where we went

So let's see if this will work: a map I put together showing all kinds of points in New Zealand where we slept, ate, drank, shopped, photographed:


View New Zealand 2009 in a larger map

What I now wonder is if I should make a map of the two trips - I think it could be quite interesting to see how much of the country we've covered overall.

Still more trip photos and entries to come!

return to Martinborough

Conrad and I did what we could to balance places new to us with places we enjoyed two years ago on the recent trip to New Zealand. A case in point is the village of Martinborough. In 2007 we enjoyed a sunny day trip and winery tour there, coming up for the day only from Wellington. This time around, we spent a night there, heading north from Wellington to Napier.

Here's what we didn't realize when we planned this: the grapes would mostly be in, and the vineyards would be busy with the start of wine making. As such, mid-afternoon and midweek there weren't many opportunities to taste wine close in to town. The whole village was fairly tranquil, in fact. We checked in to our hotel, the Petit Hotel (four rooms, nicely restored old building), and headed across the street to the Village Cafe for lunch. Not too many people in there, and we happily read and tucked into the Caesar salad (yes, that is a fried egg - a neat variation on the raw egg that goes into the traditional tossed-at-the-table salad) and charcuterie plate.
We'd parked for the night, so a glass of wine each as well. Yes, that IS a shocker.

After lunch, we set out walking. There are wineries farther out, but we wanted to go to the ones within a short stroll of the village center. Alas, not too many have midweek cellar door hours, and fewer still have such hours year-round. We ended up at Ata Rangi just before closing.

I wish we'd taken photos inside. We had a great little visit, in fact - talking with the winery owner and some others there, enjoying the wines (and the labels - gorgeous!). Our little stroll resulted in three bottles (two half size ones among them) coming home with us. Success!

For dinner we wandered to the bigger, parent hotel next door and in to their bar. In the off season, the dining room was not open, but there were a number of good options for eating available in the bar. Not only that, but the bartender gave us great advice (and samples) of some wines. I'm kicking myself right now - I'm at the Vancouver condo blogging there, but the menu is at home in Chicago. My memory is poor, and my descriptions of these items will be paltry:

A salmon tartare. I think.

More fish. I think.

Salad.


Cheeses.

Pathetic of me.

Over night, the ominous clouds we saw earlier left a bit of rain - not much - but rocked our little building with fierce winds. Somehow we didn't mind being awoken often - we had no rush planned for the next morning, and we kind of liked the feeling of being so sheltered inside.

In the morning, though, a sunny day in the village, and under these blue skies I got behind the steering wheel to try driving for the first time in NZ.

second best meal on NZ trip?

Second best? Possibly. We dined very well while in New Zealand, I must admit. Oh come on - if you've seen this blog before, that won't come as a surprise.

Good meals are more than simply immaculately and creatively plated portions of exquisite treats, served by someone calling me "Sir". Setting, company, occasion - all can override the actual food itself if not complementing what is on the plate.

Or the paper.

On an easy Sunday in Auckland the four of us (plus Elvis) went the takeaway route. We picked up fish and chips (snapper in this case) and drove up to Mt. Eden where we walked round the rim of the crater to a view of much of Auckland below. Blankets spread, paper packages of fish and chips unwrapped, a bottle of Lindy's (we tried to taste as much typical NZ cuisine as possible!) opened.

Sunset came upon us

- and we weren't the only ones there to enjoy it, of course. Just such a remarkably relaxing meal together, and other than champagne flutes, no dishes to deal with.

And, as an added bonus, Conrad and I found ourselves setting each other off into giggles much of the rest of the trip simply by jokingly uttering the supposed NZ pronunciation of the meal: fush and chups. I mean really, how do you top a meal like that?

one goal

Conrad and I learned years back that we can travel well together. Though our friends tease us about our propensity for planning things well in advance, in fact, we don't do a lot more planning than booking necessities: transport, hotel, some restaurant reservations. Instead, when on holiday, we tend to take this approach:

• Set one goal for the day.
• Do anything else that comes along, so long as you can still reach that goal.

Case in point: 5 years back (wow, THAT long ago!), we spent two weeks in Spain. One day, in Granada (now there's a place to revisit!), we decided to drive down to the Mediterranean coast, about an hour away. En route, we let ourselves detour into Las Alpujarras, the mountain villages, and it wasn't until, oh, sunset, that we made it to the seashore. And yet, ask us about the best day on that vacation, and we will likely both point to that day of wandering through the little whitewashed villages.

Anyway, on to New Zealand where we took a similar set a goal and do everything else en route approach - for the most part. The day that we left Dion and Minna behind in Queenstown largely fit that.

Another thing about us: we love maps. We love to look at them and trace our routes and speculate and just admire the craft that goes into them. So it was that we found ourselves considering various routes to and through The Catlins, in the far southeast of the country. Sparsely populated, scenic. Oh, and home to the southernmost point on the South Island. When Conrad caught sight of that, it became (other than reaching our B&B) the goal for the day.

Here's how we went about it:

• Drive south, avoiding Invercargill and hitting the coast at Fortrose. Stop for a snack.




• Take photos of wind-sculpted trees.


• Park with the other vehicles by a paddock and walk through the pasture to Slope Point. Take photos. Check the goal off the list.





• Take more photos of trees.


• Stop at Curio Bay to see the ancient petrified forest remains.



• Stop for another snack, this time at Niagara Falls. Bluff oysters, in season and fried in batter.


• Find the falls, snicker at the joke.



• Stop to admire a bigger waterfall: Purakaunui.



• Get to the B&B, take the owners up on the offer of a pre-dinner drive over paddocks to the cliffs overlooking the Pacific.



• Follow the owners' advice on visiting a cove to see the yellow-eyed penguins - and sea lions (we think).






• Enjoy a good and very generous dinner of venison at the B&B, washing it down with a bottle of Devil's Staircase Pinot Noir picked up two days before.


• Sleep well.

Not too bad, hmmm?

The next day our goal was to get to Dunedin Airport in time for a flight to Christchurch connecting to a flight to Auckland. Easy enough. Conrad and I had some good conversation with Helen-May over breakfast, said good-bye to her and her husband, Alan, then headed up the coast. On their advice, we veered off to see the lighthouse at Nugget Point. Sound advice: the fog rolled over the hills and humps and rocks,





clearing to give us a lovely view of the Nuggets and of the seal and sea lion colonies far below.
We made it to Dunedin in good time but with the additional memory of the sights along the way.

This is the point in the blog entry where if I haven't recommended a business enough, I will. We did a lot of hunting around the Web to settle on a Catlins accommodation before choosing the Greenwood Farmstay,
and we realize we shortchanged ourselves on its hospitality and on the Catlins itself by limiting ourselves to one sole night. Foolish us. We utterly recommend Helen-May and Alan and their B&B, and we suggest not rushing through the area, even if you have only one goal in mind.

pork chop

A small break from the New Zealand posts (and still many more to come, I assure you) to mention dinner. You see, I'm all alone tonight. Conrad is in Honolulu. I have Tyra, Simon, and a night of reality television to keep me company. Bless all those Americans out there desperate to make fools of themselves on national television.

I got home a little late from work tonight, not badly so, but too late for the start of swimming. Lazy me, I decided against showing up after practice had started and began work on dinner instead.

Two thick cut pork chops. Tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme.

A tomato, a bit of fresh fennel, some little black olives (nicoise?), a bit of white onion. Diced, tossed with olive oil, coarse salt seasoned with fennel, and coarse black pepper.

I placed the pork chops in a hot pan. Seared them on each side, then the pan went into the oven to roast.

Once roasted, the pork chops went onto a plate to rest and keep warm in the oven. I put the pan on a hot burner, brought the drippings to a boil, then added in sherry and then chicken broth. I reduced this, then swirled in a chunk of unsalted butter.

For plating, the pork chop went down, the fennel-olive-tomato on the side. I laid a few asparagus spears, then drizzled the sauce over it.

Wine? A cheap and cheerful (I love that expression) Chianti. Dessert? A bit too much of the cookie dough that turned into the batch of chocolate chip and walnut cookies that are still cooling on racks nearby.

Queenstown

Another blog posting wherein I start off reminiscing about the 2007 trip and the planning for it. Ah well, it's inevitable. Heck, if we decide to go back to New Zealand in 2011 (World Cup Rugby!), then you'll hear it all over again again!

Back in 2007, though, one place that I kind of blush to admit I vetoed was Queenstown. Foolish me, I had no clue about the wines in the area. Instead, my knowledge of Queenstown was that it was a bunch of bungee jumping and adventure sports. Um, no thanks. But as I said, I was foolish, for Queenstown is a handsome little city.

We flew down there on the Monday morning and spent a little while exploring the town a bit, including getting lunch then heading up the gondola to see the view of the city from up high. You know what? My first time in one of those things. Scared of heights, you know. It wasn't too bad, all things considered, and the view was quite worth it.






We got out of the city later that afternoon, heading for the Millbrook Resort

to enjoy the spa. A massage after 30+ hours of travel is truly a very good idea.

The next morning, before the wine tasting adventure, Conrad and I walked from our hotel into town to find good coffee and just enjoy the quiet morning. The lake was enticing,



but the temperature was not, sadly.

Some shots, then of the town, one we'd gladly go back to (if only for the wines!).

NZ wines: Otago

When we did our first trip to New Zealand in 2007, we had a lot - A LOT - of discussion about potential itineraries. So many places to see and things to experience. How to figure it all out and draw up a do-able schedule?

Well, what do we like? Food, obviously. Also wine. And that became the core of that 2007.

One other good thing on that visit was getting re-acquainted with Dion and meeting his wife, Minna. As it turns out, they, too like wine. Serendipity! Happier still for Conrad, they rather like their Pinot Noir. Best of all, New Zealand, and Central Otago in particular, is gaining ever greater and deserving renown for its Pinots. Of course we began the trip own there. And so, on our second day in New Zealand and under gloriously sunny skies, we set out tasting.

I don't have any photos from our first stop, The Big Picture. It's a good idea, a wine experience parked out among vineyards and offering tastings of several wines. I just wish they were offering better wines. The six pours were not very distinct from each other, frankly, and I found the wines unexceptional. Nonetheless, it was lovely to sit out in the sun and begin the tasting, if tentatively. We ended up not buying any of the six Pinots we tried, but we found, instead, the lovely Valli Pinot Noir we'd had the night before at Saffron (blog posting to come). That first stop paid off a few nights ago when we enjoyed the bottle over a quiet Saturday dinner in.

On to the first proper winery: Rockburn. Conrad loves that rock wall there.
We all liked the wines we tried, in fact. We came away with two of their moderate label, the evocatively named Devil's Staircase (a mountain feature on the lakeside south of Queenstown), and enjoyed the Pinot Noir a few nights later while in the Catlins. The Pinot Gris came home with us. A delightful start.



Mt. Difficulty was up next,

and what an experience that was. I'll embarrass myself now by forgetting the name of the man who took us round, but it was a fantastic customized visit to a winery whose Pinot Noir we'd enjoyed a number of times. Minna's company owns (or is it distributes) the wines, and so she had arranged this special visit.



Wow. What a thrill, getting a look at what the workings were on the day before the grapes were to be harvested. They took such good time and care with us, it was remarkable. And hey, great wine. We couldn't taste the high end single vineyard ones, but we trust they'll be good, and we came home with a bottle. Also, a cap and a t-shirt - I love the logo. Oh, and a dry Riesling. What struck me over the course of the say was that Otago may be known for its Pinot Noir, but I liked a lot of the Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Chardonnay I tasted. It made for a more complete experience that day.

Anyway, the tour done, we ventured up to the winery restaurant with its gorgeous view of the river valley below.
Those hoodoos over there? Left behind by former mining activity in the area. Lunch on the sunny patio, and it was hare for me.
Hare. Cool! We sat by a handsome little water feature and relaxed quite nicely.



Next up was just a short drive, next door as these things go. Another lovely setting. Grapes ripening, protected from birds.
Conrad picked up some
fallen on the ground - somehow, they still look so appealing. Felton Road is a producer of highly-sought and high-quality wines. Some of them are for mailing list clients only, and there is a waiting list to get on the mailing list! I'll say two things:

• The wines we tasted were magnificent. I tasted a vin gris - a rose left pale as can be - and loved it. The "regular" Pinot Noir? Super! Oh, and what was that I spied? An opened bottle of an exclusive single-vineyard Pinot? Oh no, the woman, protested, it's been open for a few days, left over from some event. No worries, I said, I'm sure it's fine. Oh yeah, it was fine. Very fine. Easy to see why there's a waitlist. Sad not to be able to sip more.
• The woman behind the counter should work in another part of the winery away from customers. Sorry. She was very pinched in manner and acted as if it was incredibly disagreeable to her to have to have strangers come in and want to buy wine.

We left with a couple of bottles, of course.



Up next: Akarua. This seemed so much more low key a place, and the wines were more modest. No worries, modest by comparison to Felton Road is not a bad thing. This was another place where I liked the whites as well, and we ended up with not just Pinot Noir but an unoaked Chardonnay as well.

Carrick. Wow, a lot of wine already consumed. Conrad and Dion kind of eased off at this point (and Minna, in case I hadn't mentioned it, was our designated driver - we hope that when Peaches Honeyblossom is born next stuff, that Mom and daughter will be healthy). No matter, my tastebuds go on. Sadly, my memory is dreadful, and though we did buy a bottle, I cannot recall it. Fair enough. I liked the place and its wines, but I wasn't blown away by them.

Still with me? Good. Two more (plus) to go! The last one before dinner was sort of my request, based on looking at the map and past experience: Wooing Tree. Love that name. It ended up having a cozy cottage feel to it. Again, good wines. We've got a bottle of Pinot Noir here with us at home.

You can tell that we were flagging at this point - we weren't buying as much, and I'm writing less and less. Two more stops, though up next was a bit of a snack. We'd been drinking all day, but we needed something else. Though we didn't go to the winery here, we did like a break with some cheese at Gibbston Valley.

And then it was on to Amisfield.
Ah, we'd looked forward to this one. A year and a half ago we'd marveled at one of its wines over Boxing Day dinner at NoMI. Now we would visit the winery AND have dinner there. On such a lovely, sunny day, what could be better?


The darn thing is, we didn't actually have a range of wines. A bottle with dinner, and not even our favourite bottle of the day. Ah, who cares? Come on? What a setting, out there on that sunny patio.

Dinner served in multiple courses family style, with some risotto, salmon, beef, salad, and more even.



All very very satisfying.

We chuckle at our holidays being planned around wine, but really, look at the day we had, the company we had, and read what I say about the wines and the food. Is it any wonder we do? Now all we have to do is figure out how to persuade Minna to organize similar days in the future...

NZ from a plane

Jetlag still has me in its grip, and every good intention to spend a quiet Sunday evening blogging is about to be tossed out the window as I take myself off to bed rather earlier than I might otherwise. I'm a little too wiped out feeling to bother being what passes for clever on this blog, and instead I'll simply post a series of photos taken from the plane down from Auckland to Queenstown on the first full day of our vacation. Gosh, was it really almost three weeks ago that we arrived there?






The Southern Alps made for wonderful watching, and the plane trip passed smoothly. Clear skies, landscape below: seeing new part of New Zealand and having fun tracing our path on the maps with us.

quiet night in: salmon

Conrad heads off to Honolulu bright and early in the morning, and even before he leaves I'll be heading to the pool to coach my teammates as best I can on the last day of the State Masters Meet. In light of that, we've had a quiet night in tonight (so why am I blogging? Good question) with a nice dinner in the living room and some good conversation.

Spring means morels, doesn't it? I saw that CG had mentioned them recently on Facebook (or was it Twitter), but they weren't entirely on my min until I saw them at the grocery this morning. How perfect for a dinner of salmon. Not cheap, but worthwhile.

Conrad and I ended up with an enjoyable dinner - despite how rusty I feel in the kitchen - of pan-seared sockeye salmon with asparagus and a sauce of fresh morels sauteed in a generous amount of butter. With the meal we opened one of the treasured bottles of wine from our recent NZ vacation (that I have to blog more about). In fact, it was the first bottle we bought, and the first wine we had while in the country, a Valli Pinot Noir. Redolent of raspberries and strawberries with a not-unappealing inkiness.

I'll miss him while he's gone, but I'm very glad we've stolen a quiet evening at home together.

bones

Another in the short series of blog entries about odd foods I like.

We went with John and Bryan to Bistro Campagne today, a nice French restaurant up in the Lincoln Square neighbourhood. Good to catch up with them.

Dinner was quite enjoyable, of course. Good company, and the restaurant does its food well. My main course was whitefish with a sauce made from ramps. The Vouvray was tasty, too. The highlight? This.



Bones.

Roasted marrow bones.

It's one of those things that's a little more interesting to eat than it is good, but it is good. Rich. A little overwhelming. Like a meaty blend of jello and butter served hot. Smushed onto toast and sprinkled with coarse salt, it made for quite an appetizer. I felt a little greasy when I was done, and certainly it would have been good to share.

The shirt, by the way, is one I bought on sale in Auckland. I'm rather delighted by it, as you can tell!

;-)

luxuries of travel, post-addendum

Post-addendum? Brilliant Peter. Amazing how awkwardly I can title these posts.

Yes, I am back to blogging. In days ahead I will post several more times about the recent New Zealand vacation, and one day - I hope! - I will once again post about cooking adventures in my kitchen. Of course, I suppose I have to be back in Chicago and in my kitchen long enough to do so.

I'll be a bit more systematic now with these posts and get a good assortment of photos up. Impatient for photos? Check Flickr for a whole bunch (and more to come there).

I wanted to share some final shots of the luxuries of travel, though I have to say that the scene in Frost/Nixon (which I watched on the flight from Sydney to LA) where Frost is chatting up a woman in the upstairs bar of a 747 really shows an air travel luxury that doesn't exist anymore, I don't think. I am also wary of seeming ungrateful for traveling first class when I simply say that United, fine as it was, does not compare to the service, comfort, and amenities of a national airline like Air New Zealand. Whatever - we hardly roughed it.

Six flights in total for us. Here's the route:

Chicago-San Francisco. First Class on United. The full fold down seats seemed ever so amazing, with ample storage.
I watched The Secret Life of Bees, blubbed some, and had a lovely view flying over the diverse countryside below.

San Francisco-Sydney. First Class on United. Charlie Trotter-designed dishes among the menu items?

Tasty. I liked Conrad's choice of red wine more than mine, but jeepers, a choice of wine! I watched Twilight (yes, I know, scorn me, but I enjoyed it) and another movie that obviously wasn't memorable if I can't think what the heck it was. I also got the most sleep I've ever had in an airplane: about 6 hours solid. Bless the full beds the seats convert to. Conrad and I sat in the middle of the section with a low divider between us so we could easily chat and otherwise bug each other.
Good flight.

Sydney-Auckland. Business Class on Air New Zealand. Air NZ doesn't have first class, in fact, but their Business Class is better than United First, truthfully. More movies to choose from (I watched half of Iron Man but switched to television programs. More choices of wines, and better food.

Full fold down seats (not that we needed them).
Advantage to United for storage space, though.

Wellington-Sydney. Business Class on Air New Zealand. A different configuration without full fold down seats, but certainly comfortable. Conrad and I were the only ones in Business Class, and the flight attendant was ever so lovely to chat with. Good breakfast, and I watched the rest of Iron Man.

An aside here - I won't add anymore lounge photos from the trip, I don't think, but this was kind of cool: we were sitting in the lounge at Sydney Airport, and people began coming to the window by us to look out. I didn't pay much attention, thinking that they were looking at the different airlines coming in and out with huge planes. it wasn't until Conrad said, "Peter, there's a tornado!" that I looked up.



Sydney-LA. First Class on United. I didn't sleep as well as the reverse trip, but I slept better than usual. The food wasn't Charlie Trotter, but I rather liked the appetizer, and I preferred the wine selection.


We also moved to window seats which meant not only better storage, but also a wonderful sunset over the Pacific.
I watched Frost/Nixon (enjoyed it) and Marley and Me (enjoyed it as well - that was a surprise)

LA-Chicago. Business Class on United. Do I sound too jaded when I say it was pretty standard for United.

Honestly? I'm THRILLED to bits to have experienced such comfort, truly. Separate security and boarding lines, glasses of champagne when you get on board, amenity kits. SLEEP! Conrad cashed in a lot of miles for these tickets, and they set the stage for a vacation that - I can say this now that it's over - was utterly relaxing, enjoyable, memorable.

More postings in days ahead, then, and in them I'll actually explore New Zealand itself!

lunch in Vulcan Lane

Two years back we somehow stumbled upon a little tapas place in Vulcan Lane, in the heart of prime shopping in Auckland. We went there two or three times, but for breakfast. Excellent toast. I'm not sure why we went there in the first place - maybe the pomegranate logo drew us in? The name was Tasca, and we remembered it fondly ever since.

Jafa has taken its place as a breakfast spot for us now, but for old time's sake we made our way to Vulcan Lane while shopping today and landed at Tasca for a bite of lunch. The unfortunate thing was that there were few wine options, and the chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc I wanted on a warm day was not there for me. We made up for it later after shopping with a glass at an outdoor bar not far away at Mecca.
Anyway, we found our alley and cafe, sat at a little table outside to watch well-dressed people pass by, and had lunch.

Salads for us each: Conrad's had chicken and avocado while mine had chorizo, potato, and spinach. I sipped back my 17th flat white (awesome NZ coffee) of the trip, and we plotted a few more shop stops after lunch. Nice recapturing the memory of last time, even if there was no bacon involved this time.

Matakana

Dion and Minna have wireless, and while I'm trying not to use up all of their limit for the month, I do have to get some photos up and at least one blog entry in. I'll be jumping all over on the blogging posting in days ahead, and I have a huge number of photos to weed through before I do. It's easy to pull off what we got up to yesterday and show a little bit of that. And only a little bit: it's a lovely sunny Sunday out there, and we'll want to wander off before too long and enjoy the day.

After breakfast - again at that funloving near by cafe, Jafa - we hopped in a car to head about 3/4 of an hour north to Matakana. The town is noted for a few things, including its market. An upscale market at that, and we sampled some tasty local products like good mustards and preserves. We even bought a few things there: mustard, a chocolate and hazelnut butter, lime-scented olive oil.

One other thing we picked up, though, was a quince ratafia. It's an old-fashioned recipe for a spiced liqueur made of the fruit. We're quince fans, definitely, and we did buy a bottle after tasting it, but what caught our eye was that it was from Heron's Flight.

My friend Dave had pointed us to Heron's Flight. His cousin, Mary Evans, and her husband, David Hoskins, own the winery, and - in fact - it was David who was at the market selling wines, grape juice, and the ratafia. We had a nice chat, and when he learned who we were, he let us know to get up to the winery as soon as we could to try the wine and meet his wife.

We're very grateful to Dave for putting us in touch with Mary because that was a very relaxing time spent at the winery. We arrived to find the placed thronged with what turned out to be a 50th anniversary party. The winery has full restaurant service and a good patio overlooking the vines. Set in among the green hills near Matakana, it's an exceptional escape from the city. We sat outside with Mary for a while, and she opened a bottle of their Sangiovese for us.

What's noteworthy about the winery (well, several things are, of course) is that it focuses on only a few wines, and rather than the usual NZ varietals (of which Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are the most common in our sampling), the winery produces wine from two Italian grapes: Sangiovese and Dolcetto. We were drinking their top line Sangiovese, and it opened up beautifully as we sat and sipped.

Eventually cool breezes drove us inside where we continued to enjoy chatting and sipping. Despite the crowd there, Mary had arranged for us to have a terrific platter of breads and spreads. We didn't go hungry from there - it was more the case that between the wine and the food, we were utterly relaxed and content.

It was only a few hours that we were in Matakana, but it was a wonderful time. And, of course, we finished off very well with dinner at the French Cafe. Ah, but that's a blog entry for another time.