3-2 - too tense

As Kimball said today "Race 5 removed any doubt that NZL 92 might be a sufficient weapon to win the America's Cup. It is that."...and "Dalton said that, from here, "How you react is the key to how you go forward as a team. You can make it the defining moment, but it's important that we don't."

Truer words never spoken. Gut wrenching stuff...but what an awesome performance (after the Gallipoli-sized spinnaker snafus - as Kimball called it). Here in San Diego the general feeling in the Ryan-O'Neil-Dallimore-Duncan camp is good and positive with me especially, feeling that the guys definitely have it in them. My prediction - they won't loose another race...

...fingers crossed...!

2-2... too close

Anyone in New Zealand got any finger nails left?

A sleep in tomorrow for us in the US, and an early night for all you Kiwis. Enjoy it - it will be the last one for a few days.

I will be watching the next three races at the South Western Yacht Club in San Diego - back to our old 1992 hangout when the club was the Challenger host club in support of the Louis Vuitton Cup. We can't get Versus in the hotel where we're staying for this weekend's family reunion and celebration of sister Sheila's 50th birthday, so Veronica has organised for us to open up the club and stage a Kiwi-takeover. The Kiwi flag is coming off the kitchen wall and will be coming to San Diego with me, along with tattoos and tshirts - we will be staging our own little Kiwi sit in. Maybe we should invite DC....

Anyone reading with any contacts in San Diego, be sure to invite them. Fri/Sat/Sun at South Western Yacht Club - from 5.30am. BYO!!!! They're opening the door and turning on the big screen - but no staff, so BYO coffee.

I may need to get red bull. Depending on the result we may not need it....

A round up of some of the media commentary about today's race

(Photo: Chris Cameron ETNZ)

From Magnus Wheatley on the Rule 69 blog:

2-1 up and everything to play for. The Alinghi team deteriorating into a mass of recriminations, back-stabbing and head-scratching....

Is this pay-back time or what for the scenes in Auckland in 2003? The Kiwi fans are going nuts, the kiwi media can't believe what they're seeing and the mighty tower of Babel created by Bertarelli and Bonnefous is crashing around them...

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch...go the Kiwis. 5-4 to Team New Zealand was my prediction and I'm sticking to it!

From my current fav - Kimball Washington:

Something happened here today. The underdogs took a big bite out of the big dogs and the place went crazy. There were reporters running, Kiwi fans running, an ear-shattering chorus of horns, why, you'd think the America's Cup had done been won. Instead, it's Emirates Team New Zealand up 2 races to 1 in a first-to-five.

Picture NZL 92 closing oh so slowly toward their final meeting with Alinghi on an agonizing light-air reach to the finish—if you think it's hard to watch something like that, try being on board when you need to go faster and the boat . . . just . . . won't . . . go . . . faster—and New Zealand Herald reporter Julie Ash was watching and hardly breathing and wringing her hands and shaking like a leaf....(be sure to click through the link above to read it all but if you can't be bothered at least read the next bit...)

He went on to say...
...So we've just had the most dramatic America's Cup race in 24 years, and who does Alinghi send to the press conference? Rodney Ardern, runner/grinder Dean Phipps, runner/pitman.

Well-spoken, superb sailing athletes whose skills go far beyond those job descriptions. But not up to the drama of the moment. I was not angry. I was insulted.....

A seemingly VERY good statistic for Kiwi fans from Tom Ehman on the BMW Oracle blog:

...Except for the weird multi-defender match of 1871 in which the challenger Livonia won Match 3, and the even weirder 1988, to the best of your Ed.'s knowledge and memory, the winner of Match 3 has always gone on to win the AC. (Click through to read the history)

From Gary Jobson on SailingWorld.com

...It was a tough day for the helmsman. At one point on the first windward leg Alinghi's helmsman Ed Baird looked over his shoulder at Emirates Team New Zealand surging into a big lead and uttered (expletive deleted) and thrust his head down. He looked mighty frustrated....

From Sailing Anarchy - the headlines "What a load of Butter Balls" and "Bungleworth"...and a story filled with too many expletives to republish here (I'm not the kinda gal!).

The NZ Herald had too much coverage to highlight any one piece, but check out the AC site here.

And of course from Thierry - some great shots of the day including this one of Kiwi midbowman Richard Meacham's dip in the Med today.

C Thierry Martinez

YIPEEEEEEE

What a race.

The Kiwi's just pulled off their second victory in the America's Cup - coming from ahead, then behind, then ahead again. I can't remember a race in the America's Cup when the lead changed quite so dramatically.

Luckily we have a small tv in the office so I managed to watch the whole thing (sneakily!). Nearly choked my way through a conference call with head office while Alinghi passed ETNZ on the beat..went very quiet for a while, then resumed rapid heartbeats on the last run. Three people walked in our office with metres to the finish - they were promptly moved out of the DAMN WAY!

As I said to one of the girls they need to understand that I sat throught that race seemingly very quietly which is one hell of an achivement. My insides were screaming!

ROLL ON RACE 4!

more later....

Fly Emirates

©Thierry Martinez

The wheels are up on Emirates Team New Zealand. We have ourselves a boat race!

New Zealand pulled one out of the bag today to go 1-1 against Alinghi on Day 2 of the 32nd America's Cup.

As they rounded the top mark for the second time, Robbie's comment was "Terry's exactly where he likes to be - defending - that's him at his best".

So we were in for a great finish - with the Kiwis ahead, Anna instant messaging me quotes from TVNZ's Peter Montgomery blow-by-blow commentary (who had Russell Coutts as guest commentator in the studio today), and listening to the AC website radio commentary plugged into the stereo (with the terrible Versus audio way down low - if they cut to an ad break just before a cross again I'm going to ring someone up!).

Geordie Shaver (he sailed with Robbie on Stars&Stripes 2000 and Oracle Racing 2003; and is now doing the website radio commentary) had the quote of the day, "Lions one, Christians one."

You work out which is which.

(Spare a thought tonight for New Zealand designer Laurie Davidson and would-be Kiwi Bruno Trouble who are being induced into the America's Cup Hall of Fame.)

Roll on Tuesday morning - I may be late for work....!

Two Kiwis taking flight in New York

Kiwi comedy-musical duo "Flight of the Conchords" have hit the big time here in the US with their new comedy show that just launched on HBO.

The New York Times last week heaped a gentle dose of praise on the boys for their dry, witty show - you can tell the writer didn't want to jinx the future success of the show by focusing too much attention and pressure on the program.

The show follows Jemaine and Bret (two characters named after themselves) as they search for their big break into the New York City music scene. With plenty of references to their homeland New Zealand - their deadpan flat Kiwi accents will for sure leave some viewers wondering "what the f__k" - the show is sure to be a runaway underground success. The guys have had a cult international following for some time - but can they go mainstream? Or should they even bother?...

I was at a marketing presentation this week focusing on the latest trends in consumer behavior. One of the key trends was that people are looking to discover brands or elements of popular culture that are maybe a little underground thereby proving their sophisticated edge - rather than simply responding to a blatant advertising message that any idiot could receive. Hence the growth of brands like 42 Below in the US (that's mainly had its growth through viral marketing, the internet and word of mouth) .

HBO took a similar route with FOTC in the early promotion of the show - they released the first episode online (even before if aired on TV) allowing the widespread internet community to spread the word. They've put up the lyrics to the songs (hilarious), and clips from the show on their website so that bloggers like myself can embed them on their sites (and hence spread the viral word), and the boys have appeared as the final musical act on the David Letterman and Conan O'Brien shows in the past two weeks.

Given that the humor is very Kiwi (a little exotic and hard to understand?), even drier and edgier (and maybe at times for some a little hard to understand) than even The Office, the potential for these guys to become a sensation is highly likely. Read: you've got to be cool to get this show.

The cringe factor in the first episode was the boys visit to the consulate office where their unofficial manager "Murray" (and he's a real Muuuurry - short sleeve polyester shirt, geeky persona, and New Zealand poster on the wall behind his desk) made pains to take a roll call, even though there were only three of them in the room.

Maybe that could be our new Kiwi edge that we should be promoting internationally - especially here in the US. Rather than try to compete on the mainstream stage let's celebrate our uniqueness (especially our humor). These guys could be bigger than Peter Jackson....let's wait and see...

You never know, the impending release in the US of the New Zealand big-cringe-factor movie "Black Sheep" may well be huge ("this summer...get ready for the silence of the lambs"....!). Heaven forbid.

The real questions that need answering at the America's Cup

I want to know...how many pieces of chewing gum does it take to win the America's Cup?

Anyone noticed how much gum these guys are chewing - especially one certain New Zealand trimmer and also, I notice today for the first time, Brad Butterworth aboard Alinghi.

When I was a kid we were always told to never chew gum while playing sport for fear of choking on it... (mmm, let's hope Dalts doesn't pat Louie on the back too hard, too soon).

How many pieces do they chew in a race, or do they hang on with the same piece of gum the entire race (yuck)....?

What brand do they chew - and importantly, what flavor....? (These guys need to be thinking future sponsorship/endorsement opportunities....perhaps the pack poking out of the shirt pocket, tucked behind the ear, maybe someone could invent a little gum carrier pocket to wear on the arm of sunglasses...).

What do they do with their used gum? Does Louie have a little (big!) pile stuck under the lip of the side of the boat near his winch...could that possibly be providing extra bondage making the boat just that little bit stronger in heavy air....

These are the questions that should be being answered. Forget questions at press conferences about tactics, crew work, nationality, weather...."what's up with the gum?!"

Vintage Advertising

A friend sent me these gems from America's glorious advertising past. Aren't we glad we've moved on....!

Google that...

For readers in the US, I stumbled upon a new beta Google service to rival 411 - and the service is FREE!

Simply dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and it will connect you to an automated directory service. Just name the city and state, and then business name...watch the accent! You can also have the number sent to your mobile via text msg. Give it a go!

Summer Solstice

If there's one pathetic excuse for the scarcity of my blog posts lately, I'm going to use the heat...

We're experiencing, supposedly, unseasonably warm here in the Midwest. It has peaked in the early - mid 30s every single day for the past two weeks and we've had the occasion thunder and lightening storm late in the evening to complement the heat. And it doesn't get below 23-24C at night.

Luckily for me our office (The Bunker) is in the basement at Miller and two of the girls I work with are pregnant and extremely sensitive to the heat so the air conditioning is set at like 18C.

On another note, I came across this photo taken at the America's Cup 150th Jubilee in 2001 in Cowes, England of me on the replica of the original ''America" that sailed in the 1851 100 Guinea Cup, that later became known as the America's Cup named after this yacht.

Roll on Saturday - when we get to watch ETNZ and the All Blacks. Let's hope it's a big weekend for New Zealand sport..

Where's Wally??

©Thierry Martinez

There he is...!

6th back from the front...at the Breitling Med Cup TP52 regatta in Alicante...Thanks Thierry for the photo!

©Thierry Martinez

More from Angus

Africa's Inspiring Entry

By Angus Phillips
Washington Post

Friday, June 15, 2007; Page E03

VALENCIA, Spain There's a bit of racing still to go in the America's Cup as Emirates Team New Zealand tries to wrest modern sport's oldest trophy from Swiss Alinghi in the Cup match starting Saturday. But to my mind the best story of the 32nd Cup has come and gone, largely unnoticed.

"Twenty years from now, when people remember this event, they will remember Shosholoza," French former Cup skipper Bruno Trouble said at a dinner last week.

Guest of honor that night was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 75, the South African Nobel Prize laureate, who agreed to be referred to as "Arch, Archie, whatever you like." He was accompanied by his wife of 52 years, Leah, who glared reprovingly when someone offhandedly remarked that "behind every great man is a great woman."

"I'm in trouble now," said Tutu, laughing. "My wife might agree to alongside, but never behind!"

This joyful, diminutive, self-effacing fellow helped hold a nation together while the man who would be president, Nelson Mandela, sat in prison for 27 years, refusing to accept his own freedom until his people got theirs. Tutu later headed Mandela's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which doled out forgiveness to oppressors in return for simple honesty.

He came halfway across the globe to pay his respects to Shosholoza, the campaign that provided some of the Cup's biggest thrills even though it wound up seventh of 11 challengers. As the first-ever African entry, Shosholoza carried the hopes of a continent. In compiling a 9-11 record, including a stirring win over semifinalist Luna Rossa and several near-misses against other top players, it upheld them.

Shosholoza's competitiveness was a pleasant surprise. Its remarkable energy and openness and unforgettable theme song were even more pleasant reminders of what sport, and this event in particular, can be. Tutu made his journey to celebrate that.

"These guys have done a superb job of work," he said, gesturing at the beefy assemblage of sailors, mostly native South Africans who had never competed at this level before. "They shook the sailing world.

"Sailing is the last thing we'd ever think our guys would want to do. To bring [two] sailors from the black community and make this a rainbow team was a fantastic achievement. You have made us very proud. Even when you lost, we were not disgraced. We are enormously proud, especially after our cricket team didn't do so well. . . .

"Sport is a powerful tool for uniting a nation that was for so long divided. It is a visual reminder of what South Africa is about. We were told we couldn't live, work and play together. In one stroke, Shosholoza was able to present the image of what we have become."

His speech was uplifting, which is not a word that comes to mind often in this money-crazed ballroom for billionaires. Imagine -- a Cup campaign with a conscience!

The Swiss holders of the Cup have bigger fish to fry, of course. Billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi's moneybags, did not stop by to pay respects to Tutu, nor did the organization he installed to oversee this 32nd Cup defense, America's Cup Management. (Ed: unbelievable).

Trouble, the French ex-skipper who now represents Louis Vuitton, sponsor of challenger trials, arranged the dinner for Tutu, and it was, at least for this weary cynic, a highlight. Tutu's speech was moving, as was that of Capt. Salvatore Sarno, head of Shosholoza. The transplanted Italian shipping magnate said he would be back for another Cup, though he doesn't know where he'll get the money. He'll keep the budget small, he said, as it was this time -- about $30 million as opposed to the hundreds of millions Bertarelli and his pals are spending.

"We have homeless people in South Africa," Sarno said. "We have AIDS. To think of a big budget like that, it would be an outrage to people that we want to represent as well."

One guest at the Shosholoza camp to greet Tutu was another Italian, Andrea Stella, who lost use of his legs when he was shot by muggers trying to steal his car in Miami seven years ago. Like Sarno, he's trying to use the Cup to spread a message.

Stella built a wheelchair-friendly catamaran, Il Spirito di Stella, in which he takes disabled folks for a sail here for free. He tried to get AC Management to provide free or deeply discounted dock space in the Cup Port to advance his efforts, but didn't get far. Nor did a local organization with a similar purpose, Mar Sin Barreras (Sea Without Barriers), which also sought space from ACM.

I asked Il Spirito's skipper, Cocco Maurizio, why ACM was unwilling to help such worthy causes.

"They're Swiss," he said, rubbing together his thumb and two fingers. "It's all about the money."

Well, it is the America's Cup, after all. It has always been about the money.

Yet 20 years from now, when folks gather to talk about the 32nd America's Cup, they will remember Shosholoza, and perhaps a few will recall Il Spirito di Stella if they were lucky enough to find the catamaran and its high-minded owner tucked away in an overpriced slip in the Cup harbor.

Next week, Bertarelli and his well-fed crewmen will pound out a victory over Team New Zealand or lose and drink the cup of humiliation to the dregs. Either way, they'll get their name in lights for a while.

But they'll never affect the world as Tutu and others of his ilk have, or lift hearts the way Shosholoza did, and Andrea Stella does.

Sorry. Won't happen.

Dr Ruth and Lemon Mousse with Fennel Shavings, Citrus and Dried Salty Olive

What on earth do they have in common....?

Me, today, June 13th.

In Chicago today for meetings at Upshot HQ and training day tomorrow so decided to stay overnight. After drinks tonight I wandered to my hotel room, overlooking the Chicago River and got into the lift with Dr Ruth...

(Boy, was I tempted...but, you know, a ten floor lift trip just isn't enough time....)

So then it was off to Blackbird, one of my favourite dining experiences for dinner en seule at the bar - delicious slow roasted farm raised baby lamb with fried morels, favas, herbed ricotta, spring radishes and wild flower honey - then the celebrated meyer lemon mousse with white chocolate, fennel shavings, citrus and dried kalamata olive garnish.

A nice touch at Blackbird tonight - a small metal hook that allows a lady to hang her bag off the edge of the table...

Then an uplifting walk back to the hotel... it was such a beautiful night, 25C, and the city glistening as usual.

The CBOT, Chicago Board of Trade rises in the distance along La Salle Street.

Even the street seats are architecturally stylish in this town.

Schnack-Net

For those OVER my America's Cup ramblings, check back tomorrow...(this may be a bit much for you....)

...but in my internet browsings today I stumbled across Professor Roger Boshier and Schnack-Net. I feel a little behind the 8-ball that I hadn't heard of him during the 2003 Cup, but, as Sheila would say, "there you go".

Professor Boshier, from the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada, is an ex-pat New Zealander now based in Valencia and, according to the BYM News (sailing) website, is doing some research work for ETNZ.

BYM News contacted Professor Boshier and asked if he would be prepared to answer questions about some recent papers he'd written, aimed at providing better understanding of ETNZ's America's Cup campaign. Professor Boshier - agreed, but instead of responding directly to BYM News, he published modified versions of the questions and his answers in his Schnack-Net newsletter (an email newsletter he has been producing since 2001).

Check out the BYM site and his responses...(I am still laughing about the ducks....)

If you enjoyed that and want to read a little more of Prof Boshier's prose on the America's Cup and it's links with New Zealand (including the heritage of the name Schnack-Net and what Team New Zealand's winning of the America's Cup in 1995 has to do with American servicemen in New Zealand during WWII) read on.

Now, get back to work!

More Life in Valencia

For those of you who liked news of my travels to Valencia (here, here, and here), here's an update from Kimball Livingston's blog who's one of the American journos covering the Cup. He covers in words and pictures a recent festival...I rather like all the nuns in his shots. Here's one of mine...

Brings back memories of Sister Act and "I Will Follow Him" - those in the family will know what I'm on about ... a certain 50th birthday party a few years back (just a couple - yeah right), with 3 Ya-Yas doing their best impersonation of Whoopi and her mates.

Speaking of 50th birthday parties....

Nicely put Angus...

According to reports it seems Angus is headed home from Valencia now that the American money is no longer in the Cup and the Post can no longer justify his presence (the Media Centre will be a sadder place for it), so it seems we're not the only ones sitting this one out.

Here's his rather nice precis from yesterday's Washington Post of where the Kiwis have come from, and what they have yet to do....

Now That Team New Zealand Is Rebuilt, It Must Put Everything Together
from the Washington Post
By Angus Phillips
Sunday, June 10, 2007

VALENCIA, Spain "Bring It Home," say T-shirts sported by New Zealanders wandering around Port America's Cup here. That's cheeky.

For 132 years, from 1851 to 1983, the home of modern sport's oldest living trophy was the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan. It's about as far as you can get from Auckland, where the Auld Mug kept residence at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron a mere eight years, from 1995 to 2003.

New Zealand's complete Cup history comprises just 20 years, but it makes up in controversy what it lacks in longevity. The initial Kiwi challenge was 1987, with the first fiberglass 12-meter. "Why would you build one out of fiberglass unless you wanted to cheat?" asked Dennis Conner, spawning Kiwi invective that still bubbles.

New Zealand made it to challenger finals that year before being dispatched by Conner, then went to the Cup match in 1988, losing, and to challenger finals in 1992. The Kiwis finally beat Conner in 1995 sailing Black Magic, skippered by a magician called Russell Coutts and overseen by a seagoing knight, Sir Peter Blake.

The pair defended successfully in Auckland in 2000, then went separate ways, leaving the team in shambles. Coutts defected, taking big dollars and five top crew to Switzerland to sail for billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli. Blake, a national hero on par with Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary, left to save the world's oceans but was slain by pirates in the Amazon.

Coutts & Co. came back in 2003 to demolish their old mates, 5-0, in a shellacking that left the nation mourning. Kiwis were humiliated when the raceboat broke down twice and took on water so fast, crewmen used buckets to stay afloat. The best sailors from the world's best sailing nation looked like stooges on a world stage.

Now they're back, heads high after soundly beating 10 other challengers for the right to sail for the Cup. Of 17 crew members on Emirates Team New Zealand, which Wednesday won the chance to face Alinghi on June 23 here in a best-of-nine Cup match, more than half are veterans of that embarrassing thrashing on the Hauraki Gulf. Time for revenge?

"We see it as unfinished business," said crewman Tony Rae, evenly. He is in his fifth campaign for TNZ. "To lose like that was tough on all of us. It's good to have a chance to correct that."

Turncoat Coutts no longer stands in the way. He had a falling out with Bertarelli after the 2003 win and is not involved. The three-time Cup winner will be replaced at Alinghi's helm by one of two American journeymen, Ed Baird or Peter Holmberg. Neither has sailed a Cup match.

One -- probably Baird -- will square up on the starting line in two weeks against TNZ's 33-year-old skipper Dean Barker, who steered the last race of the 2000 victory and all five losses in the 2003 debacle.

"Alinghi is a very refined piece of kit," Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson said. "They're a very good team. But our guy [Barker] has been there before. Theirs hasn't."

Which begs the ultimate question: Can a tiny nation of keen sailors rally from crushing defeat to regain the trophy they now see as their own? Can the Kiwis bring it home?

It would make a great story but most observers have doubts. In preliminary regattas leading to this Cup summer, Alinghi has been the top competitor. "They've been the form team for the last four years," Barker conceded. "They dominated Act 13," the last regatta in April before challenger round robins began, "and they're probably a click beyond that now. They'll be fast and good; we give them all respect."

On the other hand, said Barker, a defender from Switzerland, which has no port on the sea and no seafaring history, leaves itself open to some ridicule. "They make good chocolates and clocks and things," he said with a chuckle. But sailing?

"It is our culture and hopefully it will be the point of difference between us and Alinghi," said TNZ's new leader, Grant Dalton, who like Blake came to the Cup from a background of ocean sailing and adventuring of the highest and most grueling sort.

Blake and Dalton dueled around the world in the 1988-89 Whitbread-'Round-the-World Race, finishing 1-2 in the standings. Both set speed records for circumnavigation in multihulls and both came from the hard-knocks school of sailing, not the yacht-club set.

Dalton, like Blake before him, sails on TNZ as the lowliest member of the race crew. He's listed as a "floater," meaning he's either down below in the sewer helping repack sails or on deck doing whatever no one else has time to do. He never comments on tactics or strategy during racing.

He is, by all accounts, the hardest nail on the boat. "This program wouldn't exist without him," Hutchinson said. "He works the hardest of anyone on the team and anything we can do for him now, he deserves."

"He starts first, finishes last, he's there every day, he puts the job first, he's 120 percent committed. It's about drive, determination and sheer hard work, and it rubs off," Barker said.

It's been a long, hard slog for Team New Zealand to salve the festering wound of that drubbing on the Hauraki Gulf and to rebuild. "It helped us build a strong team," Barker said.

But the America's Cup has always been about boat speed, and the strongest team on Earth can't overcome a speed deficit. The hope here is that TNZ winds up equal, or at least close to it, and it comes down to sailing skill. "That's all you ever want -- equal speed, and let the sailors fight it out," said Ray Davies, TNZ's strategist.

If they can find it, I'd put my money on Team New Zealand to take the Cup back home, where every school kid knows a tack from a jibe. Let the Swiss get back to what they do best -- clocks and chocolates and things.

My Saturday

Summer is here - the warm weekend days are filled with farmers' markets and yard sales.

Drive down any residential neighborhood in this part of the world, and the signs and bunting flags are out, announcing the nearest rummage sale - often it seems with neighbors getting together to host block or street sales.

Without a doubt the quality is actually very good - well, at least for the likes of me - the retro, vintage magpie...everyone it seems has some kind of retro kitchen-alia, boxes of old glass mason jars, character chairs that just need a little TLC and a smearing of paint stripper, or old picture frames that just need a replacement family portrait.
This week the lucky winner was this elegantly boned little table, covered in flaking paint and nasty adhesive contact paper. It's going as-is (although I've got rid of the paper and given it a good rub with a wire brush) into my studio and will house my paint brushes and hold my paints as I work...it's hard work but someone's gotta do it.

I also managed to score a couple of small yellow ware kitchen bowls for $10. These go on eBay and at the antique malls for upwards of $70 each, so they were a complete score. The guy had no idea what he was selling and I felt very smug getting a decent price for them. The stoneware bowls were originally manufactured in the US from the mid 1800s-1930 and are named because of the colour clay used to make them. They were made on the East Coast and mainly in Ohio here in the MidWest, and are usually decorated with bands of colour, or sponged with coloured glaze or decorated with natural patterns. I also found out that my bowls are earlier examples as they have 3 small nobs on the base, which signify that they were hand-fired.

The old water pitcher was last weekend's find ($2!) and the peonies are from the neighbour's garden!...

I went to the best Farmers Market in Milwaukee Saturday afternoon. It's highly civilised, doesn't start until 1pm so you can still have a lie-in, have a coffee and read the paper, and not miss out on the best buys and freshest flowers. Although as it's still early in the growing season it was mainly bedding plants, and a few vegetables (like early tomatoes and rhubarb) and herb plants this week. The best is yet to come...

Still celebrating...!

Here are a couple of great clips lifted off YouTube from TVNZ's coverage of the Louis Vuitton Cup, for those of you out of New Zealand.

The first one is of the presentation yesterday. I love the shot of Yves Carcelle drinking Moet from the Louis Vuitton Cup at the end of the first clip...the second clip is a preview on Day 4 of the finals, but rather a lovely emotive piece (you ex-pats will love it!).

5 Zip!!!

©ACM 2007/Photo:Carlo Borlenghi (double click to enlarge the pics)©Thierry Martinez

© Thierry Martinez

The pictures say it all. Emirates Team New Zealand through to the America's Cup. The Kiwis have been in the Louis Vuitton Cup finals of every America's Cup they've entered, and are the only team to have won the special trophy twice.

...Bruno will be pleased!

Gobble cobble...

As a salute to the coming summer days I thought it was time for a cobbler...which was part of our first dinner at home together for a while, last night - roasted pumpkin risotto and apple and berry cobbler.

Here's the recipe - perfect for a summer day, or a cool Kiwi winter night...it's super easy and can be made and in the oven while you cook the rest of your dinner.

MARIA'S COBBLER (with thanks to Martha)

Preheat oven to 200C.

6c fruit (I used apple and frozen blueberries and strawberries)
3/4 c sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lemon
Mix all together in a bowl until combined. Pour into your baking dish.

Topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons (3oz) unsalted butter
3/4c cup half milk/half cream
Grate cold butter into dry ingredients and mix with fingers to combine. Stir in milk/cream until just combined. Spoon dollops of the dough mixture on top of fruit. It's ok if you have a few gaps - it adds to the homemade look if the fruit juices bubble up and over the side of your baking dish!

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 45 minutes. The top will be crusty and the fruit warm and delicious. Serve with your best vanilla ice cream.

(I made a smaller dish with just 3 cups of fruit and 3/4 of the topping amount.)

More on that theme...

More tshirt ideas:

bonaNZa
boNZer
broNZier
eNZone
faNZine
fraNZy
freNZy
staNZa
uNZip (my favourite!)

Let’s hope we have no use for:

goNZo
wiNZe
dowNZone

Valencia gets Kiwized

From the ETNZ website - click the link to watch the video...

According to all reports, the Kiwis have landed!

Seen throughout the America's Cup village are these great ValeNZia tshirts which just got launched this week apparently, and hordes of kiwis are descending on the town.

Wee P could attest to the fact that a friend of his was part of a group of guys heading there this weekend from London. One guy started to organise a trip, next thing there were like 166 going for this weekend's racing...

In a lovely email from a friend working there she says...

...there are so many Kiwis around the port now - easily spotted in their Team NZ gear, their Aotearoa t-shirts, their VALE NZIA t-shirts, their jandals, and their general rowdiness! It´s a laugh and great to have so much support here. Especially in the midst of all the corporate-ness that this world seems to have taken on where a lot of people see it as all about the money and less about the passion.

Even the guys on the America's Cup radio commentary on the internet commented during racing today - the Luna Rosa fans are arriving in droves from Italy, all looking very styley... while the Kiwi fans are in the tshirts, and propping up the bars having a good time!

And the team has the biggest flag (Photo courtesy of my good friend Thierry Martinez, thanks Th.)

So it's 3-0 today. Fingers crossed for two more straight wins to ETNZ and then we can focus on making sure there's a TV with the US broadcaster, Versus, on it at the hotel we're all staying in for sister Sheila's 50th in San Diego in late June!

P.S If anyone in Valencia reading this would like to send the Ed. one of these tshirts, feel free!!!!

Kiwis take Race 1, and I get some more good news!

I have spent the past two days traveling by train down to Chicago each day to attend orientation meetings at our head office, so today was to be my first day in the Milwaukee office. It was also the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup final.

I was anxious to watch the race (which airs on TV at 8.30am here) but luckily I was told yesterday that I didn't have to be at the office until 9.30 so knew I'd get to watch most of the race at home...Unfortunately I left the house half way through the race which looked like it was to be a cliffhanger - with just seconds separating the boats.

The good news - I got to the office to find out they have a TV with cable, and it's right beside my desk... Gotta love Americans!

A quick "hi, nice to meet you" was followed by "do you mind if I switch channels...?!"

So I got to watch the Kiwis cross the line by the closest of margins. Relief on two counts...

"And how's the job?..." you ask. Well, we have Summer hours which means we finished today (Friday) at 1pm - so this has probably been the cruisiest first week of any job in my entire life. There's a lot to come to grips with on a major brand like Miller, but it seems everyone is fairly understanding and the pace seems fairly modest...Fingers crossed, and Monday is another week.