NZ trip - A local food affair

NZ trip - A local food affair
Home Cooking



I labelled this post as 'home cooking' when in truth, I was far, far from home. As I mentioned previously, my decision to tag along on my parents trip came late. Because of this, there was a day I had to spend alone at my lakeview room in Te Anau (nothing to really complain about) while they went for a cruise in Doubtful Sound.

Morning lakeside stroll

I was to sort out lunch and dinner on my own.

To kill time, I wandered around the city centre (even smaller than Toowoomba City centre) and found myself drawn to a grocery store that gratefully accepted my Visa card (I hadn't any NZ$ on me besides what I changed to use the coin-operated computer I'm on now).


It dawned on me that making a simple meal for local produce would be a good idea for lunch.

Forgetting to keep it 'simple', I ended up laden with 2 bags full of goodies: a loaf of cheese bread, a whole roast chook, NZ butter, NZ yoghurt, NZ apples and fejoas (had to ask the shop assistant how to eat these). I also included an NZ head of lettuce so I could make a sandwich.

New Zealand Beauty

I bought apples because my friend T-Y said I simply MUST. I couldn't remember which she told me to get so I bought NZ Beauty and Braeburns (I heard them mentioned on NZ Masterchef as a good choice for making tarte tatin). The NZ Beauty were delicious - perfectly sweet and crunchy with a thin skin. The Braeburns were too sour for me but good for people who like Granny Smiths and the like.

Chook burger

The chook, bread, lettuce and butter were sandwiched together into an awkward-shaped bun. Ugly but tasty. Not bad at all when enjoyed overloooking lake Te Anau in the comfort of my hotel room.

De Winkel apricot yoghurt

I tried the yoghurt for breakfast the next morning. Because it's in a carton, I imagined it to be drinking yogurt. It was a much thicker consistency than that but to my pleasant surprise, not too sweet. In fact, it even had a slightly savory element that reminded me of Indian lassi (which I love).

I feel like a bit of an oddball going to another country and eating out of a supermarket but it was fun all the same. Please tell me I'm not alone in enjoying grocery shopping... it's my weekly release at home and it was equally fun doing it in New Zealand. That and the fact that my goodies were tasty too.