Tulips, tours, art, "Crafty Fifi", the legendary Fairy Trina and more at this year’s Spring Festival in the Botanic Gardens. Running from 28 September until 12 October. I can confirm that the recent (and typical for this time of year) gales have not denuded the tulip gardens & so weather permitting, Tulip Sunday on the first day of the Festival, should be a beautiful way to spend an hour or two communing with nature. According to the official programme:

Spring Festival is the time to revel in the glorious riot of spring flower colour and fragrance at the Wellington Botanic Garden.

Spring Festival is proudly brought to you by Wellington City Council, with generous support from the New Zealand Community Trust and the Wellington Cable Car.

Looking for a good steak in Wellington? A week or so ago this Wellingtonista was & after consulting my colleagues, I can report back on two of the finest steaks I have tasted in this city (yes, two).

First up, it was one of those notable occasions (although not a significant one) that prompts thoughts of a nice lunch and/or dinner.

First off lunch:

I had expressed to my loved ones, a particular desire to sample either a great steak, or a great cassoulet.

So imagine my delight on arriving at Copita to find they had “Fillet steak on a bed of Cassoulet”! It was meant to be obviously.

It was lovely, as was the squid entree.

Copita itself was quite underpatronised that day, but there was some sport to be had listening to a very loud party consisting of two older gentlemen lunching with two much younger women. Because they were so loud we soon ascertained the gentlemen were winemakers from the Hawkes Bay. It wasn’t obvious who the women were, but we decided that if the women paid, they were probably wine distribution reps, and if the men paid, hookers. As it happens, we left before them so we’ll never know!

And onto dinner:

We decided to take the tip from the team & try the Steak Frites at Le Metropolitain in Cuba St. This was served with a red wine & bone marrow sauce & we accompanied it with a green salad & copious glasses of a French wine whose name I can’t recall.

And once again, I can recommend a winner!

Le Metropolitain on this evening was well patronised but not packed, in addition, it’s a lovely little spot to watch passers by from. The staff were attentive & informative, the menu offered plenty of variety & the evening was a rousing success.

I’m happy to take any other decent steak recommendations for next year, in the comments.

When Arlo Edwards approached an art dealer with his work at the age of eighteen, the dealer told him to “come back in 10 years, and then maybe we’ll look at your work”.

Not content with such a response, Arlo embarked on a somewhat unorthodox curatorial career, and has been putting on exhibitions when and wherever he could for more than a decade.

Toi Pōneke Gallery is the next venue for one of his projects, an exhibition of work by 10 local established and emerging artists. The show, entitled In the Museum of Curious Intent, includes work by Chris Lundquist, Freeman White, William Hedley, James Flynn, Jaymi Bizzo Lawrence, Roger Morris, Marianne Muggeridge, Gareth Moon, Rupert Everest and some of Arlo’s own work.

In the Museum of Curious Intent opens at 6.30pm on Friday 26 September and runs until 25 October at Toi Pōneke Gallery, 61 – 63 Abel Smith Street.

Read more after the jump…

So this year we have only four teams, which means that the league will play out over three action-packed weeks starting at 6.30pm tomorrow night.

Round one (September 25):

• Bowlingtonista vs. Furry Feral Black Balls of Fury
• The Mighty Boost vs. The Purple Cobras

Round two (October 2):

• Bowlingtonista vs. The Mighty Boost
• Furry Feral Black Balls of Fury vs. The Purple Cobras

Round three (October 9):

• Bowlingtonista vs The Purple Cobras
• The Mighty Boost vs. Furry Feral Black Balls of Fury

Results will be posted as we go along, according to the aforementioned points system. Woo haa!

There won’t be any buses tomorrow as you’re no doubt aware, so please use the comments section to offer & request car-pools. I’d offer to drive the Newtownistas in, but instead, I’m getting a ride myself at an hour of the morning that I more often associate with falling asleep time. Wahoo.

Their Myspace headline is “If someone says they play with us, they do!”, a reference to the list of thirty-odd musicians that take the stage and/or record at various times with the musical collective known as Willard Grant Conspiracy. The loose group revolves around songwriter Robert Fisher, who sounds a little like Nick Cave, a little like Johnny Cash singing Leonard Cohen, and a lot like a good time; with a strong folk vein running through the sometimes-rockin’, often-orchestral arrangements and accompaniment that bring to mind Cave-affiliated instrumentalists the Dirty Three (listen to Ghost of the Girl in the Well and you’ll see what I mean).

Fisher is gracing us with a visit as the solo incarnation of Willard Grant next Wednesday, October 1st, at the San Fran Bathhouse – and before that Island Bay crab comes out of his shell again to call vested interest, I declare my bias, my band The Wrongdoings are proud to come out of quasi-retirement to play support at this gig. We’re very excited!

Tickets from Slowboat Records on Cuba St, or online at Under The Radar. Check out promoter Galesburg’s list of upcoming gigs for a bit of sunshine too – I’ll be posting more about them soon.

If you haven’t been down to Breaker Bay lately to get yourself a lump of whale oil (I’m not sure what’s more disgusting – whale vomit or the bile that the same-named blog splurts out) and you’re not the type to buy such a thing on trademe, the Wellingtonista would like to make the following cheesy suggestions:

• “I nominate that Mexican place down Left Bank that did that diabollically cheesy thing (quesadilla?) I had that one time. It was like a cheesy soup. I believe I stared death in the the face. The delicious, plasticy face.”
• “The ooozy oozy brie as part of the fantastic antipasto at Gusto in Petone
• Any cheese from the Dutch Shop in Petone (but I have a particular fondness for the cumin gouda)
• Fromagerie at Kirk’s
• Truffle (small but interesting selection)
• Saganaki (ouzo-flamed Greek cheese) at Duke Carvell’s
• Quattro Formaggio pizza at Scopa (and no doubt elsewhere)
• Chow’s blue cheese & peanut wontons
• “Oh, and Arbitrageur has some fantastic cheeses to chose from for their antipasto selection.”

So there’s a few starting points for you. Just don’t get too cheesed off if you have crazy dreams afterwards…

What:Envirotainment

Where:Oriental Parade (Freyberg Pool/Mural end)

When: 2.30 till 4.00pm Facebook event page

Spring has well and truly sprung but the universe is sending mixed messages as usual. Lambton Quay is decorated with slightly over-ripe kowhai trees in full bloom; the petals trampled into the street by the suits, and what’s left on the trees disheveled by the spring rains. Confusion reigns, walking down the street one day sans woolly hat, thinking to oneself, "there is nothing like Wellington on a good day" while looking up at the unimpeded blue sky. The next day remembering you still haven’t kicked that damn cold, the election date means tis the season for political hoardings to be littering the streets has begun and you really shouldn’t be wearing open toed shoes yet because it is raining again. Sigh.

• If you’re in town before 6pm today, sneak into the Software Freedom Day at the Michael Fowler Centre for a free Havana coffee. Don’t tell them that I sent you though.
• The previously mentioned Kayu Manis (you’re a manus!) – the Indonesian/Malaysian restaurant on Cuba Street is now BYO, which makes its $18 mains much more palatable. Also, the food is super fresh tasting, and the atmosphere is much nicer than your standard Malaysian joint, so we suggest that you check it out.
• The frequently apostrophe-catastrophic Electric Avenue now sports a banner advertising its music quiz on Thursday nights as being the only music quiz in town. Apparently Abel Smith Street, home to the music quiz on Thursday nights at the Cross is a suburb.
• Radio Active 89FM’s Handle the Jandal, the nationwide DIY music video competiton, is back for 2008 and is calling for entries for this year’s competition, to be held November 27 at Wellington’s St James Theatre. Go to Radio Active’s site for more information.
• Don’t forget to sign up for Bowling League.

Forgive me for sharing a couple of Wellington sights, recently captured on handy cell phone camera. Firstly:

It may not be immediately apparent but that is an Aston Martin DB9 (beloved of Top Gear-heads everywhere) parked in the top floor car park of Moore Wilsons. This means that there is someone in Wellington who takes a $430,000 car grocery shopping. It was also covered in concrete dust as Moore Wilsons is having some work done.

Next, Newtown United Video: keeping it real:

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