Cock-a-doodle, Oink

So last weekend we got tickets for The Food Show in Auckland.  It was pretty awesome.  A huge, indoor show-ground filled with booth after booth of free samples, cooking demonstrations, prizes, etc.  Kind of like Willy Wonka’s Factory for foodies like us (Except I didn’t win a prize so apparently I didn’t have the golden ticket. And still no oompa loompas).

We’re not too picky when it comes to food and drink so we basically tried anything that had a sample.  And everything had a sample. There were lots of good wines, cheeses, olive oils, butter chickens, Indian curries, and mango cupcakes. 

Take a look at these bad boys.

“Would you like to sample our wine?”

“Why, yes, how did you know?”

“Would you like to try a special cheese from the south of France?”

“Don’t mind if I do”

“Would you like to try EVERY flavor of gelato that we make?”

“umm,YES”

This went on for hours.

Special cheeses from important places.

My favorites were Manuka Gold’s honey liquor, Ginelli’s limoncello gelato, and Chai Gold’s chai ginger tea.  They were yummy and delicious, and two of them have “Gold” in their name so I must have expensive taste.

We got a little lost/ deliriously full somewhere between kumara soups, wine slushies, and Russian dumplings.

And then we met our match.

Now, if we’re being honest, we had kind of stopped reading product descriptions at this point so this may be partially our fault.

We came to a booth with a slightly green liquor in a small shot glass. 

Oooh, aloe vera liquor??!!...... Could it be??

OMG NO... definitely NOT aloe vera!  

Can I inconspicuously spit it back in the cup and walk away?  What is this burning, green acid that they are trying to market as a drink...

WASABI LIQUOR??... 

WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA???    

I would like to have a word with this person and watch them drink their own product.

This weekend we “moved house” into our new apartment, and I am so excited.  We can finally stop living out of suitcases, drying our clothes on the dining room table, and using the chairs as “drawers”.  Our last apartment was so tiny we couldn’t shut the bedroom door because the bed was in the way.  So it is nice to have a little more space.

Of course our new apartment has its oddities too.  The switch for the living room light is in the bedroom closet, the one for the kitchen is in the foyer, and the washer and dryer move by themselves.  I’m not kidding.  I put clothes in and when I come back, the whole washing machine has moved a foot so that I can’t open the door anymore.  Then I have to wait for David to come home to move it back.  It is also very tiny.  I can wash exactly 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants at once.  I may be able to throw some socks in there if I am lucky.  So at this rate, I will be done with this week’s laundry in approximately 48 days.

Anyone want to come to Auckland, and I will hire you as my official laundry machine operator/ mover?  I will pay you in limoncello gelato and honey liquor.  Not a bad deal if you ask me.

- Meredith