Thanksgiving in Aotearoa

So I just happened to have off last Thursday so I had time to plan a Thanksgiving meal. I jogged my memory for some family favorites and came up with the 5 cup Fruit salad, Parmesan mashed potatoes, Green salad with fruit & blue cheese, Savory stuffing, Dinner rolls and then added Carrots with caramelized onions & ginger and Mango passion fruit juice.

The turkey was a 4.1 kilo bird at just under $50.. I scrambled around in the garden and spiced it up with Rosemary, Parsley, Lemon, Garlic, Onion and salt & pepper. The legs were tied up and wings tucked under and then placed it in a large oven bag. Voila into the oven! After gauging the Fahrenheit to Celsius oven times I left it for 3 hours. Then it rested happily on the stovetop waiting to be sliced for 20 minutes. The drippings were amazingly not too fatting and made a perfect gravy.

Dessert was pumpkin pie and whipping cream. Literally one pie and one bowl of whipping cream. I researched buttery crusts and was quite pleased at the outcome taste-wise.. unfortunately my guessing at temperatures the first time around in the morning created a burnt crust. The pumpkin pie filling was lovely. There was no canned pumpkin to cheat with so the pumpkin had to be cooked and then mashed before baking. Overall, a success! I would cook the turkey a bit shorter next time as it was a bit dry and will definately use the same pumpkin pie recipe! Mmm! Can't wait till next thanksgiving!

Power struggle

So weeks before we move to New Zealand we stock up on several electronic devices to use for our wedding but plan to continue using upon leaving the country. We arrive in New Zealand and spend almost a week without a converter to the NZ power outlets. We purchase one and use it for my camera battery charger and it's sweet. We try to use it for the tanning gun and it shorts out. I try to use it with my curlers and it heats up too hot to touch. I use it for my hair dryer and it starts to smell burnt. We attempt to use it on our hair trimmers and it fizzles out. What's the deal folks?? Well apparently in NZ the normal voltage from a power outlet is at least 230-240 at 50 hertz! The average US power plug supply is 110-120 volts at 60Hz. So basically we're not on the same page here as in the US. As a result most of our electronics we brought and used are fried.. I still sneak on my hair dryer for about 2 minutes until it smells like burning hair and then I stop. I figure that I'll use it until it dies and then fork over the money for a new one. You can purchase transformers but they can be massive (like 50lbs!) Word of advice: Don't bring a lot of big electronics to NZ!

Summer at the Beach?

Whew! The days are flying past! No idle hands here.. busy bee all week. I think I'll do a few photo posts for fun just to show a bit of New Zealand. Enjoi ;-)

A few days at the beach..

Dreaming of summer holiday

Snorkel to goat island? chicken island?

Take a dip in the crystal clear ocean.

Lazy weekend days

I've been enjoying my weekends not working.. This past Sunday we had a bit of a lazy day and went for walk in the Auckland Botanical Gardens. It is HUGE! And amazingly enough, it is free to the public! There were lots of families having a look about and with most of the paths you can take a stroller along or even a wheelchair. There are lots of native ducks in the streams and ponds to see. We headed straight for my favorite subject to photograph at the moment.. roses! I think I saw the most roses in my life there. The air was sweet and succulent with their essence. I snapped away happily as the summer sun shined down warm enough to have people start undressing. One of the only days we've had so far where a tank top or t-shirt and shorts is enough to get by. All of my picture snapping zapped my batteries and I was tired before we had seen the whole park. We missed the Sculpture Gardens but we'll just save that for another day..

Bathrooms disguised as a cottage in a Secret Garden.
A very modern cafe with biscuits, scones and hot drinks.
Newly designed main information building.

Yesterday we were at one of the few NZ/Australia banks and I noticed a hot drink machine. You can get hot chocolate or hot lattes for free! I asked the teller for a cup because they were missing but she came back with "the machine isn't working right now." The sign said it was only for customers seeing a personal banker but I think we qualified since we were for at least 35 minutes. Most of the banks here look very modern and some almost space age (ANZ.)

We've found eating out is quite pricey here. You can go to a burger joint and pay $30 for a meal for two! I mean it is the best burgers around..but still $30??! Even fast food chains are more expensive here. The GST is 12.5% on most goods and services and is usually built into the price already. So you pay the price you see and forget a large chunk is because of taxes.

Spring in the City

Today we hopped downtown for a quick peep around. The city is built on hills so manual may not be the best choice for cars.. The city streets do not go in cookie cutter square blocks like in the US. They go around and stop here and there. After parking and going for a stroll to find lunch we were quite puffed! I can imagine if we lived in the city and traveled around on foot we would be buff! We were in some casual threads but everyone else was dressed to the nines in black business attire. Even the ladies had on suits and heels. We found the parking very dear, about $12 a hour! Luckily we managed to get ours validated!

I gave it a go at driving stickshift a few days ago. It wasn't quite as bad as expected. I think I only stalled 3 times in 45 minutes. I did a few hill starts and passed but failed to turn into the correct lane several times.. oops! Hopefully with more practice I can give my Kiwi a break and drive him around.

There is Sculpture in the Gardens at Auckland Botanical Gardens starting November 7th. There is free entry to see 20 sculptures by top New Zealand artists 7 days a week from 9am to dusk. Find out more about it here: http://www.aucklandbotanicgardens.co.nz/stoneleigh-sculpture-in-the-gardens/

I'm getting used to the daylight here as we have it most of the day until about 8pm or so.. Being in Hawaii with 5 years without daylight savings you get thrown out of the loop! It makes for a much longer and enjoyable day I think. It cools down a bit more when the sun goes down but it seems to be getting a bit warmer. A lady told me today that this was the coldest October in the past 25 years. Crazy, ay?

Food and Frivolity

I'm getting used to the New Zealand accents here. It still sounds quite musical though, especially the females. The other day I was at the mall in the Roxy store when a girl popped up beside me and said "What did you get up to today?" in her singsongy voice. And me being a bit lost said "What??" She responded to my dumbfounded face, "A bit of shopping, aye?" with a smile on her face. I nodded and turned back to the shirt I was holding in front of me. Everyone is quite friendly here. When you go into places people greet you with an informal "hey!" as if you are mates already.

There seems to be some large numbers of other nationalities aside from the majority of European and native Maori people here. There is a strong Asian population in NZ as well as Indian population. The indians have kept their own accent, but most of the asians seem to have assimilated and speak like other Kiwis. These indians and asians own quite a few of the fish and chip shops.. not necessarily the best ones but they get buy with what they sell.

Speaking of fish and chips.. I've been able to try a few shops the past few days and am pretty happy with what I've tasted. Moist fresh fish wrapped in fluffy fried batter that melts in your mouth. If it's really tasty you don't even need a sauce to go with it. But tartare is usually a safe bet. The regular chips are good as well, but I'm partial to the Kumara chips. Kumara chips are a bit sweeter as they are in the sweet potato family. They have a yellow flesh and make a sweet and salty chip. The very best way to eat them is with garlic aioli. I have found maple syrup is a pretty good second choice.

I have a few other favorites so far..

A favorite buttercup field; right down the road from where we are staying.. It's about one acre by one acre.. surrounded my a wooden fence and trees.. In sunlight the buttercups burn brightly, a perfect compliment to the blue sky above.

A favorite pasture animal: Deer! You would probably guess sheep since they are all over here but I've been fascinated by the deer herds here. I haven't seen so many in one place together. When you drive past you see a juxtaposition of heads in all different directions watching warily like they are in the wild not a fenced lot.

A favorite game: Rummikub, you can play with as little as two people so it's perfect for my kiwi and I. It's similar to scrabble but all numbers and no board. The goal is to get rid of all your tiles by making a series of color runs or numerical matches.

A favorite biscuit (cookie); A chocolate cookie with mint fluff on top and wrapped in molten chocolate. mmm.

A favorite mid day munch: chunks of crystallized ginger rolled in sugar. A bit of heat and a bit of sweet.

A favorite juice box drink: Black currant; sweet almost like cotton candy with out the tartness of grape juice.

I'm familiarizing myself with the food here, and haven't been to sick to my stomach. We drink A LOT of juice here but that's also because it's so delicious. Mango and orange is popular and raspberry lemonade. We just drink it straight from the carton. Drinks at food shops are quite dear (in kiwi terms) around $2 for a can of soda and $3 and up for anything else. Your best bet is to buy large drinks at the grocery store for the same price and more volume. I'm off to try some valencia orange juice now. ciao.

My favorite rock.

Left is Right

I'm getting used to the lefts around here. Left is which side of the road you drive on, wheel to the center of the road. Left is which side I sit on as a passenger in the car. Left is where you can people watch all the other drivers on the road. Left is for slow moving vehicles. Left lane is for exiting the freeway. Left turn on red is allowed.

The roads are so nice and smooth here. There is a bit of construction going on but it seems to only be a minor nuisance and before you know it you have moved on. Once I was thinking this is as well maintained as a toll road when my Kiwi chimed in "This is one of the only toll roads in New Zealand!" It was wide and high as we paved our way through hillsides and over valleys. Everything is quite modern here.. the tollroad doesn't have any toll booths. It has cameras that track the vehicles on it and you have 5 days prior to using it to pay the fee online. www.tollroad.govt.nz

I love the countryside here it reminds me a bit of the east coast in Maryland. The road goes through green rolling hills that wind you up and down through narrow passes. I've learned that everyone here accelerates up hill quite quickly and zip around as though they've seen the countryside too many times to be bothered. I watched the countryside blur past sadly as cars pressed up behind insistent on getting to their destination.

I've been snapping a few shots of our adventures so far. Unfortunately today the power in the house went out and I have not one but two flat batteries that need to be charged for my camera. Sigh. And the south winds have died down so it's a mint day.. sun streaming in and heating up the front room and it's only half past 8am.

Chilling out

I've been in Kiwiland for 3 days now.. although it really feels like it's been a week. The air is crisp and sharp slashing at your hair and face. Your hands become numb in a minute. Yesterday I invested in two winter jackets and two pairs of pants.. These will become a staple in my Spring/Winter wardrobe.

The first day I went to some shops and thought "this is christmas!" We were at a surfwear shop called North Beach. It's the best of both worlds. It reminds me of shopping in Hawaii but instead your a season ahead of everybody and all the clothes are styled a bit different and better! Unfortunately everything is a bit more expensive here and it seems $100 is normal for any kind of dress. Oh well, my Kiwi and I will soon have jobs and then we can start building some mean wardrobes.

Speaking of jobs, I am to hear from a possible employer today! We are without consistent internet at the moment and are roaming the countryside looking for little cafes offering internet.

Welcome to Kiwiland

Kia Ora,

Arriving in New Zealand to a chilly welcome but warm reception from the people. Getting through customs was anticipated to be a hassle but no questions asked I was stamped and ushered through! I looked at my work permit and it is pretty basic but does not say anything about only contract work so that is awesome!

Everything looks so new and well put together as we drove home from the airport. The clarity of everything is stunning. A huge blue sky swallows up most of the view and then there's a blanket of bright green grass. All the buildings pop out the colors almost neon. Everything is in a variety of fonts and sizes so it gets all jumbled up into a colorful collage as you drive by.

We went grocery shopping at not one but three different supermarkets. I didn't recognize too many brands so I had to take a stroll down every aisle. Here's a few things that are different. The yogurt comes in cartons, pancake mix comes in cartons as well! You just add water and shake it up and pour.. The local cream cheese is more of a butter spread.. it has a stronger taste. But, we found Ketchup! I was so stoked..since we had some chips in the car. They wrap the chips (fries) in newspaper to keep it warm and it is super cheap to get really good tasting ones. They put fresh pepper and squeeze lemon on them for you.. mmm!

Well we are off to get our first mince and cheese pie! I've been craving one for over a year now when I first tried one last year in August.