2KX

Happy new decade! This, in a nutshell, summarises my goals for 2010:

1. Become a ukulele maestro
2. Watch more Elvis movies
3. And generally engage in cheesy activities (both of the metaphorical and literal kind. Mmmm, fondue).

Bathtime Fun With Maggie

Oh Princess Margaret. You and your whimsical bathtime habits.

Actually, I really love this photo of Princess Margaret. The tiara was one she wore to appear taller - the effect is somewhat lost while in the bath, but she was really really short. Like REALLY short. About 5ft I believe. She and Mr Wladyslaw 'Elbow-High' would probably have seen eye to eye.

She was also something of a showpony throughout her life. As the younger sister to the Queen, who was always busy being sensible and dutiful, PM didn't really have that much to do with herself. So instead she went clubbing, drank gallons of Famous Grouse and hijacked pianos at parties, playing and singing until everyone was thoroughly sick of her. And of course, she was infamously denied the chance to marry the man she loved, which lead to a disastrous marriage on the rebound with Tony Armstrong-Jones and a slow, public descent into tragic spinsterhood as she aged.

The general view of PM is that of a life wasted, a famous beauty who could have excelled on the stage or in a career but who was overshadowed by her family and relegated to a dusty corner of British history. Which is all perfectly true. She did however illuminate the Royal Family for a while, she was the first bonafide twentieth-century celebrity they'd ever had and had real star power, the absolute top of the 'A' listers in post-war Britain. Bottom line was she was always far more interesting than all of them put together precisely because she was so messed up.

And one thing's for certain - her sister would never pose for a photo in the bath.

Hey Shawty

Meet Wladyslaw I, King of Poland (1261-1333). Also known as Wladyslaw the Elbow-High.
Dude reunited Poland and was actually a pretty decent ruler for the age. But what he's really remembered for is being a short-ass. Given his expression above I'm guessing he wasn't thrilled about being Mr 'Elbow-High'.

Handy Tip: upon becoming ruler of any dominion, avoid becoming historical laughing-stock and adopt awe-inspiring nickname to downplay any physical shortcomings one may have.

(Ha! See what I did there? Shortcomings!)

*snigger*

*UPDATE - Chilli Fries*

Well, I finally tried 'em. And my conclusion is = chilli fries are not FTW.

Kids, just say 'no'.

"Oh Brian. I do so love the things you do to keep our romantic woodland walks surprising"

http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=44906&l=en

Birthday - The Week In Pictures

Birthdays are awesome. Just so ya know. I spent a lot of time playing with my new camera, so here're some of the highlights of my birthday week in picture-form.

Yay pictures! Sooo much better than words.

Birthdayday #1- this is how I found my desk at work in the morning. Balloons! Tinsel! Llamas! Squee!

Birthdayday #2 - very pretty red velvet cupcakes. NOM.

Birthdayday #3 - lunch at a verrrry nice winery just outside of Chch with my lovely family. With verrrry nice glasses of wine.

Birthdayday #4 - Lemur feeding at Willowbank! Lemurs are awesome, lurve sultanas, and have very grabby hands.

Birthdayday #5 - getting an extreme fix of Springtime in Hanmer Springs.

Birthdayday #6 - Donuts! And a llama.

Birthdayday #7 - sophistimicated dinner at Logan Brown. With a new Beatles CD in between each course! Abbey Road is the perfect accompaniment for Tarakihi and Pinot Gris.

And it's still continuing! Yay for birthdays that go on and on and on and on and on...

Awesomesauce!

Haven’t done this for a while, but there’s a lot of awesomesauce around the place lately. Gets quite sticky underfoot.

Awesomesauce #1 – Florence and the Machine. Ballsy voice and utterly gorgeous videos, especially this one: http://tiny.cc/ROZT6. Makes me want to grow my hair long and dye it BRIGHT red again.

Awesomesauce #2 – Birthdays! I’m living in a big pink happy birthday bubble at the moment, after a trip to Chch to see ma belle famille and lots of lovely birthday messages from friends. Took lots of photos with shiny new camera, and will post these later. And there’s STILL more celebrating to come, starting with dinner at Logan Brown tonight! NOM.

Awesomesauce #3 – speaking of which, here’s to the wonderful people in my life! It’s times like these that I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people who care about me and willingly put up with my eccentricities. People who hang out with me despite all my strange whims, I salute thee!

Awesomesauce #4 – Looooooong weekend. Perfect timing. I want SUN! And I want SHOPPING! And I want ROAD TRIP! Oh and also I want SLEEP!

Awesomesauce #5 – People under 2 years of age. They just have the best time ever. Every single day. Every hour in fact. The toddler is a bundle of energy and curiosity and creates her own fun wherever she goes. I also love that she regards me as a captive audience to play up to and misbehave in front of just to see what my reaction will be. It makes me feel like the guest of honour whenever we hang out.

Awesomesauce #6 - Donuts. Okay, I know I go on about them all the time, but it's the fact that I can't get them in Wgtn that makes me obsess about them. And so when I do get a chance to have good donuts it makes it all the more exciting! And I had gooood donuts in Chch. They're still making me happy.

Awesomesauce #7 – La belle printemps! Alright, so the weather is so changeable at the moment that it could be diagnosed with schizophrenia, but when the sun comes out all is forgiven. Chch was positively marinating in spring complete with a surfeit of flowers, lambs, ducklings and blossom. Even the odd cygnet. Spring is rad and if I had my way we’d be having some kind of national holiday where we all have to take a day off work to go roll around in a field full of daisies to celebrate it. Which is why you should vote Katherine!

Birthday! Cha cha cha!

It was 26 years ago today. Or so the Beatles would have said if they'd released Sgt Pepper in 1973.

I have to say I'm liking the simple but effective use of Pebbles as cake decorations. I wonder if I had a hand in that? Given the wonkiness of the 'K', it's rather likely.

Also, I should totally start wearing frilly socks again.

Squee!

Always a good day when you find these kinds of things online. I've been looking for this for ages actually, ah so many happy memories:

http://tiny.cc/MunchBunch

Pedro Orange was always my favourite, and I'd forgotten that he does an awesome musical collaboration with the Banana Bunch in the opening titles. What a guy.

And now I'm seriously starting to wonder if this is where I get my deep-seated love of mariachi bands from?

Katherine The Also Great

So. Come Friday and I’ll be finished with this particular decade of my life. 3 down, 11 to go (yes you heard me correctly).

Yep. Interesting times. Now I really can’t hide from the fact that I am officially a Grown Up. Whoa. I have to say though that I’m rather pleased to be at the tail end of my twenties, rather than starting it all over again. As wonderful and exhilarating and fantastic as youth is, it can also be incredibly confusing and angst-ridden, and having survived all of that I am now immensely enjoying reaping the rewards of being older and wiser – namely, understanding who I am, who I’m not and recognising that, actually, it’s all good and nothing to be worried about. What’s even more enlightening is the realisation you get from talking to other people that this is such a universal experience. Everyone goes through the Age of Angst at some point, even though some people don’t show it as much as others. But in the end we all come out of it, hopefully happier and more accepting of ourselves than ever before. Aw.


Anyway, for my birthday I’d quite like a crown like Catherine the Great’s. You can’t really see it in this picture, but I’m rather fond of the one she had, it was all rubies and diamonds and awe-inspiring Slavic sparkliness. And while I’m at it a sash and a sceptre wouldn’t go amiss either.


What was Catherine the Great doing at age 30 I wonder? She was in a loveless marriage to the staggeringly incompetent Peter III, educating herself about the principles of the Enlightenment, and perfecting her political strategems until the time was right for her to wrest power from her husband in bloodless and almost effortless coup three years later. And then of course she went on to become one of the greatest monarchs of all time, a figurehead of the Enlightenment, a cultural revolutionary, a despot and a thoroughly impressive and independent female ruler. And to be frank, I’m expecting nothing less from my thirties as well.

Quelle Grande Dame

So this here is Mary of Teck (1867-1953). Where is Teck, you ask? Good question, but not really that important (Teck was an area in SW Deutschland, the home of a bunch of minor German royals and a burnt down castle). The point about Mary of Teck is that she also happened to be married to the King of England. How nice.

Mary’s German father had married into the British Royal family, and Mary was born and raised in England. Her parents were a rather mismatched couple, who were also spectacularly in debt most of the time, and Mary spent a good portion of her childhood in exile in Europe while her family tried to avoid their English creditors.

Their one saving grace was Mary – good old Queen Vic had taken a shine to the comely lass and arranged an engagement between her and Prince Albert Victor, Queen Victoria’s eldest grandson and heir to the British throne, which meant an end to the Teck’s financial misfortunes. Huzzah! Everything went swimmingly…for the first 6 weeks, and then the Prince inconveniently died of the flu.

But canny Queen Vic had a back-up plan. “Mary” she said, “Mary, do not fear for I happen to have another grandson who needs a wife, and to be honest you’ll hardly notice the difference between them, they all look the same to me” *. Huzzah! So Mary married Prince George instead and found herself Queen of England in no time.

By all accounts, Mary was rather a formidable mother and Queen, with a very strong sense of duty and she supported her husband George V during WWI as he tried to hide any German familial connections with the British royal family (a bit of a challenge when the Kaiser is your cousin, but his plan of getting everyone in the family to change their names, and stick their fingers in their ears and say “LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU MEIN FREUND” seemed to work pretty well).

The coolest thing about Queen Mary though was that she had mad accessorising skillz. She had access to the best collection of jewellery in the Empire and she just piled it on, layer upon layer upon layer, like a Sara Lee pastry. She was particularly fond of multi-layered diamond chokers teamed with strands of long necklaces which reached down to her waist, a very Edwardian look which emphasised the length of her neck (and looks weirdly African to me). She was also a big fan of the stomacher – pieces of jewellery which covered the front of the bodice, and which were basically just another excuse to wear more bling. Mary wore them all the time and endlessly modified pieces in her collection so she could wear them on her stomach. I love the idea of stomachers, it’s an area much under-utilised for adornment these days, but she was the last monarch to embrace them as the look died out in the 1920s when waistlines disappeared. *le sigh.

I think it’s time for a stomacher revival.

*conversation may not have actually happened outside of my head.

Ode to Winter

Last day of winter, huzzah! Even though the weather was bleedin' awful today, I am super excited about the fact that when I wake up tomorrow it will OFFICIALLY be SPRING and winter no more!!!!!
Before this momentous seasonal change occurs however, I feel the need to mark the occasion and take a moment to reflect on the experiences this winter has brought me. As such, I thought it would be pertinent to make a list of the most significant things I have learnt over this period, for my own contemplation and for the edification of others. A succinct seasonal summation, if you will. Ahem.

What Mademoiselle Coccinelle has learnt o'er the Winter:
- An early night once in a while does wonders for your mental health.
- French onion soup is surprisingly delicious, even if you don't like onions.
- Fruit is my friend. Who'd've thunk it.
- It's possible that Christchurch isn't the boring, conservative and slightly dodgy place I used to think it was. And it has donuts.
- Re-stringing a mandolin is astonishingly bad for your nails.
- One day I'm just going to have to accept that being organised is a state of existence that I am incapable of attaining.
- Cheese in a can is fun to write on walls with. Consuming it, however, is unthinkable.
- I have mad skillz for making mulled wine.
- Elephants would make fantastic house pets. If they could, ya know, fit inside a house.
- I am chronically late. Once upon a time I was a very punctual person. Now I am one of those annoying people who always turns up at least 10 minutes late to everything. Je suis the Late Mademoiselle Coccinelle.
- Everything can improved with the addition of lime juice (except for paper cuts).
- Getting rid of clutter is a source of never-ending joy to me. Oh how I love to purge!
- Eating at Fisherman's Table is something one does at one's own risk.
- Good TV is essential for making it through the darkest, coldest, wettest months.

And thus I bid goodbye to Winter! Adieu!!!

His Imperial Majesty

I really like this guy. Mr Joshua Norton (1819-1880), a failed rice merchant from San Francisco, who decided one day that he was in fact the Emperor of the United States. And why not, I guess no one else was doing that particular job at the time.

His imperial duties consisted of wandering the streets of San Francisco wearing his fetching regalia, issuing his own currency, spreading rumours that he would marry Queen Victoria, eating for free at local restaurants and endorsing them with 'imperial seals of approval' instead of payment, and conducting a funeral for his dog 'Bummer' while dressed as the Pope (Norton that is, not the dog).

Lunatic though he was, the people of San Francisco were extremely fond of him and treated him with great deference. And how could you not be respectful to the one and only Emperor of the United States?

Caution - Llamas

If I had a llama farm I would totally have one of these signs too.

Awesomesauce

Awesomesauce #1 - every lazy weekend out of town should look like the above.

Awesomesauce #2 - Dollhouse. Just started watching it, can't tear myself away, it's totally messing with my mind. I love you Joss.

Awesomesauce #3 - Ice cream cupcakes! Not cupcakes shaped like ice cream or anything, but cakes made from ice cream. As in, in the batter itself. It replaces the milk and butter and means you can make any kind of totally weird, messed up flavour combination you like. Chocolate with boysenberry icecream. Vanilla with caramel ice cream. I'm working up the courage to see how Goody Goody Gum Drops would work - yes, I am that perverted. I'm predicting melting, burning and probably badness.

Awesomesauce #4 - Sun. What is that bright, glowing, yellow ball in the sky? I haven't seen it in so long that I can't remember what we're supposed to do when we see it. Go outside? Not wear so many layers? Plan outdoor activities? Actually look forward to the coming months? Madness!

Awesomesauce #5 - Hairdye. So much fun, I'd forgotten how refreshing it is to mess around with your hair colour. Bidding adieu to my natural ginge, I've gone darker and redder. Oh la la!

Chur to the Chur

It's Christchurch, can't you tell? Sometimes I forget how much it looks like Arizona...

I was greatly amused by the exotic plants house in the Bot Gardens down there, and this display tickled me pink. Esp after walking around the Arts Centre on a freezing cold wintry day. I'd forgotten how lovely the Arts Centre is on the weekends, completely full of people shopping and buying lunch from the food carts. And squeezing through the crowds at Fudge Cottage while trying to catch the eye of the Fudge Ladies who proffer plates of fudge for the sampling. And seriously, they do the best coconut ice in the universe. That is no exaggeration. I'm pretty sure if you did a study of all the coconut ice available in every solar system in the universe, the conclusion would be that Fudge Cottage coconut ice kicks alien arse every time.

Mmm, chur to the chur indeed.

Awesomesauce

Awesomesauce #1 - The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. I saw these guys last weekend at their concert in the Michael Fowler Centre, and it was absolutely magical. I want to be just like them when I grow up. http://tiny.cc/ukulele

Awesomesauce #2 - I'm going to Chch this week! Yay! Haven't been down for 4 months and my niece has done a lot of growing since then, she's now a toddler. Can't wait to see her and hang out with the Fandamily :)

Awesomesauce #3 - This series starts on C4 on Monday http://tiny.cc/rocked
We did a lot of work on it and it looks like it's going to be really good. It already looks much more entertaining with Rhys Darby as the presenter rather than dear old Karen Hay in the first series last year. Karen's a legend, but not exactly engaging.

Awesomesauce #4 - Having a weekend when I don't have to pack or unpack. I've been at the new place for a few weeks now, but I'm still in post-move mode and any day that I don't have to sort my belongings out still feels like a luxury.

Awesomesauce #5 - I replaced my crappy old hair dryer with a New Flash One. The future is here and it's drying my hair.

Ola Amigos!

A big ¡Ola! to King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain who have been visiting our fair shores. Why they were in NZ, I have no idea, but it was interesting nonetheless. One of my sisters was due to meet them when they visited the University of Canterbury, but that was unfortunately cancelled after a misunderstanding with another NZ university (which shall remain nameless, suffice to say their grasp of royal protocol leaves much to be desired). So, no Spanish Royals for us! *le sigh

The only member of my family who has encountered a Royal before is my Dad. He met Princess Anne at a function last year in Christchurch, and since he’s from Ye Olde Country I thought he might be rather biased towards the royal family. Ah, but my Dad is not one to be swayed by patriotism, nor celebrity. When I asked him what Princess Anne was like in the flesh he replied 'oh...sort of...Princess Anne-ish'. I pressed him for more detail and he said 'well...she's not the best looking woman'. Heh. I heart my Dad :)

As far as monarchs go (in this progressive and modern age), Spain could have done a lot worse than these guys. King Juan Carlos is the first Spanish monarch since Franco and he’s not done too bad a job. I mean, Spain’s still pretty f*$%ed up but at least he's managed to keep his job (and his head, which is a lot more than can be said for many other new monarchies – yes, I'm looking at you Mr Maximilian I of Mexico!).

(And no, the above picture is not of Juan and Sofia, they're pretty ordinary looking. It's actually of the Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain {1832-1897} who dressed much more like a Spanish monarch should IMHO).

New Favourite Thing!

I have never been a fruit person. I have no regard for apples, I despise oranges, and bananas should only ever be eaten in cake form. It’s odd really. Considering I have quite the sweet tooth you’d think I would joyfully partake of nature’s candy. But, let’s face it, unnatural candy is way better. And has fewer pips.

So I have absolutely no explanation for why I’m suddenly addicted to persimmons. They look like large unripe tomatoes, smell weird and are strangely aromatic. They taste even weirder, not like any fruit I can describe. But they’re so good. Crunchy and juicy and fragrant. I’ve been eating them every day and actually find myself craving them, which never happens for me with fruit. I've even worked out my own patented method of eating them without the skin and with the minimum of preparation or mess.

I think I’m having a fruit epiphany. Is this cause for concern?

 

New Favourite Thing!

NFT this week is the unnatural and unholy combination of Peanut Butter and Chocolate. It is Wrong and Disgusting and Unbelievably Delicious. Totally not a NZ thing – very North American. I have never understood their taste for sweet peanut butter. To me (and most people of sound mind) peanut butter is savoury thing to be enjoyed on crackers, toast, in a sandwich, but nowhere else. Ah, but those North Americans they chuck it in all over the show, in desserts and baking and candy. Madness.

However, recently a friend made a Peanut Butter Pie. That’s right, pie. With oreo cookie crust, and a filling of cream, sugar, peanut butter and gelatine. I was intrigued. And then after one slice I was deeply concerned at my urge to eat the whole thing – seems Peanut Butter Pie is incredibly good and extremely addictive. Omg. Walk Away From The Pie.

This has totally changed my stance on the whole Sweet Peanut Butter issue, I finally understand where those Americans are coming from, and I heartily applaud them. Now I’m off to buy some Reese’s Pieces.

New Favourite Thing!

Bliss! I've finally gotten around to getting a copy of this - Split Enz's Rootin' Tootin' Luton tapes. It comes from a bunch of Split Enz demo sessions recorded in the late '70s but it wasn't released until 2007 after the Split Enz fan club rallied round the cause.

And I'm so so glad they did. It's a damn fine album, heavier and a little rockier than a lot of Split Enz stuff of that time. It still has some of the baroque flourishes and experimentation of early Split Enz, but it's also a really gutsy album. In fact, I think the word 'meaty' would be an apt adjective to use here. Mmmm, meaty.

It's totally become one of my favourite Split Enz albums ever, and how rad (yes, I just used the word 'rad', deal with it) is that - to not only find additional material from one of my favourite bands, but also to find that it's really good. Artists release bonus material aaaall the time, but normally I ignore it because on the whole it's pretty crap and one is left with a profound understanding of why the artist chose not to release it in the first place. But this here is the exception to the rule and has made me very very happy.

Viva Mexico!

Aw, I feel bad for Mexico, getting all this flak for one little measly worldwide flu pandemic. I think it's time we take a moment to stop and remind ourselves that it's not the Mexicans' fault for this, but the pigs, and let's think about the good things Mexico has given to the world! To paraphrase Monty Python, what have the Mexicans ever done for us?

Here's a short, but by no means exhaustive, list:

- Mexican Food - if I had to choose a national cuisine to eat for the rest of my life, it would be this. Tacos, burritos, refried beans, guacamole, margaritas, tequila, mole sauce! I would move into a Taco Bell if I could (if there was one in NZ).

- Mariachi bands - I love these guys so much, there's something about the hugely oversized guitars and the stupid hats that totally rings my bell. Secretly I've always wanted to play in one of those bands (or not so secretly perhaps).

- Sombreros - speaking of stupid hats, how cool are sombreros? WAY cool, that's what!

- Day of the Dead - now that's my kinda national celebration, what with all those bright, strong colours and statues that look like they come from a Tim Burton set. And how cool to celebrate the afterlife like that, not just treat it like some big invisible misty thing that's just beyond our ken. *coughChristianitycough*

- Frida Kahlo - need I say more?!

- Mexican Waves - the only wave named after a country. Now that's got to be worth something!

Plus, did you know they had a bunch of Austrians on the throne in the mid 1800s? Ah, those Austrians, they get everywhere underfoot. Maximilian I, who was also related to Marie Antoinette (never a good start for any royal), was asked by a bunch of Mexican royalists to be their king, as was the fashion at the time. This happened an awful lot all over the world back in those days - if you were a country sans monarch and there was a spare Dane or Austrian hanging around with not much to do and they had some vague royal connections, well you'd just offer them the position and see how long they lasted. I suspect it was some form of 19th century entertainment. And it explains how Prince Philip's unutterably non-Hellenic family ended up on the throne of Greece.

Anyhoo, Maximilian and his wife, who was also related to Queen Victoria (see entry below), had the best intentions for their new country but only lasted a couple of years cos, ya know, it's kinda hard to find someone less Mexican than a Hapsburgian. His wife went back to Europe and went insane, and poor old Maximilian was executed by his subjects. One of the hazards of the job, I expect.

The Victorian Era

Result! I've found a place to live, which is always a Good Thing. It's in Mt Vic, so behold the dawn of the Victorian Era (cue trumpets sounding and general fanfare). I only looked at a couple of places, and I totally fell in love with Mt Vic so I absolutely had to move there. Now I'm wondering how I've lived in Wgtn for 5 years and never lived there, and also hoping that it lives up to my Expectations of Greatness. I have a couple of weeks to get organised to move and there is a LOT to do, so I really have to get my A into G. Plus I told a friend that I'd help out on the 48 Hour Film Challenge this weekend, so somehow I'll have to fit this all in. Is this becoming a recurring theme?...

Other than that, I spent a lovely sunny weekend with the Parental Unit, ambling around town, taking in some of the tourist sights, and just hanging out and joking around with M&D. Very mellow.

And in other news, how teeny is Queen Vic's crown in this photo? It's a crown she had made especially for frequent use, as the official Crown of England was too heavy for her to wear. Which is very practical, but the woman obviously had no understanding of scale - as a short and squat lady, wearing a tiny crown made her look like a cupcake with a cherry on top. Mmmm, cupcakes and diamonds. Two of my favourite things.

Is it you or is it me? Lately I've been lost at sea

Or at least I think that's how the theme song went. I've been watching a fair bit of old school Shortland Street recently at work, all the early episodes with Dr McKenna, Nick, Carrie, Marj, Stuart Henderson, Kirsty, Lionel, Gina and Leonard, Carmen and Guy, and the inimitable Dr Hone Ropata. It's amazing to see how much the series has changed over the last 17 years (besides Chris Warner's face that is). The old episodes are so slooow, the lighting so dark, the sets so humdrum, and the acting so goddamned static. It really reminds me of the old NZ ‘70s soap 'Close to Home', the close focus on the dialogue rather than the action, and the utter banality of it all.

However, this is not to say that I don't like Shorters. I've followed the series since it began in 1992 (although I clearly remember watching the first ep and thinking it was so bad that it would never take off...erm, yes...). And even though I only dip in and out of it these days, I remember most of the story lines from then onwards, so much so that I'm kinda the 'Shorters Expert' at work (um, yay?). I can't say it's my Most Favourite Thing To Watch Evar OMG, but I do think it's iconic, and definitely a keystone of the media industry in NZ.

But seeing the old episodes got me thinking about what it would be like to watch the entire series from the beginning in a concentrated period of time. This is my favourite way to watch a TV series – a few episodes each day over a number of weeks, it always results in complete absorption into the series’ universe (minor side effects being an overwhelming obsession with the characters, temporary lack of social life, and being regarded as a freak by one’s friends. But who needs friends anyway).

Watching Shortland Street like this would certainly be a challenge. There's over 3000 episodes. At 27 minutes each. That's 1350 hours, which is about 56 days if you watched them 24/7. Or if you decided that you were keen on getting some sleep during that 2.5 months, you could watch 12 hours a day which would take you 3-4 months of your life. What would this do to you mentally? Watching any series like this can really affect your perspective on the world and your relationship with reality. It's interesting to ponder what the effect of 17 years of Shortland Street would be. As a social experiment it would be fascinating. Perhaps I should suggest this at our next staff meeting.

Chercher Le Soda

Am battling an annoying cold/flu thing today, and passing the time by pondering what ever happened to Pepsi? One of the biggest soda brands on the planet - and it's disappeared from NZ shops entirely. I can't find it anywhere. Not that I especially want to, I don't actually drink soda, but it's just once I noticed it's gone I really wanted to know when and why. Did it not sell or was it phased out by the Evil Coke Empire? Did it fall or was it pushed?
However, it can still be purchased at one last, loneliest outlet in NZ - KFC, which is really quite random.
So, does it matter that it's not for sale at dairies anywhere now? Not really, I just find it unnerving when food silently disappears and no one notices until a few years later. I got completely obsessed with Pebbles when they disappeared about ten years ago. I didn't actually want to eat them, I just wanted to know where they had gone. And then, lo and behold, they returned! I have no idea why, but now they're for sale everywhere. Which is fabulous - they're the only candy-coated chocolate sweet that comes in pink (M&Ms have a very limited colour range, and it features brown too much. Overuse of brown is inexcusable in my book).
Anyone remember Pacman chips? Chickadees? Caramilk? And of course, the newest member of the Extinct Food Tribe - Snifters, Sparkles and Tangy Fruits. You bet I'm obsessed with them. And that I bought as many packets I could when they were discontinued. Which, if I was the paranoid-conspiracy-theory-seeking-type, I would suggest was an crafty marketing ploy devised by some evil genius at Cadburys.

On Pie

Last night on a whim a friend and I decided to go to Denny's. At 10pm. In Porirua. Well, it made sense at the time. I hadn't been to a Denny's since the late 90s, as the quality of food wasn't exactly stellar. But that was before my fascination with American food had taken hold. Now Denny's is a place of magical wonderment - Chilli Fries! Buffalo Wings! Root Beer! I decided to channel Twin Peaks and try the Blueberry Pie. Shoulda ordered coffee too, but I got distracted by the 'Soda Pop' (which is really just a Spider - why do we Kiwis call it that? And why was it so good when I was a kid?). I'm intrigued by Pie since it's not such a common thing for dessert in NZ, and I've tried my hand on more than one occasion at making American-style pies (mmm, Cherry Pie). Being Denny's this pie wasn't an amazing, life-changing culinary experience. It was pretty similar to one of those Sara Lee pies you can buy in the supermarche. But as it was accompanied by a swirl of the fakest fake cream that ever didn't come from a cow, and a bright red fake cherry, it looked convincing enough. I happily pretended I was in a diner somewhere in the Midwest and relished it.
Next time I'm coming back for the Chilli Fries. It comes with red meat! And cheese! Both of which I normally do my best to avoid. Ah, I'm going to be so sick the next day. But it will be totally worth it.