Cooking with Frank (and other bits and pieces)

Well you can tell by the lack of posts that life has stayed busy for us here! It's been so long that I can't even remember all we've been up to but when I hooked my phone up to the computer I got these images off of it from a fun cooking class I did with some friends. We had a great time learning how to make (and eating) Passionfruit and Raspberry Cocktails, Scallops with Ginger and Micro Greens, Beef Wontons with Chilli Sauce, Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi (my favorite and I usually don't even like gnocchi), Crispy Pork Belly with Chilli and Garlic, Kumura and Carrot Mash, Garlic Spinach and Cherry and Goats Cheese Clafoutis (my other favorite). 

I also retrieved this photo from our visit to the tunnels and gun placements at Wright's Hill in Karori. The historical society opens the tunnels up for exploration on public holidays so we joined most of Wellington and had a tour on ANZAC Day. It was freezing but it was very interesting - the whole place was built in WW2 to guard Wellington Harbour against a Japanese invasion (that never happened).

Monty, Katie, Meggie, Josie, Ellie and Pippa in a tank.

The next few pictures are just to show how much we are enjoying our dog. She's a little weird but we do really like her! Ellie likes to pretend she's running the Iditarod and Chloe is pulling her sleigh, while Meg just likes being near her at all times. The children don't seem as keen on taking her for walks, feeding her, or cleaning her messes however.

She is a cute little thing and she has the longest legs in comparison to her body - she loves to run and actually doesn't mind pulling Ellie on the scooter. We're going to miss her when we go to the States, we're very thankful for our friends who have offered to look after so she won't be lonely in a kennel!

Last, but not least, I've been to a lot of cross-country these past weeks. Katie was pretty funny, she came running by making faces at me. She finished in the top half of her class and definitely gave it her all.

Katie, Anna and Emily cheer for Innes.

Katie at the back making faces.

I didn't get any photos of Meggie as her course took her far from me but she kept running the entire two kilometers which was her goal.

Ellie ran one kilometer with her age group and came in 11th out of all the girls. To qualify for Western Zones you had to place first through sixth in your age group so up to this point I was happy that the girls had tried their best but we weren't off to the zones. Then came Josie.

Ellie finishes her first cross-country race.

I was marshaling the final races which basically involved standing at the final corner in a yellow vest and making sure the children didn't cheat so therefore I wasn't at the finish line to get a good photo of
Josie's astonishing (to me) fourth place finish. I shouldn't have been surprised as she is so strong and athletic, but seeing as none of those genes came from me I'm gobsmacked every.single.time. I did get a good action shot though - she was miles ahead of the fifth place finisher and looking good for having gone two kilometers up hill and down dale!

And now, thank you very much, Josie and I are off to do it all again another day at the Western Zones races. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.

Hope you are all well! Lots of love from us. xxx

Josie's WOW Dress

Every year Wellington hosts the World of Wearable Art (WOW) show. It's a huge event and never disappoints as creative people turn all sorts of things into wearable art for an amazing show and exhibition. I went last year and was very impressed.

Anyway, Josie and her friends Stacy and Tessa participated in a Karori Normal Wearable Arts show and here are a few pictures of their creation with Josie modeling.

This was the work in progress - they went to Tessa's the week after these photos and finished it off with more colorful paperclips but no photos from that, sorry.

In other news every month that has a 5th Sunday our church has an earlier service than usual and then goes out into the community to do a service project. This past weekend the girls and I, along with Rachel from our Sunday School class, came back to our house to cook for Manna Ministries. Manna provides food throughout the week to those in need - whether harried mothers picking up their kiddos from our church's after-school program, or widows, or people struggling financially, whatever. We had a great time cooking together and managed to put together quite a few meals.

And finally, we sadly said goodbye to Summer. We all loved having her here and are happy to have a new friend in the world.

Josie and Ellie's Birthdays

This time last month it was Josie's birthday!! My little April 2nd baby turned 9-years-old without too much fanfare. I arrived back from the Tora Walk on her actual birthday so we celebrated with presents that evening and dinner out at one of her favorite restaurants in town. We also welcomed our house guest Summer on Josie's birthday. Summer is originally from Texas but she now lives and works in Cambodia where she helps counsel and rehabilitate girls that have been rescued from the sex-trade.

Not too many pics as we were rushing to get to dinner. Jo happily took several of her presents with us to the restaurant.

We got to know Summer because she is dating our youth minister, Guy. Guy asked her to marry him on Josie's birthday so when we went out to dinner that night we had a LOT to celebrate!!

Our beautiful birthday girl.

Enjoying her double-scoop gelato for dessert - a special birthday treat.

Of course almost two-weeks later we then celebrated Ellie-belly turning 7-years-old! Because her birthday fell during school holidays we haven't organized a party yet, too many people go away when school is out and we wanted all her new friends to be there. I still haven't organized a party. . .

Ellie loves her birthday more than just about any kid I know - she just revels in the day being all about her! She looks forward to it for days on end and when the day actually arrives it almost is like it goes in slow motion as she savors each and every second.

She requested monkey bread for breakfast. No canned biscuits here so it involves homemade dough which meant we had it for morning tea instead - momma couldn't quite get up early enough to have the dough risen and ready in time for breakfast. I've heard you can do it the night before and leave it in the fridge so next time I'll try that. Ellie was quite happy to have it for morning tea instead though.

Daddy met us for lunch at her favorite sushi restaurant, then we had her requested lamb roast dinner followed by birthday cake.

Just this week we celebrated Dugald's birthday as well - another yummy cake, chocolate this time, and a roast lamb dinner. Sadly he's fighting off a cold and very busy at work so on his birthday he had been in Auckland all day and was heading back the next morning. We will have to celebrate again later in the month when he is well and things settle down a bit. Lots of love from all of us!!