Eat Queenstown

Last month I went to Queenstown for a few days.

It's a long way from most everywhere

My trip was for a conference,  not a holiday, but naturally I got to eat a few things too- a few were a bit so so (which I will leave off), and others fabulous.

Conference food is not always great, but we had amazing food at the welcome reception at the Skyline Gondola. I ate a lot of very delicious scallops on skewers. 

Fergburger is a Queenstown institution. I never saw the queue less than half a block long, but it moves pretty quickly- we joined in on a Monday night and in about 15 minutes you're ordering, and 15 minutes later you're partaking. 

My friend's Big Al

My more modest Bun Laden
(and a most delicious Gingerbread Shake from Mrs Ferg!)

Mrs Ferg does a nice range of gelato too

I can never go past Pistache

Gelato turned out to be a bit of a theme in Queenstown and I ended up making several visits to Patagonia, and fell in love... Patagonia have outlets in Queenstown, Arrowtown and Wanaka. 

especially with the Dulce de Leche 

One night I had a hot chocolate and pastry. There are two Patagonias very close to each other on the waterfront- the two story one has a great upstairs area with amazing views over Queenstown harbour.

The best (only) Paris-Brest since Paris...
It was really pretty good.

Dinner one night was at the recently opened The Grille by Eichardt's

Fabulous creamy oysters

Seafood Chowder

Crayfish Meatballs

The Bombe Alaska was a bit one dimensional,
a bit disappointing, and no flambé

The next morning we were back for breakfast ... in a delightfully English gentleman's club bar atmosphere. 

Coolest cutlery ever?

Roast Mushrooms on rye toast, poached eggs

I didn't have time (or the capacity) to stop and try an All Black from Cup & Cake one day

as I was on the way to the (recently opened) Balls and Bangles for a donut which I had spied the day before. 

For our final meal we ended up at Madam Woo

Naturally I'd been attracted by the Vueve bike outside,
although I'm not sure why it's there

I don't have any good pictures as it was quite dark by this time
but we had an absolutely delicious banquet of
Malaysian hawker style food

And just when you're sad at leaving beautiful Queenstown behind you find a little Patagonia tucked away in the  airport for one last taste.

Sadly no Dulce de Leche this day,
but the Mango Yoghurt was good too. 

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking
a fabulous weekly meme at BethFishReads

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An Afternoon in Glenorchy

Recently I spent a lovely few days in Queenstown, New Zealand. Even though I've been to NZ quite a few times I'd never been to Queenstown, but knew that it was a beautiful area. And it most certainly is. One afternoon we had a few spare hours and took a drive to Glenorchy, a town that I'd not really heard of, but a lot of people know of it as a Lord of the Rings location, and the series Top of the Lake (which I know would like to seek out) was also filmed there.

Looking back to Queenstown

Looking ahead to Glenorchy

Everywhere you look is like a postcard,
a Very Windy postcard this particular day

Foxglove

The Wharf Shed

Jet boats are everywhere, they look fun....
Maybe next time?

We walked part of the Glenorchy Walkway
beside the Dart River

It was like walking into that postcard

The war memorial in Glenorchy

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Charlie and the War against the Grannies

Charlie and the War against the Grannies is funny from the start. 

I didn't want Mrs Cyclopolos to explode.
I just wanted a paper round.

Which is what I expected from comedian Alan Brough, best known to Australians for his role on the long running but now sadly defunct Spicks and Specks, a music quiz show that most commonly was hysterical. 

Charlie Duncan is  your average 11 year old kid. He hangs out with his best friend Hils, and he wants a paper round. Alan has created a brilliant twist on the classic orphan tale, as young Charlie is a digital orphan, a child "completely ignored by his parents because they are always on their iPhones". 

My parents don't love me. They can only 'like' things now. 

Charlie's desires for a paper round is being blocked by the Grannies who control all deliveries in his neighbourhood. There is a war, there are evil Grannies, there are fart jokes. There are Secret Tunnels and weird happenings and a Lurker. It's silly. It's funny. It's very often laugh out loud funny, and it's a great page turner. Alan Brough has solidly launched himself into the Dahl, Walliams tradition. 

Listen to Alan talking on the radio or see Alan speaking on tele about Charlie and the War against the Grannies where he tells us he has a 2 book deal! YAY. I can't wait. Alan Brough's Top Shelf picks. 

And you heard it here first folks! Over a year ago I made a label Comedians are the New Children's Writers. This week The Guardian caught up. 

50 New Zealand Books Every Kid Should Read By Age 12

Todays list is a Kiwi response to the list published last week 50 Books Every Kid Should Read Before They're 12. The folks at Booknotes Unbound came up with (quite a few more than) 50 NZ books for kids to read.

There's some shameless cheating in their list, and that's fine. So much so that the top three positions are Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley and Maurice Gee- the "holy trinity" of NZ children's authors, and they've suggested that you just read all of their work! I've read some of all three, but barely scratched the surface.

1. Margaret Mahy (see my review of The Changeover)
2. Joy Cowley
3. Maurice Gee (see my review of Under the Mountain)
4. The Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald's Farm - Donovan Bixley
5. I am Not Esther (see my review), I am Rebecca, Being Magdalene - Fleur Beale
6. See Ya, Simon - David Hill (see my review)
7. The Bone Tiki - David Hair
8. Genesis - Bernard Beckett
9. The Wednesday Wizard - Sherryl Jordan
10. The 10PM Question - Kate De Goldi

11. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy - Lynley Dodd
12. The Runaway Settlers - Elsie Locke
13. My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes - Eve Sutton, Lynley Dodd (illustrator)
14. Night Vision - Ella West
15. The Little Yellow Digger - Betty and Alan Gilderdale
16. The Wonkey Donkey - Craig Smith
17. I Am Not A Worm - Scott Tulloch
18. Alex - Tess Duder
19. Duck's Stuck - Kyle Mewburn, Ali Teo and John O'Reilly (illustrators)
20. The Kuia and the Spider - Patricia Grace, Robyn Kahukiwa (illustrator)
21. Oliver in the Garden - Margaret Beames
22. Mr McGee and the Biting Flea - Pamela Allen
23. How Maui Slowed the Sun - Peter Gossage
24. Brain Jack - Brian Falkner
25. The Boring Book - Vasanti Unka
26. Changing Times: The Story of a New Zealand Town and It's Newspaper - Bob Kerr
27. The Travelling Restaurant - Barbara Else

28. Baa Baa Smart Sheep - Mark and Rowan Somerset
29. Pigtails the Pirate - David Elliot
30. Why Do Dogs Sniff Bottoms? - Dawn McMillan and Bert Signal, Ross Kinnaird (illustrator)
31. Grandpa's Slippers - Joy Watson and Wendy Hodder
32. The Bantam and the Soldier - Jennifer Beck and Robyn Belton
33. A Treasury of New Zealand Poems for Children - Paula Green (editor), Jenny Cooper (illustrator)
34. The Whale Rider - Witi Ihimaera (see my review)
35. Purple Heart - Andrew Fiu
36. Baxter Basics: Poems for Children - James K. Baxter
37. Telesa - Lani Wendt Young
38. Stomp - Ruth Paul
39. Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam - Juliette MacIver and Sarah Davis
40. Red Rocks - Rachael King

41. Project Huia - Des Hunt
42. The Red Poppy - David Hill, Fifi Colton (illustrator)
43. Juggling with Mandarins - V.M Jones
44. Conrad Cooper's Last Stand - Leonie Agnew

45. Chicken Licken - Gavin Bishop
46. New Zealand Hall of Fame: 50 Remarkable Kiwis - Maria Gill, Bruce Potter (illustrator)
47. Mōtītī Blue and the Oil Spill - Debbie McCauley
48. Ngā Kī - Sacha Cotter and Joshua Morgan, Kawata Teepa (translator)
49. Anzac Day: The New Zealand Story - Philippa Wherry
50. School Journal

14/50+

There are several really great books on this list. I am not Esther is fantastic. See Ya, Simon also fabulous. Master Wicker loved Hairy Maclary when he was little. Thankfully I did too as I can still recite much of it 10 years down the track.

No matter how good the editions of The Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald's Farm may be I wouldn't put them at number 4. Naturally there are many books on this list that I'd like to read. Some I've been aware of for some time, and others I'd never heard of. Some aren't even books- School Journal.

See Ya, Simon

I always mean to read more Kiwi books than I do- actually I could leave Kiwi out of that sentence and it would still be true. Each February though I celebrate Waitangi Day with a NZ 1001 book. There's been some cracking reads so far. I am Not Esther. Under the Mountain. The Whale Rider. And now See Ya, Simon is added to that glowing list.

See Ya, Simon is a challenging book. Simon is 14 and has Muscular Dystrophy. He is wheelchair bound and everyone expects that he will die in the next year or so. Cheery stuff. See Ya, Simon is narrated by Simon's best friend Nathan. Through Nathan's eyes we see Simon declining- needing to be rolled over in bed, becoming thinner and frailer each month, not being able to throw the dice in their role-playing games each weekend. We see the inevitable coming.

But See Ya, Simon is not a one dimensional dissertation in misery. Nathan has his own problems too, his parents have separated, his little sister is annoying, he has to walk the dog and he can't work out how to talk to girls. David Hill employs an incredibly light touch in this moving, rather incredible book. There is much humour and fun to be had, Simon is particularly funny, and deals with his illness in a most upfront way. We the readers need that humour.

I'll be interested to read more of David Hill's books. He is a rather prolific New Zealand author and journalist. He was a high school teacher for 14 years before becoming an author in the early 90s. See Ya, Simon was his first book published, and one of the books that he is most proud of.

The very first one of my novels called See Ya, Simon was important to me because it proved to me that I could write a novel. That is a story that began with the death of my daughter's best friend in high school and it made me aware of the resilience, and the depth, of adolescent lives. Source.

I hadn't meant to read two books back to back about people dealing with progressive, debilitating neurological disease, but sometimes synchronicity deals the reading cards that way. And both Still Alice and See Ya, Simon are engrossing, thought provoking reads.

What Kiwi Kids Read: The Top 100

I do love coming across a new list, and this one is particularly fun as it's generated by kids themselves.

Nearly 1600 children (10 to 13 years old)-participants in the 2013 Kids Lit Quiz in NZ, were surveyed to find their favourite authors, favourite books, and what they've been reading.

Their top 100 books, or series of books:

1. Harry Potter series -J.K. Rowling (read 1/7)

2. Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (read 2/3) (see my reviews #1, #2)

3. Percy Jackson series - Rick Riordan

4. Cherub series - Robert Muchamore

5. The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkien (see my review)

6. Roald Dahl (all books) (see my reviews James and the Giant Peach, Magic Finger, Enormous Crocodile, and various other musings)

7. Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien

8. Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan

9. Alex Rider series - Anthony Horowitz (see my review Stormbreaker)

10. Skulduggery Pleasant  series - Derek Landy

11. Inheritance cycle - Christopher Paolini

12. Twilight series - Stephenie Meyer

13. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney (read 1or 2)

14. A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket (read 1/13)

15. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer (read 1/8) (see my review)

16. Narnia Chronicles - C.S. Lewis (read 2/7)

17. Gone - Michael Grant

18. Tomorrow series - John Marsden (read 1/7)

19. Warriors series - Erin Hunter

20. Holes - Louis Sachar (see my review)

21. Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Clare

22. Rangers Apprentice - John Flanagan

23. Geronimo Stilton series - Geronimo Stilton (Elisabetta Dami) (read 1)

24. Divergent - Veronica Roth

25. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke

26. 39 Clues - various authors

27. Maximum Ride - James Patterson

28. Henderson's Boys - Robert Muchamore

29. Once - Morris Gleitzman

30. Deltora Quest - Emily Rodda 

31. Famous Five - Enid Blyton (read 21/21)

32. Wonder - R.J Palacio (see my review)

33. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

34. Discworld - Terry Pratchett

35. Lorien Legacies - Pittacus Lore

36. Pony Club Secrets - Stacy Gregg

37. Goosebumps - R.L Stine

38. Hetty Feather - Jacqueline Wilson

39. Running Wild - Michael Morpurgo

40. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

41. Hatchet - Gary Paulsen (see my review)

42. Little Women - Louise May Alcott

43. My Story series - various authors (see my reviews Marie Antoinette, Titanic)

44. The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

45. Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene

46. War Horse - Michael Morpurgo (see my review)

47. How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell

48. Judy Moody - Megan McDonald

49. Tintin - Herge (see my reviews Land of Soviets, Blue Lotus)

50. Jacqueline Wilson (all books) (see my review- The Illustrated Mum)

51. Horrible Histories - Terry Deary (see my reviews- Gorgeous Georgians, London, France)

52. The Host - Stephenie Meyer

53.  My Sister Jodie - Jacqueline Wilson

54. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

55. Cookie - Jacqueline Wilson

56. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (see my review)

57. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

58. Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve

59. Virals - Kathy Reichs

60. Chaos Walking - Patrick Ness

61. Dork Diaries - Rachel Renée Russell

62. Infernal Devices - Cassandra Clare

63. Alice in Wonderland - C.S Lewis

64. Brotherband Chronicles - John Flanagan

65. The Spook's Apprentice - Joseph Delaney

66. Avalon - Rachel Roberts

67. Avonlea Chronicles - L.M Montgomery

68. The Floods - Colin Thompson

69. Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan

70. Nanny Piggins - R.A Spratt

71. Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman

72. Power of Five - Anthony Horowitz

73. Ruby Redfort - Lauren Child

74. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Michael Scott (read 5/6, see my reviews #1, #2)

75. Septimus Heap - Angie Sage

76. Shadow - Michael Morpurgo

77. Going Solo - Roald Dahl

78. Guardians of Ga'hoole - Kathryn Lasky

79. The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick (see my review)

80. Lola Rose - Jacqueline Wilson

81. Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey

82. Rondo - Emily Rodda

84. Secret Seven - Enid Blyton

85. Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (see my review)

86. Winnie the Pooh - A.A Milne

87. Deparment 19 series - Will Hill

88. An Elephant in the Garden - Michael Morpurgo

89. Just - Andy Griffiths

90. Lily Alone - Jacqueline Wilson

91. Matched Trilogy - Ally Condie

92. Redwall - Brian Jacques (see my review)

93. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (see my review)

94. Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick

95. Asterix - René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

96. The Billionaire series - Richard Newsome

97. Conspiracy 365 - Gabrielle Lord

98. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

99. Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon (see my review)

100. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte


34/100, including incomplete series.

Holes- it's on every list! And always up near the top. I have to read it.

You can see the raw data of this list here.

What is really interesting, and rather sad, is the all but absence of New Zealand books from this list. I think the only two authors who are partly Kiwi are Richard Newsome and Stacy Gregg.

I can't find the list of favourite authors from this survey, but the stuff article pointed out that when the kids were asked to list their favourite authors- the top 5 were international- J.K Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Roald Dahl, Rick Riordan and Jacqueline Wilson- all big, big names and hardly surprising I suppose. Margaret Mahy was the top scoring NZ author, at 17th, with Des Hunt, Joy Cowley, Fleur Beale and Stacey Gregg further down the list.

September 2014 37/100

May 2016 40/100

Maia and What Matters

We all know that sometimes we do judge a book by it's cover, and I certainly did with Maia and What Matters. Definitely a book I'd never heard of, but I did just have to read it as soon as I saw it. I saw Maia in a daily email that I get from fishpond.com.au full of tempting treats. Actually I get one from fishpond.co.nz as well. Most days I manage to resist their tempting offers to fill my house with even more books. But some days I just can't resist, and my resolve falters. This day I fell in love with this cover, and so I ordered it then and there. Fishpond do actually have fabulous one-click ordering (it's much too easy) and great service.

I'm so glad I did. For many reasons. The gorgeous cover for a start of course. Also because Maia and What Matters is a book in translation. I do especially enjoy picture books in translation, they have such a different sensibility and feel to our Anglophone creations. They're often amazing books, and really stay with you. Books like The Scar, or Feeling Sad.

Maia and What Matters is an astonishingly beautiful book, from Belgium via New Zealand. Written by Belgian author Tine Mortier and masterfully illustrated by Kaatje Vermeire Maia and What Matters was translated into English by David Colmer, an Australian translator who lives in Amsterdam (since I have been musing on bringing the translator out of the darkness and into the light recently) and published by a new Kiwi publisher Book Island. Book Island is based on the beautiful Kapiti Coast of the North Island of New Zealand and publishes translated children's books- primarily from Dutch it seems, here with assistance by the Flemish Literature Fund.

Maia is an impulsive little sprite- born under a cherry tree in quite a rush.

She has a special bond with her Grandma. They both love cake. It seems cake is one of the things that matters. As is Grandma.

Maia has moments of unadulterated pleasure and joie de vivre, and moments of devastating sadness when her beloved Grandma falls ill and her family is changed forever.

The illustrations are breathtaking. Even the endpapers are special.

Paris patisserie wrappers!

The only things I would like to have seen would be an author profile and illustrators note at the end. I look forward to finding more fascinating books from Book Island. When I can stop flipping through this delightful book I think I'll give it to my favourite primary school library where I'm sure it will be well loved too.

I am not Esther

I was quite blown away by meeting Esther recently. A New Zealand classic previously unknown to me, I am not Esther should be more widely recognised outside of New Zealand. An exploration of self, of identity, of religion, of family, of friendship, that is also a gripping page-turner.

I am not Esther is the absorbing tale of 14 year old Kirby Greenland. Kirby lives in Auckland with her somewhat disorganised mother. It has always been just the two of them, and Kirby has grown up to be a competent young woman. Sometimes she is forced to be too competent.

She was fun, my dizzy flake of a mother. I loved her passionately and I didn't care that I was the one who had to organise the running of our flat, who had to write out cheques for the bills, make sure she didn't spend all the money before the next payday, get the washing done, drag her off to buy groceries. 'They're so boring, Kirby!' she'd cry. 

Very soon Kirby's world dissolves. Her mother's behaviour becomes even more bizarre.

There were two weeks between when school broke up and Christmas. Mum was worse than dizzy, she was frenetic. She dragged me and Gemma all over Auckland looking for just the right Christmas decorations. She went to parties, she worked, she pinched the plastic money card when I wasn't looking and hung round in town giving money to people who looked desperate. 

Her mother Ellen decides to go to Africa to work with refugees, and so she takes Kirby to stay with relatives that Kirby never knew existed. Enough of a shock perhaps. But her relatives are members of a very strict religious order, and live a rather strict, spartan life in Wanganui. There is no television in the house, no radio, no mirrors, no newspapers, and no book except the bible. In a unique riff on the classic orphaned children's book heroine Kirby is renamed Esther, and is thrust in a totally foreign way of life.

I had to find myself before it was too late and I vanished, worn away under a welter of prayers, rules and restrictions. 

Kirby can't understand her new life, or why her mother would abandon her this way. Kirby and her story really stayed with me. I have one little quibble with the plot that doesn't make to sense to me, well it's probably a major quibble, but I've been mullingover this book for days now. Not something I often do.

Fleur Beale is a prominent New Zealand author, with over 30 books under her belt, who sadly still needs to find other work to supplement her income as an author.  She helps other writers asses their manuscripts and is a relief teacher. I'm so glad that I bought my copy of Esther last time we were in New Zealand. Fleur based I am not Esther on a former student- a member of a cult who wanted to go on to university and who was kicked out of his family and church. His story bubbled away in the background before it came into life as part of I am not Esther.

In the words of our immortal Molly Meldrum, do yourself (and Fleur Beale) a favour and go buy a copy of I am not Esther (fishpond do free worldwide shipping). And then read it.

New Zealand Supermarket

I do love visiting foreign supermarkets. It's always fascinating, whether in France or in Holland. Even on a visit to New Zealand you can find a range of exotic delicacies to delight the senses, in one way or another.

Kiwis love feijoa
here it's in yoghurt

Pohutukawa is a lovely NZ native tree with gorgeous red flowers,
 I don't imagine it actually has anything to do with coffee

Hokey Pokey is a crunchy sort of honeycomb
 I don't imagine that the wholegrains counter much of the effect of the hokey pokey

L&P is an iconic NZ soft drink
this is the only one of these products that I managed to try
it was overly sweet for my tastes

Fish and chips is another Kiwi icon
I've never seen packets of frozen fish and chips before
it makes a certain amount of sense

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