Saturday, 22 November 2008

New Zealand

Monday 17 November
Harbourside Seafood
Tuesday 18 November
Wednesday 19 November
York St Cafe
Thursday 20 November
Friday 21 November
Waipu Cafe & Deli
Warkworth Honey Centre
Cook's Landing
Saturday 22 November
Four Fish
Sunday 23 November
The Church of the Cross Turangi
A fantastic setting, but in the beautifully lit garden with flame next to the car park we first heard the music that spoilt our evening.
A converted church with great atmosphere and pretensions to be truly great. The chef Francky Godinho was, so local reviews say, NZ Chef of the Year 2007 and Hawke's Bay chef of the year 2008. So expectations were very high - enhanced by the setting. 
Our niggles were that we were not acknowledged immediately on entering the restaurant, the music was too loud and totally inappropriate in a restaurant of this type, and that the duck leg ($30) was overcooked, although the breast was fine.
On the plus side the 3 oyster shot at $12 and the venison steak at $36 were good. We enjoyed a glass of Bilancia Viognier at $13 and a bottle of Alpha Domus Navigator $48.
Overall could be good with a little more attention to detail and a better soundtrack!
Monday 24 November

Monday, 27 October 2008

Tesco pricing

Just dropped into my local Tesco. Own-brand blank DVD-R discs were £4.97 for 10, £5.00 for 25, and £10.97 for 50. Are Tesco bosses testing out our mental arithmetic skills?
Even more bizarre were the Energy Saving lamps. For example the GE 9W BC was £1 for one, or 40p for 5. That's right 10 of them cost less than a single lamp.

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Mijas Storm 2

It never rains, but it pours.... things come in threes...
After the flood and the gales came an electrical storm at around 07:00 on Tuesday 14th.
We took a devastating spike through the public supply knocking out much equipment including our telephone system that is wired in through a surge protected uninterruptable power supply.

Monday, 13 October 2008

Orquesta Filarmonica de Málaga

Friday 10th we ventured out to Málaga for an ofm Tchaikovsky concert. Aldo Ceccato was in charge and the orchestra gave a splendid account of Tchaikovsky's 4th. Before that Asier Polo shone in the Variations on a Rococo theme. The concert started with Diana Pérez's short new commission mixing two Tchaikovsky themes - the Sleeping Lake.

Songs of Praise

Sunday 12th saw myself on TV- was a vox pop on Aled Jones' Fuengirola Songs of Praise. Also appeared in the singing crowd three or four times 

Mijas Storm


On Thursday 9th it rained heavily- the arroyo ran and the ford was littered with debris and rocks.
Friday 10th brought storm force winds that continued for 24 hours and created impressive damage. Locally winds reached 100km/h (force 10). Friday night was very warm with the temperature staying above 21°. By Sunday the winds had died down and the air was full of Saharan sand giving very poor visibility- a calima.