Asian Express: October 2011

As you may or may not know, The All Blacks just won the Rugby World Cup after a 24 year drought since winning the inaugural tournament in 1987; it was a glorious day, night, week, month. The branding of 'Chokers' can now be laid to rest. They beat France in the final winning by just 1 point. Final score 8 - 7. Did they play well? Yes. Did they deserve the win? Yes. Did the All Blacks win the game or did France lose it? I pick the latter.
But lets rewind a few weeks back in time.

Ever since arriving back in New Zealand, I have gone on and on about how amazing Chicago deep dish pizza's are. One Saturday, Mike and I spent 2hrs driving to different supermarkets to buy the ingredients required. The core ingredients needed were:

500gm Mozzarella Cheese
200gm Pepperoni
500gm Italian Sausages
1 x Green Pepper
1 x Red Onion
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Cup Cornmeal
2 Hella awesome guys to make this feast

The end cost of the pizza was over $40NZD but it would easily feed 6 people. It was well worth the cost and time spent making this cheese and meat feast. It would also make a great dish for small dinner parties served with a side of mesclun, cucumber, red onions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. My book titled 'Soh you like salad' will be released in Fall 2012.

My mate Richard Dalton is getting married in early November and he asked if I could give him a hand one Saturday with some gardening at his parent's place and I happily obliged. Saturday morning came and texts were sent back and forth to ensure we had the correct tools for the job. It was only going to be a small job and wouldn't take more than an hour (so he said). On my arrival, the task was explained to me and expletives were flying left, right and centre. It was impossible to complete the task in one hour and there were 5 of us. It was more landscaping than gardening; move about 20 cubic metres of green waste from the front yard to fill the swimming pool in the rear so it can be top soiled.

We played old school songs and started work. 20mins later, it started to rain and we found cover under a balcony. We were standing there for a good 5mins before Richard asked 'Want a beer?'
It would be rude not to accept the kind offering from the host. We finished our beers and were back in business again. An hour later, the rain paid another visit so off we go under the balcony to take cover and drank more beers then it was back to the grind.
2 hours later, we stumbled upon a beehive in amongst the waste and the smartest idea was to pour petrol on it, light it on fire, watch it burn.............and have beers.
After that session, I was having a hard time pushing the wheel barrow.

Sunday 23rd October, the finals of the Rugby World Cup were to commence at 9:00pm. The plan was to meet at Richard's place at 2pm to have a few beers then head on down to the pub at 5pm to get a good spot for the game. We decided on Mac's Brewery which is conveniently next to the Fan Zone.
The pub was crammed with people both inside and outside, the Fan Zone roared with excitement, the people were impatient lining up (suckers!). We came, we saw, we conquered! Well done All Blacks!
I don't remember recording the last video, although I did look coherent.

Sam

Burn Baby Burn – 14.3 MB

Post World Cup Final 1 – 14.3 MB
Post World Cup Final 2 – 14.2 MB
Post World Cup Final 3 – 14.2 MB