Grand Opening to Supergrans

 

Welcome to Supergrans modernised building.

I was on Floral work - trying to make two matching displays was quite hard. Also I knew the ribbon was red which limited by choice of flowers, but the red chillies hanging down were a hit.

I wasn't needed in the kitchen - but they certainly were well prepared. This is the commercial kitchen side where we can prepare bulk meals with repurposed food.

This is the counselling room. I donated (thanks Simon) one of Phyls pictures which had some tears in the canvas which had to be repaired and then I touched up, but it looks pretty spectacular.

And not to be outdone, I donated one of my paintings "Down on the Boardwalk" which hangs in the Boardroom.

Molly Pardoe our chairperson, and Rehette Stoltz, the mayor hold the ribbon while Meka Whaitiri cut the ribbon. You can see my floral efforts framing this "stage" in front of what is the "home" kitchen to teach younger ones about what it is like to cook at home.

The speeches were very short, and all quite humorous, the singing was lusty so it was quickly done.

The last speaker was our inspirational leader, Linda Coulston, who is very visionary in what could be achieved - if fact what needed to be achieved.

She related an anecdote about the commercial oven. Not only can you set it to cook (or dehydrate) at night, the oven is also self cleaning AND she can monitor all this on her phone at home!

I then proceeded to lead guided tours of the different facilities, focussing on good donors.

The food bank dried goods store.

The canned goods store and one of our chillers. We also have a freezer and another chiller built in.

The Koha shed - the boxes are named "Boys Age 8 singlets and underpants." or similar

More in the Koha shed with adults clothing and bedding. Although we get quite good quality duvet covers, the inners are quite often a bit manky, so we buy new ones with donations. There is also a shed for furniture but that hasn't been sorted yet!

Lastly the offices for our workers, Social worker Ju, Kai co-ordinator Gypsy, Field worker Erana (goes up the coast a lot.)

Standing or sitting desks. I think they probably need one of my paintings in here too LOL.

Tiffany (office manager) and Linda (SGT manager) work out of the boardroom.

Next week may involve some cleaning of the old premises before we hand it back.

Out West

 Brian and Lindsey, longtime friends from Optometry days, have sold their farmlet at Kaukapakapa and moved to and apartment in Glenfield - making them Westies. The apartment is in an older building and they have the second floor, with an Italian Restaurant handily situated on the ground floor and an artist on floor three. It is a three bedroom place, but two of the bedrooms are filled with art works and supplies - plus she has just rented a studio a block away.

The apartment is in a New York loft style with white walls and industrial piping, but their furniture is mainly antiques, and lots of Poole Pottery vases, so it seemed a little incongruous. Quite a lot of Lindsey's art work is quite big, so we were a bit overwhelmed with it. 

Large one of details of Grafton Bridge as you come up the stairs

This has antique mouldings stuck on.

This one is done with vintage wallpapers.

We went down for lunch - and a few wines and then Lindsey dropped us out to the airport. We had travelled out on the train as the train station stops just at the top of their road, so it wasn't far to wheel our suitcase.

I think she plans our her artwork more than me!

These two photos are taken in Lindsey's studio.

Some delay with the plane, so we got back to Gisborne quite late. I needed a good rest the next day - not to mention a day on reduced booze and food.

Nuttyforyou

 

We were up bright and early next morning and took the link bus to the rental car place. We managed to negotiate the roads with only one small unintentional detour. The Macadamia Orchard we were heading for is in Waipu. Just like our property it is a matter of things we did right and thinks we did wrong. They planted their trees very close together and will probably have to cut some down. Their solution is to hire Philipino ladies who are used to crouching to help with the harvesting.

They also run sheep through their property which leads to high nitrogen levels which means very dense vegetative growth, and lots of poo too!

Eric now struggles to get machinery down the rows at all. They also had a paddock were nearly all the trees had died or were stunted. I didn't feel I should take a picture of this.

One of the reasons we had travelled all this way was to see the machinery because as Vanessa is relocating all her processing to Opotiki - which was not what we had anticipated when we started this venture. The nuts should be husked within 48hours, and then kept in a dry environment. So we need to get a dehusker and a drier. The shell is still on the nut at this stage, and we sell NIS Nut in shell.

This is the dehusker and it will be arriving late April. The engineer comes down and installs it for us.

A lot of the growers there were from the far North where they have stickers - nuts which don't drop off the trees, which means you have to have a hydroladder to pick them. These growers are generally very critical and opinionated, but this may be because who wants to replant an orchard. The trip was very worthwhile in showing us what we need and helped us firm up our decisions.

We managed all the correct off ramps on the way back and got a link bus back to the hotel. Just time for a nap before going out with the Marinos. But No! there is a rally for "Be kind to Asians" complete with megaphones and chanting just a block away.

We walk down to the Viaduct and go to Giraffe for dinner - so much to catch up on, that I hardly noticed what we had to eat. Christine, who is Lead Family Welfare Worker for one one of the wards at Starship Hospital had just had a gruelling week with the little girl who got run over by the 77year-old driver in the school carpark. So she was ready for a wine or two, and I felt duty bound to keep her company. They have both had health issues and I think it is time that they retire to Gisborne. By about nine o'clock the restaurant was empty - apart from us, and the usually bustling viaduct was near empty. Peoples habits have changed!

Degustation at the Grove

 Because we had not gone out for Duncan's birthday I thought we should push the boat out at a degustation dinner. At $125 a head we hoped it would be a highlight and it did not disappoint. Many of these items I would never try cooking at home, Take for example the three Amuse Bouche that we had.

The one on the left is crisp pigshead croquette with a mustard creme. Yes that's right, they boil down the pigshead then pulp it up - there were even a few bristles in it!! it tasted surprisingly delicious. The one on the right was a truffle creme white mushroom. Third was tempura - Duncan had octopus in his while I had cauliflower.

We decided to choose our own wines by the glass, and were very pleased we did. You could do wine matching at an extra $80 a head, but at the table next to us they ended up with a huge number of half drunk glasses. We chose a  Grava reisling from Martinborough to start with, and then - a walk down memory lane as we had a  Achaval Ferrer malbec from Mendoza, Argentina.

The Swede Tagliatelle with fennel and orange began the first of the degustation courses.

Duncan had a seafood starter - kingfish with a crab stuffing.

Probably the most unusual dish came out next - Poached Egg Ravioli with a black garlic sauce decorated with blanched brussel sprout leaves. When you cut into the ravioli the semi cooked egg yolk squidged out.

The next course was sort of the main course and I think I could cook  this better - beef strips in Macadamias. 

The buns were a highlight - sort of bao buns then coated with a tasty glaze. Oops looks like the Malbec is going down well. I ordered one more glass and craftily shared it between our two glasses when the sommelier was not looking. That way we could have something sweeter with dessert.

What looks like lettuce is a sort of pistachio nut sponge, served with figs and buttermilk icecream. And to finish was the chef's special treat , and a weird conclusion to a high class degustation, but we ate it anyway.

 The courses were very light and fresh. and my

 bank account was a little lighter too. The service of the staff was superb but friendly.

Great night out, and within walking distance of our hotel.

 

The Nutters Trip to Auckland

 We left Gisborne on Thursday 25th March and with a strong tail wind were there in 50minutes which is considerably less time that it took us to get to the hotel. We had a lovely apartment with cooking facilities so we could get our own breakfasts. Its so much easier when you have a table and chairs.

Through a travesty of town planning these huge office blocks - many floors deserted at present - block the view. This narrow view was always busy with the ferries coming and going.

Looking towards the port

Over the viaduct to the Harbour Bridge. 

We went on a bit of an orientation walk so that we could update our HOP cards. So lovely getting free transport, but the system is in absolute chaos if you dont know your way around - the Britomart is undergoing renovations. Any way we got the Inner Link to Parnell Rise for dinner that night. A cheap and cheerful Italian Place. ( I'm choosing the next venue)

Trying to find out what's on in Auckland is quite difficult - the handy booklet is no longer produced and the websites are fragmented. So I decided to indulge Duncan's desire to visit the zoo. The lady at the cashier asked us when we had last been and Duncan said 50 years ago. However when I regaled her with stories of Polar Bears, Elephant rides and chimpanzees tea party - all of which are now banned, she realised  it had been a while. The first large enclosure was the Savannah with giraffes and zebras, but we hurried past them to get to The Elephant Compound.

Burma and Anjalee are Asian elephants, they are generally herd animals, and unless more of these animals can be bought to the zoo they will have to leave as having one on its own would be cruel.

Tuatara posing very regally

The Golden Lion Tamarins and the topknot tamarins were very beautiful and playful

But some of the other primates like this orangutan were taking it easy today. 

A Galapagos Tortoise - very large and slow.

There were some very pretty settings - the gardens were well worth a look too.

But the real highlight for me was the capybara because it is something I didn't know about. It is the largest rodent in the world! It looks like a rat said one small schoolgirl who I chatted to in lieu of my own granddaughter. No, said a small boy, It looks like a giant guinea pig.

It was about the size of a staffy dog, solid with it. They can weigh up to 70kg! They seem to like to swim  as well, and apparently have a lovely nature. The otters were great fun to watch, but very quick under the water, so no clear photos of them.

We managed the trip back on the buses much better than trying to find a bus going out.

Just time for a nap before I took Duncan out for a birthday treat - a degustation meal at The Grove.

Watch for the foodie pictures in the next BLOG.