This retiree's day

I obviously wrote this piece some time ago and somehow, it got passed over in favor of others, repeatedly. Before it gets any older, here it is.... And this one also covers some ground that I've talked about before. Oh well. After more than 430 published posts, I'm bound to have some overlap.  

It's the middle of June, so of course that means that the nights are cold as.  I get up about 5:50 a.m. and make the rounds in the dark... first turning on the all-important coffee maker. Then I fire up the electric heater in the kitchen, the dining room and the living room. Jeanne will get the one in the bathroom.  It's not so chilly that they'll be needed for long, but just long enough to cozy it up. The dehumidifier keeps the house at 40% humidity and I see the light is blinking in the darkness...time to empty it again.  

At 6 a.m. Allie rouses the boys and all the lights come on around the house. It's still pitch-black outside of course. These are the shortest days of the year. 

Our morning starts. Breakfasts appear, lunches are made, days are discussed, plans are made, and the boys are off to school. The sun is well up now and I consider my day...

I thought for this post, I'd take you along and show you a few photos of how I spent it. Today is actually atypical since I'm not shopping for groceries. This morning I've decided to go into the city, K' Road specifically, and get some bread. Jeanne wants to make garlic soup for dinner tonight and that deserves the crustiest and densest bread I can find. In the afternoon, I generally putter about. That session of puttering often starts off with a bit of reading and then a refreshing nap in a recliner after lunch. (When did I turn into such an old geezer?)  

Look at these pictures....


The first three show you what happens when the morning sun hits the wet fences and roof tops. 

 On the bus on the motorway with Rangitoto, the harbor bridge, and the city in sight. 

 I always stop here when I come to K' Rd. It's on Pitt Street, about half a block from K'. 

Today I bought these two items. Julmust is a Christmas soft drink and the Stimoral is sugar-free licorice gum.  

This is where I buy a round loaf of their sourdough. It's crusty and heavy as, and will stand up to being in the soup.* 

*Just in case:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fixHiTWKRWA&t=6s

 The bakery is across K' Road from part of The Symonds Street Cemetary.

This is the wall of the Rockshop that has previously boasted (during my days here anyway) paintings of Aretha Franklin and a grieving Kiwi. (after the Mosque shooting) 

This wall actually faces the portion of the cemetery I showed you in the last picture. 

This is most certainly K' Road I'm walking on.  Can you tell?  

(Update on Oct. 31, 2020- The referendum on making cannabis legal failed)  

I'm back home again. 

 Relaxing on the deck

 Rugby games are being played in the fields beneath those four poles of lights. I can here the shouting of the fans.  

 I check our mail.

 It has been a while since I looked over my collection of plain and shellacked driftwood pieces. 
I was hoping to melt the dust and chips that I've saved from cleaning/carving on pieces of kauri gum, and pour the liquified product into the grooves on a piece of driftwood. Create a piece of art you know. Unfortunately, the gum I melted turned out very dark and would not have looked good. I'll try again to melt it properly and keep it lighter in color. I have two more bottles of chips to experiment with.  

This is a slice of the trunk of one of our kanuka trees (white tea tree) that got blown over during a storm a few years ago.  Debarked, dried, sanded and shellacked.^  I was thinking of using it as a base for something, but haven't decided what that might be. 

It has been a good day. I'm going inside now to slice about half the loaf of bread into bite-sized chunks for the soup. (You may have noticed that I gave you the recipe above.) It's really quite easy to make, especially after the first time. They really should have included it on the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld. What Jerry says about the soup in this clip is true of this garlic soup as well. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT8N0UsnGsg

Enjoy!

  

^ Did you know?  Shellacked is the British English spelling. I didn't know that.  

(My computer strongly suggests that I use British spelling for everything. There are times when I exert my dominance over it and use the American spelling for words, but this time, it was just too much trouble. Besides, I've learned that it works better for me if I let it win one now and then.)          -djf

Hunting in New Zealand?

Shortly after arriving in New Zealand, I asked a few questions about how one would go about preparing to hunt here. Recently, I stopped at this store and asked a few more questions. Maybe you would like to know what I learned.  

 First of all, before you could buy a rifle, you would have to fill out the appropriate application that would go to the police. It would probably take six weeks or more to get approved.  The fee for a first time application is $126.50. (Additional fees would apply if you also wanted to buy a pistol.) Assuming your application was approved, an officer would then schedule a visit to your home for a personal interview and to see that your preparations to store the weapon(s) were properly completed. Once you were approved though, you could buy whatever sort of rifle(s) and ammo that you wanted, whenever you wanted. 

Part of that preparation I mentioned would be to purchase a gun safe and this gun safe would have to be bolted into place in your home. The police inspection would insure that it was properly installed.  Ammunition must be kept in a separate locked safe. 

One of the clerks at the store told me that there is no license needed to hunt deer year 'round on public land. Amazing. He said that in his opinion, the .308 was the most popular caliber with NZ hunters.  

(I found that permits are required to hunt in at least some areas. The clerk didn't mention them. Obviously, I don't know the whole story yet) 

I'm not at all interested in hunting in New Zealand. 40 years or so of hunting in Michigan have given me more than enough memories and I no longer feel the need for adventures of that sort. 

I did enjoy visiting this store however. It was full of all sorts of interesting things to look at. I didn't need any of them, but I wondered if either of my grandsons might need something, sometime?  You know, like a good survival wire saw, or a compass, or a collapsible cup and bowl, or some packs of freeze-dried apple pie. It's never too early to start planning for Christmas they say.  

                                                                        -djf 

Mazuran's Wine Cellar. Plan B turned out to be a winner!

I had planned to hop the 9:57 at the Sturges Road Station this Saturday morning and ride the rails all the way to Britomart. I have long been absent from that hub in Auckland due to the 'sickness' that presently pervades our planet. Since we have recently dropped to Covid level one here, I thought today I'd make up for that neglect today. Unfortunately, when I arrived at said platform, a sign informed me that our Western Line trains would be taking the weekend off, due to needful track improvement operations.  Hmmm.  An alternate plan was needed.  

I headed for the nearest bus stop and soon boarded the 120 on its return trip from the Constellation terminal on the north shore.  I used the five minutes or so that were required to deliver me to the Henderson terminal to come up with my plan b.  

About 10 minutes later, bus 14w arrived from New Lynn, on its way to Westgate, and I got on. I got off at Pak'nSave on Lincoln Road, picked up up a few grocery items there, and then proceeded to put plan 'b' into operation.

I intended to cross Universal Drive, which runs perpendicular to Lincoln Road, and explore the businesses located between it and the on-ramps to the motorway. The only business in that area that I am familiar with is a KFC restaurant where we have sometimes bought dinner after spending the afternoon at Muriwai Beach. Maybe I would discover an interesting shop that I could feature in a future blog post, I reasoned.  

The west-side of the Lincoln Road businesses were a bust. Nothing of much interest, although I did take note that one restaurant I passed was advertising their lunch special of Pad Thai, one of Allie's favorites.  Eventually, I ran out of businesses to look at. I therefore crossed Lincoln and began returning toward Universal while inspecting the east-side establishments. Maybe one of these would prove to be more worthwhile.

Then, I saw it. A small sign advertising fine, old wines, which pointed down a long driveway. Bingo!  I turned in and started down the slight incline toward the unknown vintages somewhere ahead.

I have since then, learned about Mazuran's wines.  

Mazuran Winery started back in 1938 and at that time, I'm guessing that Lincoln Road was just a two-lane running through the vineyards and orchards which blanketed the Henderson area. When I arrived at their retail wine shop (cellar) at the end of the driveway, I found it surrounded by city. They have one very small field left next to the winery, but it was not currently in use. 

Here are the photos I took and a little information. 

I have to tell you, I was impressed. I have seen lots of wine shops around Auckland and most are interchangeable. 

This one is unique. For one thing, it's off the beaten track. You almost have to know it's here. Their sign is more of a marker on where to turn than it is a billboard. And they're not trying to have something for everyone. Definitely a specialty shop. 

The owner clearly takes wine seriously. 

Most of the wine displayed was port or sherry. They had new port and sherry, older port and sherry, and really old port and sherry.  Oh, there was semi-sweet, semi-dry and dry versions of each, but you get the idea I think.  

There were also a few other varieties available, but it was clear that these folks specialized in these heavier textured, fortified wines.  

Jeanne has always liked Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry. Despite its name, this is a Spanish Sherry. I surprise her every now and then with a bottle, but we're currently out.  

Here was our opportunity to see how a New Zealand sherry would measure up to her old favorite. This is the bottle I brought home.

We both agreed after tasting it, that this is superior to Harvey's, and by a long shot, and, it was the cheapest wine they had on their shelves. I can only imagine how good the 'older stuff' must be.  

While I was in the store, asking all sorts of questions of the very patient guy behind the counter, a lady walked in and quickly chose two bottles from the shelves. She selected a $65 and a $29 bottle. She obviously had been there before and knew exactly what she wanted. That told me a lot about the store and the wine.  

Now let's talk about old.  One shelf had very old vintages. Can you imagine tasting a Port that is as old as I am?  They have it, and for only $690.  The double gold refers to an award it won in the U.S.  

And if you want to get older yet, they can help you.  Check it out.

I like this store. I'm glad I found it.  I like what I think is their homemade shelving. When I went to pay, the guy took out an old-fashioned credit card machine that works by hand to transfer the card information onto a paper form. No pay-wave here. I decided to pay cash. 

I've never paid much attention to sherry or port in the past. Jeanne and I did buy a big jug of Amontillado on our honeymoon and enjoyed it, and over the years I've shared a little of the Harvey's whenever I've bought it for Jeanne, but if I'm going to sip something, I generally prefer it to be a scotch.  

However!  I now think that if I were to sip a little sherry at times, I would want to sip some Mazuran's. It is clearly superior.  (Sorry if that sounded like a TV ad) 

But, as it happens, they are in fact superior. In 2013, Mazuran's won New Zealand's 'Best of Nation Award.'  

And here they are. Quietly sitting at the end of a driveway off Lincoln Road surrounded by urban sprawl. Quietly producing some of the best of their particular product.  

I am planning to go back to the store. There is a lot to learn and appreciate there.   

Update:

I found that I needed a couple of additional photos for my post and so had the excuse to go back to Mazuran's.  This time, I came home with their basic port. I also saw a white, a ruby, and a tawny port.

(Sorry Harvey's, but I think you have become a has-been.)                       -djf

Doug does dinner

We have now dropped down to Covid level 1 here, but this post was written while we were at level two and mostly homebound. That had been messing with my ability to get pictures and do posts for my blog. I've still got a few done and in the pipeline, but this time, to help stretch them out, I think I'll toss in a cooking post.

I've been wanting to try a couple of things lately, and yesterday, I decided it was time. Jeanne took the day off from cooking and I did dinner. The boys are at their dad's and Allie was out.  Just us two to cook for.  

I have always wanted to make French onion soup. I have loved it in restaurants, but never had it at home.  This was my attempt.  

The broth was a box of Campbell's, and I simmered pieces of  a trimmed beef cheek to make it even beefier.  

We don't have any of those individual crocks that restaurants serve it in so I used a small casserole dish. It worked just fine.  

I was pleased with it, but I learned some things that I will do differently when I make it again. 

• I needed more broth. What I had was plenty rich, but I needed more of it.
• I will make some croutons to put on top of the soup. It'll be easier to eat than with slices of bread across the top. I'll use Zeke's Turkish bread because of its crustiness.  
• The Gruyere cheese was terrific. No change there. Maybe just more of it as well. I had a big block of it, and once shredded, it looked like a lot. As you see in the photo however, it looked a little wanting after being melted. 

For our main course, I had decided on Spanish octopus with potatoes. I started my prep work on the octopus yesterday....

Our seafood store had just the size I needed, frozen in little bags. 

I made up the cooking sauce and boiled 'el pulpo' very gently for about an hour.  Turned it over a couple of times. 

(You don't need to beat it on a rock or use a pressure cooker) 

I let it cool down while in the sauce and then put the whole works in the fridge overnight.  

Today, I took it out of the cold sauce and continued.

A very important step is to remove as much of the purple skin as possible. The picture above shows the pieces with cooking sauce and skin still on. I found this easy to do under running water. I didn't get every speck of it, but probably 90%. That turned out to be fine.  

The next step consisted of putting a light coating of olive oil on the pieces and dropping them on to a very hot skillet. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this step. The idea is to sear them on both sides. In fact, a bit of charring is what you're after .  When I do it again, I'll have my pan even hotter.  I very much liked the crunchy bits on the tentacles. (from the searing) 

The cooking sauce from yesterday was reheated to the boil and strained. I then added the juice of half a lemon, a drizzling of olive oil, and whisked it all together. 

Here it is. The guy who did the video on Youtube for this recipe said that octopus and potatoes go well together. He was right.  

The spuds were boiled part way and then oven roasted with olive oil and garlic salt. 

Potatoes at the bottom, octopus artfully (?) arranged, a little parsley to make it look fancy, and sauce over it all.  

If you like octopus, (or would like to try it) this would be a good way to go. Octopus cooked this way was very firm, (as it always is) but not tough at all. Mild tasting. 

I might add some pepper flakes to the cooking sauce the next time I make this. Spanish food is fairly bland and this could have used a little zing. The other improvement I can imagine would be to sear the tentacles on a smoking hot grill for added flavor.  A drop or two of Liquid Smoke in the sauce might work too.  

It's clear to me that I'm going to have to try this one again some time with my refinements.   

We enjoyed our meal tremendously. The cooking sauce called for just a half cup of white wine so the rest accompanied the meal.

Here's the video, just in case you're interested.        -djf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onCfFc8FNr8

  

Doug's backyard observatory

On the nights that I find I can't sleep,

I'll arise and most silently creep, 

To the deck you see here,

And joyfully peer, 

Into God's incomprehensible deep. 

Yes, this is where it all happens!  In the photo above, the deck is wet from some earlier misting, but the skies have cleared out. I couldn't sleep so I got up.  It's almost midnight, last week in September, 2020.

For the past couple of weeks, Jupiter and Saturn have moved across the sky together and the moon has lately been rushing past them. Tonight, I discovered that they are about as close together in the sky above me as I've seen. 

Conditions aren't perfect. I think there may still be too much moisture in the air. As I began to sight in my camera on the moon, I noticed it's having trouble focusing. I keep at it though and manage to get some shots that will at least give you a look at what I am seeing tonight.  

That's Jupiter just below the moon. Saturn is harder to see but I am pleased that it was just bright enough to show up in the photo.  

A closer look at the moon and Jupiter. Focus issues going on during this time. 



It got a little better later.  Now, let's zoom in closer on the moon. First, the bottom portion, 

and then the top.  

And a little closer still. This is at 120 power.  

Next, I turned my attentions toward Jupiter, but my camera just couldn't settle on a focus for it. 

But hold on; I remembered something...

Just recently, I've been noticing that Mars has been in view as well.  Tonight, while the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn were directly above me, Mars was located at about 45 degrees above the eastern horizon. I wondered if, given the trouble I was having with Jupiter, I'd be able to get any sort of picture of Mars.  Well, I managed to get one good shot of it.  

I'm especially pleased to see that my picture is not just a reddish ball, but actually shows a hint of contrast across the face of the planet. 

The next two pictures were taken on the night of Oct. 3, 2020.  I could actually see a light haze in the sky as I took these so it's little wonder I couldn't get good detail, especially on the higher powers. Still, I like them because here, the moon is near Mars.  

This is about as high a zoom as I can use without losing focus altogether.  What I like in this one is that Mars is no long a pin prick in the sky, it has become a small dot.  I notice the redness doesn't show much in these.  

BTW, Jeanne told me that Mars will be at its closest to us on October 13, 2020. It'll be two years before we're that close again.  

I very much enjoyed my private planetarium this evening. Not surprisingly, after seeing all these wonders, when I went back to bed, I had no problem at all in falling off to sleep. Of course, the tipple of Templeton Straight Rye I sipped in my chair on the deck after taking my last picture might have had something to do with that as well.  

Take a look up if your own skies are clear tonight. You never know what you might see.  And take your camera with you. You might be surprised at the results you get if you click.  

(viewing beverage is optional)          -djf