8 minutes ago
My cousin, little sister and I went to Queenstown for a weekend during my one week holiday from university. Queenstown, for those who don't know, is a lovely little town by a lake in the South Island of NZ, very popular for tourists and locals around. Unfortunately on the day we arrived, it was quite wet and chilly. Hmm, hope it won't mess with our greats plans of adventure for the second day - bungy and skydiving!
But our first great goal of the trip was to have a nice meal at the Cow pizza, tucked away in a little lane - COW lane, haha - which was recommended by my lovely daddy. He's a tourist guide and comes to this little town pretty much every week, so he was a good person to listen to. And boy, are we glad we did!
original recipe from here
One of my French friends is from Madagascar. We met in our Spanish class in the first half of the year but it was only during the last little bit of my Paris stay that I got to be really friends with her. Which is a real shame since I really came to like her a lot, and we enjoyed (attempted) weekly outings for new eating adventures.
This is one of the recipes she introduced me to. It's an easy recipe that doesn't need a microwave or an oven, useful for get togethers in a student flat settings, where sometimes we don't have the luxury of the above said machines. Especially in Paris. Which can be really annoying at times.
Anyways.
To make 24 fritters you need:
1 3/4C flour
1 1/4C rice flour
1C sugar
1 1/2C water
1T baking powder
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 bunch ripe bananas.
Blend the dry ingredients in a bowl, I didn't know what rice flour was so I just used 3C of normal flour. Worked okay enough for me. Add the egg and water, whisk until smooth. Cut the bananas into four long pieces. Add them to the batter, stir, and let it sit 1h. Heat oil over medium heat, drop the banana pieces, turning over occasionally for 2 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels. EAT!
Think it was a success because they came out alright, and also because my sister, who never seems to trust my cookings much, actually finished them all, haha.
So merci bien, M ! Tu me manques !
First day of the first semester today. Kind of not ready but still, exciting! Wish me well, haha.
Okay, gotta go and find where my first lecture is... tata for now!
I'm back in Auckland, again. Had my first flatwarming/catch up evening last night with a small group of friends. It brought back memories, and though I was immensely tired from having woken up too early to catch the 5.40am flight up, I was happy.
Sis joined me, finally, this afternoon. She likes our new apartment, thank goodness. I am hoping this year will work out well :)
Auckland is hot and humid. I already miss the cool Christchurch weather! But I am excited about the next few weeks, which will be loaded with new experiences, for sure.
Still no Internet chez moi, but I will try to update assez regularly, still.
Bon weekend, tout le monde!
Sis joined me, finally, this afternoon. She likes our new apartment, thank goodness. I am hoping this year will work out well :)
Auckland is hot and humid. I already miss the cool Christchurch weather! But I am excited about the next few weeks, which will be loaded with new experiences, for sure.
Still no Internet chez moi, but I will try to update assez regularly, still.
Bon weekend, tout le monde!
I am back in the South Island for the week. It's, as always, colder than Auckland, but I like the crispy fresh Christchurch air :)
Another cute little serious coffee place in Auckland! Little b is found one block away from the infamous K Road.Infamous for its serious coolness, haha.
On our way here, we found another seriously awesome cafe that I have to visit some time soon. I'm flying down to my hometown today, though, so as soon as I come back to Auckland! Hope you all had a good Valentine's day. We celebrated the end of exams for me, and the last night in Auckland for my cousin, with dinner at the Viaduct, cocktails, and more cocktails dancing away. Tuesday nights are the best!
Despite the lack of sleep I am very happy at the moment, because I just got my results back from my second semester at Sciences Po and I have passed everything (phew! yay!), plus tonight I have a little date which should be fun, haha. Ok, tata for now, bisous!!
I have an exam in an hour's time and I don't know what to do.. Don't want to revise because that will just make me nervous.... So I'm looking up pretty blogs for the time being. :s
Tomato chunks, avocado slices, hard boiled egg, and tuna on spinach leaves (under all those), with chives sprinkled on top. Yum.
Green green New Zealand. There are so many volcanoes in the Auckland area, but Rangitoto is the most recent. It was formed around.. 1400?! Don't quote me on that. Experts say that Rangitoto is unlikely to explode again, but it is predicted that some other volcanic activity will hit Auckland sometime soon. How soon that would be, no one knows...
I received a reminder from Google calendar today in my inbox: Viv leaves France today :(
The 10th of February, today, was meant to be the day I was supposed to leave France, after a year of living in Paris as an exchange student.
Some of the reasons I had to leave earlier - in December - were:
Think about it.
To get anywhere from Aotearoa, it takes long flight hours. Most of the places are in the Northern hemisphere, as in: inverted seasons. So, when I flied into Paris in Jan 2011, I had to swap my Kiwi summer for the Parisian winter; I had two winters in 2010/11. So of course in coming back to NZ, I am having two summers 2011/12, to make up for the warm weather months I missed out on last year.
Makes sense, now?!
The 10th of February, today, was meant to be the day I was supposed to leave France, after a year of living in Paris as an exchange student.
Some of the reasons I had to leave earlier - in December - were:
- My Visa was going to expire before Feb, and I would have had to reapply and repay.
- Ditto Travel insurance.
- My accommodation leave date was approaching. Possibly could have stayed at a friend's place for two months, but then also,
- I would have had to find a new job to finance for the rent.
- But then again, I was pretty keen to return home for a real SUMMER Kiwi Christmas.
- Not so keen, the Summer School at uni I had recently -at the time- found out I had to do, in order to finish my studies earlier.
Think about it.
To get anywhere from Aotearoa, it takes long flight hours. Most of the places are in the Northern hemisphere, as in: inverted seasons. So, when I flied into Paris in Jan 2011, I had to swap my Kiwi summer for the Parisian winter; I had two winters in 2010/11. So of course in coming back to NZ, I am having two summers 2011/12, to make up for the warm weather months I missed out on last year.
Makes sense, now?!
I love Mexican food. I don't know why. They are just so nice! There's a place called the Mexican cafe in both Auckland and Christchurch, that I go pretty much every year, often with J. As well as being a good place for either lunch or dinner, I love how they have salsa dancing nights, too, where the place gets full of dancers, both good and the beginning amateurs. It's a fun place to hang out.
Chimichanga
Quesadilla
Fajita
All with a bottle of Corona beer, of course. For lunch we usually get a pitch of sangria or a glass of mojito/magarita, but you know, it's good to change it around sometimes :)
Bet not many of you have tried Balinese tropical rice, before?! Neither have I until I went to Craven A for lunch with a friend, and saw it on the menu. Hmm, I wonder what that would be like? Of course I ordered it, I had to try it!
I was a bit surprised when it came out like this:
Living across from Albert park is so convenient when the weather is fine, and there is an event such as the Lantern Festival going on, right on your doorstep. I came out from lectures on Friday to find the street filled with food stalls. Yum!
Not Chinese related, but still fun to watch :)
