Capital 17 by Capital

CAPITAL TA L E S O F T H E C I T Y

CHRISTMAS UNION OF CAROLS MINDS DECEMBER 2014

ISSUE 17

$3.90 BEER NECESSITIES

ARTERIAL MUSIC

Best beers inside

Logicool. Needing more space doesn’t mean you have to give up on luxury or technology. The all new Odyssey, available as a 7 or 8 seater, combines the coolness and comfort of a high-end sedan with vast cabin space, multiple seat configurations, one-touch power sliding doors, Multi-Angle Reversing Camera, Touch Screen and more of the clever technology you have come to expect from Honda. It’s not just logic that will move you.

www.honda.co.nz Honda Cars Wellington 65 Kent Terrace 04 385 9966 Opening Hours: Mon to Fri: 7:30am – 5:30pm, Sat: 9:00am – 5:00pm, Sun: 10:00am – 5:00pm APROPOS 30239

Odyssey L shown with accessory wheels, additional cost.

Gourmet Christmas Hampers & Wine Gifts 2014 s h op y o ur w ay • in st or e • o n l in e w w w .kir kc a l d ie s .c o . n z • e m ai l bas k e t s @ k i r k c al d i e s . c o . n z • p ( 0 4 ) 4 7 2 5 8 9 9 • f ( 0 4 ) 4 7 3 0 7 1 7

GIVE THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS Kirkcaldie & Stains offers a selection of ready-made hampers for the festive season. It is so easy to find a gourmet Kirkcaldies hamper to delight family, friends and colleagues. Just perfect for corporate gift giving too. Each hamper is packed with quality products that have been carefully hand selected and beautifully trimmed ready for delivery around the country or just around the corner. Spread goodwill this Christmas by giving a hamper from the premier department store. To order simply email: baskets@kirkcaldies.co.nz • telephone: (04) 472 5899 • fax: (04) 473 0717 • order online: www.kirkcaldies.co.nz • or visit the store. 1

1/ Kirkcaldies festive fruit cake $55. 2/ Joyeux Noel $85. 3/ Jingle Bells $120. 4/ Christmas to Share $150. 5/ Seasons Greetings $180. 6/ Festive Fare $250. 7/ Celebration Basket $500. 8/ Hop Federation Beer Selection Box $39. 9/ Port Box $69.99. 10/ Single Wine Box $45. 11/ Doctors Double Wine Box $60. 12/ Johanneshof Double Wine Box $90. 13/ Champagne Box $125. Please note: While stocks last. Vintages of the wines may change throughout the season. Some tableware and glasses pictured are not included. Orders required for delivery for Christmas need to be received no later than Wednesday 17 December 2014. We cannot guarantee that our courier will be able to deliver in time for Christmas, orders that are received after Wednesday 17 December 2014. To allow for production and despatch procedure, it is recommended that your order is placed at least 3 days prior to the dates mentioned. When a preferred delivery date is requested your order should be delivered within 1 to 2 days either side of that date. Rural deliveries may take longer. No delivery Saturday or Sunday.

GO RED FOR THE BEST CHRISTMAS OFFER IN TOWN! THERE’S NO INTEREST TO PAY. Shop until 24 December 2014 and pay nothing until the end of January 2015 with six monthly payments until the end of June 2015. (Normal credit criteria apply). A $25 activation fee applies which is triggered by your first purchase. Call our Credit Manager on (04) 472 5899 ext.7261 during store hours or pick up an application in-store or apply online at www.kirkcaldies.co.nz. Offer excludes: K&S Cafe, Scent Floral Boutique, Mecca Cosmetica, Pure Skin & Body and online purchases.

Apply for your Kirkcaldie’s Christmas Card today and make shopping at Wellington’s favourite department store easy.

BOOK NOW AT

25 NOVEMBER – 21 DECEMBER 2014 · ODLINS PLAZA, WELLINGTON

empirenz.com SPIEGELWORLDAUSNZ

SPIEGELWORLDAUS&NZ

YOUTUBE.COM/SPIEGELWORLDTV

HOUSTOUN TCHAIKOVSKY SIX BY ONE 2015 SEASON SUBSCRIBE NOW Six Tchaikovsky Symphonies Six Piano Concertos with Michael Houstoun Take advantage of a special Subscription price when you book 2 or more Wellington concerts within the SIX BY ONE series. Attend all 6 concerts for only $18 per concert – offer only available until 28 February 2015. Details and other Subscription packages available online at orchestrawellington.co.nz

BABY POPS Abracadabra Saturday 21 February, 3pm Sacred Heart College Lower Hutt Sunday 22 February, 3pm Southward Theatre Paraparaumu Thomas Goss – Presenter Magic and wizardry abound in this summer’s presentation of Baby Pops. The orchestra takes young listeners on a Magic Carpet Ride and casts a spell over them with humour, mystery, and enchantment. Tickets ticketek.co.nz / fringe.co.nz

2015 SEASON

BABY POPS

MARC TADDEI, MUSIC DIRECTOR

CAPITAL MADE IN WELLINGTON

THE COVER: Isaac, Elsie & Indi celebrate Christmas Art Direction: Shalee Fitzsimmons Photography: Benjamin & Elise Assisted by: Rhett GoodleyHornblow & Jess Hill

SUBSCRIPTION Subscription rates $77 (inc postage and packaging) 11 issues New Zealand only To subscribe, please email accounts@capitalmag.co.nz

C O N TA C T U S Phone +64 4 385 1426 Email editor@capitalmag.co.nz Website www.capitalmag.co.nz Facebook facebook.com/CapitalMagazineWellington Twitter @CapitalMagWelly Post Box 9202, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 Deliveries 31–41 Pirie St, Mt Victoria, Wellington, 6011 ISSN 2324-4836 Produced by Capital Publishing Ltd

PRINTED IN WELLINGTON

This publication uses vegetable based inks, and FSC® certified papers produced from responsible sources, manufactured under ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems

The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Although all material is checked for accuracy, no liability is assumed by the publisher for any losses due to the use of material in this magazine. Copyright ©. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of Capital Publishing Ltd.

esolutions, those doomed December 31 attempts at selfimprovement that spoil the New Year. I suggest we focus on an all-out attempt to enjoy each day of this month. Why do so many people groan at the mention of December? What’s not to like? Holidays approaching, families and fun, presents, parties, prizegivings, sunshine and lashings of food and ginger beer. The WCC, after a tongue-lashing last year over being the Christmas Scrooge, has come to the party in earnest this year, not one but two trees and gift-wrapped buildings adding to the sense of fun in the city. We have tried to give you plenty of useful information here, food and wine that might make your life easy, or make a great present. There are wonderful gift suggestions, ranging from candelabra to hammocks and even some socks. We know you like us for more than just our good looks. So to help develop the late-night heated discussions that should be part of every "good Christmas," Fabian Mike Smith has provided a assessment of the current government policies, particularly looking at inequalities in our community, and John Kerr explains the science behind the water-testing regime for the waterfront diving platform. Kieran Haslett-Moore and his team of trusty judges have tasted their way through many, many beers to provide you in our Beer Necessities survey with their top recommendations for summer drinking. And because we love a good word play, and hate to let a good idea drop, (last year was Mary Christmas), to round out the festive fare we asked three Christmas Carols to tell us something about their family Christmas favourites. It’s been fun and we will be back with a fresh issue in January. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Alison Franks Editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz

CONTENTS

BEER NECESSITIES Beer survey bares all

CHRISTMAS CAROL S

A U N I ON OF M I N D S

Cook all ye faithful

Fabian Mike Smith pleads for the long view

8 LETTERS

LIQUID THOUGHTS

10 CHATTER

FASHION SHORTS

NEWS SHORTS

PERIODICALLY SPEAKING

BY THE NUMBERS

BY THE BOOK

TALES OF THE CITY

MONEY TALKS

HIS & HERS PRODUCTS

72 INTERIORS

A FABIAN PERSPECTIVE

HOUSE OF FIRE AND SAND

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

MAKING A CRUST

ARTERIAL MUSIC

TORQUE TALK

WHAT THE FLOCK

WELLY ANGEL

34 CULTURE

BABY BABY

37 SUBSCRIBE

91 DIRECTORY

48 EDIBLES

94 CALENDAR

SMARTER STARTER

TOP DOG

CONTRIBUTORS

S TA F F Alison Franks Managing editor editor@capitalmag.co.nz Lyndsey O’Reilly Campaign coordinators Haleigh Trower sales@capitalmag.co.nz John Bristed General factotum john@capitalmag.co.nz Shalee Fitzsimmons Art direction & design shalee@capitalmag.co.nz Rhett Goodley- Hornblow

Design design@capitalmag.co.nz

Craig Beardsworth

Factotum

Anna Jackson-Scott Journalist Gus Bristed

Distribution

UNNA BURCH Fo o d g ur u Unna aka Forrest Cantina is a mum of two, wife of one. She lives on the outskirt of a little suburban forest where she keeps chickens and grows her own organic vegetables. Unna is a self taught home cook and loves all things edible. www.theforestcantina.com

D E I R D R E TA R R A N T Wel ly Angel Deirdre Tarrant, mother of three boys, founder of the former Footnote Dance Company and teacher of dance to generations of Wellingtonians will sort out your troubles as our Agony Aunt.

STOCKISTS Pick up your Capital in New World and Pak’n’ Save supermarkets, Moore Wilson's, Unity Books, Magnetix, City Cards & Mags, Take Note and other discerning greater Wellington outlets. Ask for Capital magazine by name. Distribution: john@capitalmag.co.nz.

SUBMISSIONS We welcome freelance art, photo and story submissions. However we cannot reply personally to unsuccessful pitches.

THANKS Jess Hill | Jenna & Issac | Danielle, Ernest & Elise | Zlata & Maxim | Indi (for letting us use your bedroom)

BENJAMIN + ELISE Ph oto g r aph ers Benjamin + Elise are a husband and wife photography team with a love for authentically natural portraiture. With Wellington as their base they travel far and wide documenting creative weddings and interesting people.

DANIEL ROSE Ph oto g r aph er Daniel moved to the capital last year largely for the coffee. He has won several national photography awards for his portrait work and prides himself on producing well-crafted photography. He has also taught photography at Unitec and NMIT.

12 months interest free is available *some conditions apply

LETTERS

POISONOUS FALLOUT I recently read through your Winter 2014 issue of Capital, congratulations on an excellent magazine. I have issues with the feature article on Alison Andrew. While it is admirable and noteworthy that a woman has worked and succeeded in a predominantly male sector of the workforce, it is the environmental histories of the companies she has worked for, Fletcher Paper and particularly Orica, that anger and upset me. I question the senior management of all companies that cause widespread and blatant pollution of our planet, so her lightheartedly commenting that "It was fun business and a great little company." was particularly abhorrent to me personally. Orica is an Australian based multinational corporation operating in 50 countries and serving more than 100 others. Some of the multitude of chemicals they manufacture are sodium cyanide for gold extraction, an industry that is responsible for huge levels of environmental degradation and toxic poisoning of humans, animals and the ecosystem through cyanide release, mainly into the waterways. Orica's production of commercial explosives for the mining and quarrying industries have been responsible for ongoing pollution with the undisclosed release of toxic chemicals such as mercury, hexavalent chromium, ammonia and 1,2-dichloroethane at their Botany Bay plant in Sydney, Gladstone in Queensland and Newcastle, N.S.W. I was born and raised in Stockton, the seaside suburb adjacent to the Orica plant and many of my friends and family living there are directly affected by the toxic emissions that Orica frequently rain down on them. I also found distasteful the comment that Orica makes " things that go bang in the mining industry,." a flippant remark to explain Orica's involvement in the degradation of the Hunter Valley, the once beautiful hinterland of Newcastle city, home to some of Australia's finest wine producers, world class horse racing and cattle stud farms and beautiful natural landscapes of escarpments, forests and waterways.

It is rapidly becoming a wasteland covered by a fine black powder of coal dust as huge machinery and giant coal trains rumble back and forth through towns and quaint villages from the proliferating coal mines where things go bang, on the way to the largest coal loading facility in the world still being constructed at Newcastle port. The people of Newcastle have to wipe down and hose off paths, vehicles, windows constantly to remove this unhealthy, poisonous dust. My elderly mother who lives 20 kms. south of Newcastle on beautiful Lake Macquarie has to do this when the wind blows from the north, carrying the fine black dust her way, while for those living in Newcastle city which is adjacent to the coal loader and residents of the Hunter Valley, this is a daily occurrence. Alison Andrew appears to live well, an intelligent woman who likes to eat healthy food and enjoy her family entertaining around their pool. Does she consider that my family are living with the fear that they have been poisoned and continue to be, young families unsure of the long term outcomes from the poor safety record of her fun business and great little company? Stephen Bland (abridged)

GEO GRAPHY LESSON On reading Capital, issue 16, I was horrified to find in the News shorts, Snapper cleverness (page12) it is stated that Dublin is the capital of Northern Ireland. For people of Irish descent or connection this is almost enough to start another round of “The Troubles”. Dublin is the capital of Ireland and Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. Ireland or Eire is an independent state. Northern Ireland belongs to the United Kingdom. It is disappointing to find this in a local magazine. I then found incorrect spelling on page 17. Sol3 Mio is not spelt Sol3 Mia as in your magazine. I am sure this very popular threesome would also be offended by the incorrect spelling. I would like to support your magazine as a resident of Wellington but I have been put off by these glaring errors that should have been corrected prior to printing and distribution. Maura Beattie, Johnsonville Thank you for your interest in Capital. Sorry those errors slipped past us. Ed.

IN PRO GRESS It is unfortunate that the author of In Decline, (iss16), chose not to approach us for comment before putting pen to paper. Grow Wellington would have welcomed the opportunity to discuss the region’s economic outlook and some of our activities in more detail. Wellington may not be growing as fast as Auckland or Christchurch, but it has recovered solidly from the recent downturn and the long-term outlook is positive. Although the jobs resulting from the current construction boom will not be permanent, there will be ongoing benefits for the region when the projects are finished – we will have improved capital stock, good roads and seismically strengthened buildings which will improve our productivity and attractiveness as a place to live and do business. In the past, efforts to promote Wellington internationally may have been focused on tourism. But the importance of also attracting new business, investment and migrants has been recognised by the region’s councils and last year Grow Wellington established a Business Attraction team. In a short period, we have secured a number of leads that could result in a significant number of new jobs and investment. Target industries include contact and technical centres, financial institutes, ICT and screen. This work can only be improved by a joined-up approach from the key agencies merging into the new Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA). We know there are high expectations around what WREDA will deliver. Wellington’s many strengths will make it an exciting challenge. Gerard Quinn, Chief Executive, GrowWellington

Letters to editor@capitalmag.co.nz with subject line Letters to Ed or can our QR code to email the editor directly.

C HAT T E R

INK INC.

A D RY SPELL? The only drought threatening Wellington is naturally not rain-related. It’s a man drought. Online publication Vice found that there is a nation-wide "man drought’ for women between 25 and 44. The Kapiti Coast was particularly dry, with 82 men for every 100 women. Apparently there has been an exodus of young men to Australia, and to Christchurch for post-earthquake rebuilding efforts. Further, a Callister and co. research paper found many NZ women are highly educated and want someone of similar education. If that’s the case, the current patterns of education enrolments and completions suggest the “educated man drought” will continue for some time.

JOB OPENING

CHAR HILLERBY

Converse seeks a rebellious, front-row fist pumper to keep the beat at a Wellington music gig on 3 December*. You must have hands and be able to count to four to apply. You must also show a willingness to party, act rebelliously, and live spontaneously in the moment.

What lead you to get a tattoo? It's been a fav past-time since I was 16 Why did you choose the design? I really love Sam Rulz's art work. At the consult she asked what I wanted, I said "A dead Rabbit" and told her to run with it and do whatever she wanted! Family – for it or against? I'm not sure. This particular tattoo has been the focus of plenty of a conversation, but my immediate family are extremely supportive and loving. So I suppose, for it?

C HAT T E R

WELLY WORDS

LAMPPOST POST Up in the backblocks of Brooklyn a Wellyworder was amused to observe a woman frustrated with her terrier’s insistence on stopping on every lamppost. As they passed she looked up, rolled her eyes and said “Slow going tonight, he’s received a lot of p-mail.”

TETHERED FRIENDS And another anecdote from the canine files – we heard there was an incident with one of the chairs outside Capitol on Kent Terrace. A Springer Spaniel tethered to a chair was spooked by passing traffic. Not an unusual occurrence in the CBD, but our Wellyworder reports the spaniel completely freaked out and ran across six lanes of traffic to the opposite corner with the chair still attached. The dog wasn’t run over but the chair was a little worse for wear.

IT'S COOL TO KORERO Maori is an official language in Aotearoa so it's time you got off your nono to learn some Reo.

OH SO CKS AGAIN... = AUE TŌKENA ANO ... WHERE'S MY PRESENT? = KEI HEA TE TOKU HAKARI?

LIVE AND... Wellington family homeware store Let Liv has opened permanent premises at 11 Hunter Street. The Scandinavian-inspired designs were previously only available online. Eastbourne-born Natalie Sorensen was inspired by her Danish grandparents to launch the online brand in 2012. The name means "easy life" in Danish.

O B L I G AT O RY Y U L E T I D E FA C T It’s tradition to not only leave a choccy bickie out for Santa but also some edible shrubbery for his cloven-hoofed transport gang. If you really wanna impress the neighbours then leave out appropriate organic reindeer food. Here’s our low down: In the wild, they eat leaves, sedges and grasses, lemmings (lemmings?! what the...), bird eggs, moss, and Arctic char (fish). Some reindeer also eat mushrooms (we speculate that these are magic mushrooms...well flying reindeer...helloooo). They also graze on 262 kinds of seeds and 62 kinds of lichen. So, leaving out a carrot for Rudolph and his pals may not be the best for their digestion. If Santa has to make unscheduled stops for reindeer with the runs then some toddler in Invercargill might miss out on their presents. Oh and while you’re at it – Santa’s bickies should be sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and vacuum packed for freshness. Just saying.

NEWS SHORTS

CLEAN GREEN C OA S T L I N E S Russ Thomas is cleaning up Wellington coasts one working-bee at a time. The Wind Maintenance manager at Meridian, who is also a keen diver and SUP paddler, has taken up Sustainable Coastlines’ Love your Coast initiative, running dive cleanups and events in Paekakariki. Next stop is Makara beach on 6 December. An outdoor screening of The Life Aquatic follows on 13 December. Makara beach cleanup, 6 December, 9:30 am, Sustainable Coastlines ‘Education Station’ The Life Aquatic, 13 December, 8:30 pm, Waitangi Park, 107 Cable St, Wellington

ADVICE OVERFLOW

A GO OD SPORT

SAFETY FIRST

Wellington geography teacher Phillip Robinson has been awarded the AdviceFirst Wellington Regional Scholarship and will visit ten flood-prone schools (ten days each) in the basin of Cambodia’s Mekong River. Phillip leaves for Southeast Asia in January, with the aim of helping Cambodian schools prepare for flooding disasters through community education. “I want to use knowledge . . . on disaster preparedness to help Cambodian schools become effective civil defence centres.” Phillip also hopes to establish strong cultural bonds between New Zealand and Cambodian schools, with his Raphael House students following his movements on his blog and video-chatting directly with the flood-stricken communities.

Athletics stalwart Jo Murray has been awarded the 2014 Trish McKelvey Leadership Award. Trish McKelvey, former chairperson of Sport Wellington, presented Murray with the award, which recognises an outstanding leader and volunteer in the sports sector. McKelvey praised Murray’s “hard work, absolute dedication, loyalty and commitment.” Murray built the Wellington’s Olympic Harrier Club juniors from 140 to 300 members. The club has taken out the top club trophy for two years in a row. She is also the Sport Development Manager at Athletics Wellington.

Ten Go Wellington operators will take part in a December Road User Workshop Programme. The number of injuries involving buses and cyclists has more than halved in the four years since the workshops began in the Wellington region. The programme has bus drivers and cyclists swap vehicles to learn how to make the roads safer for each other. Another participating bus company, NZ Bus, recently won the Cycle Friendly Business Commitment award for the Road User Workshop Programme at the national 2WalkandCycle conference in Nelson. Mana Newlands Coach Services is also now involved in the workshops.

S ENCETW IO S NS H HOE R A TDSE R

THE COMMON GOOD The Common Unity Project Aotearoa won the Supreme Award in the Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards last month. Common Unity is a volunteer-based urban farm project, growing and preparing enough food to feed Lower Hutt’s Epuni school students. The project volunteers also coordinated a cooking programme and knitting and sewing to provide warm clothing and blankets for the students, and set up a ‘bike library’ of refurbished bicycles for loan.

ON A MISSION Wellington City Mission is again distributing Christmas hampers to families in Wellington. Last year they distributed around 1,200 Christmas food parcels and on Christmas Eve over 100 families recieved the hampers. The hampers will be delivered again this year; they contain a Christmas cake and fruit mince pies, crackers and biscuits, chocolate, juices, and Christmas crackers.

DIGITAL BUILDINGS The Wellington City Council’s new E-plan will let you digitally explore alterations to your property. “By clicking on your property, you can find out if you can subdivide it, or what alterations and additions you do, or don’t, need a resource consent for,” Councillor Andy Foster says. The E-plan will be available on the Council’s website early next year.

FESTIVE CELEBRATIONS Wellington gets an extra Christmas tree this year. The usual Midland Park tree has been joined by a second tree on Courtenay Place. The cable car and railway station entrance are joining the festivities and will be dressed up for the festive season.The Santa Parade returns on the 14 December at 2pm, running from Lambton Quay to Manners Street with an after party at Frank Kitts Park.

BY THE NUMBERS

TEXTUAL COMMUNICATION

POLE DANCING

WELL FURNISHED

6.5

years Minerva has been serving the Wellington textile craft community

1,700

1860

book titles in store on fabric, textiles and handcraft (more than you can poke a knitting needle at)

average number of times a month that the Wellington Regional Fire Service Rolls out the station doors

568 57

different greeting cards in store

average number of seconds it takes the firemen and women to get down the pole, out the door and on the road

number of countries their madein-house magazine NZ Quilter is sent to around the world

fire appliances are housed at 31 stations around the region

750

average length of hose each of those fire appliances has on board

COAST WALK TALK

kilometres of coastline to walk along to get to the Pencarrow lighthouse (built in 1859, it's NZ’s oldest)

number of lakes (Kohangapiripiri and Kohangatera) just beyond the lighthouse...yeah, ok, it’s an extra 2km but well worth the sore feet

number of hours for a return trip on foot, or two hours on bike

number of shipwrecks said to have occurred along the Pencarrow coastline

years Stacks Furniture has been open in Wellington

2000

different shades/designs of red fabrics available (that’s just RED. people)

30,000

cars drive past each day on the crazy John Street intersection

23,400

estimated number of Wellingtonian bottoms sitting on a Stacks sofa right now

BEERING IT ALL

I SHOD THE SHERIFF

126

number of beers our intrepid judges supped in Beer Necessities the inaugural Capital beer survey

number of years Minnie Cooper have been selling shoes in Wellington

24 4

number of breweries that took part

59 7,500

shoe styles available

the number of judges involved in the blind testing the page the survey report starts in this issue....what are you waiting for? Go read it.

amount of leather (in feet squared) used each year jobs kept in the country thanks to people buying local brands

Compiled by Craig Beardsworth

Online: ikoiko.co.nz Auckland: 195 Karangahape Rd Wellington: 118 Cuba St | 198 Lambton Quay

TA L E S O F T H E C I T Y

PEALINGS – NOTHING MOR E T HA N PE A L I NG S

MUSIC

LONG WALK

GOOD KAI

Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra

Whitireia Park Titahi Bay

Dunshea’s Deli Khandallah

DRINKET TE

G E TAWAY

Library Bar

Bowentown Beach Waihi

Amanda Cunningham is a campanologist. She has been ringing bells at The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul part time for four years so I get the hackneyed jokes out of the way quickly, as she’s heard them all before – she and her colleagues don’t drink Bell Tea, nor do they sing Ding Dong Merrily on High at Christmas time, and no one is called Igor.

y day Cunningham is a Senior Administrator for the School of Government at Victoria University. When she and her family moved to Wellington in 2008 they spent a year lapping up all the events the city had to offer – “so many amazing events were freely available” – so when she read an article about bell-ringing and their need for volunteers she applied. “I thought I’d give it a go – give something back to this great community. I started ringing in February 2010 and with the support of the Tower Captain and all the Wellington ringers I’m still ringing today”. An average week of duty entails a practice on Tuesday evening (open ringing), sometimes an informal practice on a Saturday morning (rung through a simulator so it doesn’t disturb the peace), and then two stints on a Sunday. “In fact we ring whenever the Cathedral needs us to. We also ring for weddings at Old St Paul's.” Many churches use recordings and loudspeakers now, so it is rare to hear authentic pealing around the country. Cunningham has embraced the Wellington coffee/ bar culture with both hands – Midnight Espresso or Dunshea’s Deli (Khandallah) are favourite haunts as is The Library, “A great spot for a drink on a Saturday evening after a movie or a play at Bats.” Saturday

afternoons you can find Amanda and her husband at Southern Cross. “We are so lucky in Wellington there are so many fantastic places to eat out and enjoy live entertainment”. Keeping active is important when you have a desk job so Cunningham often runs along the waterfront and after bell-ringing duties on a summery Sunday will swim at Thorndon pool. “I love all the walkways around the city and we often walk our dog up Mt Kaukau and enjoy the view from the top or the coastline around Whitireia Park”. Beyond city limits, Bowentown Beach near Waihi is a favoured destination, and out of New Zealand, the Greek Islands. “Because that’s where my husband proposed to me (quite some time ago now!)” Bell-ringing responsibilities over Christmas involve the Christingle service at 3.30 pm on Christmas Eve and the midnight service. “The band gathers again on Christmas morning and we ring from 9.00 am to10.00 am”. The band is made up of 6 to 8 volunteers (usually one person per bell) and new additions are always welcome. “You don’t need any formal music training to ring. However a good sense of rhythm is useful and bags of tenacity. If you’re a team player then you’ll enjoy ringing.” www.wellringers.willstrust.org

Writen by Craig Beardsworth, Photograph by Rhett Goodley-Hornblow

HIS

7 6

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Heico Germany pug lamp, $195.00, Tea Pea Nkuku two tone ceramic mug, $29.90, Iko Iko Henley US keychain multi tool, $25.00, Tea Pea Kinto Teapot, from $19.95, Moore Wilsons Orange tartan tie, $120.00, Mandatory Cardboard stool - wine crate, $55.00, Stacks Round dorm, $259.00, Let Liv

Beard, $29.90, Iko Iko

Malle W. Trosseau cutting tray, $1,995.00, Corso de' Fiori

10. Triumph & Disaster stash box, $150.00, Corso de' Fiori 11. Wooden Watch, $180-$210, Mandatory 12. Moleskine Plain Notebook Pocket White, $28.99, Gordon Harris 13. Tan Dress Belts, $79-$80, Mandatory 18

HERS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Yellow star cookie cutter, $5.50, Iko Iko General Eclectic Helena candlestick hot pink, $44.90, Iko Iko Zed Home chalkboard canister, $19.90, Iko Iko Cupcakes and Mace - Ag necklace $27, Made It Sunkissed bathrobe, $149.00, Let Liv Pony Rider Starry Night cushion - Peach, $110.00, Tea Pea

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 19

Snowflake hanging decoration, from $3.99, Trade Aid White Fox & Co Mr. and Mrs. Pillowslip Set - Neon, $60.00, Tea Pea Ottoloom towel, $65.00, Harry's Voltaire Candide by Jessica Hische, $30.00, Unity Books Cushion, POA, Libby Beattie Castle Sunny Spot beach towel, $85.00, Small Acorns

OPINION

A UNION OF MINDS BY MIKE SMITH, CHAIR OF THE NEW ZEALAND FABIAN SOCIETY

Two things characterise the Fabians' approach to policy – taking a long view, and valuing quality research. The original Fabians were socialists but not revolutionaries – they knew socialism's coming would take time and they weren't wrong. They took their name from Fabius whose delaying tactics saved Rome from Hannibal's invasion in 218 BC.

abians were achievers – in Britain they founded the London School of Economics. In New Zealand Pember Reeves' Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act set the foundation for a collectively negotiated wage floor which lasted for a hundred years. Reeves would have opposed the government's recent law change. My Fabian perspective on the government's current direction is first, its thinking is too short term, and second, its approach to information tends too much to dismiss it, distort it or refuse to disclose it. The latest Fabian incarnation here began in 2010. Four topics are worth comment – a resilient economy, better regulation, inequality, the public service and democracy, presentations are on our website www.fabians.org.nz.

RESILIENT ECONOMY At our 2010 launch we said “The problems facing the New Zealand economy are clear, but are proving intractable due to lack of political will. Our balance of payments deficit is chronic; our export industries are narrowly based and suffer from an over-valued exchange rate used as a one-way bet by speculators. We do not have a consistent focus on developing a sustainable twenty-first-century industrial and economic base for the future.” That assessment remains true. Our export industries are still narrowly based, and dairy intensification will make that worse. One 2010 presenter repeated in 2014, “For any economy, diversity in things you make and who you sell to is important to lower risks and ensure a shock-resistant, resilient economy. However New Zealand has been going in the opposite direction, relying on a narrow range of simple products − milk powder, meat and logs − and a 20

single large market, China.” The Fabian Society argues for a more balanced approach to economic policy. A competitive exchange rate, a capital gains tax to provide fairness across various sources of income, and an increase in research and development funding are based on sound research. Today we hear that our R&D funding is trending down compared to our main trading partners, and as is too common the Minister dismisses the information.

REGULATION A persistent call from the ideological right is for socalled “light-handed regulation.” This led to disasters in the building sector, worker safety, banking, and electricity pricing. Leaky homes wiped out equity, poor practices in mines and railways meant workers lost their lives, undue reliance on the market brought the global economy to crisis, and cheaply-produced electricity is expensive for consumers due to large-scale asset revaluations and privatisation. The political fallout from corporate laxity at Pike River has seen the government move to improve worker safety and regulation in the mining industry, although not to the point of giving miners real say at the coalface. Privatisation of electricity gentailers means that consumers will pay inflated prices while gentailers pay inflated dividends to professional investors. This is not in our long-term interest.

INEQUALIT Y When discussing inequality accurate information is crucial and comparators important. Different conclusions can emerge depending on the timescale chosen or whether one

OPINION

compares income or wealth. On this issue the government is both short-term and selective. Focusing only on income, only on the past ten years and using the impenetrable Gini coefficient does not give a true picture of what is happening to too many New Zealanders. Thomas Piketty's Capital highlights the political and social consequences of wealth aggregation skewing to the top one percent. Fabian commentators proposed various alternatives, from universal tax on capital to universal basic income, but what emerges clearly is that data on wealth distribution in New Zealand is virtually non-existent. While Piketty shows that wealth aggregation has mostly been in housing, the government has refused to collect data on house purchases by non-New Zealanders. However the government has said it intends to look for solutions to child poverty which is a welcome start.

PUBLIC SERVICE, OFFICIAL INFORMATION & DEMO CRACY The State Sector Act changed a single centrally-managed public service to a compartmentalised sector-managed state service. Contributors from the Act's architects and others to a

seminar series concluded that the subsequent fragmentation merited a thorough review of the principles of public service. The government derided this suggestion and continues to try to put Humpty together again – another short-term view. A presentation on “Dirty Politics” revealed the way the government manipulates official information to delay it or to use it for political advantage. Public officials are also being pressured to avoid political activity − one seminar attendee commented that he could get involved in anything he knew nothing about but not in anything which he knew a lot about! In this area the government mark is a complete fail. The public service is being shifted from one that acts in the general interests of the public to one that acts in the political interests of the government. We have moved from public service to state service to government service. For the long-term health of New Zealand's democracy the public deserve both better information and better service. Mike Smith is the Chairman of the New Zealand Fabian Society, a "think group" which promotes social democracy, and whose motto is 'To incite debate." It is independent and not aligned or affiliated with any political party. www.fabians.org.nz

Beatrice Webb, 1858-1943; Sidney Webb, 18591947; with Bernard Shaw (left), 1856-1950, founding members of the Fabian Society. (Daily Herald, London) (right) Sidney and Beatrice Webb

SECTION HEADER

www.worldbrand.co.nz

Scots College and Queen Margaret College exclusively offer the International Baccaulaureate Diploma in Wellington The IB Diploma is an internationally recognised qualification completed in place of Year 12 and 13 NCEA. Taught in over 145 countries it is considered the gold standard of education.

To learn more about the Diploma and to give your child the best advantage contact Scots College P: (04) 388 0861 I E: thomasc@scotscollege.school.nz scotscollege.school.nz

Queen Margaret College P: (04) 473 7160 I E: enrolments.registrar@qmc.school.nz 22 qmc.school.nz

F E AT U R E

CHRISTMAS CAROLS PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASHLEY CHURCH

Every household celebrates Christmas a little differently. For some, food is the focus. Others put on their favourite Christmas music and sing carols, attend church, or stuff stockings full to bursting. Last year we talked to three Marys. This year weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve moved to the musical side of the season and asked three Carols to share their favourite recipes to celebrate Christmas.

SECTION HEADER

CA ROL E HA RTN EY I met the McDonalds in the mid-70s when we were working at TVNZ, Avalon. Joanie was of French heritage and an excellent cook. She was used to feeding a large family and their many hangers-on, all of whom continued to visit the family home despite living in satellite flats around Wellington. I observed how savvy she was, serving classy-looking food on a budget. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking the "olden days" before current food obsessions and when deli-bought French boursin cheese was expensive. Actually, it still is, and whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, sold in very small rounds. We don't have family here and Christmases with our New Zealand whanau are often at a beach. Food is still the major focus though. We always have mince pie, champagne and presents around the tree for breakfast.

BOURSIN a la Joanie McDonald (mother of Ginette and Michael)

INGREDIENTS 1 oblong packet of Philadelphia cream cheese A large clove of garlic mashed with salt A squeeze of lemon Any mix of classic fresh herbs: parsley (I prefer flat-leaf Italian), a good handful when chopped finely Sage (just a couple of leaves as the flavour tends to overpower) chives (a handful, finely snipped) thyme (lots, remove from stems and chop) Maybe a little rosemary, but like sage be careful, it can overwhelm. The aim is to achieve a good green colour throughout the cheese. Finally to coat: Black peppercorns (three or four

1. Cut cheese into cubes and put in a blender with the garlic and salt, then add the finely chopped herbs and lemon juice, which will help keep herbs green. Blend well. 2. Wet hands and roll mixture into a ball. Coat in cracked black pepper, wrap in clear plastic and place fridge for an hour before serving. 3. Alternatives - roll in chopped toasted hazel nuts or walnuts 4. Serve with French bread, crostini or water crackers. 5. Best with drinks or as part of an anti-pasto plate, this is the only type of cheese I would serve before dinner.

tablespoons cracked but not too finely)

F E AT U R E

C A ROL LETHA M I’m a new Wellington resident; I came up from Winchmore, in Canterbury to start a job at Westpac Bank. My flatmates and I get on really well so we decided to have an early flat Christmas before we all went home to our families. There are four in our flat and we are all cooking something special. I grew up on a farm where Christmas dinner always meant roast lamb, ham or turkey, so I thought I’d do something completely different – fish. It also helps that one of my flatmates is a keen fisherman. He caught the snapper and I cooked it. The internet provided the recipe but I modified it a bit − we have a mature lemon tree in our back yard and heaps of parsley growing wild so thought I’d incorporate it. I might plant some red onions for next year...

BA K E D S NA P P E R INGREDIENTS 2 pounds whole snapper 1 bunch fresh parsley 3 lemons 100g unsalted butter 2 Tbs flour 1 clove garlic, smashed 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 red onion

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Place cleaned, scaled fresh fish on a large piece of tinfoil. Open up fish and insert a handful of parsley, a few lemon slices and 25g of butter, and close back up as best as you can. Make shallow cuts along both sides of the fish and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. 3. In a food processor combine the remaining parsley (about two cups), garlic, and the juice of one lemon, and pulse together until well combined. Pour a 1/4 of the mixture over the top of the fish and keep the rest for the sauce. 4. Add your preferred amount of parsley, sliced lemons, 25g of butter and chopped onion on the top of the fish

and wrap the fish up loosely in tinfoil but make sure it's securely closed. Cook for 25 â&#x2C6;&#x2019; 35 minutes depending on how well you like it done. 5. Place a small pan over medium-high heat; add 50g of butter and flour. Mix together until well combined and it begins to thicken. Add in parsley mixture and turn to low heat. Let cook for another 2 minutes until hot then remove from heat. 6. Once the fish is fully cooked, peel off the fillet and remove the bones. I use my fingers to gently find them, and remove them with a small set of tongs. Pour sauce over the top, add lemon wedges to serve.

F E AT U R E

C A ROL L AW I have been making these Christmas puddings for many years as it is a favourite hot pudding for us. We have been making this same pudding for almost 30 years. It used to be a family effort as we made 100 or more, so there were plenty for gifts and for special friends and family. We used to be able to cook them in the Massey University kitchen steam ovens, and in later years, Tony O'Brien at the Pines has helped out too. These days, we make only enough for our Christmas dinner as it is a huge undertaking. Shortbread has always been a family favourite all year, but especially over the festive season when there are a lot of visitors and cups of tea. Family for us means all the extended family around and often it is in Palmerston North where my parents live. Many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends on their own join us. It is usually an evening meal and we mostly have traditional food such as shrimp cocktail, baked ham, roast beef and the trimmings, salads, vegetables and the inevitable stuffed eggs. Sometimes there are some Chinese treats added in so it's a real feast. It is a happy time of year with much fun and laughter and good memories.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING INGREDIENTS 250g sultanas 250g currants 250g raisins 1 tsp mixed spice 170g butter 250g brown sugar 300g fresh brown breadcrumbs 170g grated carrots 1 small apple, peeled and grated 2 tbsp treacle 4 large eggs beaten Brandy Butter 250g butter softened 110 g icing sugar 2 tbsp brandy or rum

1. Cream butter, add sugar, treacle and eggs. Mix in everything else and combine to make a moist mixture. 2. Put into a 2-litre pudding basin, or you can use smaller containers such as ramekins or 2 small pudding basins. 3. Put into a pot with a trivet or steamer that can hold the puddings and steam. For the large one, cook approximately 5 hrs, smaller ones 2 â&#x2C6;&#x2019; 3 hours depending on their size. Check the water level constantly and top up as required. 4. Cool when cooked, and store in the refrigerator or a cool dry place.

5. To serve, re-heat by steaming again for up to 2 hrs, again depending on the size. 6. To flame the pudding, heat a glass of brandy in a metal ladle or small saucepan over direct heat. Carry warm brandy and matches to the table. Light the brandy and pour flaming over the pudding. 7. Serve with brandy butter, whipped cream or custard Brandy Butter 1. Beat the butter and icing sugar together until creamy and pale. 2. Beat in the brandy or rum gradually.

F E AT U R E

ARTERIAL MUSIC WRITTEN BY MELODY THOMAS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASHLEY CHURCH

With popular Wellington venues closing down left, right and centre, it is a big gamble to open a new one. But with the help of a friendly investor, musician and former record store owner Ben James has done just that.

ix months ago, Ben James was sitting in Death Ray Records, the Newtown record shop he co-owned at the time, when in walked his landlord Peter Noble with a grand business proposal. As well as the building housing Death Ray, Noble owned the space around the corner at Bar Edward, and was looking for someone to reinvent it. “He liked how I did business,” says James simply, “So he asked me to come on board.” There was a lot to think about before jumping in. James knew such a big project would require all his time and attention, and he would have to sell his half of Death Ray to commit. Also, Noble was keen to see the space as a bar and restaurant, whereas James was set on the idea of a live venue. “That’s where my passion lies, not in booze or food. I like music,” says James. A musician for 12 years – he has played everything from clarinet to sax, accordion to synthesizers with a number of bands including the current Spartacus R − James was adamant. In the end Noble took the gamble, fronting the cash for Newtown’s newest live venue, MOON. It’s an interesting environment in which to be opening a new venue. Despite their popularity local favourites Mighty Mighty and Puppies both recently closed their doors. But while this seems to indicate tough times for venues, it also means a significant number of live-musicloving Wellingtonians suddenly in need of a new place to hang out. “l actually would have liked to see two years without a new venue opening in Wellington,” admits James, “I like the idea of people… having to invent new ways of playing. 31

I imagine more gigs at houses and in warehouses. It would have been awesome fun. But the opportunity came up so I grabbed it.” He’s not the only one. In town we now have Laundry and Pyramid Club, and Meow has upped its live-music game substantially. But MOON’s point of difference is in its location. Not only does the venue showcase live music every other night while serving up pizza, beer and a decent whisky selection - but it does so right in the suburban backyard. As James describes it, “It’s the lazy man’s venue!” And it seems to be everyman’s venue, − managing to look and feel cool without being off-putting to people who might not describe themselvesas cool. It’s both gig spot and “local”, and the vibe is decidedly welcoming. “Going to bars I always felt a bit uncomfortable… like I was standing in an artery or a vein and I was clogging it up somehow. You’re always in someone’s way… I wanted Moon to feel comfy… if you want to dance there’s a dance area, but you can also remove yourself and enjoy your night in a booth,” he says. James has grand plans to cultivate a larger community hub around MOON, including office space for local creatives, a radio station and maybe even a small creche. He sees Newtown as the perfect place for it. “When you fill out a business plan you’re meant to write down your competition but Newtown’s too small for that,” he says, “It’s more about coming together and figuring out how we can make it work for everyone.”

W HAT T H E F L O C K

LIT TLE STARLING Name: Common Starling. Status: Introduced, not threatened. Habitat: The starling was first introduced to New Zealand in the 1860s as a means of controlling the “plagues” of insects caused by the large-scale felling of native bush for farmland. Numbers grew quickly and the species was soon established over the length of the country, including offshore islands as far away as the Kermadecs. The starling is viewed as both destructive and useful, depending on who’s talking. They are appreciated by farmers for their insect-and tick-eating behaviour but orchardists have trouble keeping the birds away from their fruit. They’ve been known to steal grain from hen runs and compete with native species like tui and bellbird for both food and nest sites. Look for them: Starlings are everywhere except in alpine and native bush areas, and are especially well adapted to cohabiting with humans. They are similar in size to a thrush (a little smaller than a blackbird) and look black and rather plain from a distance. On closer inspection starlings have beautiful iridescent purple and green feathers tipped with white spots.They are one of the most commonly sighted birds in many Wellington suburbs − as I type I’m watching one on the power line outside my window, shining in the sun with a look in its eye that could easily be mistaken for mischief. Call: The first time I ever noticed a starling was due to its complex, chatty call - a mix of clicks, wheezes, whistles and rattles that has been described as sounding like “an orchestra tuning up”. They’re also great mimics and have been known to include sounds like car alarms and even human speech patterns into their calls. Feeds on: Insects, fruit, grain, eggs of other birds, nectar from the flowers of plants and trees including flax, kowhai and rata. Did you know? In 2006, researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Diego discovered that starlings have the capacity to recognise and distinguish between certain patterns of language organisation which was previously thought unique to humans. If it were human it would be: We can think of a few people who, like the starling, exhibit an intelligent and curious character, like to perform and are seen as a nuisance by some. Think Wellyoriginal John Campbell, Mayor of Invercargill Tim Shadbolt and outspoken Homebrew and @Peace lyricist Tom Scott.

SAVE O

50% OFF COMPLETE GLASSES

UP T $249

INCLUDING THE LATEST DESIGNERS When you choose 1 pair of complete glasses with PENTAX standard single vision lenses from a selected range in the $169 collection or above.*

Wellington - Cuba St: 83 Cuba St (corner Cuba mall and Dixon St), 801 9793. Wellington - Lambton Quay: 168 Lambton Quay (opposite Stout St), 471 1069. Johnsonville Shopping Centre: (opposite Muffin Break), 478 5468. Visit specsavers.co.nz to find your local store. *Other lens types and extra options not included. Offer ends 4th January 2015. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer including 2 pairs for 1 low price. Frames available while stocks last. ÂŠ 2014 Specsavers Optical Group.

MOLA BY CAMERON FOGGO

a 12 Kaiwharawhara Rd Wellington

t 04 499 8847 w backhousenz.com e wellington@backhousenz.com

CULTURE

WELL NOTED Nota Bene celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The chamber choir’s annual Christmas concert will be at Prefab 11 December. They also perform Christmas carols on National Radio every Christmas Eve. It will be the last concert as musical director for Christine Argyle, who began the choir in 2004. She is moving to manage the New Zealand String Quartet. The choir will spend a year with guest directors; the first Wellington director Peter de Blois, says Chair Lynda Carroll. A CD spanning the ten years of Argyle’s direction hit number one on Radio NZ Concert classical charts last month.

ART WITH A VIEW Contemporary international artists will live and work in a new studio at the Clyde Quay Wharf apartments in a partnership between the Wellington City Council and the School of Art at Massey University, Whiti o Rehua. The artistin-residence programme is designed to offer Wellington art-lovers the chance to interact with the artist over their stay, with an array of public lectures and tours of the expansive site (with the best view in Wellington). Catch the launch of Te Whare Hēra Gallery, as well as current artist-inresidence Christian Thompson’s exhibition Eight Limbs, opening in early December.

42 Victoria Street Wellington 6011 New Zealand 42 Victoria Street Victoria Street Wellington 6011 Wellington 6011 ph +64 4 471 2636 Zealand New Zealand email info@pageblackiegallery.co.nz www.pageblackiegallery.co.nz ph +64 4 471 471 2636 2636 email info@pageblackiegallery.co.nz email info@pageblackiegallery.co.nz

THE STRAIGHT A N D NA R ROW Robin White, distinguished NZ printmaker and painter for developing New Zealand's regionalist style, has long collaborated with other artists from around the Pacific. She lived on the island of Kiribati for 17 years, returning to NZ in 1999. Of Pakeha and Maori descent, she is now based in Masterton, but continues to work with Pacific artists and themes. In 2003 she was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. White has again taken a collaborative approach for her exhibition at Pataka. Ko e Hala Hangatonu: The Straight Path is a monumental 24.8m-long ngatu (tapa illustrated with dye rubbings), the work of White and young Tongan artist Ruha Fifiti. "You don't do something like this on your own. It relies on building relationships with people, learning to recognise your own skills and the skills of other" says Robin. White began with traditional Tongan design and then explored contemporary imagery. The Pacific, Western Europe, and the Middle East feature in the mix of historical and contemporary iconography. The exhibition takes its name from the traditional Tongan design Hala Paini – the pathway of pines. It represents the straight road fringed with Norfolk Pines that leads to the King’s palace in Tongatapu, as well as the metaphorical path that takes you directly to where you need to be. Robin White with Ruha Fifita: Ko e Hala Hangatonu: The Straight Path opens 7 December 2014, Pataka, Porirua

CULTURE

HA PPY NEW YEAR! The council offers a family-friendly New Year’s celebration at Frank Kitt’s park this NYE. The lagoon will be lit up, with music from 8 pm, followed by clips of local films and music from Orchestra Wellington from 10 pm. Fireworks will bring in the new year at midnight. La De Da is another option. Wellington artists are playing at the festival this year. The festival has moved to Daisybank Farm on Dry River Road in Martinborough. Porirua and the Hutt are NYE-event-free this year.

DRAMATIC SCHOLAR Wellingtonian and second year student Olivia Manhood has won The Museum Art Hotel Scholarship for 2014. She was nominated by fellow students at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in Wellington and selected by Toi Whakaari staff in consultation with the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand. The scholarship, worth over $10,000 celebrates excellence in the arts and eases the financial strain for recipients.

YOUNG TALENT Young dancers take the stage for a one day performance of the Nutcracker. The Deirdre Tarrant Dance Theatre company presents the traditional ballet, directed and choreographed by well known dance exponent Deirdre Tarrant. 21 December, 4:30pm and 7:30pm, Wellington Opera House

CUBADUPA If Cuba Street isn’t bustling and bohemian enough for you, it will be on 28 and 29 March 2015 with the CubaDupa street festival celebrating the epic creative spirit of the Wellington community, featuring dance, music, theatre, live street art, carnival, circus, street food, a mass street orchestra, interactive masquerade costume event, giant puppets, an intergalactic band, aerial opera, flash mobs, alien junk monsters, and vaudeville pirates. Local artists have joined forces with the Creative Capital Arts Trust and the Wellington City Council to ensure there will be mayhem in every nook and cranny.

CULTURE

U K E S E R E NA D E

JEWELLERY BY BECKY BLISS

The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra returns to its hometown on its album release tour. Be Mine Tonight is the orchestra’s first full-length album, and is named after the song by Th’ Dudes. It pays homage to the past 100 years of NZ music. The mandatory Lorde song on the album is Team. Masterton-born Amanda Billing sings on the album alongside Wellington singer Lisa Tomlins, Canadian ukulele star James Hill, and Hawaiian ukulele maestro Pi’ikea Clark. Be Mine Tonight was engineered in Wellington by Neil Maddever and produced by Age Pryor. 5 & 6 December, 8 pm, James Cabaret

HA N DE D D OW N MUSIC TO OUR EARS Radio New Zealand National’s newest presenter is a familiar face round these parts. Capital writer and columnist Melody Thomas hosts Summer Music 101 from 27 December, featuring panel discussions, live concerts, new music, interviews and mix tapes from the likes of Warren Maxwell, Electric Wire Hustle (above), Ria Hall, and 2014 Silver Scroll winner Tami Nielson. Summer Music 101 on 101.3FM from 12−5pm Saturdays.

Becky Bliss and Neke Moa, two Wellington mentees from jewellery mentoring programme Handshake1, have been selected to exhibit at prestigious German jewellery exhibition Schmuck March 2015. Handshake is a jewellery mentor programme, matching NZ jewellers with their chosen idol. Bliss worked with Fabrizio Tridenti, an award-winning Italian jeweller and writer. Moa worked with German jeweller Karl Fritsch, who has lived in Island Bay for several years. An exhibition of the second stage of the programme, Handshake2, runs until 13 December at Toi Poneke. Kelly McDonald, Kathryn Yeats, Amelia Pascoe, Karren Dale, and Suni Hermon are the Wellington jewellers for Handshake2.

CAPITAL MADE IN WELLINGTON

$3.90

Purchase a subscription voucher for Christmas and give the gift that is sustainable, local and thoughtful. w w w. c a p i t a l m a g . c o . n z

RECEIVE A FREE GIFT WITH WITH EVERY SUBSCRIPTION

This tea towel designed by the talented Gina Kiel, as an ode to our windy city, is free with every subscription. While stocks last.

$77 for 11 issues of Capital, delivered to the recipient's door. And you will receive a voucher to give on Christmas Day.

ORDER NOW

• visit capitalmag.co.nz/subscribe, selecting the Christmas subscription offer • email accounts@capital mag.co.nz with Subscribe for Christmas in the subject line • or post your contact details & payment to PO Box 9202, Marion Square, Wellington

Offer is valid for NZ postal addresses only. Price includes p&p.

CULTURE

BLUSHING COMPOSURE Wellington composers were heavily represented at the NZSO Todd Corporation Young Composers Award workshop early this month. From 27 applicants, nine were selected to attend, six of whom are based here. Selina Fisher originally from Christchurch, now a denizen of Te Aro says interestingly it was an Auckland sunset that inspired her work Blushing Skies. It was the interplay of late afternoon light seen from Orakei wharf in Auckland. “There weren’t just the usual oranges and reds but – beautiful shimmering metallic golds and silvers”, she says. Fisher workshops her composition with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and then Radio New Zealand Concert records a performance. Over three days the nine composers are mentored by established New Zealand composers and talk to NZSO musicians about writing for their instruments. Fisher is no newbie when it comes to workshopping – the 21-year-old has just finished a postgraduate diploma in composition at the NZ School of Music, is the 2015 NZSO National Youth Orchestra Composer in Residence, and attended the same Todd-sponsored award last year as well. The experiences garnered from the 2013 event were clearly useful for Fisher. As a violinist and pianist she knows the parameters within which those instruments can work, and how to compose for them. Equally she has plenty of musician friends to call upon to ask how their instruments will handle her writing, but the workshop exposes her to much more. “Last year I discovered a new percussion sound made by using a super ball* mallet on a tam tam [gong]. It made a really interesting sound I’d never heard before – like a whale”. She loved the sound so much she has incorporated it into the Blushing Skies score. “The percussion section has ever expanding possibilities for different sounds”. The Todd Corporation Young Composers Award was to be announced after Capital went to print. *A Super Ball is a toy made of a type of synthetic rubber invented in 1964 by chemist Norman Stingley. It is an extremely elastic ball and when dropped from shoulder-level can snap nearly all the way back. Thrown down by an average adult, it can bounce over a three-story building. Written by Craig Beardsworth | Photograph by Tamara Jones 38

Give Good Gifts

Handcrafted by artisans from around the world Sustainable, quality & fair trade

brighten your summer... rachel castle beach towel available exclusively at

twigandarrow@gmail.com 021 0284 0947

cnr Blair & Wakefield Streets,Wellington www.smallacorns.co.nz/0800 22 67 67

â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S

ERAN

7 Beer Gift Box for

$34 95

shipping not included

SEVEN

UNIT.

CRAFT PACK

Instore and online

Open Mon-Sat: 9am - 10pm, Sun: 11am - 7.30pm

NAL GIO REES &SPIRITS WIN

Corner of Ellice & Hania Street The Basin Reserve, Wellington

Munchner Dunkel Awarded Best in Class 2014

2014 - 2015

G R E AT G IF T ID E A

BY K I E R A N H A S L E T T- M O O R E

n an overcast day in October I convened a panel of four judges in a community hall in a backstreet of Mt Victoria to tackle the considerable task of reducing 124 beers down to six.

To cut a long story short we were a match for the task, and judged our way through lagers, pilsners, pale ales, wheat beers, stouts and porters, sour beers, strong ales, barrel-aged and Belgian beers. We looked for the characteristics expected in each style and points were awarded from 1 to 5. There were many good beers but six stood above the rest and they form this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Capital Six Pack. Cheers!

All glassware provided by Regional Wines and Spirits. Our thanks to them.

Kieran HaslettMoore

Martin Craig

Capital beer columnist, beer specialist for Regional Wines and Spirits, partner and head brewer for North End Brewing Company, experienced beer judge, having judged multiple beer competitions including the annual New Zealand Beer Awards.

APA

Typically: a big aromatically hopped pale with a lean supporting malt character. New World hop varieties create citrus, tropical and pine resin aromas and flavours.

S.O.B.A. Pursuit of Hoppiness editor, consumer affairs and marketing specialist, beer lover.

IPA

A super-charged pale ale where the hop intensity, supporting malt and alcohol have all been increased to create a big assertive hoppy pale ale.

Ryan McArthur

Beer distribution manager for Beer Without Borders, beer logistics manager for Beervana, passionate homebrewer and beer lover.

Spiced Beer

A beer that has had a spice or unusual ingredient added.

Saison

Dave Wood

President of beer consumer group S.O.B.A. homebrewer and National Homebrew c ompetition Judge. Manager of beer bar Hashigo Zake.

Typically: a spicy dry style of traditional farmhouse beer, produced along the Belgian/French border.

Barrel Aged

Typically: A beer that has been aged in wooden barrels to either mellow and flavour them with the wood, and a former spirit or wine that resided in the barrel, or to house special wild yeasts that will continue the fermentation process; and sometimes to achieve all of the above!

six P 01.

02.

03.

Panhead Vandal

Mount Brewing Mermaid’s Mirth

Wigram Munich Dunkel

Panhead have only just turned one and yet their influence on the Wellington beer scene has been massive.

A seldom-heard-from veteran of New Zealand craft brewing, Mount Brewing Co has been producing beer in the Bay of Plenty since 1996. The company has recently re-branded and released a new range of hop-forward beers.

Christchurch’s Wigram Brewery consistently produces a range of interesting and characterful beers with an aeronautical theme to their names and labels.

Mike Neilson has a wealth of experience gained as brewer at Tuatara, and has used it to craft an assertive yet approachable range of hop-accented beers. Named for a famous New Zealand drag racer, the Vandal is a strong NZ-hopped India Pale Ale, combining Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka wholecone hops to create a massive, striking hop aroma. The panel found the Vandal to be incredibly well balanced considering the massive hop character. Aromas of tangy, overripe tropical fruit were backed up by tangy citrus and sweet biscuity malt in the mouth.

Mermaid’s Mirth is a Strong American Pale Ale combining American Citra and Zythos hop with British malt to create a fruity aromatic beer. The have ma, vour

panel found Mermaid’s a lovely assertive tropical and an exotic fruit-bowl layered over a firm malt

Mirth to hop arohop flabackbone.

Our top six picks Beers are in no particular order

Munich Dunkel is a fantastic example of the style of dark lager brewed in Bavaria. The panel found Munich Dunkel to pour a very attractive deep shade of reddish brown, with a wonderful foamy head. Complex aromas of mocha, rye bread, and milky Milo gave way to a clean crisp palate that balanced rich bready dark malt flavours with light hop flavour and a smooth rounded finish.

PACK 04.

05.

06.

Mussel Inn Captain Cooker

Emerson’s JP 2014

8 Wired Barrel Aged Imperial Smoked Porter

Based in Onekaka in Golden Bay, the Mussel Inn is a well-known bush tavern that brews its own beers, ferments its own wines and cider, and grows much of the food it serves.

Each year Dunedin’s Emerson’s Brewery releases a different Belgian-Style beer to honour the late head of the Otago University’s Food Science Department Jean Pierre Dufour.

Captain Cooker Manuka beer is as characterful as the pub. Named for the breed of pigs Captain Cook released into the New Zealand bush and referencing the manuka beer that Cook brewed in Dusky Sound, Captain Cooker is heavily ‘hopped’ with manuka tips creating a seasonally changing array of flavours and aromas.

A brewing scientist by trade, Jean Pierre provided huge support to both Emerson’s and the New Zealand brewing industry in general. After his death Emerson’s started to brew and release the JP beers holding the profit from each batch in order to fund a scholarship in brewing science.

8 Wired brewing company is the creation of pokerfaced Dane Søren Eriksson. Until recently the brewer contract-brewed all its beers in Blenheim at Renaissance Brewing Co and in Auckland at Steam Brewing Co.

The panel found Captain Cooker to be bursting with spicy “Turkish Delight” rose water aromas underpinned by a subtle caramel malt character. In the mouth the wondrous manuka characters were perfectly balanced by malt body and a lightly bitter finish. An exercise in how to establish balance and drinkability in a spiced beer.

JP 2014 is a classic saison style combining the spicy fruity nature of a Belgian yeast strain with a light herbal hop character and pale malt. The panel found JP 2014 to be a very attractive beer with a strident carbonation and an appropriate pillowy head. On the nose the beer was lightly fruity with a subtle spice character while in the mouth it was dry, crisp and elegant.

However as this issue goes to press the first batches of beer should be brewing at the new 8 Wired brewery in Warkworth, north of Auckland. In addition to brewing an exciting range of hop-accented pale ales, dark beers and Belgian-style beers, 8 Wired has the southern hemisphere’s largest beer-barrel aging programme. Here 8 Wired ‘Barrel shepherd’ Jason Bathgate tends to a sea of former wine and spirit barrels housing hundreds of wild tangy secondary fermentations that will eventually see the light of day one way or another. Barrel-Aged Imperial Smoked Porter is the product of the 8 Wired barrel-aging programme having started its life as a strong smoked porter before being run into American Oak barrels containing the wild yeast brettanomyces. The beer has now emerged mellow, tangy and complex. The panel found the beer to have amazing aromas of bourbon, and tangy slightly sweaty notes from the brettanomyces, while on the palate there was a saltiness, chocolate, smoke and a pleasant hint of marmite. Intensely complex and satisfying.

PILSNER, GOLDEN AND BL ACK L AGER

PALE ALE IPA AND DOUBLE IPA

Wigram Munich Dunkel

Panhead Vandal 5

see top six

Mount Brewing Mermaidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mirth

see top six

Wigram Bavarian Pils

see top six

A light gold with a lovely white head, subtle floral hopping, giving way to a clean crisp malt-accented palate with a good dry bitter finish.

Tuatara Pilsner

Behemoth Murica Spicy citrus aromas, and dark berry-fruit aromas lead into an expertly balanced palate that features sweet malt, and a unique striking hop character.

Light fruity tangy hop aromas give way to a clean palate laced with zesty citrus hop flavour and a clean dry finish.

Parrotdog Flaxenfeather

Panhead Port Rd Pilsner

Pours a light gold with an enthusiastic white foam. Massive zesty hop aroma of lemon and tropical fruit gives way to a husky wholegrain palate with a big zesty hop character and a crisp finish.

Big passionfruit, and bet aromas lead into refreshing palate with cuit malt character and

lemon shera lean crisp a light bisa dry finish.

Mussel Inn Dark Horse Pours a deep black/ruby, lovely aromas of cocoa and vanilla leading into a clean-bodied clean roasty palate.

Epic Armageddon A light shade of copper, lightly spicy and subtle tropical fruit hop aromas give way to a subtle lean dry palate.

ESB AND STRONG ALE

Tuatara American Pale Ale

Galbraithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Strong Ale

A deep shade of gold, with a complex aroma of candied sweet malt, lightly citrus (lemon and tangelo) hop aromas. On the palate there is a nice balance between hop flavour and malt weight with a lightly astringent finish.

Pours a deep dark brown/red, complex aromas of warming alcohol, dark fruit esters and rich malt and toffee gives way to a lean, vinous warming palate.

Parrotdog Bitterbitch

Pours a red shade of amber. Rich nutty malt, coconut, caramel and toffee combine in the nose before a toasty lightly chocolaty palate.

A subtle earthy dusty hop aroma with caramel malt notes gives way to an assertive roasty, toasty malt-accented palate with a dry bitter finish.

8 Wired Super Conductor Pours a crystal clear shade of gold, bright aromas of dank tangy citrus, candied orange, mandarin and sweet biscuit malt. In the mouth assertive hop flavours give way to some light sherried notes and a clean finish.

CRAFTERS CAFE BAR BOTTLE STORE OPEN 7 DAYS 46 211 Victoria street / www.craftersandco.com

Mount Brewing Shaggy

STOUT, PORTER AND BL ACK IPA Mount Black IPA Big citrus hop character and dark chocolate and espresso aromas lead into a fantastically balanced palate, with sweet malt helping to carry zesty hop and dark malt flavours.

Mike’s Robust Imperial Porter Complex aromas of warming medicinal alcohol, coconut, and roast malt give way to a surprisingly leanbodied palate and a rounded finish.

Yeastie Boys PKB Pours a deep brown/black. Aromas of Jaffa chocolate/orange give way to a tangy hop resin-rich palate with a roasty assertive malt backbone.

Baylands Enforcer A deep dark black with ruby highlights. A big fresh hop aroma bursting with orange gives way to an assertive bitter, roasty, sharp palate.

Fork and Brewer 21 A big punchy aroma of citrus-tinged hop notes, a sweet malt backbone supports chocolate and jaffa flavours.

FLAVOURED SPICED AND EXPERIMENTAL Mussel Inn Captain Cooker

Kereru For Great Justice

see top six

A lovely complex aroma of subtle coconut, chocolate and roast, in the palate tobacco and lean dry malt vie for attention before a crisp finish.

8 Wired Barrel Aged Imperial Smoked Porter see top six

Yeastie Boys xeRRex Pours a hazy gold. Big aromas of peat, complex massive and single-malt-like. On the palate wild earthy bonfire and medicinal Islay single malt vie for attention before a salty drying finish.

Mike’s Coffee Porter Pours a dark black with an enthusiastic tan head. Aromas of sweet caramel, coffee and warming alcohol give way to a well-balanced palate with sweet malt supporting big coffee and chocolate notes.

Mike’s Coffee Milk Stout Pours black with a rich creamy head, aromas of light milk chocolate and dark cocoa leading into a rich rounded subtle palate.

Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta Pours a dark hazy amber with a big white head, aromas of spicy exotic citrus and Turkish delight give way to an intense tannic bracing finish.

Wigram Spruce Beer Spicy aromas of Turkish delight and dark sugar give way to a woody earthy lightly malty palate with a spicy clove-flavoured finish.

BELGIAN

Emerson’s JP 2014 see top six

Tuatara Ardennes Pours a light gold with a fluffy head, aromas of zesty citrus hops and spicy fruity Belgian esters give way to a sweet maltbalanced palate and a rounded finish.

Kereru Velvet Boot Pours a dark shade of gold, aromas of warming alcoholic banana, some nice warming Christmas spice leading into a uniquely herbal palate.

Mussel Inn Monkey Puzzle Pour a nice shade of amber, big malty aromas, light fruit esters and a candied fruit and rich malt palate.

EDIBLES

TOPPED OFF Zinal Bhadra and Nikhil Bhanushali have opened self-serve frozen yoghurt shop, the Froghurt Store, on Courtenay Place. Moving from Bombay, Bhadra loved Wellington but couldn’t be without frozen yoghurt, so she took matters into her own hands. The Froghurt Store joins the likes of Berry Culture in Wellington’s Fro-Yo scene, except that Zinal’s yoghurt is self-serve, and sold by weight. There are over 50 toppings and sauces, so things could get heavy.

SOMETHING’S STEWING

RECYCLING FIX

SHO C VALUE

Mysterious pop-up gallery Elbowroom is cooking up a collaboration between artists, designers and chefs in their latest show Concoction at an undisclosed location on the 6 December, with an exhibition following it up until the 14 December. The exhibition is free to the public but only 40 seats are available for the dining experience.

Fix and Fogg’s new recycling station is helping Wellington’s The Free Store maintain their new permanent premises with 20c donated per recycled jar. The money goes towards the operating costs of the Free Store. The recycling holder is fixed outside their 5 Eva Street Nut Buttery for easy drop-off.

The capital is in for a Schoc. Chocolatier Murray Langham has opened a shop in Wellington, an extension of his 11-year-old Greytown chocolate studio. He’s also launched Schocoroni, a chocolate salami filled with raisins, apricots, hazelnuts, almonds and pink peppercorns.

Courtyard Bar open Friday and Saturday Happy Hour drinks and snacks in the sunshine from 4pm

www.fidelscafe.com 48

EDIBLES

FOOD EMPIRE The Bresolin brothers, Leonardo and Lorenzo, have added to their food empire with The Bresolin on Willis Street. Their other food ventures include Scopa (beef salad, left), Duke Carvell’s, Tommy Millions, Crazy Horse Steak House and Gentlemen’s Beans Coffee. Sunday is spit roast day, where a whole animal (think sheep, goat, pig, pigeon, maybe rabbit or armadillo, peacocks are in short supply) is roasted over their outdoor fire pit.

TOWEL TALES

GIVE A HO OT

It’s a toast to tea towels and tasty treats at the Expressions Whirinaki Art and Entertainment Centre until 14 December as celebrity chef Richard Till showcases his collection of tea towels from all over New Zealand. Every Tea Towel Tells a Story explores the history of each tea towel and recalls a nostalgic period in Kiwi history before the dastardly dishwasher.

Wellington-based PanMan has released Hoot, a craft chilli pepper paste. The deep smoke flavour married with chilli, paprika and sun-dried tomatoes is PanMan’s answer to sofrito, a base sauce used in Spanish cooking. All ingredients are natural and smoked using locally-sourced native wood chips with a hint of coffee grounds. They are a key ingredient in PanMan’s popular paella.

STRUDEL IN THE STREETS Meats and baking of an Austrian variety can now be found in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Deli has taken up the space next to the Penthouse cinema that was once the Thai restaurant, serving Austrian goodies, meats, and café classics.

THE FOREST CANTINA

SMA RTER STA RTER BY UNNA BURCH

ummer is here! It’s the end of the year and it’s time to chill and unwind. This is my favourite time of the year; everyone is beginning to get into holiday mode and are keen for get-togethers. I’m such a hermit over winter, I’d much prefer to stay in and stay warm, but summer has a completely different vibe – easiness. During this time of year, I love simple eats – a platter of good food with some boozy drinks out on the deck on warm summer evening with family or friends. I put together a local antipasto to inspire you to do the same. It’s so easy to just grab a few different bits and pieces. It can be completely store bought or you might like to use some of your own homemade things like pesto, hummus or relish. It’s really up to you how easy or homemade you want to go.

My idea of a good platter has lots of textures and flavours – you want each bite to be interesting and tasty. I read once that, when you are putting a board together and choosing cheese, to include one blue, one soft and one hard. It can be daunting when choosing cheese as there are so many on the market, but that is a good guide to go by. I also like to include bread (of course!), oil for dipping, cured meats or sausages, relishes or chutneys, some vegetables – fresh, pickled or grilled – and a nice cold drink on the side. The huge custom serving board that I used was lovingly made by my husband. He has made several of them for my food styling for the cookbook I am working on, and it’s the perfect size for loading with yummy things.

METHOD Ingredients 1. For the antipasto platter Meats – sausages, porchetta and terrine Cheese – havarti, brie and blue runny honey chutney 2. 3 courgettes in 1cm slices 4 French breakfast radish, sliced thinly small pickled cucumbers bread 3. olive oil olives 4. To garnish fennel fronds chive flowers (or thyme leaves) extra radish 5. fresh artichokes

In the corner of a board, take a piece of wax paper to lay the meat on. Cook the sausages then slice into bite-size chunks. Press a pick into each one. Arrange on platter with the other meats. One of the meats I selected was a ham and fennel terrine – so I garnished with fennel fronds. Take the cheese and crumble or slice bits off – I drizzle some of the cheese with honey (we have beehives, so I used our own honey) and garnish with chive flowers. Cheese and honey is such an amazing combination! In tea cups, glasses or little saucers, plate the chutney, olive oil and olives and place on the board. I cook the courgettes in a panini press! It’s so fast. Rub each slice with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and cook in the machine, taking out the vegetables that have been bar-marked as you go (or grill in the oven or griddle pan). Add to the platter with the other vegetables. Warm the bread in the oven if you wish – slice and add to the platter. Enjoy the platter with your favourite drink.

FOR MY PIMM’S JUG fresh mint 1. lemon and lime slices cucumber slices Maraschino cherries ice Pimm’s ginger ale

Add the mint, lemon, lime, cucumber and cherries to a jug. Top with lots of ice. Add Pimm’s to taste (usually a 60ml shot per person) and top with ginger ale.

1. 2. 3. 4.

A N T I PA S T O SHOPPING LIST

5. 6.

Kapiti Frantoio Leccino extra virgin olive oil Big Bad Wolf Meats: Rabbit sausages Alpaca + shitake mushroom terrine Pork porchetta Snooty Fruit kiwifruit and kaffir lime chutney Kingsmeade cheese: Mt Bruce havarti: Ngwai brie Sunset blue Kapiti Artisan Bakehouse breads: Balsamic roasted onion & parmesan focaccia Ciabatta flatbreads Lot8 olives: Spicy marinated olives Citrus marinated olives

Foxglove Bar & Kitchen | 33 Queens Wharf | Wellington

THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT IS STEAk. ALWAYS STEAK. Gift vouchers available at www.portlander.co.nz

LIQUID NEWS

M ET HODE I N TH E M AK I NG BY JOELLE THOMSON

Gone are the days of “New Zealand Champagne”, so why has a new group formed to produce Marlborough sparkling wine?

uthenticity. It doesn’t sound like too much to ask for in a bottle of wine, does it? If a wine’s front label says Marlborough, Marche or Malbec, it’s only natural to expect the contents to be made from grapes grown in Marlborough, or the Marche (Italy), or from Malbec (the increasingly popular black grape variety). This, however, is not always the case. Most wine regions have a 15% rule, which means winemakers can add up to 15% of something other than what is stated on the front label. In a cold, wet, rainy vintage, it allows winemakers to blend grapes from other areas or use other grape varieties in order to maintain high quality. On the other hand, if the grapes you are using to make wine actually need to be harvested early to keep their acidity high, then why not go all the way and stick to the 100% rule. The makers of “methode” in Marlborough chose that pathway. Last year, 10 wineries formed the group Methode Marlborough (check out www.methodemarlborough.com) to standardise the rules establishing authenticity. The skinny is this: there are 10 wineries in the group, four rules and one region. Only wineries in Marlborough can be members of Methode Marlborough (also known as MM) because 100% of the grapes they use to make sparkling wine must be grown in their region. Members agree to adhere to using only Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir in their bubblies, the traditional trio used in Champagne, France. And like champagne, bubbly made by members of MM has to be made by the traditional Champagne method; only it cannot be called “the champagne 54

method” because that name is a legally protected French definition. The technique can be emulated, however, and has been for many years, the second fermentation takes place in the bottle. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a by-product of fermentation. It dissolves in wine that is sealed in the bottle because it has nowhere else to go. The dissolved CO2 is the fun part of fizz. The tasty part comes from the leftovers, the lees. These are the yeast cells left over after fermentation; they fall to the bottom of the bottle and break down in a process called yeast autolysis, which gives sparkling wine its fresh bread aromas and buttery pastry and apple pie-like aromas. The fourth rule that MM members made for themselves is that their wines must spend at least 18 months on lees; that’s how long most sparkling wine experts think it takes for lees-derived flavours to make their presence felt, says one MM founder, Daniel leBrun. It all sounds like a damned fine idea to me, but it’s early days and the group has excluded a couple of the finest bottle-fermented sparkling wines in the country; Akarua and Quartz Reef, both from Central Otago. I guess MMCO – Methode Marlborough and Central Otago – doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. But there is no doubt that the coolest areas of this country all share the ability to produce outstanding grapes for sparkling wine. That includes the Wairarapa too, where a couple of top-tasting bubbles come from. The members of Methode Marlborough are, Allan Scott Wines, Cloudy Bay Vineyards, Hunter’s Wines, Johanneshof, Lion, Nautilus Estate, No 1 Family Estate, Spy Valley, Summerhouse Wine Company and Tohu Wines. www.methodemarlborough.com

FOCUS ON

WILLIS

Tea Pea is all about delicious things for our homes, our families, and the colourful lives we lead. Stocking boutique brands, designer homewares, bedlinen and more, including these copper string lights. Shop online or in store.

22 Ganges Road, Khandallah phone (04) 479 4541 www.teapea.co.nz

FOUND!

Your search is over! Logovae is at getfunkd Willis Take a picture of this ad, Tag getfunkd Willis Ltd on Facebook and be in a draw to win. Valid until 24 December 2014. For appointments call 0800 getfunkd, 04 499 0222 , 80 Willis St Wellington

Your one stop shop for unique gifts and jewellery for Xmas. Find us in the CBD or online. Upstairs at 2 Plimmer Steps phone (04) 471 1404 www.thevaultnz.com

Óä

% OF

big question. Purchase our handmade silver proposal ring for $259 and we’ll refund you the value of the ring when we create the real engagement ring for you. EVERYTHING Conditions apply.

IN STORE

offer Nelson. valid till end of January 20 240 Trafalgar Street, phone (03)5480487 www.jewelbeetle.co.nz EXCLUSIVE INDIAN HOME ACCES *

Book on-line willis@getfunkd.com getfunkdwillis

@gf_willis

getfunkd Willis Ltd

T H E VA U LT Divine New Zealand made jewellery at The Vault...

NZ DANCE CHAMPION SPECIAL The stress free option for popping the

CELEBRATE THE EXOTIC EXP LIVING WITH AN ECLECTIC The new, artisan craft and food market with a difference. “The Village Market” is open all weekend, every weekend, rain or shine. A friendly, family focused environment and fun atmosphere for everyone. Friday 3pm-9pm, Saturday and Sunday, 9am-3pm 46 Wainui Rd, Gracefield, Lower Hutt phone Jo 021 627679 www.thevillagemarket.co.nz 55

UÊ* - Ê- 7 -ÊUÊ / ÊEÊ Ê7 , UÊ/ /, Ê/ - ,/-ÊUÊ- Ê -*, -ÊEÊ ÊUÊ UÊ* / -ÊEÊ ,/ /-ÊUÊ- , -]Ê - "

Celebrate The Exotic Expression Of Living With An Eclectic Range Of Pashmina shawls kitchen & dining ware marble ornaments tantra t-shirts silk bedspreads and linen personal accessories paintings and artifacts sarees fashionwear and jewellery

30 GHUZNEE STREET, WEL

TELEPHONE 04 384 9 30 Ghuznee Street, Wellington theguavatree@paradise.n phone (04) 384 9840 www.guavatree.co.nz

LIQUID THOUGHTS

F E S T I V E F I Z Z T R I O T O T RY 2010 Spy Valley Echelon Marlborough Methode Traditionnelle Brut $34 Why stick to the rules when you can break them and make life even tougher for yourself? Winemakers Paul Bourgeois and Kathy-Lee Sowman gave this wine two and a half years aging in bottle on lees, which results in an intensely fresh, citrusy Chardonnay-esque taste with pinot noir adding fullness in the mouth.

Cambridge Road The Naturalist $30 The words “naturally fermented sparkling wine” sound well and good, but this beautiful-looking bottle from Martinborough winemaker Lance Redgewell is certainly not for the faint-hearted. Its pretty label, pale purple colour and refreshingly high acidity all balance the hints of earthy flavour that come from the no-added-yeast philosophy... this bubbly is tasty, different and available at the Hop Garden, Pirie Street, Wellington and from the Cambridge Road cellar door in Martinborough, five minutes’ walk from the town square.

2012 Porters Cuvee Zoe $52 An outstanding bottle-fermented sparkling wine. Wairarapa winemaker John Porter gave this wine time in old barrels, before bottle-fermenting it; both have added a powerful yeasty intensity, which is well balanced by the fresh citrusy flavours of the Chardonnay in the blend. It is 85% Pinot Noir and 15% Chardonnay. Quantities are small; quality is high.

NEW TRICKS FOR D O G POINT

TOP PINOT DROP

He pioneered grape growing in New Zealand, won an Olympic bronze medal in rowing in 1976 and consulted to the Muldoon government on a developmental vineyard. And now Ivan Sutherland (above) been has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Wine Marlborough in November for his 35-year-plus contribution to New Zealand wine. This year also marks the 10th vintage of Dog Point Vineyard, which he celebrated with co-founders; his wife, Margaret, and business-partnerfriends, James and Wendy Healy.

One of Martinborough’s smallest wineries has produced a blockbuster new Pinot Noir; winemaker Roger Parkinson’s 2013 Nga Waka Martinborough Lease Block Pinot Noir costs $50 and is available online at www. ngawaka.co.nz or at Glengarry in Wellington and at the Martinborough Wine Centre.

CHILL AT CAMBRID GE ROAD’S COURT YARD If the oldest Syrah vines in Martinborough aren’t enough of a drawcard to hot-foot it down the lavender-lined driveway to Cambridge Road Wines, the locally cured meats, sunny courtyard and nibbles platters will be. Cambridge Road Wines is on the site of an old vineyard but is one of the region’s newest producers. The tasting room and courtyard are open from Monday to Saturday.

www.centrecity.co.nz Facebook CentreCityWinesSpirits

PURVEYORS OF

FINE WINES, SPIRITS, SINGLE MALT WHISKIES, AND CRAFT BEER

CORPORATE DELIVERY FREE WITHIN THE WELLINGTON CBD On Licence Function Facility, Wine & Single Malt Tasting events, BBQ facility.

CALL 04 4737095

2/4 Waring Taylor St, Wellington / Email enquiries@centrecity.co.nz

smiles to go

from friday 5th december 10 ciders on tap all week

57 Willis St, Wellington 6011 (04) 499 4245 â&#x20AC;˘ www.unitybooks.co.nz wellington@unitybooks.co.nz

www.themalthouse.co.nz

$45 Xmas menu available for groups of 10 or more in December!

Open 7 days Brunch, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert, 25 Kent Terrace, Wellington (04) 385 2551

14 Bond St, Wellington | forkandbrewer.co.nz

FASH ION SHORT S

L AU N C H PA D The Massey fashion students’ end-of-year showcase, LAUNCH 2014, was the best night of George Carey’s life. The fashion grad won the Arcana Imperii Industry Ready Award, one of the ten prizes awarded. It gives him a photo shoot with an accomplished photographer and models for his next collection, but “it’s too soon to think about that!” he says. Carey’s winning menswear collection, Tokyo Lucky Hole (see left), was inspired by photography book of the same name by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and his sister Jules’ experiences in Japan. “The photo shoot communicates the concept. I’m more interested in telling the story of the collection than focusing on the detail of the clothes.” He featured a lonely tourist in a bath in his hotel room – there weren’t any clothes in the shot. “The story’s more important than the clothes,” Carey says. He gave the end-of-year speech for the graduates. “I wanted to communicate how great the group had been. It was very collaborative – everyone would help each other with their strengths and weaknesses.” Annabelle Fitzgerald “cleaned up” won four awards; Hilary Ng and Dani Larimer won two. Holly Meyers didn’t win an award but “everyone thinks she’s a prodigy,” Carey says. He leaves in six months for New York with a group of other graduates. “New York is the dream!”

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS Long-footed Wairarapa entrepreneur and owner of Willow Shoes Georgie Falloon has been appointed to the board of Dress for Success. Dress for Success provides appropriate clothing to women looking to enter the workforce. It is funded in part by the Shop for Success stall which runs on the first Saturday of each month at the Underground Market beneath Frank Kitts Park. Willow Shoes specialises in shoes for long feet.

FASH ION SHORT S

TH E NO SE K NOWS Mexican perfume curator Carlos Huber thinks of perfume as a time-capsule. Each of his scents has its own back-story, inspired by evocative memories and moments in history. He collaborates with Givaudan “noses”, fellow Mexican Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Frenchman Yann Vasnier, to recreate the olfactory experience. Huber arrived here from his New York home to launch two new fragrances, at World Beauty; L’Etrog Acqua and The Architects Club, from his brand Arquiste. L’ Etrog Acqua takes its name from Huber’s Jewish heritage. Etrog is a yellow citrus fruit used by Jews in ceremonies on the week-long holiday of Sukkot. “Imagine early morning dew on ripe citrus in Calabria, Italy, 1175. The farmers leave their woody cabin and take a deep breath,” Huber says, spraying the perfume. Huber is particularly partial to citrus smells, with a passion for orange blossom, his favourite perfume ingredient. “Orange blossom often features at weddings in Mexico,” he says. “It is associated with good fortune.” Architecture is his other love. He trained as an historic preservation architect in Mexico, Paris and New York. The Architects Club, his favourite of the Arquiste range, is inspired by a 1930s Art Deco London club. “Think of dry Gin and plush leather, frosted martinis, dark wood and warm smoke. London’s bright young things burst in with a cloud of laughter, smoke and vanilla.” The fragrance is indeed ginsharp, mellowing to sweet vanilla. Like many, Huber was blown away by Wellington – literally. “The plane was swaying so much I was holding tightly to my seat! But having those rolling green hills and that turquoise water everywhere is stunning. It’s a very human city.” Huber suggests warming your nose in the crook of your arm to keep it fresh for perfume sampling, rather than the usual myth of smelling coffee beans. “Coffee is just another smell. Warming your nose clears it.” Anna Jackson-Scott

STREET STYLE

SIAN ROBERTSON MT VICTORIA

CASEY APSE CENTRAL CITY

The best store in Wellington is Wisebuys!

The best store in Wellington is Smoove

My fail-safe fall back outfit is A fur coat – anything mesh

My fail-safe fall back outfit is Pencil with Docs – anything with a sweet heart neckline

My best fashion accessory is Personal jewellery

My best fashion accessory is My Lara Croft belt

The one thing missing from my wardrobe New Season Gucci pink goat’s hair coat

The one thing missing from my wardrobe A pink that suits me

Wellington fashion needs more Experimentation

Wellington fashion needs more Courage!

Designed for your “me time”

Discover us at 203 Lambton Quay Ph: 04 282 0735

fresh from Portugal

also avaliable in white

Check out our website www.iloveparis.co.nz Old Bank Arcade, 233 Lambton Quay • 04 473 3123 or for latest updates follow us on

• ORIGINAL DESIGNS • PERSONALISED COMMISSIONS • ENGAGEMENT & WEDDING RINGS • ANNIVERSARIES & GIFTS “Through quality hand sketches I will transform ideas into very clear visuals, adding a twist of uniqueness and aƩenƟon to detail in every nished piece.” S.Lusted

P E R I O D I C A L LY S P E A K I N G

OPEN FOR BUSINESS WRITTEN BY JOHN KERR

Dive bombs are back on the menu at the Wellington waterfront jumping platform this summer.

t’s that moment as your feet leave terra firma and for a split second you are suspended looking down at the green-blue water below. Then gravity grasps you and hurls you down into the watery depths. Leaping off the diving platform at Taranaki wharf is an exhilarating (and to my mind compulsory) experience for any Wellingtonian. Officially opened in 2012, the quirky but undeniably fun “staircase to nowhere” next to Te Papa is a funky addition to the waterfront and has won several design awards. However, for most of the past two years it has been off limits, guarded by no-nonsense signs warning would-be jumpers that the seawater below is contaminated. Contaminated with what you ask? Faecal bacteria – the politically correct term for bugs associated with human or animal poo. The source of the contaminated water was an immense stormwater drain that emptied out just metres from the splash zone under the wharf. Rainwater from streets and rooftops is funnelled through a maze of pipes under the city leading to several such drains jutting out from rock walls along the harbour coastline. How does poo get into the stormwater drains? There are a number of potential contamination sources; leaking or incorrectly installed sewage pipes can contaminate the stormwater, or animal waste can get washed into the drains. Now, after much water testing, investigating of pipes and a fair bit of engineering, the water below the platform has been deemed safe. Key to remedying the contamination was the installation of a $150,000 rig of plastic sheeting and pumps. Bright blue tarpaulins, called baffles, surround the platform area under the wharf and divert away stormwater discharged from the drain. Surface water in the enclosure is pumped out, drawing up seawater from below to refresh the faux swimming pool created by the baffles. Extensive repairs to the more than 50 kilometres of public drains underneath the central Wellington catchment area have also helped to reduce contamination. The jumping platform was officially reopened by the mayor last month with assurances from the council that the water is now safe. 62

Wellington’s Medical Officer of Health, Stephen Palmer, says he’s confident the new measures will keep the water safe to swim in. Testing the water involves taking samples to a lab in Petone where bacteria are filtered out and grown on little plates of bacteria food. Some lab technician then gets the unenviable task of counting the tiny specks – bacterial colonies – growing on the plates, leading to an estimate of how many bacteria were actually in the water sample. This “colony forming unit” count is the magic number. If it comes in under 140 per 100ml everything is assumed to be hunkydory and it’s a green light for swimming. Anything over that and it is assumed that there’s a bit of a health risk, further testing takes place and, if bacteria counts remain high, measures are taken to protect public safety, such as putting up warning signs. At the time the platform was closed in 2013, bacteria levels had skyrocketed to almost 70,000 units per 100ml. The bacteria counted in water-quality testing, called enterococci, aren’t really the bugs which are going to cause you the most harm, but they provide a useful indicator of other bacteria and viruses that hitch a ride in water contaminated by human and animal waste. This rogue’s gallery of disease-causing microbes includes nasties such as campylobacter, cryptosporidium, giardia, and salmonella. Not a friendly bunch by any stretch of the imagination. While the jumping platform has got the big tick for summer splashes, its closure and reopening highlights a wider issue the city faces. Wellington’s stormwater and wastewater systems are struggling to cope with urbanisation and contamination is an ongoing issue for some swimming spots around the Wellington coastline. The council is undertaking an extensive programme of investigations, drain repairs and public education, aiming to lower the amount of pollution that gets into the stormwater system and eventually out into our beaches and harbour. Wondering about your favourite swimming spot? Regular testing of water quality takes place at popular coastal locations around the city throughout the summer and results are posted on the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s website.

Te Rākau Theatre with support from Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangātira, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Te Puni Kōkiri presents

It’s 1840 and all the players are here, at the bottom of the world, at the dawn of the great new British Colony: Port Nicholson, Wellington, New Zealand 41.2889° S, 174.7772° E

smiles to go

Soundings Theatre, Te Papa | 20–28 January 2015 Info: www.tepapa.govt.nz | Bookings: www.ticketek.co.nz 57 Willis St, Wellington 6011 (04) 499 4245 • www.unitybooks.co.nz wellington@unitybooks.co.nz

BY THE BOOK

RE- V ERSE INTRODUCED BY FRANCES SAMUEL

HEART S AND RIPS Heart that goes swimming, be aware of rips. Rips occur often at beaches you frequent, where waves build and break, where you launch yourself into turbulent flow. All that water which waves push up has to go somewhere. It drains, it channels to deeper parts along the shore and out to sea feeding the rip current.

IN BRIEF Bio: Michael Keith lives in Paekakariki and has been working in the writing, editorial, and publishing world for several decades. Read more of his poems online in Whitireia’s 4th Floor, and the NZ Poetry Society’s 2014 anthology. In brief: Many a Kiwi kid has a moment of standing on the beach, squinting into the heat-wave horizon, as an adult of some sort tells cautionary tales about that calm patch of calamity: the rip current. This poem has rip advice that could also apply to life’s emotional journeys. It suggests that turbulent flow is not something to fear, but part of living, and even a way to quickly transport us – beyond the breakers – to new perspectives. ‘Hearts and rips’ is a ‘found’ poem, created using text from the Surf Lifesaving New Zealand centenary exhibition Between the Flags, 2010. It also acknowledges ‘And my heart goes swimming’, a poem by Roma Potiki. Best lines to quote? ‘swim parallel to the beach for thirty metres/and back to shore.’ Next time things get difficult, I’m trying this out.

Heart, every year thousands like you get into difficulty with rips. Lifeguards know the safe places. They say, ‘To avoid this hazard swim between the flags at patrolled beaches.’ But as most beaches where hearts swim are unpatrolled, here is some advice. You can ride a rip, its seaward run ends at a certain point, it will not suck you under. If you get caught in one, don’t panic. Go with the flow until the current weakens, then swim parallel to the beach for thirty metres and back to shore. Heart, learn the ways of rips, they are part of your swimming – even something to catch, not just to get caught in. by Michael Keith, from 4th Floor Literary Journal (2014)

BY THE BOOK

CREAMY P SYC H O L O G Y Creamy Psychology is the new publication to accompany Yvonne Todd’s exhibition of the same name. It’s the first time City Gallery has given both floors to one artist. The exhibition displays around 150 photographs since the late 1990s. Wellington art critic Megan Dunn is one of the contributors to the publication, writing on Todd, Karen Carpenter and anorexia. “Right from the get go Yvonne had a distinctive perspective – her crisp photographs of young glamour-seeking women and pastel suburban interiors struck an instant chord.” Published by Victoria University Press, Creamy Psychology includes archival reviews and articles as well as the newly commissioned works, including contributions from Todd, curator Robert Leonard, and Te Papa curator Claire Regnault, plus an anthology of earlier writings. Creamy Psychology opens 6 Dec, City Gallery Wellington

FEMALE REFLECTIONS

IMAGINE THAT

LO CAL LOVE

Anna Jackson’s most recent book, I, Clodia, is the story of Clodia Metelli and her relations with her far-away paramour Catullus, husband Metellus Celer, brother Publius Clodius and accuser Cicero. The first section gives voice to Clodia’s experiences while the second, “the photographer’s secret,” follows a photographer considering the art of portraiture and portrayal. It is Jackson’s sixth book of poetry. She is a poet, and lecturer in English literature at Victoria University of Wellington.

Cartoonist Dylan Horrocks gives a talk, reading, and book signing at Unity Books on 12 December. He’ll read from Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen, the first since his perennial classic, 1998’s Hicksville. It follows Sam Zabel through cartoonist’s block, despair, and rejuvenated inspiration, accompanied by webcomic creator Alice. Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen explores the pleasures, dangers, and moral consequences of fantasy. 12 pm midday, Unity Books

Collaborative voucher Culture Vulture celebrates it’s first anniversary. Wellington’s iconic haunts Unity Books, Aro Video, and Slow Boat records teamed up to create the voucher for the culture-hungry. “Andrew Armitage at Aro Video dreamt it up and put it to Slow Boat’s Dennis O’Brien and me over lunch at Leuven, and we said yes before we’d even started our mussels,” Unity’s Tilly Lloyd says. “It shot to our bestseller list right away – not quite to the top, because Eleanor Catton won the Man Booker prize at the same time! It’s rocked along all year.”

robin white with ruha fifita Ko e Hala Hangatonu: The Straight Path 7 Dec 2014 - 2 March 2015

THE LEARNING CONNEXION school of creativity and art

Diploma of Art and Creativity

Full-time or Part-time From home or on-campus

NZQA accredited

Ko e Hala Hangatonu 2013 (detail) Courtesy the artists, Peter McLeavey Gallery and Two Rooms

c r ea t i v i t y c h a n g e s e v e r y t h i n g ! Cnr Norrie and Parumoana Streets, Porirua City - www.pataka.org.nz

YOU CAN ENROL NOW

0800 278 769

TLC.AC.NZ

The Russian-Ukrainian War 6pm-7.30pm starts Wednesday 21 January

Commemorating and Celebrating: World War II Kiwi soldiers in Italy

FROHE WEIHNACHTEN MERI KIRIHIMETE SEASON’S GREETINGS

6pm-8pm starts Thursday 22 January

Timon of Athens: Why Shakespeare’s play is still relevant 6pm-8pm starts Wednesday 28 January

www.goethe.de/nz

For more information visit our website www.victoria.ac.nz/conted

Sprache. Kultur Deutschland.

M O N E Y TA L K S

MONEY SCENTS

ALL IN THE FAMILY SIR JOHN TODD IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN BRISTED | PHOTOGRAPHED BY BENJAMIN & ELISE

Ten years ago Forbes magazine proclaimed John Todd (now Sir John) New Zealand’s first billionaire. They were talking about the Todd family and the Todd Corporation, which has evolved over 150 years from Sir John’s great grandfather Charles Todd’s small farming goods store in Central Otago. It grew, through major forays into petrol distribution and the motor industry, to become the very large energy and investment business with a strong interest in philanthropy that it is today. John Todd took over as chairman in 1987 and turned it into one of New Zealand’s largest private companies. He’s now retired, but still in the office most days.

FOCUS ON

M O N E Y TA L K S

“BLO ODY STUPID TO MAKE ME A BILLIONAIRE, I HAVEN’ T GOT THAT MUCH MONEY PERSONALLY.”

I think there’s been a certain amount of interpretation on the Forbes article, because I’d just been given a title. Bloody stupid to make me a billionaire, I haven’t got that much money personally. The image of the Todd empire is of a big and varied enterprise … we know that the company found oil and made cars. What did you do? My personal activity was not so enterprising. It was looking after the family name, the family affairs, the family business. My grandfather had seven children. They were all different from each other and each could do certain things and do them well. For instance my aunt Kathleen became a child psychiatrist with an international reputation. My father’s ambition in life was to become a businessman and make a big impact on the New Zealand motor car scene – in the 1920’s he sold a huge number (for those days) of Gray motor cars. What did you do when you left school ? I did commerce at university part time and worked in the Petone body shop spot welding cars together for a job. We were making Hillmans, Humbers, and Chryslers. Later we made Mitsubishis. You had to be strong, because you had to climb inside the car body and manhandle a heavy spotwelding machine which “glued” the body together. I felt that being John Todd I was one of the owners of the company, even though I was just a boy, but the union wanted me to become a member. The union secretary used to chase me all over the plant to try and get me to join. I told them I wouldn’t join the bloody union. But by law you had to be a member so in the end I did join. After maybe a year I came to our office in town and worked in the parts department and did all sorts of jobs right through the whole office so I wasn’t just learning about cars, I was learning about business. It was all about cars, but I didn’t see the cars that much. Todds mostly made motor cars and sold them, but what was Europa petrol? Europa started about 1930 when [uncle Sir] Bryan Todd

learnt how to negotiate to get cargoes of petrol at international prices as opposed to retail. Bryan had seen a magazine in the dentist’s one day called Platts Oilgram which listed the international price of a tanker-load of petrol, and thought he’d better get some because there was a big difference between that price and the price we were paying to buy petrol in New Zealand. And it fitted in nicely because petrol was being sold by motor car dealers anyway. The oil companies, which were making big money out of petrol, tried to force Europa out of the market. My grandfather had to appeal to the government because the big oil companies would discount their prices at their outlets anywhere near where we sold petrol to try and put us out of business. The Government subsequently set up a minimum price which enabled Europa to stay in the market. Did your father and mother influence what job you took? My mother didn’t. She was a very happy and relaxed person, a wonderful mother. My father was a bit tough at times, so she was a nice softening influence. My Dad used to talk to me about business – all the time. He didn’t have any outside interests at all. He was the complete businessman. I used to go walking with him quite often much to my chagrin because I didn’t like walking, but he’d say “Come along John” and off we’d go and the whole time we’d talk about business. It’s really how I learnt about it because business was his whole life; he liked water skiing and boats, but I don’t know what he read other than business books. I had a business upbringing and my father tried to make sure I knew all the nuances of it. I would have still been in my teens. I presume that with all this business talk your Dad influenced your attitude to money. We didn’t talk about money, we talked about business which was a way of generating money, but business was not there to generate money, business was there to sell product and the profits from that were what generated money. Money as a commodity was something we didn’t really talk about.

M O N E Y TA L K S

Why did you want to be in the family business? It was almost an inheritance I had to have … at one stage I’d loved to have been an architect. I loved design, architecture intrigued me. As time went on and I became more and more involved in the motorcar business while we were building up our dealers’ organisation, one of the roles I enjoyed was to help design and develop the dealers’ premises so they would attract the people. Have you ever worked for anybody else? Only insomuch as while I was a boy in the office. I suppose they gave me an easier ride because I was the boss’ son. Did you ever have ideas about starting your own business? No, there was so much going on in the company.

You’ve got to give them the opportunity to learn what they can, to develop their skills as best they can; if you can, make sure there’s enough to help them develop their potential. Money gives you an easier life. But money itself will not give you anything. The Todd family’s internal workings seem to stay just below the newsline. How do you manage to keep such a low profile? I suppose that’s the way we like to be. I think it’s inherent in mine and other parts of the family, but we are by makeup fairly private people. That’s the Todd family in total. Their inheritance is such that they appreciate that their own parents and their own relatives don’t make a lot of fuss. How many are there?

What do you like to you spend your money on? Mostly travel these days. How much do you believe you should give to your children? I think my philosophy is that I want my children to be self-sufficient. I do not want them to have so much money they don’t know what to do with it. I’ve always worked on the basis that I will not throw money at my children. I want them to be comfortable … I want them to have money if they want to get into business themselves for instance … but I will not give them money just to have. How do you motivate children growing up, when there’s no particular need for them to work hard? I work on the philosophy in my own family that everybody is born with some inherent abilities and the only way they will realise them is to do what they can to develop them themselves. Some people might have sufficient money so they don’t do anything and they live a boring life. If you’ve got resources, you can use them to develop your own abilities. You’ll make your life so much happier if you develop the potential you’ve got. It’s a terrible waste if you don’t. So do you think that the child’s progress then depends mainly on the child?

There are now more than 100 adults in total if you identify them as descendants of my grandfather, and probably double the number if you include all their children. There’s an old saying about rags to rags in three generations. How did your family beat that? We are conservative. We just don’t throw money around. Our business activities are the things that maintain our wealth and because we’ve got that business background we just think we’ve got to keep that going. Does that mean that there’s a lot research before you invest in something? Yes. During the time that I was head of the company after the older generation had all gone, we had a lot of activity going on in research and other activity – people working with us who were looking for opportunities, a lot of interesting things as time went on. How do you keep incompetent members of the family out of the governing mix and from speaking out? We have certain family councils which people can enjoy and talk about family activities and family business and I have personally made sure that our business has grown a lot; it used to be a family business, that’s how my father and his brothers [Bryan and Andrew

M O N E Y TA L K S

Todd] ran it; it’s now a family-owned business. I’ve wanted to ensure that the business keeps going. And I’ve always followed a precept that the companies are run and managed for the family, not by the family. A family-owned business is quite separate from a family business. I do not accept any idea of nepotism. There are a fair number of family members on the board... That’s governance, not management. Your assets can be invested and you can make decisions as to how they can be invested, but then you should get top-class people to manage and develop those assets for you.

I heard you playing your ukulele with a band a few years ago and you were the man out in front playing “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “When Hilo Hattie does the Hilo Hop” like the born showman. Where did you get that? In 1939 when I was 12 we went to Hawaii on holiday. We went there by ship; there on the American ship Monterey, and after a few weeks, back on its sister ship Mariposa. I had ukulele lessons from a man by the beach at Waikiki, and picked it up fairly easily and enjoyed it. To become so good, you obviously played a lot at parties. You can’t have become so good without having done so.

What’s the biggest frivolous luxury you’ve ever bought in your life?

Well… Yes.

I suppose a boat on Lake Taupo.

In your office I saw a Don Binney painting in the entrance, and there’s a Michael Illingworth on the wall just there. Did you buy all these?

What do you do for fun? Because I was in the motor car business I didn’t buy motor cars for fun, because I might have bought something which we didn’t produce – maybe a Jaguar. My son collects the fancy cars. I’ve had a home in Taupo for many years and I used to drive up there a lot. We used to cruise along at 170 kmh, then it came down to 140, then 120, and now we’re all moving along the road at around 100. Do you invest in shares? One or two that I buy because of personal association. They’re a small part of my interests. What parts of your career did you most enjoy? Influencing the design of motorcars. Only to the extent that I was able to go to the factories and get what I wanted in terms of a model, decide which sort of model I wanted. In New Zealand I made decisions about colour and trim and so on. I used to enjoy that. You and I both know that you’re a performer. How did you get that? I’ve always liked music. I learned the piano as a young man, not for very long or very well, I was in a choir – we sang things like ‘Drink to me only with thine eyes’. When I was growing up music was something you just took part in. There was no television!

It was a hobby of mine. I was buying it for the company. Our [The Todd] collection was developed over a number of years in the 70’s when I had this urge to buy modern art, and abstract art was just beginning to be accepted in New Zealand. I had met [Wellington dealer ]Peter McLeavey. Peter and I used to speak quite a lot, and he’d persuade me to buy. When sometimes I’d tell him I didn’t like one – he’d say “It’s a very good piece, buy it”. I’d hang it at the office. The staff would groan “What the hell is that!” The interesting thing was that a few months later when I went to take it down again, they’d all say “You can’t move that! It’s ours now”. Our collection is valued every year for insurance, and it’s grown in value all the time. It’s almost the best sort of investment you can make, as long as you have a good man like McLeavey to advise you. It was us as a partnership which made it work. I bought the art with company money and not a lot of it. One year, when I’d already bought two paintings, Peter said “Come and see these paintings” … they were panels by Colin McCahon, I think there were eight of them – he said they were a fantastic collection. But for some reason the company wasn’t making much that year and there was none to spare for more paintings so we didn’t buy them. I could have bought the whole collection for 16,000 dollars. And today each one of those panels is probably worth half a million.

NEW ZEA LA ND SYMP H O NY O R CHE STRA presents

MESSIAH S UP PORTED BY

Handel

Sat 13 Dec 6.30pm Michael Fowler Centre WELLINGTON

STE P HE N M O ULD c ond u ct o r M ADE LE I NE P I E R AR D s o p ra n o JAC Q UE LI NE DAR K mezzo -s o p ra n o PAUL McM AHO N ten o r

For ticket details go to

JAM E S C LAY TO N b ass O R P HE US C HO I R O F WE LL I N GT ON

nzso.co.nz

INTERIORS

3 6

2 1

7 4

8 11

10 15

17 18 20

DECK THE HALLS

Celebrate by bringing the indoors, out. This is far from a roast dinner at the dining table. This is fish on the barbie, sun shining, backyard cricket luxury. See page 74 for product details

INTERIORS

4 3 4

6 8

6 7

5 11

10 14

10 18

SILENT NIGHT Snuggle-up on Christmas Eve and wait for Santa to arrive in style. You'll have sweet dreams with fresh patterns, clean linen and soothing feature pieces. It's worry-free harmony.

See page 74 for product details

DECK T H E HA L L S

SILENT NIGHT page 73

page 72

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Courtyard lantern, $79, Corso de' Fiori Jungle pool towel, $44, Corso de' Fiori Aura triangles cushion, $85, Stacks Malawi black chair, $559, Corso de' Fiori Tivoli ipal radio, $399, Corso de' Fiori Aura chevron knitted cushion, $85, Stacks Cooper wire string lights, $79, Tea Pea Atlantic Stone Bean Bag, $109, Corso de' Fiori Clear bubble candle bowl, $129, Corso de' Fiori Hanoi Daybed, $2,280, Corso de' Fiori Gava copper-plated planters, from $39.90, Corso De' Fiori Elba lounge chair, $379, Corso de' Fiori Gold coaster set, $39, Tea Pea Tatino Tattoo Ball Seat, POA, Backhouse Lid stool, $279, Bo Concept Round beach towel, Aztec, $125, Tea Pea Spindle paper baskets, $139, Corso de' Fiori SS Camping flask, $46, Iko Iko Macrame single hammock, $119, Corso de' Fiori Faro stool & cushion, $164, Corso de' Fiori Diamond Cut Portugese Wine Glass Set, $149.90, Corso de' Fiori Drop design convertible bed, $119, Backhouse

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

Clothes rack in grey, $269.00, Let Liv Componibili Precious drawers, POA, Backhouse Chi cushion cover, $44, Corso de' Fiori Golden eye single pillowcase, $39, Let Liv Rose in April Victoire Quilt, $139, Corso de' Fiori Aura Triangle throw, $240, Stacks Pathway cushion cover, $34, Corso de' Fiori Hook wall mirror, $239, Bo Concept Oslo oak dressing table, $1125, Stacks Factory cabinet - small , $240, Let Liv Shanghai vase, POA, Backhouse Gran cushion cover, $69, Let Liv Wow screens, POA, Backhouse Check pillowcase set, $69, Let Liv Alaska paper decoation, $14.40, Corso de' Fiori Oslo oak round side table, $465, Stacks Chi Coconut lampshade, $129, Corso de' Fiori Wastepaper basket, $24.99, Trade Aid North Pouf, $249, Bo Concept Concertina style display shelf, $2,190, Corso de' Fiori Wall clock, $279, Let Liv

Is your Body Corporate Compliant with the Unit Ti tles Act 201 0?

The Body Corporate is responsible for the well-being of unit titled properties and the Body Corporate Secretary should be providing guidance to help the Body Corporate comply.

• Does your Body Corporate Secretary provide you with regular financial updates? • Do your Body Corporate financials comply with the UTA 2010? • Does your Long Term Maintenance Plan conform to the requirements of the UTA 2010? • Are your levy arrears being effectively managed? For more information on how to answer YES to these questions, call our Specialist Body Corporate Consultant today.

Clai re Winter 04 619 1027 or claire@oxygen.co.nz

CANAAN DOWNS

Pikikirunga, Golden Bay,

NELSON – TASMAN

EARTH-FRIENDLY FESTIVAL OF MUSIC, ARTS, CULTURE, INSPIRATION AND TRANSFORMATION Celebrating the ancient seasonal festival of Lughnasadgh. 5 Zones of Live and Electronic Music, 5 Zones of Workshops, Circus Space, Healing Hub, Tribal Drum Circle, Kids’ Activities, Spacious Camping, Village Market, Organic food.

BEATS ANTIQUE | DESERT DWELLERS GANGA GIRI | dDUB | BEYONDSEMBLE KNIGHTS OF THE DUB TABLE MATIU TE HUKI | GROUCH THE SLACKS | JPOD & MANY MORE... WORKSHOPS INCLUDE: Permaculture, yoga, quantum science, african drumming, massage, reflexology, music production, african dance, belly dance, nia, aikido, nutrient dense food, taonga puoro, improv theatre, & lots more... TO GET A FEEL FOR LUMINATE FESTIVAL CHECK OUT THE MANY VIDEOS ON OUR WEBSITE.

www.luminatefestival.co.nz TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM Eventfinda, Cosmic outlets nationwide. Youth (14-18yrs) & Adult prices. Seniors (75yr+) & Children (under 14yr) attend for free.

oxygen.co. nz Letti ng | Property Management | Body Corporate

HOUSE

HOUSE OF FIRE AND SAND WRITTEN BY BETH ROSE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL ROSE

A Wellington designer has turned a small brick cottage, whose major attributes were that it was right by the sea and mildly historic, into a place to be.

“I

’m a bit of a pyromaniac,” confesses Pip Pennington about the huge outdoor fireplace designed by husband Mark for their beach house, positioned on a slice of Paekakariki paradise. Having a living space – complete with log fire – on the outside of the property leading down to the sea allows the indoors to spill out onto the sand. The environment is invited in, creating the seamless and sought-after indoor / outdoor flow so loved by Kiwi homeowners. This playful partnership between the house and its surroundings is no accident. Mark Pennington is a designer who has worked all over the world and has a legacy ranging from Formway furniture’s world-leading Life chair to the Awesome Forces exhibition at Te Papa, and of course Pip’s beloved outdoor fireplace. Mark has been recognised for his contribution to design with entry into Massey University’s College of Creative Arts Hall of Fame. He is a born and bred Wellingtonian who has never wavered in his love for the city and its surroundings, and has always come home. “Wellington is a city rich in culture, vibrant, architecturally creative, and has that variety and tension shared by great cities of the world. I was raised in

Lower Hutt and spent my childhood holidaying along this coast up to Paraparaumu,” says Mark, “This area [Paekakariki] is so delightfully undeveloped. It is unpretentious and unspoilt – it is a place for real people.” “I was living in a town house in Northland when I started looking for a beachside property. My search began at Pukerua Bay, and when I lost out on a sale there, I was directed up the coast towards Raumati and Paekakariki for the end-of-day sun. “I was initially unimpressed by this house. It is a 1960s suburban red-brick home with no character or personality.” Mark had to use his artistic vision to see past the façade and the existing interior decoration. “The previous owner was a heavy smoker and everything inside was yellow. There were sun-filters blocking out the sea view, shrouded by heavy, dark velvet curtains. The site, however, was magical”. The property is on Ames Street, a location that, over the years, has hosted many poets, artists and musicians including composer Douglas Lilburn, who once owned Mark and Pip’s place. There was clearly potential here, and in March 2007, a Kiwi designer became the latest artist to take residence. “When I won the auction, I just thought

HOUSE

“ THIS AREA IS SO DELIGHTFULLY UNDEVELOPED. IT IS UNPRETENTIOUS AND UNSPOILT – IT IS A PL ACE FOR REAL PEOPLE.”

'what now?' It’s not a contemporary house and neither is it a traditional bach. “There was an initial temptation to demolish and start again, but that goes against my values in a sense. To eliminate would be brutal and heavy-handed, so we judiciously modified. “We knew we had to retain and work with the spirit of the place, or it would become a confusion of values; you can’t superimpose city values onto the environment and ad hoc improvisation doesn’t work. “I began by painting everything inside white,” says Mark, “I wanted to neutralise the interior. The place then becomes a background for interesting objects”. Brightly coloured Pacifica art adorns the walls and complements the objects and furniture designed by Mark. The white backdrop is only interrupted on the west-facing side of the house, where enormous floor-toceiling windows stretch along the length of the property. This allows the rooms to seem to extend out to the horizon, and again the sea is right with you in the living space. In 2009 Mark and Pip took out one of the main dividing walls, opening up the interior further and letting the light enter all parts of the house. In stark contrast to the emphasis on internal lightness, Mark made a bold choice to paint the outside of the house black. “I wanted the house to blend in with the environment”, he explains, “it’s all about water on one side and greenery on the other”. The property itself is hidden from the street, and only appears over the brow of a sloping driveway. Creeping plants have been encouraged to take over the front and sides of the now black-brick background, inviting the house to retreat into native landscaping. Flax, cabbage trees and toi toi feature heavily and a large pohutukawa tree stands prominently over a stream in the centre of the approach. Before to their arrival, Mark describes the front area of the front section of the

property as a flat piece of land with a house on top. “We planted out the area with mostly natives, and I put in a wooden bridge over the stream to create a little hideaway. You need a plan though, as fiddling creates a mish-mash”. The result is a lush, green, private collection of spaces protected from the wildness of the sea. Veges and fruit bushes grow on a terraced bank that hugs the garden boundary. In a small tranquil corner under the pohutukawa sits a tired-looking Jet Master fireplace, the inspiration of his addiction for outdoor fires. “My parents were getting rid of their old fireplace,” says Pip, “which was in good working order so we took it off them and installed it here as an outside fire”. When it started wearing out, Mark set to work designing a permanent replacement. “It’s a simple-looking structure, but carefully angled to get a good draw,” explains Mark, “and it’s big enough to take any kind of wood from the beach”. A large umbrella positioned nearby catches the warm air from the fire and allows Mark and Pip to spend their evenings outside enjoying sunsets over the sea all year-round. “We didn’t want a posh place,” says Pip, “it’s about the aspect; the land and the sea and accepting the property for what it is. If I could add anything now it would be an outdoor Japanese bath”. Mark and Pip are aware of what a great spot they have out on the Kapiti Coast and believe it is important to share it with others. Family regularly gather here and in 2009 it was the location of their wedding. And it isn’t just Mark and Pip who enjoy living off Ames Street at Paekakariki; little blue penguins nest in the banks of their garden and everyone with a beachside property now has footholds in their sea walls to help penguins get access. On one occasion, a neighbour also found a seal sleeping among the plants.

CAPITAL TA L E S O F T H E C I T Y

CHRISTMAS CAROLS’ DECEMBER 2014

WELLY IN DECLINE?

ISSUE 17

$3.90 PORK OFF THE FORK

Beer guide inside

M E R RY C H R I STM AS

FOCUS ON

CAPITAL You can now order our latest cover as a high-quality A2 print for $25. We’ll even gift wrap it for you. * postage & packaging $5

To order your print email design@capitalmag.co.nz

The new, artisan craft and food market with a difference. “The Village Market” is open all weekend, every weekend, rain or shine. A friendly, family focused environment and fun atmosphere for everyone. Friday 3pm-9pm, Saturday and Sunday, 9am-3pm

Focus On advertises specific products or

46 Wainui Rd, Gracefield, Lower Hutt phone Jo 021 627679 www.thevillagemarket.co.nz

Get your product on this page. Email sales@capitalmag.co.nz

services in a format that encourages the reader to take a closer look.

ABROAD

M AK I NG A C RUST WRITTEN BY BETH ROSE

Pie cravings are not unusual for Kiwis living abroad, and expat Wellingtonians Olivia Fowler and Ryan McLeod just couldn’t live without their favourite taste of home.

he couple’s love of New Zealand’s traditional meat pies – served hot and flaky with a side of ketchup and wolfed down at bakeries nationwide – has led to an accidental piemaking business in Shanghai that is set to take China by storm. “After finishing uni I took up a business internship in Shanghai,” says Olivia, “and Ryan came with me to teach English. We moved to China in February 2013 and before long we were

desperate for a homemade pie.” “When the week long national Chinese holiday came round in October, we didn’t have enough money to travel or do very much, so we decided to spend the time making pies, so I got a puff pastry recipe from my Mum”. Chinese kitchens aren’t particularly compatible with western baking, as most of the food is prepared on stovetops using woks

ABROAD

and pans. With only a small bench-top cooker at their disposal, Olivia and Ryan immediately had to downsize their pie ambitions. “We made twenty mini-pies with steak and mushroom and chicken and leek fillings in our little electric oven. They were pretty good, so we gave some to our Canadian and American friends who own a westernstyle café near where we live in Puxi. They sold really well; so our friends gave us a larger cooker that could bake at least eight normal-sized pies at a time. Demand for the pies quickly outstripped supply, and when Olivia and Ryan moved into a new flat with a western-style kitchen that could support pie production, the couple knew they had turned a corner in their emerging catering career. The success of their local sales encouraged them to

pursue the pie-making as a business opportunity. With little competition in the savoury baked goods sector, there was certainly a crust to be made in the expat community where they lived. “Puxi, or the ‘French Concession’ area of Shanghai is a social hub for ex-pats with lots of cafes, shops and nightclubs set up for western custom. Most of the bread sold in bakeries and shops in Shanghai is sweet, no one was selling pies and there was very little savoury, baked food on offer. “We started adding to our varieties with chicken curry, chicken, brie and cranberry, and mince and cheese. Our pies were selling so well that by the New Year I was making hundreds of pies a week to supply to local vendors. “I had gone from craving a Kiwi-style pie to spending all my time in a kitchen doing nothing but baking them for

Olivia and Ryans' pie ingredients

ABROAD

other people. I was fed up with making pies so we started looking at ways to outsource production,” says Olivia. Finding a bakery in Shanghai that was willing to learn how to make the pies according to Ryan and Olivia’s recipes would be hard enough, but their initial order, whilst large by their own standards, represented a fraction of a typical Chinese production request. “Eventually I found a bakery on the other side of the river in Pudong that would help us. I am learning Chinese but I don’t know enough to explain how to make a chicken and leek pie, so I had to act it out. The cooks picked it up well and trained their staff to make the different pie varieties. “With the bakery’s help we were then able to supply frozen pies to even more vendors and in larger amounts, which meant we could use our own time to work on the

business side of things. We decided to call our company Tuck Shop Pies”. Olivia and Ryan knew that, to get a larger slice of the market, they’d need to find a way into the supermarkets and popular online shopping channels; and to do this they’d need Chinese customers. “We were introduced to Nico, an Italian food factory owner, through the expat community. He was already making and supplying frozen pizza, pasta and gelato to supermarkets, and he owned ‘The Pie Company’ which he’d bought from some Aussies but had never bothered marketing”. Nico had all the production facilities and customer channels that Ryan and Olivia needed, and with the practicalities taken care of, the couple could focus their attention on marketing and promotion.

ABROAD

“NEW ZEALAND HAS A GREAT REPUTATION FOR QUALITY PRODUCE...”

“When we decided to go into business with Nico, he agreed to get Tuck Shop Pies into at least one hundred vendors, including some of the high-end Chinese supermarkets like Olé. “New Zealand has a great reputation for quality produce,” explains Olivia, “and we are looking to market Tuck Shop Pies as an authentic, luxury New Zealand-style pie. One of my best friends in Wellington, Martinique Barbalic, has her own design business, so I’ve asked her to do all our packaging, logo and branding work”. Likewise, much of the legal work is also taking place in Wellington and Olivia’s mother is helping to ensure they have everything covered with their entrepreneurial pie business. Ryan and Olivia have also bought The Pie Company from Nico and now market it as a basic alternative to Tuck Shop. Both types of pie are already proving a hit with Chinese consumers after the couple spent some time doing in-store promotions. “Chinese shoppers really like tasting new things. Whenever we took pie samples into the supermarkets, they were keen to give them a go and often walked off with several boxes of pies in their shopping carts after eating just one bite,” explains Olivia. With the monopoly on frozen, savoury pies in Shanghai – and in all likelihood China – the future of Olivia and Ryan’s business is looking

bright, but for the odd political fluctuation. “Whenever we need to renew our visas we have to leave the country and go to a Chinese embassy to organise a new one. The process is straightforward and would normally mean a short trip to Hong Kong and back, but at the end of September we flew into the city on the day the political protests started. “The demonstration looked quite peaceful and it wasn’t until later that we heard some protesters had tried to enter Government buildings and that police had used tear gas and rubber bullets. “When we went to renew our visas in Hong Kong, the embassy staff were hostile and told us to go to our own countries to get visas. Arriving back in China we were surprised to find out that people were completely unaware of the situation due to a blanket ban on reporting the issue.” Similarly, Government control of the Internet continues to be tightened with Instagram recently joining the ranks of banned things in China, alongside Google and Facebook. Such restrictions have a knock-on effect for the marketing of pies. Despite continuing political controls and social tensions, Olivia is upbeat about Tuck Shop Pies’ future. “I never imagined myself selling pies in Shanghai,” she admits, “but I can see us carrying on for a while yet”.

T O R Q U E TA L K

ONE FOR THE POLITICIANS WRITTEN BY MARK SAINSBURY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY RHETT GOODLEY-HORNBLOW

As an ardent fan of classic and muscle cars I have to admit from the outset that people-movers to me are like veges to a kid – to be avoided at all costs. That’s all very well now I no longer have to accommodate kids and all their mates in any travel plans. But in that universe the people-mover is a must, and when thinking people-mover it’s hard to ignore the ubiquitous Honda Odyssey.

hey are certainly hardy. My brother-in-law has had one for years and it simply won’t die. It is of course that familiar shade of maroon; Duncan Garner had exactly the same model and he too waited patiently for it to give up the ghost which of course it didn’t, so he was forced to suffer my constant teasing about having such an uncool car. Which brings me to this month’s test. What perversity lurks within the editor of this fine magazine? Because I was sent off to pick up not just a people-mover, but a Honda Odyssey and a maroonish one to boot. There the similarity ends. The latest incarnation of Odyssey is dangerously close to being cool. Well it certainly is in the middle! I'm talking about the top-of-the-range, which is loaded with all the gizmos. Its 2.4 litre engine and CVT transmission does what it’s supposed to, well, and with a variable seating layout it can easily accommodate seven people. But be warned.This is a vehicle that will start fights in your family. Forget the battle to claim front-seat “shotgun” rights, the primo position in this mover is the second row. The second row is like the business class section. Fully reclining with pop-out footrests, these seats just scream “nestle in and be driven forever.” Everywhere I went, when people accessed the back through the powered remote-controlled doors, they went gaga for the seats. They are that good, Sure there’s the odd minor annoying factor like the metal rods you need to put in the floor when all seats are up so the second-row reclining chairs don’t slide back into the rear

passengers’ feet, I’m sure they could find a better way to do this and they feel a bit of an afterthought. But really, for 90% of the time the very back row will stay neatly folded into the floor, giving you rear luggage room and more importantly a full expanse to toy with the recliners. This is not a vehicle for recliner decliners. I have, in the past had a Prado and a Range Rover to ferry the kids around, but to be honest they got used offroad for a mere fraction of the time and I worked it out it would be cheaper to rent a 4x4 for the odd skiing trip and have a more affordable everyday wagon. On that basis the Odyssey “L” with leather and the recliners but no sat-nav will set you back $49,900.The 8-seater non-leather non-recliner “S” is $45,900 and to go the whole hog with reclining leather and sat nav is $52,500. Honda are pretty confident about their pricing and for my money I would certainly be going the leather and recliner route. The design has changed a bit too, with a return to a higher roof line. Let’s face it, if you are using this to carry people, make it easy for them. The paint and finish are flawless and it boasts all the requisite safety standards and economy features. The downside is you don’t want to be driving. What you really want to do is park your bum in those captain’s chairs and let someone else chauffeur you around. There’s a thought, at this price they would make affordable, practical government limousines. A true peoples’ car for our politicians.

W E L LY A NG E L

WHAT WOU L D DEI RDRE D O? Got a problem? Maybe we can help.

A VEGAN FEAST

Welly Angel Deirdre Tarrant, mother of three boys, founder of Footnote Dance Company and teacher of dance to generations of Wellingtonians, will sort out your troubles. FAMILY CHORES Christmas again: My family don’t really ever enjoy each other’s company and Christmas Day is a chore, not a pleasure. Would it be okay if we just got together with friends on the day instead of pretending with relations?

I am invited to share Christmas with some vegan and gluten-free family members. What celebratory food do I take as my contribution? Carnivore, Khandallah Florentines are fabulous. Let them take care of the main courses and just bring a large plate of florentines (generously interspersed with slabs of Whittakers Dark Almond and Orange Intense by Lindt).Some crystallised ginger and fruit would go well too. Vegan and gluten free is good for all of us. Delicious.

N Smith, Newtown Christmas is firmly for families, so unless you have friends without families who are making the same choice I suspect it may not work. See if you can't vow to enjoy the day (blood is ultimately a pretty strong tie) or mix it up and invite your friends to come and join in with your family and give everyone some space?

You don't say how long your relationship has been going but he should really be keen to please you and there should be no "insisting" involved. You go and enjoy your day, maybe he will come for part of the festivities to start with and get to like it for himself?

SOLO ACT

FAMILY TIES Where should family loyalty start and finish? Do I invite my brother’s former spouse to join us for part of Christmas Day? He won’t be there as he is with his new partner, but I know will be very cross with us. Anon She will have her own family to go to. I don't think angering your brother is a good idea – invite her round on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day?

My partner’s family don’t celebrate Christmas. I want him to come with me to my family. He doesn’t want to. Am I being unfair to insist? Solo, Miramar

If you’ve got a burning question for Deirdre, email angel@capitalmag.co.nz with Capital Angel in the subject line.

Make your booking today!

Whitby’s Pre-Christmas Buffet 15 November - 24th December

Lunch $39.00pp · Dinner $46.00pp Special Christmas Day buffet available

James Cook

Make your booking today! 147 The Terrace · 04 499 9500 · whitbys@jamescookhotel.co.nz · www.grandchancellorhotels.com 88

Wall ingf ord Homestead circa 1853

the ideal secluded getaway

Hawkeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bay Rural venue for corporates, private functions and weddings 14 bedrooms - cordon bleu chef - fully licensed

www.wallingford.co.nz

News, articles and easy to use listings of exhibitions and artists.

ArtZone makes New Zealand art a pleasure. To subscribe visit www.artzone.co.nz

B A B Y, B A B Y SECTION HEADER

M ART Y R , DAU G HT ER , W I F E BY MELODY THOMAS

Last time I left you I was about to board a flight to Melbourne for five nights alone, having previously only spent 24 hours apart from the nearly-2-year-old. I was a wreck of confusion, guilt and nerves, but it was one of the best things I’ve done as a mother.

he hardest part was leaving. With two and a half hours until my fight departed I found myself crying and shaking, aimlessly shoving items into my bag in the 4am dark. The pain was tangible – if you’ve read Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, I was Lyra Belacqua and someone was tearing away my Pantalaimon. Worse still I was the one doing the tearing, and in those hours before departure I had no idea why I was doing it to myself. As quickly as it had come on, the pain was gone. In the customs line, as I stood coffee in one hand and a super-light carry-on in the other, the couple in front of me struggled under the weight of nappy bag, mini-suitcases, grizzly newborn and unhappy toddler. Their journey was just beginning and they were already at that horrible point in the stress/sleep deprivation cycle where everything is the other parent’s fault and you don’t give a damn who around you knows it. And Icould relate to their pain because a few months before I’d done the same thing – I knew all too well how 24 hours of lap-wriggling, queue-wrangling, non-sleeping and constant entertainment-providing could destroy the joyful anticipation of a holiday. But not this time. Like a convict set free I relished in every tiny detail of my freedom. Things that would have been horribly tedious pre-baby, like waiting to board or disembark the plane, were wonderful exercises in contemplation and stillness. I must have looked like an idiot, grinning goofily, sighing to myself, clapping as my movie started. And I’m completely unashamed to admit that for most of the time I was gone I didn’t pine for, worry about or sometimes even think about my daughter. I went out and danced, I got drunk, I slept until 11, I lingered over brunch and windowshopped. And Sadie was fine too. One of my biggest worries was that my little girl, who seeks out the comfort of Mum above all others, would suffer stress and anxiety without me. But by all reports she was in top form – super social, funny, charming and well behaved, only stopping every other day to point to the sky and say my name 90

(because that’s where people go on planes). And even though a regular week sees her spend a good amount of time with her Dad, there was something special about the bonding they got to do while I was gone. I know that for most mothers a trip alone overseas isn’t a reality. I’m amazed I managed to swing that one myself. But if you have a decent support network around you or even just a couple of close friends or family members, then chances are you’ve had offers of help before, from “let me take the baby to the park” to “I’ve got her, you go have a shower.” And I bet you’ve turned a lot of them down. Because in our society we’re taught to cope on our own – to make our beds then lie in them. That asking for help is a weakness. That we shouldn’t demand too much of others, who have their own big, messy lives to take care of. But we’ve got it all wrong. Research shows time and time again that the act of giving triggers a significantly larger boost in happiness than receiving, activating the same parts of the brain associated with reward and consistently increasing general well-being (If you prefer pop culture to academia, think of that episode of Friends where Phoebe tries and fails to commit an act of selfless altruism). Helping other people feels good for all involved; it’s the win-winingest of winwin situations. The other great thing about allowing yourself time off from mothering is the joy you feel in returning to it. My time in Melbourne was refreshing, exciting, wonderful – but the best part was getting off the plane in Wellington and coming round the corner to my little girl, squealing my name and running at me full-pace with arms outstretched. I had given myself the opportunity to visit the grass on the other side. It was a wonderful shade of green. But turns out it was best back on the side where I’d started.