you can't beat wellington.

Wellingtonian's have this habit of being incredibly self-depreciating towards their city.  I can't tell you how often residents have apologized for the weather or, worse, said something akin to "But we don't even have amusement parks" when I express how much I enjoy living here.  According to them Wellington is only interesting if you enjoy going to cafes or clubs.    Ugh, and the way they complain about the insulation of their housing drives me insane!  A common saying goes, "You can't beat Wellington on a good day!" and is even used in promotional materials from the city council.  It's so depressing!

What on earth is wrong with these people?  Since we've been here the hottest it has been is 23°C (73°F)  and February is the warmest month of the year.  Over the course of a month there has only been precipitation ten days and only three of those days were proper downpours.  Compare that to last August in Pittsburgh when the average high was 80.3°F and there were 14 days with light rain and 3 days with heavy rain.  Don't even get me started on humidity!  Here is it has been sunny without oppressive heat or humidity and people are apologizing! 

Weather plays into the housing argument as well.  Yes, newer homes in the States are generally insulated rather well, but in Pittsburgh your average house likely comes with a draft and a susceptibility to mold.  Heck, in Pittsburgh you might not even have a proper basement, it might just be a hole dug out of the ground, how are you supposed to keep that insulated?  Considering Pittsburgh winters often bring below zero temps and it doesn't even snow in Wellington I will take a poorly insulated Kiwi home over a Pittsburgh abode any day. 

I can't even imagine what these people must think of other countries and their residents.  I suppose there is more to do, the US is far bigger so there is more to see and do, but it's not like the average family takes a trip to an amusement park every other week.  Traditionally trips such as that are once a year events and some families don't even get that.  In lieu of amusement parks and other man-made attractions, New Zealand has natural excitement from nature hikes, to swimming with the dolphins, to the Waitomo glowworm caves.  And yeah, it also has Hobbiton. 

On a more local level, there is far more to do here in Wellington then there ever was in Pittsburgh as the downtown area doesn't shut down promptly at 5pm.  In Pittsburgh if you wanted to do something after-hours it was usually in another neighborhood so you would have to catch a bus from your neighborhood to downtown where most businesses were closed, then get on another bus to your destination.  You also had to be sure that buses would still be running in the evening.  My Sophomore year of college I lived in a part of the city that offered no buses on the weekends and very limited buses in the evenings which put a significant damper on my social life.  Here you simply catch a bus to Wellington City, even if you get off at the wrong stop it is so walkable that you can be at your intended destination in minutes.  Catching a bus to come back home is equally simple, you go to your stop and the digital display will tell you exactly how long you have to wait for your next bus to arrive.   The only unfortunate bit is that quite a few of the more outdoorsy events are, well, outside of the city and bus services to those areas can be spotty or simply longer than I am willing to subject myself to for a simple day trip.  However, if you want to travel farther up north there is a train that goes as far north as Auckland and for those desiring to visit the South Island the Cook Strait Ferry will happily shuttle you over. 

So Wellingtonian's, you're wrong, you just simply can't beat Wellington. Period. 

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Now onward to the recipes! 

In my last post I promised I would share the recipes used for Seth's Super-Secret-Surprise-Food-Thing! Originally I expected to make it for him on Monday, then we both realized that he had a Linux user Meetup and I had a beginner's fire performance Meetup so the idea had to be scrapped till later.  And later it is my friends! 

An example of what will happen to your
shortbread if you forget to set a timer.

1-2-3 Shortbread 

1 cup of caster sugar

2 cups of salted butter

3 cups of flour

1. Let the butter sit out for a bit to soften

2. Mix together the sugar and the butter until the sugar permeates throughout 

3. Stir in the flour one cup at a time.

Use Your Judgement: You might have to add a bit more flour if the dough is sticky.  The dough should be moist enough that you can clump it together, but overall the consistency should be fairly crumbly.

4. Gather the dough together and form it into a log.  With a butter knife cut 1 cm sized pieces and place them on a baking sheet.  

5. Cook for 10-15 minutes at 300°F, flipping if necessary.  You will know they are finished when they are golden brown.

This is the classic, easy to remember recipe for shortbread.  I have seen a lot of food bloggers suggesting you do a mix of caster sugar and powdered sugar or a mix of two different types of flour, but really that seems like overkill.   I have also seen it suggested, many times, that because butter is featured so heavily in this dessert you should purchase the finest, most expensive butter known to man.  This is also ridiculous.  What I will suggest is that you know what your butter tastes like first.  Back in Pittsburgh I always made shortbread with the cheapest stick-butter they had to offer and it turned out great.  Here I ended up using a new brand of butter that I hadn't even opened up yet and, unfortunately, I am not a fan of the taste.  

If you want to add some pizzaz to your shortbread put a small spoonful of strawberry jam in the center in the last two minutes of baking.  If you accidentally put the jam on sooner it will still taste alright, but the consistency of the jam will become tough and chewy.

Fun story, my recipes are all in US cups, the measuring cups I have are in (slightly larger) metric cups, and my stick of butter is measured in grams.  I also just realized I haven't been adapting the temperature of the oven for Celsius.  Cooking is hard, yinz guys.

Homemade Whipped Cream

2 cups cream

(If you are making this in the states you will specifically need Heavy Cream)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Chill a metal mixing bowl and the metal whisk/beaters/fork you will be using for at least 30 minutes before mixing.

See, they totally don't mind the cold.
They were born for it! 

2. Slowly begin whipping the cream, once it begins to thicken up a bit add in the sugar and vanilla.
You can also opt out of sweetening your cream, especially if you are using it to top coffee or ice cream.

3.  Once all the ingredients are added begin whipping the cream more vigorously until soft peaks form. Be careful to avoid mixing further or you may end up with very sweet butter!

4. Serve immediately.  Over time the cream will begin to melt.

Strawberries & Biscuits on a Cloud

Now put the shortbread on a plate, put a dollop of whipped cream on top, and some sliced strawberries for garnish.  Bam!  Dessert!

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Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 pkg Cream Cheese, softened
1 1/2 jars artichoke hearts, drained & marinated *see below
2 bundles of frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and chopped
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Kraft grated Parmesan cheese + a little extra for later
1/4 tsp garlic powder

I love these little spinach portions!  Much better than the
giant, frozen block I'm used to getting.

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a pot over very low heat, omitting the extra Parmesan cheese for
later.   This should aid in the mixing process and help the cream cheese to soften.  Be sure to watch out for lone-lumps of cream cheese.

2. Once your mixture is even throughout spoon into a shallow ceramic or glass dish.

3. Sprinkle the extra Parmesan cheese over top

4. Bake 20 minutes on 350°F or until the top becomes golden brown

5.  Serve with a sliced baguette, tortilla chips, crackers, baby carrots, whatever you like!

Recipe adapted from Kraft.com  In my opinion, the original recipe called for far too much garlic and spinach, so I decreased those amounts.  I also added in a half can more of artichokes.

I don't know about you, but I find the price of marinated artichoke hearts to be outrageous for such a tiny serving.  Happily you can marinate your artichokes at home using ingredients that you likely already have on hand.

To marinate hearts of the artichoke variety…
Put on this song, then gather up the following ingredients:

1/4 lemon, juiced
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic

1. Combine ingredients together in a sealable plastic container.
I really like using these because they don't leak as much.  If you are marinating in New Zealand New World sells a very similar product made by Pams.  

2. Put the lid on the container and make sure it is securely closed.  Now shake it!

3. Remove the lid and add the jars (each jar should be 14 oz) of artichoke hearts from the artichoke dip recipe.

4. Reseal the plastic container and shake some more!

5. Keep shaking!  You should probably turn that container upside-down for more coverage.

6. Okay, it looks like you're good.  Stop shaking and try one of your creations!

Adapted from this recipe with significantly more lemon juice.


Whew, that's all folks!  I hope today makes up for my lack of recipes over the past few months and I also hope it makes up for the fact that Seth has been the one cooking dinner every night since we arrived.  Oops!

Seth's Approval Face