Dinning with the Kiwis

For a night away from MacTown, and town for that matter, Thursday night "Dine with the Kiwis," is a great escape. On this particular Thursday, Me, Zachary, Amanda, Troy, Travis, Kelli, Cara, Brett and Jonathan climbed into the shuttle (driven by Grump) for an evening of delicious food, drinks and artificial fireside time.

Let the fun begin!

Mmmmm...dinner and wine!

Brett, Travis enjoy a nice MOA brew while Troy sips on
an L&P (New Zealand carbonated lemon water).

All smiles for picture time!

Inside the teeny, tiny Kiwi greenhouse.

I spy a little red tomato amongst all those green leaves!

Little sprouting plants!

The outside of the teeny, tiny Kiwi greenhouse.

MOA! New Zealand brewed beer - ANTARCTIC EDITION!

And a reminder of what happens at Scott Base to rowdy Americans!

"Picnic in the Park" at the Greenhouse

The greenhouse has a new ongoing event called "Picnic in the Park." The Galley (or in this case, Emily) makes you a sack lunch, or you can get your own food from and take it up to the greenhouse. Recreation even coordinated shuttles to drive people up so we can all maximize our time amongst the plants.

I signed up for Friday and had picnic lunch with Larry, Joseph, Gareth, Kyle and Emily. It was delightful.

Tomatoes...

lovely tomatoes.

Emily, this year's green house technician.

A jalapeño flower!

Face toward the light, smile on.

Nasturtium leaves - nice and peppery.

The Lunch Bunch: Gareth, Kyle and Larry.

The underside of nasturtiums.

Emily bags the harvest.

Grow plants grow!

Sprouting herbs!

Corn flowers!

Kyle certainly enjoys the greenhouse!

BIG beautiful green leaves!

Cucumber!

A cucumber flower!

Kyle relaxes in the comfy chair.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Fried green tomatoes.

Jalapeños!

Larry lounges in the hammock.

As does Joseph.

Emily harvests some leaves.

Green, leafy heaven.

Kale.

Flowering Bok Choy.

I feel like this sometimes...dried up and barren.

Ahhh...88ºF!

Emily makes me smile.

Dinner at Scott Base

On Thursday, I received a special invitation to Scott Base for dinner to meet Jana, a lovely Czech-Kiwi, with whom, I will be sharing the winter. The evening included greenhouse collaboration, a delicious Indian meal, hokey-poky ice cream (YUMM!!), marinating by the fire, spectacular views, penguins, friends, feathers, rat tails, scary stories and fun for all.

DELICIOUS! Spinach Saag with Tofu, Tandoori Chicken and
Indian Yogurt and Cabbage Salad all la Chef Lance!

Sully was the first to be feathered!

Then Mel...

and Kory

and Jana (what a pretty blue!)

and finally, Lance, who got a feather rat tail!

Jana and Mel looking at all the feathers and color choices.

Emily and Lance talk about hydroponics for growing greens during the winter.

An amazing view of the permanent (or not so permanent) ice shelf.

Steam coming off of the open water as the setting
sun casts a low and lovely glowing light.

Mel and Jana share some scary stories.

They've got Kori and Sully wide eyed and on the edge of their seats!
What a nice toasty fire!

The sun is a settin'.

Penguins frolic and squawk out by the remaining pressure ridges.

Picturesque Antarctica. The perfect end to the perfect night!