Little City

By Michael Jo

Wintry

Upper Plain

Peeling Wallpaper

Oh look, it's me, in my childhood bedroom. The roof and ceiling sagged under the heavy snowfall last winter, so it's been replaced. Which means the wallpaper's being stripped soon and the room will be repainted. I hated this wallpaper so much when I was younger, and took to covering every inch I could manage with pictures and posters. Actually, I still don't really like it, but whatever.

Red Velvet

I have another goal to tick off my list! Technically I wrote 'buy a cake tin and bake a cake', but I realised that I don't really like cake (unless it's Mum's carrot cake, layer cake, or a gooey citrus cake... okay, I guess I just don't like cake that I'm currently capable of baking).

Anyway, instead I decided to buy a muffin tin (40% off at The Warehouse, bargain indeed) and bake cupcakes. Which are cakes and involve a baking tin so this goal is officially complete in my eyes.

I decided to use a red velvet cake recipe, because I know that flavour is alll the rage pretty much everywhere, and I've never tried it before (actually, I hardly ever eat cupcakes - the only decent ones for sale are pretty expensive and from specialty cupcake shops, and I prefer my junk food cheap and nasty rather than an... investment).

I really quite like baking. I guess this is the first time I've had a reasonably large kitchen, with lots of table and bench space to work on (I wish I had a photo of the kitchen when I lived in Lower Hutt - the sink was pretty much the size of a bathroom basin, you couldn't even submerge a dinner plate in it). It also helps that I don't have to share it with anyone (although to be fair, Charlie said he's cooking steak for dinner tonight - but that's mostly because I over-cook it every time).

Anyway, I found this recipe, bought a bunch of ingredients, and got to work. Mum asked for the recipe so I told her I'd post it here, with the NZ quantities I used (click the link above if you want the original).

Cupcake ingredients:

100g softened butter

1.5 cups sugar

2 eggs

60mL red food colouring (this is more than a standard bottle, so I used both red and pink)

2 heaped tablespoons cocoa

1 cup cultured buttermilk

2.25 cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Set your oven to bake at 180°C. Lay out your cupcake cases (this mixture made 15 for me).

Soften the butter and mix in the sugar until it's creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them in thoroughly.

In another bowl, mix the food colouring and cocoa until it's dissolved (it's pretty much a paste by then). Add it into the first bowl and beat together until all the mixture is a nice deep red.

Add the buttermilk and flour alternately, and beat thoroughly after each addition. Once the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the vanilla and baking soda.

Spoon the mixture into your cupcake cases, and stop filling at least a centimeter shy of the top. Put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes (test whether they're done with a knife after 10).

Once they're cooked, set them aside to cool.

For the icing I was originally going to use a cream cheese recipe, but I decided to stick with what the recipe told me since I hadn't even tried the cupcake flavour before.

Icing ingredients:

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butter

Blend the flour and milk together in a saucepan over low heat until it thickens and has no lumps. Set it aside to cool completely.

Cream together the softened butter, sugar, and vanilla until it's fluffy.

Once the flour and milk is cool, combine all the ingredients together until it's super fluffy.

A very helpful person on Twitter advised me you can buy piping bags with shaped nozzles from $2 stores, and sure enough I found a great set at 2 Cheap on Manners Street.

I watched this helpful video of some cupcake-icing basics, and decided to give the rose shape a go. I probably used the wrong nozzle shape with hindsight, but they're not bad for my first attempt, right? Also the icing probably wasn't stone cold because I'm impatient like that.

The verdict is that they're pretty damn good! Although incredibly rich, I'm definitely going to be eating half at a time even though I definitely have a sweet tooth.

So domestic, you guys! Have a great weekend.

Friday Feed

I made one one of my favourite dishes for dinner yesterday, so decided to photograph and blog the process. It's super-duper easy, because there's next to no actual cooking involved, but tastes really good. The amounts of ingredients listed below were enough for three Alice-meal-sized portions (two for Charlie, one for me). I like to eat it as a cold salad, while Charlie microwaves his, so go with which ever you prefer.

Also be aware most of the photos below are included because they were most aesthetically pleasing of all I took, not because I think you need illustrated instructions. And yeah, my nail polish is mega chipped. I am booked in for a manicure.

Ingredients:
1 large chicken breast (two if you prefer)
1 fat cucumber
1 red capsicum (any colour is fine)
1 packet of Singapore Noodles
1 tablespoon peanut butter (any kind. I usually use a larger quantity than this, but it was all we had left and it tasted fine)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar (rice or white vinegar is fine)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Peel the cucumber, core the capsicum, and slice both into long, thin strips.

Gently separate the Singapore Noodles, and blanch (I put them in boiling water for around 20 seconds, drain in a colander, and then run them under the cold tap briefly, but you can cook them any way you like). Set aside.

Dice the chicken breast, and fry it in a tablespoon of sesame oil (alternatively you can poach it in boiling water but I find that pretty bland). Set aside.

Spoon your peanut butter into a large bowl. Deglaze the pan from the chicken with quarter of a cup of water and the vinegar, then pour the hot liquid over the peanut butter to dissolve it and create a thick paste. Add in the rest of the sesame oil, soy sauce, and ground black pepper, then stir through the cooked chicken.

When ready to serve, add the cucumber, capsicum, and noodles into the chicken and sauce. At this point I normally stir in a handful of mung beans too, but Countdown failed to deliver them in my grocery order.

Done! Easy! Yay! I pretty much Rachael Ray-it every time and just splash in what ever ingredient quantities look right, so there's not much that can go wrong - just don't use too much vinegar is probably my only tip, and taste the sauce before adding the chicken of course.

Easter Weekend

Knick Knack Paddywhack

This post is partially inspired by Caitlin's recent Getting to Know Us post on her wall art, but also a way of showing you guys a bit more of our new place. Everything is pretty much set up now, just a few more boxes of clothes to sort through and tidy away.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to do another decent blog post (I'm hoping Monday when our internet is supposed to be connected, but I won't hold my breath - this is our second 'expected connection date'). So I'll let you know now that today my aunt Debbie helped me check another goal off my list! We went to Diamond Nails on Lambton Quay and got pedicures, sitting in leather massage chairs - it was fabulous. Technically my list said 'manicure', but it's all nails - and now I've had my toes prettied up I am sooo going back for more. I would post a photo, but I really (hope) don't think anyone wants to see a close up of my feet, no matter how buffed and moisturised they now are. So you can see a few Instagram shots here for proof - the colour is OPI Glitzerland.

The other event of today, before I launch into the actual point of this post, was that I broke my wooden reclining chair. Fatty... No, once it went crashing into pieces, I discovered the bottom has almost worn through. I guess moving it probably didn't help, but also I bought it from an elderly couple a couple of years ago so it probably wasn't used to us young'uns stretching back on it in front of the telly. Fortunately I bought it as a pair, so I'll get its twin from my parents' house at some stage... and take a lot more care with it.

Okay, clearly I have been missing the blogging thing even more than I realised during our internet deprivation - a whole paragraph about a chair. Onward, to the photos.

In one corner of our lounge is my beloved German globe lamp, an Air New Zealand 737 model, and two framed pictures. On the left is a Brendan Grant print of the MLC Clocktower building on Lambton Quay here in Wellington. A couple of years ago, the clocktower apartment was up for rent and it's pretty much Charlie's dream place to live (in this city, anyway). I need to get a smaller frame for it, but this one keeps it safe for now. On the right is a framed card featuring a painting by Bill MacCormick of Aro Street, also in Wellington. Charlie lived in the area when it was painted in the early 1990s, and while the figures could be imagined, the three on the left bear a strong resemblance to Charlie, his mother, and friend.

I bought this vintage nude print on Trade Me several years ago. The frame is from Living & Giving, which is a great source for cheap black and white frames.

This wall is a bit of a work-in-progress. We don't really have a suitable corner for my large corner bookshelf, so it's stored away in pieces in a cupboard at the moment. That means three bookshelves worth of books are now carefully stacked into one. Not especially helpful when I finish the book I'm currently reading and go searching for another, but it will do for now. Along the top shelf is Charlie's growing collection of Bearbricks, but hopefully we'll get a nice display case for them at some point. I have a bunch of canvases stacked on the black cubes on the right - I like the way they look for now but will probably hang them on the walls eventually. The two on the left and one on the bottom are mine, the small one on the top right is by Alejandra at Reigrüche Studio, and the one below that is by Wellingtonian Christie Wright.

Hanging to the left of the bookshelves is this print by Caitlin Shearer, who I interviewed last year.

And above the canvases is this painting on silk I bought from Trade Me several years ago - no idea who it's by, but it's pretty.

I mentioned this print the other day - Summertime Wellington by Marianne Muggeridge. My aunt had the same print hanging in her lounge, and when we moved to our previous house in Claremont Grove I realised our new view was almost exactly the same as the painting, so tracked down another print on Trade Me. Once it arrived I spent quite a while walking up and down our yard, street, and the stairs of a neighbouring apartment block trying to get the exact perspective Muggeridge had, but without total success. The first row of clearly visible houses is Elizabeth Street, and I'm fairly certain the red rooves in the bottom right have been demolished and are where newer houses are built. Never quite found the exact spot so if anyone happens to know where she would have painted it from, feel free to satisfy my curiousity.

We're still sorting all our clothes away into wardrobes, so for now my collection of silk scarves is hanging in the hallway. I think they look quite pretty here, but they'll probably get too dusty after a while.

This china cabinet housed the TV in our old place, but is sitting in the hallway here. On top is my beloved Rita Angus print - which I got for under $5 from the Trash Palace shop in Porirua in 2007, a floral dish my sister gave me, Charlie's torch lamp, and my new ring holder. Inside is a bunch of ornaments and cups, some books, and an old typewriter I'm thinking I might use for some future artwork. I guess it's kinda wanky to have a typewriter on display, but whatever.

Apologies for the terrible colours in this photo - no natural light hits this wall, and I couldn't get my point-and-shoot to cancel out the yellow. Anyway, this is a bunch of my favourite prints - on the left is one I got from the old St Vincent de Paul store on Taranaki Street in 2007 which sadly isn't there anymore. The Mona Lisa print I've had since I was about 15 - I used to attend a church youth group with one of my school friends (mainly for the annual ski trip, truth be told) and they were having a junk sale the morning after a meeting, so we got first dibs on everything. Besides the Mona Lisa, I remember I got a bright pink suitcase, but I can't remember what happened to it. The three pictures on the right I got from the Salvation Army in Lower Hutt a few years ago, and the dog is an original on some kind of fabric, signed 'Ginny '72'.

Above the TV is a cheap canvas print of Times Square I bought from The Warehouse a few years ago. On the right is my favourite of two completed paint-by-numbers I bought on Trade Me (again). On the windowsill is my portrait of Pippa Middleton, a British Airways model, Street Fighter characters, and the surviving blooms from a bunch of flowers my aunt gave me when we moved in.

And lastly, sitting above our kitchen bench is a tiny Buddha my friend Ashley Church's mum gave me when we moved into our first flat in 2007. I've moved sooo many times since then, but he always comes with me.

Home, Sweet

Hello ladies and gents! We are officially moved in! Still internet-less of course, so this is a bring-to-work-on-USB-for-final-tweak-and-post blog. Our 3G network is pretty slow, so I've managed a little Instagram and Twitter, but mostly I've had a weekend away from the outside world, which has actually been really nice. More about that later, but first - the move.

It was no fun, no fun at all! The past few (eight, nine, ten? Who's counting? Hi, Mum and Dad) times I have moved, my parents and other family members and friends have helped us lug furniture and boxes to and fro a hired van or truck. This time we decided to hire movers, and I booked them in a couple of weeks ago via email.

My personal policy of always emailing service and trades people rather than phoning (so there's a written record of an arrangement... and because I hate phone calls) proved valuable for my sanity- the movers were under the impression they were helping with a 'small move' (their words) and moving just half a dozen items of furniture, rather than half a room of packed boxes. Fortunately they had a large furniture truck and two workers available, who were understandably a bit pissed off at having to do so much unexpected work in the afternoon, but were amazingly efficient. So it all got finished in the end, and I have sent an email to the office which I don't really expect them to read and don't anticipate a reply to... but it made me feel better. It really irritates me when companies list an email address as means of contact, and then are rubbish written communicators. Anyway. The movers themselves were awesome, and we would use the company again... but with a lot more caps in the instructions, I guess.

The other drama was that because (I guess) the flat had been empty for a few weeks while renovations were carried out, so the power had been turned off just before we moved in. I'd arranged with our power company for someone to come in the afternoon to turn it on, and was happy to pay a fee for that person's time. Long story short - no one showed up, I played phone tag with the call center for a couple of stressy hours, they said they could send someone out after hours for an additional extra fee... and then in the end they reconnected us remotely so all we had to do was push a button. So we finally got power in the evening which was such a relief, but now I guess I'm in for a bit of arguing with the call center to get that connection fee wiped from our account. Being an adult is such a pain sometimes.

So that's my lame whinging out of the way (I felt I had to elaborate a little on my grumpy Tweets from Thursday).

Once all the moving was complete, we put Wallace in a carry box at the old place, and walked him over. Poor little guy was so frightened that all his stuff had disappeared, and wriggled around in his box the whole way. Once we got to the new place and let him out we found he'd pooped himself with fright (I feel like a mother sharing an embarrassing story about their kid). Although maybe he was just busting, cause as soon as we let him out he started strutting through all the rooms, checking everything out.

We've been living here four (five) days now, and so far he's seemed very much at home. He loves sitting in the window watching the view, and lying on the couch in the sun, and besides being curious as to what's outside the front door, he hasn't been crying to go outside or anything. The only time he gets a little frightened is if the neighbours are talking/moving outside the front door - he runs to hide under a cabinet for a few minutes.

Everything is pretty much all set up now! Our washing machine's being delivered on Tuesday, we still have a couple of boxes of clothes and linen to unpack (and a huge stack of collapsed boxes to dispose of), and we're on the look out for an opaque free-standing screen - either one of those Japanese panel-style ones, or perhaps hinged MDF painted or covered in fabric. And I also have to buy a bunch of picture hooks so I can hang all my framed art and prints. I was super stoked when our landlord said he doesn't care how many pins and nails we put in the walls - especially as quite a lot of painting had been done.

My sister was in town for a party, so I spent a little bit of time with her over the weekend. Once almost everything was unpacked, I spend a lot of time lying in the sun, admiring the view and reading my book - the Nancy Wake biography I need to check off my goals list. I might write about it when I'm finished, it's fascinating so far.

I'll post some better photos eventually, but probably not until we have the internet at home. Phone photos will have to do for now. Hope you all had a great weekend!

I'm not really sure I'll ever do justice to the view in a photo - it's magic.

One of Wallace's new favourite sleeping spots.

I got such a fright when I looked over at Wallace and saw him frozen like this... after a moment I realised he'd spotted seagulls flying over head

This (the hallway) is probably my favourite spot of the whole flat so far. Rita Angus print, torch lamp, my new ring holder, and a bunch of my favourite prints on the wall.

The kitchen is pretty old fashioned which is typical of Wellington flats, but perfectly adequate. A bit bare at the moment, but I'm planning to hang a couple of Wellington painting prints in there. I have one which features our new house, and another of Summertime Wellington by Marianne Muggeridge which is almost exactly the view from our previous flat, as it looked in the 1980s. Anyway, they're both fairly common prints around this city but I think it's cool to have a personal connection to them.

And lastly, we have a bath. It's not massive, but it's brand new and... it's a bath. Thrilled!

Shift

I haven't been a very committed blogger for the first month-and-a-bit of this year (really, February already?!) which is a shame because 2012 is shaping up to possibly be my greatest year... so far! In addition to making a conscious effort to improve my health, I recently got a great opportunity at work and... now I have more news!

You may or may not have wondered about my lack of arty-posts recently, and my lack of posts in general. This is mostly due to that fact that only one thing has been occupying my mind, and is something I couldn't share until it was confirmed. Which yesterday it finally was! The apartment my wonderful aunt rented for several years when I was a teenager is available again, and with her connections Charlie and I (and Wallace!) have nabbed it. We're moving! I am so crazy excited. Objectively, it's just a one bedroom flat with the one stand out feature of an amazing view of the city (see a fraction of it above, and excuse the average phone photo... you can bet there'll be many a superior image uploaded once we're there!). But it's the type of place that as a teenager living at home with Mum and Dad, I always dreamed of living in as an independent adult- of course I didn't imagine it would be the exact same apartment my aunt used to live in, but that makes it even more perfect.

I can't wait to move in, and I'm so grateful that Charlie's understood how much living there means to me and agreed to it! We will be moving in just a few weeks (the landlord is doing some renovations before we can take over) so there is SO MUCH to do before then! It's lucky I love packing and setting up house!

Buttercup

Photobooth

Charlie got a MacBook Air. So far I haven't been too neglected.