American Lamb

Tonight I made an easy, delicious lamb dish that I used to make often in New Zealand (see recipe below). It turned out great, except the lamb was, well, different.

Because I try to eat as local as possible, I bought lamb from the U.S. at the grocery store today, even though my eyes wondered over to the New Zealand lamb. There were not as many different cuts to choose from as there are in New Zealand and the chops were huge! The average American lamb weighs about 135 lbs when it is slaughtered, which is considerably larger than lambs in other countries. This results in larger cut-sizes and a higher meat-to-bone ratio. Apparently Americans like their lamb super sized too.

Once everything was cooked and we sat down to eat, I noticed the lamb was extremely tender and rather bland. I barely had to chew and it actually tasted more like beef. There was none of the distinct gamey taste that I remember from my lamb dinners in New Zealand. This is because American lambs are "finished" (fattened) on grain, making the meat more tender and milder in flavor. Apparently Americans enjoy this non-lamb-tasting lamb over natural grass-fed lamb and over 80% of restaurants in the U.S. serve American lamb. Great for the American meat (and the government subsidized grain) industry, bad for lambs and humans.

Sheep are ruminants whose digestive systems are meant to process grass, not grain. Besides, there are numerous health benefits to eating meat from animals that have been grass-fed. According to various research studies, the meat and milk from grass-fed ruminants contains more conjugated lineolic acid (CLA), vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, beta-carotene, and vitamin A than the meat and milk from grain-fed animals. CLA and omega-3 fatty acids are good fats with anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, and anti-fat properties.

I prefer the chewy, gamey grass-fed lamb. I like to know that I'm getting my vitamins and that I'm eating something distinct, not some bland, spongy meat product. Besides, I might as well eat chewy meat while I'm young and still have all my teeth!

Coriander Lamb

1 lb diced lamb
1/2 T coriander, crushed and soaked in warm water 10 minutes
1/2 t whole cumin seed
Salt & Pepper
1/4 t cayenne powder

Olive oil
1 medium onion, julienne
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Marinate lamb in spices for up to 2 hours.

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add spiced lamb mixture and cook 10-15 minutes, until lamb is cooked through.

Serve over saffron couscous with chopped cilantro.

Do the Hokey Pokey

Hokey Pokey ice cream is a Kiwi institution and I embrace it whole heartedly! This yummy treat consists of vanilla ice cream with bits of Hokey Pokey (sponge toffee candy) mixed in. The toffee is made by mixing sugar and golden syrup (a baking staple in the Kiwi kitchen) with baking soda to create a frothy mixture, which sets like a crunchy toffee. It tastes sorta like caramel or butterscotch with a bit of crunch. Delicious!

Hokey Pokey ice cream has recently become popular in Japan and the South Pacific. Although, sadly, it's not available in the U.S. Guess I'll have to make my own!

The Pavlova Wars

The relationship between New Zealand and Australia is something like a sibling rivalry: each country jokes about the other but rely upon one another at the end of the day. Much of the rivalry comes from sports, although there are many disputes over the nationality of famous people and rock bands, and even the origins of some foods.

The most famous sporting incident that Kiwis will NEVER let the Aussies live down is The Underarm Bowling Incident which occurred on February 1, 1981 when New Zealand was playing Australia in the cricket World Series Cup in Melbourne, Australia. In order to prevent New Zealand from scoring to tie the match, the Australian bowler delivered the last ball underarm, along the ground. This action was technically legal, but seen as being against the spirit of the game.

The Underarm Bowling Incident of '81 continues to fan the flames of rivalry between Kiwis and Aussies. I've heard it argued about between my Kiwi and Aussie friends, especially after a few beers. New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, recently said the Kiwis were ready to forgive Australia the underarm bowl, explaining that "we've certainly stopped the counseling sessions."

Another sporting rivalry is Phar Lap, a thoroughbred horse that was born in New Zealand and raced in Australia, winning two consecutive Melbourne Cups. Both countries claim him as their own.

The actor Russell Crowe is also claimed by both counties. Crowe was born in New Zealand and his family moved to Australia when he was 4 but he did not become an Australian citizen until 2006. Kiwis were recently annoyed when Australia put Crowe on a series of postage stamps recognizing great actors and actresses of Australia.

Actor Sam Neil is disputed across the Tasman Sea. Neil was born in Ireland to a Kiwi father and English mother, grew up in New Zealand, lives in Sydney Australia, and runs Two Paddocks Winery in New Zealand. Figure that one out.

In fact, many Kiwis move to Australia and the large continent is often referred to by Kiwis as the "brain drain." Former New Zealand prime minister, Robert Muldoon, once famously quipped that "New Zealanders who emigrate to Australia raise the IQ of both countries."

The rivalry rages on in the kitchen as well. Both countries claim to have been the inventors of Pavlova, a baked meringue dessert topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit and named after the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who visited both countries in the 1920s. Although, recent evidence from a Kiwi food historian suggests that the Kiwis did indeed develop a recipe for Pavlova first....

New Zealanders and Australians also argue about the origins of the Lamington, a sponge cake coated in chocolate icing and dried coconut. I'm still not sure why any country would want to claim this bland dessert as their own.

And then there are the sheep jokes. I won't go into detail about them, but I'm sure you can imagine....

If your interested in making a truly Antipodean dessert, here is a simple recipe for the perfect Pavlova:

*Preheat an oven to 150C (300F).

*Whisk five egg whites into stiff peaks, adding 225g caster sugar and a pinch of salt.

*Fold in two teaspoons of cornflour and one teaspoon of vinegar. Then spoon the mixture on to a baking sheet, or into a lined cake tin.

*Cook for 45-60 minutes.

*Whip 275ml of double cream with a teaspoon of Kirsch. When the pavlova is cool, top with the cream, soft fruit (such as raspberries, strawberries, kiwi fruit, or passionfruit), sugar and serve.

Bacon Buttie!

I've discovered something that makes the 8:30 am Saturday morning Farmer's Market worth getting out of bed for (besides the excellent fresh fruits and veggies, of course): The Bacon Buttie.


A Bacon Buttie consists of 2 slices of white bread (as in Wonder) packed with hot, salty bacon, caramelized onions relish, mustard and ketchup. The Bacon Buttie is extremely popular and there is always a long line to order one. I think I'll have to start making them at home during the week....

Mmmmm, bacon!

Black Paua!

Paua (pronounced pow-a) is Maori for abalone and the black paua is the most abundant here in New Zealand. The black paua was a staple in the Maori diet and the shell was prized as a treasure. Today you can often find paua shells washed up on the beach and carved paua jewelry is very popular tourist souvenir.

I grew up eating abalone, thanks to my dad and uncles, and I absolutely love it, so I am excited to catch, er, pry some off the rocks at some point. In our area the legal limit is 10 paua per person, per day and they must be at least 5 inches long.

If you’ve never had abalone, you are missing out. Abalone is like nothing you’ve ever tasted! When cooking it, I prefer to thinly slice it, dredge it in some egg and herbed breadcrumbs, and then lightly pan fry it in butter and olive oil. BBQ abalone is delicious, especially dipped in garlic-herb butter, and abalone chowder is amazing too. Next time you have the opportunity to eat fresh abalone (don’t even think about that canned crap), go for it!

Red Red WIne

OK, lets talk about New Zealand wine (finally). Everyone knows that New Zealand makes excellent Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays. Go to your local supermarket in the States and you’ll see heaps of these Kiwi wines on the shelves. Personally, I’m not much of a white wine drinker and I absolutely loathe buttery-oaky Chardonnay. But I do like the sweeter whites and there are some delicious Rieslings, Gewürztraminers, and late harvest wines here. I plan on drinking lots of them, of course.

I can’t really say the same for New Zealand reds, yet. Pinot Noir is made and celebrated around the South Island, but so far I haven’t found any that I like. The Pinots I’ve had have been really dry and minerally. This is probably due to the fact that I can’t afford the good Pinots….

I tend to favor big reds, like juicy Zinfandels, smoky Merlots, and bold Cabernets. However, Zinfandel is a California thing and the reds I buy here are from Australia. With a warmer climate, Australian reds tend to be very similar to California reds. I did find a Ravenswood Zinfandel in a wine merchant shop here in Dunedin. Of course I didn’t buy it, it was triple the price you would pay in the U.S. and I’m trying to expand my wine horizons while I’m here.

Although, choosing a wine from the crowded shelves at the market can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many wines from New Zealand and Australia and I don’t recognize any of them! Actually, that’s not true. I know Yellow Tail quite well, and yes, I have bought it here in a state of petrifying panic at having to quickly choose a bottle from so many unfamiliar and unheard of wineries. But this only happens if my partner is shopping with me……

In the face of such adversity, I have adopted a system of choosing a bottle according to its label (after the price of course). Kiwis and Aussies are not stuffy or pretentious about their label art and there are some cool labels to be found here! So far my method has met with reasonable success. I am hoping to get out to some wineries in the next month for tastings so I can find some truly great New Zealand wines.

Miss-ed America

Living so far from home there are, inevitably, some aspects of American life that I miss. And of course, there are some things that I definitely do not miss. Here they are:

Things I miss:

Mexican Food-Broccoli on nachos is NOT Mexican food people

Predictable Weather-Apparently 2 days of sunshine in a row is asking for too much

Good Cheese-Unless you're Oprah, cheese is a luxury here. So your choices are big bricks of: Mild, Tasty, Edam, and Vintage. Go wild.

NPR-Fresh Air, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, The World, Talk of the Nation, This American Life, The Splendid Table, even Click & Clack.....Oh how I miss you! (No streaming radio or podcasts here, see below)

A Good Bagel-Oi

Unlimited, Fast Internet Access-In NZ you pay according to how much bandwidth you use, both downloading and uploading. If you go over your monthly limit, you are punished with dial-up speed. This may be a human rights violation.....

Fresh Herbs-I paid $4.00 for about 3 springs of cilantro, err, coriander (P.S. the "h" in herbs is not silent here)

Pounds, Ounces, Gallons, Calories, Fahrenheits & Miles-It's 14 degrees Celsius outside, I put 24 liters of petrol in the car yesterday, my ice cream bar contains 13025 kilojoules, I don't know how many kilograms I weigh, but I get to drive 100 kilometers an hour. Huh?

Things I DO NOT miss about America:

Traffic-Rush hour in Dunedin lasts, oh, about 10 minutes

Health Insurance-Everyone in NZ is covered by a National Health Care System that works (most of the time, anyway)

American Beef Industry-Kiwi cattle are free to roam the hills and munch on grass all day long

Mass Consumerism-There is no real pressure here to have the newest, latest, or greatest

Homeless People-Maybe it's too cold for them this far south, but the only people peeing in the streets are drunk Uni students

Corrupt Politicians-New Zealand is considered one of the least corrupt countries in the world (along with Denmark & Finland). It's a lot harder to hide dirty deals in a small country

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Maggots

Everyone knows New Zealand is known for sheep. But did you know that from far away, sheep look like maggots on the hillside? Well, at least that's what I think. When the sheep follow each other in a long line, I call it March of the Maggots! I think sheep are ridiculously cute and I never get enough of them. When I first flew in to Dunedin I could see hundreds of small white fluff balls dotting the green fields below (or maybe that was the snow from the day before). Lambing season had just finished so there were so many wee little lambs running about, I kept looking out the window on our drive into Dunedin exclaiming "Ohhh, how CUTE! Look at the lambs!!"

The main sheep breed here in New Zealand are Romney, an English breed. They are dual purpose wool and meat sheep. Their wool is very course and is used in carpets, blankets, and heavy clothing. In Central Otago I discovered (much to my delight, of course) the big and burly Merino sheep with curling horns. Merino sheep are the oldest and most numerous sheep in the world. It is thought that they orginated in Spain or North Africa. They are very hardy and can survive in the high rugged mountain country of Central Otago. Their wool is so think and wavy that some of the sheep look like giant Shar-Pei dogs! Merino wool is used in clothing and even billiard/pool table cloth!

Sheep are everywhere! Recent estimates put the number of sheep at 43.1 million, that's 12 sheep per every person living in New Zealand!! Driving around Otago provides panoramic vistas of sheep-covered hillsides. Hikes come with a soundtrack of bahhhing and we often encounter sheep on trails because most trails travel through or along farms at some point. Consequently, these trails are closed during lambing season in September and October.

And of course, I'm always Ooing and Ahing over the lambs. I even like the Big Mamma sheep (see photo above) that look like a giant pile of dirty cotton when they lay down. Although, now some of the sheep are naked because they've been sheared. Talk about pathetic, some of them even look embarrassed and I feel sorry for them (as I wear my wool pullover....)!

Funny thing, sheep. The are so skittish. When we walk by them they get nervous and jump away, causing all the sheep in the immediate vacinity to jump away as well. Even if we are 50 feet away behind a fence. Maybe they think we are coming to strip them of their wool coats. We also see many sheep who get "trapped" in the wedge behind an open gate. They endlessly Bahhh to the sheep on the other side, not realizing they just need to walk around the gate in order to reunite with the other sheep Bahhhhing back.

And then of course, there are the sheep's dags (mentioned in yesterday's posting). Dags are the poop-filled wool that hang off the back of the sheep. Longer wool=longer, dirtier dags. My boyfriend and I kept seeing sheep with dirty butts and I proclaimed that if I owned a sheep I would wash its butt wool. A friend of ours explained the term "rattle your dags" and now I find sheep even more hilarious.

Well, now the lambs are growing up and beginning to be hauled off in double trailer trucks to become dinner. These huge trucks speed through Dunedin, leaving the most intense trail of stench in their wake. It makes me want to give up eating meat all together. Almost.

So now you know more than you probably ever wanted to know about sheep. For all your New Zealand sheep needs, check out these websites:

The New Zealand Sheepbreeders Association:
http://www.nzsheep.co.nz/index.html

The Colored Sheep of New Zealand (No joke, that's really what they call them here):
http://www.colouredsheep.org.nz/
I actually find this website quite interesting and like the idea of using naturally colored wool in my knitting projects.

Rare breed information (including other rare livestock):
http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/

Long Blacks & Flat Whites

No, this isn't a racial thing, I'm ordering coffee! If you thought Starbucks was confusing, try getting a regular coffee in New Zealand. I first encountered this system in Australia a few years ago, but it didn't matter since I wasn't much of a coffee drinker then. Now, I like to have a nice cuppa' every now a then (and the coffee here is really good), but the menu needs decoding first. I did a little research and here's what I found:

Espresso: a 30 ml shot of black coffee produced from 7 grams of ground beans

Long Black: 2 shots of espresso added to twice as much hot water

Flat White: 1/3 espresso (2 shots) and 2/3 steamed milk

Cappuccino: 1/3 espresso (2 shots), 1/3 steamed milk, 1/3 foam

Latte: 1/3 espresso (2 shots), 2/3 steamed milk, a little foam

Macchiato: 2 shots of espresso, 5 ml milk on top, a bit of foam

Mochaccino: 2 shots of espresso, 1 teaspoon drinking chocolate, steamed milk

Right now I'm drinking cappuccino (thanks to my trip to Italy last summer) but I mix it up with a Latte or Hot Chocolate-with a chocolate fish of course (see Adventures in Food:Part 1)!

Get Your Kiwi Junk Food!

There are so many new snack foods to try here that I thought I would share the wealth. To check out (or even order) some of the great Kiwi junk food, go to
http://productsfromnz.com/browse_1027_152
You can even peruse other categories of Kiwi products, like music, art, cosmetics, and sheep skins! Have fun!!

Adventures in Food: Part 2

So with the good food inevitably comes the bad. Here is my list of bad:

1. Whitebait Fritters
Oh boy. These "omelettes" contain small fish larvae that resembles slimy, translucent worms. Call me crazy and unadventurous, but I'm not eating anything that resembles a slimy, translucent worm.

2. Chicken Flavored Chips
It's gets worse: There's Lamb flavored too.

3. Beets on Hamburgers
Not really that bad, but beets just don't belong there. Just ask McDonald's.

4. Vegemite & Marmite
Ugghh. What ever you do, don't spread this stuff like peanut butter.

5. Fish & Chips
Fish & Chips are good when done right. Fish & Chips purchased from underneath the heat lamps at the corner dairy is not done right.

6. Kiwi Pizza
My Italian friends here never stop going on about this one, and I agree. Apricots, mince lamb, guacamole, cranberry sauce, brie cheese, venison, and honey should never be in the vicinity of a pizza. EVER.  Check out this menu to see what I mean.

Are we having fun yet?

7. Mystery Meat Pies
I've heard these referred to as 'maggot bags.' Would you eat something with than name? Be sure to stick to the quality pies in bakeries.

8. Flavored Milk
Colorful flavored milks fill the dairy cooler at the supermarket. I can understand the chocolate flavor, and maybe even strawberry (remember Strawberry Nestle Quick?), but lime, banana, mango, and root beer? I can't imagine this milk doing your body any good.

9. Lolly Cakes
Ingredients:
melted butter
colored fruit puffs (related to marshmallows)
condensed milk
crushed cookies
dessicated coconut

Directions:
Mix everything into the butter
Shape into a log and cover in coconut
Refrigerate for 2 hours
Throw into the rubbish bin

10. Milo
Made by Nestle and advertised as a nutritious energy drink, Milo looks like a powdered chocolate drink but in fact, tastes like wet cardboard. After my first tasteless attempt making Milo, I added more powder. I ended up with more wet cardboard.

Adventures in Food: Part 1

Hailing from the Bay Area in California, I am used to having access to many different kinds of foods. In San Francisco I could find anything from Syrian dried-apricot candy and Ethiopian flat bread, to Sardinian bottarga pasta and El Salvadorian pupusas. You would think that I might have been exposed to some of the foods popular in New Zealand. But one step into New World City Center introduces me to a whole "new world" of food.

Some recent discoveries:

1. Chocolate Fish
Believe me, this is not what you think. Chocolate fish are chocolate covered marshmallows in the shape of a fish that are often served with hot chocolate. I'm not sure how this one developed but they're good.

2. Roasted Chickpeas
Just that, roasted garbanzo beans. These yummy little crunchy salty nuggets are addicting! We keep them around to satisfy our salty-tooth. They're good in salads too!

3. Fruit Juice Concentrate
Known in our household as "juice ooze." Kiwis enjoy a huge range of fruit juice concentrate to mix with water. We are obsessed with passionfruit mango. These are great for cocktails too! Unfortunately, they are filled with sugar....

4. Feijoa
This delicious fruit is related to the guava and is originally from South America. It has juicy sweet pulp and slightly gritty flesh nearer the skin. I grew up eating feijoas that grew at a relative's house in Bonny Doon and was so excited to re-discover them here. For some reason feijoa has become popular in New Zealand and they use it to flavor yogurts, ice cream, smoothies, jam, juice, and candy. I haven't seen the fresh fruit yet, but I'm hoping that feijoa season is coming soon!

5. Kumara
The kumura is a sweet potato brought to New Zealand by early Maori. It is a staple in the Maori diet and there are numerous uses for the kumara. We like it roasted with herbs, creamed in soup, and even had kumara pie for Thanksgiving.

6. Crumpets
I used to get crumpets at Trader Joe's but they were nothing compared to the crumpets here. NZ crumpets are super moist and full of holes. I have to toast them 3 times to get them a bit crispy enough to hold any sort of jam or Nutella.

7. Cheese
With all the dairy farming here it would seem that NZ would produce excellent cheeses. And there are some good cheeses to be had, just not as many as I expected. Most cheese is very expensive, and you can forget any imported cheeses. My boyfriend buys a huge block of cheese called "Tasty" for his daily cheese sandwiches. It's white, but it's not Monterey Jack and definitely not a white cheddar. I like a cheese called "Vintage" that is an aged cheddar with a hard, crumbly texture.

8. Tim Tams
I discovered these amazingly sinful cookies when I was in Australia and managed to bring a few packages home. A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate cookie with a chocolate cream filling and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. YUM. There is a whole line of Tim Tams with double filling and various fillings such as caramel, mint, raspberry, orange, mocha....Maybe I should import them to the U.S., I know my mom would be my first customer!

9. Lollies and Sucks
AKA Candy and Suckers. The candy, er lollie, aisle in the market is filled with all sorts of new things, and of course I need to try them all! Marshmallow bananas, hokey pokey (toffee-like), gummy feijoas, peanut slab, smokers, jaffas, licorice, milk bottles......I feel like I'm in a Harry Potter book.

10. Lamb
OK, I couldn't leave this one out. Lamb is to New Zealand what apple pie is to the U.S. The meat counter at the market contains cuts of lamb I've never heard of. You can find lamb in everything: burgers, pies, curries, stews, even lamb flavored chips (more on this later). We are eating more and more of it and I try not to make the connection from the cute lambs on the hillsides to the meat on my plate.

Update: November 19 2008

An update from November 19, 2008:

Well, I'm a bit more settled in here now and my boyfriend and I are exploring our new home together. The weather is warming up with Spring, although we still get schizophrenic weather changes daily! 2 weeks ago we had snow and 40 degree temp - in the house! I have yet to hear a good explanation as to why Kiwi homes are so poorly made and not insulated, I don't care what anyone says, shivering in wool clothes under 5 wool blankets is not an adventure and does not build character!

We have explored the Otago peninsula we live on and caught sight of the royal albatross colony, the birds have a 9ft wingspan!! They look like pterodactyls flying among the seagulls! No penguins yet, we have to time it right since they leave for the ocean at sunrise and only return at sunset, which is 9:30 these days. So many flowers are in bloom right now, they smell so good and attract the most enormous bumble bees I've ever seen! We also recently visited the Otago Museum which is a wonderful natural history museum filled with specimens and collections. There is even an ancient Mediterranean collection! It is a great place to learn about Maori and New Zealand history, and about the crazy plants and animals that are here, although many endemic species are on the brink of extinction. Even after leaving the Cal Academy of Sciences in SF, I am very impressed by the museum!

We have discovered some great restaurants and new foods in the grocery stores, like roasted chickpeas, feijeoa juice, passionfruit jam, fig & kiwi ice cream, crispy coconut cookies, and venison! I've also been sampling the many NZ white wines, although I must admit that I'm still partial to reds. The wine aisle is very overwhelming and I have no idea where to begin sometimes. The whites are very green and herbaceous (that's the Kiwi description). I do enjoy the many Rieslings though....

We haven't decided what we will do for Christmas yet, most Kiwis head to the beaches for a 2-3 week holiday, so maybe we will venture out too. I started driving our teeny-tiny car last week and have to remind myself to stay to the left, especially on the roundabouts. It can be kind of scary sometimes! We did find a very nice bike for me so I will be able to ride into town, although drivers are very unaware and unfriendly to bicyclists, so I'll stick to the sidewalks.

Now that my thesis is done, I've been able to focus on looking for work. Keep your fingers crossed!

My boyfriend has made a small group of friends here and we have dinners, movie nights, and outdoor adventures with them. It is really interesting how Dunedin is such an international city. Last weekend we went to a dinner party with an Italian, 3 French, 1 Hungarian and a Malaysian! It's so fun to learn about other cultures, hear new languages, and share what each of us miss from our homes.

We miss NPR, cheap fruits and veggies, predictable weather, a variety of cheeses, unlimited Internet access, fresh herbs, pounds, ounces, Fahrenheits and miles, and the general silliness of American life. Although New Zealand has enough of its own idiosyncrasies that we are learning to live by. Some of these include: not keeping eggs refrigerated, calling shopping carts "trundlers," pronouncing the letter z as "zed," giving the weather forecast for the entire country on the radio, "tramping" instead of hiking, adding an "r" at the end of a word that ends with a vowel, discussing heat pumps and coal burning stoves at dinner parties, calling bell peppers "capsicums," sleeping with a hot water bottle, enjoying the coffee, tea, milk and sugar that NZ employers legally have to supply to their employees, and being prepared for all types of weather everyday.