A progress report on our time in New Zealand.

Here was the problem last night. We went out walking in the late afternoon, expecting to find just the right restaurant in the central part of Auckland where we would then stop and eat. We never found it. And we were losing steam. What to do?

We thought of cooking back at the hotel, where we have a miniature Hobbit kitchen.

The problem–the “fully stocked kitchen” promised in the advertising has a total of one cooking pot, a relatively small sauce pan shown in this first photo. That’s it. No other cookware. There is also a microwave. And a toaster. No spices beyond salt and pepper. At first it seemed grim.

Aha. A solution.

I filled Meda in on my idea, and we agreed to try it.

First stop–the large Countdown store right on Queen Street in the heart of Auckland’s central business district, which everyone refers to as CBD. When we first arrived, I had no idea what people were talking about as they tossed out CBD in their New Zealand accents.

The store was crowded with primarily young shoppers, with long lines for checkout. Apparently a big central city supermarket was a very good idea.

In any case, we wandered the store picking up ingredients. A couple of potatoes, an onion, a few carrots, garlic, a little hot pepper, mushrooms, a loaf of ciabatta bread, a little basil, and then ended up with a small package of chicken drumsticks (because they were on sale). Did I mention a bottle of wine? Perhaps that goes without saying.

The bill was about $40 NZ, less in US dollars. Not an unreasonable price for a dinner for two, with wine.

Here’s what it looked like when we got back to the hotel. It was starting to look good.

So then it was to work.

Onions and garlic were first into the pot with a little margarine we bought earlier for our breakfast toast. It took a while for the stove to get up to a proper heat, then we were off and running.

When the onions were starting to wilt, in went the chicken.

I browned the chicken, then added just a little wine (leftover from our first night), some chopped basil, a little more water, and then covered an let the chicken cook for a while. I think I let it go for about 15 minutes.

Then I cut the potatoes and carrots, sliced the mushrooms, and added the whole lot to the pot.

The pot bubbled for another 25 minutes or so while the vegetables cooked. Towards the end, a package of frozen mixed vegetables went into the microwave.

And then it was served.

It’s odd eating without cats milling around and begging for tidbits, but somehow we managed.

Meda’s conference starts this morning. Her keynote presentation is tomorrow morning. We get another relatively free day at the end of the week, depending on what connections she makes during the conference.