The 2010 - 2011 Season to the Ice is Officially Open...

Every year, the Christchurch Mayor hosts a civic cocktail party to welcome the international Antarctic Programs (mainly the US and smaller Italian programmes) to Christchurch - being a major gateway to the Ice. 

It is a 'quality gig' with some of the best speakers, talking about something dear to their hearts, which means a great deal to their respective countries, and the world, across many themes.

The NZers also heading down to Scott Base are there too - and I am not sure why, but it seems that those who work with Antarctica seem to be jolly nice people. Maybe it is something to do with the values of the place - where most national programs seek to simply understand and ensure peace on the continent. Here are some photos - not of the people - but of what we ate (of course!) to celebrate summer coming to Antarctica, and temporary populations growing...

 White Tie Catering - outstanding with  hearty soup stations, set with enamel cups of perfect seafood chowder following the canapes.  As well as....

And this nice 'favour' to go home with. So sweet - and so American, which is so appropriate given that the US Deep Freeze Programme is the largest Antarctic programme in the world, and we have had the pleasure of hosting them on their way to the Ice now for 53 years.



Dinner in - Saturday Night

Last night I made Cha Ca fish with tumeric to toast a very sunny and productive day in the garden. Cha ca means Catfish in Vietnamese - I used gurnard and it worked perfectly.  We first had this meal in Hanoi at the 100 year old restaurant that is Ch Ca La Vong. Its famous for only cooking this one dish, and for having really surly service.  The whole street is now full of Cha Cha fish specialty restaurants, but there must only be one!  Here's my take on this colourful dish.

its the ultimate meal in my mind. Clean flavours, great colour, crunch 'for Africa', herbs galore, fun and easy to cook, all leading up to very interactive eating.

I followed a very true recipe (by Didier Corlou who is exec chef at Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi), including fresh tumeric root, galingal to help marinate the fish (with the ubiqitous fish sauce, some vinegar and sugar).

The 2 variations that came in were: 1) we ate it in lettuce cups, (like san choi bao or Hanoi bun cha), rather than in noodle bowls, and I forgot the dill, so 2) used coriander instead. I reckon my attempt was so good that is ressembles the google images of the real deal at Cha Ca La Vong, bar an internal brazier which has definitely got to be next piece of cooking equipment on the list.

Hello Blossom..

Its always excruciating to try to capture cherry blossom in its perfect billowy form (is the tree ever at a perfect optimum)?  The blossoms are either just arriving, or just caught by the wind, or half the tree's flowers have left us...but this morning they were looking pretty fine at Hagley Park.  Maybe it was the mild warm day and stillness that set them off.  Such a treat.

C1 espresso's new release t-shirt

C1 gifted this new release t-shirt to Paul Ellis - a small token to thank the man who is creating the free 'Band Together Canterbury' Concert in Hagley Park with Jason Kerrison (OpShop).

The week gone was 'Metallica Week' in Christchurch with Metallica making a special return visit to NZ to play 2 sell out concerts after a massive facebook campaign. One service station worker reported that  "hell had vomited up a whole lot of bogins",  ('quote un quote' - reported in The Press)!  

The question is: Does C1's new release t-shirt reflect
a) Christchurch as the home of metal, or does the 'shock' symbol in fact represent,
b) something else going on in Christchurch - (still going and going and going and going and going and going). 1011 aftershocks as of Friday afternoon in total.  

Either way - I like the t-shirt and I liked turning Paul into a 'bogin' or a 'quake-r',  for a moment. 

Sunrise this morning

6.15am dog walk this morning (sounds like I do it everyday)! I came across this guy trying to capture the light. Armagh Bridge, Hagley Park.

Sockburn Service Centre - Part 2: 'The Bureaucrats'

These are the decision makers of Sockburn (looks like the 'borough' used to be called Paparua County).  There are many 'Councils' mounted on the meeting room walls - starting at the turn of the century...through the ages.  Sockburn.  These are your bureucrats!

Sockburn Service Centre - my new office in 'Crush-church'

For the next month I will be stationed at Sockburn Service Centre due to the 'Quake'.  Before now, I (and it seems many) did not really know what, who or why Sockburn was?!  But after a week - Sockburn is becoming endearing.  Here is a 'Sockburn Service Centre scoop'.  This is where I am spending my days...

What a welcome...

Happy to wait thanks...

I'm pleased someone is looking over our meetings...

And the 'gallery' is comfortbable...

Mmm...lunch time is a riot at the Sockburn dairy (I will cover the $2 lamingtons soon)...