Yinzer in the Shire

There seems to be some confusion between American's and the rest of the English speaking world on what to call various baked goods.  I thought the advent of the internet would clear up a lot of misconceptions, but I still run into people online who just can't understand what the other side is talking about.  So for those who want to know, but don't feel like reading, I present this handy-dandy chart! I will say, I am not entirely sure about the Cookie Bar vs Slice bit.  In my experience not all slices are cookie bars in the traditional sense, but they are always a bar shaped, layered dessert with a cookie-type base.  In the shops the most popular option seems to be Caramel Slice. While we are on the subject of baked goods, they totally have hot cross buns here!  I always knew they existed, but I thought they had gone a bit extinct after… I don't know, the plague?  I never expected to see them in my local supermarket!  As a holiday surprise I mi...

We walk a lot in this household.  We walk so much that not only does owning a car seem like a luxury, so does taking the bus.  Usually this works quite well for us, but when I decided to sign up for a hula hooping class downtown we knew we would have to break down and finally figure out the bus system here in Wellington. The system here in Wellington isn't too bad, there are two ways to pay, cold hard cash or Snapper .  If you are paying in cash you do not have to have exact change, the driver has a small register that allows him to take money.  The Snapper card is available for purchase at local shops and dairies for just $10.  You can also put money on the card at these establishments.  Despite the small upfront cost, the Snapper is certainly the more attractive option.  Not only does it eliminate the stress of fumbling with change, it also provides a discount!  Bus rides are $3.63 when we swipe our Snapper instead of $5. When you get on th...

Recommended listening for this post: Niko Ne Zna Prior to the move I remember often asking Seth if he thought New Zealand would have a big arts community.  I need not have worried, Wellington has an amazing bunch of artists and is especially kind to it's buskers. Wellington is home to the NZ Fringe Festival, which is almost like a month long Art All Night for performance art.  Any show can be a Fringe show, it can be at a gallery, a theatre, or even a local park. Some shows have an admission free, others are free/koha (koha means "donation").   You just have to send the details of your event in to Fringe and they will add it to their program and promote it. I am ashamed to say that Fringe ended just last night and we did not get to take in any of the shows.  The first show I wanted to attend got rescheduled on account of rain and I was unable to make it on the rescheduled date.  The other, an bunch of interactive performance pieces held in shipping conta...