About...you guessed it: cheese-y goodness in all its forms.
www.localcheeseplease.blogspot.com
Friday, 28 August 2009
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Meme...my first and last
What is your current obsession?
Cheese. Mmmmmmmmmm lovely stinky cheese.
What is your weirdest obsession?
Cheese? No, chickens. And ducks. I loves me poultry. Unexpected, but true.
What are you wearing today?
Lovely icebreaker underwear, gap bootcut jeans, green polypro, Rieker boots…studying mother at home wear. *sigh*
What's for dinner?
Home made pumpkin soup, delicious lamb from Waiora Lamb and if I can be bothered, home made pita bread.
What would you eat for your last meal?
Must ditto Miss Martha on this one: Gusto's premium Angus rib-eye w Manchego butter, hand-cut fries & jus followed by one of their cheese plates. Fave treat restaurant – who needs
What's the last thing you bought?
25kgs of layer pellets…see above.
What are you listening to right now?
Children chirruping outside as they dig up the garden, hum of the fan oven roasting the pumpkin. Oh and cars and trucks.Welcome to the Hutt.
What do you think of the person who tagged you?
Oh, she is a delight. Funny and groovy and design-y (but not in a wanky way), creative and adventurous. V cute family too.
If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Lunch at Madame Murat’s. En famille. Wonderful village restaurant in Pomarede, five generations of women who have run it, five delicious courses, lashings of wine, 12 euro fifty. What more is there to say?
Which language do you want to learn?
Spanish, ‘uno cortado por favor’ will only get me so far
What is your favorite colour?
Green (I know, anyone could have guessed black)
What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Greying, formerly black lovely cardi with little sparkly bits on it,
What is your dream job?
Cheesemonger. This week (until I actually give it a go, possibly…) surrounded by chickens cooing softly.
What's your favourite magazine?
Good. Cos it makes one feel so GOOD reading it.
If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
School fees. The hazards of entrepreneurship in a recession.
Describe your personal style?
Unadventurous, convenient and comfort – jeans, boots and a range of ageing tops. Scrub up a little better.
What are you going to do after this?
Make said pumpkin soup and be mummyish for at least two more hours.
What are your favourite films?
Recently the Grocer’s Son.
What's your favourite fruit?
Persimmon. Mmmmmmmmm. Perfect with cheese.
What inspires you?
Making what one love into what one does. Still working on it but getting there, bit by bit.
Do you collect anything?
Nothing collectable – paper composts in corners, it seems. Oh, and poultry.
Your favourite books?
Anything by Mo Willems. The man has captured the essence of pigeon and made it entertaining. How likely is that?
What are you currently reading?
The Lieutenant. Struggling with that one. Before that loved the latest Mary Moody book, and before that loved Omnivores Dilemma and In Search of Food.
Go to your book shelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line:
Lesson 5: Here together are two of my favourite things – minestrone soup and…
By what criteria do you judge a person?
Warmth and humour. Oh and a positive outlook on life, of “I can do this”.
Where would you go if you had three months and $10,000 to travel, and why?
Southern Spain and
The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people (or four in this case...). Mikey Mike; Emily; Edith; Tom
Sunday, 22 February 2009
How to grow a rooster...
Well hello there. Anyone who has seen or spoken to me in the last year knows that I have become a bit of a poultry fancier. I don't belong to a CLUB or anything (yet ha ha ha), but I adore my little mottled flock. A year ago we got 4 gorgeous bantams from a woman in Te Horo who has many many many (we're talking 200 here). Since then we've hatched a few little cute chicks from fertilised eggs and 10 days ago a pekin duck. Hmm, maybe time to stop for a while. But anyway, it makes me very happy to have these funny, industrious, productive, protective creatures co-existing with us. Not to mention the eggs!
But I digress. Below are some tips on how to grow a rooster. Zelda the Wonder Chicken/Rooster left us today to go and live on a lovely farm in Feilding, with some nice big chickens to boss around. We live in the 'burbs, see and crowing is not to be done at ungodly hours of the morning. Here's my tribute to our first hatchling. S/he has been a most excellent little backyard guard-chicken/cockerel person.
(Everything else is just fine btw, still coffee-ing, contracting in town a little and raising the wonderfulest little non-feathered people ever, who are growing like mushrooms!).
Ok, now for the tips:
Have your rooster hatch under the funniest, cluckiest, broody bantams: Malc and Bernard:
Give her plenty of stimulating pastimes and people to play with...
...plenty of rest...
...cuddles...
And s/hes perfect!
But I digress. Below are some tips on how to grow a rooster. Zelda the Wonder Chicken/Rooster left us today to go and live on a lovely farm in Feilding, with some nice big chickens to boss around. We live in the 'burbs, see and crowing is not to be done at ungodly hours of the morning. Here's my tribute to our first hatchling. S/he has been a most excellent little backyard guard-chicken/cockerel person.
(Everything else is just fine btw, still coffee-ing, contracting in town a little and raising the wonderfulest little non-feathered people ever, who are growing like mushrooms!).
Ok, now for the tips:
Have your rooster hatch under the funniest, cluckiest, broody bantams: Malc and Bernard:
Give her plenty of stimulating pastimes and people to play with...
...plenty of rest...
...cuddles...
And s/hes perfect!
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Expansion and other fine bullet-y things
Well, we're expanding. No, not the family (though it has been so long since last I blogged that we could almost have another child!!). We have bought this:
Not pretty and, it turns out, not quite high enough for Conrad to stand in - but it is a step in the right direction! We will be selling it at the end of the month so we can get a slightly higher vehicle *ahem*. Other cool discoveries this week:
Not pretty and, it turns out, not quite high enough for Conrad to stand in - but it is a step in the right direction! We will be selling it at the end of the month so we can get a slightly higher vehicle *ahem*. Other cool discoveries this week:- rediscovering e-bay and replacing expensive but disintegrating-from-sun sheers in living room for Ikea sheers on Ebay for an amazing bargain, even with postage (the cost of one panel from Freedom - crazy);
- today's discovery that the boring looking fish and chip shop in Alicetown has become the home of chinese dumpling specialists. $5 for 12, made right there, yummy vege ones with lashings of spring onions and little tiny pieces of vermicelli. Mmmm;
- our business growing by the day - new regulars and excellent corporate events. Definitely need two setups;
- lots of great feedback on our coffee - hurrah. Makes it all worthwhile;
- happy shiny children; and
- a teensy bit of contract work from home to help pay the bills as we grow our empire.
Friday, 7 March 2008
Business as usual
Well you may have noticed I haven't exactly been a prolific blogger of late. I even went to a Wellington bloggers' catchup evening last week and felt like such a fraud! Great to meet some of the folks whose blogs/online journals I've been lurking around for a while - smart people. Not as much variety in our days, I guess - easy when the countries, foods and experiences are changing by the day to think of many bloggable tidbits! But things are going well following reentry.
We have a new Espresso Rescue site for weekday mornings (opposite the fire station in Marsden Street, just by the bridge into Lower Hutt) thanks to the Assembly of God and their nice big car park. It is going well and we have many regulars already, after only 5 days. Our (well, soon-to-be-ours) ambulance is being fixed up ready for a WOF in Rotorua - a 1984 Bedford, which will be most excellent for our vehicle 2.0. Finally a home for our lovely Wega. Then we can be two places at once with ease. At the moment we have several contemporaneous (don't you just LOVE that word?!) events on the weekend, which can be a bit of a challenge and requires much lugging of heavy things. This way we'll have two vehicles from which we can operate inside, no matter what the weather - essential in Wellington.
Conrad and I are taking turns doing morning coffee. Now I have worked out I can bring my laptop and woosh modem for the quiet times it is fantastic - great reception here!
The kids are very happily settled in their new learning environments, and enjoying their old haunts and friends again.
And we have chickens! Four extremely cute and industrious bantams, bought on Trade Me - contact me if you want some - Louise has hundreds. Literally. So Felicity, Snowy, Bernard and Malc (will post pics soon - lost camera in Korea) are happily pecking their way around the perimeter of the garden - great weeders, and there isn't much they can hurt within their reach. They are so cute, putting themselves "to bed" at night up in the grape vines at the top of the glass house. They will start laying in a couple of months, fingers crossed.
Well, stay tuned for the progress of our poor but happy (but with great potential) year, as we build our Espresso Rescue empire to sustain us OUT OF THE OFFICE.
: ) x
We have a new Espresso Rescue site for weekday mornings (opposite the fire station in Marsden Street, just by the bridge into Lower Hutt) thanks to the Assembly of God and their nice big car park. It is going well and we have many regulars already, after only 5 days. Our (well, soon-to-be-ours) ambulance is being fixed up ready for a WOF in Rotorua - a 1984 Bedford, which will be most excellent for our vehicle 2.0. Finally a home for our lovely Wega. Then we can be two places at once with ease. At the moment we have several contemporaneous (don't you just LOVE that word?!) events on the weekend, which can be a bit of a challenge and requires much lugging of heavy things. This way we'll have two vehicles from which we can operate inside, no matter what the weather - essential in Wellington.Conrad and I are taking turns doing morning coffee. Now I have worked out I can bring my laptop and woosh modem for the quiet times it is fantastic - great reception here!
The kids are very happily settled in their new learning environments, and enjoying their old haunts and friends again.
And we have chickens! Four extremely cute and industrious bantams, bought on Trade Me - contact me if you want some - Louise has hundreds. Literally. So Felicity, Snowy, Bernard and Malc (will post pics soon - lost camera in Korea) are happily pecking their way around the perimeter of the garden - great weeders, and there isn't much they can hurt within their reach. They are so cute, putting themselves "to bed" at night up in the grape vines at the top of the glass house. They will start laying in a couple of months, fingers crossed.
Well, stay tuned for the progress of our poor but happy (but with great potential) year, as we build our Espresso Rescue empire to sustain us OUT OF THE OFFICE.
: ) x
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Adamsaway out of office reply...
Kia ora tatou, konichiwa, bonjour, hola. We're back home and, as my friend Mindi said on the weekend, it is all a bit "Good Life". Remember that wonderful show from the 70s? We have sealed it with 4 bantams, newly installed in the glasshouse, who are being very cute.
We have been back almost a month. In some ways it has flown, in other ways it seems like aeons ago that we were transiting in Narita Airport for our final longhaul leg of the trip. AirNZ is fabulous, btw - we have flown many airlines in the last six months and our last flight was the best (barring business class Lufthansa Toronto to Frankfurt of course!).
We eased our way back in with a few days at my brother Russell's, while he was in Australia and our (wonderful) tenants were moving out. We wandered around town in the searing hot sun like new tourists - it was quite an odd feeling. We bought kimchi (which we ate every day in Korea) and rediscovered an excellent flat white -something that we only got close to twice in Europe - Berlin and Rome. Now we've been back in our lovely home for 3 weeks o so. We are still kind of camping, due to a mix up with a friend who by mistake took the children's mattresses and a general reluctance to put our bed up - we are sleeping Korean style!
Only what we immediately need has been unpacked - we just haven't been able to face the rest! The children are delighted with school and kindy.
So we are poor but happy. We are so much richer for our experiences on the trip. The reconnections we made, the new friends we found and the places, food and atmospheres we fell in love with. And it is good to be back, so that is perfect. We are enjoying reconnecting bit by bit with our people here, on many fronts.
Work wise we are Espresso Rescuing - many big events coming up - and looking at how we will expand / extend the business to keep me out of an office as long as possible. And we are being a family, doing quiet things and making hay while the sun shines.
Not much news as such but all is well on the home front.
We have been back almost a month. In some ways it has flown, in other ways it seems like aeons ago that we were transiting in Narita Airport for our final longhaul leg of the trip. AirNZ is fabulous, btw - we have flown many airlines in the last six months and our last flight was the best (barring business class Lufthansa Toronto to Frankfurt of course!).
We eased our way back in with a few days at my brother Russell's, while he was in Australia and our (wonderful) tenants were moving out. We wandered around town in the searing hot sun like new tourists - it was quite an odd feeling. We bought kimchi (which we ate every day in Korea) and rediscovered an excellent flat white -something that we only got close to twice in Europe - Berlin and Rome. Now we've been back in our lovely home for 3 weeks o so. We are still kind of camping, due to a mix up with a friend who by mistake took the children's mattresses and a general reluctance to put our bed up - we are sleeping Korean style!
Only what we immediately need has been unpacked - we just haven't been able to face the rest! The children are delighted with school and kindy.
So we are poor but happy. We are so much richer for our experiences on the trip. The reconnections we made, the new friends we found and the places, food and atmospheres we fell in love with. And it is good to be back, so that is perfect. We are enjoying reconnecting bit by bit with our people here, on many fronts.
Work wise we are Espresso Rescuing - many big events coming up - and looking at how we will expand / extend the business to keep me out of an office as long as possible. And we are being a family, doing quiet things and making hay while the sun shines.
Not much news as such but all is well on the home front.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Bye bye Korea
What an amazing country, the Republic of Korea. We have been wonderfully hosted by Bernad and Su-Jin (now Mr and Mrs Adams), seen historical sights, eaten lashings of gimchi (sp?) and attended an extraordinary wedding - beautiful.
I can't upload the pics til I am back on my laptop, but may be able to en route in Tokyo. We leave later this morning for a transfer there, then on to NZ overnight. It feels a little odd but we are ready for the return home. What a luxury it will be to really unpack! We are staying at my brother Russell's in Mt Vic for the first few days, while we ease our way back into our place.
What a wonderful whirlwind it has been. Much delicious food (our winter layer now firmly in place - perfect for the summer in NZ!); many lovely people; much kindness and many adventures. 13 countries for me, 12 for the children and Conrad. It has cost us an arm and a leg but this time away has been an excellent investment. We have seen our little people grow and blossom in front of our eyes. They have managed so much travelling, waiting, being patted by strangers, so many temperatures, times zones and beds, with little whining and much gusto. They are well prepared for their forays into school and kindergarten on our return - we have no concerns about that!
Ok - sayonara til Tokyo, and hopefully some pics.
: )
I can't upload the pics til I am back on my laptop, but may be able to en route in Tokyo. We leave later this morning for a transfer there, then on to NZ overnight. It feels a little odd but we are ready for the return home. What a luxury it will be to really unpack! We are staying at my brother Russell's in Mt Vic for the first few days, while we ease our way back into our place.
What a wonderful whirlwind it has been. Much delicious food (our winter layer now firmly in place - perfect for the summer in NZ!); many lovely people; much kindness and many adventures. 13 countries for me, 12 for the children and Conrad. It has cost us an arm and a leg but this time away has been an excellent investment. We have seen our little people grow and blossom in front of our eyes. They have managed so much travelling, waiting, being patted by strangers, so many temperatures, times zones and beds, with little whining and much gusto. They are well prepared for their forays into school and kindergarten on our return - we have no concerns about that!
Ok - sayonara til Tokyo, and hopefully some pics.
: )
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