'I can clearly see you're nuts...'

We’ve been blessed by beautiful Autumn weather again here in Auckland.
The leaves are turning gorgeous shades of orange, brown and red, and the sky is blue and crystal clear. I know it’s not going to last forever, so we’re making the most of it while we can.
K’s busy at work, with more travelling coming up. One place he’ll be visiting is Whakatane, which, in the NZ way, is pronounced Fuck-a-tane. As you can imagine, the kids delight in innocently mentioning it as much as possible. There’s also a town called Whakapapa. (Pronounced with the ‘F’ sound rather than ‘Wh’, it sounds like … oh I’m leaving that one alone!) The kids are looking forward to their last few days of school before the Easter holidays. The final day of term has been dubbed Lazy Day, where the students are allowed to bring pillows, blankets and toys, and will spend the day playing games, watching movies, eating popcorn and relaxing. Something tells me that will be one morning I don’t have to nag them to get ready for school!
I’ve been lucky enough to pick up some freelance writing with the much-loved Kiwi magazine, New Zealand Women’s Weekly. I went in to meet the team at their Auckland offices during the week, and they seem like a really nice bunch of people. I’m really looking forward to it – guess I’ll have a reason to throw myself into more Kiwi television now (research purposes of course).
And as the Tastes Of New Zealand experience continues, this week we tried Feijoas for the first time. Also known as pineapple guava, they actually taste a bit like a tart strawberry, and are really lovely.
Unfortunately, not all our Kiwi Cuisine experiences have been positive. New Zealand is home to the world’s first purple sausage. (No I did not make that up!) Imaginatively named named ‘purplos’, they are like cheerios but purple. They’re made from beef, mutton and honey, with a purple casing. They’re supposed to be a perfect snack, and very popular with kids.
Not with my kids though, who pronounced them ‘’disgusting’. And K’s face when he tasted one was priceless. After such a damning verdict, I couldn’t even bring myself to try one.
Luckily, I’m more adventurous when it comes to wine.
The Wine Of The Week isn’t actually a NZ one this time, but with a label like this, how could I refuse?
It’s one of series of Punchline Wines, and comes from South Australia. It was seriously good too. Cheers!

We try Feijoas at last. They're popular in fruit juices and smoothies.

This is what they look like inside.

Purplos. Er ... What The?

Wine of the Week

Their motto is: Life's short. Eat well, drink well, have fun.

Couldn't have put it better myself!