Monthly Archives: May 2010

Two wheels good

Posted on by Meg
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I mentioned in my last post that I had bought a bike. Here’s the picture of it again:

I purchased it from Mamachari bicycles, based in Island Bay. You can read all about them on their website and I recommend doing just that. If you don’t have time to click through the gist of it is that they are importing and fixing up second hand commuter bicycles from Japan. Their aim is to increase the number of people cycling in Wellington, here’s a direct quote from their site: “It is our long term goal to see more New Zealanders using a good comfortable, practical bicycle for their daily commutes, which ever city, town or countryside they may reside in.”. A pretty noble goal right?

I had been a ‘fan’ of their facebook page Beautiful Bikes for Wellington for a while. I live in Newtown and wanted a bike for running little errands in the neighborhood. It seemed like the mamacharis fit the bill so I ended up picking this pink champagne coloured one. I haven’t seriously ridden a bike for years, not really since I used to bike to intermediate school. I’m still pretty nervous about riding in Wellington but I think experience is the only thing that will fix that!

I’ve included a couple of pictures of Libby and Arabella trying out the electric bicycles that my uncle and aunt have for hire from their business Akaroa Dolphins in Akaroa, Banks Peninsula. The motors were pretty helpful on some of the steeper Akaroa streets. My new bike doesn’t even have gears so I will be staying on the flat for now!

You may have seen Jane’s beautiful pink ‘Cosmopolitan’ bike in our vintage photos. It is a very handy way to get around the vineyard. Here’s a pretty picture of it:

I need to get a basket for mine and something more substantial for the back carrier so I can pick up my groceries. I like this picnic basket idea. My cousin Claire is a bit of a role model for us in living in a consistent and conscious environmental life. She wrote a good entry about cycling on her blog a while back.

Anyway, hopefully as I become more confident I can leave my car at home more and more. Any tips and comments from cyclists new or experienced are welcome!

-Meg

Pinot Grigio, Pinafores and Quince Jelly (again)

Posted on by Meg
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Sophie is off gallivanting around Asia and Jane has her hands full with Astrolabe farm and holding the fort at the office so I thought I would dash off a little blog post to keep everyone up to date.

Last weekend Sophie came up to Wellington to do two tastings at Thorndon New World with me. I really enjoy the chance to do tastings, it is definitely a skill and I am feeling pretty confident with them now. I think the supermarket tastings are really worthwhile – it is such a competitive market at the moment and consumers can feel overwhelmed with the sheer volume of wine available. Having a chance to taste and have a chat with us will hopefully inspire them to pick up a bottle next time they see us on the shelf. The Pinot Grigio was very popular, lots of people who weren’t big Pinot Gris fans were surprised by how much they liked it. I also think customers really appreciated the fact that we are a family business rather than just merchandisers hired to sell the wine (not that there is anything wrong with that either!). As usual our Durvillea aprons made by Jane went down very well. Sophie also did an Astrolabe tasting at the City Market which she really enjoyed – although it is a pretty hard sell getting the public to taste wine early on a Sunday morning! I personally love the City Market – it gives Wellington a proper city feel I think. Gusty Gourmet is a terrific blog which has some recent entries about the city market – well worth checking out.

This weekend I had another go at making Quince Jelly. Last time I had my mum to help me out but I went solo this weekend. I used the instructions from our own quince jelly post. It is a real family tradition for me – my granny is very good at making it and she was taught by her mother who was in turn taught by hers. This time I used more apple and it worked out well. It is lovely and clear and set quite firmly. I think that the extra pectin and the clear apple juice helped. I also strained it through three layers of stockinette which may have kept it clearer. It is also a deeper ruby red this time. The quinces were brought up from Astrolabe Farm for me by Sophie.

The other main news in my life is my lovely new bike. It is going to help me cut down on my car use especially for short trips. I’ll write more about it later but will leave you with a pretty picture of it.

- Meg

Jane leaves the farm – O Canada

Posted on by Jane
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I thought I would lead with a sensational headline as today I am writing my blog, not from my dining room table, but from my train seat on the way from Toronto to Ottawa.

I have been in Vancouver from the past week with my Astrolabe hat on and this week I am multitasking between the two labels. However, do not worry, I have my Durvillea pinny in my bag.

We are off to a New Zealand Winegrowers Tasting, a trade event. Three sessions: trade, sommeliers and public. Then tomorrow we head back to Toronto for a similar event on Thursday.

I loved Vancouver. I had a day and a half off and did a fantastic walking tour through Gastown and Chinatown, biked and walked around Stanley Park, visited the Museum of Anthropology at UBC and Granville Island Markets. Jason and I meet Tim Pawsey for dinner and he took us to a terrific new generation Chinese restaurant in Chinatown called Bao Bei.

Tim is a wine writer whom we met in New Zealand for the first time last year.  It is always great to meet people and discover interesting places.We also visited Salt,  a cool wine bar in the fantastically named Blood Alley. We ended up at Boneta where we caught  up with the House Wine ladies.

Now I am home in Marlborough and it is raining and pouring. The garden badly needs it. Simon and I have been mushrooming and eating the product of our labours.  Autumn is advancing and the olives are beginning to turn coloured. I have booked dates at the olive mill for June.

I was so inspired by the public gardens of Vancouver and Toronto I have planted tulips. I have many plans for the garden over the coming months as we are having a wedding here next March. It is very exciting and a wonderful spur to planting. I want flowers, so dahlias and delphiniums are mycurrent focus. Daisies, salvias, and geraniums are also in my mind. It is such fun and I am looking forward to getting stuck in. However this week it is Perth and then home. Home sweet home.

Two days to go!

Posted on by Durvillea
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This is a very short blog from me, an update of Canada is to come from Jane next week, and I will do a wee wrap up too.

However with the Saint Clair Half Marathon two days away, (I can’t believe how quickly it has come round!) I thought I would let you know how my training is going and how I am feeling coming up to the race!  Things have been ok, and I am definitely feeling better than I was about it a month ago. Someone said to me that if you can run 18km before the race (which I did on Sunday) then you should be able to complete a half marathon.

Training has been a bit more difficult the last week as Jane and I have been in Canada, though the hotels we stayed in were fantastic and all had wee pocket sized running routes printed, and with various distances. I managed to fit in an 8km run in Vancouver, but it was very cold. In Ottawa, we only had about 24 hours and it was snowing, so I decided to give myself a day off. While, Toronto was beautiful and very spring- like, and as we had one morning off, I was able to conquer 15km!

It has felt like a bit of relief since Sunday, especially as all of the training guides say you can taper off, so there hasn’t been the pressure to run long distances, or to run every day. In fact, every second day has been off, and the last run I did was only 5km, though I do have to run tonight. Unfortunately I won’t be able to wear my Durvillea singlet on the day which is a pity, as I find it uncomfortable on the long runs. Now I can’t promise a photo after the run, as I will not be at my best, but there will be a debrief next week on how it went. I would like to do it around 2.5 hours…..