flowers in DC

It was a great weekend in the US capital, visiting with Geoff and Kent, dining and drinking well, and suffering from some hay fever. Ah yes, Washington DC is well into spring and a good deal warmer than Chicago - I may have to put an extra blanket on the bed here tonight! - and the flowers and trees are pumping out pollens at an astonishing rate.

That, of course, doesn't keep me from admiring what I saw in the gardens of DC. So many gorgeous blooms. Irises of all colours. Azaleas just peaking
(and past the peak, but no worries, the rhododendrons are coming on). Some stunning clematis.



And then I come home to find our New Guinea impatiens almost devoid of flowers and looking a little, well, unhealthy.

[sigh]

best meal in New Zealand

Just back from Washington DC, and given a Sunday night alone at home while Conrad is till there, it's opportunity for me to finish blogging the vacation. Really, was it almost a month ago that we RETURNED?

[sigh]

I wish we were back there. Ah for that elusive lottery win.

On a night where dinner is, well, not blog-worthy (don't ask), let me go ahead and tell you about the best meal we had in New Zealand: Pacifica, in Napier, April 8.

We learned of Pacifica at our motel when we checked in, and not long after dropping off our bags, we were walking by the restaurant, poking inside the open door, and asking for a reservation. A good number of hours later we were sitting at the wee bar. I had a glass of a sparkling NZ wine and Conrad had a martini. We had no idea of what lay ahead.

You know how it is when you get one of those menus that has loads of appealing options? Exactly like that. When we got to the table, we found ourselves struggling a little to decide. Once we did, we challenged (nicely) our waiter to bring us glasses of wine with each course that would be local (if possible) and good matches. That man did very well by us, and especially given how he wrote down the wines for us. Here we go:

We shared the half dozen freshly shucked te Matuku oysters and had the Esk Valley Chenin Blanc 2007 (Hawkes Bay). Dion will read this and be a little horrified to learn this, but we liked these oysters more than the bluff oysters. The presentation on a bed of salt was lovely.

Conrad had the yellowfin tuna sashimi, New Zealand pure wasabi, pineapple and wasabi foam. With this he enjoyed the Alan McCorkindale Pinot Gris (Waipara).

I had the home made brawn, French Ossetra sturgeon caviar, and parmesan crusted quail egg. As I get older, I love eggs all the more. With this I had the Dog Point Pinot Noir 2006 (Marlborough). How funny that he got the white and I got the red, but we liked our wines fine.

Conrad had the whole baked garlic-infused flounder, tempura prawns, steamed curly kale. The kitchen deboned it for him, and the dish was substantial. Continuing his white trend, he had the Sacred Hill Rifleman Chardonnay (Hawkes Bay). If memory serves me correctly, he liked it so much, he ordered it the next night again.

My main was pan roasted veal loin, tempura rabbit livers, bone marrow sauce. A meaty dish paired with the Unison Syrah (Hawkes Bay).

Oh, and we shared buttered green beans.

The hostess, one half of the husband-wife team who own the place (he is the chef) came to see about dessert for us, and we declined - satisfied with what we'd had. Instead, we asked for a reservation the next night and the same waiter. Back we strolled to the hotel and fell into a contented sleep.

Conrad now says that is the second best meal he's ever had.

We didn't take many photos the next night, and we didn't care. I can't tell you all the wines, alas, though we had a good time with more fun pairings.
We again started with a sip at the bar before heading to a table and were thrilled that the same waiter was taking care of us. Few photos, but I can tell you what we had:

Oysters again, this time presented on micro-greens.
Pork fillet served pink, confit pork belly, apple terrine, watercress jus.
Crispy skin snapper fillet, snapper head ravioli, thickened fish jus.

Did we have dessert? More wine? Cheese? I can't recall that. The smaller meal is only a reflection of a day spent wine tasting, I can avow. The food was once again excellent, and we had nice little chats with the waiter and the owner about the business and the upcoming long weekend. Before we left, the hostess introduced us to her husband, the chef, and we were glad to thank him for such fine food.

So there you have it. We dined so well in the country, but this was the most special somehow. We'll happily recommend it to others, and we hope we may one day go back.

wee New Zealand post (4)

In case you weren't consulting your calendars and working things out, know that we arrived in Wellington on Good Friday and left on Easter Monday.

The day we arrived, the town was quiet - a stat holiday. The Saturday was busy with shoppers. Sunday was quiet again. Our trip was winding down, and dining was not easy to find, especially up in the government end of town where we were.

But ah, one handsome new-ish looking cafe was offering an appropriate treat for the holiday. What surprised me was that Conrad had never had them before: hot cross buns. I take for granted that everyone knows them, but that might be the British/Anglican upbringing I had, something New Zealand would have experience with. In fact, one of the big controversies we tracked in the newspaper letters pages centered on a change to a classic recipe that resulted in forlorn buns.

A good treat, though, and as I closed in on 30 flat whites for the trip, we wrote postcards and enjoyed the early autumn sun.

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.

wee New Zealand post (2)

It's an in-joke between me and Conrad we carry too far, I tell you. On our return to Wellington, we simply could not resist...

wee New Zealand post (1)

The drawback to taking 2000+ photos on a two-week vacation is the post-vacation slog through them all.

No, I take that back: it's kind of fun, in fact.

In any case, I'm trying to get my Chicago life back on track, so stay tuned for a short series of posts from the vacation. I still intend to devote some lengthier posts to a few memorable meals and to our wine tasting tour in Hawkes Bay. Otherwise, I just want to get some photos out there for the four of you who might actually read this.

Up first: shots of Auckland. A sunny couple of days there to get into town
and have a swim at the Tepid Baths, shop on High Street and surroundings, lunch at Tasca in Vulcan Lane,


sip wine at Mecca,
and simply enjoy urban life.

two meals with Dion and Minna

One of the happiest things to learn about Dion and Minna over the last few years is that they, too, enjoy good food and good wine. Look, I know I'm called a food snob - to my face, even - and sometimes it's a fair accusation. So let me revel in it yet again.

On our first night in New Zealand, I saw a beautiful book at Dion and Minna's and was compelled to flip through it. Ah, the lust in my heart. A cookbook and a coffee table book: I knew that by the end of the trip, I'd buy my own copy. You can imagine my delight to learn that it was from the restaurant we'd dine at the next night, Saffron.

I love when fine dining is out of the way. I love that a small isolated town - albeit one that seems to bank on tourism - has such great dining. Arrowtown, not far from Queenstown and all the wineries and recreation of Central Otago, has the look of a restored old-time village. Saffron, meanwhile, just sits there, not too assuming.
Ah, but treats are in store inside.

I didn't get a copy of the menu (so I'm trying to pull some descriptions from the Web site), nor did I get good photos of all the courses. No shots of the raw Bluff oysters - a seasonal delicacy - for example. Meaty oysters and briny. We got the last order, and that only added to the enjoyment, of course. I also don't have a shot of my whitebait done two ways. The cookbook shows a plate of three preparations, and three are available, but not all on the same plate. I think I did well to forego the fritter and just have them simply fried and lightly coated in flour and fried. So simple, and yet the appetizer stuck with me throughout the remaining two weeks in the country and beyond. And did Conrad have an appetizer? I think so, but I cannot recall. No shots of our shared side dish of roasted vegetables that sent me on a two-week obsession over the delight of kumara.

An amuse-bouche: bloody Mary, served as a liquid-filled soft globe on a spoon.


Conrad's main course of Akaroa salmon, poached with creamed spinach, potato, wasabi, sweet ginger dumpling, sake beurre blanc.

My own main course of calves liver, crumbed, sauteed golden, with red cabbage, chicken & chestnut boudin. Liver is such a rare thing to see on menus, and I was drawn to it immediately. Worth it.

Dion and Minna knew the local wines better and steered us to a Valli Pinot Noir. In the end, we downed two bottles (and we wonder why we gained weight on the trip? HA!) Dinner done, we moved on to dessert.

Conrad wasn't wowed by dessert, a hazelnut praline souffle with hokey-pokey ice cream. I kind of have to agree, to a point. The souffle had a good nut fragrance but was mostly a bit blandly eggy in flavour. What redeemed it was plunking the ice cream into the still hot souffle. At that point I thought it rather tasty.

Oh, and indeed I did buy the book at the end of the trip. Food porn, utterly, and I love it.

Minna and I had corresponded at some length, trying to figure out fine dining in Auckland. In the end, though, we went for familiar rather than new: The French Cafe. Dion and Minna love the place a great deal, and when we'd dined there with them in 2007, we had enjoyed it mightily as well. Dion, in fact, recalled that I had raved about the quail. Good memory on that man, and quick check of the blog entry now shows that indeed I had. Which didn't stop me from ordering the recent preparation of that bird as my appetizer. Again, no menu to work from, and worse, few good photos. Bear with me - I'll get this right one day. Working from the Web site, then:

My appetizer of roasted quail breast with sweet spices, almond cream, quail b’stilla, poached apricot, pistachio oil.

Conrad's appetizer of swordfish carpaccio with pink grapefruit vinaigrette (which Conrad asked to have left off), shaved fennel, candied lemon, freshly picked crab, watercress.

Minna, Dion, and I all had the pink roasted lamb with soft white almond polenta, sweet tomato, buffalo ricotta, stuffed zucchini flower, lavender foam. The polenta was brilliant, and the zucchini flower filled with buffalo ricotta was a wonder.

Conrad stuck to fish (and I can't recall what type - salmon?) with seared scallops, stir-fried asparagus, shitake mushrooms, pea shoots, ginger sauce, fennel cream.

For dessert Conrad enjoyed the assiette of French chocolate, featuring warm chocolate tart, milk chocolate ice cream, cocoa brulee, chocolate macaroon, chocolate sauce.

The rest of us each ordered the apple creme brulee, a magnificent concoction of caramelised apple, vanilla apple jus, green apple sorbet, butterscotch, pain d’epices.
This was the best dessert I had on the trip, I think.

Our wine was a lovely Pinot Noir from the Canterbury area of the South Island, the 2005 Bell Hill Old Weka Pass Road. We ended up with a generous heaping of contentment, and were once again glad to have visited. It's very easy to see why this is a favoured restaurant, and I was sorely tempted to buy its cookbook as well.

Two very very fine meals in New Zealand, and yet, there was one restaurant we liked even better (and one other restaurant that was very definitely comparable to these two). Our hard lives...

Light afternoon snack

Weird day today, timewise. Conrad got in late last night from Honolulu, so we weren't to bed until 1:00ish. The apartment is warm - that transitional time of year when the building hasn't turned on the AC, but we're already getting warm weather. That made for some shaky sleep until well into the night when the place cooled down some. I'm still on Pacific time instead of Central.

So what time did I get out of bed this morning? A few minutes before 10. Shocking, I know.

We each had cereal, then a latte, and that sort of constituted "brunch". Not good, right? Yoshi's will be tonight's dinner, but that made for a gap of time that might not fit a full lunch well. Perfect, however, for a light savoury snack.

Now, don't look at the photo and assume it was a big production and a filling plate. It wasn't and it wasn't. With the balcony furniture set back up and cleaned off, we had a short spell outside and enjoyed this:



Seared scallops with tomato, mint, parsley, caper berries, and radish, drizzled with lime-infused olive oil.

Nice!

Peaches Honeyblossom

Before I continue with more New Zealand trip reminiscences, it behooves me to welcome Dion and Minna's daughter. The two are now proud parents of Erika Ripley (though, while we were there, they cheerily referred to her as Peaches Honeyblossom rather than reveal the name). We wish them hearty congratulations and hope that Mum and daughter are healthy. Enjoy a lifetime together as family!