Dinner 1988-style
A two-course dinner for two at one of Auckland's best seafood restaurants for $85 - can't be done? Well, it could this week....
Harbourside Restaurant is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and to mark it, this week they are serving their 1988 menu at 1988 prices. So not being ones to miss out on the opportunity to have a top class meal at discount prices, we quickly booked ourselves in - which was just as well as it was booked out in a couple of days.
In 2008, it isn't easy to get $8.50 entrees of Deep-fried Squid and Hot & Cold Salad with Pan-fried Sole; and $17 mains of Whole Snapper with Ginger Sake Sauce and Tempura Seafood Platter. It isn't often that your bottle of beer and glass of wine will cost more that one of your mains, or that your bottle of sparkling water will be more than one of our entrees. In fact, in the 2008 menu - entrees and mains are twice these prices.
And I can report that good fresh seafood tastes like good fresh seafood in whatever year's menu it is cooked.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
WATCHing Stereophonics
What a day Monday was. It was already fortuitous, when a few weeks ago Steve McKinlay mentioned that he was coming up for the Stereophonics concert and was I interested in the other ticket he had. Offering pick up and drop off service from the airport and a bed for the night probably help to seal the deal as well. I remember missing out on seeing the Stereophonics in London and being quite gutted, so was pretty stoked that I was now going to see them in Auckland.
And the concert was awesome, probably the best I have been to. The concert was at the Powerstation, which is just a small venue that only holds about a 1000 people. It is also, by chance, directly across the road from Galbraiths, which was perfect for some fine ales both before and after.
The place was packed, it seemed most of the Welsh population in NZ had come in for the two concerts (there had been another the previous night, which ironically Anna had gone to after her Aunt also had come up for the it with a spare ticket). When Kelly Jones made some jokes in his deep Welsh accent, at least he got laughter from those wearing red int he crowd. With the venue being so small, you couldn't help but be very close to the stage, which itself is set low. So it was an amazing view of a very tight performance, and after the encore of "Maybe Tomorrow" and "Dakota" we left the concert back across to Galbraiths with ears a ringing.
Now you might be wondering what the "WATCH" reference was all about. Well it refers to a phone call earlier that capped of a great day. A few months ago I had purchased a 12-month subscription to Metro magazine and a nice girl from Metro gave me a call to let me know my name had been drawn in the competition - I hadn't even know there was a competition. she then told me that I had won a Bretling watch worth, what for it, $8,950!!!
After she rambled on a bit more I had to ask if she had really said "eight thousand". How can a watch be worth $8,950? What does it do? I was a bit stunned, and still am to be honest. I'm due to pick it up this Friday. Still not sure what I will do with it. I think I would be too scared to wear it, I'd have to wrap my arm in cotton wool. So there is the option of selling it, I can think of some better uses for that sort of money than having something hang from my wrist. But we will see once I pick it up.
What a day Monday was. It was already fortuitous, when a few weeks ago Steve McKinlay mentioned that he was coming up for the Stereophonics concert and was I interested in the other ticket he had. Offering pick up and drop off service from the airport and a bed for the night probably help to seal the deal as well. I remember missing out on seeing the Stereophonics in London and being quite gutted, so was pretty stoked that I was now going to see them in Auckland.
And the concert was awesome, probably the best I have been to. The concert was at the Powerstation, which is just a small venue that only holds about a 1000 people. It is also, by chance, directly across the road from Galbraiths, which was perfect for some fine ales both before and after.
The place was packed, it seemed most of the Welsh population in NZ had come in for the two concerts (there had been another the previous night, which ironically Anna had gone to after her Aunt also had come up for the it with a spare ticket). When Kelly Jones made some jokes in his deep Welsh accent, at least he got laughter from those wearing red int he crowd. With the venue being so small, you couldn't help but be very close to the stage, which itself is set low. So it was an amazing view of a very tight performance, and after the encore of "Maybe Tomorrow" and "Dakota" we left the concert back across to Galbraiths with ears a ringing.
Now you might be wondering what the "WATCH" reference was all about. Well it refers to a phone call earlier that capped of a great day. A few months ago I had purchased a 12-month subscription to Metro magazine and a nice girl from Metro gave me a call to let me know my name had been drawn in the competition - I hadn't even know there was a competition. she then told me that I had won a Bretling watch worth, what for it, $8,950!!!
After she rambled on a bit more I had to ask if she had really said "eight thousand". How can a watch be worth $8,950? What does it do? I was a bit stunned, and still am to be honest. I'm due to pick it up this Friday. Still not sure what I will do with it. I think I would be too scared to wear it, I'd have to wrap my arm in cotton wool. So there is the option of selling it, I can think of some better uses for that sort of money than having something hang from my wrist. But we will see once I pick it up.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Moonride - Rotorua
For some time Al here in Auckland has been trying to get me into mountain biking. Trying to sticking to my roadie routes, I had repelled his advances for some time. But recently I relented I bought myself a mountain bike a few weeks ago. This was all in aid of an event Al got me to join him in the 24hr Cateye Moonride. Not 24 hours of riding - I'm not that crazy (though there were some solo riders). No, we entered a team of 5 where you take turns doing the course over the 24 hours. Still crazy enough.
My introduction to mountain biking didn't start too well. My first ride out at Woodhill (a MTB park west of Auckland) saw me vault the handlebars and use my right ring finger to cushion my fall. The finger looked pretty grim for a few days, and even a month later now doesn't look quite right - I'll get around to having it x-rayed at some stage...
Crazy certainly came to mind as we drive down to Rotorua on the Friday, with seemingly half the farms submerged in water. And when we turned up at the site at 8pm that night to put the tent up, it was still raining and spirits were pretty low. But the event and other 100 teams all looked pretty well set up - tents, marques, coffee cart, generators, BBQs, though unfortunately no spa pool this year.
It all kicked off at 10pm and Al pulled the short straw in having to go first. However my turn wasn't too far away as I was going second. Because of the rain, the 8km loop had been reduced to 6.5km, but still took us on average 30 minutes to do each lap. We had already decided that we would each do 1 lap each, and then do turns of 2-lappers, so it wouldn't be as stop start and would give us each a chance to get some sleep (well, that was the plan anyway).
It wasn't long before I headed out for the my first lap, after a quick debrief from Al. I had only just gone for my first night ride the weekend before, so I was still a novice at this, and the track was very muddy and so made for a lot of hard work. Not least some pretty deep puddles, which turned the dirt after them into a quagmire. But with fresh clothes on and just one lap to do, that first lap wasn't so bad. Though returning back to the tent, it was only in the light that you realised how muddy it was - I was covered head to toe. But there wasn't much you could do about it, and no point trying to get too clean as you were just going to get muddy again.
My next trip out was at 1.30am and it was still raining. The track was more chewed up now too, so made for a much more difficult (and muddy) ride. Even more so by my battery for my light starting to run out on my 2nd lap - I may as well have held a candle out in front of me. That made for an interesting ride, often having to just cruise until someone caught up to me with better light and then having to try and sit on their heels. But I managed to make my way back without too much mishap and tried to get some sleep before I had to get up again at 6am for another two laps. But there wasn't any chance of sleep, what with the blood pumping from just finishing a ride, generators humming, and knowing I would have to get up again soon.
It was so muddy now that also had to hose down your bike before you headed out again, as all your gears and brakes were one big brown lump. Pulling on the cold, damp and muddy bike gears to head out again at 6am after no sleep, I was really wondering why the hell I had agreed to get into this. I mean, who holds an event like this in May - when there is no daylight savings and little prospect of good weather. The only relief I had was that now the skies were lightening and I didn't have to worry about light so much. But not surprisingly, these ended up being my slowest two laps.
The new day at least dawned dry, but 10am saw the start of the 12hr race with another 300 teams on the course (looking annoyingly refreshed and clean). This meant a lot more congestion, but also helped to flatten out the tracks. So much so that my two laps around 1pm I could actually term as fun. Riding in the light of day was obviously a lot easy, and it also allowed you to pick better lines to bike down (and showed you all your mistakes from the night before). But this was short lived, as by my last two laps at 6pm, all those riders had chewed up the course again and by now the body and soul were very tired.
With the ride still not finishing until 10pm, there was the prospect of squeezing another lap in. But I had had enough and I let the rest of the boys go for glory at the end (well, they have all been riding mountain bikes for years), while I enjoyed a few beers and some clean clothes. the finish gets a little crazy, some pushing it to fit in another lap, while others go a little crazy - with a couple of naked laps.
In the end we finished quite high up, completing 48 laps and coming 18th of the 97 24hr teams. Though the only reward was having to pack up the tent and all the gear when all we really wanted to do was go to bed. It certainly was an interesting event, though I am not sure I will be signing up to do it again (unless there is the promise of fine weather). This mountain biking can be fun though, and will be making a few trips down to Rotorua I think - though for rides most definitely in the day though!
A few muddy pics from the event here.
For some time Al here in Auckland has been trying to get me into mountain biking. Trying to sticking to my roadie routes, I had repelled his advances for some time. But recently I relented I bought myself a mountain bike a few weeks ago. This was all in aid of an event Al got me to join him in the 24hr Cateye Moonride. Not 24 hours of riding - I'm not that crazy (though there were some solo riders). No, we entered a team of 5 where you take turns doing the course over the 24 hours. Still crazy enough.
My introduction to mountain biking didn't start too well. My first ride out at Woodhill (a MTB park west of Auckland) saw me vault the handlebars and use my right ring finger to cushion my fall. The finger looked pretty grim for a few days, and even a month later now doesn't look quite right - I'll get around to having it x-rayed at some stage...
Crazy certainly came to mind as we drive down to Rotorua on the Friday, with seemingly half the farms submerged in water. And when we turned up at the site at 8pm that night to put the tent up, it was still raining and spirits were pretty low. But the event and other 100 teams all looked pretty well set up - tents, marques, coffee cart, generators, BBQs, though unfortunately no spa pool this year.
It all kicked off at 10pm and Al pulled the short straw in having to go first. However my turn wasn't too far away as I was going second. Because of the rain, the 8km loop had been reduced to 6.5km, but still took us on average 30 minutes to do each lap. We had already decided that we would each do 1 lap each, and then do turns of 2-lappers, so it wouldn't be as stop start and would give us each a chance to get some sleep (well, that was the plan anyway).
It wasn't long before I headed out for the my first lap, after a quick debrief from Al. I had only just gone for my first night ride the weekend before, so I was still a novice at this, and the track was very muddy and so made for a lot of hard work. Not least some pretty deep puddles, which turned the dirt after them into a quagmire. But with fresh clothes on and just one lap to do, that first lap wasn't so bad. Though returning back to the tent, it was only in the light that you realised how muddy it was - I was covered head to toe. But there wasn't much you could do about it, and no point trying to get too clean as you were just going to get muddy again.My next trip out was at 1.30am and it was still raining. The track was more chewed up now too, so made for a much more difficult (and muddy) ride. Even more so by my battery for my light starting to run out on my 2nd lap - I may as well have held a candle out in front of me. That made for an interesting ride, often having to just cruise until someone caught up to me with better light and then having to try and sit on their heels. But I managed to make my way back without too much mishap and tried to get some sleep before I had to get up again at 6am for another two laps. But there wasn't any chance of sleep, what with the blood pumping from just finishing a ride, generators humming, and knowing I would have to get up again soon.
It was so muddy now that also had to hose down your bike before you headed out again, as all your gears and brakes were one big brown lump. Pulling on the cold, damp and muddy bike gears to head out again at 6am after no sleep, I was really wondering why the hell I had agreed to get into this. I mean, who holds an event like this in May - when there is no daylight savings and little prospect of good weather. The only relief I had was that now the skies were lightening and I didn't have to worry about light so much. But not surprisingly, these ended up being my slowest two laps.
The new day at least dawned dry, but 10am saw the start of the 12hr race with another 300 teams on the course (looking annoyingly refreshed and clean). This meant a lot more congestion, but also helped to flatten out the tracks. So much so that my two laps around 1pm I could actually term as fun. Riding in the light of day was obviously a lot easy, and it also allowed you to pick better lines to bike down (and showed you all your mistakes from the night before). But this was short lived, as by my last two laps at 6pm, all those riders had chewed up the course again and by now the body and soul were very tired.
With the ride still not finishing until 10pm, there was the prospect of squeezing another lap in. But I had had enough and I let the rest of the boys go for glory at the end (well, they have all been riding mountain bikes for years), while I enjoyed a few beers and some clean clothes. the finish gets a little crazy, some pushing it to fit in another lap, while others go a little crazy - with a couple of naked laps.
In the end we finished quite high up, completing 48 laps and coming 18th of the 97 24hr teams. Though the only reward was having to pack up the tent and all the gear when all we really wanted to do was go to bed. It certainly was an interesting event, though I am not sure I will be signing up to do it again (unless there is the promise of fine weather). This mountain biking can be fun though, and will be making a few trips down to Rotorua I think - though for rides most definitely in the day though!
A few muddy pics from the event here.
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