Who's up for a Wellington Gathering?

October 29, 2002 5:09 PM

Haere Mai! Haere Mai! Haere Mai!
Who's up for a Wellington Gathering?
posted by Catch to MetaFilter Gatherings at 5:09 PM (26 comments total)

As proposed in the past, but never 'gotten round to'. My proposal: drinks, many, sometime, somewhere. (They're very sympathetic at the Bristol).
posted by Catch at 5:12 PM on October 29, 2002

I'm keen. Bristol ok by me, but any place that serves delicious fruity drinks is acceptable.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:50 PM on October 29, 2002

Although it's rageously off-topic and perhaps offensive as a piece of stereotyping, I just finished reading Patricia Grace's Potiki and Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors and I need to express my appreciation to someone -- you Kiwis write well.
posted by Marquis at 5:56 PM on October 29, 2002

*gracious and totally bogus acceptance of Marquis' appreciation on behalf of the aforementioned authors and Janet Frame, Ngaio Marsh, Katherine Mansfield as well*
posted by Catch at 6:04 PM on October 29, 2002

Not to mention C K Stead, Witi Ihimaera, and Maurice Gee (just to even up the gender balance). Hmm, maybe an NZ novelist FPP is in order...
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 6:11 PM on October 29, 2002

Oops. Gender imbalance entirely unintentional.
joe's_spleen: deliciously fruity sounds like a great theme for the outing. I thought of the Bristol as a fairly central and identifiable point, but it does lack panache. holloway and I are also very fond of Good Luck, where cocktails in fruity glasses may be obtained.
I was thinking of some time at the end of next week, maybe Friday night.
At this point it looks like it may be just the three of us and the warm glow of Marquis' appreciation.
posted by Catch at 6:23 PM on October 29, 2002

I just tried a search Good Luck website but it kept coming up with "good luck with the finals".

You're my Halfman of O, Catch.
posted by holloway at 6:42 PM on October 29, 2002

If I may, I shall be accompanying Marquis, cracking lobster claws and quaffing our way through the 2001 Sauvignons at our usual shack.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:42 PM on October 29, 2002

Sounds great - it's been ages since I visited the windy city. The airfares are a bit steep, though, so you will have to have one for me :-)
posted by dg at 6:44 PM on October 29, 2002

Oh my! Maurice Gee! I read him when I was a kid but never realized he was a New Zealander. Presumably the altogether awesome Patricia Wrightson is Australian? Oh well -- you can't have 'em all.
posted by Marquis at 6:58 PM on October 29, 2002

(This is where it all gets dodgy)
dg: if you need a place to stay, holloway and I would just love to have you.
posted by Catch at 7:01 PM on October 29, 2002

Miguel : deeply eerie -- I can see Dockside from my office window...
posted by John Shaft at 7:06 PM on October 29, 2002

My colleagues and I are marvelling at the breadth of your culinary expertise, Miguel. But the last time I had lunch there, it took almost an hour for my entree to arrive, and delicious thought it was, I had to wolf it, which rather spoilt the experience.

Do let us know if you're coming. We can take you on a guided Martini tour of Wellington. Q, Jet, Motel, Tupelo, Good Luck. Bring your own wheelbarrow.

One little quibble though - any lobster you get here in NZ will be "Rock Lobster", known here as crayfish. They're delicious, but they have no claws to crack.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:11 PM on October 29, 2002

Is it just opening for lunch, John, you lucky sod? ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:37 PM on October 29, 2002

(aside) it had better not be, it's 4:39pm.
posted by Catch at 7:38 PM on October 29, 2002

Joe's spleen: that would be what we call the lagosta here, or spiny lobster. It's slightly rarer and more expensive(about $80 a kilo) than the lobster proper($70) and no more kosher, so I guess we'll be quite glad to make do with them. I also suspect they're a lot cheaper in New Zealand. But that's enough derailing the Wellington party. Enjoy yourselves! I mean, if three's a crowd, I might just have a MeFi get-together in Lisbon. You know:just me, my wife and my best friend who lives three floors up, which accounts for the total MetaFilter membership in Portugal as of today.

On preview: Mmmm... shellfish and white wine for tea!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:54 PM on October 29, 2002

holloway and I would just love to have you.
Sorry, I don't do threesomes :-) Nice of you to offer, though.

i_am_joe's_spleen, do you mean Rock Lobster?
posted by dg at 7:57 PM on October 29, 2002

"...enough derailing the Wellington party"
"You might make a joke on that" said the little voice close to my ear. "Something about 'the price of fish', you know"

John Shaft, are you in, then?
dg: I am bitterly disappointed ; )

posted by Catch at 8:23 PM on October 29, 2002

> Sorry, I don't do threesomes :-)

Actually it'd be more like Roald Dahl's The Landlady.
posted by holloway at 8:26 PM on October 29, 2002

Yes, I am afraid you would be dissapointed ;-)
posted by dg at 8:35 PM on October 29, 2002

Isn't it the Portuguese who steam cockles open in white wine with garlic and oil, and serve them drenched in the reduced liquor?

*homer simpson noises*

Somewhere I have a biography of an Anglo-Jewish Law Lord, who when asked why he did not obey kashrut, replied that he could not believe the Almighty had really chosen "to prohibit such a variety of delicious foodstuffs".

Returning to the Wellington theme momentarily, I can tell you all that the McCashins' 2000 Cab Sav I bought on special at the Chaffer's St New World is savoury indeed.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:42 PM on October 29, 2002

it'd be more like Roald Dahl's The Landlady.

That's OK, I don't drink tea.
posted by dg at 10:18 PM on October 29, 2002

Before this gets bumped from the 'front', I'll just confirm that holloway and I will be at Good Luck on Friday night (next), probably indecently early, like half-seven, and we may be wearing carnations .... and then again we might not.
Just hunt about for the table with that indefinable odour of sophistication and a pile of empty Sapporo bottles.
posted by Catch at 12:33 PM on October 31, 2002

Good Luck, 7:30, Friday. Roger.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:10 PM on October 31, 2002

I'll be with you in spirit, if not in spirits.
posted by dg at 1:44 PM on October 31, 2002

It's nice to see the gatherings getting closer to home. Soon Auckland will have its day, you mark my words. Until then, I shall endeavour to imbue my favourite drinking-holes with a level of sophistication worthy of the Wellingtonians.
posted by nomis at 5:09 PM on October 31, 2002