The Eye

Of London, or possibly Big Bro as one had a small encounter with security regarding one's pocketknife. Between slight residual nerves from said encounter (am basically a law-abiding type) and an empty tummy, felt a bit queasy but it was worth it for the view. (The family went into the city on Saturday while staying at the Palace.)

Afterwards had an excellent Irish stew at the Westminster Arms, Dad's old local when he was at his London office, then went for a walk along St James's Park and past Buckminster Palace to Sloane St, where a shop called L'Artisan du Chocolat http://www.artisanduchocolat.com/ArtisanduChocolatSite/pages/cm/cm.asp?sCCPage=OurStore&cookie%5Ftest=1was (most deservedly) on my list.

Next was the extremely cultural experience (basically a euphemism for rubbing up against the armpits of foreigners, I believe) of Christmas lights and Christmas shoppers on Oxford and Regent Sts. (In some ways my trip is like getting lost on a giant Monopoly board.) Then bus, walk and train back to the Palace and something simple with pasta for dinner. Mind you, entrée was pheasant terrine with foie gras, thank you Harrods.

It's been absolutely wonderful to be on holiday with my parents and sister, the first time for nearly twenty years that the four of us have done this. I realise I haven't spent much time with Deb (my sister) for years and years, and I have enjoyed catching up and in many respects getting to know her now that we're both pretty much grown up.

Hampton Court

If anyone doubted that I am a twue pwincess, here is the pwoof sorry proof ... although I was sleeping in the chambermaid's room.

Hampton Court Palace would be a pretty cool place to visit anyway, but when the nice guard asks you for a ticket and you whip out a card with the queen's coat of arms and he says 'Oh yes of course madam, thank you', well then you know you're not in Kansas any more.

From the moment I arrived at the gate on Friday night and the guard there, who I'd been told would be expecting me, said 'yes, we're always expecting young ladies like you' (it was dark, people) and I walked up the drive under a clear starry sky and a full moon ... it was magic. I got lost in the maze (for about five minutes. I seemed to have an intuitive sense of the thing, alas.) I oohed and aahed over the frescoed ceiling and splendid tapestries of William III's state apartments. I bought a postcard.

Our apartment was in Fish Court, over the old Office of the Pastry, part of Henry VIII's new kitchens built in the 1520s. It had a generous 3 bedrooms. It looks out over a courtyard on one side, and a lane on the other, both part of the service area for the palace itself. The Embroiderers' Guild is housed diagonally across the courtyard, visible from our kitchen window. I am tossing up whether to cancel my appointment there on my last morning in London (Tues 4th), might be logistically too stressful.

We had friends of Mum and Dad's come to stay on the Sunday night, and I cooked us a dinner of roast chicken with bacon, apricot and barberry stuffing, gravy, slow-cooked flat mushrooms with blue cheese and cream, jardinière vegetables and roast potatoes, followed by pears poached in spiced red wine syrup with Aztec-spiced chocolate sauce. As we say in my family, in our very politically correct way - I wonder what the poor people are doing?

I am now in Ravenna, and the early mist has burned off but all I've seen of the town is the railway station, my hotel room and this internet cafe, so more tomorrow.

Canal photos

Here are James's canal photos - got a mean hand with a camera, eh?!

http://www.nzgoldings.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=85

The Museum, The Boat

busy busy week. The museum blew my mind - spent 7 1/2 hours there my first day, 5 1/2 the next. saw ... oh, everything.

then five days on a canal boat in Wales and Shropshire for a complete change of pace, steered the boat across the Pontcysyllte Canal (pix coming, must email the rest of the team and find out where they've been posted.)

my sister was totally shocked and astonished. i pretended to be hitchhiking, which of course noone ever does on a canal! lots of good times. here's mum, dad and deb at pre-dinner drinks on Tues night in ellesmere, on the boat.

where the big jet engines roar

when i figure out how to get photos off my camera while i am away and without the cable, i will put up the pictures of planes from nearby and below. fairly good flights, now i am quite tired after 36 hours in transit. but here i am in london. british museum tomorrow, i'll be alert for signs of stendhalismo (google it)

my favourite short walk from LAX:

it is a brisk 20 - 25 minutes each way from LAX 2 (the Air NZ terminal) to the Westchester shops. Go out of the terminal and turn left. Walk past terminal 1, keep going all the way past the carpak. When you get to the big multi-lane road, turn left again and walk on towards and then past the medical clinic, under the highway and under all the planes (!! this is the best part, and worth the walk all by itself. it's probably the closest i'll ever get to a spaceport. did I mention that I love it?) If you get tired of the planes, keep going past the parking spot on your left (this is a good place to grab a free shuttle back) and through the lights. there are a bunch of shops including a starbucks, drugstore and grocery store on the left, and a little further on on the right is a great little cal-mex hole in the wall restaurant. have a margarita for me.

Tonga 1

I always love coming here. The plane drops down til you can see wave crests, kid yourself you see reef (the shadow of clouds, actually) on the wine-dark sea, then over coconut palms like rows of stars on sticks.

But lately I get here and realise I'd rather be elsewhere - almost anywhere else! It is lovely to see my boys - T (12) is as tall as I am! and sooo cool - G (8) fell into my arms in tears, he was so angry/glad/relieved to see me. But I'd like to be here on holiday, not on a custody (ugly word, ugly concept) visit. Talk about your problems of privilege, maybe.

So far, apart from the boys, the nicest bit of the day (and also apart from The Boy ringing me just before I got on the plane) was walking into the air-conditioned cafe. Sad. True. The flight was fine. Longer in the plane than usual, due to a tedious delay for medical reasons (not mine), but shorter in the air. The pilot obviously burned gas freely to try and make up time, and it was 2 h 35 min from up til down. It is as beautiful here as ever, and quite a bit hotter. Bought a new t-shirt to replace one that's wearing out (the tin of corned beef with the palm coming out of it) and made chicken curry for tea. Caught up with the woman whose guest house I am staying in for the third or fourth time, also caught up with her kids. It's all good, but bring on the two long haul flights tomorrow night.

Mangakino 1

Magic weekend. We moved furniture down last weekend, and that was heavy and hard work and basically not much fun - including a run-in with the friendly (hmmm) South Waikato police. Mind you, that *was* on the way to pick up a lovely two-person canoe.

That's the trademe shot - the people who were selling it run a fantastic five-star lodge on the shores of Lake Rotorua, and were kind enough to invite us in for a cuppa. The day was nothing like the background! Drizzled more or less constantly from when we put the boat up on the roof-rack til that night. But they were lovely people, and rainy weather was perfect for putting in vege plants.

Yesterday, though, was very much like the background, and we took the canoe out for a decent ride down the lake towards the dam, stopping for a picnic tea in a little inlet on the way back.

Pork and Black Rice Rice Paper Rolls:

• 700g pork belly in four or five slices
• 1/3 cup black glutinous rice
• chipotle chilli powder, 1 tsp
• yuzu or lemon juice, 1 tsp
• peanut butter, 2 T
• fish sauce or squid sauce, 2 tsp
• fresh ginger, cut into 2 mm dice, 2 T
• fresh lettuce leaves
• rice paper, 15 cm diameter, about 15 pieces
• chutney or jam (I used tamarind jam - a fairly sour jam or a sweet chutney would work)

Cook the rice in 2/3 cup of water: bring it to the boil then simmer on low heat til water is absorbed. Meanwhile, grill the pork until browned and cooked. Season (I used a blended salt-based seasoning which includes fennel and orange, but a little salt and pepper is fine). When the rice is almost cooked, add the other ingredients down to and including ginger. Stir until combined. Finish cooking, cool in basin of water. Cut the crisped rind off the pork to serve separately. Chop the pork into pieces about 1 cm x 1 cm x 3 - 5 cm. Cool.

Soak rice paper in water until pliable. Lay it flat on a board and put a few pieces of pork, then a tablespoon of rice. Roll in the usual way. You should get twelve or fifteen.

To serve, smear some jam onto a roll. Wrap in a leaf of lettuce, and eat.

So that was nice. And the whole weekend was that nice, really. Went to Tokoroa yesterday, and found (mirabile visu!) a dojo: http://www.toa-ara.com/martial_arts/. I have been out of training waaay too long. But what were the chances of finding a Japanese sword teacher in South Waikato? Also found a farmers' market, and a great craft supplies shop which may facilitate my next plan for world domination.

Drove home today, taking our current favourite road (through Te Awamutu and up west of Hamilton, rejoining SH1 at Ngaruawahia), making a very plesant trip of it with a few stops at herb garden/cafe, rock climbing centre/cafe, ice cream deli/cafe (there's a trend here somewhere.)

Other than that, trying to get ready to go to Europe, having a huge 2 hour job interview on Friday, and going to Mangakino for the weekend may have seemed like a bit (or a lot :) too much ... but I was wild to get "down home" ... I love our mad little house, the view over to the hills in the morning, the tiny old-school kitchen, our wee tomato and pea plants. It was definitely worth the bother, and Europe and all, I can't wait to get back.