Tag Archives: inspiration

Chance to Ignite

Posted on August 1, 2017 | Leave a comment

Spirited, raw, spontaneous.

With poetic prose and energetic dashes of boxing and jujitsu, seven young stars take turns in the spotlight, inviting us into their stories. Hunger for their ‘spark’ moves the narrative along and the cast takes the audience on a journey that explores emotions around their inner battles. Sitting in the front row [at Q Theatre] we look right into their eyes, the windows to their souls, as they wax lyrical on dating, death, loneliness, being alone in nature, being ‘good’, being afraid and more. At one point I notice the sudden tears that jump into one young lass’s eyes – as she relives her own story, right there on the stage. I am touched as I realise she is voicing her truth.

The performance weaves together several narratives and incidents, with a certain sense of light and harmony. There is a unified, joyous energy that bursts from the cast throughout the performance – it is obvious that they have poured their hearts and souls into it. The cast members offer us a glimpse into their souls – paving the way for us to peer into our own.

Introspective, humorous, illuminating and relatable by turn, Chance to Ignite showcases the beauty of being both a young woman and ultimately a human being in the world.

Chance to Ignite

This post has also been published on NZ Entertainment Podcast.

Image © Massive Theatre Company / Eventfinda

Tis the season to have salads

Posted on December 30, 2010 | 1 comment

Celebration and inspiration on a plate.

(This is the mandarin and watercress salad with crumbed jalapenos, brazil nuts, baby beets and cherry tomatoes…)

Estadio – 17-19 Blair Street, Wellington – Phone: 04 801 7960

1 Comment

Posted in All, Eating out, Summer, Vegetables & salads

Tagged Eating out, estadio, inspiration, lunch, salad, wellington

Mmmmemphis!

Posted on November 1, 2010 | 1 comment

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
~ T. S. Eliot

Take a few minutes to watch this – Alice dancing under the gallows – really inspirational! And happy birthday, brave and beautiful Alice.

Yum yum Memphis Belle.

Pictured: chemex to share (with Haidee)! Perfect as it is, no milk or sugar needed. Fair trade beans from Guatemala in this instance.

With Ian and Mandy visiting this weekend, we ate a lot of delicious food – ranging from veal and sweet tripe & trotters and smooth Côtes du Rhône shiraz at Le Metropolitain to super eggs at Floriditas… mmm, tasty Wellington!

Memphis Belle – 38 Dixon Street, Wellington – Phone: 021 244 8852

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Posted in All, Drinks, Eating out

Tagged coffee, inspiration, memphis belle, Music, wellington

A shiny new header – and a kitchen experiment

Posted on September 22, 2010 | 2 comments

The trees are God’s great alphabet:
With them He writes in shining green
Across the world His thoughts serene.
~ Leonora Speyer

I’m not sure there is an adequate way to describe art which makes your heart twinkle… alright, see the new header graphic above? How can one not smile at it? Do you like it? I think it’s more delicious than a generous slice of moist banana-chocolate cake… it makes me wish I was sitting up on that tree branch asking you to come up and join me for a cup of tea. It’s a dream, is it not? I hope you like it too, especially if you visit my blog often… thank you Mr Piper for designing it! :-)

Tonight was the first night in awhile of cooking for all my flatmates again, and I couldn’t decide what to make. Steak? Pasta? Something crazy? In the end, I decided to make do with whatever I could find…

So. Four potatoes. One pack of chicken thighs. Leftover salad. An orange. A lonely nashi pear. A small handful of hazelnuts. An even smaller handful of dried apricots. Hmm…

I like mentally choosing a dish, and going to the supermarket to buy what I need. I like walking around the market, thinking about what to make and buying what I need for it there. I like having a lot of ingredients to choose from and work with. Spontaneous as I am, I usually like feeling prepared ingredients-wise when I’m cooking for others… tonight, though, I decided to relax and try cooking something out of nothing, so to speak.

It was good fun.

Of course, our cupboards and fridge were not too desolate, which made things a little easier. I sliced the chicken thighs into mini strips, washed and cut the potatoes, set some rice to cook in a bubbling saucepan of water.

I fried the chicken strips in warm, shimmering olive oil with garlic, mustard, paprika and chilli, adding the apricots, hazelnuts and a sprinkle of dried basil and mint in later. Boiled the potatoes. Zested an orange, cut most of the orange into cubes, tossed it all in with the leftover salad and left a wedge of orange out to make a simple orange juice salad dressing. I dusted the nashi pear pieces with some salt and added them in to the salad (sweet and crunchy, so good!).