Mountains, Mussels, Mutton, and More

Every time the mountain peeks out from behind the misty clouds, I have to stop and gawk. Of course, Gabe gets nervous if I am driving and rubbernecking at the surf or Mount Taranaki. Good thing I don't try to use my cell (plus it is illegal) while driving. The weather forecast was perfect so we headed to the mountain (less than 10 miles from our house). We spent the morning on a 90 min. tramp up to the snow fields. The boys were scouting for their upcoming tramp to the summit. More mountain pics to come later.



In keeping up with Alec (our oldest son and his blogging about food from around the world), our experiences with Kiwi cuisine have been positive. We celebrated our arrival in NZ by consuming several amazing meals. We dined on ostrich, venison, rabbit, and the omnipresent mutton. Gabe tends to avoid mutton unless it is grilled. The boys are learning to cook on the "barbie". I am tackling the convection oven and cooking in metric. It is sticker shock at the grocery store--3 litres of milk (less than a gallon) is NZ$4.59. One trip to the grocery store for stocking the pantry cost NZ$341.

We try not to hit the Kiwis or cattle crossing the road. Fish are plentiful so we have sampled Lemon, Terayki, Snapper, and Treacle. Our weekly diet includes the world famous green lipped Coromandel mussels including those collected from our beach on Sunday. Yum, we will be back. Grandpa has to stop over for some fresh banana prawns (and yes they were as big) with garlic butter over the grill and all gluten free.

Al is calling from a local pay phone for "takeaway". Hard to believe there are still phone booths in the world that are not antique collector items. He is a happy camper as the local liquor store decided to stock gluten free beer. It was expensive at NZ$20 for a six pack (but well worth it). Good thing the wine is local, wonderful and inexpensive. I was surprised to see Starbucks in New Plymouth. Even the Kiwis love coffee (almost as much as tea). However, Al finds a way to be absent from the mandatory tea time (twice daily) at the hospital. No wonder things take so long in Kiwi hospitals as all the staff are away. Their motto is "No worries" and "it's all sweet".

We are looking forward to sharing this fun, food, and adventure. Alec and Emily will be visiting us in Dec. for their holiday visit. We still have until May. Bon Appetite!