Christchurch Sky Lens

At Hot PJ, we’re lucky enough to be right in the centre of town in an office above Cashel Mall. Sometimes this means we have to put up with very loud bagpipe music from the local buskers but most of the time the pros out-weigh the cons!

Today, a new sculpture has been perched above the pedestrian area just along from our office. The ‘Sky Lens’ by Neil Dawson is looking pretty great and I’m sure when the stars come out at night it’ll be fantastic to stand beneath it and look up through it at the stars.

According to an article on Stuff.co.nz the lens is …

… part of the City Mall revitalisation project and supported by Christchurch’s Public Art Advisory Group, which jointly funded the $140,000 project.

… and will be lit up at night which will look pretty impressive (but I hope it doesn’t ruin the view of the stars!). I hope that traffic cone isn’t there to stop it landing on people’s heads.

A great way to engage the kids, discover places you didn’t know existed in your own neighbourhood, and get some of your things done – all for free, is to go ‘geocaching’.

Geocaching involves using a GPS, (or the website maps.google.com and a bit of lateral thinking as we did to start with) to discover hidden treasure located in public places. Or as I saw it described on another website – “using multi-billion dollar satellite technology to find Tupperware hidden in the woods”.

The basic idea is to find hidden containers, which are called ‘caches’, without getting spotted by ‘muggles’ (non-geocachers). These containers generally contain a log book and ‘swaps’ – anything from junk plundered from the kids’ toybox, through to ‘travel bugs’ and ‘geocoins’ which travel the world from cache to cache.

Once a cache has been found, it is rehidden in the same place for the next person to find.  ‘Finds’ are also logged at the geocaching.com website, where you can also research what geocaches are hidden in your area. You may be surprised to find that parks you visit frequently are also home to hidden caches.

When I last looked at the geocaching website there were over 700,000 active geocaches around the world!

The website had 97,989 ‘account holders’ – people or teams registered to look for geocaches. In one week over 90,000 logs were written.  So while you may not have heard of geocaching, there are plenty of people around the world who have.

Kids really enjoy finding the caches, deciding what to swap, and writing in the log book. Combine a search for a geocache with a trip to the supermarket or a less popular excursion where you can’t avoid taking the kids.

Tip: choose the easy ones for your first ‘finds’ or if you have kids with short attention spans. There is nothing more off-putting than searching under bushes for 10-15 minutes and finding nothing! Caches are rated for difficulty by the number of stars at the top of each cache page on the website. You can also read the logs of others who have found the cache, and decrypt the ‘hint’ just incase you get stuck and need help to find the cache.

Support the ‘Cache in Trash Out’ initiative, and whenever you see rubbish lying around at any of the cache sites, pick it up and dispose of it thoughtfully.

www.geocaching.com

Here’s our summary, with each rated out of a top score of 5:

4.0   Copenhagen Bakery Hot Cross Buns (Test #3)
3.5   MacKenzie Highcountry Traditional Hot Cross Buns (Test #4)
3.5   Sydenham Bakery Hot Cross Buns (Test #7)
3.0   Brumby’s Hot Cross Buns (Test #10)
3.0   Coupland’s  Bakeries Hot Cross Buns (Test #2)
2.5   Quality Bakers Hot Cross Buns (Test #9)
2.5   KB’s Bakery Hot Cross Buns (Test #8)
2.5   Bakers Delight Hot Cross Buns (Test #6)
2.5   Tip Top Cafe Style Hot Cross Buns(Test #5)
2.0   Trocadero Family Bakeries Hot Cross Buns (Test #1)

For a special treat you can’t go past our top scoring buns from award winning bakers Copenhagen (no, they didn’t pay us to say this!).

Second choice, if you are on a budget, is the MacKenzie Highcountry Traditional Hot Cross Buns bought from New World. They must be popular because I went to by some more recently and there were none left!

Happy Easter!

(Perhaps next year we’ll review chocolate eggs – and cure us forever from craving chocolate! )

Price: $6.30 per pack of 6 ($1.05. each) plus a free loaf of bread.

Serving size: Not available

Ingredients: Not available

Appearance: Flat, wrinkled, uneven surface with broken and uneven crosses. Very sticky on top due to glaze. A lot more yellow than previous buns we’ve trialed. Appearance was improved by placing on head of foosball player.  (Now this last comment was Mark’s! Goodness knows how we will ever be taken seriously as bun critics!)
Our Ranking: 2.5/5

Smell: Pack smelt like a nice combination of fruit, yeast and spice.
Our Ranking: 3.5/5

Amount of Fruit: A good amount and well distributed. Not a lot of variety though. Quite small sultanas and hard currants.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Size: Medium -  flat!
Our Ranking: 2/5

Taste: Texture is a bit dry and bready, an aftertaste of spices and a slightly plastic taste when eaten plain. Nothing special. Slight tingling/numbness of the tongue that I can only contribute to perhaps a bit too many gloves in the spices, but this is not apparent when the buns are eaten toasted. Very sweet.
Our Ranking: 2.5/5

Value for Money: 3/5

> > > Our Overall Rating: 3 out of a possible 5  < < <

An unusual looking bun which is very yellow when compared with others. The individual look did give them a “home made” image but the taste was nothing to write home about.

Price: $2.99 for a pack of 8 ($0.37375 cents each)

Serving size: 60g.

Ingredients: Wheat and soy flour, water, fruit (13%) (sultanas and currants), yeast, sugar, gluten, spices, canola oil, salt, salt, emulsifiers (481, 471), acidity regulator  (263), vegetable gum (415).

Sugar per 100g = 17.1g
Total fat per 100g = 2.8g

Appearance: A tightly baked set of buns. Slightly floury texture on the top. Each bun is a different shape. Crosses are quite clear. Some fruit is visible from the outside. Overall fairly even, quite mainstream looking buns.
Our Ranking: 2.5 /5

Smell: At worst, like bread – no distinct fruit or spice smell. At best, a subtle smell that is not over-powering.
Our Ranking: 2.5/5

Amount of Fruit: Packet says 30% fruit consisting of sultanas and raisins. Could see plenty of big sultanas/raisins that tended to be clump together. However other buns in the pack contained very few fruit.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Size: Small
Our Ranking: 2/5

Taste: Surprisingly spicy given the lack of smell. In fact it kind of overpowered the taste of the fruit which just gave an additional texture and sweetness. The dough was dry and unappealing, basically tasted of spicy fruit bread.
Our Ranking: 2.5/5

Value for Money: 3/5

> > > Our Overall Rating:  2.5 out of a possible 5  < < <

Fairly plain buns. Easily forgotten. If we were looking to restock our bun supplies we would try something different.

Price: $4.50 per pack of 6 ($0.75 each)

Serving size: Not available

Ingredients: (not printed on the pack, had to ask to see the ingredients list but this was not available, however they did offer to ring someone to find out.)
Sugar per 100g = not available
Total fat per 100g = not available

Appearance: regular square buns, light brown colour, pale but regular crosses on top with the odd piece of large fruit poking out on some. Light glaze on top.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Smell: Very soft spice smell and debate over whether they had a bready smell or not.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Amount of Fruit: Only sultanas that were either of reasonable quantity and clumped together in some buns or low quantity in others.
Our Ranking: 2/5

Size: Medium large
Our Ranking: 3/5

Taste: Gritty and a strong flavour of cinnamon that cried out for balancing with other spices to improve the overall flavour. Slightly sweet and tangy. The fruit was a bit tasteless. Overall bland taste when toasted.
Our Ranking: 2/5

Value for Money: 3/5

> > > Our Overall Rating:  2.5 out of a possible 5  < < <

Pretty plain visuals and bland taste. If this was a logo concept, we’d be unimpressed and probably ask for more options!

Serving size: not available

Ingredients: Not available. Was told by one of the bakers they contained sultanas, currents, peel, spices and ginger.

Sugar per 100g = not available
Total fat per 100g = not available

Appearance: The darkest buns we’ve seen so far, coupled with a stark white bold cross makes for a strong contrast. Very even crosses, even shape and nicely plump with a slightly shiny glaze. Average quantity of small fruit visible from the outside.
Very soft to the touch, but under-cooked and doughy in parts. Quite fibrous texture on the inside.
Our Ranking: 4/5

Smell: A difference in opinion here; one taste tester thought that they had a reasonably pleasant smell, what you’d expect from a hot cross bun – a mix of dough and spice. However another said they had a fairly plain smell, and didn’t really have that “fresh from the bakery” smell.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Amount of Fruit: Didn’t look promising from the outside but quite liberal on the inside. Quite large and moist pieces.
Our Ranking: 4/5

Size: Large square, you wouldn’t want more for a single serving.
Our Ranking: 4/5

Taste: Lots of spice and a hint of ginger coming through. A bit doughy due to being undercooked. Tastes a lot sweeter than other buns we’ve tried so far. Leaves an aftertaste that you get with highly spiced buns, but this disappears when the buns are toasted.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Value for Money: A good mid range priced bun, just a shame ours were undercooked in parts.
4/5

> > > Our Overall Rating:  3.5 out of a possible 5  < < <

A good all rounder!

Price: $7.90 per pack of 6 ($1.316 each)

Serving size: 65g.

Ingredients: (not printed on the pack, had to ask to see the ingredients list which was freely supplied)
Wheat flour, sultanas, currants, water, sugar, yeast, canola oil, spice, salt, wheat starch, mineral salt, salt, vegetable gum, emulsifier, soy flour, flour treatment agents, enzymes, thickener, flavour, gelatin, acidity regulator, preservative, anti-caking agent.

Sugar per 100g = 22.8g
Total fat per 100g = 2.9g

Appearance: All the buns were mostly the same size, though some slightly smaller than others. Lots of fruit bursting out from the outside on some of them, less on others. Glazing on the top, though not evenly spread across the surface of all buns.

Good appearance and shape. Even crosses. Despite being part of a 6 pack, the bun still looked individual when torn.
Our Ranking: 3.5 /5

Smell: A nice spicy smell when the pack was opened, the same spicy smell when toasting. On closer smell the top smelt like bread and plain but the inside is quite spicy although not fruity.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Amount of Fruit: Some buns from the outside appeared to have more fruit than others. On the inside there was a generous amount of large currants and sultanas, fairly evenly spread throughout.

Another taste tester felt that from the outside, the amount of fruit looked fairly substantial but inside was very disappointing. He commented “I felt like a boy who had an impressively wrapped Christmas present just to find that there were just socks inside.”

Consequently our individual rankings differed substantially and have been averaged out.
Our Ranking: 2.5/5

Size: Medium.
Our Ranking: 2.5/5

Taste: Very spicy. Quite over-powering. An almost chemical taste or like plastic. Strong after-taste that lingered in the back of the throat. This taste reduced when the buns were toasted but became a bit chewy when toasted on the inside only.
Our Ranking: 2/5

Value for Money: 2/5

> > > Our Overall Rating:  2.5 out of a possible 5  < < <

Price: $3.79 for a pack of 6 (0.6316 cents each)

Serving size: 60g.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour, fruit (30%) (raisins, sultanas), water, baker’s yeast, sugar, canola oil, mixed spice, wheat gluten, salt, maize starch, modified maize starch (1422), skim milk powder, emulsifiers (481, 472e, 471), soy flour, acidity regulator.

Sugar per 100g = 24.2g
Total fat per 100g = 3.2g

Appearance: Square buns, cooked and packed as a set of 6. The set had sunk in the middle, and all the buns were squashed to varying degrees. Crosses look a bit wrinkled but are quite distinct if uneven due to the squashing. Lots of large sultanas are clearly visible from the outside. No glazing on the top. Each bun looks a bit like a beaten up loaf of bread.
When broken apart the inside was drier than all the other buns we have tested so far, which made it more springy. Evenly browned.
Our Ranking: 2/5

Smell: Like bread – no distinct fruit or spice smell. Not especially fresh
Our Ranking: 2/5

Amount of Fruit: Packet says 30% fruit consisting of sultanas and raisins. Could see plenty of big sultanas/raisins that tended to be clump together.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Size: Small to medium.
Our Ranking: 2/5

Taste: Surprisingly spicy given the lack of  smell. Infact it kind of overpowered the taste of the fruit which just gave an additional texture and sweetness. The dough I found dry and unappealing.

Pretty up and down! Bites were either moist and sweet when getting lots of fruit, or dry and pretty plain with no fruit.

Our Ranking: 2.5/5

Value for Money: 3/5

> > > Our Overall Rating:  2.5 out of a possible 5  < < <
Decidedly average Hot Cross Buns. Very plain. Nothing special. We expected more from a bun that boasted 30% fruit, “Cafe Style”.

Price: $3.75 for a pack of 4 (0.9375 cents each)

Ingredients: Wheat flour, water, fruit (21%) (sultanas, currants, citrus peel), sugar, yeast, wheat gluten, canola oil, spices, salt, soy flour, emulsifiers (433, 471, 475, 481), wheat starch, vegetable gum (415), acidity regulator (263).

Sugar per 100g = 20.6g
Total Fat per 100g = 4.0g

Appearance:  Irregular rectangular shape. Each bun has a look of a small loaf of bread or muffin with an overhang (like the muffin of the jeans variety!)  They are not as neat looking as some of the others. Moist but still springy. No glazing. The cross was quite regular even if the bun shape wasn’t.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Smell: Subtle smell, slightly spicy and yeasty, not too over-powering, but nothing particularly special.
Our Ranking: 3/5

Amount of Fruit: Packet says 21% fruit. Big sultanas,  plus currants and a few bits of citrus peel. Fruit was a bit clumped together but you would still get some  in every bite. One of our taste testers said there didn’t seem to be much fruit on first look but on opening there were some good sized pieces and a good quantity.
Our Ranking: 3.5/5

Size: Large rectangular
Our Ranking: 4/5

Taste: One taste tester said “Definite flavour of spices that slightly overpower the flavours of the fruit, but the combination is still quite pleasant. Nice soft texture without being stodgy. Toasted up nicely but could have done with a bit more fruit.”
By comparison another taste tester said “nice tasting, plenty of fruit with subtle spice flavours. Very moist despite being from a supermarket.”
Either way the ranking was the same.
Our Ranking: 3.5/5

Value for Money: Represent great taste combined with great value for money.
Our Ranking: 4/5

> > > Our Overall Rating:  3.5 out of a possible 5  < < <