Fast Food

I am not McDonalds' biggest fan, but I do always find it interesting to visit places that like in other countries. I find it interesting to note who has broken through the international barriers. I have now been to McDonald's in the US, NZ, Japan, and Austria. Same sign, some of the same menu, slightly different twist at each one.

In Japan the McChickens come with wasabi and on the dollar menu you can get something called shaka-shaka chicken. In Austria you can find nice pastries on the menu (and the fanciest fast food joint I've ever seen, which was in a ballroom). In New Zealand you find a coffee shop with barista made coffee. And the current menu special is a "build your own burger" option. I have hard that in Hong Kong you can now get married at McDonald's, and the KFC sells edible fried chicken flavored nail-polish (taking "Finger lickin' good" too far?).

Other fast food options in New Plymouth are KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Starbucks, and Subway. Subway's special this month is a lamb sub. Pure NZ raised lamb they say. Pizza Hut here sells a shrimp and mayonnaise pizza. Burger King is possibly the only place in town that does free refills on drinks.
Big news in the world of fast food is that you can now find Wendy's in major cities like Wellington and Auckland. So when New Plymouthians venture out, they report back if they have sampled the new fare. Supposedly we are going to get an "In and Out Burger" in Auckland but I think right now it is in speculation only.

While the options mentioned above might be a "taste of home" in some fashion, my favorite here is actually a kiwi option. Burger Fuel offers beef and chicken burgers, with creative new options every couple of months. In true kiwi fashion they have an option with beets on it, but it also has mango so I think that is just weird. I have not tried that one, but I am a fan of the chicken and bacon/avocado burger  :) The fact that they can do vegetarian, gluten free, and halal rank them higher than the average fast food place in my opinion.

Have a  great weekend, hope I didn't make you too hungry :)

Happy Weekend

I think there reaches a point anytime you have moved to a new place where some of the charm starts to wear off. I have definitely reached that here, where there are certain things that I just do not understand, or occasionally find irritating about New Zealand.
But one thing I never tire of is the beautiful scenery. Everywhere I have been in this country has stunning things to see, with a wide variety of landscapes. But I am completely biased in thinking New Plymouth might be one of the prettiest places to settle down.

The mountain picture here was taken from my music room last week.
The others are from sunset Thursday night as I was driving into town.

A couple of weeks ago we went away for the weekend to visit some friends in Tauranga. We stopped in Cambridge for lunch and this was outside the cafe. And yes, I did have to stop and play it. 

Pineapple lumps are a kiwi favorite. Below is the link for a recent commercial for this unique sweet treat. Definitely worth the 30-second watch :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpj2oVJhYjM

Have a great weekend!

Harpsichord

My musical adventures this week have included practicing on a harpsichord. I have the honor of performing with the Taranaki Symphony Orchestra in November. I will be one third of a trio playing J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto in D Major, accompanied by the orchestra. For the sake of authenticity, my portion will be played on a harpsichord.

Playing on a harpsichord has an entirely different feel from a piano. Each piano has its own feel, but harpsichords are in a class all of their own. The biggest difficulty at the moment is adjusting to the different sized key. Because the harpsichord keys are shorter and narrower, I find that I am over-shooting quite a bit. Volume control is also a challenge, as this is generally managed by the number of notes you are playing as opposed to how you play them. Then of course there is the fact that harpsichord strings are plucked instead of struck by a hammer.

So what is a harpsichord?
Harpsichords are member of the string family, most in use from the 16-18th century in European music. It was replaced by the piano in the 19th century. The strings are set in vibration by being plucked, with a soundboard underneath. Harpsichords can have one or two keyboards, depending on the range. The shape is similar to that of a grand piano but is narrower.

The harpsichord I will play for the November concert is owned by a local musician. It came in a self-assembly kit and he built the instrument on his own. He maintains and tunes it when needed and said he is happy that it will be used for a major upcoming concert. The last time I played a harpsichord was in college, to accompany a Baroque opera production. Quite a step-up to now be preparing for a performance such as a concerto :)

Grocery Shopping

I have always enjoyed exploring grocery stores in foreign countries. Actually, even in different US States, you never know what you will find. Japanese grocery stores tend to have a rather strong fish smell. The bonus to this is you know it is because that mornings’ catch is in the meat aisle waiting, just in case you want to make your own sushi for dinner. Austrian grocery stores were often rather cramped, and it took me awhile to find my way around, due to my lack of German language skills. My first venture to a grocery store resulted in an almost failed attempt to buy laundry soap. My new roommate and I, who had just moved into our lovely apartment, and were both lamenting not doing more language study before coming, spent quite some time wandering around lost. One of the ladies working there took pity on us and asked if we needed help. Unfortunately, she did not speak English. So the three of us are there trying to use sign language to communicate. Probably looked absurd, but in the end we communicated that we thought we smelled and wanted to change that!

New Zealand supermarkets thankfully have readable labels J But there are also some interesting things that would not be found in America. I learned the other day you can buy a two liter jug of lime flavored milk. It was mint colored, so did not really look appealing to me. But I have been told it is delicious.

The international section of the store is also amusing to me. The “American” shelf has marshmallow fluff, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and on a good day, Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. I have not yet broken down and paid the astronomical price, hopefully I will be able to put off cravings until I make trips home!

One thing I appreciate about shopping here is the butcher shops. Before moving here it was not anything I gave thought to, but I have my favorite places, depending on who has the better sale, and it has proven to be well worth it for the quality of meat. I miss the bakeries found in Europe, but the produce shops here almost make up for it. Everything is very fresh if you know where to go, and it is much easier to find locally grown things (possibly because New Zealand is a small enough country almost anywhere can feel ‘local’).

For non-produce or butcher shop items, there are generally three options. New World is the “posh” supermarket. You can collect air points there, and have a wider selection of specialty items and dietary things. Countdown is the mid-range store, with the aforementioned American food selection, as well as some Japanese items. Pak’n Save is my preferred option, simply because it has the cheapest prices on most things. It resembles a warehouse so apparently it’s the not-classy store, but my budget doesn’t mind J

Well now I have made myself hungry, should have known better than to write this just before lunch!

Hope a great day!