Hallelujah... Internet

I now have a flat and my flat now has the Internet. I will now be able to start posting to my blog again after a one month hiatus.

Copper Chime Review

Today my team decided to go out for lunch to 'celebrate' the fact that they are finally getting rid of me. My last day at the Council is Friday 23 January. We went to Copper Chime which is an Indian restaurant at 588 Colombo Street.

Copper Chime offers a special lunch menu where you get a selection of either two meat dishes, one meat dish and one vegetarian dish, or two vegetarian dishes. The options are supposed to be limited to daily specials but luckily we were the first lunch customers so we got to choose what the daily specials would be. We decided on Chicken Tikka Masala, Rogan Josh, and Aloo Gobi. I ordered hot versions of the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Aloo Gobi.

Everyone else enjoyed a drink while we waited for our meals, but I was a good girl and avoided combining alcohol with back pain drugs. The meals arrived on large metal trays that held small bowls of each curry, a small bowl of raita, an onion bhajee, a poppadom, and a naan bread. The presentation was impressive and the taste was even better. The Chicken Tikka Masala was delicious and the sauce was the perfect thickness to mop up with the naan. I was also really pleased that we got an onion bhajee because it is my favourite type of Indian starter. I finished every last morsel on my tray.

All up the meal only cost $11. Copper Chime has had a plenty of good reviews recently and it definitely deserves them all.

High Tea @ Sign of the Takahe

A while back I read in the newspaper that the Sign of the Takahe restaurant had opened a cafe/bar to complement their existing restaurant. Apparently, one of the new signature dishes was the high tea. On Sunday I finally suggested that our family should pretend to be sophisticated and try the high tea. I was supposed to choose somewhere to go for lunch but afternoon tea seemed close enough.

Seeing as we had a couple of hours to kill we decided to have a game of mini golf at Pirate's Island (I WON!). It was fun even though we all got quite sunburned... well I did at least.

When we arrived at the Sign of the Takahe they had a table set up for us inside. So far so good. We ordered one high tea (for two), a platter and some wedges (Tara's idea). Surprisingly the wedges were the best thing on the table. The high tea was absolute rubbish. It consisted of three plates on one of the cool three level serving thingymabobs. The first plate was four mini quiches; two ham, two salmon. Unfortunately the chef somehow managed to use sweet shortcrust pastry for the quiche base so it tasted like an overcooked piece of shortbread. The second plate was four mini sandwich fingers; all cheese and cucumber. A wierd combination and complete lack of variety. The top layer was sweets; one scone halved with jam and cream, some little chocolate cake bites and an indistinguishable fudge/slice. My piece of scone was good but Mum managed to bite into a large pocket of baking powder... ew. The cake bites had no icing and tasted like they were made from low quality packet mix. The fudge/slice smelled like nasty Christmas cake. I was unwilling to try it but those who did try it assured me that it was as disgusting as it looked and smelled. And then to make matters worse, we were not offered the tea or coffee that is supposed to accompany high tea.

All in all it was a very disappointing experience. I copped a lot of slack for my useless suggestion. My advice is to avoid the Sign of the Takahe; even McDonalds is probably a better option.

Holidays

You gotta love the holidays. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or something else random you still get to enjoy the statutory days off. I stayed in Christchurch with the family for Christmas but then headed out of town for New Years.

First stop: Hanmer. We managed to get almost the whole high school crowd up for a couple of nights. Surprisingly I didn't end up going to the hot pools... I chose eating dinner after our 3 hour tramp instead. Good times.

Second stop: Nelson. Amy and I headed up to Nelson on January 2nd with no accommodation organised. Luckily, Matt managed to find us a room at Paradiso Backpackers. I just love taking showers in jandals. We listened to some bands at the Nelson JazzFest while chilling out on sofas that Amy and Matt's friends had brought to the park. We moved on to the Palace Backpackers for the second night. It was luxury; we had our own shower and toilet! The highlight of the trip was visiting Abel Tasman for the first time. We walked at least 13km and still had time to stop and swim at a secluded bay.

Hopefully someone will post some photos on Facebook soon so that I can pilfer them and put them up here. I still can't be bothered getting a camera and taking my own photos. And here is a photo from Abel Tasman...

The Roxx Rocks

Yesterday I finally managed to go climbing after months of softball practice blocking my efforts. Amy and I went to The Roxx at 239 Waltham Road. It is a pretty kick ass indoor climbing centre... much better than the wall at Burnside High School.

After filling out a registration form and hiring some gear I had a quick belaying refresher from a guy who works there and then we were left to our own devices. Amy is pretty good (it's not fair that she has such long arms and legs!) so she did some hard climbs while I mostly stuck to the ones with nice big holds and lots of them. For those in the know, I can do a level 15 but it starts getting real hard after that. Thanks to the overhangs and my poor technique I am expecting some sore muscles for the next couple of days.

It cost $27 because it was my first time (registration fee) and I had to hire all the gear but I think it was worth it. Have a go :)

Underage?

I was running some errands for Mum last night (because I am a lovely daughter) and I ran into a problem at the bottle store. The store clerk thought that my ID wasn't mine. What do you think? And do I really look U18?

The major differences are:

• Long curly hair vs. short hair
• Contacts vs. glasses
• Different eyebrows (I didn't know this but the clerk pointed it out)

To confirm my identity, the clerk asked to look at the name on my credit card. It must have looked suspicious because the card I already had out had my Mum's name on it. I was buying for her after all. Thankfully I had my whole wallet with me and could produce one of my own cards.

Also, I don't think that many people use fake IDs to buy Cointreau liquor... more like 24 packs of Woodstock or vodka that comes in a plastic bottle (do they still make Kristov?).

Maybe it is time for a new ID.

UPDATE: The bartender at Dux de Lux last night was also dubious that my ID was really mine.

Terra Viva Review

When we used to live in Avonhead, one of our favourite local cafes was Terra Viva at 196 Roydvale Ave. Until last weekend I hadn't been in a very long time. On Saturday we played softball at Burnside Park because it was Albion club day. Mum and I decided to have brunch there on the way to softball.

We took advantage of the beautiful sunny day by sitting outside. Terra Viva has a regular menu and also a selection of cabinet items. We both started with a Terra Viva refresher to drink; this is basically a lemon fizzy. I ordered a scotch egg from the cabinet and a fresh fruit salad. Mum ordered the bread platter. The scotch egg was a little dry, but it was very tasty, especially after I asked the waitress to bring over some homemade tomato sauce. There was a little lettuce salad with a tangy vinaigrette on the side. My eyes were bigger than my stomach and I probably didn't need the fruit salad, but it was nice and refreshing anyway. Mum's bread platter came with an interesting selection of spreads; cranberry and pistachio, basil pesto, and beetroot and horseradish. I had a little taste of each and they were all good.

We are not at the end of the story yet though... Mum and I returned to Terra Viva the next day for lunch with Dad. This time we decided to share a pork pie ploughman's platter and some fries with aioli and tomato sauce. I also had a glass of Spy Valley gerwertztraminer to drink. The platter included a pork pie for two (shared by me and Dad) and a selection of breads, cheeses and pickles. The pork pie was tasty and moist with crumbly, buttery pastry. The rest of the platter was also yummy. Mum liked the pickled onions so much that she bought a giant jar of them. On the way out I grabbed a raspberry and chocolate brownie which could only be described as decadent.

I was very impressed with Terra Viva's food and service and would highly recommend it for a weekend brunch or lunch. There is also a garden centre attached if you fancy some plant shopping before or after eating. In case you are wondering, we won our softball game on Saturday despite a few dramas... and we celebrated with fresh berry sundaes at Harrow's Berry Shop on Sawyers Arms Road.