New house pics! and grapefruit marmalade recipe

It's been a while because (a) I've been rather busy moving house and (b) the new house didn't have internet immediately.  But here, finally, are pics of the new house.  We're enjoying having our own space and I'm really enjoying walking to work.  We're now looking for the right flatmates (why is it that everyone on the flatshare websites seems like a complete weirdo/tart/scrounger?) and after that we'll be a little more financially comfortable - since the house is quite large.

The best bit about the new place is that it's got a great kitchen, with a gas stove no less!  I'm in culinary heaven.  I've already baked cookies and made yummy grapefruit marmalade with all the grapefruit which are ripening at Sandspit.  I had a challenge finding a single clear recipe online, so I'm sharing mine with you.

In a nutshell it's (1) slice fruit, (2) 10 min simmer, (3) wait a day, (4) hard boil with sugar, (5) jar.

Ingredients:
6 grapefruit (mine weren't overly large)
2 lemons (but this recipe works for any citrus combination)
about a kilo of sugar - depends on your fruit
a square of muslin, or failing that, a thin sock or nylon knee high - not one that's been worn!

Day 1:
Put a saucer in the freezer. 
Scrub the fruit thoroughly with soap and rince.  Without peeling, cut the fruit into segments then thinly slide the segments.  Put the slices and juice in a very solid, heavy-based, large saucepan.  Try not to lose any juice (slide them on a plate to hold it). 
Chuck out the pips (make sure you get them all) and keep any seriously pithy or rind-only bits separate and put them in the muslin/sock.  The pith yields all the pectin to make the marmalade set and gives marmalade it's typical bitter taste.  Now tie up the muslin ball and dangle it into the fruit in the saucepan.  Tie it onto the handle of the pan so it hangs there, preferably not in contact with the base of the pan.
Bring the saucepan to a simmer and let it cook for 10 mins, then leave it to cool and wait a day. 

Day 2:
Squeeze out the muslin ball.  Don't open it, just squeeze as much whitish goo out as possible - this makes your marmalade set.
Measure the volume you have in the pan, and add the same volume of sugar (or a little less if your citrus is quite sweet) and enough water so your mixture is runny (I used about 500 ml).  Bring to a rolling boil (this is why you need a big pan!) and continue boiling as hard as you can for about 10-20 mins. 
You can test if your marmalade (which will still be quite liquid in the pan) is ready in two ways:
1) temperature.  It should be 218-220 F.
2) the saucer test.  Bring out your frozen saucer and drop a droplet of marmalade on it.  The droplet should quickly form a skin and be quite gelled in consistency.

Put in sterilised jars (i.e. jars you've boiled) while still hot.  If you don't have a jam funnel, a measuring jug is quite good for this.  Depending on the kind of jars you have, there are various ways of preserving the marmalade - read the instructions.

Then sit back and enjoy on toast, with peaches in a sponge, in bread and butter pudding.... :)

Architecture II: Victorian Grafton

The discuss thrower on the gate of the Domain (a large park) 1930s (no. 2 on map)

As if in tune with my interest in the old buildings of Auckland, I found a leaflet on the kitchen table entitled "Grafton Heritage Trail" - a walk around the interesting buildings of my Auckland quarter.  How exciting!  I put my trainers on and left immediately.

The route from the leaflet, thanks to Grafton Residents Association

The route, made for Grafton Residents Association and sponsored by a local estate agent, is mostly houses from the mid-1800s to the 1930s.  Colonialists were prosperous in Auckland and it shows in the quality of the 100-150 year old buildings.  The quarter of Grafton was settled with a Crown Grant and a few bigwigs built their mansions here from the 1840s onward.

Huntly House 1876 (no. 10 on map)

Another grand residence was Eden Hill, which the Outhwaite family later donated to the city.  The house doesn't survive, but the garden - complete with several original trees imported by the French  Madame Outhwaite from Europe - is now Outhwaite Park.

 Outhwaite Park (no. 7 on map)

The tour also takes in more modest dwellings - some of my favourites are these colourful workers' cottages on Seafield View Road.

Seafield View Road, workmen's cottages from 1850s-60s (no. 19 on map)
 

I have a few more pictures I'd like to share, so I'm trying to make a slideshow for the first time.  Hope you like it!

For more info about the trail, or to tell me what you think, drop me a comment!

In italiano!: Architettura II: La quartiera Grafton di cent'anni fa

Come se qualcuno avesse sentito la mia voglia di conoscere l'architettura di Auckland, ho trovato un depliant nella casa: "Percorso storico di Grafton" - Grafton e' la quartiera di Auckland dove abito.  E' uno dei primi posti di essere colonizzati, dalla meta' del ottocento in poi.  I coloniali erano ricchi, e si costruivano dei palazzi belli a Grafton.  Il percorso ricopre anche le case meno ricche - mi piacciono queste colorate degli operai degli anni 1850-1860.
Fammi sapere che ne pensi con un commento!

Auckland architecture

 

A public loo on Symonds St, Auckland - circa 1910, but still in use

In the brief time I lived in the States, I was sorry to find my every prejudice confirmed about the place.  Houses, cars, roads and shops were big and tasteless, as if sheer size could overcome their lack of charm.  It was ordered, modern and clean - and for me, it lacked any ounce of character that, I assumed, only places with history could have.  (I extend humble apologies to the Americans I've had the pleasure of knowing and those I haven't for my lack of appreciation - without a doubt, it's somebody's paradise, just not mine.)
New Zealand's towns grew up in the same period as the towns of the western USA, and an inkling of concern ran through my thoughts before I left Italy.  What if I, so in love with the ancient architecture of Italy, found myself once more surrounded by new world styles which I couldn't help but loathe?

 

Auckland building facades that wouldn't be out of place in Northern Ireland

My curiosity battled my sleepiness to let me have a look at New Zealand on my first car ride from the airport.  I noticed the strangest thing.  Alongside the mirrored skyscrapers and the modern beach houses, there are lots of Victorian-style buildings which I guess are about 100-130 years old.  I felt an odd jolt of familiarity.  The buildings wouldn't be out of place in Belfast or other industrial cities of the UK!

 

Old architecture contrasts with new trends in central Auckland

Of course, there are differences too.  The skyline of the city is dominated by tall buildings - some stunning, some ugly - and the most dramatic icon for Auckland, the Sky Tower.  This graceful pinnacle is so high above everything else (the highest in the southern hemisphere in fact) that people bungee off it.  Given that the Sky Tower is visible for miles around, it's not hard to see this phenomenon... a dark speck dropping off and dangling from the tower.  I've little desire to try it.

 

The new and rather textural Imax building with the Sky Tower behind

Meanwhile the style that typifies Auckland for me is to be found in the city's oldest houses.  These are sometimes brick, sometimes wooden clapboard and often a mix.  They are abundant with lathework and latticework, an apt demonstration of the richness of wood that the colonists found here.  It might be called New England-neogothic-victoriana and it's a little too overdecorated to be my dream house.  But it's lovely to walk through the old residential streets on my walk to the Domain (a large park and botanical gardens) and nosey at their quirky style.

 

 New England-neogothic-victoriana?

In italiano!: L'architettura a Auckland

Dal mio breve periodo negli stati uniti, temevo che lo stile del "nuovo mondo" sarebbe tutto cio che non mi piace: grande, ma senza stile.

Invece a Auckland, l'architettura mi ricorda molto del mio paese, e di diverse citta' brittanniche dell'epoca industriale.  Ci sono tanti edifici che hanno 100-130 anni, insieme con i grattacieli.