The Tuesday with cooking class

 Hi,

Highlight of the working day might have been the lunch visit to Machete with Juliet and Barb as a part of the scone assessment programme.  Machete held its own - as I knew it would.

What a great way to finish the day.  Headed home with Mike - he cooked tea for us.  And then we headed to WHS to get started on the dal cooking night.

Machete with Juliet and Barb

We made 4 different dal dishes and some yummy dal fritter things.  Our fritters didn't work because our pan didn't get hot enough.  But the fritter batter was so yummy I just know the fritters would have been awesome.

Spices

Curry leaves and chillies

Cooking in action

Scrumptious cooking

Headed home via the supermarket to stock up on cat food for the long weekend.  Ange and Sally are taking turns to see the cats.

Yay.

Finish work today.  Go home and pack.  Go to sleep.  Wake at 12.30am and head to the ferry.  Sleep in the queue.  Sleep on the ferry.  Wake up in Picton and have brekkie with Iona and Col and then head south.

I am excited to see SH1 north of Kaikoura.  I haven't been there since the earthquake changed that landscape.

Also happy to see Iona and Col and Toby and Tessa and everyone.  :-)  And have some time off work.

Woot.

Have a good Easter.

Love,

Angela

The Monday with working from home

 Hi,

What a brilliant idea to work from home on the Monday.  Apart from the usual laundry you manage to get done and the cats keeping me company, I went around to Ange's house for a meeting we had together.  Best WFH meeting ever!

Smudge curled up next to me

It was wet so I ended up driving there and back though.  But at 5pm Mike pinged me and said he was on the way to the park for a run.  So I went home, changed and joined him.  He did 5 km which was amazing considering his hard work tramping at the weekend.  He's so strong now.

Headed home for tea and then packed a suitcase with Toby's stuff for our Easter trip south.  Moxley was very interested in this activity.

Curious about packing the suitcase

She really wants to come to visit Toby

Coffee with Joe - and we know the photo bomber behind us

Off to bed.  Up for gym.  Good bench session.  Then a coffee with Joe from  my old work.  Good to catch up on his news.

Indian cooking class tonight.  Dahl night.  Can't wait.  Would love a new dahl recipe to have as a go-to option.

Have a good day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with tramping for me and Mike

 Hi,

Mike was off on Friday after work to the Ruahines and Sunrise hut and other walking.  With a bunch of people from Meet Up.  He had a great time.

Hoodie

My weekend was boot camp and a day walk on Sunday.  

Boot camp is normally in Frank Kitts park - and in wet weather we use the underground carpark there where the market used to be.  But today it was locked.  So we decided to use the verandah at TSB.  First time there in ages.

I always park there.  But paying was always a nightmare as it is coin operated and who has coins?  But on Saturday, as I was doing the shuttle running warm up, I noticed a parking attendant about to take a photo of my car.

Oh no.  I leaned over the railing and said:  That's my car.  Is it too late to pay?

And he sighed, and said okay.  Phew!  Ran to fish out some some money and oddly found some $1 and a $2 in the bottom of my handbaglet.

Finished the boot camp session

Pride parade was on - so we had quite a few punters for that watching us go through our routines as they waited under cover before it all kicked off.  One woman even joined in and Joel was quick to give her a few pointers.

Back home to chill in the sun and read - with the cats.

Smudge

Saturday trio in the sun

Up early Sunday and Andrew and Janine met at our place and we headed to Waikanae bakery for brekkie ahead of the Kapakapanui loop.  Never been up there before.  Janine was keen to find a hidden hut - possum hut.  Not too far from the top - about 900m.

Brekkie @ Olde Bakery in Waikanae

What have I got myself in for?

Nice place to walk

The walk starts with a small section of farmland and then several river crossings so my trail shoes were sloshing with water right from the start.  If you take the right hand fork at the junction (anti clockwise loop) you are straight into a steep climb. You are climbing a sharp ridge from about 160m to 1100m.  The uphill was relentless and I had no energy.  My heart rate was always up around 150 - 170.  My poor heart.  The others were way faster than me.

Getting close to the top, at around 900m, there is a tree hanging over the track with an orange marker on it.  From there, you head off to the left and the hut is about 50m away - down a bit.  So close.

Janine so happy to find the hut

The hut is in dire condition.  Door is caved in.  No windows.  Andrew found the log book and it was a waterlogged mass of pulpy paper.  The water tank had a hole in it about 4 cm from the bottom.

At the top

Continued on up, up, up.  Got to the tops and had a decent view out to Kapiti.  Cloud ceiling was just above us - luckily.

View to Kapiti Island

Goblin forest

Kapakapanui hut

Last crossings before the car

Back down from the hut to the car was 2 - 3 hours on the sign at the hut - and we did it in 2 hours and 1 minute.  Phew!  And it was a lot of down.  Also steep.  My right knee is now complaining about that treatment.  But it is just tender - not sore.  Thank goodness.

Back to the car and changed for the ride home.   We were late getting to the car (because of me) and didn't leave until 5pm.  I decided to head home in my undies - to cool down mainly.  But it did mean I got cold in the air con, so I had to pull my jeans halfway up. But that just looked weird. Because of our slightly late getaway, we asked Helen if Janine could stay for tea as we had no time to drop her anywhere. Helen said yes and I think Janine was happy for a home cooked meal.  

Yummy carrot loaf from Alison Holst.  Mmmm.  And although I said I would remember a comment for the blog - I cannot remember it now.  Doh!  Yummy dessert from Marion.  And did the dishes and headed home.

Mike had got home early - like 4pm or something.  So that was nice to see him there.  Washed my dirty clothes, jumped in the shower and was asleep super fast.

Up to a rainy morning.  Went to the gym.  Back home to work here for the day.

Short week!  Easter is coming.  Woot!

Take care.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with drinks

 Hi,

What a crazy day Thursday was...  Work morning team.  Work lunch BBQ.  Drinks with ex workmates after work.

Work BBQ

I feel slightly ill now.  Ate far too much junk.  

But after work I met up with Kaustubh and surprised others at Thistle Inn.  Mark, Andrew (whom I had never met face to face before as he was based in my team in AKL) and a new person in their team - Dimitri.

Kaustubh had to take off as he got bad news from Aparajita about her father back in India testing positive for covid.  I hope he is okay and no one else gets it.  Huge hug for her.

But Andrew also turned up and we chatted away for a bit longer before I nudged Mike to head home.  We Ubered home in the end.

Slept well.  Up for Mike to finish packing.  Woot!

Weekend beckons.  I did throw our Bacon Buttie brekkie date for Sunday into chaos as I accepted a tramp to a secret hut instead.  Oops.  Saturday boot camp.  And Mike is off to the Ruahines for a tramp.

Busy - and fun.

Have a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with working from home

 Hi,

Mike and I had a fairly busy day working from home.  But we did appreciate the extra sleep in that afforded us after the Indian cooking class night.  So - yay for that as an option.

Home made iced latte

Photogenic derp cat

Derp, derp

Moxley sleeping on Mike

I woke her!

Sag paneer was so good

Mike fixes my obsession with Chris Hipkins micro sleep on national TV

Moxley goes into her crate for a snooze

I heated up the sag paneer from Tuesday night - two bowls.  One for mine and one for Mike's.  He did the blind taste test.  And he guessed correctly which one was which.

We think the difference was in the onions.  I left my alone and they went what I would call burnt.  Mike stirred his and they never caramelised.

Lesson right there.

After work we just chilled at home and it was lovely to relax with Mike.  We chatted to Kaustubh on the phone for a bit and I will catch him and others Thursday after work.

I had felt a bit scritchy scratchy in the morning but by lunchtime it was all good.  And again today - I have to say I am not quite at the peak of my game.  But it doesn't seem to be a cold or anything.  Maybe some allergy in the background?  Dunno.

Hoping your day is a good one.

Love,

Angela

Anyway - 

The Tuesday with cooking class

 Hi,

Fairly busy day at work - but worked from home (WFH).  That does mean laundry gets done - so there is a benefit to working from home for the house duties.  :-)

In other WFH news - the cats really wanted attention from me.  Hahah.  Moxley would not leave me alone for ages.  And even Smudge wanted to smooch at one point.

Moxley wanted a lot of attention

Sleepy Moxley

Happy to eat my first feijoa of the season.  Mmmm.

Even Smudge wanted smooches

Sally was busy so couldn't make the Indian cooking class.  Mike came instead.  We were the last ones there because I read the quantities incorrectly on the class list of ingredients and had to stop off at the supermarket for more whole cream milk.  Oops.  But the instructor had turned the electric elements to high so we had nuclear heat for our cooktop.  Our food worked out well.

Spices all laid out

Sag paneer - we even made the paneer

We made paneer out of the whole milk.  It was amazing and we're totally doing that again at home.  Yum!

We also made onion bhaji - or the instructor made it and we dropped it into the hot oil.  And it was so good!

Next week is dhal week.  Mmm.

Back home fairly early compared to last week.  I think Mike and I were home by 9.30pm.  In bed and fast asleep.

Moxley snuggles

Wednesday morning is a cracker

We're both working from home today.  Yay.

Have an awesome day.

Love,

Angela

The Monday with work

 Hi,

Busy day at work - but I did get away with Maureen for an iced latte.  Mmmm.  Good way to kick off the week.  Heard about her roof painting adventures over the weekend.

Iced latte @ Mojo with Maureen

2020 - the year at a glance

Went to Spin after work - first time in.... forever!  Great fun.  Now dragon boating is finished I can add it back into my routine.

Went to New World after that and then caught a bus home.  Mike had tea ready when I got in.  Woot!

It was already super late - so off to bed.  Slept well and then up for gym.  Bench!  Oosshh.  Learned how to derack and rack myself.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Martinborough for Mike's second half marathon

 Hi,

Happy birthday to Sally

What an amazing effort by Mike and Janine this weekend.  Let me tell you all about it.

Work BBQ Friday Fry-yay

BBQ weather, for sure!

First up we had a team BBQ at work on Friday.  I called the meeting "Fry-yay".  Hahah.  Mum jokes.  But it was a lovely team thing to do.  

Headed home after work - Mike actually waited for me at Lambton Quay as I rushed to the bus from work.  He's so lovely.

I ended up jumping on the 14 just ahead of Mike's stop.  It was a quiet bus - luckily.  We packed super fast - 30 mins and done!  Oosshh!.

Janine arrived at we threw her gear in the car with ours, and two bikes on the back and then we were off.

Arrived around 7.30pm ish.  Went to Cafe Medici for dinner.  Then dropped Janine at her flatmate's house and headed to Top10.  

The Top10 unit was lovely.  Pretty new.  Just a clean, tidy cabin with one double bed.  But the place just worked.

Up early for the race and drove to Janine's place.  Walked into town (10 mins, if that) and picked up the registration pack at 9am.  With time to kill before 10.15am start time, we went to Village Cafe.  But they had technical difficulties and no hot brekkie.  So I had a date scone (yum) and an iced latte.

This face says:  what are you doing, Mike?

Pre race warm ups

Back to the start line at 10am and the count down to the kick off.  Pretty soon they were both off.

And they're off!

First loop

Turns out the route took them right by the Top10.  So I was able to see them for both their loops quite easily.  They ran right through the vineyard behind the Top10.

Looking good!

Second loop - the mahi is a bit harder

Mike looked quite sore by the time he did his second loop past me.  For the first 5km he was running a fast pace - 12 km/hr.  But by the time I saw him on the second loop, with about 3km to go, he was a bit slower.

And done!  PB!  2.09 on my stopwatch.

But he finished the race just as I got to the finish line from the Top10.  As I stepped across to see where he was, he ran across.  Good timing.

Guzzling down the water

Janine wasn't far behind - and she had consumed a few wines along the way too.  Epic effort from her.

Back to relax at Top10 and then met Janine for a beer at the brewery and then pizza at the pizza place.  That was such a lovely meal.  I will go back there.  Stefan from my old work was there having a meal so we chatted to him at the end.

Walked back to fall into a coma at the Top10.  Up and checked out the next morning and off to collect Janine.  Brekkie at Village Cafe - and they had a hot brekkie this time.  Woot!

Sunday morning iced latte

Drizzly rain meant we decided on no cycling but visited the Parkvale mushrooms place.  A young man called Anthony showed us the main mushroom growing place.  Layers of them.  I like the smell of the earthiness of it all.

Parkvale mushrooms

I see me!

Mushrooms everywhere - layers of them

Home just after midday and Mike sorted out the last of the insulation under the house.  I did some much needed laundry too.

Smudge looks back

Moxley finds her inner kitten here

Off to whanau dinner after grocery shopping and cooking mushroom Wellington.  Caught up with people.  Good fun and scrumptious dinner and dessert as usual.

Whanau post kai coma

The week looms large.  Tuesday night Indian cooking course with Mike tomorrow.  Bit more Spin and gym, I think.

Toby seems happy still.  We only hear from him about the cats.  :-|

Have a good week.

Love,

Angela