Sunday, March 20, 2011

Lazy weekend

It was my wife's birthday last week. We thought of going away from Auckland for the weekend but convincing people to scrap the two nights minimum stay rule and renting out their holiday homes has proven to be a difficult task. In the end, we settled for a 1/2 day trip to Kumeu.

Kumeu is a small town 25 kilometers Northwest of Auckland city. It was quite an easy drive on State highway 16. Took us less than 40 mins by car.

 Kumeu is well known for the wineries. The one we went to is called Soljans winery. It is a family run business that has been around for ages,established in the 1930's i think.  Their cafe is supposed to be one of the top 20 restaurants in Auckland.  So i went there with certain expectations.

We started off with their freshly baked bread, which we have totally enjoyed. The bread was warm and soft. It went really well with the chef's daily spread that came with the bread.



Hui got a glass of Gewurtz which she thought was quite good. My empty stomach doesn't usually agree with any form of alcohol. So i decided to skip the wine and got a cup of coffee instead.



Sadly, my praises for the food end there. Hui got a Croatian seared Lignja. It was basically seared squid coated lightly with bread crumbs served with salad.  We thought the squid should have been seared without the bread crumbs. Because it was pan-seared rather than deep fried, the crumbs soaked up quite a bit of moisture and have made the squid a bit too soft and chewy.



I got a Mushroom a la greque. I got it because i love hashcakes. But my hashcake was soggy.  I couldn't figure what happened but i suspect it was left standing for too long before serving.  The poor hashcake must have soaked up too much paprika oil or the moisture from their redwine infusion while left standing.


So, basically we were happy with half the food but the other half has left us a little disappointed.  I must say the service was pretty good though. Will we go back there again? Probably not. Aucklanders are blessed because Matakana (North of Auckland) and Kumeu (Northwest) are all saturated with numerous quality wineries. There are always better choices and definitely better hashcakes!





Saturday, March 12, 2011

Downunder

As a member of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, i attend the Update conference every year. The conference is held in Australia, usually in Sydney. This year the meeting was in Melbourne. And this year, it was a little bit more than just a conference for me. This year, i was there to attend a small ceremony where i have officially become a fellow of the college. Oh, we got a certificate at the end of the ceremony too. Though i must say the college was being very cheap, giving out a certificate without a cover or a case of some sort. I had to stuff it in my hand carry bag and ended up tearing it a little bit after my 3.5 hour flight.

The best part of conferences like that is i get to fly for free, as all our expenses are reimbursed under medical education claim, with a limit of course (otherwise i will be flying to Hawaii every 6 months!). My trip there this time was not without a few hiccups. Firstly my flight got delayed for two hours, which means i touched down at Melbourne at 11pm. Then i realised i have booked into the wrong hotel. Apparently there were two Medina executive apartments, one at each end of Flinders street. I was supposed to stay at the Medina at the Northbank instead of the one on Southbank. Anyway, at midnight, i walked the entire length of Flinders street and finally reached my hotel just after midnight. Luckily, the apartment was very nice. I could see the iconic building of Federation square from my balcony.



Due to the fact that i got the wrong hotel, i had a fair distance to travel to my conference venue the next morning. It would have taken me 25-30 mins on foot. I chose to take a tram. As usual, i carried my DSLR with me wherever i go. I walked pass this lane with cool Graffiti on my way to the tram stop.




On Sunday, i got a little fed up with the very facts packed talks. So, i decided to flag some of the talks and went wondering in the CBD of Melbourne.  Melbourne streets are busier than ever, packed with people, cars and all kinds of street performers. On the same street (Bourke street), i have seen a few but two of the performances caught my eyes. First act was by a group of Italian men, playing their music. The music had a heavy Latin swing to it. The band actually attracted lots of attention.












The second act was a man who painted himself gray to look like a statue. But instead of standing still like just another boring statue wannabe, he created another three statue who looked like him. It was kind of freaky seeing four faces in stone-form, especially when one of them could move.







Of course, Melbourne is not all pretty and civilised. Here's a dodgy one.....