Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

It's just plain good timing that my parents sent over these instructions mere weeks after a whale washed up on the shore down the coast from us. We didn't end up going down to see the whale and although I think its remnants are still there, I think it's a little less awe-inspiring by this point. It would be cool to see it just to see the size of one! Sure, Dustin has swum alongside Whale Sharks so he might be tough to impress but I have only swum with dolphins so it would probably look pretty big. Friends of ours work for the department of conservation and Dustin texted one last week only to get a reply a couple hours later: "sorry was down at the whale and there was no reception" That was a totally normal response that neither of us batted an eye at. Good ol' New Zealand living. The friends are tasked with taking photos of the decomposition and tracking how long it takes - among other sciencey stuff. But I haven't heard what&#

Who could resist this beautiful breakfast dish? I had intended to tweet this photo during the Costa Rica-Netherlands match with a cheeky "Costa Rica fans eat Dutch babies for breakfast" but I didn't end up doing so and alas, I would have had to eat a bit of humble pie after that anyways. However, I just had to share this masterpiece anyways. For those of you who haven't even tried this buttery delicious dish before, give it a go for your own good. (If you make that recipe and don't like it, email me for my version which is what our family has been making my whole life. Even if you do like that one, I might be able to be bothered to type it out for you if you ask because it is an amazing meal.) It's best served with some syrup although that morning I was feeling saucy so made a raspberry sauce to accompany it. But it would have been better with just syrup - and don't forget the mimosas!

Remember when we showed you our banana tree ? Well a few weeks ago when the mercury starting dropping I panicked about the possibility of losing them and harvested the bunch! (You aren't supposed to let them get too cold.) It took about a week until they started going a little yellow, then a little more and then they had brown spots on them so I made banana bread and banana chocolate frozen treats. I brought some to work to flog off and even dropped bunches off with friends because I was so worried they were about to go off and be overripe. I think we jumped in too early though. The middles were kind of tough and they weren't incredibly sweet. We still don't know what variety they were but the flavour was just a bit different than we have come to know and love as banana. As they got more and more brown they got better and sweeter. But by then they were looking pretty sad which is when I started getting rid of them so they got put to use! Next time we know

I know, you're already starting to wonder if we do anything but talk about the house, renovate the house and then talk online about the renovation... I assure you it's not like that but it just seems to easiest to report on, especially with pictures. So, another short tale of our first home. Since we moved in, the spare room between the bathroom and the master has been affectionately called the Craft/Beer Room. But actually sharing the space easily has been a little less affectionate. Alas, a solution! A new set of shelves have been installed by our resident building expert and now there's a little more order. Enough order for me to crack into some projects with my new sewing machine. New projects that will be a little something like this . I already finished one but it was a housewarming gift so I didn't end up taking a photo of it. The next one is also a housewarming gift but I will post a pic soon of one of them... I have about 4 planned and maybe more afte

Even though the bathroom is the next "official" project on, you all know Dustin can't sit still for that long. So, in the meantime we are also figuring out the fixing up of the hallway. We've added a down light near the door (there was no light there before, inside or out!) as well as one outside too. It so glorious and bright and modern. I know you can't really see the ugly glass, old fashioned fixture but there are 3 of them and we're replacing them all eventually! I made sure of it by picking up the new lights on sale over the weekend. The wallpaper removal test was started (as seen on the left) but it's going to be such a mission and we'd still have to get the walls skim coated so we'll just replace the whole lot of wall linings. Just another thing to keep us going in the top-to-bottom revamping of the house.

Because I am a complete bandwagon jumper, I joined the pool at work for the World Cup. I certainly don't profess to know anything about soccer/football and I wouldn't have given it much thought in the past. But I work with a few football nuts so I knew I'd be hearing about it and figured why not also have the chance to win money while I'll be subjected to the topic anyways. So, the team I drew was Costa Rica. Cool for me, because I've actually been there and know a little bit about the place. (Not that their football prowess really enters much into the Honeymoon trip of non-fans but I do remember that every town we went though, no matter how small, had 3 things: a supermercado, a church and a soccer field.) Now that they are on a bit of a roll I am extra pleased to have drawn them. It gives me a reason to think of Costa Rica more! So I thought I'd share a couple pictures with you. Gosh, this was back before the plague of social media so I think we have act