A Christmas to Remember

December 25th, 2011 was a Christmas to remember in the junior Wilhoit household. For starters, this was our first Christmas without any family geographically close enough with which whom we could celebrate. While I don't think either Adam or I would consider this milestone one that we were hoping to achieve just yet, in a small way it is nice to know that, together, the two of us really do make up a family fit even for the holidays. With that said, we can not WAIT until next year when we will be back stateside and able to enjoy old, family holiday traditions...though perhaps we'll have a couple of our own Kiwi ones to add to the repertoire.

For starters, we attempted to create our very own, genuine Kiwi masterpiece...the pavlova. (Insert impressed gasps of oohs and aahs here, please) In gathering local wisdom about how best to bake a pav, it was recommended to me that I start making the Christmas pavlova on Thursday night. Thursday was advised because, in the event that it didn't turn out, I could try again on Friday, and then again even on Saturday if necessary. Being the proud, independent, and culinary genious that I pretend to emulate, however...I didn't start until Saturday night...about 11 o'clock in the evening.

Things seemed to be going pretty well.  The eggwhites whipped right up, we actually had ALL of the ingredients on the recipe list for once, and I even managed to create a make-shift compass out of some twine and a pencil in order to create the perfect circumference guide for our mound of white deliciousness. 

Having smoothed and slathered to our hearts delight, we popped the pav in the oven and left it, as prescribed, completely sealed inside the oven so that after it was done cooking it could cool without a sharp drop in temperature.  It was with great anticipation that we raced to the oven the next morning to unwrap our treasure...a big cracked globe!  So much for our masterpiece. 

The pav may not have turned out quite as expected...but at least Santa managed to find us in our kiwi greenhouse.  It was SO WARM Christmas morning!

Since Christmas landed on a Sunday this year, Adam and I enjoyed a yummy breakfast for two of homemade cinnamon rolls (another baking experiment that was thankfully a bit more successful) and then quickly unwrapped some very thoughtful Christmas gifts.  We then gussied up and shot out the door for church, which had mercifully been bumped up to 10 o'clock with services for only an hour. 

This is a bit where our Christmas celebrations took a bit of a detour, however.  Upon arriving at our friend Heidi's house to pick her up for a day of orphaned American celebrations, she met us at the door with a bright red foot, having dropped a pot of boiling water on herself earlier in the morning.  Needless to say, we left her soaking her foot in cool water and went off to church.  When we returned to her home to check in, her foot had swelled into quite her own personal blistery-pavlova shape, so it was off to the ER.  The kind nurses in the Emergency Room informed us that it would be at least two hours before Heidi could be seen - but that an after-hours clinic would be open just down the road.  So we popped back in our trusty car to get Heidi down to a doctor who could see her more promptly.  Thankfully, the urgent care specialists were just slightly less busy - and we only waited about an hour for some expert pain relief and foot wrapping.  Here Heidi shows off her very unexpected Christmas present!

While our original plans for Christmas afternoon included a beautiful day throwing frisbees on the beach and munching picnic delicacies, we were more than happy to return to our quaint apartment on The Terrace for a very laid-back afternoon of watching The Muppet's Christmas Carol and practicing our New Zealand geography playing a new game given by Heidi, The Amazing Moa Hunt.  We lazily put our final touches on a deliciously humble Christmas potluck dinner.  Adam made an amazing stuffed chicken roll, Heidi mastered the potatoes and green beans, I was petulant and insisted on our traditional sweet potato casserole, and we all agreed that the carrot/cranberry/yogurt salad out of Edmond's cookbook was an experiment best left off of next year's menu.

And dessert, you ask?  In the end it was decided that Christmas Pavlova Parfait was the best way to rescue our fallen dome.  It may not have come with the pomp and circumstance of the traditional dessert, but it was both short and sweet - qualities we happen to admire in this household.

Merry Christmas everyone.  We love and miss you always.  May this beautiful season bring you all the happiness and warmth that we can send.

 

Adam's Adrenaline Adventure

Father Christmas arrived a day early, as he usually does in our house, and brought sun, heat and Adam's birthday! While anyone else would mope about having their very special day coincide with the silly season, my amazing husband generously smiles at sympathetic well-wishers and reminds them that December 24th is the best birthday he's ever had! We also figure he happens to be in pretty good birthday company.

We started his special day of celebrations with a birthday breakfast of Papa Kay cakes and fresh fruit. One of the greatest advantages to having a southern hemisphere holiday is the prevalence of summer fruits - and boy have we been capitalizing on the advantage.



Having enjoyed our breakfast, it was important to work off some of the whipped cream with some quick running of errands around town (we hadn't anticipated how handy Adam's birthday would become in securing a variety of bargains) followed by an adventure out to Adrenaline Forest, a great high ropes course located just outside of Wellington in Porirua. Adam looks great in a security harness.

Before we started climbing up into the canopy, this little hedgehog wandered out to enjoy a bit of sunshine before returning to her burrow for naptime. I'll never get used to seeing hedgehogs as wild animals as opposed to adorable household pets.

Adam enjoyed a barrel of fun on one of the first courses while I simply had a barrel of laughs watching him wriggle mid-air.

Every boy wants to be Spider-man.  Adam got to indulge his inner child by riding the Tarzan swing into this net.  Hang on birthday boy!

There are seven courses that you can work through at Adrenaline Forest.  Adam and I conquered numbers 1, 2, 3, and 5 before our arms begged for relief.  Every course gets a little tougher and quite a bit higher in the treetops.  As you can see Adam expertly walked himself across a monkey bridge - clearly ignoring the beautiful view of the bay behind him.

All of our play in the jungle left us with ape-sized appetites.  Where better to satisfy some cravings for good old fashioned American food than a good old-fashioned American diner...Denny's!  Before you judge Adam's choice you should remember that a) it's tough to get a burger around here without beetroot and egg b) they actually serve French Fries with Heinz ketchup and Ranch and c) they even gave Adam a free birthday lunch! 

Apparently some of New Zealand's computer networks didn't remember that it's polite to remain working when the birthday boy is on-call.  Poor Adam spent more than his fair share of his special day in this favored position.

Adam's i-phone mercifully stopped ringing long enough for us to enjoy a special birthday won-ton soup for supper.  Living abroad has certainly expanded our culinary skills.

 Discovered as a birthday favorite last year, Adam's request for a birthday cake has evolved from the traditional cheesecake to a more seasonally appropriate strawberry rhubarb pie.  Not quite as perfect as last year's attempt, it's the thought that counts and Adam didn't look like he minded the mushy pie crust too, too badly.

Ripping and tearing; a birthday must-do.

To the sweetest, most supportive, and handsome husband in any hemisphere...happy birthday Adam!

Hello New Plymouth

We recently visited New Plymouth out on the west coast of the north island.  Home of Mt. Taranaki, we were able to pay the iconic conical volcano and go for a hike through a particularly beautiful forest.

It was east to see why the place was so green, what with all the clouds and rain.

Fortunately during our visit to the clouds kept their rain and simply resorted to hiding the peak for most of our visit

one word...lush

Working on my magazine cover pose, going for playful yet reflective

Heading out of town to the south next to Port Taranaki is Paritutu Rock. 

The trip up the rock starts with nice wooden steps with railings but quickly becomes a chain and notches worn in solid rock.  

An adventure going up and a few grey hairs coming down gave us quite the view.

Staglands stop over

Callie and I have used the Entertainment book to explore Wellington's many dining establishments, Friday night adventures and fun trips about town.  We recently visited the Staglands Wildlife reserve in Upper Hutt.  Once cashing in our coupon and picking up a bag of kibble to feed all the animals in the park we received a very enthusiastic greeting.

Oddly enough, peacocks seemed to be the pigeons of Staglands with another group of them around every corner.  None of other ones in the park quite felt like putting on the show as impressive as this fella though.

Baby ducks, always adorable.

Not sure why, but these ducks reminded me of Halloween.  Probably because of their bright orange eyes, but something else about them seemed...spooky.

These good looking creatures are Kune Kune Pigs.   Brought back from the edge of extinction but a couple of Christchurch folks, there are now thousands around the world.

 

This guy was more than happy to perform his talent "Eat a treat" if we were willing to provide the treat.

One of the little ladies hanging around.  We managed to get some treats to the other little ones when Poppa Pig wasn't looking.

The newest additions to the Kune Kune family keeping warm in a no holds barred cuddle-fest.

The mother had perfected the best trick of the park.  Couldn't resist throwing a good portion of our kibble her way, she didn't complain too much either.

 That'll do Donkey, that'll do.

 This little cutie looked to have pulled lawn-mower duty.  Callie was able to distract it for a quick heart to heart.

After reassurance from Callie that this Merino was a professional who was not going to take my fingers off, I got to share some kibble with the worlds most prized wool machine.  Not too bad at making horns either.

This kid was hard a work bouncing around the place playing with the little kids, snagging some snacks and playing "Hide in the rusty farm equipment".  Such hard work of course tuckered the little one out, pretty good for being about a week old.

I am not sure if we arrived at nap time or if the peacocks are just that intimidating, but there were several bunnies like the one below lounging about.  No amount of kibble could coax a hop.

Clear on her way to a fancy Ball this chicken was clearly not going to be under-dressed for the occasion.

Staglands ended up being a very fun visit.  It was a large petting zoo where you could interact with most of the animals and since so many of them were New Zealand natives made the visit all the more meaningful.

Getting out of town without driving

The Wellington harbour hosts many beautiful views, bays, little mountains and islands.  Callie and I finally found a weekend to duck off and enjoy one of these little paradises that we had been looking at for over a year.

As it turns out Matiu/Somes island located in Wellington harbour allows for a few campers to stay overnight every day so we packed a bag, packed some camp food and hopped on the little ferry heading out to the tiny bump of land poking out from the sea.  Arrival at the island starts with a thorough pack and bag check at the Rat House and an introduction to the island's history by the care takers.  Callie received the clean tent award from the ranger.  They're actually looking for dirt, seeds, or vermin - not illegal substances.  The island has served as a home to the Maori, as an animal quarantine station and is now a historic reserve.

Our camp ground was located in one of the paddocks on top of the island.  We were in a good neighbourhood with a couple of ducks and a herd of sheep next door.  The island has a track around its crown that is the main attraction which can be walked leisurely in about an hour.  Along the way we saw Red-Crowned Parakeets, Skinks and Weta.

I also spotted my favorite, the rare Wellington Wilhoit

The coast around the island is quite beautiful with lots of rocky beaches and little coves.  The beach is protected as nesting grounds for the various birds of the island including Little Blue Penguins.

The island closes to visitors at 5pm. Those staying on the island can continue to wander around seeing the sights.  We were then off around the island for a night walk which definitely paid off.  A beautiful view of the coolest little capital in the world lit up at night was just the start.  Further around the track we came across some of New Zealand's infamous little blue penguins that had climbed up the steep cliffs for a good nights sleep.  We stood there for the better part of half an hour watching them about five feet away as they looked around trying to find us all while chatting with the other little penguins getting ready to make their own nests for the night.

After a good nights camp and another ferry ride back to civilization we returned home having seen a bit more of what the neighbourhood has to offer.

In the Land of Pies

Pie shops on every corner is a good way to describe quick cuisine in New Zealand. Of course if you are looking for an apple pie or a pumpkin pie you may be quite surprised to find that the pies around here are, in fact, meat pies that come in such flavours as mince, steak, and even sometimes delicious cranberry chicken brie. Callie and I looked to mix the delicious tradition down here with a more traditional American pie. Enter the single serve chicken pot pie.

The filling consisted of every delicious vegetable you could imagine in a Chicken Pot Pie. The strangely delicious New Zealand carrots, chicken, peas, and more made for the tasty (and healthier than most ) filling for the pies.

The "Texas" muffin tin made for the perfect size pies making device. Any local home store sells a george forman-like pie press but I dont think we are going to be eating that many pies anytime soon.Callie's pastry skills even give them their little cross hatched lids completed the top

The finished product came out delicious in more ways then one. The New Zealand personal pie achieved and a little bit of home all in an hours work. One version with Savory pastry, another with puff just for giggles. The savory definetely won me over but the pies seemed to disapper just as quickly.

Cheers for a tasty new tradition if I have anything to say about it. It will be hard making a chicken pot pie another way again!