Intensive Update #4

It's been a while since I've updated, and there have been a few reasons why. I thought it was about time I did though, because the last couple of months have been pretty action packed. Some things really warrant a blog post all of their own, but I literally do not have enough hours in the day at the moment so more detailed posts will follow later!

So, the first major event of the last few months was that I have bought a house! I found it in October and the deal was finalised on December 7th. Ever since then it has been a hectic time of moving all my stuff, unpacking, sorting, buying much needed equipment and furniture and cleaning up. The garden still needs a lot of work, but luckily mum came and lent a hand with some of it. I'm still having a few teething issues, particularly in relation to electrical problems (stupid washing machine...) and the shower (poor hot water pressure) but it's all stuff that can be sorted. I want to do a bit of decorating before too long as well.

The second event is the departure of several friends of mine. One close friend left a couple of months ago now to live with her boyfriend in the North Island, so at least there is the chance of seeing her again occasionally, but the others are just going too far away! Craig and Rhonwyn left just before Christmas, to head to Australia for the holidays and then over to Canada. Life just isn't going to be the same without them, though the reality of them not being here really has not sunk in yet. I've lived with these guys for almost 3 years so it will be a big change. I think it's helped I've had the new house to focus on. Hopefully I'll manage a holiday over there in the next couple of years! JT also left to pursue work in Oz, and another good friend of mine leaves in February, but not before we have a well deserved holiday in Tonga. It really has been a mass exodus of friends recently. I'll be advertising for new ones shortly!!

The third event is live music! There have been a couple of bands I've been dying to see and have had tickets for for months. First off was Pearl Jam in Christchurch, supported by Liam Finn and Ben Harper. The music was great, the weather was awful, and I was enjoying myself until some idiot behind me hit me on the back of my head with his elbow. Luckily the friend I was with and a couple other people around me picked me up off the floor and looked after me, but the b**st**d didn't even apologise or even seem to notice! I ended up with a headache and neck sprain which went on for weeks. Seems to generally be okay now, so I'll have to start going back to the gym and seeing how I cope.

I also flew up to Auckland to see Green Day, who were absolutely amazing! I was careful not to get hit this time! The music and the lighting show they had was simply fantastic and there was tonnes of crowd interaction - they got a young boy up on stage, and a woman with pink hair got to come up and sing one of their songs. I'll post properly on the event later.

Other than that, I've been working, working, working. Can't wait for my holiday in February and also for my sister coming to NZ next week! I wish she was here for longer than 2 weeks, but maybe I'll just have to steal her passport so she can't leave!

I'm not really one for New Year Resolutions so I won't bother joining the ranks of bloggers who've made lists of resolutions for 2010 - let's face it, I'd probably break them next week anyway. I'll just say I have one goal for 2010 and that is to write more than last year. That won't be hard!

Yet another gardening post...

I figured it was time for a quick garden update again, as I think it has been making quite a bit of progress in the last few weeks. Everything seems to be developing nicely and I've even started harvesting some plants, particularly my rocket. I've made quite a few salads with my rocket leaves, and I'm starting to run out of plant! I've just sown some mesclun seeds so hopefully I'll have some more delicious salad leaves in a few weeks!

I decided to transplant my pak choi as I thought they were overcrowded in their previous container and merited a bucket each. I was wary about this as I read they don't like being transplanted, but they seem to be doing well, and aren't far off harvesting. The tomato plants are flourishing and flowering - I even found a baby tomato on the biggest plant:

My lettuces are also doing well, I've just been cutting off leaves when I want them and they just carry on growing in between my harvests! As you can imagine I've been having a lot of salads lately.

I've left the best bit until last - my strawberries! They are doing great in their planter (as is the mint I've just pruned and hung up sprigs to dry in the airing cupboard). There are quite a few strawberries developing, but these are the most advanced:

I've also sown some seeds! Some snow peas, cucumber, spring onions, spinach and mesclun. I've borrowed Daharja's idea for using egg boxes as seedling trays (though my dad also does this, and also cuts off the tops of plastic milk bottles for pots).

The mesclun was only sown a couple of days ago, and already it's beginning to sprout!

I've no idea why this picture keeps rotating when I upload it, and I can't seem to fix it sorry!

I'm thrilled at my current progress, gardening really is not as difficult as it may first seem. I'm not sure about how successful I'll be with my seeds yet, the hardest thing for me is to make sure they are kept watered, with my erratic work schedule I find it hard to remember sometimes. More updates soon!

Yaaarrrr! Here be pirates!

Last Saturday, we had a Pirate-themed House Party! It wasn't for any particular reason, other than the fact I like dress-up parties, and our house deserves to have good parties. We have this great room on the roof, dubbed the Skyloft, which is a wonderful space for parties and hanging out. With only a few weeks left in this house, we needed to make good use of it!

I made the decorations, including this pirate ship, made out of pieces of cardboard and the insulation cladding you put on water pipes!

I also made the food, complete with little pirate flags!

As is common with pirates, eventually the alcohol took over, and duels ensued!

Craig chose to come as a Muppet Treasure Island inspired cannibal, rather than a pirate!

Pirate wenches!

We had traditional and modern pirates turn up, including a Somali pirate complete with machine gun, and an internet pirate!

I had a great time hanging out with my friends, but I'm quite sad thinking about it. A lot of them will be leaving NZ at the end of the year, and I shall miss them! Don't want to have to find myself new friends, I like the ones I've got thanks!

Look how the garden grows...

It's been a few weeks since I transplanted the majority of my plants so I thought it would be time for an update. The garden is doing very well!

I've still been keeping them in the Sky Loft, although on nice days I've put the containers outside on the roof. I just have to be careful because it can get a bit windy up there.

Chives (from which I have already harvested), a Chilli plant which needs transplanting soon, and plenty of lettuce.

Another lettuce and some pak choi. I'm a little worried that the pak choi don't really have enough space, but I read that they don't like being transplanted too much, so I've decided it's probably better to leave them.

Strawberry plants and starting to flower! And some mint I stuck in the top of the container.

My sunflower, which seems to be growing visibly every day - I should start marking it on the stake. Come to think of it, if it grows much taller I'll need a taller stake!

My cherry tomato plants. The closest one I have named Alpha, because it seems to be twice as big as the others, a real super plant!

Last but not least, my rocket. I've just harvested some of this for my salad this evening, and it was scrumptious!

Well, that's it so far. I'm planning on sowing some seeds at some point. I should get onto that, but life has been pretty hectic at the moment. Suffice it to say I should be a proud (and broke) home owner in less than 2 months time!

Yum! It's sushi time!

Tonight I made sushi :)

It was the first time I've ever made sushi, and it was surprisingly easy. I bought a bamboo sushi mat from an Asian food store a while ago, which made rolling the sushi a lot easier. I think I will get better with practice too.

My sushi contains tuna, carrot, red pepper, avocado, snow peas and baby spinach. I made too much, but that just means there is some for when I'm hungry later on tonight when I can't sleep. I've just finished working night shifts, so my body clock is a little screwed up...

I love sushi, it is one of my go to lunches when I'm out and need something quick and yummy. Funnily enough I never ate it before moving to NZ. There are a lot of foods I never ate before moving here actually. There is such a range to choose from in Dunedin, particularly Asian foods, my taste buds have become a lot more adventurous!

All cultured out!

I'm feeling very cultured this week. Not only did I go to the theatre on Saturday I also went to the ballet on Wednesday!

My mum came to visit me last weekend and for a change we decided to go and see a play on Saturday night. She lives out in the sticks and hasn't been to the theatre for years. I must admit I haven't been very much since I moved to NZ - although it is something I try to do whenever I visit Christchurch or Wellington. I've only seen one other play in Dunedin in my 3yrs here, and that was a couple of months ago. That was Emma, and by coincidence the lead actress in that was also in the play I saw on Saturday.

The play was called Glorious - and it was played down in the Studio Theatre, which I didn't even know existed!

Glorious is a modern play by a local playwright, Richard Huber. It only had 2 actors, a male and female. Unlike Emma, the play only had these 2 characters. In Emma, the 4 actors played several different roles.

The female lead, played by Anya Tate-Manning, is Gloria. Gloria is a wealthy socialite who decides to annoy her father by announcing she is marrying a writer-slash-waiter she met at her father's birthday party. She moves into his dingy apartment and takes a job as a waitress. Jimmy, played by Daniel Coppersmith, reluctantly puts up with her (although he isn't exactly indifferent to her charms). Both actors had a great grasp of an American accent and their chemistry really sparkled. I think Daniel stumbled on a couple of lines, but honestly the script is so fast paced who wouldn't miss a beat every now and then?

The play is based on the Screwball comedy genre of Hollywood films such as those starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It is gloriously fast paced, the 2 characters continually sparring with quick-witted comments. I really enjoyed the background music too, the 1930s theme came through really well.

The intimacy of the studio theatre works really well for small plays such as Glorious - you feel as though you are right in the action and can almost reach out and touch the characters. The set itself never changed, and yet was able to be two completely different locations. I've always had an interest in set design, indeed I would have opted for that part of 'A' Level Drama if one of the other girls hadn't hogged it every time we did a play (so I was stuck with acting or make-up).

My only complaint was Gloria's wardrobe. I don't know where they got those dresses from, but I think they for an actress who was a couple of sizes bigger than Anna, they did nothing for her figure at all!

Glorious has been short-listed for this year's Playwright New Play Award, and deservedly so. I'd recommended everyone to go see it, if that showing had not been the last one!

On Wednesday, my friend and I went to the Regent Theatre to see Swan Lake. We'd bought our tickets ages ago and so I'd been looking forward to it for a while. I think I've only been to see the ballet once before, years ago, although I've seen a few on TV.

Swan Lake was performed by the Imperial Russian Ballet Company. They are world renowned, but I must admit I don't know an awful lot about ballet.

It was performed following the traditional version, but with the happier ending decreed by the Soviet Rule (I wonder if anyone does the original ending these days?) The ballerinas were hypnotic and did an excellent job of telling the story through dance and gesture. You don't need a script to understand the feelings they convey.

I loved the way the ballerinas resembled swans, not just through their costumes but also in their gestures - the slight move of an arm could instantly evoke the elegant arch of a swan's neck or wing. All the costumes were magnificent, although Prince Siegfried's white tights left little to the imagination!

The principal ballerina playing Odette, the Queen of Swans, was mesmerising - she could move in ways I didn't believe were entirely humanly possibly. I felt that the Prince faltered a little in places but otherwise he was very good too. I wonder how uneven the Regent Theatre's stage is - it certainly looked it from where I was sitting, which presumably must affect a dancer's ability.

My only problem was that I was exhausted from working a morning shift and the ballet was quite long, and the theatre very warm, so I almost felt like I was being lulled to sleep by the music and the dancing. That meant I didn't enjoy it quite as much as if I had been wide awake, but it can't be helped when I have to work.

The Imperial Russian Ballet Company will be returning to Dunedin next year, and I plan on seeing them again. I think they will be performing Snow White. I'm quite tempted to see Peter Pan next month, but to be honest I really need to start saving my money for my foray into house buying!!

Beginnings of the Container Garden!

For a while now I've thought about growing my own vegetables. I've always grown up with home grown vegetables, my parents and my grandparents all being keen gardeners themselves. I have great memories of picking pea pods in Granddad's veggie patch and eating the yummy raw peas inside. I also have less fond memories of my dad growing several tonnes of courgettes and declaring that he "grew them especially" for me every year, despite the fact that I absolutely hate them. So I won't be growing courgettes, and I'm aiming not to grow so much of one thing that I won't know what to do with it and it goes to waste.

At the moment I live in rental accommodation and whilst we have a lovely garden I can't exactly dig it up for a veggie patch. Our Landlady doesn't even trust us to care for the garden properly and has a professional gardener do it for her. Hopefully I will soon have my own house and garden, but in the meantime I'll have to make do with a container garden.

My little veggie collection started when I was at the Farmer's Market one saturday morning, and on impulse bought 3 cherry tomato plants. A couple of days later I headed to a local nursery, YouthGrow in North Dunedin, and picked up a few more seedlings. YouthGrow is a nursery run by Presbyterian Support, helping young people to earn skills and gain employment. I am a volunteer for another PS initiative, the Buddy Programme (which I'll blog about another time). They do a lot of charity work with families in Dunedin and so I wanted to support them by buying some plants from the YouthGrow nursery.

I've decided to start small and kick off my veggies with seedlings rather than attempting to grow from seed. Less chance of me killing them! Once I get into the swing I'll start growing a few things from seed, but I don't want to over do it and end up with too much all at once.

The plants are currently living in the skyloft, our conservatory on the roof. On calm, sunny days I'll put them out on the balcony but the weather has been so changeable lately I dare not subject them to that right now.

I've also replanted them into bigger containers, so now they've moved from the bookcase to the floor.

I'll update with more photos as they grow and I add more to the collection! Can't wait until harvest time!