Sunday, March 06, 2005
Ferry fun and other nonsense
Here are some cultural adventures I had on the ferry coming back to the north Island.
The first was at lunch. I ordered fish and chips (for a change - as if!). I asked for malt vinegar but Kiwis don't use it - they use mayonaise, but it was all gone so I tried the tomato sauce (aka ketchup). The package was one of those little plastic tubs with the apparently pealable plastic cover. The only prblem, the top was completely glued to the tub - there was no edge to lift, but there was a little dimple in the middle. I looked at the bottom and it was actually two little tubs joined together, so I flexed it slightly at the joint.... bad move. Ketchup everywhere, up my favourite yellow teashirt, down my pants. I had to wear those stains for the rest of the day.
The second "adventure" was just a funny announcement. Kiwi accent (from my view) involves sliding the vowels, so soft a (as in back) becomes e (as in beck), and e as in bed becomes i as in bid and so on. The funny announcement had to do with where people could smoke on the ferry - it was restricted to the rear of the main deck in other words - "the reah of the mine dick". Maybe you had to be there - I was.
I'm in Wellington now. Aparently it's the windiest city in the world after Chicago. I haven't been to Chicago but in Wellington you have to watch out for flying debris in the street today. Give a whole new meaning to the term fliers.
Today we went to the Te Papa, Maori name for the national museum. I learned a lot about the history of Maori and European imigrants. Everybody here is (was) an immigrant. The Maori have been here about 800 years longer than the Europeans.
Oh yeah, I've come up with a new food group - carbofat. We've had more of it than we should. The best source is 2 beer and an order of fish and chips.
The first was at lunch. I ordered fish and chips (for a change - as if!). I asked for malt vinegar but Kiwis don't use it - they use mayonaise, but it was all gone so I tried the tomato sauce (aka ketchup). The package was one of those little plastic tubs with the apparently pealable plastic cover. The only prblem, the top was completely glued to the tub - there was no edge to lift, but there was a little dimple in the middle. I looked at the bottom and it was actually two little tubs joined together, so I flexed it slightly at the joint.... bad move. Ketchup everywhere, up my favourite yellow teashirt, down my pants. I had to wear those stains for the rest of the day.
The second "adventure" was just a funny announcement. Kiwi accent (from my view) involves sliding the vowels, so soft a (as in back) becomes e (as in beck), and e as in bed becomes i as in bid and so on. The funny announcement had to do with where people could smoke on the ferry - it was restricted to the rear of the main deck in other words - "the reah of the mine dick". Maybe you had to be there - I was.
I'm in Wellington now. Aparently it's the windiest city in the world after Chicago. I haven't been to Chicago but in Wellington you have to watch out for flying debris in the street today. Give a whole new meaning to the term fliers.
Today we went to the Te Papa, Maori name for the national museum. I learned a lot about the history of Maori and European imigrants. Everybody here is (was) an immigrant. The Maori have been here about 800 years longer than the Europeans.
Oh yeah, I've come up with a new food group - carbofat. We've had more of it than we should. The best source is 2 beer and an order of fish and chips.
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so they use mayo on fries in NZ, too eh? I thought it was mostly a Dutch/Belgian thing. I never used to like mayo much until I started eating it on fries in the low lands... so good. I think mayo goes well on those frozen-type fries. But nothing beats fresh cut chipstand fries with salt and a strong vinegar. That might even belong to the carbofat category.
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