Akaroa treats me so well. Again.

WARNING: This blog post VERY food heavy. Have a snack in front of you or you will be jealous and hungry by the end of the entry.

The best thing about eating alone is that you don’t have to talk to anyone so you can completely focus on the food in front of you.

Like the crazy flavors in this salad that had “leaves,” pickled rhubarb, orange marinated fennel, hazelnut bits, and some sort of citrus dressing.

Or the solid piece of steak in front of you topped with a perfectly grilled (read: not soggy) favorite part of my meal shitake mushroom and herb butter.

And to end, a chocolate and salted caramel torte with berry compote on the side that I ate with the vanilla ice cream but kept FAR away from the chocolate.

When you’re not thinking about the food, then you can stare up at the wine bottles lining the ceiling and think you’re big thoughts, like “I saw a dolphin today. I would be a dolphin.” And when you run out of thoughts, you can look around the restaurant and figure out who is with whom, married? Dating? Way off the mark, actually brother and sister? Honeymoon? Best friend date (I’m looking at you Dan Reed)? How did those people decide to take their three year old here? I like that those people took their three year old here. I like her dress. Can I ask her where she got it? Would that be weird? Can you talk when you’re three? Once you get sick of doing that, then you go back and take another bite and the process starts all over again.

The worst part of eating alone is that you can’t look across the table and see your pleasure reflected in another’s face. It’s like the whole tree/sound debacle – is food really as delicious if there isn’t someone else there to agree with you that yes, the food is that delicious?

I stayed in an adorable pink and purple hostel called Chez La Mer where – get this – I had my OWN ROOM with a DOUBLE BED and a TOWEL they just GAVE ME. What? What is this luxurious craziness? Well, for Akaroa Weekend Part II, I decided to treat myself to a room without seven other people and with a bed that was made when I arrived. You may recall Akaroa Weekend Part I, which included much hiking, strenuous activity, and a sleeping bag. Let me tell you Part II is the exact 180^o opposite do the hokie pokie and turn yourself around, of Part I. My first day here (Saturday May 11) included a walk about town, possibly the best salmon I ever had from the pier, a super cool wildlife/historical cruise of around the large Akaroa inlet, tea (Earl Grey of course) in the sunshine, and the amazing meal presented above at the adorable 12-table aptly named Little Bistro, that you saw above.

Here is the town of Akaroa. Some of these pictures may look familiar from my epically long blog post from back in February, but instead of seeing the landscape from on high, now it is from the water.

This was a seriously amazing sandwich, mostly because the salmon barely hours old.

Murphy’s Seafood on the pier was pretty much just a grill and a toaster for the ciabatta rolls that was the vehicle for the salmon.

Let me just paint you a little picture here. I walked down the pier just to see the end and I passed this guy’s grill station. I walked past it again, noticing that I could buy a sandwich from said guy. The “Fresh Fish” sign finally proved too tempting, so on the third pass, I ordered one. I learned that Akaroa salmon is not shipped anywhere and it is only sold in New Zealand because they want to make sure it is no more than 24 hours old by the time it hits the eater’s plate. Obviously, this tidbit made me even more excited because I was about to eat a fish I won’t see again after I leave the country.

I waited…and waited…and waited and I was so sure the fillet (pronounced with the “t” at the end in proper Kiwi fashion) had been on the grill too long and it would be dry. Well, friends, I was absolutely mistaken. Why did I think I knew more about the right way to cook a fish than the man who catches the salmon for a living? I took a bite, and man oh man I almost lost half the tender salmon out the back of the sandwich. It was so delicate and juicy that it immediately slid apart. It was coated in lemonpepper, a squeeze of lemon and that was it. I sat down on the side of the pier and gently pulled apart the salmon with my fingers, putting one half of the bread on the ground so I could have the pure salmon. A seagull instantly picked up the seven inch piece of bread and tried to swallow it. It’s fellows, watching it struggle, wandered around the first seagull, waiting to pounce the second it put down the bread. Finding Nemo style seagull calls ensued. But, drifting around in fish heaven, I barely noticed the battle for my bread as I took bite after wondrous bite of the salmon. Seriously guys, I know this is a long time to go on about a piece of fish but it was incredible. I can’t wait to come back to NZ with some of you and bring you here. I swooned for the 12 minutes it took me to greedily gulp it down.

After that amazing experience, I decided it would be a good idea to take a historical/wildlife cruise around Akaroa harbor on a large catamaran (all motor, no sail) called the Black Cat (great name).  We wandered around the harbor and our captain told us about the fierce Maori tribes that used to live here, the animals who inhabited the area, and the colonials who came and exploited it all. It was a beautiful day where I got to see:

The tiny blue penguin. Just trust me, that black dot in the water is a penguin, and look at the color of that water!

Craggy caves

An old World War II base where submarines would come to recharge their batteries.

Salmon farms. These are the cages for the largest/oldest salmon. You can see a fisherman feeding the fish. She walked across thin, slippery, violently rocking pathways between the cages like she was walking on a sidewalk in town.

Cows on the hillside. I know that’s not very exciting, but hey, I liked this picture.

And look! The rare Kiris Bundler. I hear she had every warm item of clothing she brought on her body, numbering in the five layers category. Double pants were also employed for warmth. Double pants and hand shadows on the face, clearly one of the coolest of the creatures.

I also saw flopping fur seals and the rarest dolphin in the world, the Hector’s dolphin. I couldn’t get a picture of the little dolphins because they darted in and out of the water so quickly. Although it was cold, I am very glad I did it because of all the wildlife I saw and history I learned, but also because being out on the water is good for my soul.

And now, for the main reason I got myself to Akaroa this weekend, the Akaroa Cooking School. Da da da DAAAA.

It was right in town, about a ten-minute walk from my hostel.

I sauntered into the Akaroa Cooking School at 10:00 and was immediately met by the smiling and extremely welcoming Lou and Ant. They own and run the School and I instantly wanted to be their friend or invited over for dinner or something. They are just those kind of people. I was given a cup of Earl Grey tea (I know this is becoming a pattern) and the twelve of us students wandered around the beautiful, airy space.

This is the view from inside the School looking out towards the harbor. It looks like they can open up this entire wall when it’s very warm in the summer. As you can see, it was another perfect day, reaching the 60s in the afternoon. New Zealand winter = the best.

We sat here and watched with wonder as Lou created colorful, oh-my-god-I-can’t-wait-to-eat-that dishes. In the background you can see the long table where we ate lunch later in the day.

Demonstration area. So shiny! The whole place was so light and airy and warm, exactly how I want my future house to feel.

Lou and Ant teaching us about risotto.

And BOOM risotto and bubbly as our 12:30 snack. Wish you were here?

Lou whipping out the pasta. Aren’t those the coolest olive oil boxes?

Now all I want to do is get my hands into pasta dough. Look at the colors in this dish I mean, come on, is this even real?

Then we had a ten minute break where I walked around and took more pictures of the harbor. I can’t help it! It was so sunny and the mist was so pretty.

One more of the misty, misty water.

After our break, we watched Lou work her magic for a couple more hours, and then we sat down to lunch. Every course was paired with a wine carefully selected by Ant, and I felt very well taken care of, and a little spoiled. We we started with crostini, one topped with caramelized zucchini and the other with mushrooms sautéed in a pan then cooked in cream and drizzled with truffle oil (Deb – I thought of you while eating these mushrooms and am putting in an early request for yours when I get back). The next dish we ate was that beautiful spaghetti pictured above.

Last savory dish was this lovely grouper from Murphy’s Seafood (of sandwich fame) with a zippy butter sauce that included chilies and plenty of gaaahhhlic.

Finally, we ended the meal with luscious tiramisu. I am a professed tiramisu hater, but I cleaned my plate so completely that they could have put the plate directly back on the shelf. I can’t wait to make it for everybody at home because this was the BEST tiramisu I’ve ever had. When Lou was making the custard, I said the fluffy, light yellow cloud that settled in the bowl looked so good I wanted to dip my hand in and lick it off my fingers. Lou and Ant proceeded to dip twelve spoons into the mixture and pass them around for all of us to try. We all grinned at each other at being allowed to eat the batter. After Lou was done making the tiramisu, she looked directly at me and asked if anyone wanted to lick the custard-covered spatula. Of course I tried to be cool about it, and waited about ten seconds before leaping out of my seat and almost knocking another student out of her chair to grab the spatula. So you can see why I freakin loved this whole day so much.

That was the end of my day at the Akaroa Cooking School, and I enjoyed all of it. I would definitely put this on my list of favorite things I’ve done in New Zealand that also includes a helicopter ride over Milford Sound, the parachuting part of my skydive, and the Banks Peninsula Track. I was smiling for most of the day, surrounded by very kind and warm people who also loved food and loved the process of making it together. I will be back.

Now I’m sitting in the Akaroa Library “doing my homework” a.k.a. writing this blog, which is WAY more fun, before I head back to Christchurch this afternoon. I am also listening to the librarians (all women, all in their golden years) discussing the LA Lakers, and a woman next to me learning bridge from her bridge coach. And because I really can’t help myself, here is one last picture of the ocean.

Akaroa harbor at sunset. SO PRETTY!

This blog post is dedicated to my mother, Carola, because she is the one who helps me be brave to go out on my own and find adventure. Happy mother's day!