Dinner with the Chefs, Wellington

Monday 18 February

Our friend Judy kindly drove us all around Wellington today, and there is a lot to go around - and up, and down, and up again. Perhaps the most beautiful scene was the rocky coastline where the ferry Wahine sank (and you can see why); the most surreal was the top of Mount Victoria, where we encountered busfuls of Victoria University students on their first orientation tour, accompanied by tour leaders dressed as Disney characters.

Judy also arranged something that we've never done before: her son Frank is a chef at a well-known Wellington restaurant, Maria Pia's Trattoria, and he (accompanied by his wife Jane and fellow-chef Stephen) would be preparing dinner for all of us at his own apartment that evening. We were a bit overawed by the concept of dining with chefs, but we were received and welcomed in so homey a fashion that we soon relaxed.

Both Frank and Stephen specialize, of course, in Italian food, so the dinner was in typical Italian style. The pasta course was spaghettoni alla frutti di mare è alla panna, made with a special pasta from Lecce, Benedettono Cavallieri; the clams, mussels, prawns, and other seafood swam in a rich saffron and cream sauce, and we avidly spooned up each drop from the bottom of our bowls.

Wines for this course were both 2002 Sauvignon Blancs: Hunter's and Glover's (also both genitives).

The meat course was a grand roast leg of lamb studded with garlic and rosemary, accompanied in more English style by potatoes, parsnips, and (NZ) kumara roasted in (free-range, organic) duck fat. It was accompanied by an Ata Rangi Martinborough Celebre 2002, which went with it beautifully.

Then came salad: home-grown (by Jane, on the apartment terrace) organic (but not free-range) cherry tomatoes with Italian bufala mozzarella, dressed with Capoleuca olive oil and 25-year-aged balsamic vinegar.

And finally, dessert: an AMAZING tiramisu (made with four eggs, and resulting in a long debate between Frank and Stephen as to whether four eggs was too many, or just enough - we think just enough) and a refreshing peach and kiwi berry (new fruit!) compote. The accompaniments at the end were Burnt Spur Martinborough Riesling and/or Toscana Gini grappa.

This was an evening we always want to remember. Thanks so much to Frank, Jane, Judy and Stephen, for making it possible - and delicious.