It's All Good

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are enjoying an exciting time in NZ and at The Mariposa Corporation (aka Mexicali Fresh). First of all, it was announced today that NZ has been selected to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup! It's a huge coup for this tiny country who was up against South Africa and Japan. This is the world's third largest international sporting event after the Olympics and the Soccer World Cup. For little NZ, it will dwarf the Lions Tour and the America's Cup. Needless to say, the country is rapt, and as new Kiwis, so are we.

We have also signed a letter of intent for a new store in Newmarket. It's a new upscale urban renewal project in Auckland's high fashion shopping area. Westfield likes what we are doing and we both see a great fit for their newest developments. They are the second largest shopping center developer in the world. See photos in the Newmarket album.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we have finally found and purchased a Weber grill for our turkey. It took awhile, but we found what is called a "North American-style BBQ" here. The only problem is that they don't sell lighter fluid and the briquettes are $30 per bag. Jill, do still have any pull at Kingsford - we could sure use that about now! Judy has ordered our turkey for next week because you can't get anything over 3 kg (that's 6.6 lbs to you unmetricised heathens) and we will have an all American celebration. We will attempt to introduce the Stewart Family traditions like games and crafts to our Kiwi guests, but I really need my sisters here to create the buzz! Now all we need to do is time our meal with ESPN coverage of American football, and we've got it made.

The cruise ships have begun arriving and summer is in full swing. Tyler, Conor, Rachi, John and I wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Mexicali Fresh City League Basketball Team 

Happy Halloween! 

Labour Weekend

It's Labour Weekend here - much like we have in the States. Kind of the beginning of summer. We had two of the Black Eyed Peas in for dinner during their concert tour of Oceana. Some of the employees got their autographs, but we don't have any pictures! Last week was Fashion Week and Conor got a front row pass to one of the runway shows, hung around with the possum fur protesters and now has tons of contacts for his Sameunderneath and Ductbills family in Portland.

We have all been experiencing the joys of spring. Rachel is up north camping in the Bay of Islands this weekend with her newfound Kiwi friends. The boys went extreme mountain biking yesterday . . . of course Tyler came back with various cuts and abrasions. Mexicali Fresh is sponsoring an Auckland City League basketball team that is so far undefeated. (I'm sure it has more to do with the awesome uniforms than the fact that they have most of the semi-pro players in the city!)

I was looking into a Chinese language program at the Uni and suddenly had a flash forward five years. Where do I want to be? Do I want to be able to understand the babble on Queen Street, or would I rather be a single-digit handicap? Duh. So, I sought out and found a golf instructor to help me get there. She's a Kiwi who has played on the LPGA tour, and has really helped me straighten out my swing. (Rick, the first thing she told me was "toe up, toe over). Tyler bought a set of golf clubs and is well and truly addicted to the game as well. Last weekend JB, Conor and I played Clarks Beach. Just another one of the beautiful, walkable, beachfront golf courses that cost $35 for 18. Tyler and I have been trying all sorts of tracks, incluing one unremarkable mud pit in South Auckland . . . but at $25 for the two of us, we figured it was almost worth it.

Today Conor and I are taking photos for our "Fiesta Kit" takeaway package. JB is wrapping up the pricing and Tyler is negotiating with couriers to find someone to deliver. Prices for most of our products are going up due to increased fuel costs, but we are holding the line for another month or so to get a better handle on it.

Hope everyone is enjoying October . . . it's my favorite time of year in Bend!

View from our bedroom window - the Sky Tower is pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Wow, is that beautiful or what! 

99 Bottles of Sol in the Tub . . .
See photo album on the right

Courtesy of Malcolm - an example of how the election is "hotting up." 

World Famous in New Zealand

The national elections are coming up this next week and it's quite comforting to see that democracies everywhere produce some pretty strange bedfellows. Prime Minister Helen Clark is standing against National Party leader Don Brash. They have the MMP System (Mixed Member Proportional) which I have just learned about by reading Wikipedia. Give it a go by following the link. I will also post one of the funnier billboards. (I have quite a collection of them now, and still must put Maggie up - wait till you see that one!)

I have posted a new photo album showing a bit of the town of Tauranga which JB and I visited this weekend on a scouting trip. Very nice! It's got about 100,000 people and a very lively downtown. We did call on the old Burger Wisconsin site, but it appears that a deal is 95% done on that, so we may have to regroup.

We are ramping up for a big shindig on Friday. Sol Beer is sponsoring a Mexican Independence Day celebration for the 16th of September. It will be similar to what we do on Cinco de Mayo. Mariachis, free beer, the whole nine yards. This is a first for them, and will put us on the national map.

Mexicali Fresh - world famous in New Zealand since quite recently.

Aliens Among Us

It's the first day of Spring, Tyler is finally legal and I have 3-ring binders in my hot little hands. The intensity of the past few weeks is behind us so we can relax a little bit. Conor got his work visa at the end of July, but Tyler's paperwork was still somewhere in the bowels of Immigration prompting a threatening letter from them saying he was an illegal alien and could not work. It's a long story, but we finally have some of our Brazillians back, and Tyler is now "legally" back as well. Whew! Just in time because we are really getting busy, and Fridays are off the charts.

JB and I have moved into a nice large Victorian in Freeman's Bay. The bathrooms and kitchen are newly remodeled with some very nice amenities such as heated marble floors and a Smeg gas range. I can cook again! We have a two car garage which is quite rare in this tidy little neighborhood of houses built before there were cars. The streets are so narrow with cars parked on both sides that there is barely room to drive. Our bedroom has large French doors which open up to an unobstructed view of the Sky Tower. We are three blocks from the big grocery store and three blocks up to Ponsonby Road, the center of all that is uber hip and cool in Auckland. And yes, we have two large bedrooms for guests.

Speaking of guests, we really enjoyed having ex-Mexicali manager Lisa Lee, her brother Karl and daughter Rachel visit us during August. They did an impressive "Lord of the Rings" itinerary throughout New Zealand and saw quite a few places and things I didn't even know existed. Rachel enjoyed hereself so much that she stayed behind and now is a barista at Mexicali Fresh and staying with us in Freeman's Bay. She's a newly minted graduate of Sisters High School, and needless to say this is quite an exciting experience for her. Her plans are to stay until December and soak up a variety of international experiences.

The 3-ring binders warranted mention because I have been searching since February and finally found them at the new Office Max on the North Shore. There were only four, but I bought them all, along with a 3-hole punch. I actually had to demonstrate to the sales clerk how it worked. She was quite impressed and thought there may be something to this novel concept. In New Zealand, everyone uses 2-ring binders. I have tried to be flexible with lots of different little things, but really, 2-ring binders suck. The paper never punches in the right place and the large A4 sheets get askew. Now that I have my 3-rings, everything is going to get repunched and put away properly. You also can't get fifth-cut file folders. All file folders have even sides with no tabs. I have been reduced to cutting tabs with an exacto knife.

We had a meeting with some major developers about sites for our second, third and fourth stores. We are penciled in now for some great locations, but the first one doesn't come online until March 06 to start building, and July 06 to open. Meanwhile, we still want to get another one up and running before Christmas. We have a couple of options and will have to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.

I will get another photo album posted in a day or so with shots of our new home and surrounds. Hope everyone had a great summer in the Northern Hemisphere . . . we are ready for summer down here!

Fury Hath No Hell . . .

You can't imagine the brouhaha over this billboard. Hell is actually a very edgy pizza chain with some very interesting ideas on advertising. Talk show callers are threatening to boycott Hell, comparing them to terrorists (that's a stretch) while others say it's about time to shout that the emporer has no clothes. Nevertheless, Kiwis continue to surprise us in oh so many ways.

Winter in Auckland

It’s August now – the middle of winter – and I am still wearing my jandals (flip flops) everyday so it’s not that cold. John arrived back from the States with some very precious cargo: Excedrin PM, dryer sheets, taco shell forms and a manual slicer/dicer for salsas. Amazing that we can now make our Salsa Mex in a quarter of the time, with fewer cut fingers and the need for plasters (bandaids).

Former Mexicali Rose manager Lisa Lee arrived yesterday with her brother Karl and daughter Rachel. Rachel was a babe in arms when Lisa first started working for us – and this is her high school graduation gift. My how time flies! They are off to explore the country and will be back on the 23rd of August to spend some time in Auckland before heading home.

John and I have been ensconced at the Metropolis for the past six months, and it’s time to move on. We need a real kitchen, an office, and more than a foot of closet space. Now that Mike has gone, the boys need to find a space they can split between the two of them. So, it’s the big Chinese fire drill this week. We are moving out of the Met into the boys’ Freeman’s Bay villa. The boys are moving back to an apartment at Prince’s Wharf. Just in time, too, because when Lisa, Karl and Rachel return from their travels they will be able to stay in our guest rooms.

We just found out the Queen Mary II will be docking at Prince’s Wharf next summer. It’s even bigger than the Sapphire Princess which was bigger than the entire wharf – Hilton and all. Can’t wait!

We have embarked upon our next mission: the search for a second location. So far it looks like Ponsonby or Newmarket. Both have their own advantages – stay tuned for updates.

Lions & Tacos & Beers

Oh my. It's been a week and I think it's safe to say we have recovered from the onslaught of Lions last Friday and Saturday nights. We were prepared with tons of food and more than 100 cases of beer as backups for the backups. It started on Thursday afternoon and continued through until Sunday. Saturday night Conor even went to the grocery store and bought $600 worth of beer, only to see it disappear in 45 minutes.

Sunday morning I went in to help chop more salsa and we were swamped by all of the bouncers and bartenders from Lenin, Float and Provedor. Of course I put on Beatles music, it's the only time I get to choose the tunes. You should have seen it, all of these great big guys in line ordering breakfast burritos singing "She's got a ticket to ri - hi - hide." A curious little Irishman in a green rugby shirt and Lions headdress stood at the counter and insisted we MUST have something with alcohol in it and I insisted just as strenuously that we did not. He had to make do with a latte, which was just as well. I'm sure he would thank me if he could remember what planet he was on. I have posted a new photo album entitled "Lions" so you can get a sense of it all.

So today (Sunday) the Pacific Sky docks at 9:30 am and by noon we had made over 150 lattes and flat whites (a uniquely Kiwi coffee similar to a cappuccino). They had come from Sydney on their way to Tonga and Vanuatu. While valiantly keeping up with the orders, I heard someone mutter "Don't these people have food on this cruise?"

The big buzz in Auckland (now that the Lions have gone home) is Desperate Housewives, which begins airing tomorrow night. Right, then, back to normal. Unfortunately, I won't be heading back to the States this week as planned. Things are a bit hectic around here. Hey JB, it's time to come home!

Bless the Brits

London has experienced a terrible tragedy, but the 20,000+ Poms (slang acronym for Prisoners of Mother England) visiting our fair city have showed their resiliance and legendary "stiff upper lip" by doing what they do best . . . carry on.

Mexicali Fresh on the waterfront last night provided a venue for much singing, carousing and drinking of beer by Poms and Kiwis, Welshmen and Irish, Americans and Brazilians. It was a bit slow on Friday morning, but beginning at 11:00 am there was a line out the door that lasted for the next 12 hours. More than a few had burritos for the very first time.

The final test of the Lions Tour takes place tonight at Eden Park in Auckland. The All Blacks have won the tour by winning the first two tests in admirable fashion, but the Lions can salvage their pride by winning tonight and staving off a sweep. There was never any thought to cancelling this last test, but there will be a moment of silence before the final game begins.

JB is in Bend now and staggered at how much the town has grown in the six months we have been gone. He and his friend Bob Green are playing in the annual Member/Guest tournament. JB will be back in Auckland on the 20th and I will leave for Bend on the 23rd.

Mike will be leaving us in a couple of weeks to pursue a venture with his family in Bend. Before leaving New Zealand, he will be visiting the South Island and doing a little fishing along the way. We will miss him, but wish him well as he carves out a new path for himself. It was great having him with us as we launched Mexicali Fresh, Southern Hemisphere version.

Daily Commute

I have posted a new photo album showing, among other things, my daily commute down Queen Street and a variety of shots from Devonport, across the harbour from Auckland. JB and I have been house-hunting every weekend over there and have found some real possibilities. It's a beautiful little community, with access to Auckland's waterfront via a 10-minute ferry ride. Now that's my kind of commute. You can also drive, but the traffic can be a problem during peak times. There is a very beautiful, walkable golf course, and some great beaches. All in all, pretty much paradise.

JB leaves tomorrow for the States and will be in Bend from the 3rd through the 20th. I will leave Auckland on the 23rd and will be in Bend until the end of the first week in August. I don't have a return flight yet, so the itinerary is not set.

The entire country is still in awe of Michael Campbell's historic US Open win. It's probably the biggest thing to have happened to a Kiwi since Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt. Everest. Parliament delayed it's session to watch the event along with the rest of the country. Now the British and Irish Lions Tour is reaching it's peak and will be in Auckland beginning Tuesday. Prince William has arrived and the next test match is tonight in Wellington. We are planning on being invaded by over 20 thousand members of the "Barmy Army" who have vowed to drink one small NZ town dry. Let's hope they leave my new Mexican palms alone!

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.