four years living in Ōtautahi ~
this past year was hardest one yet, thought a lot about ‘giving up’ and moving back to tāmaki. but persevered and now more content than ever being here 😌
heading into year five in my own little home, in the most beautiful community, near the river Ōpāwaho (pictured), feeling grateful for my people — near and far
still can’t tell you why I decided to move here, or what I’m doing with my life lol but we’re muddling along, attempting to enjoy it and be present ✨
This year I joined Emma in her one goal: to find the best Japanese in Christchurch.
I don’t know about Emma, but I’m going to say we failed. Let’s put it down to budget and time constraints.
It started, the way any project I’m involved in does, with a lot of research. We set some loose parameters that I mostly don’t recall (excluding ramen was one), and narrowed our quest down to 10 restaurants. Which in hindsight, was a bit ambitious — we managed to visit 5.
We spent the whole first meal defining our criteria and decided we’d attempt to always order agedashi tofu, karaage chicken, edamame and sashimi.
Our last stop, which I didn’t post about at the time, was Kumo on 12th November. I’m a little surprised it’s ended up in 5th place but I think this is a reflection of it being mostly sushi train, overall better suited to a lunch than dinner.
Now, it’s possible we could have found the best in the first half of our mission, however I suspect the best is yet to come. But we’ll never know because here ends our pursuit. 2026 will be the year of more affordable goals for us.
Although.. if you think you know where the best Japanese in Christchurch is, let me know and I might launch a side quest to try it in 2026.
Final rankings
#1 Tomi 8.2
#2 Koji 7.1
#3 Kinji 7
#4 Tony’s 6.85
#5 Kumo 6.6
Total spent: $311pp
Average rating: 7.15
Thank you @emmawilli99 for letting me.. obsess over your goal, take photos of you eating, and always order extra rice. 🍚 🩶
moments from 4 days in tāmaki makaurau
1. twin oak drive - looking up
2. opshopping, snapped for @_hananja__
3. @blindcharliecat
4. my littlest niece 🌼
5. ironing my shirt while someone demands breakfast
6. My first @holiday.uptown (coffee) with @iamdanielling
7-9 Glenbrook Vintage Railway x 3
10. Best dressed on the train
11. My fav photographer @beckimoss_
12. Becki and @missbookish 🫶
13. Charlie up to his usual morning routine
14. hair & nail salon by Aunty Erica
15. Giving biggest niece’s Dad (my bro) a lesson in ‘Elsa plaits’
16. Bonus: arrived home to broccoli ready to harvest
✨
• Engage your noticing brain
• Be immersed in the physiology of being alive.
• Be radically present
3 little takeaways from seven pages of scrawled notes and the promise of copy of the slides to come
Yesterday I had the immense privilege of hearing @jeffcrabtree speak at @parachute_music
And the only photo I took was of these rainbows afterwards, which feels fitting.
It must be 13 or so years since I first heard Jeff share, shortly after releasing his book ‘living with a creative mind’.
I found it revolutionary then, and since then he’s gone on to do incredibly significant work in the creative arts space, including research into harassment in the music industry.
Ka pai tō mahi 🙏
a break from regular programming to share a photo of my face
last night at the @apraamcosnz Silver Scroll Awards with @fazerdaze & @daverowlandsx 💫
has been a huge year and I’m so proud and honoured to be on team Fazer 🫶
Another week of moments, more magical than mundane thanks to whānau visiting from Te Ika-a-Māui
1. Post-storm bluebird day
2. Fresh flowers and delicious dessert hosted by @miriamjessief
3. Joy in the Laidlaw hallway @zara.michelle 🤗
4. Lunch time seminar on the cost of living crisis with my favourite journalist @danielbrunskill
5. Storm prep
6. Lunch time story time but I got left watching the props while some other drama unfolded off screen
7. Plants on fence
8. Plants on wall
9. Celebratory lunch with Amelia at Odeon
10. Looking for a book at the library to show @abigoodhew (it wasn’t there)
11. Okay this was a funny one. Walking back to my car I heard a lot of bird chatter and discovered a family of Spur-winged plovers in the middle of this gravel pit in central chch
12. Sprouts from seeds planted last Sunday
13. Hotel tea for 4
14. Bought a tape @birdlingsflat
15. Picnic lunch by the river with my favourite 97 year old (and Aunty and Uncle)
16. Plants by the river
17. @artscentrechch
18. Cute as candles at @frances_nation_shop
19. Parsley gone to seed
Looking forward to another week of noticing little things that catch my eye ✨
a mid-week magical moment*
walked into @miriamjessief ’s office and was aesthetically pleased by her glasses resting on her book pile
bright colours are not my natural choice, and definitely not pink and purple, but the colourful things @miriamjessief imposes on my eyeballs bring me immense joy 🩷💜
*but not mundane, I need to work on my vocab if I’m going to keep up this alliteration game
Some weeks are harder than others, and this was one of those. So I’m back with another round of magical mundane moments. Admittedly, most from the weekend – desperately trying to do all the grounding things to recover from the week that was 💁🏻♀️And being intentional with doing things ‘that are good for me’ ie going outside 😆
1. whekī in the backyard this morning
2. Video call with @blindcharliecat #1
3. Co-biking rendezvous point
4. Biking to co-work with @abigoodhew
5. Walked past Saturday morning cricket
6. Jasmine on aforementioned walk
7. A boat, spotted on same walk
8. Some wonderful Lino
9. Biked to Mitre10 to buy seeds
10. No explanation necessary
11. Ducks on the driveway
12. Bee!
13. Baked focaccia
14. Sunday morning coffee (over-frothed) in the sunshine
15. Biked to church for the first time
16. Onions
17. An onion that looks like an apple
18. Pickled onions
19. Video call with Charlie #2 (feat my parents)
I’ve been reflecting this week on why I enjoy what some may consider chores ie cooking, gardening, (and now pickling!?). And I think it’s because 100% of my work involves staring at a computer screen so it’s refreshing to do things that engage all my senses (voluntarily) and have a tangible, physical (ie not digital) outcome.
And thus ends another week of magical mundane moments, with a side of ‘I’ve been thinking…’
magical mundane moments
my friend @lauren.lawson__ shared with this caption and it made me reflect on some of the random little everyday things I’ve found beauty or joy in this past week ✨
1. Noticing the clouds looking a bit special
2. Waiting for a flight feat. a rainbow
3. Koru Hour
4. $99 of petrol
5. Fixing my car because I didn’t want to pay a professional/man to do it
6. Overgrown parsley
7. Saved the extra sauce from a takeaway curry and cooked it up into a new meal
8. Wong bok gone to seed for the bees
9. Kōwhai spotted while getting a coffee at Grizzly
10. Helping friends assemble their new sofa bed
11. In the queue at EcoDrop
12. Trimmed the parsley
13. Blossom season
14. Sausage sizzle after church
15. Fried chicken sandos by @papas.smashies (these were far from mundane)
grateful for a week at ‘the beach house’ with my @teamempathynz friends!* We’re a fully remote team, so super special to be together in Whangaruru 🌞
feat. rainy beach walks, first swim of the almost summer, board games, daily @askdeeperquestions , delicious kai and lots of mahi 💛
*(just the Aotearoa based ones, missed our international teamies split across multiple other continents)
