Produce here is expensive, especially at the big grocery stores. We look for it at smaller fruit & veggie shops when we can, where things are generally much cheaper. A little while ago I popped into a small Indian grocery to see what they had and happily scored some inexpensive garlic, dates, a little turmeric, and something I had never seen before: fresh coriander. I thought cool, I've only ever seen this in a spice jar! It looked and smelled familiar, but I didn't make the connection until I saw a post from an Aussie friend about all the food names she gets tripped up on in the States: it turns out that what they call coriander here is actually cilantro. If you're thinking, "That's confusing. Those are two different seasonings," you're right in my head space. So I googled it, and it turns out they're not! They are the same plant. It was like discovering Bruce Wayne had been Batman the whole time. In Australia and New Zealand they call the whole plant by one name. For whatever reason, in the U.S. we call the fresh leaves cilantro--a Spanish name that doesn't exist over here--and the seeds coriander. Add a shady mask, it's still the same sly character. So there you are. We've all been duped.
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Thursday night combined two awesome things I definitely recommend tracking down: burgers (of course) and What We Do in the Shadows, a comedy about a group of vampire roommates from Wellington struggling to navigate the mores of eternal life, household chores, and facebook. We say: so many thumbs up! Go rent it. Now, to the dinner part of your cultural dinner & a movie combo: BurgerFuel is a New Zealand chain, and as of last month they made a deal with OhCal Foods (who apparently also own Subway) so...it's coming to the U.S.! I know, we're not exactly lacking in burger chain choices stateside, but what the heck, it's America! We can't see the same stars from here, so instead you can stare wistfully into the distance while you're eating BurgerFuel and think of us 8,000 miles away, possibly eating the same thing; in that way we'll be cosmically linked, through hamburger. And kumara fries. Maybe it's not quite as poetic as that scene from An American Tail, but work with me. Exactly the same ingredients as Vegemite, but with a little sugar to take off the edge. I think it tastes a bit like salt lick and molasses. I don't want it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but it's not so bad. We've had it a few mornings on toast with cheese. Though for some reason, the name just won't stick in our foreign brains.
Because we're already hobbits, we decided it was time for second breakfast pretty much the moment we got into Auckland. When you can't sleep, eat! From there we jumped straight into all the boring stuff: setting up a local bank accounts and mobile numbers, and applying for an IRD number (for taxes). Then we hit the grocery store to get some food for the week, including some old school no-cream-removed super fatty milk we couldn't resist buying. We made oatmeal with it that turned out tasting like pudding. Delicious! If you're reading this from home, it's already tomorrow here. We're cozied up right on the other side of the international date line, and cool fact I learned today: in summer (so, around New Year's) New Zealand is the first place on earth to see the light of day. Here's an article that explains more: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10776581 We haven't gotten to know many Kiwis yet, but they seem like our kind of people. While I was cleaning up our breakfast one of the bowls slipped from my hand, bounced off the counter, and crashed onto the floor with that loud breaking sound that always stops a room in its tracks. Instead of leaving me to awkward shame, everyone cheered in solidarity. I started picking up the pieces, and a guy came out with a broom like he was on parade. It was amazing. I hope that rubs off on me. |
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