Christmas in Kiwiland

This year I had several firsts for Christmas:

1. My first Christmas away from family and friends back in Michigan
2. My first Christmas away from Jen (since we have been together, obviously), also in Michigan
3. My first Christmas in the summer
4. My first Christmas BBQ

One and two are pretty boring, really, so I won't dwell on them too much. Three and four, however, are a little bit interesting.

Firstly, I found it very hard to get into the whole "Christmas Spirit" while wearing shorts and lamenting the fact that I can't open more windows, lest the cat escape. They have the same Christmas music playing in stores and all of the decorations are the same, but it is warm and sunny. Maybe it'll be better next year after another 12 months of cultural acclimatization, we shall have to wait and see.

The Christmas BBQ, however makes perfect sense to me and I fully support it wherever the weather permits. I was invited out to the home of some friends of mine for their family BBQ. We got there about 11 am and were greeted with smiles and a champagne flute. Ahh, that kind of BBQ. Excellent. The menu was fairly uniquely New Zealand: we had grilled breakfast sausages, bacon, tomatoes and potatoes. Yes, they had bacon on the grill. Note, that this is kiwi style bacon which more closely resembles Canadian bacon than American bacon. Still bacon, though, and quite delicious. There were also poached eggs to put on top of the grilled food (the eggs were not done on the grill), which was an interesting addition.

Perhaps an hour after we finished with brunch (possibly elevensies), they fired up the grill for lunch. Since I was still stuffed to the gills, I passed on this round, but it consisted of a more typical kiwi BBQ: larger sausages (not quite bratwurst size) grilled, then eaten wrapped in a buttered piece of white bread. I will leave contemplation of that culinary disaster as an exercise for the reader, without further comment.

During the course of the day, the topic of differences between American and New Zealand cultures came up, as it usually does in these situations. Specifically, with regard to the BBQ. It looks like we'll be having some people over in late January or early February and that I will be giving the family BBQ recipe another go.

So, to sum up:

• Christmas in summer: kinda weird, but I think I could get used to it
• Christmas BBQ: fantastic, especially if it is followed by a late afternoon Christmas Nap and board games in the evening.

I hope you all have enjoyed your winter holiday celebrations, whatever holiday you are celebrating.

A Trip to Cornwall Park

So about a mile or so away from our house is a large park called Cornwall Park that is my usual place to go running. In this park they have a variety of animals roaming around including cattle, sheep, and roosters. The park has a very nice visitor's center and museum, maybe two restaurants, and an observatory. In roughly the center of the park is "One Tree Hill" which oddly is not a hill with a tree on top of it, but rather a hill with an obelisk monument to the Maori people on it. On Sunday, Scott and I walked to the park and had a picnic lunch. The weather was fantastic! It was a wonderful day!

Scott and cattle.

Me and "One Tree Hill".

It is quite a steep trek to the summit.

The base of the monument.

The monument.

One of the spectacular views from "One Tree Hill". The Auckland Sky Tower is in the distance.

Another awesome view with the volcanic island of Rangitoto in the distance.

We are talking 360 degrees of view!

This is the view from the grassy terrace where we ate lunch. We had to find a good spot because there was a LOT of sheep poop!

After lunch I asked Scott to run across to the other side of the valley so that I could take his picture. [Note: Tiny figures in middle of slope are not Scott but some inconsiderate people ruining our picture.]

And he did!

Me and a sheep.

More cattle on our way out of the park.

P.S. This is a Pohutukawa tree known as a kiwi "Christmas Tree" because it blooms bright red in December. They still decorate evergreen trees here though.

:) Jen (and Scott)

Thanksgiving in Auckland

From top left to middle right (top to bottom): Stuffing (made by Jen), Pumpkin Pie (Jen), Mashed Potatoes (made by Scott), Sauteed Garlic Spinach (Scott), Candied Golden Kumera (Scott), Cranberry Sauce (Store-bought), and "Turkey" Roast (Store-bought...yech!). Next year we will have to invite over many friends to justify a whole turkey.

We also had a olive and Scott's homemade pickles tray (left).

They have no canned pumpkin in NZ, so the pumpkin pie came from a real pumpkin...er, well, half a pumpkin anyway...

Homemade pumpkin pie filling made with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, eggs, sugar, cream, mashed cooked pumpkin...and love...

(I don't know why this picture is sideways...sorry about that.)

Just prior to baking!

My precious!!!...

Close up on the stuffing.

Store-bought "turkey" roast...so sad! :(

Happy Thanksgiving!
Jen (& Scott)