Paintball in the Woods

I was recently lucky enough to have the opportunity to go paintballing for a friends birthday. 

Google maps got a bit confused when we were trying to make our way out there and I had to resort to stopping and asking for directions, but it turned out to be pretty easy to find even though it was in the middle of nowhere.

Once we arrived we had a short briefing on how the day is run and had an opportunity to order a pizza for lunch in advance, upgrade our paintball guns and purchase other additional items.  After this we signed some legal waiver, got some numbers written on our hands and then got giving our overalls, padding and helmet in a very army movie kind of way - it was pretty cool.

Once we were kitted out we got coloured tape wrapped around our upper arm to signify our team.  We stuck some of our stuff in our locker and then we got our safty briefing.  At this time the all the birthday folks had to get up on the platform and our birthday boy, the poor fella, got made to wear a big target!  To add insult to injury he was put on a different team too so we could find him and shoot him - we're a rough bunch eh? :D

The first 2 games we played was a capture the flag game and it was set in a large sloping area with a small pyramid in it that housed the flags.  I had helmet fog issues in the first game and then in the second game I got shot on the elbow, shoulder and left buttock.  I had some spectacular bruises!

The next 2 games we played were set in an area with a small fenced off compound that had 2 cabins and lookout tower in it - the aim of the game was to capture and hold one or both cabins.  My dear husband who had got shot and passed me on his way to respawn told me the coast was clear so I ran full speed into a stomach shot at less than 3 meters - the good news is that the padded vest took the brunt of it so it didn't really hurt.

We could have spent the whole day there, but the cost of ammo and refreshments would have made for a fairly expensive day so once we had used up about 2000 paint balls each we called it a day.  A good time was had by all.

Swiss Market

 

I got to celebrate passing my PRINCE2 exam by attending the Swiss market and indulging in a few delicious treats.

It was well attended and there were baked goods, chocolates, sauerkraut, grocery items, crafts, toys and fun band playing some tunes.

I was a bit disappointed there was no raclette, there was a kiwi sausage sizzle with swiss sausages though and we bought some emmental cheese.  I got some swiss chocolate and Kane got a Berliner doughnut and we also bought some birnwegge.  (All of which were eaten the next day before I thought to take pictures of them!)
 

 

After we had wandered around the stalls inside and outside, we bought some crepes and rivella to enjoy in the sun whilst being entertained by a lively band who appeared to be dressed as wizards.

I am looking forward to one day visiting my good friend Craig who lives in Switzerland :)

Cinco de Mayo

So due to living in the Southern Hemisphere the 30th April is seasonally equivalent to Hallowe'en (although we still celebrate Hallowe'en on 31st October) this makes it a good time to watch horror movies.  Now I'm a total wuss when it comes to actually scary movies so I tend to stick to the safer franchises like Scream, Final Destination, and such like.  After watching Scream 4 and finding it enjoyable we watched I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. OMG this is a terrible movie! This prompted us to find other low rated movies which lead to Kane finding Pinata Survival Island.  He read the synopsis and it sounded hilarious! Since it is set on Cinco de Mayo and, surprisingly, Fatso.co.nz had the movie I ordered straight away so we could make a night of it.




The movie stars Nicholas Brendon (Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jaime Pressly (Joy from My Name is Earl and also Tina in DOA), Nate Richert (Harvey from Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and Garret Wang (Harry Kim from Star Trek: Voyager) - with a cast list like this, how can we go wrong!  The plot of the movie is fairly simple - a group of college kids go to the island for a scavenger hunt, two of them find an ancient pinata filled with demons and evil souls and crack it open, the pinata then starts to hunt and kill them off.

It is not very scary but there is a tiny bit of gore, there are also some really funny parts - most of them I'm not so sure are intentional - like half way through the movie the pinata develops the ability to change into a flying worm like thing, I don't know how .. or why.

To accompany such fine viewing I cooked up a big batch of chilli which we had with refried beans and rice.  I have become paranoid about calling this chilli after that episode of the big bang theory where Sheldon calls Priya's chilli a casserole!


My chilli recipe is:

* a little oil
* 2 x brown onions, sliced
* 1 x clove garlic, crushed and sliced
* 1 x thai chilli, sliced
* diced capsicum (mixed colours)
* frozen mixed veg
* tin of kidney beans
* tin of brown lentils
* large tin of diced tomatoes
* tbsp tomato paste
* few drops of liquid smoke

 Heat the oil in the pan then soften up the onions and garlic
Add the sliced up chilli and capsicum and cook for a few minutes
Add the kidney beans, lentils, tomatoes and frozen mixed veg and give it a stir up
Add the tomato paste and liquid smoke stir it up and leave to cook until everything is soft and hot.  I usually let this simmer away for 20 minutes while the rice is cooking.

Pinterest Cooking: Spicy-Sweet Glazed Shrimp

Friday night saw us heading out in the dark for the rugby game at Eden Park (Blues v Reds).  To supplement the hot chips and beer or wine we normally get there I had a look at my Pinterest Game Day recipes and decided to have a go at making Martha Stewart's Spicy Sweet Glazed Shrimp.

It was very quick and easy to make.  I defrosted some prawns and threaded them onto two skewers - this is to make them easier to turn over without prawns spinning in all directions!

Next, I mixed up the glaze which is a really simple mix of Sriracha and honey.  I've never tried Sriracha before and when I tasted a little bit it was very very spicy to me, less so for Kane - I think his chilli growing has hardened him up to such things!  The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of Sriracha to one third cup of honey, but I only put in one tablespoon of Sriracha and it was really pleasant.  I will make this mix again to use as a dipping sauce as well as a glaze.  

I cooked the prawns on the grill pan until they started to whiten up and then I flipped them over and cooked them on that side for a few minutes and brushed them with the glaze and flipped them over and cooked them for a few minutes and the glaze started to caramelise.  I brushed the tops with glaze and flipped them over again for a few minutes.

I then brushed on any glaze I had left over, they looked nicely opaque and cooked through so I served them up and they were so yum!  Will definitely make again.

Roadside Bake Sale

Having gone from city living in one country to suburban life in another I'm not always sure which to attribute the little differences to - but I don't think you would see children selling homemade baked goods on the streets in the UK (too dangerous!)

There were 3 youngsters dancing with signs to attract passing cars.  When we walked up to them a woman who was probably at least one of the youngsters Mum explained it was fundraising for their school.

I thought it was pretty enterprising and who doesn't love home baking!

We then walked home munching on tasty biscuits.  I wish they could be there everyday!

Easy, Fast and Cheap Lunch Idea

I am the worlds worst at buying fruits and vegetables and then not using them or not using them all and then they end up in the bin!  I really want to eat salad but when I'm tired its much easier to grab a bag of frozen veges than it is to clean, peel and chop.

In an effort to really reduce my food waste I have been learning how I can prepare and store foods in advance so that it is easier to use them in cooking and meal preparation.


I purchased a salad spinner from Stevens.co.nz when it was on sale and I am now a convert to such wonderful gadgets!  Chop up your salad leaves and any other hardy ingredients that need washed (I sliced up some cucumber and capsicum) and pop them in the basket.  Next add some cold water, attach the lid and give it a spin - this will give the salad a good wash.  Once you are happy that its washed (or you want to change the water) drain the water out - this spinner has holes on top to do this without having to remove the lid.  Then spin the salad again to dry off and once dry put salad into a zip lock bag - add any other ingredients like tomato wedges and then seal the bag removing as much air as you can.

So now you have salad for the week, but it's not the most exciting lunch on it's own.  Did you know you can freeze cheese?  This has revolutionised my shopping as I can now buy bigger blocks of cheese and buy multiples when they are on sale and put them in the freezer.  I cut the bigger blocks into smaller blocks that I would use in a week and often I put a whole block through the food processor to grate it before putting into a ziploc bag and then the freezer.

Now I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this but I had a brainwave to make a whole loaf of cheese sandwiches and then freeze them to be made into cheese toasties.  I can get 11 cheese toasties out of a loaf of bread. If you don't have a sandwich press toaster bags do the same job.

I have ones similar to these:






So easy, fast and cheap too:  a tasty cheese toastie with a nice side salad.

Easter Weekend

I had a lovely Easter weekend with my hubby and accomplished everything I wanted to.

Thursday

The weather was horrid with torrential rain from ex-cyclone Ita.  Although there was a lot of rain, it was still quite warm too.

 (More on the weather can be read in this article on the NZ Herald website > http://bit.ly/1nn0iy1)

Thankfully it had cleared up in the afternoon and it was quite sunny again when we went to our ice skating lesson - the last one of this term.  I got to test out my new skates and my instructor was very impressed that I had got such new skates for a bargain price.  I got my skates on trademe and they had only been worn about twice.

My first steps on the ice with my new skates were marvelous! But after a short time they began to feel a bit tight around the width of my foot.  I had previously baked my skates in the oven and I think that really helped since I didn't have any issues around the ankles and at the end of the lesson I didn't have any blisters but I think it will take a few more wears before they stretch out more at the toes.  Before my next skate I think I will make 2 rice bags, heat them in the microwave and put them in my skates to see if heating them before wear will help.

Friday

We had a relaxed day spending lots of time together then in the evening we went to the Easter Show.  I had been really looking forward to the carnival and wanted to go into the Haunted House and then eat a toffee apple.  We had a look around and watched people playing some of the side show games then we went into the haunted house it was not so scary but it was fun.

One of things I had been really looking forward to was a toffee apple!  I had been craving one for weeks.  The first stall I went to was all sold out!  I panicked, but thankfully we found another stall that had them and I was a very happy bunny :)  I munched on that while we wandered around the arts and craft stalls and then into the farm animals section.  We saw some lovely animals and some super cute yellow chicks and ducks.  We saw some Alpacas but since I was eating I didn't pet any of the animals.  There were some spinning wheels and a stall selling alpaca yarn and goods.

We passed the main stage and decided to have a go on a ghost train - the imagery and strobe lighting made for a thrilling experience and I was keen to give the other ghost train a go to see how it compared.  We made our way to the other one via the market place where I very nearly bought a Maple Leafs hockey jersey.  The second ghost train was a much better ride with bumps and jolts but didn't have as scary imagery as the first one but the spray of water took us by surprise at the end and we exited laughing and wiping water from our faces.

By this time the fireworks were about due so we took a seat on the grass and watched the fire dancers on the stage before the sky was light up in a lovely display.  A perfect end to a perfect day.

Saturday

The day was mostly spent pottering around before heading out to Waikaraka speedway for the Easter Spectacular.  We watched midgets, sprints, super stocks, super saloons and derby cars.  The different types of race cars were really interesting and some of the races were closely contended.  

Then there was a big fireworks display before ending with the demolition derby.  

The demolition derby was really funny as car after car packed in, it did have to stop part way through so that a car on fire could be dealt with but then it was back to the action.  

At the end, the winner got out of his car to receive his trophy and was wearing a purple onesie - it made me laugh!

Sunday

I managed to get my game on a little bit on Sunday before it was time to be social and we went to a friends house to watch a couple of movies.  We watched Pacific Rim and then Enders Game.  I've recently read the book and was keen to see the movie and I enjoyed both.

A small side note: Orson Scott Card is the author of the book and co-producer of the movie and I strongly disagree with his homophobic beliefs.  Sometimes it is difficult to separate the work from the person and I did not want to  financially support him.  In this particular case I personally did not have to pay to read the book or watch the movie so have avoided the issue this time.

Monday

From morning 'til night I was encapsulated in my own world playing a computer game, hubby was in another room doing the same thing and I think we only said about a dozen words to each the whole day!