Beginner Baking 15

Slices are a classic kiwi option for morning tea and I particularly like a chocolate caramel or a ginger slice. But I knew if I made those, they'd all disappear by lunchtime.

Instead I opted to bake a date delight slice from a thrifted Family Circle recipe book.



The slice includes dates, nuts and oats so I could even pretend to myself that they were a healthy option! I do need to try making caramel at some point soon though...

Relaxing in the Past

Bathroom Basics

Yesterday's Laundry

Classic Kiwi Kitchens 3

Who knew that the world's first dishwasher had been invented in New Zealand? Perhaps.

Classic Kiwi Kitchens 2

Classic Kiwi Kitchens 1

My regular readers (all three of them) have been very patient in the absence of any "after" shots of our newly renovated house. I'm determined not to post any photos until the house is completely finished. One day, our house will look like it's going to be on the pages of Homes & Gardens. Just for one day. And that's the day that I'm going to take the photos.

Until then, I'll be posting some pictures of classic kiwi kitchens and other traditional rooms as a taster for you, courtesy of the Waiheke Museum and Historic Village.

Unveiled

The scaffolding and the shrink wrap came down last week and we could finally see the house in all its weatherboarded glory. The moment that all the neighbours have been waiting for!

Luckily we like the paint colour even though it's so much lighter than we originally intended.

Finishing Touches

The house is now close to completion. Apparently.

And the moment that all the neighbours have been waiting for is fast approaching - the great unveiling. Hopefully they'll like what they see when the scaffolding and shrink wrap comes down.

We were certainly pleased with the Half Hillary paint on the weatherboards when we sneaked a peek - a great relief!

(Mail)Box Clever

I've been trying to find a quirky mailbox for some time now - if the house is going to be smartened up then we want the mailbox to make a statement too. At the moment, we have a functional but uninspiring cream and green version.



We've found some excellent mailboxes on our travels - this one is a model of the house that it serves.



And these two - high up on a post, for airmail and email - amused me on our recent trip up north...



But so far I've only found boring ones for sale - maybe I'll have to put hammer to nail and build one for myself.

Garage Sale Glories

I've now worked out that the local free paper lists the weekend's garage sales in the classified ads. We recently checked one out and came away with a range of bargains, all for less than $10.

A gorgeous, sunny yellow deckchair, a baking tin and a book of recipes whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhich will help me bake proper kiwi slices, and another book which is a real piece of kiwi history.


New Zealand celebrated the 30th anniversary of the metric system. Here's a glimpse inside the book that was distributed to every household.

Counting my blessings

Every time I feel depressed at the state of our house and the distance we'll have to go with the renovations, I just have to think about the way the pioneers lived 150 years ago. This is a gumdigger's nikau hut from the Kauri Museum in Matakohe - not quite all the comforts of home.

Bathtub

I found this amazing bathtub (a forerunner of the log flume?) at the Kauri Museum in Matakohe. It's not quite the right era for our house which is lucky as we'd have to get the floors reinforced and the prize of kauri has increased significantly since this log was hewn out.

Crown Lynn crockery

After a large number of our plates were smashed on their round the world trip last year, I was forced to spend some time on TradeMe picking out some replacements.

I decided to start a small Crown Lynn collection and bid on some lovely brown pieces and a whole gorgeous turquoise dinner service.



Here's the dinner service in use for afternoon tea. Check out the milk jug and the 1960s table runner too.



And here's my lovely afternoon tea cupboard...

Moa - a very rare beer

Ever since we visited the Moa Brewery in Renwick at the end of our tour of Marlborough wineries, James has been hunting down this rare brew.

The moa was a giant bird, hunted to its extinction by the Maori, long before the Pakeha settlers could do any damage. Its memory lives on though in these bright green bottles.

Cupcake Crazy

New Zealand is in the throes of a baking revival. I found this delicious jaffa cupcake at a local farmer's market.

You can see it presented here on a Crown Lynn saucer - another classic piece of kiwiana.