Shakes, quakes and cakes

Well, this post was going to be about what we did at the weekend, but events took over with an earthquake of 6.5 on Sunday evening.  We were on a bus coming home from the cinema, and didn’t really feel it too much as a result, though we have felt a few of the aftershocks.  Only a few things fell over at home, and nothing was broken, for which we are extremely grateful and feel very lucky.  The CBD (Central Business District) was pretty much closed all of Monday, and we got an unexpected day off work.  In fact, we have not been able to return to the building we work in all week.   Much is still being written and said about the earthquake of course, and today we learned part of the South Island has moved by 5cm which you can read about here.

Before the quake, we had been to the cinema to see ‘The World’s End’, the latest Simon Pegg film, which we enjoyed (though I still like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ best of the ‘Cornetto trilogy’).  We went to The Embassy cinema, which is the one that hosted the premier of the first Hobbit film, as well as others.  While the building perhaps does not look anything spectacular outside, it is amazing inside.

Before going in, I had a rather gorgeous fig and Manuka honey ice-cream, not something I would normally do, but we both felt ‘in need’ of one before the film.  It was full of pieces of figs and really quite indulgent.   On the way out, we looked into the bar downstairs which you get to through the entrance below.

Where does this tunnel go?

What with one thing and another, I made no pastry this week and did no baking of any sort.  I did however buy a friand tin.

My latest cake related purchase

These little cakes are made with egg whites and are supposed to be very light.  As I am never likely to have any spare egg whites, I guess I will have to find a use for the left over egg yolks – suggestions please. If you want to know more about friands check out this great blog Eat Little Bird.