On the topic of settling in, I added a couple items to the wall of decorations in the living room. In case you want to know which items I brought to the party: 1) Vintage airline travel postcard collection and 2) The Riverbreaks West Coast Tour poster.
We went to a gelato joint for dessert one night after dinner out in Ponsonby. I ended up ordering this outrageous banana waffle thing. Yum.
Breakfast a couple days later from the cafe up the road from the flat. Simple yet delicious smashed avo on toast with basil, bacon and a boiled egg.
I have not been outside enough since I've been here. I'm pretty sure the old Adrian would be pretty
While outdoorsy Adrian hasn't had much occasion to celebrate, foodie Adrian has been kept quite content. One of the early highlights so far has been the Sunday Brunch at MASU with Jess, Ngok and Rich. It starts with an all you can eat small bites bar. Yes, that AYCE includes sashimi. And, yes I got most of the value of the AYCE from eating plates (plural) of sashimi.
And then our main dishes came out (not AYCE). Short ribs, lamb shoulder (x2) and teri salmon.
Lunch ended with this epic dessert platter. Which we finished. I don't specifically remember everything on here, but the best would've been the chocolate mousse with matcha (far right).
While I've been blessed to be closer to family where I am now, I'm definitely missing out on my friends and family on the other side of the world. That includes not being around to meet this little guy. While Oliver may never read this, I hope he knows that he's got some pretty awesome parents there. Take care of them. Congrats (and good luck) Daniel and Karen!
On the topic of missing good friends, I felt a strong desire to cook up some "Chicken 40 Cloves" in honour of FBW. It starts, unsurprisingly, with 40 (or more) cloves of garlic.
Then you add chicken thighs. And you put it all into a cast iron casserole.
After a bit of time and heat, you end up with something that looks like this and tastes amazing. Having this dish for dinner helped some, but I still miss you all heaps (especially after reading something like this). I hope you'll all come down to visit soon!
Dinner at Takara Ramen with good friends. Can't really ask for more on my b-day. In case you wanted to know, I ordered the Tonkotsu ramen.
And then family time. I've always loved a good bbq and that was my only request. While the weather didn't cooperate (a thunderstorm hardly makes for appropriate outdoor cooking conditions), we improvised by dragging the bbq into the carport. Problem solved.
Meat & veggie. Yum.
And the rest. We don't mess around.
As good flatmates, Mark & I went to support Jess during her Jiu-Jitsu competition. We even got to see her apply a choke and win her fight! In the end, a well deserved 2nd place medal to decorate the flat!
A NYC-style pizza place opened just up the road from the flat so we had to go try it. Behold, Epolito's "Godfather" pizza (18" XL) with pepperoni, sausage, meatball, onion, mushrooms, olives and jalapeños.
I'm pretty stoked to have a legit pizza place nearby where I know I can get a good slice!
A spot of good weather meant we had an opportunity to hit the West Coast and spend time at the beach! Piha, you beauty.
The Keyhole through Camel Rock. So cool.
One last shot of Piha. As the day wore on, more and more surfers joined the lineup. I'm looking forward to getting out there in the not too distant future.
Another week, another trip to Takara Ramen. This time, with my family. I opted to try the Black Sesame Tan Tan Ramen this time. So flavourful. As much as I consider Tonkotsu to be my ultimate favourite type of ramen, I think I'll opt for this when I visit again in the future. They make it better than their Tonkotsu in my opinion.
Celebrating Queen's Birthday Weekend with an unexpected visit to the mini exhibition. Complete with monarchy themed photo ops!
NZ played host to the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup and I feel pretty lucky that I got to go see a match between NZL and USA. The match started excellently for the Kiwis with a few good chances for goals coming early. And then the match turned pretty one-sided with an outcome of 4-0 to the Americans. Well played match but just disappointing to the home crowd that it didn't stay competitive. Regardless, pretty enjoyable experience other than the thunderstorm that passed through prior to kick-off.
Braised Korean Beef and Sweet Potato. Another excellent usage of the cast iron casserole!
And why not bring a little bit of Island flavour to NZ. I didn't realise how much I missed Local Hawaiian Cuisine until I made this.
Not sure how many of you may have heard of the Amorphophallus titanum (or as it has become colloquially known, the Corpse flower). Auckland's Wintergarden has one and it happened to go through its flowering cycle recently. A group of us went to check it out over the weekend and you can see it getting ready to spread its foul stench. No luck for us on this day, so we headed out for brunch afterwards.
Dinner that night: Pork cheek and beef rib from Miss Moonshines, the new BBQ joint that opened just up the road. Yummy.
And then a nice warm cocktail from the Matterhorn just down the hill: the "High Tea" with Rogue Society Gin, almond milk, Earl Grey, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. A lovely warm drink for a cold night.
This may look like the same picture as above, but I promise you I went back to the Wintergarden the next day to see if the flower bloomed. As you can see in this picture, it did not bloom (and, yes it did look pretty much the same as it did before). They reckon the cold weather slowed its blooming progress. Boo.
I liked the look of these peppers hanging in the gardens. They actually have a lot of cool plants here even excluding the Corpse flower.
In case you didn't know where you might find the Wintergarden, you'll find it next to this beautiful museum (the Auckland War Memorial Museum) in the Auckland Domain. For the record, I love this place.
I'd be remiss if I didn't tip my cap to Amy for her 4 month ride across the US to raise awareness for (and increase the registry of) bone marrow donors. I feel pretty privileged to have received this wonderful postcard from Amy, which she sent from Utah. She chose Golden Spike National Monument (where the Transcontinental Railroad came together) as the image and sent the postcard just before she embarked on her mini=vacation to all the wonderful National Parks in the area. Thank you so much Amy. I'm in awe of your courage in undertaking this trip and for the difference it will make. I urge you all to join the bone marrow registry (it just takes a simple cotton swab) and to perhaps one day "be the match" for someone out there. For more details on her incredible journey (and to participate), check out Amy's blog! Best of luck on the rest of the ride!!!
Continuing the cooking adventures: Coq au vin. I made it initially for a Game of Thrones Finale viewing party. I rushed it a bit and didn't give the sauce enough time to reduce. It tasted alright on the night, but it tasted even better later in the week after I gave it a bit more cooking/reducing time!
And after several days of "will it/won't it", the corpse flower bloomed! In order to see it, I had to pop over there early in the morning before work. I'm thankful that, while it looked beautiful, it didn't smell as bad as I had feared.
Just this past weekend, I had the chance to go support my cousins Brittany & Cailin's dance team, the Mini Maidens, at the Auckland Regional Dance Competition. They danced phenomenally well...it must run in the family! Just kidding, I'm pretty terrible (to put it generously) and they seem to have gotten a much larger share of the grace and timing genes that one needs for dancing success! Well done!
I accompanied Gung Gung & Po Po to the Takapuna Market on Sunday morning and amongst all the food and wares vendors, I found this guy representing Auckland Transport in support of the Northern Busways. I may not ride the buses now as I used to in my Uni days, but I'm all for a great public transit system and opportunities to meet sporting heroes of mine! Thanks for the pic Jerome and best of luck for the rest of the year with the All Blacks!
I hope you all enjoyed the updates. Let me know if there's anything more you'd like to see or hear about next time!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment