The weekend (Monday)

Now that we are a little more settled, there are those pantry-type items that you always have on hand that I needed to buy. I was thinking things like sugar, flour, etc. Instead of buying a whole collection, I’ve decided to buy these items as the need arose. There are several small stores, dairies or superettes, within walking distance, and most of these seem to have the basics in addition to convenience foods. So, if I hadn’t planned ahead, I can always run out quickly. I’ve also been trying to decide where to buy groceries. There is a butcher and a bulk foods store about ½ a block away, a grocery store about 25 minutes walk away (too far to go, I’ve decided), and just beyond the grocery store, a vege/fruit stand and a seafood store.

I’m not used to stopping several places for groceries, but I thought it would be nice to check out the smaller stores and try to shop more locally (as opposed to the chain grocery) if possible.

So I started at Bin Inn. They have some pre-packaged products, but most of their items are in, you guessed it, large bins. A big selection of cereals, granola, muesli, dried fruits; every sort of sugar, flour, yeast you can think of; cooking oils (canola, olive, sunflower, vegetable, etc); even cleaning supplies. Plus, since you are choosing the amount, I didn’t have to get a large amount of some things I didn’t think I’d need a lot of.

I then headed to Col’s Butchery. One thing Cory pointed out last week at the grocery store is that they don’t seem to have turkey. They do have a lot of cuts of lamb, a little more offal than I’m used to, and plenty of beef, pork, and chicken, though. Anyway, I bought some lamb from the very amused young clerk. (I don’t know what lamb forequarter looks like!)

I had been to the library last week and gotten some (not-large-print) NZ cookbooks and have been trying out some recipes. So far they’ve all been a hit, but then Cory is so surprised to see me cooking routinely that he probably doesn’t want to do anything that might sound ungrateful. So the lamb was for a lemon, garlic, and lamb stew. I haven’t made it yet, so I’ll keep you posted. The kumara, by the way, was great; but disappointingly, I think kumara is just another name for sweet potato, not a different vegetable. I’ve also made potato, feta, and smoked salmon pizza, pan-fried fish with braised vegetables, and lemon ricotta hotcakes. All have been pretty good.

After the butchers, I decided to head to the other stores. Both Mt. Fresh and Deli-ca-sea are just a block from the grocery store, so I figured whatever was still on my list after those two could be picked up at the grocery store.

I don’t know enough about sea food and fish to make any educated comments, but there selection seemed really good – more food that I know what to do with. (Squid? I now know how to clean out the “tubes.” “Will I?” is another question.) I got some fish fillets and smoked salmon. Helpfully they also have seafood handling tips and recipes.

Mt. Fresh had a great selection of fruits and vegetables. They are in, essentially, a shack of corrugated metal, so it felt a little bit like shopping at one of Muscatine’s melon stands. Even without the good produce, I’d be back for the nostalgia alone.

Enough about groceries – fascinating only to me probably…

Saturday we headed down to Rotorua again. There is a lot happening in this area, and we didn’t get to see all that we wanted to see last weekend. We didn’t this weekend either, but, luckily, it is a short drive and a good day-trip. We wandered their downtown area a little bit; Cory is on a quest for art galleries. Most seem to be closed up until summer, when I guess the area becomes inundated with tourists. The local paper here in the Bay referred to it snidely as “Rotovegas.” Not exactly a Vegas feel, but I get what they are driving at. We checked out the Rotorua museum; if you remember this area has a lot of thermal activity, so the smell of sulfur is on the air and therapeutic bathing was once the rage. The museum was in the old bath house, which was quite a hot spot even so many years ago.

After that, we thought we’d try finding an area called Kerosene Creek. It is a stream that is very warm and locals do their own bit of “bathing” in it. After some driving around, we did find the creek. We also ran into one of Cory’s co-workers, which was sort of amazing, as we know about a dozen people in all of NZ. He had brought his kids down for a swim. The area had actually been pretty recently deforested, except for a strip surrounding Kerosene Creek. We knew that nearby was another pool, where a cool water stream and a hot water stream mix, so we went to find that area.

This area was very cool. You have to sort of know about the area, as there are no signs on the nearby roads. But you park your car along this tiny road and wander down a dirt path between the trees; as the two small streams converge, there is a small, shallow area, where waters from both mix. It was late afternoon and the sun was setting; the temperature was perfect. It was pretty amazing.

We have these salt water pools in Maunganui, at the base of the mountain, that we haven’t even checked out yet. But they are in an actual pool setting, so you lose some of the stunning ambiance of this pool. But, someday soon, we will.

Speaking of the Mount, we walked to the summit on Sunday. We packed a small lunch and, after a somewhat arduous climb for someone who is sadly out of shape, ate lunch looking over the ocean. Cory posted some pictures from the summit – the view is pretty great. The paths up are really popular; there were tons of people out. Sadly, small children, 50 year olds, even those in heeled boots carrying purses, all seemed to be trudging up with less effort than me. Appalling, really.

Today, Monday, I am meeting one of Cory’s co-workers’ wives for lunch. She called last night and told me the name of the restaurant. I’ve written down “Elemental, Alimento, Elemento???” She gave me directions, so I do know where I’m heading, down the specific block, at least, but I was hoping to get a better fix on the name. I was sure I’d be able to find it in the phone book, but have had no such luck. So I’m leaving early to try to locate this mysterious spot. Any guesses???