New Zealand #3

I promised a 4 part series...lodging, people, food, and adventure. I didn't say the 4 parts were going to come consecutively or even in the same year.

FOOD:

This is a rather boring post I guess, but I felt the food deserved it's own post as New Zealand has AMAZING food. We were strangely warned by Rudivals acquaintance that the food was no good, so it was strange to us that EVERY SINGLE MEAL WAS AMAZING. Am I sounding like Tom Cruise? First, it's illegal to use hormones or something there and so all the food is pretty much organic. Michael, I'm not looking up definitions of what is organic or the laws in New Zealand...so your smart-aleck response goes here: You are an evil, evil man.

There's nothing necessarily special about the food, but for some reason the sauces and the way they cook it is near perfect. I was considering making it a 2 part post as I love food and we just went to so many great restaurants and had so many food experiences, but I realized no one else would be interested. The wine and cheese samplers were also wonderful.

Below is my birthday dinner at Swashbucklers. November 3rd, the first night we were there. Unfortunately I don't remember this meal very much as I was half dead. People who didn't know directions kept telling us directions. We didn't realize the restaurant would be about 40 mins of walking away, and that Kiwis will give you directions even though they don't know where the hell you are asking about--because it's considered polite or something to help. New Zealand is also about 3 hrs behind so we ate at 9:30 pm (12:30 am our time), we were very hungry.

J-and R's anniversary lunch. I think J's forehead got suck on Rudival's cheek.

This is one of the coolest places. We went there one our 3rd day in NZ. Bethel's Beach. It had this small little cafe next to this beach that served GREAT food for cheap. Dirt cheap. Actually since the currency conversion was in our favor, food was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, we got this aioli chips thing that were to die for! Why unfortunate? We kept trying to find the same chip everywhere else and got disappointed. It's like that old adage...if you first start off dating a supermodel...everyone else after will be disappointing.

Ooohh...Crazy Horse Steakhouse in Wellington. Fancy Schmancy. I heard the steak was great, I was kinda stuffed up, so I don't remember it that much, but I remember the ambience was lovely and it had the right texture, juice, and tasted relatively nice. The wine was wonderful.

Okay, this was one of our last fancy dinners in NZ, but it was SOOOO good. It was at this seafood place on the pier in Wellington and the seafood was SO fresh. I had this risotto thing with fish, and honestly...SO FREAKIN' GOOD! The wine here was also very nice.