Alan's Rambles: Dunedin: Life in New Zealand. Part 13

3 Tues-
Sabine and I went to a restaurant called Jizo for dinner. I had Katsu curry which was nice. Sabine had a noodle dish which she said wasn't that great. The prices were comparable to the mall and other eateries, so all in all not too badly priced, at all.

6 Fri-
Today there was a travelling saleswoman in the DCC staff room, selling leather bags and wallets for over $60. Why this is allowed is insane. What’s worse is that it actually worked for her. I noticed that a lot of woman in the building actually bought her things. I was left flabbergasted. Surely she shouldn’t be allowed here, but the workers in this building don’t care, and actually BOUGHT things off her! I can’t believe this sort of stupidity happened. How dumb are humans? I found out later that she was here as a way of fundraising for the DCC social club. So they take a cut of her earnings. I’m still left asking... WHY?!?!

7 Sat-
This morning I cooked eggs on toast for us both. I finally decided it was time to get the cat room windowsill sorted out. Some weeks ago we got a carpet and some double sided tape. Today I measured it out and cut the carpet to size and put in on the sill. Looks okay. I hope it holds out.
Yesterday or the day before, Sabine noticed mold on the couch that we don't use. We looked online for a way of getting rid of it, and so after buying the correct stuff, I used a mixture of alcohol and soap in a spray bottle, and by doing this outside, I brushed away at the mold and used the spray solution to get rid of it. Afterwards it was recommended to let things dry then do the same procedure again with white vinegar.
We went to town to try a halloumi burger that was been advertised in one of the cafes in the mall. It wasn't very good. more like a basic cheese burger. The halloumi wasn't grilled properly and was melting and soaking into the bun. The hot chocolate was served in a glass which turned into what can only be described as a chocolate milkshake in no time at all.
This evening with watched The Maze Runner.

10 Tues-
Weather not so great today. Hailing like crazy early this morning and later this evening too, as well as intermittently during the day. So much so the ice compacted and looked like snow. It wasn't so easy to walk to work.
Yue got his second shot at the vet later today. His first was with his original owners.

11 Wed-
After arranging with the fire wood guy, we finally got it all delivered at 4pm this afternoon. Its $85 per meter which works out at $340. This was a real bargain and I have to thank our landlady for the recommendation. The wood arrived ready split so it can go directly in the fire. So that's a bonus. Once home I moved it all from the pile on the driveway to the wood port thingy (a separate section from the car port, but the same idea). It took me an hour.
Sabine was laughing saying that she couldn't understand the kiwi guys accent when he was delivering the wood.

Our wood for the winter!

12 Thu-
After work we went to the Fresh Choice superstore near us (our first visit) just to check it out. I wanted to visit months ago but Sabine declined until now. It was a smaller supermarket with a very limited range and rather expensive. I was kinda hoping SOME things would be cheaper, but I guess not. Sabine was expecting a 'fresh choice' of fruit and veg.

13 Fri-
A truck overturned on Stuart Street at 11am-ish whilst I was at work. This was a silage truck that lost its breaks and forced itself to turn over to stop. No one was killed luckily. They were still cleaning the silage off the street when I was walking past at 5:10pm.

14 Sat-
This morning after I don't know how many months, we finally did something we should have been doing all this time: we went to the weekly Farmers Market. Its located as a part of the railway station. It was a huge event. There were food stalls galore, fresh fruit and veg stalls and even things like wine stalls and chutney stalls. A lot of things were overpriced, but the things that weren't were the things we bought.
EVERYTHING in the list below that we got is fresh:
- 'Brill' fish ; $10 for 500 grams. Comparable to Pac n Save, yet we got a lot of advice regarding what sort of fish we should buy. Sabine said that the Blue Cod is tasteless, and the woman agreed, advising us to go for the Brill.
- 4 small turnips ; $2, we have not seen them in Pac N Save, yet we feel for what we got, it was a bargain price.
- Spring onions ; $2, comparable to Pac n Save.
- Mushrooms ; $5, Also comparable to Pac N Save, yet these were extremely huge and very fresh looking.
- Bell Peppers ; $10, Incredible price. This was a HUGE pack of "seconds", which I guess is the farmers wording for 'going off' / needs to be cooked today. Lucky for us this is exactly what we did later as I'm typing this. This I feel was a HUGE bargain.
- Big gigantous red onions ; $5, A fantastic price. So fresh that the earth was still on them. Incredible looking.
- Oversized Zucchini ; $1!!!! This is the best bargain I have ever come across. It was a MASSIVE marrow going for a STUPIDLY cheap price.
- Butter Nut ; $2.50 ; oversized again. For the same dealer as the zucchini. Again this price was amazing.
- Kohlrabi ; $3, I'm actually unsure what this is, but it tasted nice a few minutes ago, like a parsnip. It was like the size of a small football.
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I'm so pleased we discovered this place. We will be here every week. For sure.
After we put the grocers in the car, we headed to a cafe that we have never been to before, yet always walked past. This is called Vanguard. I had a fruit cake with a banana smoothy, and Sabine had Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon with a hot chocolate.
After that we went to Mitre 10 for our second visit. This time to find Tarpaulin to cover the fire wood. We came across an awesome pet area which sells things for great prices. So that's yet another plus. We then did our weekly shop at The Warehouse / Pac N Save. After that we came home and cooked the stuff we bought. Freezing it for use in the week. I also covered the wood using the tarpaulin we bought.

Fresh foods!

look at these beauties!

yummmii mushiis!!

15 Sun-
I cooked us Eggs for breakfast, then we cleaned the house. After that I went to get us Fish and Chips for lunch. The typical routine for this when buying this as follows:
Me: Fish and Chips please for two.
Chinese worker: Fysh Cheep
Me: For two...
Her: Toh?
Me: yes.
Her: Eigh-dhalla
Me: Eight dollars? Oh okay.
To be fair its not actually too bad. We wouldn't keep going back otherwise lol.
After that we went to look at a few things from Miter 10 and Bunnings, which was our first visit to this DIY Superstore. After that back to Pac N Save and Warehouse.
Tonight we watched The Maze Runner part 2 and moved the dog crate into the kitty room for a permanent placement (unpacking it though. Its quick and easy to set up).

16 Mon-
Went to the vets directly after work because we think our cats have a cold virus. Turns out that they indeed do have. Yue had to have three injections but screamed blue murder during the third. It didn't work so the vet attempted another 4 times, each time he was screaming and behaving like a demon! It was very frightening. In the end he was taken away to be injected by another vet and Sabine and I just looked at each other whilst we could hear his demonic screaming from the other room. lol
After that we got some Polyfilla from Bunnings, and a sandpaper and spatular.

21 Sat-
Fresh foods from the market / Pac n Save this week:
- Broccoli ; $1.50 from Pac n Save.
- 'Tarakihi' fish ; $10 for 500 grams. Last weeks Brill fish was excellent. It kept its fluffy, thick texture once cooked (and reheated), and was really tasty. This fish was bought from the same stall, and the guy (not a woman this time) said its better than their Brill.
- 2 packs of small turnips ; $2 each. We still haven't seen them in Pac N Save.
- 2 packs of Spring onions ; $1.90 each, from Pac n Save.
- Mushrooms ; $4.90 from Pac N Save, yet these were a pac of button mushrooms, and slightly smaller than last weeks. In fact the stall wasn't selling them this week.
- Bell Peppers ; $5, this was a pack of 4 from Pac n Save. Not as much for what we got last week, but the stall selling them wasn't there today.
- 2 Oversized Zucchinis ; $1 each! Still the best bargain in Dunedin by far. From the same seller as last week.
- 2 Butter Nuts ; $3.50 each ; not nearly as big as last weeks. Also bought from a different stall. We also noticed later on that Pac n Save sells them too.
-1 packet of 'Mung' bean sprouts ; $3 for 500g. From an asian stall that also was selling tofu.
- 2 packets of Tofu ; $4.00 & $4.40. This was a better looking deal in Pac N Save to be honest, that came in a variety of ranges.
- 1 pack of Jerusalem Artichokes ; $1 for what I would say is 500g. A great bargain from a market stall owner.
- 1 packet of Carrots from Pac N Save ; $2.90.
- 1 packet of Parsnips from Pac N Save ; $2.70.
- Mince from Pac N Save ; $12.80 at $12 per kg.
- 2 packets of really interesting chutneys from a stall at the market. One is called "Roast Beetroot with Fennel Pesto" (okay, that one is a pesto) and the other is "Olive Tapanade".
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We came home and cooked the lot! After trying a bit whilst cooking, the 'Tarakihi' turned out to be a tasteless fish. Oh well. Its got a nice texture. After the endless but fun cooking, I cooked us eggs on toast. We got this cheese and onion bread earlier, but it was just toast flavoured when it came to eating it, or rather egg flavoured cause that dominated the taste. After that I used the Polyfilla and the stuff we got on Monday to fill in a hole in the wall in the cat room that wasn't started by us, but was opened up more and more by our cats over these past few months, as a game I suppose. Anyway, I sanded it down then filled it in. We will get a matching paint at some point down the line and go over it, but I'm pleased with how flat I got the wall to be at the end, even though it was a bit of a messy job.

Calcifer kitty on my lap

Kiwi chocolate easter "egg". On sale!

This was also on sale! A really cute marshmallow easter chick inside a chocolate egg.

More fresh foods this week! YUMMY!

Cute Kitties on Sabines lap!

Yue is sometimes a scarf

My first wall hole filled!...lets see if it lasts, or if the cats scratch at it again...

22 Sun-
Today was a lazy day. We cleaned the house then went to town to the butterflies. We wanted lunch at Re:Burger but they said its a 20min waiting time, so we instead ate at the Mall. I had a yummy curry and Sabine had a Chinese. I also ordered some chips.
Calcifer has adopted Yues skill of jumping onto my shoulder and staying there. Even Hermione has tried it a few times! Also, after every shower, Calcifer loves to inspect my freshly clean feet. He sniffs them, then lies down on them. So cute!