Tag Archives: bicycles

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