WARNING : Contains Deliciousness

In South Africa, I was  traumatised by  exposed to Mama's Pies and Big Jack pies. I have never fully recovered from the ordeals, and those experiences are probably the cause of my fear of flaky pastry and wholesale greasiness. Please excuse me, but I need to go outdoors for a few gulps of fresh air to recover from that memory.

In NewZealand, I was gradually introduced to a Kiwi tradition -- the Pie. In some circles, it can be seen as a way of life. If your supplier (and almost everyone can sell you a selection) runs out of stock of your favourite for the day, it is truly a personal disaster.

Which pie? In New Zealand, you can buy all sorts with a really huge range to suit the taste of the locals: conventional, weird and wonderful and specialty. Strangely, they use the term "butter" to mean "curried."

Myself, I prefer the Pepper Steak, but others include Mince and gravy, Diced Steak and gravy, Chicken and vegetable, Butter chicken, Chicken bacon and mushroom, Creamy chicken and mushroom, Thai chicken, Blueberry and spiced apple, Sherried pear and plum, Cointreau pear and apple cherry, Vanilla bean poached apple and salted caramel, Steak onion and garlic, Banoffee pie, Caramelized pear walnuts and blue cheese, Egg and spring onion, and other combinations of various vegetables for non-meat eaters.

And today, the announcement came through on Breakfast TV -- Bakel's Supreme Pie of the year awards held in Auckland last night.

The categories under which bakeries have submitted entries include:

• Mince and Gravy
• Diced Steak and Gravy
• Chicken and Vegetable
• Gourmet Fruit
• Gourmet Meat
• Vegetarian
• Bacon and Egg
• Mince and Cheese
• Steak and Cheese
• Potato Top
• Commercial
• Cafe Boutique
• Supreme

The award of Supreme pie for 2015 went to the Potato Top pie, baked by Napier supermarket New World Greenmeadows, beating more than 5000 entries. The pie was described by judges as having the 'perfect ratio between a flavoursome filling, a super creamy potato top and a delicious pastry shell.'

If the results of the competition are anything to go by, then we don't live in a Champion Pie Area.  Only two entries from the Wellington area made it to the podium. Winning pies are awarded in four categories: Gold, Silver, Bronze and Highly Commended.

In the Diced Steak and Gravy category, a baker by name of Roger Cathro of Petone branch of Pak n Save supermarket was awarded Highly Commended. And he won another commendation for his entry in the Gourmet Meat category with his Thai Chicken pie.

I must admit that, since coming to New Zealand, I have almost overcome all my pie demon fears of Big Jack origin, and have developed a taste for the occasional Pepper Steak pies sold at the BP Wild Bean cafes. I'll try to make a point of trying out Mr Cathro's winning steak and gravy creation when I get close to Petone.

Wet Wet Wet

As is the case with so many things in life, water supply in Reikorangi certainly does not disappoint. In the dry January /February months, so many neighbours (and sometimes ourselves) run out of domestic water and are forced to buy water from a tanker service company. On the other hand, however, we tend to have more water than anyone could want during the rainier months, around June and July. 

According to my accurate calculations, using advanced arithmathematics, including a clear understanding of metrics and my most intimate knowledge of statistics, I came to the conclusion that every single millimetre of rainfall supplies us with approximately give-or-take about 300 litres of household drinking water. That's one and a half old fashion 45 gallon drumsful, which is plenty if you use the water exclusively to make tea, but when it comes to bathing, showering, toileting and laundering for seven people, it is drastically less than one day's needs, let alone taking into account the needs of a garden or expansive lawn.

Ho-hum. A bit of a dull subject. Which is probably a reflection of a "temporary" creative writing drought. I will classify the post as a historical domestic record with a batch of photos, for future reference.

The little lake-lets in the potager pebble area form principally as a result of overflow from the grey storage tank, because the main tank has been filled to capacity. The overflow will be controlled in future by pumping the unwanted excess down to the "orchard-chook" paddock. This could be done neatly via an underground hose from the tank farm running through the freshly-dug trench for the front lawn French drain and then through the under-drive pipe installed by John. Or not?

Overnight 15/16 July, we've had 27mm of rain --that's about 8,100 litres (in drinking language). 

(Above) The waterlogged ground, partly caused by overflow from the grey tank

(Above): The north-western corner of the potager pebbled area.

(Above): Potager pebbles

(Above): One of the corners of the Pohutukawa bed -- a true soggy boggy mire.

(Above): The lawn and driveway (principally) seems to drain quite well
into the newly-dug trench for the French drain. 

  

(Above): The flower-bed drain also seems quite effective.

(Above): The flower-bed trench has a lot more water than I expected. At the catchpit end,
the top of a vertical standard brick is just visible at the surface of the pond. 

Snow in Reikorangi

Tonight I'm off to the airport to collect the family arriving from their excursion to Christchurch. Flight NZ362 arriving at 20:45, the weather forecast fibs a bit about the temperature, though. It is currently 2ºC here, according to the Toyota outside. Its minus 222 according to my gloveless fingers!

As posted on my Facebook page, here are a couple of pictures I took a short while ago from the chook paddock, looking across towards the neighbours' cottage and shed.

(Above): The view of  the light snowfall on a couple or hills in the Tararua mountain range from the
chicken coop area, with our neighbour's cottage and shed in the foreground

The peaks in the background have had snow on them a couple of times for a day or two this winter so far, but this is the first time that the lower hills in the foreground have also had a a sprinkling.

(Above): Close up of the hillside.

One Year On

A year has passed, with our builder on site once more.

The end of June 2014 arrived in Reikorangi as Builder John's men were measuring and setting out the foundations for the extension to the house. Unfortunately, my photos from that period are hiding somewhere in the digital wilderness after "incident" with the laptop, so I have grabbed this photo  from one of those building project posts. The 20-year-old weatherboards (painted in a light brown) have quite obviously weathered...

2014: John's assistant apprentice Shamus (Seamus, I would have thought) carefully ties
the builder's line to the reference points for the dig.

At the end of June 2015, Builder John was back once more. This time to attend to the long-awaited delayed renovation of the weatherboards around the upstairs bedrooms.

2015:  The extension  slightly obscured on the left, the weatherboards
upstairs painted to match the new surfaces downstairs.

Tomorrow

We continually encounter crossroads in our lives. Generally and quite frequently, I imagine, we are not even aware of the importance of any one particular encounter. It is only later, whether after a few hours or days or even after passing of a sizeable fraction of our existence, that we might review that particular crossroad and recognise its significance and how our actions (or lack of action) influenced the result.

Today is the 8th of July. Early this morning, Tyler and Emily left the North Island bound for an Open Day at Canterbury University in Christchurch. As they clambered out at the Stop and Drop at Wellington Airport, I wondered whether they were even aware that they were at a major crossroad in the young lives, possibly the very first one related to their current education and future careers.

Superficially, this excursion was a day out. To check out the locations of the various lecture halls and student residences, where they are physically situated in relation to each other, to other amenities and to transport routes. This is the city where they are planning to spend a minimum of three or four academic years in preparation of their chosen careers, obtaining those important foundations, such  essential as building blocks which will enable them to earn a living.

Long-term, the excursion may be the most important first step in forging a career and the basis for future family life, acquiring educationally a whole new understanding of the technicalities of their chosen subjects, and socially meeting a whole array of new friends and acquaintances.

Dr Steve Maraboli said, "Although time seems to fly, it never travels faster than one day at a time. Each day is a new opportunity to live your life to the fullest. In each waking day, you will find scores of blessings and opportunities for positive change. Do not let your TODAY be stolen by the unchangeable past or the indefinite future! Today is a new day!"

Sorry (with lazy smile)

"Sometime ago I was able to log on to this blog and read something new virtually every day. Now... Nothing!  Are you Ok? Are you ill... or...  DEAD? Or simply too lazy to bother about writing?"
This, and other emails in similar vein which have ended up in my inbox, reflect my lack of blogging for many weeks.

Yes, yes. My apologies for the drought. Blame it on the winter-shortened days, blame it on the low temperatures, blame it... Ok, blame it on laziness, I guess.  Sorry, you're right -- I need to wake up a bit.

In my defence, I have posted some pictures from time to time on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/James.Andrews47
Although you do not have a FaceBook account of your own, I understand that you should still be able to access my page by clicking on the link as above.