We have decided to move to the beach in time for summer.
So the house is on the market, and our bags are packed. Here are some extra photos, you can check out the listing on, http://www.harcourts.co.nz, the listing number is NB2253. The entrance photos are for you mom!

Our Kitchen reno in progress....

Well, here I was thinking that I had nothing to write home about, but after looking through the camera, I came up with some stuff to share. These first few pics are from the Ellerslie Flower Show, which was held here in Christchurch a month or so ago. I had a good time checking out all the exhibits and plants, and am totally inspired to come up with some crazy garden plants for the garden over the winter, grow the plants from seed and watch it all come to life next summer. The globe in the picture below is covered in readylawn and rotates, so you can hide away inside it.
In March, went to observe some sites around Lake Ellesmere, which is a "shallow brackish coastal lake. It is Canterbury’s largest and New Zealand’s fifth largest lake - about 20,000 ha - with approximately 75 kilometres of shoreline." It is located just South of Christchurch and Banks Penninsula. I work with the folks that open the lake to the sea to moderate the lake levels and drain farmland. The lake levels have been managed for a really long time, there are photos of horse drawn carts doing the work, somehow, and before that the Tangata Whenua (people of the land) were out there digging the cut in the beach by hand. Nowadays, the guys get out there with bull dozers! During this visit, I was out there with Ngai Tahu folks observing specific locations for impacts that the management of the lake may be having on the sites. The following pics are from this trip to the lake.

Around the house, I have been working on sanding and painting the trim of the windows on the outside and Darrel has been fixing up the garage, he has made a cool entry way over the door and has replaced all the trim, he just started painting today, so after hours and hours of work, the end is almost near for the garage! I have cleaned out the summer garden in the raised bed, and planted winter veggies (celery, peas, broccoli, brussel sprouts, leeks and beets). Not sure how much they will grow, the night temperatures have seriously dropped this week, but they will put on a bit of growth before the dark depths of winter. Part of the clean up included cutting back the New Zealand Spinach that is growing out of control. It is just like regular spinach but it is perrenial and grows long leafy stems. Jen, our fellow flattie, is picking the leaves off of the haul for dinner.
And here we are sporting the Birds Eye Building Co hats that they sent us last December. These wooly caps are going to be great this winter and we will think of the folks in the barn in Vermont when we wear them. Thanks!

Rhubarb Trifle

One day about a few weeks before Christmas, I was thinking about the yummy food of the upcoming season, and also about how not eating wheat and possibly cutting out processed sugar was really going to put a damper on things. It's not really a big deal, because I have become a master at replacing the nasties with good stuff. And I think that this dish is my crowning achievement. Like most of my cooking, it always turns out a bit different, but if you use the right ingredients- it always turns out great!

So hears the deal, the basic idea is that you make three different parts and layer them together, kind of like a sweet Lasagne. The three layers are the spongy cake part, the fruit part, and the goupy yum part!

For the sponge...
Ingredients
3 eggs
pinch of salt
3/4 cup of honey
1 cup spelt flour (or use any flour you like!)
1 tsp baking powder
50 g butter or oil

Beat together the eggs and salt, add the honey and beat together, mix together the flour and baking powder and add to egg mixture. Finally add the butter/oil. Put into a greased cake tin or two and bake in a hot oven for 25 to 30 min (not sure how hot, because our oven has no temperatures on it, but I think it'd be about 185 degrees Celsius) You know how to tell when its done!

Let it cool and set aside for the final step.

While that is cooking, put 3 cups of chopped rhubarb and 3/4 cup of honey in a saucepan and simmer away for 20 minutes (if you get a 500 g honey container you can just put half of it in the cake and half in with the rhubarb). It will turn a bit soupy, never fear, this is good.

Finally, make your sweet goupy stuff:
Option 1- yoghurt mixed with honey (about 2 cups)
Option 2- the traditional custard (mix 1/4 cup of milk with 4 tablespoons of custard powder and 3 tablespoons of honey over low heat, add 1 and 3/4 cups of milk and simmer stirring constantly 'till thick)
Option 3-Make both and put on each layer


Now for the assembly:

1. Get a nice big clear bowl (clear is very important, so you can admire all the layers!)
2. Put half of the cake in the bottom of the dish
3. Sprinkle with Sherry
4. Pour half of the rhubarb mixture on
5. Pour on half of the custard or yoghurt mixture
6. Lay out the rest of the sponge, and sprinkle with sherry again
7. Pour on the rest of the rhubarb mixture and then the rest of the custard or yoghurt mixture
8. Then whip up some heavy cream with a splash of vanilla and a bit more honey
9. Top with thin slices of strawberry or any other berry you have handy in the garden.

Alternatives:

• Cut the cake pieces in half and slather with raspberry jam
• Put fresh or frozen strawberries over the rhubarb mixture
• Leave off the cream, but always top with some type of fresh berry

Refidgerate it until you are ready to serve. Make this at least 8 hours before you plan on eating it, and make sure you have enough for lefovers because it is always better the next day.

Hope you enjoy! I am not sure what is in custard, so if you know how to make it from scratch, please let me know.

A bit about the rhubarb I have been using: when I was brainstorming about my christImas desert, I was thinking about how back home everyone seems to have more rhubarb than they know what to do with in late spring, and since it was December (ie late spring/early summer in NZ), I figured that someone out there in Christchurch would have it coming out their ears. So I sent an email to my favourite list serve ever, Freecycle, and put the shout out that I was in need of some rhubarb. I got 10 responses in the same day, and they kept trickling in. I contacted the first person that emailed and scooted over to pick up the goods after work that day. When I arrived my friendly benefactor had a grocery back full of stalks all ready to go and three plants all potted up and ready for transplanting! Yeah for Freecycle!!!! You should check out freecycle in your neck of the woods, its a great way to get rid of stuff and get stuff! www.freecycle.org

Our Christmas day was followed with a mad dash down south toTe Anau. We drove down to meet up with our friends Matt and Amanda who are visiting from the Northeastern United States. We had a fabulous time together tramping (ie backpacking), sightseeing, eating and drinking.

Photo of Aoraki/Mt Cook and Lake Pukaki from their flight to Queenstown

Sunset at Milford Sound

Sheep in the road (photo taken by tourists!)

We chose one of the great walks for our tramping adventure. The tramp started with a walk around Lake Te Anau, a hike up through a beech forest and above the bushline to the Luxmore Hut.

We made ourselves at home in the hut shared with 48 other trampers, including some olympic gold medalists, who gave us their leftover milk and bananas!

The weather was a bit unsettled on our second day of walking, we broke out the camera in between the bits of sideways rain. It was windy walking along the ridge line and the wet weather gear came in handy, but it all made for a great adventure and an authentic Fiordland experience.

Before the end of hiking on the second day, we went down... it was a bit painful, but well worth it to get out of the crazy weather for the night.

Back into the Beech forest!

A well deserved rest on the beach of Lake Manpouri before the final 1.5 hour push to the end of the hike.

And then we went to Wanaka. We ate, rested and the enjoyed the scenery of Lake Wanaka and the mountains of Mt Aspiring National Park for two days!!

Our camp at the Lake Outlet Holiday Park (Home Sweet Home)

We enjoyed New Years Eve with some new friends at the Holiday Park!

And then we drove home to Christchurch...

and visited Lord of the Rings filming sites along the way.

Aoraki/Mt Cook and Lake Poukaki from the ground.

While chilling in Wanaka, Amanda and Matt went canyoning, from these pics, it looks like they had a good time!