Ranting about shopping

On more than one occasion, I have hit up against the hard rock of my parents wanting to buy me a present from a multinational company, and being unable to.

Lush Cosmetics is one of the places who have products that I adore. (I see that their site has been hacked. Oops). My mom tried to order me a gift basket from them a couple of years ago. When she got to the checkout, she went to put in her billing details, but it wouldn't let her use a non-NZ address. Their answer: You just can't.

Apple is the other one. My dad wanted to buy me an iPad last year for my birthday*. No amount of permutations or combinations would allo him to actually purchase me one on his credit card. I called customer service, and the guy I spoke to didn't think it would be a problem, until he actually tried it. Total fail. In the end, my dad transferred the money to me and I ordered it. Pain in the ass, and ruins any surprise there might have been.

I was browsing the easter sale on the Kathmandu web site, and looked to see if they have the same problem. They do. Why? I'd love to be able to say to my parents that Kathmandu gift certificates would be an awesome present (they would). But they can't order them.

I'm limited to Amazon to be able to provide them with an easy place to get me a gift cert. Curiously, I have ordered gift certificates from a Canadian book retailer for my sisters using my NZ credit card without any trouble. On my first order on the card, they contacted me for further verification details and then, no problems.

Maybe I'm missing something. Is there a reason why retailers in NZ don't / won't allow out of country people to order from their site? I've got to think that there would be a good market for such a thing given the number of migrants in this country? If you know of a company that does allow out of country buyers to ship internally, please let me know! I'm happy to reward them with purchases. :)

* Yes, I am spoiled. I'm comfortable with that.

Broccoli salad (for Cipri)

2 heads of broccoli, cut into small pieces (I just use the flowers, but feel free to throw a little stem in there)
2-3 spring onions chopped
1/4 cup (give or take) of sharp cheese (I used a 6 yo cheddar last time and it was delish)
4-6 slices of bacon fried crispy and broken into pieces

Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp sugar (to taste really)
1 tbsp vinegar

mix in a large bowl and toss with dressing.

Just when I thought bacon couldn't be any tastier ...

Maple Pecan Sundae with Candied Bacon

4 slices of bacon
2tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 200 C. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a rack in the middle. Place the bacon on the rack and sprinkle evenly with 1 tbps of the sugar. Bake until the sugar is melted (about 8 minutes). Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the bacon on the same side. Return to the oven and bake until the bacon is deep brown and glazed (10-12 minutes). Remove from the oven.

Preheat the broiler. Place the bacon under the broiler until the sugar bubbles, watching to prevent burning (about 1 minute). Remove and let cool on the rack. When cool, cut into 1 cm pieces.

3/4 cup Maple Syrup
2 cinnamon sticks (broken in half)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup pecan pieces

Put the maple syrup and cinnamon in a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce to medium heat and simmer until sauce is thickened and reduced to 1/2 to 2/3 cup (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and remove cinnamon. Mix lemon juice in sauce. This can be made up to 2 hours before serving. Keep at room temperature.

To serve: mix pecans, candied bacon with the sauce and serve over vanilla ice cream. Delicious!