Auckland, ahoy

Well, I'm back from a month on Tubuai. I have the worst kind of whiplash; every other hour I feel that I might turn round and be in the kitchen in Atiahara house talking with one of the crew again! I was informed this crew was unlike most - the vibe was great and everyone really seemed to enjoy one another's company. Digging was also awesome; we found some things that will change the history books, for sure. Kirch and Green will sit up in their collective chairs, and I couldn't feel more proud of being on a team that causes that.

If you ever have a chance to visit French Polynesia, I highly recommend spending time on one of the remote islands and forgetting about Tahiti. Tahiti is hot, busy and crass. The people of true FP are sweet and so friendly it makes you want to be a better person every day. Of course, I am biased about the island of Tubuai. If you get there, you must look up Wilson Doom and his business 'WIPA' to take you to the big motu. Stop by the Magazin Tino shop and say hi from 'Rob's crew'. Go to the Roulette near the big weather station and have a dinner and a dance with the most soulful and oldest Polynesian woman shakin' booty on the island. Afterwards, go to the platform atop the weather station and watch the stars that are so bright and plentiful it will make you cry. The next day, climb Mount Tai ta'a but be prepared to hit the wall on your climb - this island might look small but it's no slouch in the tramping department.

More later, for now it's xmas eve and I have some santa-clausing to do! Cheers, Jen

It's going to be a BBQ Christmas

Well its that time of year again. Everyone is ditching work, sloshing through the sleet and snow and shopping like mad. We're drinking egg nog, spiked egg nog, cruelty free/egg free nog and even fat free egg nog. Every where you go there's
xmas music on the radio and lots of overweight guys in red suits ringing bells on every street corner. Well in Auckland, it's summer and people are gearing up for BBQs, picnics and weekends at the beach. It's a weird time warp to be sure, but after living in San Francisco for 5 years I am kind of used to seasons playing tricks on me.

Jen is off in Tubuia (sp?) French Polynesia doing some field work for a month and I am all alone. I stocked up on some old xmas DVD favorites. Yesterday I bought about 6 DVDs and the clerk got a good laugh, it was like "The Holiday, 50 First Dates, 13 Going on 30, etc..." and then Army of Darkness. He thought the "chick" flicks were for my wife or something but I told him those were mine and the others were more for Jen :)

Well I haven't written in a while and the last big post about our move here is one about Food. I feel we have settled in here really well and it almost seems like Canada or America now in most ways. The food is still throwing me for a loop. There are no traditional restaurants, no diners, no family restaurants, no waffle huts, breakfast restaurants, etc... It's mostly either lunch bars and cafes. The cafes serve breakfast and lunch usually and the lunch bars serve things like fish and chips and pies. There are a few fancy restaurants that serve dinner, but most are expensive Italian or Spanish or whatever. Most people here each lunch at the food courts of malls which actually have better quality food than I am used to. The saving grace is Indian. Almost every mall has amazing Indian takeaway (think Naan and Curry but actually good). For about $7.50 US you can get a really great curry, rice and naan. It is really well made too and isn't super oily or greasy. There are a lot of dinner Indian restaurants as well that are about $20-$30 NZD.

It's weird not having places to go for breakfast where you can get a ton of pancakes, eggs and bacon. You can sometimes piece together a meal out of sides, but it costs like $25 to do so. They have more of a British/Irish focus on breakfast like eggs/toast or bacon/french toast (kiwi) or eggs, tomato, mushrooms, sausage, etc.. Lots of weird stuff mixed together.

My big staple in SF was burritos, Thai and Burgers. The burgers here are OK, but no one has Ketchup usually and Tomato sauce (the replacement) is gross. This is great as I have stopped eating hamburgers and actually lost some weight. I attribute this not to the burgers themselves, but to the high fructose corn syrup in the Ketchup. They do have Ketchup here but it is made in Australia (still by Heinz) but with Sugar instead of corn syrup. I feel a lot better after eating it than I used to after eating the corn syrup version. In America corn syrup is in everything and I think we are all allergic to it and becoming fat from it.

For lunches here I need to find new staples. I found a great/healthy/affordable pan Asian place that does all kinds of good dishes for about $9 nzd. I also found a burrito place, but it costs $16 nzd for a burrito at one and $13.50 for a really small one at the other. Then Indian or pies are other options, but I avoid the pies since they are very fattening. It's hard for me to pick up other staples as when I look at menus I just don't see any "real" food on them. They are filled with weird dishes that are overcomplicated and flashy.

One big thing I noted about food/restaurants is that they are trying too hard to be super cool. I heard all the "restaurants" closed like 10 years ago because no one went and everything left is super fancy versions of pub food. So you might get bangers and mash, but it would be a huge pile on the plate with all kinds of garnishes and sauces and little drizzles on the side. Not quite what you want from a pub. To give perspective you can't get a cup of coffee at a gas station but you CAN get any espresso beverage. It is this rampant desire to be fancy and show off. Every cafe has a top chef it seems trying to make things super fancy. I guess I am looking for "basics" and there seems to be a big gap between the lunch bars of pre-made sandwiches and the hyper stylized dinner options.

To fill in the gap, Jen and I eat at home a lot with fresh foods from the local butcher, baker and grocery stores. We can usually whip up a great meal for very little money that tastes better than going out. Auckland is a major city centre though and does have almost all forms of cuisine, its just hard to find the middle range of food options that are pretty much De facto in America and that I surprisingly miss for some reason.

One thing I have learned in the end is that every city or place has its own great restaurants and food and you have to not try to force an old favorite onto a new city as you may not find a good place. For instance San Francisco has good Ethiopian, but instead of trying to find it here were it just isn't, I am better off focusing on something they locally do good.