Mark's Birthday

On Saturday, July 5th, Mark's Birthday,  we went up to Matakana  and spent some time strolling through the farmers market.It was windy and chilly, but it was so lovely to see so many artisan stands and home-grown foods both fresh and canned. There were little bakeries selling sweets, a few cheese carts, lots of fruit and vegetable stands and some craft sections. I was a little sad that there were no farmers selling wool/homespun yarn as sometimes, from the research I have done, you can find wool artisans at the markets.  

After the market, we went to a cute little bar/restaurant place to have lunch called the Rusty Pelican. It is known for its wood fired pizza, so naturally, Mark and I ordered appetizers not related at all to pizza (think potato skins). 

Once finished lunch we perused some of the shops along the area, waiting for our movie to start. We spent the most time in the cutest little bookstore with fluffy over-size reading furniture and adorable coffee table books including one called "Stick Man's Really Bad Day". We flipped through the book, laughing at some of the signs, and recognizing others from our trips around New Zealand and North America. 

The movie theater, which Mark had blogged about before, was the most stunning place I have been. It was comparable to the Imperial Theater at home with massive fluffy seats that you can tuck your legs up and still have room, the fanciest wallpapered walls, a beautiful stunning chandelier, and a mini table by each chair rather than a cup-holder. The refreshment stand served wine, ice cream and other fancy movie snacks. No popcorn for this fancy theater. Mark and I both enjoyed the movie, How to Train your Dragon 2, and I fell in love with the soundtrack. 

We were welcomed with warm German arms at our friends place in Leigh for the evening to a Chilean styled feast for supper, too many hands of card to count, a snack of Maple Brie and Crackers (Mark and I take this dish everywhere as Maple is not that big in NZ and so many people are pleasantly surprised at the yummieness) and some fun conversation. The next morning we had a very-laid back stunning spread for brunch and then Mark and his friend played some tactical board games before we left mid afternoon. It was a lazy Sunday for all 4 of us, but it was a lovely day spent with friends. 

Mark and I did a cake later on in the week as he was really wanting to have an ice-cream styled cake. Unfortunately, we were unable to bring it to Matakana/Leigh as it would have melted on the drive up.