On the Grid
It’s official: after a hard-fought campaign, Wellington has beaten Baku to be included on the rounds of the “decadent travel guide” Gridskipper. They’re looking for tips, recommendations and “kiwiphilic thoughts”, so feel free to send in your rants and raves about the coolest, dodgiest and craziest things going on in town. Things like itinerant fractal […]
Are you game?
Next month, there will be an unusual collaboration between urban gourmets and huntin’ shootin’ fishin’ types. The Fish & Game NZ Wild Game Bird Food Festival, which runs from the 8th to the 28th of May, encourages hunters to bring their prey into participating restuarants where their catch can be transformed into gourmet dishes. The […]
Bunny boiling
Shadows grow longer, leaves turn to russet and fall to the damp earth, and an autumnal chill settles upon our fair city. So what better time to celebrate the new life and fruitfulness of spring?
Yes, Easter is upon us, so we should prepare ourselves for serious contemplation of the greatest miracle of all. Chocolate.
The good people at Truffle are always ready to help celebrate the abundance of nature, or at least the edible portion of it, and they have some special goodies for the season. Bags of Piedmontese chocolate eggs by Venchi are a snip at $14.95 for 135 grams, and they’re also stocking some special items from Wellington’s favourite alchemists of confectionery, Schoc. Those with a farmyard fetish can pretend that they’re in a Cadbury’s ad and gorge themselves on chocolate rabbits and poultry, while aesthetes might prefer the one-off hand-painted hollow eggs. In the same vein as their Christmas bars (real gold, frankincense and myrrh), they offer Easter chocolate bars flavoured like hot cross buns. What sorcery is this?!?
Of course, when one thinks of Easter, one thinks of cabaret. No? Must just be me then. But it seems that others think the same way, since on Good Friday Sandwiches will be home to “Sheba’s Dirty Thirties Cabaret”. Anyone who’s seen one of Sheba’s cabaret performances (such as at last year’s Midnight Burlesque) will know that “dirty” won’t be an exaggeration.
For those who prefer a more sedate cabaret experience, Eateria de Manon (by all accounts the best French restaurant south of Majoribanks St) is having a tribute to Edith Piaf on Sunday night. For $55 you get a three course meal and live music from local Piafophiles Sans Souci. I’m not sure what will be on the menu for the night, but they are known for such dishes as squash and pork trotter soup, brioche-crumbed lambs brains and squid stuffed with wild goat. While those of a sentimental persuasion can ooh and ahh over cutely gamboling easter lambs, isn’t it nice to think that some of us will be eating their brains?
Wellington: the world’s 12th nicest city
A new survey published by Mercer Human Resource Consulting rates Wellington as the 12th best city to live in, based on the quality of living offered to residents. Auckland comes in a very respectable 5th, with the rest of the top 12 filled out by Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Bern, Sydney and Copenhagen.
American cities don’t get a show-in until Honolulu gets them off the mark at 27th (much to the delight of the Canadian press, who aren’t shy about pointing out their southern neighbours lower placings).
Can’t say the presence of Dusseldorf and Bern in the top 10 fills us with a great deal of confidence in the accuracy of the survey, though.
Down the toilet
The little side street at the Taranaki Street end of Courtenay Place has been due for big changes for a while, and now it all looks like it’s finally happening. In June, work will start on closing the street and turning it into a pocket park: more details will be released by the council in a couple of weeks. Also, the long-abandoned toilet block which has been the subject of various suggestions over the years (including, hilariously, wetarium and sexual health museum), will undergo a more predictable but nonetheless welcome transformation. Ian “Ferg” Ferguson will convert it into a wine bar by doubling the underground space, lining the walls with wine racks and adding an outdoor drinking area on the roof. This work will also start in June and is expected to open by Christmas under the name “Wine Cellar” (WC for short, of course). If only the walls could speak!
But the first change that we’ll see here is the opening of the first downtown Wellington branch of Burger Fuel. That explains the loud drooling noises emanating from Wellingtonista towers. There’s no official word on the opening date, but construction work looks well advanced, so I’d guess that it’s just a few weeks away. Mmm, booze, burgers and a sunny park: that’s got to be better than a turning lane and a handful of car parks.
Slav to the Rhythm
Luke Buda – Benny Andersson (ABBA) impersonator extraordinaire, and one of the frontmen of Wellington band The Phoenix Foundation – has just released his debut solo album ‘Special Surprise‘ (following on from his 2004 release ‘The C-Sides’ mini-album, which is still available over at Slow Boat Records so we’re told).
And it sounds great. Fans of The Phoenix Foundation will know roughly what to expect: lots of nice melodies and guitar action, but with a touch more humour and a lot more synth action than the two ‘Phoenecian’ albums to date. But don’t believe us, believe the paid professional reviewers. Says Lindsay Davis of the Dominion…
Musically, the album is eclectic, mixing the gunslinging rock on the ‘Stallion’ to the Latin feel of ‘Sauerkraut Bossa’, which combines a cheesy electro-lounge rhythm with organ washes and yet somehow you are hooked. ‘Slav to the Rhythm’ updates mid-period Bowie with a slick lyric that morphs into a a driving fuzzed conclusion that would make the Tin Machine blush.
…and Lyndon Walker of Rip it Up…
With lots of soft melodies, mellow synths and a sound which is part Phoenix Foundation and part his own, this album is a great listen from beginning to end…
Any Aucklanders who happen to be reading this blog should be aware that Buda is playing up at the Kings Arms this Saturday (8th April) with SJD, and for us Wellingtonians, more gigs are apparently in
2THICK2 Spell
According to a Creative New Zealand survey (3.5MB PDF) that was released last night, Wellingtonians are over 50% more likely than the average New Zealander to regularly attend arts events. Census data shows that Wellington City has the highest proportion of households that live without a car. So obviously, Wellington is the natural place to […]
Idea city
Who says that Wellington is devoid of intellectual debate? Certainly not the people behind the 7×7 Ideas Forums, who organise regular presentations where 7 people each get 7 minutes to promote, demonstrate and discuss their ideas. There’s no indication on their website of who will be speaking during this series, but the previous series (some […]
CRANFIELDS ONLINE
ATTENTION ex-pat Wellingtonians! Looking for the perfect gift to send to your loved ones back home? Cranfields – Merchants of imported gifts, decorative objects and beautiful furniture, and one of the most interesting shops in the city (not to mention Auckland & Melbourne too) is now online & taking orders from anywhere in the world. […]
A whirled of pain
Now that the wind’s gone (calloo callay!) and the sun’s out (oh frabjous day!), wouldn’t it be a lovely time to wander down to the waterfront and see the much photographed Water Whirler do its thing? Not so fast, matey boy, someone has had other ideas. It seems that someone has decided that it’s more […]