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?

15th NZ Post: middle day in Auckland

Last post of the NZ trip. Very sad, somehow. We've already been back almost three weeks, in fact, and the realization of that is a blow, I tell you.

These are the "lost" photos of our middle day in Auckland. I had seen them before so I don't know why they went astray. Easily recovered, as it turns out. I'm sorry that, despite the warm day there, the sky was not clear blue. I'm also sorry that it they don't document our trip as well as I'd like. Ah well.

I played the tourist card that morning in Auckland, so our first destination was Sky Tower, the tallest structure in Oceania. The whole darn Southern Hemisphere, in fact. It certainly is an exclamation point on the skyline, and it does offer great views of the city.







The thing about Auckland - and in saying this I don't mean to disparage the city (though we really did like Wellington most of all) - is that it has an unique and unparalleled location on an isthmus. So much waterfront and harbour available to it. But for all that it's a city of sails, it's also a city of sprawl, and in some ways it's yet another large, kind of faceless city. Truthfully (did I say this before?), it reminds me of Toronto in how it somehow fails to capitalize on its best assets. But the ciew was still impressive from the tower observation decks, so I should quibble less, right?


Our main agenda (gay agenda, of course!) item that day was shopping. We roamed a small stretch of streets: High Street and things nearby. We did quite well for ourselves as well, and when summer hits Chicago (nice hint of spring the last two days, I should add), we'll break out some of the fun stuff to wear. No lunch for us. Rather, we ate a very very late breakfast at Tasca in Vulcan Lane. Conrad liked his scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and I was delighted not just with the well-prepared poached eggs and large portion of bacon, but the multigrain toast was exceptional. Truly.



And no shopping expedition could do without a spell sitting on a patio with coffees!


I wish I had better pictures of dinner that night. We did a poor job of photographing one of the best meals we've had anywhere. No, really. Dion and Minna had a reservation for the four of us at French Cafe. It's a simply decorated room, and the service is not of the polished sort we've had at places like Avenues with four people assigned to various duties at each table. What it did have was a menu from which it was difficult to select items because too many of them were intriguing. It also had polished service of a different sort - the woman who took care of our table actually took care of it but didn't make herself too much of a presence. Tough trick to pull off. She managed it with seeming ease.

We do have a few photos, though. Conrad and Minna both enjoyed a starter of Roasted goat's cheese sevred atop beets.I regret that my quail done five ways did not come out well in photos. The second best course I had in NZ the entire time, I think. On the other hand, we did capture the labels from the two wines we drank. I think that a bottle of the Mt. Difficulty is on its way overseas to us in our shipments.



My pink roasted lamb was also lovely. Can I admit that to the best of my recollection, this was the first time I'd had stuffed zucchini blossom?


We hope (fingers crossed) that we'll make it back to NZ in 2009. How wonderful that would be. For now, it's trying to clean our home and get myself doing some new and fun things in the kitchen. Joe puts me to shame with the wonders he comes up with. Those fig pinwheel cookies are so getting made here one day soon! As for travel, well, Baltimore, Austin, and Vancouver are all planned for the next three weeks, May will bring a work trip to Minneapolis, and June features Denver and DC. Really, though, some time at home will be nice!

14th NZ Post: short shrift (sorry) given to Auckland

I'm giving short shrift to Auckland with this posting, I know. Worse, I'm not even including all that much of the visit with Dion and Minna, and visiting them was a definite highlight of the trip. Instead, I sit here watching last night's ANTM and uploading a batch of photos from the last few days of our trip.

I lie: one more post to come - I have to go back and relocate photos from our second day in Auckland including our terrific dinner at French Cafe. I hope I haven't lost them!

To be fair, we didn't do a lot of sightseeing in Auckland. The weather was ideal for it, but having abstained from shopping through much of the trip up until Wellington, we had it in mind to hit more stores.

So, on a gorgeously sunny day, we left Wellington. Gosh but we liked that city.

Added bonus: our very considerate cab driver took us up a hilltop across the harbour from where we'd been. Amazing views of the harbour (and busloads of German tourists!).






And nearby, serendipitously, was a hillside pathway that had been used in Lord of the Rings for a scene. Conrad really should see that film one day.


Allison met up with us in Auckland - the start of her two weeks in New Zealand. She too, stayed at the Hilton and joined us for Barbecue at Dion and Minna's house. It was so cool to see somewhere other than Chicago or Toronto. She's home from her trip now, and it was an excellent jaunt for her as well.



Dion and I have known each other since, oh, late 1979, I believe. I hadn't seen him since he showed up for our high school reunion (I wasn't interested in going, but as I still lived in my hometown, I was able to see a number of people anyway). A New Zealander by birth, he returned there for college and has since settled down to a very successful corporate life and to married life with his beautiful wife, Minna. Minna prepared lamb for us, and the five of us enjoyed a healthy amount of NZ Pinot Noir and a pavlova for dessert. Love the framed basketball jersey from our junior high, Dion!





One other thing we loved: the funky light fixtures that came with their house and that they've kept through the renovations. Classics!





So let's jump ahead a day for now, until I find the missing photos. A very warm day in Auckland. We got off to a good start with a swim at the Tepid Baths, then breakfast and a stop in a store to arrange the shipment of more wine back to the US. From there we walked on up into the Ponsonby neighbourhood (with some great views back toward downtown). A late lunch ended our walk - tired and overheated.






Back to the hotel with us. We overlooked the parking/drive, but that makes it sound like we had a view of a vast expanse of asphalt. In fact, we could see the water easily from our deck, and the pool was just below us in the other direction. The heat of the day demanded a dip before dinner.



It was a short stroll along the water to the restaurant, housed in the attractive old Ferry Building. Harbourside was where we dined, and the less said the better. The Seresin wine was the only good thing I can say, and I recommend that anyone travelling to NZ try somewhere else after the shoddy service we received there.






Auckland did not end badly, despite that last dinner. We had a lovely breakfast the next morning at Mink with Dion and Minna. And that, sadly, was the last we saw of them. They had to work, and we wandered about a bit through the University of Auckland campus before eventually making our way to the airport and our return home. To winter. I'm still bitter about that.