MCO 2.0 - Day 35

 Day 35 of Movement Control Order 2.0

13 December 2020

       

2020 Birthday - the year that masks became part of our clothes ensemble

        It has been indoctrinated in me that having noodles on one's birthday takes precedence over a birthday cake. It's widely believed that noodles became the food metaphor for longevity simply because of their length. So whenever possible, having noodles for one of the meals on a birthday is a must.

       

Birthday breakfast - Hakka mee

        And so, today, on hubby's 46th birthday, we started off with our favourite Hakka mee at Hugh Low Street (Jalan Sultan Iskandar).

 

My cracked Coffee Loaf Cake - fresh from the oven

         For tea, we feasted on the Coffee Loaf Cake that I baked specially for hubby yesterday. The recipe was taken from a blog, Love Foodies, but I halved the amount of sugar used.

Tea time on Derrick's birthday - Coffee Loaf Cake lovingly baked by wifey

Pairing Coffee Loaf Cake with...coffee, of course!

        Akamomiji was chosen by hubby as the dinner venue. Of late, this is where we head to for Japanese food as we have discovered that the prices are very reasonable, and the food's really tasty.

Happy birthday, my love!

Kyuri Maki Salada (RM13.80 for 6 pieces)

Salmon Mentai (RM18.80)

Saba Tare (RM15.80)

Unagi Mentai Maki (RM15.80 for 4 pieces)

Aburi Salmon Avocado Maki (RM25.80 for 8 pieces)

Goma Dragon Maki (RM19.80 for 8 pieces)

MCO 2.0 - Day 34

 Day 34 of Movement Control Order 2.0

12 December 2020

        After an absence of 3 days, Irene's Kitchen reopened today. It was closed because after coming home from work for the past 3 days, hubby wanted to see to some car matters and needed me to be the chauffeur. 

        Not only was Irene's Kitchen in operation today, so was the Bakery. But that will be the story for the next day.

        Juggling between baking and cooking, I had to choose something fuss-free to cook. Turning to my kitchen goddess again, I made a rather unconventional Szechuan-Style Cottage Pie. And hubby loved it! In her recipe, Marion Grasby used lamb, so hers was Shepherd's Pie. As I used beef, mine's Cottage Pie. The addition of doubanjiang (spicy fermented bean paste) was ingenious! I suspected it would be a hit with hubby, and true enough, he heaped praises on it. 

Szechuan-style Cottage Pie

Revisiting Aotearoa - Part 4

         Choosing our accommodation at Kerikeri was rather difficult because there were so many terrific Airbnb listings on offer. When I finally decided to stay with Judith, it was because of three reasons : the proximity to Rainbow Falls, we share something similar (our lives in Cornwall / Devon) and the many reviews given by previous guests on how exceptional her breakfast is. And we had a taste of it for ourselves on Thursday 12 December. It was a sumptuous spread, with no expenses spared. 

With Judith and her lovely handmade Christmas tree

Spoilt silly at breakfast

        Soon we had to bid Judith farewell as we had a long drive ahead of us. It was going to be a 3 hour 26 minute-drive to Auckland and Derrick dearly wanted to get some All Blacks merchandise. To be honest, I haven't had enough of this area, Bay of Islands. I would love to return one day, just to spend more time here, going to the Farmers Markets, taking a cruise to check out the wildlife and travelling on the Ninety Mile Beach.

        Arriving in Auckland in the early afternoon, we located our Airbnb accommodation (RM255.23) in Westmere, a residential suburb. Mattie, our hostess, welcomed us warmly, especially since we are from Malaysia. Mattie herself had lived and worked in Malaysia for several years and she can still remember a smattering of Bahasa Melayu.

        We left our car there and took a cab to Queen Street, the main commercial thoroughfare in Auckland CBD. Whilst being stuck at the traffic lights, we witnessed a Maori woman ranting at a man, presumably her husband. There were curious onlookers, and soon, a police officer stepped forward to mediate. 

        Feeling a little peckish, we stopped at McDonald's. When travelling overseas, we do sometimes try out the local McDonald's because we find the taste is way better than our local McDonald's and also, they do have their unique local offerings. Here in McDonald's New Zealand, it would be a sacrilege not to try their Kiwiburger, which has been around for 30 years! Mmm...it sure was scrumptious! Sandwiched between the sesame seed bun were a beef patty, fried egg, sliced beetroot, tomato, cheese, lettuce, onions, ketchup and mustard. I loved it so much that on our last day in Auckland, I had it again at the airport for lunch.

Had to take the image of the Kiwiburger from the Internet as we were too busy gobbling down the burger to take photos of it 😅

        After Derrick got the All Blacks stuff that he wanted, we strolled around the area, to the Auckland waterfront and over to the Wynyard Quarter. But wait...my food-trained eyes had spotted dessert!

Fantastic dessert for a hot summer's day!

Shared a huge scoop of Hokey Pokey (how can you come to NZ and not have their unique flavour?) and a scoop of Salted Caramel & Pistachio

       To cross over to the Wynyard Quarter, we had to use the Wynyard Crossing, a double bascule walking and cycling bridge built in 2011. We located the Auckland Fish Market, a trendy food court with the freshest seafood.

Observing the bridge being operated

The Auckland Fish Market was started by Albert Sanford way back in 1904.

At Auckland Harbour, with the Sky Tower in the background

With my darling at Auckland Harbour

        The reason for us locating the Auckland Fish Market...well, that's connected to the highlight of the day. I had been looking forward to reuniting with my dear childhood friend, Jacqueline and her husband, Anand. They came to meet up with us after work and the four of us had a fabulous evening catching up, getting to know each other (the men, not Jac and I) and dissolving into laughter (when Jac's around, that's expected) over great food. A truly enjoyable evening!

Convent girls reunited!

Camaraderie at Auckland Harbour

A spectacular sunset in Auckland

Fish bao for me and pork belly bao for Derrick

        

Salmon potato cakes and hot pot mussels to share

Terrific company over yummylicious food

Revisiting Aotearoa - Part 3

         As we were leaving Te Kao on the morning of 11 December, we spotted a roadside stall selling fresh strawberry ice cream. Fresh fruit ice cream is one of the things that I simply adore and always look out for.

Enjoying my fresh strawberry and blueberry ice cream

Yummy goodness

Vegetables, anyone?

        Upon entering Kaitaia, we decided to fuel up again and stop for coffee. We randomly chose a cafe called The Baker Man Cafe, mainly because it was situated at the junction of the turning that we were heading to. From its exterior, you may just dismiss it as "oh, it's another cafe", but when you walk in, you'll love its cozy ambience with all its inspirational quotes on the wall. We ventured to the back of the cafe for a table and were delighted to find really scenic views! And the coffee was excellent!

One of the motivational quotes

Drink in the spectacular view

This is the way to the Bay of Islands!

        From Kaitaia, we travelled for 1 hour and 27 minutes to Paihia, one of the towns at the famous Bay of Islands. It was not where we were going to put up for the night. Yes, you guessed it right. These two oyster aficionados were there for those sexy bivalves again. I learned from TripAdvisor that Tipsy Oyster Tapas and Bar uniquely serves their oysters with eclectic flavours ranging from South East Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and beyond. We found the oysters enticing, but our preference still lies with having them naked and raw.

Oysters, here we come!

A mix

Pohutukawa tree, Paihia

        After our lunch of oysters, we strolled around the pretty town of Paihia and managed to do a bit of souvenir hunting. Soon, it was time to move on to our destination of the day --- Kerikeri, another town in the Bay of Islands. It was a mere 26-minute drive away. We met our Airbnb hostess, Judith, a sweet lady from Cornwall who decided to make New Zealand her home as her son is living here. She bought The Old Packhouse, which used to be where they packed the local produce like oranges. Judith welcomed us with an iced lemonade and some homemade cakes, and we were so grateful for that as well as some insight into the local area.

        For our accommodation (RM375.33), we were given access to the entire upper floor. It was so clean, comfortable and cozy, with a lot of handmade touches like quilts and cushions. After freshening ourselves up, we were out to explore Kerikeri's Rainbow Falls, an impressive and easily-accessible 27m tall single-drop waterfall. 

        Rainbow Falls was just a 4-minute drive away from Judith's accommodation. When we arrived, there were people taking a dip, and there were some daredevils that had somehow scrambled towards the backside of the falls to take the plunge. It was quite a laugh watching them, being so carefree and enjoying simple pleasures of life.

With my darling at Rainbow Falls

        After Mr. Photographer had his fill of Rainbow Falls, we decided to go for an early dinner at the nearby Chang Siam Thai Restaurant, which had favourable TripAdvisor reviews. It seemed to be very popular among the locals too. Fortunately, we there fairly early so even though we had not made reservations, there was still a table for us.

Thai dinner at Kerikeri

        There was still good summer light around, so we decided to drive to The Stone Store, a 6-minute drive away. The Stone Store was built in 1832 to hold Church Mission supplies and is now New Zealand's oldest surviving stone building. We had a leisurely stroll around the lovely grounds.

The Stone Store

Relaxing outside Kemp House

Revisiting Aotearoa - Part 2

         A continental breakfast was included in the price of our accommodation at Kiwi Cottage, and we had some mushrooms and eggs to add. Just the start we needed for another day of travelling (Tuesday 10 December). After bidding Abby and our hosts farewell, we left Whangarei for a journey up north. 

This was the view I woke up to.

Breakfast at Kiwi Cottage

        Whilst driving on the Twin Coast Discovery Highway, somewhere near Kawakawa, I spotted an oyster factory right by the side of the road. Needless to say, we had to stop. We had tried Mahurangi oysters at Puhoi and Orongo Bay oysters at Whangarei. Now it was time to try Paroa Bay oysters. Oh, boy! They were so fresh and sweet...we had to go back for seconds.

Oysters! Yippee ya yeah!

Oysters are best eaten raw, with a touch of lemon.

        When hubby and I go on on road trips, we always get ourselves bottles of lemonade to quench our thirst and perk ourselves up. And being in New Zealand, I had to try their Lemon & Paeroa drink. It's lemon juice combined with carbonated mineral water from the town of Paeroa, further down south.

One of the must-try drinks in NZ

        After driving for nearly 3 hours, we finally arrived at Kaitaia, the gateway to the far north. It's the last major town before you reach the top of New Zealand. We had also been warned that crime rate is a little higher here than in other parts of NZ, so we had to be careful of what can be seen in our car. Kaitaia was in our itinerary, mainly to break our rather long drive, to ensure our petrol tank is filled up, stock up on some food provisions and to get a quick lunch. Having done some homework on TripAdvisor, I knew exactly where to head to for some Asian food - Kai Thai Takeaway. Although we arrived very near their closing time, we were warmly welcomed. The food we ordered was tasty and came in huge portions. We even left with dinner, which we planned to just heat up at our accommodation later tonight.

Lunch at Kai Thai

        So where were we headed for? To Cape Reinga, another 95.7km away. Cape Reinga is the most northern point of North Island, New Zealand. It's also where the Tasman Sea collides with the Pacific Ocean and the Maoris believe this is where the spirits of the deceased leap from this point into the ocean to return to their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki.

Cape Reinga...the remote point where two oceans meet and the spirits of the Maoris begin their final journey

        There's no place of accommodation at Cape Reinga; the nearest being at Te Kao, 30 minutes away. So before proceeding to Cape Reinga, we stopped for a brief rest at our accommodation for the night, Te Kao Lodge, where we paid NZ$120 for a night. The rooms and furniture of this lodge were rather dated, but generally, the place was clean and comfortable, with the bonus of a strong wifi. The hostess, Irene, was also friendly and accommodating. And the shared kitchen was well-equipped.

        Anyhow, we didn't linger long. Cape Reinga was beckoning. And yes, it was indeed a sight to marvel at. I especially loved it when dusk approached and the tour buses had to leave. With less people around, the whole environment became tranquil and mesmerising. Hubby was engrossed in finding the right spots for his photography while I was left to wander around to truly drink in the essence of this place. I was quite taken by the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, a New Zealand icon on its own. It was constructed in 1941 and was the last manned lighthouse to be built in New Zealand. It was manned by a real person until 1989 when it became fully automated and is now operated remotely from Wellington.

Definitely a sight to behold!

Cape Reinga Lighthouse

Lighthouse, signpost and me

Sunset at Cape Reinga