that I made for him (minced liver, apple, carrot, oatmeal, olive oil, and flour). I honestly didn't expect him to live this long. Just 5 months ago he had an ultrasound showning neoplasms on his liver and adrenal gland, with no reasonable treatment.  He's gained back the weight that he lost, and his gut seems to be working normally, so YAY! He is a very cool dog- relaxed yet still playful.  He went to Murawai beach a couple days before his birthday to celebrate. 

This old boy used to get so angry when we helped him into the truck, but now he seems to understand it is necessary for him to go anywhere, and is more tolerant of our assistance.  He doesn't get to go off property very often, as he has poor control over his rear legs, but he didn't fall down at the beach.  Best of all, he wasn't sore afterwards. 

Below is Zeus at Bethells beach. Bethells is just south of Murawai, but you can't drive directly from one to the other. You have to make an effort to drive to these west coast beaches, along twisty, narrow roads. Both beaches have areas that allow dogs off leash.  I look foward to the day when he is as obedient and reliable as Fargo.

April, aka Autumn in Auckland 2011

The weather has finally turned wet and cool, which gives me an excuse to sit inside in front of my computer to update my blog.  Obviously the weather was really nice, in the photo above, taken at Karekare beach west of Auckland a few weeks ago. It is probably my favorite beach because it is so beautiful and quiet.  It's huge too.  I took Zeus with me, and we explored the exapanding sand. He is now nearly 7 months old, and is the star of his puppy obedience class. We're continuing our effort, and making excellent progress. He has outgrown his collar and is bigger than his mum Ruby.     

We have 3 feijoa trees in our yard, and have had a massive crop of fruit this year. 

The fruit grew bigger than I have ever seen them before.  When I picked them up off the ground, I would tear open any bruised fruit and squeeze out the tasty insides for Zeus to eat. It didn't take him long to determine that he could do this himself. I've been finding peeled feijoa skins all around the porch and yard. 

 There's more than enough to share. I've taken multiple bags of them to work to give away, made several batches of feijoa and ginger jam, and many batches of feijoa and date loaf.  I'm not sure why they call it loaf, when it is more like cake. It's like banana bread- that too is like cake, and yet it's called bread.

Last month, my sister received her New Zealand citizenship. You must be a permanent resident for 5 years, and be a citizen in good standing. I think they make you explain any driving or parking violations.

She's still able to keep her USA citizenship, but she did swear allegiance to the queen. The ceremony was not too exciting, but it was very impressive to hear that people from 29 different countries were receiving their citizenship that day.  Mys sister was the only American there. People were encouraged to wear national dress. I wished there was a tea and biscuit afterward to have a chance to visit with the other new Kiwis, but apparently there was a planning oversight. Really- to not be offered tea and a biscuit (cookie) is very UN-Kiwi. 

I had this cake made for her. It is the North Island of NZ (on it's side- the top is on the right) with various kiwiana symbols on top. Note the long white clouds, gumboots, jandals, Mt Taranaki, sheep, pig, dogs, kiwi, windsurfer and Sky Tower.

There were fern fronds decorating the sides. I surprised my sister with it at work, at the start of our weekly group meeting.  Her husband and my husband were hiding in the next room with the cake, and wheeled it out on a cart, so we shared the joy with our coworkers.  

*8

Of course we went out to dinner afterwards, and had a really enjoyable meal at a new restaurant called the Foodstore.  We liked that it sourced most of the ingredients from New Zealand, used free range chicken and line caught fish, and had a seasonal menu.  For dessert, one of us ordered the pavlova, which is a very Kiwi. It was the best one I've ever had. Unfortunately, when I went back with my husband a week ago, we didn't enjoy it as much. The menu had changed and I just wasn't that impressed with my chicken.  It was served with a mild applesauce, which I thought was boring. It should have been served with a nice chutney instead. My feijoa chutney, for instance. The other new restaurant I tried recently is KK Malaysian. This place has no decoration, crap interior, and a tiny kitchen crammed with people cooking and preparing the food, which is exceptional. People will line up outside to wait for one of the few tables. The KK Special chicken is amazing, and the chicken laksa was also great.  I'll definitely go back.