And then the rain stopped...

But stop, stop your iron pelt of words, lest you flay us all alive, and yourself too!
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf

So, it didn't flood while I was in Queenstown. In fact the weather was pretty amazing (well, it was freezing but it is basically winter so you can't have everything). The lake levels were definitely up (some of the trees on the lake edge were under water) and buildings on the waterfront were barricaded with sandbags but the rain had stopped by the time I arrived. Below is the view from the deck of the apartment (I got a similar view from my bedroom on the floor below). We were working up here too so when things got too stressful I snuck a peak out the window and it was quite refreshing.


As far as food went, we ate out every dinner but I was mostly out with my boss so I wasn't in picture-taking mode (he thinks I'm weird enough as it is I think!). But I did get one night to myself...no trip to Queenstown is complete without a visit to FergBurger. This is the Holier Than Thou burger which is tempured tofu with a spicy satay, coconut, coriander sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion and alfalfa (it also comes with aioli but I got them to ditch that).


Yes, the burger is massive...that is a dinner plate it is sitting on. I'm not sure what possessed me to order chips since they give you enough to feed a small army (I ate quite a bit more than what is pictured and still hadn't made it through half). This time I couldn't even finish all the burger. I got about three quarters of the way through before giving up and just eating the filling. I was so full I could barely move (I swear I cannot eat the amount that I could not that long ago...it's weird).

Anyway, to avoid this post being devoid of much food (and just generally lacking!), I will present you with food I've eaten since getting back from Queenstown!

My mate B was up from Christchurch for the weekend so I dragged him over for dinner on Saturday along with The Chef. While I made satay tofu...my way (there was a debate about this at the supermarket), the boys prepared dessert. Anyway, my satay tofu on brown rice is quite possibly one of my favourite meals ever and definitely my favourite pre-race meal (I had a race on Sunday morning) so I made a huge batch which gave me leftovers to have cold for lunch the next day.


Dessert was gluten-free crumble as The Chef was on the last couple of days of his diet thingy. While B peeled the 5 apples (there was a funny debate about whether to have 4 or 5 apples at the supermarket too!), The Chef whipped up an awesome topping. I think it was made from buckwheat flour, chopped almonds, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon and oliviani...but I can't really remember). Once the apples were all chopped, they added frozen blueberries and a truck-load of sugar (no wonder crumbles taste so sweat and delicious in restaurants!) and chucked it in the oven while we ate dinner.


SO good!

Sunday was Mother's Day so after a day of orienteering (my parents both compete too sometimes) and a quick blat round the mountain bike park my brother and I trouped off to my parents' house for dinner. Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie and salad...awesome winter comfort food.


I was going to make a fancy dessert (I really want to try and make sweet potato (kumara) pie with maple syrup) but time was never going to be on my side so instead I made crumble...yep, crumble 2 nights in a row!


Apple and berry crumble with a crumble topping made with rolled oats, wholemeal flour, chopped almonds, coconut, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and olivani. So good! And Mum sent me home with leftovers which I ended up eating for breakfast the next day (she also sent me home with homemade bread she had in the freezer so I didn't have to worry about lunch)!

Ah, mothers, what would we do without them?! ☺