The Best of Auckland

In a PinoyKiwi forum post, a Creative head from Trending with Kelly was asking forum members about recommendations, topics, leads on the best of Auckland, for their show entitled, "Trending with Kelly". It's a lifestyle show on ANC, which is also simulcasted on The Filipino Channel.

Naturally I felt compelled to put something together to help them out. Besides, I just can't help but share all the great stuff Auckland has to offer. here's my reply to his post.

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Wow, another lifestyle travel show! At the time of your visit (28 Sept to 9 Oct 2018), I do recommend you experiencing these:

• Visit Cornwall Park http://cornwallpark.co.nz/ (free)

• Cherry blossom trees are in full bloom usually in late September
• Seeing the new lambs on the pastures (the park is also a farm so you don’t need to leave town just to see these)
• Sunset at One Tree Hill – this is any time of the year
• It’s a big park with varying views. We go here by default if we can’t think of a place to go (we do have itchy feet). Our kids just run around, play soccer or climb trees. On a warm sunny day, every Aucklander should at least be able to experience having a picnic here with a bubbly (sparkling wine) – yes, it’s ok to be drinking at the park. Men like their beers, women like their bubblies.
• They do have eateries in this park, but we only really go to the Creamery for ice cream and coffee as we often bring our own picnic 
• How to get there: by car, best to get a rental as most of Auckland are best accessed by car. It’s a very spread out city.

• Wine tasting at Waiheke Island – day tour, highly recommended for foodies 

• Book a round trip ticket at Fullers, they have packages for food and wine tasting: https://www.fullers.co.nz/experiences-tours/wine-food-tours/
• It’s a popular getaway with the girls, wine/ lunch at a vineyard place
• I do recommend those visiting Auckland to spend a day at Waiheke. They have art galleries there too as many artists reside there. You can also just buy an all day bus pass so you can explore the island on your own. 
• The Ferry terminal is just at downtown Auckland. That is where the Fullers ferries are docked. Fullers has many other packages to travel to nearby islands, other tourist destinations.

• Maori cultural show at the War Memorial Museum – it’s a good welcome for visitors, good to see the Haka too. I recommend this if you are just staying in Auckland and not heading anywhere else in NZ. There are daily performances at the http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/ 

• The War Memorial Museum entry is free for Aucklanders. It is located at the Auckland Domain (the Auckland Domain is a park, free entry)
• The museum has many exhibits, and it’s easy to spend the rest of the day there 
• Here at the Auckland Domain, and just a couple of steps away from the museum is the Wintergarden. Spring is a good time to visit the Wintergarden (free entry) coz that’s when they have the most beautiful blooms!
• I work near the Auckland Domain, in fact, I go for a walk at the Auckland Domain during my lunch break almost everyday. We have a group at work who likes playing soccer during lunch time every Wednesday. You will see other groups doing other sports, often these are employees who work nearby. There are also the runners, and those doing group fitness programs. Lunch time is busy here at the Domain not just with tourists heading to the museum and the Wintergarden, but with locals alike

• This is why I love Auckland, they have this Chocolate and Coffee Show https://chocolatecoffeeshow.co.nz/ It’s an annual event scheduled 6th &7th October. Auckland has lots of similar events that showcases not just local cuisine, or produce but the diversity of the food and culture as Auckland is the most diverse city in NZ. It could be a boat show, a wine festival, or a cultural event. Suggest you contact Devonport Chocolates. They are an exhibitor and their chocolate shop is at Devonport, where the Navy Museum and North Head are at. While Whittaker is a popular NZ chocolate brand, their home base is at Porirua, outside Auckland. Devonport Chocolate is Auckland-based (see more details in their website). They have a good Auckland story.

• Go for a walk (in the city or at the bush, it's free). Here’s a guide: http://epiclittlemissions.co.nz/ 
As an Aucklander, our weekend (for us it’s with kids) can be like this:

• Friday afternoon during summer, after office, head to a beach with a playground (Coyle Park, Takapuna or Brown’s Bay) and have fish and chips for dinner
• Saturday afternoon (after the kids sports), go to the CBD for some shopping at High Street and Queen Street. Then head straight to Wynyard Quarter so the kids can play at the playground. Then dinner at one of the many restaurants at the CBD. 
• There’s a Filipino eatery at Elliot Stables. It’s called HomeCooked and this is where we take the kids to sample authentic Filipino dishes. There are a couple more Filipino restaurants scattered in Auckland too. Among these is Nanam. They’ve taken the Filipino cuisine up a notch. Even non-Pinoys love their food!
• Elliot Stables is also a popular spot for locals. They have many food choices, and drinks, and they stay open late.
• Or, leave early Saturday or Sunday morning, go to a regional park like Long Bay, Shakespeare, etc. and spend the morning at the beach. Or just head to North Head (free) at Devonport to watch the many ships, ferries and sails that cross that channel. Have lunch at the Navy Museum (free) then head back home to do some chores. Or chores first before you leave the house!
• It’s normal to get dirt or sand on your shoes if you’re like us who enjoy the open space and nature

• Get wet

• Ride some killer surfs at Piha beach (not for the inexperienced!) – in Spring? It might still be worth the drive out to the west coast, to see that black sand (free). If not Piha, then just go to Muriwai and see the ganet colony. It’s along the same stretch of black sand beach.

• If you just want to eat, then 

• You may want to sample a food tour with a local guide: https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Attraction_Review-g255106-d2248544-Reviews-The_Big_Foody_Food_Tours-Auckland_Central_North_Island.html 
• Go for High Tea
  Yes, it’s another girly treat but it’s fun and it doesn’t have to be just tea, you may opt for bubblies too. 
• Check out Hotel de Brett High Tea or Sofitel High Tea 
• Do the Brick Bay Wines and Sculpture Trail. Yes, more wine! 

A week is short but hopefully, you’ll find something to keep you occupied that week. We have been living in a suburb here at central Auckland for the past couple of years. My above list are personal recommendations. I’m not affiliated with any of the mentioned establishments. Just sharing my insights.

Breakfast and Feeding the Kids

How do you survive your mornings while getting the kids ready for school?

Naalala ko dati, pandesal parati ang almusal ko.  1 to 2 pcs, with butter and sugar. Treat na kung may peanut butter. Elementary ako nun at past 5am ang sundo ng school bus. Tapos merong recess sa umaga, then lunch, then sundo na ng 3:30pm. Pag uwi, 4pm na, merienda ng spanish bread or kung anu man. Dinner is at 7pm, after the news.

Napaisip tuloy ako, madami ba ang pinapakain ko sa mga chikiting ko? For breakfast, usually:
- a bowl of oatmeal with banana and/or coco crunch
- ham, egg and cheese muffin (parang sa McDo)
- sausage (or ham), egg and rice with ketchup
- 1 slice of bread with peanut butter and slices of banana
- toasted sandwhich: egg and cheese
- quiche (made with eggs, potato, veggies and ham/bacon/sausage)


Gusto ko sana walang drama sa umaga kasi nakakapagod rin ang manuway at madaliin ang mga kids. I try to get them to bed early para maaga rin sila magising. But lately, past 7am na sila bumabangon, very late na for me kasi approximately 1 hour sila kung kumain. Kasama na dun ang pagiging tulala, kulitan at kung anu-ano pang distraction while eating. Si Rose kapag tinapay ang almusal, ang tagal bago maubos. She doesn't like eating yung gilid ng tasty so kailangan pa pilitin.

Ang payat ni Max! Parang kami ni Alan nung bata. But he has 2 snacks in the morning, and lunch at 1pm, then meron din siya merienda for after school. Around 5pm or past 5pm na kasi siya nasusundo. pag uwi sa bahay, merienda ulit. Then dinner at 6:45pm. Hindi ko siya pinagbabaon ng kanin. Usually something na meat with bread.

Si Rose, merong morning tea (9am), lunch and afternoon snack na crackers at daycare.

I may be running out of ideas. I just want our mornings hassle free/ fight-free. Hay!

Rich Carrot Cake

I lose sleep by going through the ingredients, texture and flavor of these yummy cakes and pastries that I like trying out at cafes. This time I make sure that I at least try to imitate these goodness with the help of the internet.

I tried this recipe for my daughter's birthday cake and I was surprised how well it turned out: http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Carrot-Cake

I'm no baker so while pouring a cup and a half of canola oil into the mix, I couldn't help but think how fatty this recipe is. I skimmed through other recipes and the volume of oil is pretty much the same across. The icing was too much and i found it a bit too sweet. Next time I'll reduce the quantity in half as we don't really need that much icing. I also noticed how it gets to set after a few hours. I think the room temperature is great. It was 11 to 15 degrees Celsius this morning. That was the time when I made the cake. I had to microwave the butter and cream cheese for a few seconds as I left those overnight on the table. Temperature dropped to 7 last night. I had to beat by hand and it wasn't easy.

At least I got the right smoothness of the icing, and the cake was rich and moist. I actually loved the result but it might be psychological because every bite reminded me of the cup and a half of oil that i had to put in. I need to watch my serving portions.

Next time, I'll figure out how they make those open pumpkin pies. I know it has spinach, cashew and I'm not sure what those red (beetroot?) textured things are. It's my recent favorite at Domain Deli. Sushi to Go's $5 lunch packs is great with this. Looking forward to my next kitchen adventure.

Food for Thought

Swiss Soya and Linseed loaves from Freya are actually good. My son loves it and he eats it by itself. I actually never imagined ourselves having sandwhiches for a meal with ham/ sausages, scrambled egg, a cut of lettuce leaves from our small patch and tomato slices.

Hubby brought several packets of sinigang mix with him so we have the convenience of making sinigang whenever we feel like it. And by experimentation we discovered that salmon and shrimps with some tomatoes and spinach is a great twist. It tasted like something from Via Mare. Yum!

What we noticed about the meat here, whether it's beef or pork is that it's clean and not rubbery. Malambot ang karne nila and kapag pinakuluan mo, kakaunti yung secretion ng blood. So kapag nilaga, hindi kailangan umabot ng 1 hour para lang lumambot ang karne. Yun nga lang, bihira ang liempo. Mostly are lean meat. Di pa kami nakasubok ng lamb but that seems to be common. Pwede rin kaya iyun alernative ng beef or pork?

For snack, happy na ang kids sa crackers or fruit like yung matabang na saging (Dole) na parang hybrid na wala talagang lasa! I grew up na parating may saging sa bahay. May tanim din na mga saging sa probinsya namin. Paborito ko ang lakatan but meron din kaming latundan, senyorita at saba.

During summer, hubby brought home some ice cream delights on  a stick. Just like the popular Magnum, NZ got it's own designer flavors - Kapiti. One flavor that I tried has white chocolate coating with raspberry swirls in creamy vanilla. For me, lasang pang matanda iyun not the usual chocolate flavored ice cream. Sarap! We've also tried Whittaker Creamy Milk Chocolate. It has a tv commercial wherein it was being endorsed by Nigella kaya napabili tuloy kami. Masarap!

I think there are so many flavors and options that we have yet to discover. Right now, doon pa rin kami sa familiar na taste, Asian flair. But I'm sure later on, we'd get to know and appreciate more flavors that are common to here. Auckland's mix of migrants gives you that diversity on food and flavors.

Apricot Muffins

Today's walk somehow ended up at the supermarket.

Too many biscuits

I noticed the aisle of biscuits seemed endless. And on my right were a couple of other snacks, including dried apricots. I thought I'd sample some and use it for my muffins. So when I got home I put these ingredients together to see if this second attempt on baking muffins would be better. I put together some flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, egg, butter, milk and vanilla then the dried apricots. I lowered the heat this time then popped them in the pre-heated oven. It smelled sweet and not burned this time. I tried one and it's actually good.
 

Preparing the batter

Spooning the batter in the silicon mold

Not too pretty but actually tastes good

What I Usually Eat

I left the office feeling a bit dazed with the onslaught of meetings, emails and escalations. I had to make a hard stop as it was already quarter to 6pm. That's considered working late here as people are gone from 4pm onwards. In haste, I found myself hopping on a bus that makes a turn to the park, just 2 stops away from my usual route. I got off and went straight to the nearby grocery as I had to grab a couple of things for dinner and for my first attempt on the oven.

Dinner was sliced pepperoni, eggs and cheese sandwich with yummy aioli dressing, and some salad greens. I thought I'd sample the blueberry muffin recipe tonight but as there weren't any blueberries in the shop, it'll have to wait. I've been browsing for recipes on blueberry muffin and quiche as these were my faves. I thought it's easy to make and that I should make some for myself. If I'm happy, then maybe I'll be making more for my friends.

Since I have an oven, i just thought that it's high time that I get to try out all those simple, just pop in the oven type of recipes. So this will be something for me to look forward too. Tomorrow, I'll be grilling salmon for dinner c/o this grilling appliance that my friend gave.

So breakfast will probably be french toast. Will also make some croissant sandwiches for lunch since I'll be on a call until 1pm tomorrow. The croissant at Countdown is really good, warm or cold. It doesn't break and is very soft unlike those that I've had back home. They sure are a better option than sandwich loaf.

Japanese takeaways are popular here. I usually get a teriyaki rice meal from $5 to $8. We also eat at either Thai or Malaysian for Friday lunch. The meals cost a minimum of $12. The cheaper alternatives are the cafes along Park road offering $3.50 sandwiches or pies. I do make sure that I get some vegetable servings in my meals. And I have avoided coffee for quite a while now. We now have two coffee machines that can make really great brews, cafe style. I just don't know how to work on those air and milk frothing which is good coz I've the perfect excuse to skip on caffeine.

I got enough rice and pasta to make me fat. Though I often struggle with their complementary ingredients to make them flavorful enough to eat. Living alone is no fun especially when it comes to dining at home.

Anzac Biscuits

Marlene packing away some biscuits for me

It was a warm and sunny Saturday. I got my laundry done, and the dishes washed. I've dropped my docs to the post and still had time for afternoon tea with a friend. I brought some grapes with me so we can nibble on it while we chat. 

I guess if you're older you tend to focus on people more. Work I suppose didn't matter if you're 60. What matters to Marlene nowadays is the well-being of her friends. There's a house along View Road that was falling apart. An old man lived there and he didn't have electricity. The neighbor gives him food while a common friend checks in on him whenever she could. Marlene, bit teary-eyed, feels sorry for him and she said she didn't understand why he had to do that to himself. He's depressed and he's alone.

There's a commercial on TV that talks about a group that supports people who are depressed. Depression seems to be the biggest problem here. Kiwi attitude is a can-do attitude, independent and likes DIY things. So perhaps, when people grow old, they try their best to go about things as how they usually would. Their kids had moved and started a family of their own. But maybe not all children wants to look after their old folks. My clueless kababayans mock depression. They couldn't understand why most Kiwis are affected by it. I mean how could they. They're young, and have just started their adventure here as a migrant. They're probably too busy living their lives that they may have not even thought about their aging parents who're left back home. It's a big thing and I hate it when it's just being brushed aside by clueless folks.

So Marlene packed away some anzac biscuits that she made. She said it's time for her to do some baking anyway. Those were Al's favorite. Al just arrived while I was stepping out of the door. He had a pack of biscuits for Marlene. It looked like it had chocolate coating. Al drove his dingy to Charlie's. That boat had been sitting in their backyard for ages and he's only used it once, then fell over. He and Marlene were too busy working that they didn't find the time to take the boat out in the water. And time just passed away until it was too late for him. He suffered a stroke a few years ago and both he and Marlene are just living out their days in their lovely home along Waitake Road with their old dog.

I guess he was curious about how I was faring with my job. I told him that I was doing ok and was just trying to get used to the people that i work with. He did say that I shouldn't be affected or offended by how Kiwis talk. They sure like to use the word "rubbish" and say it roughly, pirate style. That's just them being Kiwi expressing themselves without a care on whether they sound offensive or not. So that's well noted.

I'm just glad to have spent the afternoon at Waitake and not in my room. I get so homesick being in this house.

Fresh Fish Market

How I wish all fish markets in Manila will be turned into something like this. A nice and clean retail store where all the fishes are laid out neatly on ice, and are labeled properly.

Or if they're shellfish, at least they'd be stored in a big tank with running water. That way they'd stay fresh and the smell won't be as nasty.

The fish market here serves three kinds of fish: fresh fish (uncooked), bottled and processed fish products that is located at the dry goods area, and restaurants serving fish and chips and other dine-in fish-themed meals. There isn't that much variety on the choices of fresh fish. Maybe it's because of the season? Or it's because it's past noon already when we got there. But in any case, I think fish here is expensive compared to our fish choices in Manila.

And so, this fish market is at the harbour area. In suburbs, like where I'm staying right now, you can only get your fish from PaknSave and other supermarkets, where the fish is most likely frozen. There could be some fresh choices but who can guarantee freshness when you're getting it from the supermarket?

On our way back, we had to cross a foot bridge. Much to my delight, I saw it moving up either coz it's scheduled to move up or that a boat was about to cross. I didn't see any big boat attempting to cross though.

My First Salu-Salo

Teya's munting salu-salo

Remember the KCS seminar organized by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce? Well, one of the Pinay ladies there invited us to her son's 6th birthday celebration. Of course I had to go! It's about time that I'd go out and meet people. It's different when you're just tagging along and of course it's great if you're the one who's actually invited.

We've been exchanging a few emails me and the girls. So it's great to see them again on this cloudy & windy day. I had my eyes set on those baked clams. The barbeque was great and there was spaghetti, salad, biko, lasagna, and kaldereta. That's Teya's version of a munting salu-salo.

Just hours earlier, I was sitting in my room contemplating on whether or not I'd take that 30 minute walk to the mall. It was clearly windy outside and there's the forecast of rain. I probably would've cried the rest of the afternoon if I decided to just stay put. It was too quiet in the house and my flatmates were out. The weather just wasn't cheery at all. So despite the distance, I'm glad that I got myself talking to young folks, all Pinoys here at Remuera. I even had a tip for my job applications. That's my takeaway actually, apart from the boxed food that Teya packed for us. The guests were all young Pinoys who's only been here for less than a year and they just had the guts and perseverance that got them landing on their current jobs. So it was just chance that most of them were from the same high school, and that we were the new addition in Teya's small circle of friends. I'm actually looking forward to bringing my kids to her house so Max can play with Sam and Rose can play with Isha.

Don't you just love it when people just want to get together? Especially if they themselves love to play host? I did promise myself that the next time that we're having another get together, it'll be on me coz that's going to be on my first pay check!

Let's Talk About Cheese

I know dairy is one of the biggest industries here in NZ but looking at the choices of cheese in PaknSave here at Henderson, there really isn't that many choices, nor variety, even with their milk! I heard that we probably have the biggest PaknSave store in this side of Auckland but to me, it was only something like a trip Shopwise, with more aisle space. I guess nothing beats SM Hypermarket.

So going back to the dairy products, the choices here are mostly NZ-made/ owned products. I guess they're controlling imported stuff from Europe. I still think that there are more choices in Schipol airport that there is here in the local big grocery. Anyway, what do I know about cheese? I've only been challenged into trying that stinky cheese in Svendborg coz I let my colleagues try the balut when they were in Manila.

Now what do I like with PaknSave? I can't really tell at this point coz I have completely submitted myself to my flatmates' food preference as they were kind enough to include food in my rent. We don't eat Kiwi style here, instead, I get a daily dose of everyday Pinoy meals with some slight alterations on the dishes but basically, we do have nilaga, sinigang, embotido, or just plain steak on a bed of rice. Yes, I've been eating rice meals morning, noon and night. I even get to eat leftover chocolate cake and raspberry muffins for my morning or afternoon tea. And it's all home-made.

Oh my, is that my belly bulging again?