Congratulations to Angus who won last week’s prize. This week, to celebrate Wellington on a Plate, thanks to the lovely Positively Wellington Tourism, we have a $100 voucher for Rata Cafe at Zealandia (the bird sanctuary in Karori) to give away.
If you’re the lucky winner, you might want to use it to have lunch in order to get your bearings before a night tour of the sanctuary (the cafe is only open until 5pm, mind) or when you take advantage of the special winter rate of admission to the information centre.
Of course, if you’re just in it for the food, we wouldn’t blame you! Rata has a particularly spectacular deck overlooking the sanctuary, and a menu (PDF) that offers up free range and organic goodness. As part of Wellington on a Plate, they’ve got a special deal for $25:
Sunday would have been a lovely day to have brunch at Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, except pretty much every other person in Wellington had the same idea, and we were told it was going to be a 45 minute wait. We decided we’d venture further afield, and made the mistake of heading out to Oriental Parade, and Beach Babylon.
When we got there, it was really busy, but we thought surely it would be less than the 45 minutes wait at SMK, because there were free tables outside. It was a bit breezy, so we were keen to sit inside – since there were no free tables they offered us one outside and told us they’d give us the first free table inside. So we hopped up on stools crammed in the corner, and consulted the menu. Lots of things sounded tasty on the menu. K was happy that they had Foxton Fizz. I contemplated ordering a Pink Princess, which was fizzy raspberry and vanilla ice cream, but I decided to pretend to be a grown up and order a latte bowl instead. So we waited for a waitress, and waited, and waited. Eventually one came up and told us that she couldn’t take our food order right now, because the kitchen was slammed, but she’d be back to take our drinks order. Seriously? I appreciate the place was busy, but surely it is the job of the staff to manage the workflow. If the kitchen wasn’t ready for our orders (which seems strange), the wait staff should still take them, and hold onto them, and let us know approximately how long a wait we could expect.
I am not going to see a single film at the Film Festival. I’m not much of a movie-goer at the best of times, and the idea of having to decide where I’m going to be weeks in advance in order to avoid having to sit with my knees around my ears in the back row somewhere just doesn’t appeal to me at all. But I know that there are people amongst us who love the festival. One Wellingtonista has taken two weeks off work to attend as many films as possible. Another’s going to see The Room in Christchurch and Wellington. You crazy kids and your hula hoops and your moving pictures!
But apparently not all is running smoothly. We got a copy of an angry letter an acquaintance is sending to the festival, and I thought I’d post it here to see if any of y’all are having similar experiences.
To whom it may concern,
I write to you in response to the chaos I witnessed this afternoon whilst lining up to buy a ticket for a popular film at the Embassy theatre. I know it was silly of me to expect to get a ticket on a busy Saturday half an hour before the film starts, but some people choose to make these choices. What shocked me was the level of competence involved at the box office. The whole thing seems very inefficient. I have an idea that you may find useful or not. Why not have three separate lines leading to the three separate consoles using dividers? I used to work at the Embassy and I know they have these dividers in the basement. If the lines are organized you can then make things a lot smoother during peak times. Make one line for advance bookings, one line for ticket collection from pre-orders, and one line for the immediate screening. You can even go a step further by using a sign stating the title of the film about to screen and whether or not it is sold out
There are craft markets that happen occasionally like Craft 2.0 and the Knack, which we get suitably excited about at the time, but another market that happens every weekend takes place on Saturdays in the underground carpark at Frank Kitts.
Usually they have a mix of stalls, food and music, but tomorrow they have a particular focus:
"Wonders of Wool" Market
Showing off the region’s fibre artists, spinners, felters, knitters & weavers.
Including demonstrations on spinning, weaving, crocheting as well as some specifically for the kids.
Over 60 stalls, including:
The market runs from 10am-4pm, it’s under cover, and the organisers promise it’ll be warm, so if you’re up for some yarn, you should definitely go along and check it out, not least because my aunt will be selling off her huge stash of weaving wool (we’re all about the nepotism here, of course).
We already told you how excited we are about the upcoming Wellington on a Plate festival, and now we’re even more excited to announce that we’re working with Positively Wellington Tourism to help you get the most out of the event. Yes, that’s right, you! Over the next five weeks, we’re going to be giving away one $100 voucher each week to one of five different restaurants participating in Wellington on a Plate. That’s some serious deliciousness to be had right there!
First up, we have a voucher for Elements Cafe. Elements is a frequent nominee in our TAWAs for Best Surburban Venue, and with menu items like chargrilled lamb loin, lamb & porcini pie served with truffle mash on the dinner menu, it’s not hard to see why. The service is warm and friendly, the setting in an old butcher’s shop is lovely and the food is extremely tasty. It’s well worth a trip out to Lyall Bay either for brunch, dinner or their cooking classes. As part of Wellington on a Plate, Elements are offering a $35 two-course lunch, or a $40 three-course dinner, including a glass of wine. Yum!
It’s time to eat eat eat! The programme for Wellington on a Plate has been launched, and it is making us mighty hungry. At the same time though, it makes us a little frustrated, because we’re not sure how to book events, or how much they’ll cost, and the descriptions are often quite vague. Still, there’s a lot of events that sounds fun, from Steampunk tours to murder mysteries, and there’s a range of special deals on at restaurants (finally eating at Martin Bosley’s is in financial reach!). Also new this year is a burger contest. We dare you to try each and every one, and report back to us with your findings. So, you’re taking us out for dinner then, yes?
Here at the Wellingtonista we’d like to think we have a fairly diverse range of readers, but perhaps we don’t cover enough of the really pop side of pop culture. Luckily, others do so now we’re going to tell you what another website is up to.
This Friday July 9, AaronandAndy.com, along with ZM is having a party with Kylie at the Garden Club (Apparently she’s now just a one-word-wonder now though, so don’t be dropping the M word too loudly).
Come along and celebrate the release of Kylie’s hot new album Aphrodite. We’ll be giving away Kylie posters, copies of Aphrodite, signed copies of X, and whatever other goodies we can get our hands on!
It promises to be a fun-filled night — and don’t worry, we won’t just be playing Kylie! — we’ve even got the country’s leading Kylie impersonator on hand to add to the festivities, and she’s still looking for some hot dancers if you’re keen!
Friday 9 July 2010
9pm til late
The Garden Club, 13 Dixon St, Wellington
$10 on the door, or find a flyer for free entry
If you’re looking for a fairly affordable dinner, let me recommend the Recovery Room in Newtown to you. We’ve only mentioned it before in a post that we archived due to infighting, so it’s time to talk about the food.
During the day the cabinets are stuffed with large fresh-looking sandwiches and luscious cakes for food on the go, but there’s also a menu offering standard cafe food. I stopped in for a quick dinner the other night, and was delighted with what I found. The Recovery Room is BYO seven days a week, but if you didn’t bring your own bottle, they have a blackboard wine list that we think is based on the specials on Vine Online, offering an interesting selection with all bottles at $32 and glasses for $8.
To eat, I had pork belly with celeriac slaw and crushed potatos. The pork was moist and fell apart beautifully, but it really needed a good grilling to get the crackling going properly. My mother had the fish of the day, which was warehou, cooked with lemon juice and capers. Both servings were generous and the flavours were excellent, good value for $23.50 each. We didn’t really need the grilled sour dough bread with balsamic and olive oil, but it was tasty nevertheless. The dessert menu featured white chocolate creme brulee and rhubarb crumble, but we were too full to indulge. Service was friendly, and the room was warm. The Recovery Room does all the things a neighbourhood cafe should do. Nothing’s too fussy or frilly, the simple flavours of the food stand for themselves.
Over the coming weekend, the town hall will echo with the sound of New Zealanders competing furiously against Australians and Americans to build a website for charity in 24 hours. There’s more information about how you can support your chosen team here, but if you’re not into competition, perhaps you’re into THE SUPERNATURAL?
At the same time as FullCode Press is happening, there’s also going to be a Full Code Ghost investigation going on at the Town Hall. It’s a grand old building (and also the subject of my first ever Wellingtonista post back in 2005!), so they’re bound to find something. Perhaps there might even be ghosts in the library next door…
Those of you with an interest in textiles, history and dressing up might be veeeeeeeeeerry interested in an upcoming lecture to be held at St. Andrew’s on the Terrace at 2.30pm on Saturday June 19.
Join the Dreamstress and the Wellington Historical Costume Society for a fundraising fashion history extravaganza: From the Streets of Pompeii to the Salons of Paris – The Classical influence on Western Fashion.
Textile and fashion historian Leimomi Oakes will present a entertaining and informative talk on the way Greek and Roman art and fashion have influenced Western fashion from the 18th century to the 20th. The talk will be illustrated by 10 models in historically accurate recreations of period attire – from a 1770s’ robe a la francaise to a 1920s’ flapper dress.
The talk will be fascinating, and the frocks will be fabulous – it should be an event to remember! Proceeds to benefit the Wellington Free Ambulance. Tickets are $15 waged, $10 unwaged. Tickets will be available at the door, or can be purchased in advance by emailing thedreamstress@yahoo.com.