SHAKEN, and Stirred by AR, or YOU Rock My World!!!

The last four days have been bumpy, scary and thought provoking. On Saturday morning at 4:36 AM, we were awakened by what what felt like someone thrashing our bed-frame. It would ease up and then come back with a vengeance. On about the third wave, we started to hearing crashing. Yes, it was an earthquake, and it was a big one, 7.1 on the Richter Scale.

We jumped out of bed and noticed the power was off. Poor Bessie was barking and confused. We made our way to the kitchen where we have a wall mounted torch (flashlight) that glows in the dark without power. We quickly surveyed the damage in the house, and in spite of the crashes we'd heard, very little was broken - at least nothing of importance, and the house seemed to be okay. We got dressed quickly and then hooked up the hard-wired 'land-line' we keep handy for power outages. I called Chef Vojta on his iPhone -- the poor kid was at the Hilltop; he'd climbed out his bedroom window and was sitting on the fire escape in 3 degree C weather (about 37 F?), scared to death.

We arrived at the Hilltop about 15 minutes later and quickly surveyed the damage. Impressive, but not as bad as it could have been. We sat in the car, listening to the radio for the next few hours waiting for the light of day and eager for news about what was happening. Aftershocks kept coming every few minutes. It was also very windy and we tried to convince ourselves that the aftershocks were wind. But, wind gusts don't make the car go up and down... Or make the chimney on the building sway...

So, this was the beginning to a long and terrifying day. We cleaned up as much as we could without power. It was a stunningly beautiful spring day, and had we been able to open (No power = no food or coffee) we would have been very busy. Our catering event for 100 that evening was cancelled. So, we came home and worked in the garden, which was good for the soul, plus we didn't really want to be inside listening to the rattle of aftershocks. As we weeded the soon to be veggie bed (Flo & Myrtle were happy help, of course!), we discussed how fortunate we'd been, how much worse it could have been and at the end of the day, all would be fine. About 3 PM our power came on. I'd already phoned my sister in California, but I was eager to get an e-mail out and post on Facebook.

Imagine my surprise when I found e-mails not only from my 'real' friends, but a number of AR peeps! Then, when I got to FB, it was alive with "Are you OK? We are worried." and so forth. I felt touched. Then I saw a post that referenced 'talking' about me on the Recipe Exchange. Sure enough, I went back and found a thread where everyone was wondering about me, as well as Chicken, who lives right in Christchurch. Now, I was really feeling the emotion! I kept telling The Man, "These guys are really concerned about us!" He was impressed.

Now, by this time, I was tired, I was stressed and frankly, I needed an 'earthquake free' five minutes. So, I decided to look at the blogs for a few minutes. First blog I see? Mike Harvey: New Zealand Earthquake. Okay, that's when my heart quaked, my water mains burst and as I'd long suspected, YOU GUYS rock my world!

Thanks to each and everyone of you who thought of us, posted on AR or FB, sent me an e-mail, or wrote a blog of concern for us! During difficult times, your love and support has been a huge help! (And The Man now 'gets' my obsession!)

Here are a few of the pictures from the Hilltop that morning...

The back entry way into the kitchen... A few small butter/sauce ramekins broken,

but just a mess, really.

The Baking Room: again, mostly a mess. The Magi-Mix food processor

bowl/lid was damaged, though

The Deli Area: Chef Gino is scheduled for re-constructive surgery next week.

The Dining Room: A patch of ceiling open up where an old chimney used to be

and dumped rubble, and ummm, a worse for wear small mammal...

More debris from the ceiling -- I was choking on the dust...

A pile of espresso saucers toppled...

The Big Chiller: A bit dark, but broken beer, juice, soda and wine bottles...

The Big Chiller: The rear of the beer fridge; it's amazing more didn't fall out.

The Front of the Beer Chiller

The Bar: A bottle of Brandy and Galliano -- that's all!

The Front of the Building: We are pretty certain these cracks are superficial,

but there are a lot of them!

Hmmm... A bit of a fissure in the parking lot!

Actually, there are a few of them...

And the sun rose on a beautiful day!

The View From The Floor, or Singing for My Supper!!!

Well, Mom’s been busy lately and I know she feels bad about not updating her blog recently, so I thought I might just sneak in and give her a hand. I know she doesn’t want all of her loyal readers to feel neglected. And, believe me, I know about things like being loyal!

Speaking of feeling neglected… Part of the reason Mom’s been so busy lately is that she is spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen at the Hilltop. She is filling in for Chef Vojta on his days off, usually 2 – 3 day a week in the winter time. Plus, he was really sick with the flue a few weeks ago, and I reckon she was stuck in that kitchen for about 10 days straight. Well, it just isn’t right! She is in the kitchen and The Man and I are out front; I MISS her! Plus, The Man can, and does, go back to see her, but I am STRICTLY not allowed in the kitchen. So, sometimes, I am out front, all alone, for like minutes, all by my lonely all alone self! And, it doesn’t help that they are in the KITCHEN, you know the FOOD ROOM! Like today, she was back there for awhile, and then she comes out smelling all beefy and chickeny! I say, it just ain’t fair! The PACK needs to stay together, doggone it!

ME! Staying out of the Hilltop Kitchen! Yes, that REALLY is our carpet!

But, they keep telling me how good I am! They seem to be trying to get me to do things different, like come when I’m called instead of pretending I don’t hear them. Well, on the plus side, Mom has been bringing little special treats home, like those tasty bits of brown chicken that people don’t seem to like nearly SO MUCH as I do. If she has a few of those on hand, my hearing is suddenly extremely GOOD!

On another positive note, part of the reason she has let her blog slip is that there is a new Telly show on around the time she is usually AR’ing. It is ‘Masterchef Australia’. Well, I have to say that the whole family is NUTS about it, including ME! The American version with Gordon just started here and we aren’t sure if it will be as good, but BOY, the Aussie one is fantastic. At about 5PM every night, I hear the Channel One music start and it gently nudges me out of my post-dinner nap on the sofa.

Relaxing on the sofa! From here I can keep and eye on Mom, the Kitchen and the Telly!

Next, the Masterchef music starts!!!!!!! It is the BEST music ever (it takes awhile for the music to start here, but it was the best I could find!)– even better than opera, and that’s saying a lot! I go to my special place on the sofa, proudly stretch out my neck and HOWL WITH JOY! And, it’s a long intro! I get to sing for a good minute or two! And, sometimes, they re-wind it and let me have a second go!

"OW-OOOooo! Come On, Let's Go!" The Masterchef Australia Song!

"OOOooo-EEeee" It's STILL Playing!

Sometimes I get off the sofa and dance a little, too!

Then, Mom sits down on the sofa and The Man brings her a glass of the not-so-fresh grape juice, I snuggle up on her lap, The Man sits down in his chair, and we all watch. But, they pause the show, like every two seconds, and discuss what is happening. They talk like they just met each other. It’s so definitely my favourite time of the day. The Pack is all together, just like we should be. Sometimes, I get up from Mom and go jump up on The Man’s tummy so he doesn’t feel left out!

So, in spite of what they keep calling a bad re-session, life is good. Yesterday, we all went to town. Mom and The Man have a big birthday party they are catering on Saturday, so we had SO many errands: bank, wholesale grocery, stationary store, fruit & veg shop, fishmonger, first butcher, second butcher, normal grocery… but I was a patient girl, knowing that the second butcher has the BEST bones, and The Man would get me one for dinnies! I was so good, that when we stopped at the grocery (last stop) I didn’t even try to find the other butcher foods. I still remember how disappointed they were with me after that massive steak incident last year…

By the way, a little tip from me! It is very, VERY difficult to sing the Masterchef Song while working on a big bone! I tried the other day but it's really hard!

Til next time, gentle readers!

Bessie Cocker

(PS: Mom has spent heaps of time trying to figure out exactly what the Masterchef Song is, but apparently it is different on the NZ version than the Aussie one, so the credits aren't helpful. She thinks it's a Kylie Minogue song. If anyone has any ideas, please let her know so I can sing it more often!)