So today I started off with a food tour. Now this tour was far different from the tour Tom and I went on in Wellington. Rather than portion size items of food, we simply had “tastes” of various foods. It was an OK tour, but not nearly as good as the tour in Wellington.
Anyway, I was the last to be picked up by Kath, a self described “foodie”, and once in the van with 7 others, we set off for the Saturday morning Parnell Farmer’s Market, where we started out with organic coffee. Now I am not a coffee drinker, but decided to try the latte. It was OK, but I wouldn’t describe the latte as anything special.
From there we moved on to a stand where a local fellow decided to start growing his own olive trees. He and is wife now make two types of olive oil, regular and lemon infused. The lemon infused was fabulous, but certainly nothing I can buy and haul around with me for the next few months.
We then stopped by a stand where a woman was selling sausage. She handed us little bits of pork, black pepper, fennel and chili infused sausage on toothpicks. It was not salty, which is something I appreciate, but the taste was a bit bland.
Next up was the stand where a fellow was selling his wife’s Indian dips. The tandoori paste was my favourite, but again, not something I am going to carry around for the next few months.
Our final tasting was manuka (tea tree) honey. This was absolutely fabulous. Super tasty, not overly sweet. Loved it.
Once our tastings were done, we were given about 20 minutes to wander around. Now this market had everything you could possibly want. Seafood, breads, desserts, tons of produce and a handful of food truck vendors. Now I was fascinated by the pizza guy. This fellow spoke fluent Italian and was making what smelled like the best wood fired pizzas. Super thin crust and 3 different types: margarita, meats and veggies. I could have watched this guy all day. No idea why we did not get to taste one of his pizzas. That would have been a highlight.
We eventually left the market and made a short stop at the Domain (the park I have now visited three times). This time, however, we went into the Wintergarden (a greenhouse type garden with a myriad of tropical plants, a lovely pond and lots of statutes). We were given some time to wander around and I found the place stunning. Beautiful gardens, hanging baskets, and lovely plantings everywhere.
After wandering for a bit, Kath brought out some foods she had purchased at the market, including some fabulous plums and an Osaka street food called takoyaki (made with octopus, ginger and spring onion). I had heard a lot abut takoyaki, but I found it only O.K.
After the snacks, we moved on to Ponsonby Road (which we had driven down yesterday) and stopped at a place called San Ray. Here, we had kawakawa tea (a traditional medicinal plant used by the Maori) made with ginger and lemon. The tea sat steeping for about five minutes before we tried it (and it still looked like water), but the taste was absolutely fabulous.
Next up was a strange looking scone (it was flat) topped with honey. It was OK, but I found the scone a bit dry. Perhaps it needed more honey.
The last taste was a quinoa sourdough bread topped with the restaurant’s version of marmite (a savory spread made with yeast) and topped with cheese. I took one bite and said no thanks. The little bread with the spread and cheese was WAY, WAY, WAY too salty.
For our next stop, we drove back to the waterfront, parked and walked to Commercial Bay (a shopping center near the waterfront) and up two levels to a Korean restaurant named Gochu. Now this place was the star of the day.
We started out with a wrap (saam) made of pork belly, leeks and kimchi. This was quite good, but not my favourite. This was followed by tastings of crispy lamb shoulder with mushroom ketchup, pickled cabbage and kimchi, charred chicken with gochujang, comte cheese and leek sauce, cold noodles, white kimchi, seaweed, egg yolk and pickled radish and Gochu salad (mostly lettuce with apple and pear).
My favourite was the lamb (stellar) although the chicken has apparently won awards, It was good, but I still thought the lamb was the standout.
Our last stop of the day was downstairs to Honest Chocolate. Now these chocolates are dairy free and made with a variety of unusual ingredients. Kath picked out three for us to try: Matakana Olive Oil (YUCK, not a fan), Manuka Honey & Pear (the best of the three) and Espresso Martini (better than the first one, but not a coffee person so I could have done without it).
Now to go along with the three chocolates, we tasted cacao tea, made from the husks of the cacao pod. The tea was actually quite good with hints of chocolate.
So after our last tasting, I said goodbye to Kath and the other 7 folks and started walking along the harbor to the “Destiny” the sailboat that was going to take me out on the Waitemata Bay. My walk was halted when I received a call from my niece, Callie, that my grandniece, Cora, had been hospitalized in Ellensburg with what is believed to be pneumonia (following a bout of the flu) and they were airlifting her to Seattle Childrens. To say that my heart was shattered is an understatement. Callie promised to keep me updated, but now I was completely consumed with my grand niece.
I ended up going out on the sailboat, but I felt like I was going through the motions. My attention to the trip left me completely when Callie updated me that Cora has been intubated to stabilize her breathing. At this point I was ready to swim to shore and get on a plane home, but Callie told me that she would keep me updated.
So while the beautiful harbor passed me by and we saw some guy bungee from the Auckland Harbor Bridge, and dozens of sailboats blew by us, my heart was far from in it.
Once back on shore, I decided to try and take my mind off things at home and visit the Sky Tower, but this was pretty much a useless trip. I went up to the 60th floor for the view (220 meters up), snapped a couple pics and then headed back down. While there is nothing I can do from here, my heart and head are back home. I will keep you all updated.