Coffee or Tea?

Sorry I've been lax about posting lately, but we've had a great run of sunny weather lately and have been enjoying it. I promise to post some new photos soon, and Paul has news to post about his first go at playing "netball." Stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I wanted to talk about coffee and tea. Sounds simple doesn't it? But it's not that simple here. It's serious stuff. First off all, they don't drink coffee as we think of it. You won't find waitresses walking around with pots of freshly brewed coffee ready to refill your cup. Instead, 99% of the coffee shops here (and there are A LOT of them. Napier and NZ is known for it's cafe culture) serve only expresso-based beverages, like flat whites (espresso and steamed milk without foam), short or tall blacks (shots of espresso), mochas, and the like. After much searching I finally found one cafe in each of the two main towns here that serves "filtered coffee," and one of them is the region's only Starbucks, which I generally try to avoid on principle but sometimes have to give in to the craving for a cup-o-joe. When you order, they ask you if you want it black or white (with milk). At home most people drink instant coffee (yuck) or have a "coffee plunger" aka French coffee press.

As for tea, that is also serious business. Paul gets regular "tea breaks" at work, and breakrooms are called "tea rooms." A "cuppa" is remedy for all, and commercial breaks are made for "putting the pot on for a cuppa."

Once we got all that straightened out, we thought we were good to go, but there's more. "Having tea" is a catch phrase that can have many meanings. For example, the other night our friends went home after work to "have tea" and then met us at the local pub for quiz night. So it can also mean "have dinner." And if someone asks you to "go out for coffee" that can mean coffee (but not regular coffee of course as explained above) or drinks at a bar. Most of the pubs here also double as coffee houses, so you really don't know what to expect until they order.

That's my 2 cents for now, Time to have some coffee. ;-)

Living on the edge

We got real a taste of living on the edge this week after a water leak, which turned out to be a burst pipe, prompted the City Council to shut off our water due to the risk of "landslip" (what Americans call a landslide). Sure enough, a large chunk of the hill that we live on had slid onto the road below.

That's our house up on top of the hill there. We've got about 30 feet from the house to the edge of the hill. A day and an exhausted plumber later, the water is now back on. I guess it's the price you pay for unobstructed views of the city and ocean below.

Thinking warm thoughts

Lest we forget it is winter in this part of the world, we're having a cold snap here with the overnight lows reaching near zero Celcius. The southerly winds can be brutal, especially since the older homes here are completely uninsulated and don't have central heating (note to self, South-facing apartment isn't such a great thing in the Southern Hemisphere).

During the day, it usually warms up to the mid-teens (50's-60's Fahreneheit). When the sun's out, the sidewalk cafes are packed, and it's warm enough to sit outside and have your flat white (coffee with steamed milk) or read the paper, as we did yesterday. So we can't complain too much about the winter weather here.

Another great thing they have here to beat the winter blues is the Ocean Spa, which is right down the hill from us. It's a huge outdoor complex right on the beach with several pools and whirlpools heated to varying temperatures as well as a sauna and steamroom. You can spend a couple hours just going from pool to sauna to whirlpool, etc. and it reminds me of the Russian Banyas (bathhouses) I used to go to in Moscow, only much cleaner and more modern.

Do you believe in fate?

It's official, I finally have a job at a winery here. I had my first "trial" day yesterday (to see if _I_ liked it for some reason, as if there would be any question) and had a great time. My main job is conducting tastings for winery visitors and placing wine orders, which means I have to taste every bottle I open or pour so as not to pour any "off" wine (a real hardship). The job is part-time for now, but I will work more as the tourist (spring/summer) season approaches here.

Now here's the fate part. The winery is Craggy Range (www.craggyrange.com), which is fairly new here but already has built a great reputation (the winery's restaurant is one of the top winery restaurants in the world). I actually went to the winery on the recommendation of a sommelier at a fancy NYC restaurant. But after I interviewed with them, I learned I had other connections.

When we had our first meeting with the minister who married us in Geneva and told him we were moving to New Zealand, he told us to beware of kite surfing there because the son of one of his friends and parishoners was recently killed in a freak kite surfing accident there. Fast forward a few months and I find out that the winemaker at Craggy Range died in a freak kite surfing accident in Oct. Sure enough, he was the son of a former Geneva mayor who moved here a couple years ago. Also, the French winemaker at Belhurst, where we had our wedding reception, trained as a vintage winemaker for a season at Craggy Range. I guess the world isn't so big after all.

p.s. For any of you wondering where the winery got it's name, below is a snapshot taken from the driveway leading out of the winery complex.

The British Invasion

I must say, it's an odd feeling to wake up the morning of the Fourth of July to see an army of red coats coming ashore, allbeit very friendly, slightly inebriated red coats. Monday morning the front lines of the "Barmy Army" arrived in the form of thousands of British and Irish Lions rugby fans all clad in their team colors (red and white). About 1,100 arrived by sea, travelling aboard a cruise ship chartered by the team, and thousands more arrived by land in a flotilla of white "camper vans" (RV's).

By nightfall they had invaded the pubs and could be seen climbing the village lamp posts. All should be calm in a few days though, as they make their way north to Auckland for the last of the test matches against the AllBlacks (who are leading the series 2-0). Thanks to the Hawkes Bay Today for the photo at left.