Seresin Estate - Panaromic view of a vineyard

View from the cellar door of Seresin Estate. This perhaps made the deepest impression among all the vineyards visited during this trip. The olive oil is very fragrant and they brought home a bottle, which both of us are eager to try!!

Seresin Estate

"Have you been to Seresin Estate yet?" asked an American lady who was also touring New Zealand. The name did not register as we only know a few vineyards at that point. "Ah then, you've got to go! It's owned by MICHAEL Seresin, a famous director." as she eagerly introduced the spectacular view there. Dad, ever so incredulous, then asked "so which movie is he famous for?" "Eh, no idea...."

Regardless the accuracy of the facts, it was a great recommendation. Thank you.

Wendy Campbell's French Bistro

As any internet junkie will do before going on a vacation, dad got list after list of things to do, places to go and, of course, restaurants to visit. This is just one of those lists detailing 33 restaurants across New Zealand. They ate in 4 out of the 33 and were most impressed by the dinner they had in Martinborough, Wendy Campbell's the French Bistro. (The other three are Terroir, Amisfield and Saffron. Saffron was a bit of a letdown.) The restaurant doesn't seem to have a website and because the menu is handwritten everyday, there isn't a copy in the internet either. But if you ever go on a wine tour in Martinborough, this restaurant is well worth a visit. Just a couple of pictures for you to savour.

Lake Wairarapa and Cape Palliser

This is not a famous tourist attraction. Mum and dad didn't know about the two places until they arrived in Martinborough. But then both offered something different and definitely worth the car drive out there. Mum was like walking into the end of civilization in the Lake Wairarapa picture. But the drive from Lake Wairarapa to Cape Palliser does feel like journey to the end of something, especially when most of the road surface was unsealed.

Hawke's Bay Winery Map

Always fascinated by maps and how people get lost holding their maps. For us, we just leave a mark wherever we go!! The map below shows the vineyards that mum and dad visited and bunches of grapes that you see everywhere in Hawke's Bay and in fact all the wine regions in New Zealand. Below that from left to right, cellar door of Trinity Hill, cellar door of Church Road and the entrance to Mission Estate.

Unison Vineyard

One of the boutique vineyards in New Zealand, your first impression of Unison in Hawke's bay is the intense smell of wine when you go into the cellar door. You can see the two big barrels sitting next to the small counter with several rows of smaller barrels inside.

Sileni Estates

If you visit Hawke's Bay, you should try Sileni for lunch, the result of totally unscientific survey of a few locals. You will be seated among beautiful vines and the quality of food is excellent.

Terroir - Craggy Range

Hot chocolate fondant - yummylicious :)

Craggy Range

Imagine staying in a vineyard........
Craggy Range is one of the vineyards which offers accommodation. This was the view from the "Cellarmaster", a small cottage where they stayed for 2 nights.

The restaurant Terroir is also a famous fine dining hub in New Zealand. They serve some of the most delicious potatoes, Terroir fries! The outdoor dining tables look over a lake where a small school of wild ducks live. Dining menus in New Zealand are all fairly similar in terms of price and dishes on offer.

Huka Falls

This waterfall is neither famous for its size or its height, but the amount of water (200,000 liters per second) which manages to squeeze through a tiny stretch of canyon (15m wide). Not a bad spot for being a 5-minute tourist if just for the impressive sound the water makes and the negative ions it generates.

Treetops Lodge

Treetops is privately owned estate which is truly special. Mum and dad were most impressed by the magnificent flora and landscape surrounding the place. And they only went there to have lunch!!

Trip to the Land of Kiwis

This blog has always been about us, the mutts, hardly anything is written about mum and dad. But then they recently left us home for a 2-week long vacation to New Zealand. So it's party time at home!! Guess you have more interest in the finer things in life like pinot noir than our daily mischief. So here you are, a sneak peek into the north-to-south journey they took.

Most people take a direct flight from Hong Kong to New Zealand, but then mum being ever so inventive managed to redeem business class flights via Singapore. So the journey started with the hawker center cuisine and a fish-foot spa (more on that in a separate entry). The connecting flight was schedule to depart the following morning, mum and dad decided to have a nap in the airport lounge. The short nap turned into a minor nightmare for mum when she woke up realising that her phone has gone missing. After a brief moment of frantic search for the gadget, they decided that it must have been pickpocketed.

The 9-hour flight to Auckland airport was filled with usual inflight entertainment like food served to you in tiny plates and movies on a 5-inch screen. Just before crossing customs mum dumped her bag of dried chinese plums as the sniffing Beagle edge closer to her, after having just hunted down another tourist in the baggage reclaim area. NZD 200 was probably too much to pay for the joy of nibbling dried chinese plums during the long drive from north to south.

Having decided to let fate control the hotel choices for most of this trip, they strolled to the tourist centre, i-Site, in the airport. It was almost midnight. With so many choices and no clues, they just picked something with the keyword "New" in mind. The result was Chifley Suites. You could see the Sky Tower when you look out from the room's balcony. This marked the start of their vacation in the Land of Kiwis, where they saw plenty of things dead or alive, but no Kiwis.

Yucks!! All these fish taking a nibble!!!

During the stopover in Singapore, mum and dad tried out another new fad, fish spa. They were going to kill some time and get a foot massage in the familiar spot near Tanglin Mall, but got suckered into paying more for the pleasure of having their feet tickled by hundreds of these Doctor Fish. First such spa opened in 2006 in Hakone, Japan and has found its way in many Asian countries including Macau (but not Hong Kong, perhaps the association with HK Foot is just too much to bear for some). Don't know how beneficial these fish spas are to the body, but if the place looks hygienic it's probably worth trying.

Instead of keeping Kois in our pond, we can setup our own fish spa at home. Such services are already available in the internet.

Memories

This blog has been inactive for almost 2 months, but it doesn't mean that life for mom and dad stopped for the last 2 months. On the contrary, events took over their lives which only now have settled down again. Sadly, Cadet is no longer with us in body, even though he is still very much with us in spirit.

From the first day when mom and dad took Cadet home, we knew he was a fierce one, not someone to pick a fight with!! If you own a copy of the HKDR Tribute Book 2, which came out officially mid October, you could see on pg 53 the following paragraph alongside the beautiful picture of Cadet taken by Ali.

Cadet - 2 years old, American Cocker, Favourite treat - Home made dog muffins
Like alumni in many schools , dogs that get remembered are often the naughty ones. Cadet is remembered by many at HKDR as the fierce one who packed a punchy bite despite his cute looking face and bum-shaking gait. We brought Cadet home on a stormy night in early spring this year. Due to his aggression, things were a bit tricky with Cadet in the early days- even a simple shower was a problem, let alone cleaning his drooping ears. After trying out a multitude of groomers and a dog trainer, who essentially failed in all aspects other than charging a fee; Cadet is lucky enough to have met Jack, the trainer. And now he can have his ear cleaned, his body shampooed and shaved without being sedated. In short, he can now live like any other well-pampered American Cocker Spaniel with his 2 friends, Buddy and Scottie the Schnauzers.

So far so good, what it didn't mentioned was that Cadet never quite shed its sudden aggressiveness towards human. His punchy bites have landed on all the members of the family including Jing, the helper. November 10, Cadet left his indelible marks on mom's palm and dad made the difficult decision that Cadet need to be euthanized.

For the following few days, we took extra long walks with Cadet. Then came Saturday, a sunny and beautiful morning, we walked all the way from Mount Butler to Parkview and back. Cadet had a hearty meal and was taken to Valley Vet. He took his last breath after the injection and fell asleep and said goodbye to this world after its relatively short life. Mom and dad looked on with tears rushing out from their eyes.

When they got home, they were greeted by the first boom of the Bugambilla tree in the garden, which never bore flowers in the 2 years since we arrived. Hardly a day go by without them glazing in the clear sky and saying Cadet is watching all of us from heaven........

大董 Da Dong Restaurant, Beijing

When most people talk about Da Dong in Beijing, they refer to its famous roast duck Beijing style. But a lot of their other dishes are worth trying. The presentation is often borrowed from western cuisine but the taste is 100% Chinese. They tried the roast duck as well as the sea cucumber, duck's tongue, spicy cabbage and toffee apple. Enjoyed every dish. Yummy!!

Charity X'mas Card & Handicrafts Fair at St. John's Cathedral 10-11 Oct 2008

The first Charity Fair of the year takes place at St John's Cathedral on Fri 10th and Sat 11th October, and HKDR will be one of the particpating charities so please come and buy

Please come support HKDR at the fair. Do your part...
Things on Sale:
Tribute Book, 2009 Diaries, Christmas dog toys, T shirts, Christmas Cards & personalized HKDR Christmas cards

See you at the fair...

More about Melamine

A lot of our cousins are asking why melamine......

Melamine is sometimes unethically added to food products in order to increase the apparent protein content. Standard tests such as the Kjeldahl and Dumas tests estimate protein levels by measuring the nitrogen content, so they can be misled by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine.

And a great excerpt from Scientific America below:

Protein Pretense; August 2007; Scientific American Magazine; by Alison Snyder; 2 Page(s)

After hundreds of dogs and cats fell ill this past spring, government officials traced the source to melamine, a nitrogen-rich compound found in plastics and fertilizer that, when ingested by the animals, crystallized in their kidneys and caused renal failure. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration later announced that producers may have deliberately added the compound to wheat gluten and rice protein concentrates to inflate the measured amount of protein. The greater the protein level in the concentrates, the higher the market price the products fetch. Regardless of whether its addition was deliberate or accidental, melamine snuck past standard industry protein analysis, suggesting that the century-old test methods should be reevaluated. Several alternatives exist, but the food industry has yet to make a switch.

Traditionally, food protein is measured by a method developed by Danish brewer Johann Kjeldahl in the late 1800s. In this analytical technique, a strong acid digests a sample, breaking down the organic matter and releasing nitrogen, which is then converted to ammonia. The amount of ammonia indicates how much nitrogen was in the original sample and, hence, the amount of protein. This "proved to be a robust, precise method," says Julian McClements, a food scientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It is attractive because it can be used for a variety of products and protein types. Another, similar nitrogen-based technique, called the Dumas test, is also popular with industry. It relies on burning the sample to release nitrogen. The Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) International, a scientific association that sets standards for analytical methods, lists the Kjeldahl and Dumas techniques as the standard methods for measuring protein in food.

Melamine and us

After killing so many of distance cousins in the US last year, melamine is now found to be hitting human kids and babies now. As the article attached in the link below suggest, you should get your mum and dad to check where are the ingredients of your feed are coming from.

http://www.naturalnews.com/024261.html

We don't want kidney stones and we don't know how to tell even when we get them. So please check.

Now even mum & dad's kid-time favorites, white rabbit candies are found to have this horrible stuff. They never needed additives before because there are test standards to meet. Protein contents etc........

Why bother checking?

I can fly... I can fly...

I can fly
I can fly
I can spread my wings out wide
and touch the sky ...
sounds familiar? yea its the CX theme song... you hear it everytime when you wait for your airmiles redemption... I can fly...

Guess what's in my mouth

Don't tell mommy. I stole the egg shell from her rose plant. hehe :)

Google Browser - Chrome

http://blogoscoped.com/google-chrome/
A lot of people will be talking about this browser soon. If you haven't heard about it yet, then remember you heard from us first :)

Cadet featured in his old friend's blog - Mandy - HKDR volunteer

Cadet's old friend Mandy was happy to see Cadet

http://www.photoblog.com/MandyChu/2008/08/31/7-pups-are-homed-in-homing-day.html

Photo Shoot by Ali Bullock

Lucky us, Ali was taking shots for the whole family
http://www.alibullock.com/
at Red Dog Studio
http://www.reddogstudio.com.hk/site.htm

Guess we ain't as hot as some of the models out there...

But we are cute... And Cadet met Mandy - who remembered him from hk dog rescue days ("is that Cadet?")....

Groom us!!

This is a surprisingly rewarding experience. All of us, including the "fierce" Cadet, have always been groomed by Mum. Sometimes when we go for our daily walk, we see some of our brothers looking decidedly scruffy. Always wonder if it's the horrible pet-shop not doing their jobs right or just their mums and dads not taking care of them.

Great website on Schnauzers grooming below:
http://miniatureschnauzer.ca/grooming.htm

Maybe mum will put up something of her own.
But then again, you should check out Aaron, one of our brothers in Japan.
http://aron.a-thera.jp/category/31472-1.html

Home baking for doggies - Healthy Dog Recipe - all natural

Recipe for dog muffin 犬用のビスケット

wheat flour
self raising flour
egg
water
honey
apple sauce
almond or peanut powder
cinnamon and nutmeg powder
vanilla essence

Say Cheese!!! チーズ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_Schnauzer

Cadet - The New Look

Now, I look more like one of them.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Cocker_Spaniel

Three Brothers all snoozing

Mum and dad have taken forever

To take just 1 simple picture

ZZZZzzzz

Such a touching story - every dog has its day

Britain's most unwanted dog finally finds new owners after 11 years in a rescue centre

Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1027743/Britains-unwanted-dog-finally-finds-new-owners-11-years-rescue-centre.html

Do adopt from HKDR
http://www.hongkongdogrescue.com/

The Bad Boys!!

Didn't know who started it. But the mutts started a fight yesterday again!! While I was trying to read.
It's not always walks, treats and bakery.......
Need discipline, these guys.

Training for Agression - Cadet

Jack the canine trainer...
Before... Cadet bites
Ear infected
Then... Cadet gets a haircut!!!
Imagine that
And now... He knows the command down...
can be muzzled...
and is very happy
If you need a referral... let us know...

Doggie Baking

Mummy took a doggie bakery course and we got lucky

from doggie icecream sundae

to apple pie

to pretzels

to doggie bread

http://www.threedog.com.hk/index.php
https://www.threedog.com/

Cadet youtube video when he first arrived Feb 2008

We adopted Cadet from HKDR. Was very insecure when he first arrived.

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=8AzSEvIwOC0

other youtube videos on Cadet - from HKDR

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=L2xfzlU1MZQ&feature=related

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=beSlhnifusE&NR=1

Born to be hungry

Can I get muffin please? (Update - Taken in Three Dogs Bakery, Happy Valley, but sadly the shop is no longer there. So Buddy can't go and buy his favorite treats anymore.)

Please pretty please.... pretty pretty please..... TREAT PLEASE!!

Cadet hiking April 2008

Cadet hiking in Mt. Butler. Glad that the weather is still cool!!

Buddy, Scottie and Cadet starred in a Japanese Blog!!

http://sousono.exblog.jp/7839890/

Buddy's Birthday - Jan 08

Rob made Buddy his birthday muffins...
Scottie waits patiently... to share

Not so Standard

A Standard Schnauzer - we met "Disney" twice, while we're walking the trails near Parkview. She will be going to Australia!!

Sushi Dai Tsukiji

People must be crazy queuing for sushi before six in the morning and still need to wait for another 1 hour or more. Is it worth it? You've got to ask mum and dad. They have done it more than once so the vinegar flavored rice with a piece of raw fish is worth the wait. Dad prefers Sushi Dai 寿司大 to Sushi Daiwa 寿司大和. But then the Tsukiji market will be demolished soon, not a lot of time before he can go and compare the two again.

You hear all sort of funny comments while queuing for hours on end. The funniest perhaps was some Taiwanese man trying to impress his female companion with his vast knowledge of Japanese sushi culture and told her that these two restaurants have a long history built before the Edo period (1603-1868). All deduced from the "Edo Mae" 江戸前 sign in the shopfront. Of course this has nothing to do with the time when the restaurant was established, but the generic name for Tokyo style, hand moulded rice ball sushi and its literal meaning is seafood caught from near Tokyo bay. This form of sushi was created at the end of the Edo period (1800~) as a form of fast food for people to eat at street stalls, a far cry from the elevated status it has nowadays. Tsukiji only turned into a fish market after the Great Kando Earthquake in 1923.

You also get a great selection of fruit and other foodstuff in Tsukiji. Not only are they cheaper than the department stores, they are often fresher as well. Go before it's too late.

Dreaming about $$$

Barton Biggs - Hedge Hogging == An Ideal Pillow!!

Schaunzer Family Reunion

From left to right
Ganesha, Scottie, Buddy, CJ and Target
Ganesha from Bali - given birth by a piece of stone
Scottie from CJ and Target
Buddy from CJ and Dragon

May - their Breeder

Tai Tam Reserviour

Nice weather in taitam

Breakfast in the Valley

Enjoy your Sunday morning breakfast at a pub in Happy Valley, while the dogs sit and watch the world go by...