Horse riding in the city

Friday was a good day. I did surgery on a hermaphrodite dog (so exciting), then on my way home I stopped the car to chat to a guy with a horse. He's a bit famous here in Christchurch - he showed up in the last 12 months, leading his horse around town, letting it graze in Latimer square, and generally just hanging.


So I stopped to say hi, and to meet his horse - a lovely bay mare. After a bit of a chat, he asked if I wanted a ride, gave me a leg up and off I went. The weird part was we were in the forecourt of the Shell petrol station on Moorhouse Ave. Made my week.

A few more city pics

When in town the other day, I took a few photos around Matt's old work...

The sound of demolition (grunch, grind, groan, hammer hammer hammer) still dominates. In amongst all the rubble and mess was the site of the PGG building where 18 people died - now a freshly mown lawn:

I think that's pretty nice. I hope they keep it like that.

Squashed flies

I made a 'fly cemetery' slice last week - I used to call these squashed fly biscuits. Dried fruit and apples sandwiched between two layers of shortbread.

The good-looking boys from Student Job Search who were labouring in a friend's garden particularly enjoyed them.

Sons - then and now

I stole this photo off the internet....it's Matt old office, pre-quake. Looks pretty nice.  I went for a wee explore of that part of town the other day - and took a photo of the place now (below). You can tell it's the same place because of the parking meter machine, and the electrical box thingy that was sitting on outside of the right hand side of the building.

Otherwise, it's unrecognisable.  Not him, or his neighbours, or the places across the road. The buildings that are in that recent photo are all brand new. Some parts of the city have been completely wiped clean.

Holy shitballs

My baking reached new heights last night. It's Father's Day today, but we are going out tonight, so I made a special dinner last night - steak, red wine jus, celeriac mash....

Pretty nice.....BUT...the real stunner was dessert - my first Paris Brest. 

Nothing to do with boobies, this dessert was invented in France, to commemorate the Paris-Brest bicycle race in 1891.  The circular shape is supposed to represent a bike wheel...

Choux pastry, covered in almonds, filled with sweetened whipped cream. Farkin incredible.

Happy Father's Day.