Paetiki Bakery, Taupo

Now B and I basically ate 3 meals a day while we were honeymooning. Every dinner included appetizers and dessert. Every.single.one.

Sometimes our lunches included appetizers and dessert.

But if you were to tell me I had to pick just one place to eat, in all of New Zealand, it may very well be Paetiki Bakery.



Its not even a restaurant. They aren't even open for dinner. But I would go in the morning and stock up for the day if I needed to.

Its the best bakery in the entire world as far as I'm concerned because it has my new favorite food ever.

The Meat Pie.



Although we did have another fantastic meat pie in Te Anau this particular bakery wins the title. Not only are their meat pies perfection but their selection is incredible.



What is a meat pie? Well its a pie with meat.

It sort of looks like a pot pie but you use your hands to eat it. The crust is neither too flakey nor too chewy. Its perfection and it doesn't crumble as you bite it.

Inside the crust is basically meat and gravy (although I did see some tempting vegetarian ones).



They run about $3.50 NZD which is about $2.40 in the U.S.

You really can't beat that. A normal person would only need one. But by the end of the trip I could easily polish off two and a drink. Its true.



I chose both of the following pies because B bought his own assortment of baked goods. I couldn't decide so I got them both. I didn't eat them all by myself though.

I'm just sayin'.



This is the steak and cheese. I was taking a peak at it in the car.

B told me I was crazy because I couldn't wait until we got drove the 2 minutes to the lake.



Can we just take a moment to admire that crust?

Oh meat pie, I miss you more each day.



This one was totally different from the other pies I sampled in New Zealand.

I think its safe to say I had at least 1 every other day. At least.



Can you guess what that filling is?

Camembert. The whole pie is filled with melted camembert. On the bottom is a layer of cranberry and somewhere are a few chunks of chicken.

Thats a lot of cheese. You could serve it as an appetizer. I swear there is way more than $2.50 worth of cheese in that thing.



Someone please tell me they have a recipe for meat pies. I've heard the top and bottom are actually 2 different kinds of crust.

Without them, my life will never be complete again.

Anyone?

The Graveyard Book

I've been a fan of Neil Gaimon's books for quite some time. I would love to spend some time in that man's mind. Some of you may recognize him from the bestseller Coraline.


A quick thought on Coraline. Did you read the book or see the movie? I did. I read the book and wondered if it would terrify a child. I mean, the parents want her to sew buttons in her eyes. Sew buttons in her eyes for goodness sake. Thats kind of freaky. But I think maybe I'm the only child around here with the hyper-active imagination.



The Graveyard Book starts with a dark scene involving the murder of an entire family, with the exception of a toddler who leaves the house and heads up the street towards a cemetery. It is in this cemetery that Bod (who's full name is Nobody Owens) is raised.

The story is full of the multi-generational characters (ghosts) that raise Bod, as well as living characters and Silas who is neither alive nor dead. We follow Bod as he grows up and finds himself in a variety of situations and adventures. It is very much a coming-of-age story that draws many paralells to the process of leaving the safety of your home and heading into the great unknown. Gaiman references Kipling's The Jungle Book as a source of inspiration.



As always with Gaiman, the story is both sinister and uplifting. I thought the book was lovely and warm, despite the many suspenseful moments, with a few great life lessons thrown in. The Graveyard Book has won both the Hugo award and the Newberry Award.


Have you read it? What did you think?


A quick note that has absolutely nothing to do with The Graveyard Book. My amazing and fantastic photographer Adrienne Gunde who did our awesome "Vintage Picnic" engagement shoot has been nominated for Poppytalk Awards. So please head on over and vote for them here!

Welcome to Hobbiton

Now B and I have both, at some time in our lives, read the Lord of the Rings books. We were aware that they were filmed in New Zealand and were curious about the sets. We were fans of the movie but weren't fanatics. (at that point anyway)

But Mimirickets sent me all the information for the Hobbiton tours and then later on told me that I had to go see it. She is a smart woman so I adjusted our activities and booked a tour.



The driver Ben picked us up in Rotorua and drove us the 45 minutes to Matamata. Ben was a wonderful tour guide on the way to the Shire's Rest Cafe (how cute is that!) as he knew the history of every place we passed.

Ben was also an extra in the Lord of the Rings. He played an orc in the battle at Helm's Deep. I thought that was pretty darn cool.



Hobbiton resides on the Alexander farms. When they approached Mr. Alexander to ask him if they could tour the farm he sent them away because rugby was on TV.

Weeks later, after they had toured and approved the location, they told him they wanted to film Lord of the Rings there. His response was "Lord of the what?". The man had no idea what he was in for.



This is Eric our guide. He really liked us and he gave us the special treatment.

He would send the group to the next stop and then take my hand and say "Stay here, I'm going to do something special just for you". Eric was the one who took pictures of B and I throughout this post. Lovely man.



The pictures don't do this place justice. It really did feel like you were in a different world.

New Zealand is very aware of preserving their landscapes and most of the LOTR sets were completely dismantled. In this case as they were taking down Hobbiton there was a week long storm that came thru halting the process.

During that time locals kept calling the Alexanders to see if they were able to catch of glimpse of Hobbiton. And the Hobbiton Tours were created.

Actually we saw Craig Alexander drive by on his little 4 wd gator-type vehicle with his daughter and their dog. He waved as he passed us. Just another day on the farm, with Hobbiton, tourists, 300 cattle and 13,000 sheep.



What's that you see? OK all you Lord of the Rings nerds.... here is your sneak peak.

If you look closely at those boards you'll see they have sketched out hobbit holes and windows. They are starting to place around for the making (and re-making) of the set for the upcoming film The Hobbit. Filming starts in June and the book will be broken into 2 movies.

Do you recognize this tree? It was the great tree that Bilbo Baggins stood in front of for his birthday speech. It was right here that he slipped the ring on his finger.

Apparently he wasn't the only person slipping a ring on here. There have been quite a few proposals near both this tree and in Bag End (his house).



Peter Jackson had been a long time fan of the books and went to incredible lengths to recreate the exact vision portrayed in Tolkien's books.

Everything had to be authentic to the world that had been created.

Did I thank you Mimirickets? I completely and totally enjoyed this little tour. Oh and it was here that I got to feed the leetle lambs.



Peter Jackson brought in 2 amazing artists who had both illustrated the LOTR books and had them sketch out the town using the landscape on the Alexander farm.



This is the before and the after, or actually the after and the before. I think its incredible that this space held that little town.

For those of you who are unaware of the cult following these books and movies have... let me just say that its the reason some people travel to New Zealand.

They come from all over the world, they speak elvish, they come dressed in costume, they have the books memorized. Its a big deal.

BREAKING NEWS: Recession hits Hobbiton!

The hobbit houses were really only built to last 6 months. They've been trying to maintain them but this is what they would look like otherwise.

In any matter, they'll all be brought to life again for the new movie. Since I've now been converted to a full Lord of the Rings nerd I will willingly admit I would LOVE to go back to see it after the set has been resurrected.



Look we're hobbits!

Tolkien was a genius. The man not only created a world with its own detailed history, he created 16 different languages. There is a lot of detail in his work, so much detail it mkes my head spin.

If you are a fan and know some of my tidbits to be wrong... let me know so I can fix it!



This would be the view from one of Bilbo's windows.

With the exception of Bag End all of the hobbit holes are about 1 foot deep. You'll notice that in the movie you'll see hobbits opening the door and just stepping inside. The rest of the shot was done in a studio.



I got the biggest kick out of being inside. I could totally picture the little rooms around me. I could imagine sitting in them with the smell of food in the air. I could see the garden out front.

I want to live in the Shire. Really, I do. I totally want to live the life of a Hobbit, what with all the meals they have in a day.

Unless I have the option to live in Rivendell. That's a tough call.

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."



This is the view from where Bilbo and Gandalf sat and smoked their pipes. Its a wonderfully peaceful and content moment in the movie.

The clearing down there is where the festivities of Bilbo's 111th birthday commenced.



Here is a perfect example of commitment to detail Peter Jackson made.

In the book there is a very large oak tree on top of Bag End. Unfortunately there was not a very large oak tree on this particular hill. So, they searched out a nearby oak tree and paid the farmer who owned it $11,000. They cut it into pieces, numbering as they went, transported it back here and reassembled it.



By then the tree was dead so they ordered 275,000 oak leaves from Taiwan and attached them to the limbs of the tree.....one by one.

Jackson didn't want to create the computer generate the tree because it wouldn't cast a shadow and the leaves wouldn't flutter just right.

If you watch carefully you'll see the tree in the movie. For about 15 seconds.



As we walked Eric told us more and more amazing details about the movie. It took roughly $400 million to make and the movies in theatres alone have brought in over $4 billion.

There are many countries that place the movies in theaters every Christmas.

I have no idea what the numbers are when you take into consideration the DVD sales and LOTR products.



The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.



Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,



Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Catchin' Prawns & Eatin'

One of the days we were staying in Taupo, B decided we should go prawn fishing.

We headed over to Huka Prawn Park to take a tour of the facilities, visit the baby prawns and then catch and eat their parents.

It's a cruel world we live in.



There is a nice little walk thru the grounds. These are the fishing ponds.

The water is pretty cold in New Zealand, far too cold for these prawns to live. Huka Prawn Park is conveniently located next to a geothermal plant and funnels in the extra geothermal water and converts its heat to heat the fresh water streaming in from the neighboring Waikato river.

Did you get that? Basically, they warm the water to proper tropical temperatures at no cost to them (less the initial cost of the pipe system).



That's my husband. Mine. ~snort~

In his mind are visions of shrimp cocktail, shrimp gumbo, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, and so on and so forth.

He is picturing the buckets of shrimp we'll catch and cook.



This is the Waikato river I was telling you about. Do you see the vibrant blue in the middle? The water is deeper there and you can see that brilliant blue from pretty far away. Further down this river is the amazing Huka Falls.

FYI: There is no difference between prawns and shrimp. In CA we say shrimp. In NZ they say prawn. Same difference.



We took a walk thru the plant and they showed us what the shrimp look like. This happens to be the king of this tank. The claws are a little bit scary.

After this we went into the nursery where we fed the baby shrimp. They gave us a handful of food (pellets of some sort) and we stuck our arms into the water. Shrimp the size of 14 font (thats all I could think of) gathered around our hands and arms.

It felt weird. Little squiggly things were under my nails, things were wriggling up my arm and then... something pinched me! Like when you get bit by a little ant. I almost smashed that baby shrimp as a reaction but I didn't think the tour guide would appreciate it.

~pinch, pinch~ Are you edible?



Another veiw of the ponds. It was a bit dreary out that morning.



We picked up our poles, our buckets and our bait.

Those bamboo sticks are our poles. You don't really need to reel in the prawns :)



We sat in a little hut like this and put our bait in.

As so wonderfully described in the first picture, there is a technique to doing this.
First you put your bait on the hook and drop it into the water (but don't fall asleep). You let it go all the way down to the bottom. A prawn will come over and grab your bait. Do NOT pull up on your pole. The prawn is going to take the bait to a safe place to eat. Let it walk along, following with your pole. When it stops you know its eating so you gently pull up and voila! you have a prawn.



B startled me when he caught one. I wasn't expecting it to come swinging by my face when it popped out of the water. Here, he is making fun of me.

He caught this one in the first 5 minutes.

And then we sat. And we sat. And we sat.



He caught another one and then we sat. And sat. And sat.

Its not like there wasn't activity. I mean the prawns loved me. They would come on up, YANK the bait off my hook and walk away laughing. Little jerks. All I did was lose bait all day.



I was totally determined to catch one. Or at least more than 2 in the 1 1/2 hours we were there. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we had an appointment to kayak so we had to head over to cook our 2 shrimp.

Poor B. So much for that big shrimp cook out he imagined. Notice the title does not say catching prawns and eating them. I would hardly call 2 prawns a meal.



He heartlessy thru my little pets into the basket of doom.



And then he ate their bodies and sucked their brains.

The circle of life.

We'll save kayaking for another post completely and skip to one of the dinners we had.



We went to the Pavillion Restaurant at the Bayview Warakei Resort and enjoyed some fantastic New Zealand wine. They are known for their Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.

I can't remember the name of this wine. I might have to start travelling with a little memo pad.



B had sauteed duck liver over gnocchi with a cream sauce.

I don't like liver. I did try some. B loved this dish!



I had the fresh artisan bread with garlic, olive oil and dukkah.



Actually I ordered it because I had no idea what dukkah was. Apparently its a crumbly nut and spice blend originating in Egypt. Its really fantastic and I'd like to make it at home.



For the main course I had this filet on gratin potato with a red wine demi. What you see around the bottom are the most amazing onions and of course, more garlic. The filet is topped with potato and kumara (NZ's sweet potato) strips.

Totally delicious.



The higlight of this dish was the horseradish relish. Creamy horseradish with green onion, tomato and what must be fresh peppercorns. A little heavy on the peppercorns but I love this idea and I'm sure B will be re-creating it.

One of the wonders of eating while traveling is the ability to get new ideas in your own cooking.

I love getting new ideas for B's cooking. ;)



B had the Orange Roughy with a coconut curry sauce, baby bok choy and jasmine rice topped with pink peppercorns.

It was a very light and refreshing dish. It's obvious this chef loves peppercorns and I'm still on the fence about the amount used.



Did you know that we had dessert with every dinner? And some lunches.

This is the Sticky Date Cake with caramel sauce, a scoop of mascarpone and ginger ice cream.

New Zealand loves their mascarpone and I love them for it. The date pudding/cake was totally moist and not overly sweet. My favorite on this dish was the ginger ice cream which had chunks of crystallized ginger in it.

I can't wait for summer so I can put my ice cream maker into the regular rotation. Perhaps this summer we'll even find a place to fish for shrimp. Do you fish for shrimp? I mean, I know you fish for fish, perhaps you shrimp for shrimp.

I just want to redeem myself by catching one single prawn. Just one.

Sincerely,

the rambler