Farm to Fork, and the Lantern Parade

On Friday, July 15, Cindy went to a work event at the Community Gardens on the University of Canterbury campus.  She met Jonny, the garden coordinator, and Smirna, a biology student from Macedonia.  They planted and weeded (including removing "twitch", which we would call quackgrass), and Cindy ended up with some veggies for her efforts.  We have to admit that we've been watching Master Chef - Australia on New Zealand One TV (comes on right before the evening news) and we've become slightly hooked.  On Friday night, we attempted a "farm to fork" challenge to use the ingredients Cindy got from the garden in our supper.  The photos show the progression.

The community garden at Univ. of Canterbury

Veggies harvested from the garden

Cindy brings home the harvest

The chefs work on the challenge

The final result - Eggs Hamilton Avenue - ready to be judged

Saturday night July 16 we went to the Light & Flight Lantern Parade at Hagley Park, a large park just west of downtown Christchurch.  The Lantern Parade involved home-made lanterns from kids all over Christchurch - bunches of them made by schools, but many made by individual children and families for this annual event.  The parade was led by the Be There Bicycle Band, a group of musicians on bicycles, sponsored by the Canterbury entertainment web site, Be There.  Despite the growing evening cold, hundreds of children and parents paraded through the park to celebrate the Christchurch winter.

Local children getting their lanterns ready

The lanterns were lit

An enthusiastic lantern holder

Twilight in Hagley Park

The Be There Bicycle Band

Everyone is ready to start the parade

Once in a blue moon...