Delightful Dinner With Volcano Sushi For our Farewell Dinner at Azabu Ponsonby Japanese Restaurant, Auckland, New Zealand

The volcano sushi. Photo by Angela Lansbury.  Copyright. 

For our last night farewll dinner in Auckland New Zealand, my husband and I, our host family, a married couple and their grown-up daughter, and a couple we met for the first time, sat around a long table in the Japanese restaurant.

Azabu, the Japanese restaurant entertained us with their flaming device, for the volcano sushi. 

We were given chopsticks.

Cheesecake dessert with sorbet. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyrright

Seven of us dined there and we had a jolly evening. My family and friends enthused about the shellfish.I could not eat it because of an allergy. So I had chicken kebabs instead.

For me the highlight point of the meal was the cheesecake dessert. It was not solid like a filling baked New York style cheese cake, but it was creamy and moreish.

If I were on my own, in a couple, not in a group sharing, I would have had the set tasting menu.

The Name Azabu

Azabu is an area of Tokyo. It is an pmarket area with embassies and expaats. Famous residents include  Yoko Ono who was there in WW2. The name azabu means hemp cloth.

Azabu Ponsonby is in the Ponsonby Area. The group has another sister restaurant called Azabu Mission in the Mission area.

Practical Details

Azabu Ponsonby

26 Ponsonby Road,
Grey Lynn,
Auckland
View in maps

Contact

+64 9 320 5292
hello@azabuponsonby.co.nz

Useful Website

https://savor.co.nz/auckland-restaurants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azabu

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Jean Batten, New Zealand's Heroine Pilot

 At Auckland airport on New Zealand's North Island, you see a statue of Jean Batten. The statue is in front of the airport's Novotel hotel. 

A plaque on the ground in front of her statue describes her life and achievements. She made record solo flights from England to Australia and back, and from England to New Zealand and back. Plus other record breaking flights including one to South America. Each journey consisted of several hops from one country to the next whereh she stopped to re-fuel, sometimes crash landed due to bad weather, and had to replace bits of her plane.

Her plane is suspended overhead in Auckland Airport, which has a terminal named after her. She is also honoured in her New Zealand birthplace of Rotorua.

Jean Batten statue at Auckland Airport. North Island. New Zealand. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Jean Batten. Plaque at Auckland Airport. North Island. New Zealand. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

She lived from 1909 to 1982. She is quoted as saying, 

I was destined to be a wanderer. I seemed born to travel. 

In flying I found speed and freedom to roam the earth.

Picture from Jean Batten article in Wikipedia.

A few days after I arrived in New Zealand, I travelled by car from Auckland to Napier, the art deco city, which was rebuilt after the earthquake.

At the Masonic Art Deco Hotel I stayed in the Jean Batten bedroom suite.

Useful Websites include

https://www.nzhalloffame.co.nz/New-Zealand-Sports-Hall-of-Fame-Inductees/B/Jean-Batten

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Jean_Batten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Batten

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Jean_Batten#/media/File:Jean_Batten's_Percival_Gull.jpg

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Spotlight Clothes For Celebrating St Patrick's Day and Any Day

 Spotlight was always one of my favourite stores in Singapore. So I was delighted to see a huge Spotlight sign in Auckland, the North Island of New Zealand. It's a store which has everything for the house and sewing, drawing and DIY crafts

Once inside, I could see it was too big for a trawl along every aisle. Since I was on holiday, not living there, I had no need of cutlery, crockery or cushions. Although my New Zealand friend and host was looking for curtain tie backs.

So she went one way and I went another. 

My purchases included

1 Seasonal St Patrick's Day Socks 

The socks were one size. A great green.

2 A Seasonal St  Patrick's Day Shamrock Tie 

I can use that for meetings on Zoom with a St Patrick's Day theme in March.  Not just on March 17th. Earlier for what are you planning for St Patrick's day. On the Day of course. Then, to answer, what did you do on st Patrick's Day. I wore my green St Patrick's day socks.

I looked to see where they were made. Not in Ireland. So not likely to be cheaper back in Britain. 

In any case, with seasonal items, almost every shop has different stocks. So you have to buy what you want when you want it or it'll be gone with something different next year.

From China? Well, who'd have guessed? I didn't. Silly me.

Spotlight

Spotlaight is a family owned Australian business with stores throught Australia, and in New Zealand and Asia. You will recognize their diverse coloured elongated S below the word spotlight in capitall letters in red which has a filled in letter O like a spotlight. 

They also have online videos about craft products to make and techniques, to instruct adults and entertain children.

Useful Website

https://www.spotlightstores.com/

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The Landing Restaurant at The Riverhead, near Auckland, New Zealand

 We had arrived the wrong day for the restaurants at the Wineries in the area but they and our friends who live in Auckland suggested the Landing Restaurant which is large with lots of indoor and outdoor tables. Our friends called it the Riverhead restaurant for short.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

We sat outside watching the tranquil water through the trees.

We ordered one fish and chips and one Caesar salad. We had enough food to share, half of each dish each person.

The Caesar salad was well made and contained the traditional recipe anchovies.

The dessert platter consisted of four tiny morsels. 

Useful website

www.theriverhead.co.nz

Kumeu River Winery near Auckland

 

Kumeu River winery visitor entrance.

The knowledgeable master of wine, with his delightful mother.

The laboratory.  

From Croatia to Kumeu River, this family-owned business is a big success story. 

Croatians emigrated for a better life in the 1930s, to the USA and New Zealand. Here in New Zealand they did hard work digging for gum in buried trees.

Later they bought land, and grew wines. 

We met a member of the family who has the prestigious qualification of Master of Wine. His mother takes a keen interest in meeting and greeting visitors

He showed us square metal tanks which I had never seen anwhere before, although he assured us that some can be found in France. 

He jovially told us that 'square tanks make an efficient use of space, but want to turn themselves into round or barrel-shaped tanks!' So square tanks have to be reinforced.

As the saying goes, you learn something new every day.

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