Since I've been gone...

In the thick of that season there were few things more magical than ice - the blocks that emerged, impossibly, from the back of a wagon, steaming not with heat but with cold, the unmistakeable stomp of the iceman conquering the stairwell, gleaming blocks of ice piled on his broad back like enormous melting diamonds.
- Wickett's Remedy by Myla Goldberg

So I appear to have been gone from here for quite some time. Oh dear!

Since I’ve gone so long I thought I would give you a little insight into some of the things that appear to have gotten in the way of blogging lately. Basically, life in the south has been filled with many adventures.

There has been lots of running. I like running, especially in the hills. One day I will take the camera with me and show you all where I run every week. It's so beautiful here! And with more tracks slowly opening up again (after being closed for SO long because of earthquake/rockfall danger) there are more places you can safely go.

There has also been heaps of riding, especially since M bought himself a mountain bike and I upgraded. The best part about where we live is that you can go mountain biking straight from home without having to drive anywhere and there a lovely big hills to ride up and along on your road bike. I can't wait for summer and not needing to defrost after a ride though!

Anyway, below is just a little snapshot of some of my favourite adventures we've had so far (i.e. the ones where we have taken a camera!)...

Oceania Mountain Bike Orienteering in Central Otago Back at the start of the year, when it was warm and summery (which seems like a lifetime ago since now buried in winter and the weather outside today is particularly unpleasant) we had several days of mountain bike orienteering in Central Otago. It was fabulous (mostly) and I seem to have become addicted to mountain biking since returning home.

Sprint the Bay 2012 There has been plenty of orienteering happening this year to distract me and Sprint the Bay was one of the events we traveled to. Basically it is 3 days of sprint orienteering on various maps around the Hawke's Bay region. There was a nice big group of us from Southerly Storm up there to represent the South Island.

Exploring the West Coast I'd never been to the West Coast of the South Island so M and I went to check out a bit of it. We stayed in the cutest little house right on the coast at Granity and explored a lot of the historic mining sites near by. The highlight was exploring Denniston and getting to see the incline used to cart the coal down from the plateau. It has to be seen to be believed. It was also the first real test of my new bike. I think we're becoming very good friends!

Orienteering Nationals 2012 Easter equals the National Orienteering Champs and this year it was up in Auckland so I got to have a little trip home at the same time. 4 days and 4 very different maps and getting to see people I hadn't seen in a long time made for a lot of fun (and lots of sand in our shoes and socks).

Mountain biking at Craigieburn We spent ANZAC Day with friends riding in the glorious sunshine at Craigieburn. Beech forest and incredible views made this a pretty cool day, even if the riding was rather scary in places. Hooning along the Hogs Back track down into Castle Hill at the end was an awesome way to finish a long day in the saddle.

TWALK TWALK...THE event of the year. 24 hours of madness in the wilderness with a bunch of friends whilst wearing silly costumes cannot really be beaten. As an added bonus, our team won!

Exploring the Mackenzie Country What does one do when there is a long weekend? One goes on an adventure of course! For Queens Birthday we took our bikes for a few days of riding based out of Tekapo. Arriving in the late afternoon we had a beautiful ride along the Richmond Trail above Lake Tekapo as the sun was slowly setting. We got back to the car just before dark! Another day we rode up (and up and up) to the Omarama Saddle and pushed up the Saddle Ridge track even further where it was freezing and there was snow across the tops. We were far too cold to take pictures by that stage!

Snow Day! Of course, what is winter without a snow day! I didn't believe snow was coming but that morning it was pouring with rain at our house so I dressed up in my wet weather gear and rode my old mountain bike to work. The closer I got the colder it got and the rain started to turn into ice and then snow flakes. By the time I reached work I was riding through snow drifts. It wasn't long before we were all sent home again! That night was the regular Wednesday night run in the hills and it was crazy because we didn't even need headlights as the snow seemed to light up the sky.

Riding in Rotorua Last month we flew up to Rotorua for a few of days of riding in the Whakarewarewa Forest. The first couple of days we competed in a weekend of mountain bike orienteering events but we stayed extra days to explore the forest. It's like mountain bike heaven in there! Some of these adventures have not been so fun though. M and I have just recently returned to our flat after nearly 2 months living out of boxes at friends’ houses while EQC (the earthquake commission) “redecorated” it. That was not fun. Sigh. But now we are home and slowly unpacking again. I really should get a move on with that since I have some very exciting visitors arriving this weekend and it would be nice if the house looked somewhat, well, less like boxes and chaos.

There have also been lots of adventures in the kitchen but that is a story for next time...

Cake or death

Even in the world of today we can see how mighty powers can come apart at the seams when confronted with simple demands for peace, love, food for the poor, and amnesty for the enemies of the state.
- Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

I know, I know. Blah blah blah...

Anyway, before I race off to bed (before racing off before dawn tomorrow for the national orienteering champs in Hawkes Bay...scary!!) I thought I'd just quickly tell you something. Kris's new vegan cake book is out and it's called have your cake and vegan too. It arrived in the mail at my parents the other day which was super exciting!! I was a tester for it so I can tell you that it is awesome. Actually, her cake recipes are pretty much the only ones I ever use.

I whipped up one I hadn't tried for my cousin's birthday last weekend, Bubbie's Chubby Tuxedo Cake. It seemed fitting after how much she adored last year's cake (the oreos got her very excited).


As usual for Kris's recipes it was simple, reliable and worked out perfectly (well, it took a bit longer to cook in our ancient oven and my baking always seems to turn out a bit more moist...not that anyone would complain about that).


It went down a treat and my flatmates gave the leftovers I brought home 5 stars (5 michelin stars actually!). Awesome :)

Anyway, I promise to post more once life settles down and I also promise to post about my exciting (terrifying) news soon!! Oh, and if you were wondering about the title watch this.

It was all so green

"Because you killed him and put him in the cold, cold ground?" Actually, it hadn't been all that cold but I felt I was due a little artistic license. My mind soared and swooped, way above everything. I could see so much! I felt like God. This was fun.
- Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

How come it feels so good to get home again and yet it sucks at the same time? Why do some of my most favourite people have to be so far away? And why does my backlog of photos never stop growing?! Oh well! We'll get there...eventually.


Anyway, you might be pleased to know that I am still in one piece. I did not fall down a 12 metre cliff and neither did I get a stick through my front wheel and come off breaking my sternum or ribs. I left those adventures to others in the team!


I did, however, ride for 25 hours (that's 9 days in a row of racing and training), get some wicked cuts and bruises from crashing into rocks, fell off my bike in a bog and got completely submerged and spent more than 2 hours cleaning the mud off my bike and shoes only to find NZ customs in a relaxed mood.


I laughed so hard that I thought I might explode, got attacked by a magpie (seriously...you can see where the beak of the bird wedged into my helmet!), lazed in the spa pool and learnt more about bikes in 9 days than I ever had in the last 3 years of riding. When I finally get a chance, there'll be more info about the trip up here if anyone is interested.


Oh, and I also managed to eat some pretty good food. I didn't photograph most of it (like the awesome vegan lasagnas that got whipped up for us non-meat eaters one night) because I am a bit slack but rest assured, you will not go hungry even in small towns in Australia (I found tofu, both plain and marinated, veggie burgers, oat milk and all sorts of other staples in every supermarket I went to).

This is the only photo of food that we actually cooked. This was our second night in Mt Gambia and there were three of us girls cooking together in our little unit. We were lazy and bought pre-prepared stir-fry veggies since we were traveling the next day.


Next stop was a farmstay not far out of Carisbrook. It had the most awesome kitchen where we would cook up communal meals each night. Down the road in Marybourgh there was a cafe (Legendz) that could make soy milkshakes. After a hot day out in the forest I couldn't think of anything better!


It was thick, cold and delicious...and I drunk it so fast that I got a headache!

Food-wise, Daylseford was when it got exciting. We'd just arrived and were mulling around town whist some people were sussing out somewhere good for coffee when one of my team mates spotted a sign outside one of the cafes saying it was vegetarian and vegan.


My first trip (we went twice) to the Himalaya Bakery I got a mini chocolate cake and organic cola.

I also got an apple and cinnimon scroll to take away with me too (oh, and later on I got one to eat on the plane home too...they were big and deliciously filling).


Our first night we all went out to dinner at the Old Hepburn Hotel. I got a veganised version of the vegetable and kidney bean nachos which was pretty good but I could have done with more bean mix and less corn chips. It didn't last all that long though (riding every day makes you hungry...and incredibly tipsy on one bottle of alcoholic ginger beer and therefore your table's entertainment for the evening)!


Saturday night was the social function at a pub down the road. Food was catered but I'd organised in advance for a meal to be provided for me. They ended up changing their vegetarian dish to make it vegan which I thought was pretty cool...green curry with tofu and tempeh. Not anything flash or amazing but it filled me up and, quite frankly, I was hungry so as long as it was edible I wasn't really fussed.


And for dessert they served me a big bowl filled with grapes and strawberries. Everyone else at my table was jealous and I had to fight them off!

After our final race we went into town again for lunch and boy did I need food by then...desperately (after nearly 3 hours of mountain biking I was pretty desperate)! I managed to convince over half the team to join me at the Himalaya Bakery again! Everyone had to agree the food was really good.


I got the open veggie burger (I think it was made from lentils). It was good. So basically, if you find yourself near Daylesford, go here. I really recommend it.

For our final night we went out to the Jasmine Thai Restaurant in Hepburn Springs. Items on the menu that could be veganised were clearly labelled which was super cool and my meal was delicious. Of course I was pretty forgetful that evening and forgot my camera again. Typical...


...but after over 2 hours of cleaning my bike and bike shoes (I don't think either have ever been this clean since they were brand new - look how sparkly it is!) I was completely exhausted.

So all in all it was an awesome trip (and this is a ridiculously long post). Plans are already underway for next year...

Doing a 180...

Ross was unsure about leaving Joe in Danny's house. He could imagine what she'd do if she arrived home unexpectedly and discovered a stranger ripping out her toilet.
- Knotted by Michelle Holman

...also known as Sunday in Christchurch.

We ate porridge, went orienteering (otherwise known as running round in circles and standing round in the freezing cold afterwards), sat in front of the fire and ate peanut butter sandwiches. Oh, and I got asked to do the World Rogaine Champs. ARGH!!!! Exciting!!!!!! (in case you hadn't worked it out, that was exciting news number 2).

Moving on. In the afternoon B and I popped into his local mall to, well, do mall stuff (well, actually to go to the supermarket but we got distracted). On our way through I saw this...


Personally this could almost be exciting news number 3 but you might laugh at me. Beauty and the Beast is, like, my favourite movie of all time (okay, maybe a close second after The Princess Bride). And now it's in 3D!

Anyway, once I'd calmed down from that excitement, we popped over to visit D at her motel to eat cake...certain celebrations always need cake right?


I like cake (although making them in B's kitchen is not quite so good since it is lacking in some vital equipment so it's lucky I brought my cake pan down with me)!


Then for dinner we went to the Dux de Lux which is a vegetarian and seafood pub (I think they used to be solely vegetarian but they now serve seafood as well). With heaps of the meals you get a salad on the side (which you get to pick). There were 2 vegan options this time so I went with both...a tofu and vege one and a green salad. The tofu salad was divine.


I also really like their (alcoholic) ginger beer. You may have noticed I like ginger and since discovering that alcohol, in moderation, is really not that scary, this is a very nice drink.


We wanted kumara chips but it was not to be (they were sold out) so we settled with buffalo wedges. This plate destroyed us and we left way too many on the plate for my liking but my stomach was just not gonna take any more.


For my main I ordered the corn and vegetable fritters which are served with a beetroot chutney. I had these last time I was here but I didn't feel like the Indian dish and I can get a red tofu curry up in Auckland any day. Plus I like corn fritters. They were better than I remembered too.


So all in all another pretty much perfect day...

Muddy favourites

What is any ocean but a multitude of drops?
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Don't worry people, the maple syrup tofu recipe is coming!!!

Anyway, welcome to my new favourite dinner. It's so good that Keisha stole half of one of my tofu sausages while I was getting a drink and then sat next to me giving me that look that only dogs can do! It is also so good that I'd already started eating it before I remembered to take a picture.


So, we've got steamed broccoli, raw carrot with hummus, fried mushrooms, tofu sausages and awesome Maori potatoes that The Chef got me from work boiled and then lightly tossed in some olive oil and salt. I want it now!

Other cool stuff coming out of my kitchen was this wicked lasagne. The Chef is on a no gluten, no dairy, no raw fruit or veggies diet for a month so instead of pasta we baked large slices of kumara and layered it with slices of courgette and a 'mince' mixture made from Tonzu tofu mince, black beans, a tin of tomatoes, onion, carrot and mushrooms. All topped off with a white/cheesy sauce and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds then chucked in the oven.


We ate the leftover kumara slices with maple syrup while waiting for the lasagne to cook!!


It kind of fell apart when we served it but it still tasted really good. Once it had cooled though it held together quite well and tasted even better for my lunch the next day.

As usual there has been plenty of action going on round here (other than in my kitchen of course). On Saturday I had a mountain bike race out at Riverhead...notorious for being a mudbath when it's been wet. So naturally it was raining that morning! Who could expect anything less?!




It took me an hour to clean the bike once I got home and another half an hour to get the clay off the soles of my bike shoes. Seriously.

I was starving after all that so whipped up a toasted sandwich with hummus, spinach, grated carrot, tofu sausages and melty Cheezly vegan cheese. Lightly toast the bread, chuck in all your fillings and then brown over the frying pan on each side.


Hit the spot perfectly.

Oh yeah, and I also scored a mammoth bag of feijoas off a mate's tree. Awesome!

Adventuring to favourite places

"So now," he thought, "somebody else will have to do something, and I hope they will do it soon, because if they don't I shall have to swim, which I can't, so I hope they do it soon." And then he gave a very long sigh and said, "I wish Pooh were here. It's so much more friendly with two."
- Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne

Hello!!

In the past week I got to hang out in 3 of my favourite places ever as well as having some cool adventures. I had last week off work so on the Monday I cruised up to my mate's farm at Slater Road (one of my favourite places) to help out on the farm, rake some mountain bike tracks in their huge private park and get some biking and kayaking coaching. Paddling up through the mangroves was so awesome especially when we had to bash our way through in parts!

Of course, I can't go up there without going running with Jess so we had our own little adventure on the Tuesday afternoon. It was supposed to be a short run but time seems to melt away in the forest.


Here's Jess inside afterwards...the ultimate training companion and boy can she go fast when she wants to!


To prove I am capable of relaxing, the following morning The Chef and I headed off to my beach house at Waikauri Bay which is quite possibly my favourite place in the whole world. I have many awesome memories of endless summers playing in the waves and exploring the hills. Pretty much all we did was eat, read, wander along the beach and round the rocks and laze about.

Anyway, on the drive up we stopped off at the Black Dog Cafe in Matakana for lunch. I got this warmed roast vegetable salad which was really nice but not exactly filling.


Dinner more than made up for a light lunch (although we did demolish a packet of pita crisps) with tofu sausages topped with fried onion and mushrooms alongside steamed broccoli and kumara chips. I think I ate my weight in kumara chips that night!


The following morning we ate the leftover kumara chips covered in maple syrup. I had no idea this would be such a good combination but I am definitely going to have it again soon!

I had leftover waffle mixture in my freezer from the dessert party so brought that up with us for breakfast the next day. While I was in charge of the waffles, The Chef cooked up some caramelised apple and feijoas in maple syrup.


Throughout the course of the day we managed to polish off over a kilogram of feijoas. Well, the bag had to be finished so it was up to us to eat them all! I love feijoa season!

Lunch of champions...falafel, fresh bread with hummus and a mega salad.


The Chef thought he'd eat his portion as a sandwich. Um, yeah...watching him try to wrap his mouth around this mammoth monster was hilarious!

But I can never relax for too long and Thursday night I was off to the airport and flying down South to Otago for the National Orienteering Champs. This is my first year running in the elite grade for all races so I was pretty excited...but pretty nervous.

The first race was the sprint event in Roxburgh. Ah, not my finest moment after a bad route choice ending up in thick scrub down a valley. But I did pull out some good splits for the last few controls which was good since you were visible to all the spectators on the hill for that final section!

The second day was the middle distance event in Bannockburn which was just out of Cromwell. Heaps of cliffs, some killer climbs and more scrub for me to get caught in!


The long distance event was just out of Alexandra at Earnscleugh Station and it was bitterly cold, very exposed, quite steep, very rocky, extremely fast terrain and (for us running the elite women's grade) a very long course. Oh, and a nasty barbed wire, outrigger fence. Below is the final stretch to the finish and boy was I glad to make it that far!


I'm not normally a fan of the relay event 'cause it always feels like so much pressure...if you stuff up or manage to mispunch or something then you let your whole team down but I was so looking forward to this one 'cause it was being held in Naesby which is another very special place to me. Oh, and I was in an awesome relay team with a couple of great mates out to have fun. We decided not to take it too seriously and wore our race numbers sideways just to be a bit different.


Here's the start of the relay which is always chaos. Lucky I was second-leg runner.

So after all that adventuring I was actually quite glad to arrive home to Auckland and it gave me its usual greeting by pouring down with rain! It's good to be home.

Sore feet and good food

The tragedy of Melusina, whatever language tells it, whatever tune it sings, is that a man will always promise more than he can do to a woman he cannot understand.
- The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Oh man, where to begin!! Right, how about nachos? This was me proving to The Chef that they can indeed be (fairly) healthy and yet still delicious (as I recall he went back for seconds).


I was even awesome enough to cook my own beans for once! About time since Mum had given me a bag of dried organic kidney beans for Christmas and they've been sitting in the pantry ever since.

On the Saturday I competed in The Dual off-road half marathon which (for anyone who knows the area) goes from Home Bay on Motutapu Island to Rangitoto Island and then back again with lots of big hills and epic rock sections.


Above is Home Bay and the final part of the hill you come tearing down (well, sort of since your legs feel a bit like jelly about now and my feet were killing me after the hellish rock sections).


This is Rangitoto Island from the ferry on the way home again. Rangitoto is the most recent volcanic cone in Auckland (there are something like 49 volcanic areas in the region) and the biggest. It's surface is all rough scoria rock with native bush somehow growing amongst it all. You run almost to the top before descending down a narrow, rocky track that flattens out at the bottom and winds around the edge of the island (for a grueling 6km) before heading back up and over Motutapu again to the finish.

This was my second time competing in this race and it went a whole lot better than last year! I was a bit more prepared for the section of hell (I think I passed at least 20 people somewhere amongst all that rock) and had an awesome run managing to get in the top 10 women despite still having a lingering cold and taking it easy. I guess it helps that I like hills and uneven terrain.

And because obviously I felt like I hadn't run up enough hills, on the Sunday we had orienteering out on one of the steepest maps we have in our area!


Quite spectacular and I almost wished I'd taken my camera out on the course (this is the view from the event centre.

Anyway, now I've bored you completely with sport we can return to food! I met my darling cousin D for lunch on Friday and after dithering all morning about where I wanted to eat we decided to go to Raw Power.


I wasn't feeling all that hungry so got a salad from the salad bar. They have a collection of different salads to pick from and you basically just fill up your bowl with what ever you want. Clearly I overdosed a little on the peanuts but it was delicious all the same, especially the pearl barley salad (which I think you can just see poking out on the left).


D got me a melting moment cookie too which was sitting there tempting me the whole time I was eating my salad so it had to be devoured straight away! SO good (but a little rich...sometimes I wonder what is happening to my tastebuds these days!).

Right, I have to race off and start packing for another adventure!