Saturday, December 9, 2006

Just a short one....

I don't know if the short one is Carol, me or Dale :D

Our supper last night consisted of bite size chunks of chicken in a seasoned white sauce with a crispy crust on top like a layer of buttered panko or something. We also had roasted veggies, parsnips, yams/kumara, pumpkin and another type of sweet potatoes/kumara; potatoes duchess, steamed asparagus and rolls. For dessert we had Pavlova...if you've never had that, I would advise you to get the recipe and make it. It's kind of like the consistency of the inside of a marshmallow on its inside with a crispy crust. Glennis and Doug [Dale and Shanes friends of 27 years] kept saying, "Eat up, there's plenty." They had fresh strawberries to serve with the Pavlova, but I'm allergic and Carol won't eat them after years of picking them. So as a consession to us Glennis pealed and sliced some kiwi fruit to go with it for us. The tart sweet/sourness of the kiwi really set off the Pavlova.

Carol casually mentioned the Crema de Balsamico we found at the local liquor story, but didn't go into it. This stuff is THICK and you have to squeeze the bottle to get a drop out. A really good balsamic vinegar has a certain sweetness to it, but nothing like this. I ate it on my french fries [crisps according to Shane] and on my ham steak which he breaded and cooked on a griddle along with roma tomatoes that had one end cut off and then placed on the griddle next to the ham steaks...it was all yummy. It's really too bad all of you weren't here to share it with us, but I'm kinda of glad you weren't or I'd of had to share!

Carol

WHAT A HOOT!

I love these people. They certainly give directions like I do. Wave your arms around and get confused. Yourself and everyone else.

Met Doug and Glynnis last. Very nice people. Had a great dinner with lots of laughter.

Doug was impressed that I can hunt and shoot. talked hunting and shooting awhile.

Chris, you would love this place and I know Shane and Dale would love you. Such nice and fun people.

I have my xmas nails done. Look very nice and red with gold feathery stripes on them.

Shane is such a good cook, I've been eating to much. Have to quit.

Oh, you should see the ferns. They're trees. Really tall. Everything is lush and green. It is so pretty. Some of the flowers blooming here Shane says they are a pain, they grow everywhere. I told him we buy them to plant in our flower gardens. He couldn't believe it.

Had a good sleep after a glass of
Dougs wine last night.

Will close and go have breky.

Love you all.

What the hell is that and where are we?

If you find a few letters or words that don't fit into the sentence, just ignore them. I'll be typing along and my cursor will disappear..it has gone somewhere else and placed part of what I typed there. Quite confusing.

It is so much fun here. Janis, a natter is a chat. I've discovered that the cars here are much the same kinds as in the States, just different models. Shand has a BMW that he said I could drive any time I wished..my reply was, "You have to be kidding!" I would do just fine on the straightaways, but they have roundabouts everywhere and at most intersections in town. I'd come to one of those and have to stop to figure out what direction I was supposed to go and who had the right-of-way. I think a good bought of hysterics at each one would be my mode of operation.

Yesterday Shane took Carol and I into town [one of them anyway, there are so many and each with an unpronounceable name] to get some stamps. We got those and wandered about some. This is the wrong time of year to find some sweats and [for me] too cold to wear shorts. Carol wanted to have her nails done so we asked this salesclerk at the cosmetics counter where she could do this..where we could find a manicurist. The clerk proceeded to tell us where to find all the products, but not the manicurist. Shane finally rather bluntly asked her for a manicurist, not the products. She proceeded to wave her hand toward the back of the store and said, "Oh there's one on the "road" back there! It's quite a ways, just keep going." After much puzzlement at her directions Shane finally got the name of the street. We went back "there" and the shop was about a block away. We made an appointment and had about 2 1/2 hours to kill, so we went driving around in the country...trying to find the address for Shane to deliver a package. Want to talk about having a hard time. In the States, one side of the street/road has the even numbered addresses and the other side has the odd....it's like that here too, except on one side it might be #600 and immediately across the street might be 231. Time to get Carol back for her appointment...we didn't know where the hell we were...exactly. Managed to get her back with 3 minutes to spare. Pick her up in 2 1/2 hours. Shane and I launched out again to find this address. We finally found addresses all around it, but couldn't find the right one. We saw this man and boy walking in a field beside the road and stopped to ask. Shane said, "Do you know someone named Toby Lange and where he lives?" The man replied, "Who wants to know?" Shane explained that we had a package for him. The man says, "Oh, I'm Toby Lange!" Next, Shane wanted to take me to Hunuea Falls and asked the man how to get there. He proceeds to wave his arms around saying you turn here and turn there and go here and go there..a bit confusing to say the least. We finally found it after a harrowing journey. Walked to a viewpoint and there was this lovely fall about 200 feet high. I gazed at it a while and commented, "Oh, a magic waterfall!" Shane, of course, looks at me like my marbles are rolling around on the floor. I told him, of course it's magic. See how the water comes over the top all brown and muddy? About half way down where it strikes the rocks it turns pure white looking...magic! He kind of rolls his eyes like, what a goofball. It is really fun to tease and talk with him. Now, it's time to go get Carol. We come out of the park to Hunuea Road and can't remember which was we came in. I said we made a right turn to get into the park so we should make a left to get out. That sounded reasonable so off we went. A few kilometers down the road I told him I think we made a mistake...it's hard to find where you are on the maps...we turned around and sped off again. Finally found out we'd come in a different way on a different road. Well, who'd a thunk? Finally find where we are and arrive to pick up Carol. She'd been standing outside and half an hour. The manicurist had thought she wanted a pedicure also...how he came by that I'll never know because it wasn't mentioned. Then we were off for home because we were going to a friends for supper. More later, I need coffee and my feet are cold!