wee New Zealand post (3)

In 2004, when I was offered a tenure track position, Conrad and I celebrated with a big dinner for five of us at one of the best restaurants in Canada, Sooke Harbour House. This entry is not about that meal, which remains the single best one we've ever had in our lives. Instead, it's a reflection on how I never want to go back to Sooke Harbour House because nothing can live up to the meal we had there, and I don't want to diminish the memory.

Similarly, we should have reconsidered one or two return visits in our New Zealand vacation. Martinborough was lovely, for example, but the time of day and year meant that we only got to visit one winery. A let down from our 2007 visit.

Another notable instance was dinner in Wellington at Boulcott Street Bistro. Conrad and I have dreamt longingly of the chocolate cake and saffron ice cream we'd enjoyed there two years ago. It was a fine meal, indeed, and we wanted to go back.

I think we should not have diminished the memory.

Now, I have to be careful here. I do not write this blog to critique places, not harshly at least. We did not have a bad meal there by any stretch. It's just that I cannot tell you what I had. It was fine, but the only thing I really recall is pleasant conversation with the host about a wine selection, and I have to refer to the photo to recall the wine (though I recall we enjoyed it). The food tasted good, but darned if I can remember what I had.

It's a shame. I think it's a good place, but it simply could not live up to the cherished memory that we'd savoured so long. Unfair to the restaurant of today, and if ever the restaurateurs read this (you never know!) be assured that I would recommend that friends go for a meal. We're simply sorry we didn't recapture the feeling of the first visit.

On the plus side, Conrad looks so handsome in a shirt bought that day at Rixon Groove. As for me, in a new shirt purchased days earlier in Auckland, I look like the prettiest darn boy figure skater on the face of the planet.

Eleventh NZ post: Wellington

So it would seem that my sleep cycles are off. I went to bed at about midnight last night, and at 2:00 I woke with a start, disoriented and utterly awake. I spent a couple of hours reading various things online, then tried going back to bed. A half hour later I gave up.

On the good side, I've caught up on some episodes of Bones and Ugly Betty (thanks, Jeph! Damn Brett for getting you started on the show!). I've also eaten breakfast, and when it's a reasonable time to wake Conrad, I'll go get dressed and make a run for a grande misto. I think I may bake today as well.

But back to the trip. If only. Back to work tomorrow, but this morning I'm starting on blogging Wellington.

Of all the places in New Zealand we were planning to visit, Wellington is the one that most excited me. I don't know. Maybe it's because our hotel, The Bolton, looked really sleek and modern (and we got it at a great deal).



(Nice view from the window!)

It didn't disappoint, the exorbitant Internet connection fee aside. Quiet end of town, though. The shops (another exciting aspect to the city) were a bit of a stroll - not a bad one - away, and we were up around the corner from the Parliament buildings. Note the Beehive - controversial but iconic in its way.

And from there it's a hop across the street to the National Library or to the Cathedral. A terrific area (and an outdoor pool in the same neighbourhood, so we finally got a couple of swims in), but the streets rolled up after work on the Friday we arrived and didn't get lively again until Monday morning.

Nevermind. We loved Wellington for a whole lot more, including the good food there. Dinner the first night was at Shed 5. I thought it was a little attitude-y when we arrived, but a bottle of the Burnt Spur Russian Jack Pinot Noir and some tasty food won us over.


When we went back the last night in Wellington, they remembered us and were very gracious and friendly. My octopus salad with smoked paprika was excellent, and the bluefin osso bucco with truffled polenta fries was no less tasty.
Conrad enjoyed his squid served with greens and prociutto and his tuna as well.


Saturday morning in Wellington, and we were up kind of early. It was a sunnier day than the day before, so on went the sunscreen, and off we set along Lambton Quay before veering off to catch the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens. The city is built on the hills around a large harbour, and the way the buildings climb up from the waterfront is not unlike San Francisco. Only smaller and a national capital.
We could have ridden back down, but it was a lovely morning, so we walked into town, passing through the Victoria University campus before beginning our shopping on Cuba Street.

The guidebooks made Wellington sound like a shopping mecca, and there are a lot of shops. In fact, a lot of Cuba Street and nearby is cheap and/or sleazy in a lot of ways. There are some good restaurants there, and a few cool shops, but we saw a lot of the same store names in other towns as well. At least we stumbled on Floriditas for lunch.Terrific food (I loved my fish with a light salad of cucumber ribbons and mint, and check out the beautiful colour of the yolks on Conrad's salad!), but that was where I got to try the Seresin Marama Sauvignon Blanc. Barrel aged, it's not at all like ther sharp, even pungent sauvs we mostly had in Marlborough. Wonderful stuff, and I guzzled it wherever else we were that I found it.

After lunch was shopping, mostly clothing, mostly for us. Rixon Groove was a jackpot, and I now have a few more ties that are fairly unique and will long remind me of the trip. Conrad did especially well with his purchases, and with the addition of some books and postcards, we felt like we'd succeeded.

A rest break at the hotel at the end of the afternoon, and then out for dinner. We headed early to Boulcott Street Bistro to snag a table at the start of their dinner service - no reservations for dinner are taken. Another place we'd highly recommend. Conrad asked after our main course if I wanted to wander and walk and find dessert elsewhere, but I easily persuaded him that we were enjoying the Bistro too much to bother going elsewhere.

I started with squid this time, while he had a salad of asparagus. The salmon on couscous lured us both in, and we shared a side of salad.


My dessert was the molten chocolate cake with saffron ice cream, and I think Conrad still wants to go back for more of that. He opted for cheese, and more wine for each of us, of course! Sam Neill's Two Paddocks The Last Chance 2004 kept our meal company. A fine meal, and we ended it feeling quite content.




Oh, and here's the flat white, our new coffee drink of choice.

Oh, and just in case you think ALL we do (glamorously) is shop, eat, and drink (well, and take photos and write postcards), laundry awaited us on our return to the room.