Birthday Boy

In probably the best game we have ever seen him play (and we have seen a few), Tyler led the North Harbour Kings to a thrilling win. The best play was caught on video - inbounds play, coast-to-coast, single-handedly breaking a full court press, five spin moves between the legs and around the back, dish to the big man and score! Even the other team hooted and hollered.

Food Service Review

Click on the link to read the article in June's Food Service Magazine.

Conor, Martin, Tyler 

Quarterly Report

The time has come for the supreme commander to issue the Mariposa Corporation Ltd. first quarterly report. The company’s first restaurant has been in operation for about 2 months and things have calmed down to a manageable level. The future looks very bright.

Most people, as they are building their dream restaurant, get so beat up during construction that opening and operating the beast they have created seems easy. It isn’t, it’s harder! Setting up a restaurant this size properly, creating the lines of communication within an organization that operates 16 to 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, establishing the initial marketing plan and develop our company image, getting the food consistent, managing all the wild and wacky personnel, figuring out how business works down here and building a kitchen system that works in KiwiLand is crazy. Our management team is now on the same page and the restaurant operations manual is being built one page at a time, one day at a time.

Enough business! If I knew then what I know now, who knows? Working with the boys has been a real treat and this has been another bizarre experience that satisfies one’s soul. Unfortunately the old golf game has suffered. One game a month, on a tough course equals a 12. Watch out Pink and Bitter-root. People play golf a little different down under. I haven’t had one putt given yet. Grey haired ladies who have been members for 45 years keep explaining the rules of golf, and everyone walks with a trundler.

I’m coming back to Bend in early July to play in the Broken Top member/guest tournament with my great friend Bob Green. Rick, we are signed up, RIGHT. I think I will ride my BMW to LA and ship it to New Zealand. Motorcycles in NZ are expensive and there aren’t many K1200RSs in this country. I really can’t wait until I’m able to explore this country on my scooter, before my buddies come down for their first tour. I think late January to early March is probably the best motorcycle weather NZ.

Adjusting to living in the city has been another interesting facet of our lives. I love our apartment and the view. It’s a little small, but it’s the coolest building in town and a short walk to the restaurant. How many times do you get to live in a luxury hotel in an international city? The restaurants in town are ok and we go out and explore often. I do miss Bend’s restaurants and all those great meals with all our great friends.

We still have issues with how people do business in NZ. Problems with noise from our neighbor have been addressed but not solved in 4 months (they need to move their bass speaker away form our common wall), cash handling charges because if you deposit more than $15,000 a month in your account and cell phone/internet service charges that would blow anyone in the US away.

I’m currently trying to finagle my way on to the Mackenzie Cup Team at Titirangi. Every year the team travels to another Alstier Mackenzie course and competes against teams from Mackenzie courses throughout the world. I may have to rough one of the established team members up to talk my way into the lineup. Maybe I’ll be competing against Pasatiempo some where, some time.

Get your travel plans together for next summer (your winter) and get your butts down here. It’s too great of experience to let slip away. See you soon.
Mel Torme

All Blacks Haka 

Rugby as a Religion

Last night JB, Malcolm, Janet and I watched the All Blacks play their first test (international match) of the 2005 season against Fiji at North Harbour Stadium. Even though the game was decidedly one-sided (All Blacks won 91-0) we were thrilled with the opening Haka performed by both sides and the beauty and grace of the All Blacks. I likened it to synchronized swimming, which Malcolm thought was a bit effeminate for their national team, but it was poetry in motion nonetheless.

Happy Birthday QEII

What do JB, Malcolm and the Queen have in common? Why, birthdays of course. JB celebrated his 58th (can you believe it?) on Saturday, the Queen's (that would be Elizabeth) is the 6th and Malcolm's is the 7th. Oh, wait, we can't forget the Pinkster on the 3rd. Monday is a national holiday, but we will be open nonetheless. In NZ the labor laws require that you pay your employees whether they work or not.

The British and Irish Lions have landed and played their first provincial game against the Bay of Plenty in Rotorua. We had a nice crowd in the restaurant for the game, munching on burritos and chips, drinking margaritas and having a jolly good time.

The weather has turned to winter, but it's not all that bad. We saw a few brightly colored parakeets in the trees at Titirangi, so it can't get too cold. Today JB and I played a very nice parkland golf course in Devonport - Waitemata - which I thought I could handle after getting chewed up and spit out at Titirangi time after time. No such luck. I think I have lost my edge - and my swing. But it was sunny and warm, and there were no hills to climb, so all and all it was a pretty nice day.

The boys have purchased bicycles for their frequent trips to the restaurant. They have had to share the Boobaroo (the new moniker for the Subaru since it has so many dents in it from driving the wrong way) and feel the need for freedom.

Mikey has moved to the front to help hone our delivery skills. It was a brilliant move because he's right at home chatting up the customers. We have Judy covering the prep work in the back, which frees Mike up to fine-tune the line. Tyler is still the scheduling task-master, and Conor continues to work on marketing. He and Alice (our marketing firm, Radical Alice) have come up with some really creative ideas. We will focus on the "fresh" aspect of our business with ideas like freshly painted chairs and "fresh as today's news" inserts in the Herald. It's true, Alice sees everything differently.

JB and I spent the afternoon with post-golf excursion around Devonport. We are thinking that's where we want to live. The apartment is a tad wee bit small, and we quite fancy the ferry ride into work. We will be calling our real estate guy, Lewis Guy, after the holiday to set up a time for some viewings. Most of the houses are Victorian-era cottages and are so very cute.

And the real zinger for me is Tyler's impending birthday on the 19th. He will be 29. Time does go so very fast!

Cheers!