Last Night

29 March 2011

It all ends with Persian Love Cake.  

It started just as a regular day.  Went to work.  Learned some stuff.  Did some reports.  Sat around and doodled from boredom.  

After work Jessica and I spent some time hanging out by the lake and enjoying the beautiful weather.  We walked to the outdoor center where Jessica got a certificate that she completed the Milford Track.  She invited me to come and have dinner with her hosts at the backpackers (hostel) she works out.  Jess went on and on about the venison curry that Rosie (the owner) was making.  The venison curry didn’t entice me, but a night of company with some folks did.

On our way to her house I stopped at the dairy and got an ice cream cone.  It was a perfect day for it.  Then we stopped at the grocery store and bought some drinks for our “party” as Jessica called it.

Her hostel was more like a huge house.  It was in a regular neighborhood.  The house has a lovely garden and Jess has a little tiny house in the yard.  Jess and I helped make a salad as Rosie has a broken arm.  The hostel kitchen was more like a combo between a home kitchen and a commercial kitchen and it was full of backpackers brewing fabulous things.  

In total there were 16 of us for dinner.  We started off with a glass of wine and then we moved on to the food!  It was a feast.  We had venison curry, but there was also vegetarian curry.  We had rice, steak stir fry, canoodles, three salads, and amazing pasta!  The chefs came from New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and the UK.

We rounded things out with dessert and a rendition of “Happy Birthday” for one of the Australians.  We had tiramisu, raspberry yogurt with white chocolate, and Persian Love Cake.  

It’s a long walk from Rosie’s hostel to my place so Jess walked part of the way with me in the dark.  The night sky was incredible.  It felt like being in a planetarium or something like that!  The sky is very vast here because while there are mountains they aren’t too close.  And there is less light pollution so we could see stars very low in the sky.  

As usual Jess made me laugh.  We talked about the great food we ate.  How much she’s loved living with Rosie and her husband and her plans for going to Australia.  Jessica leaves on April 1st.  This is the end of her New Zealand adventure.  What I love about Jessica is that she isn’t sad to leave.  She has enjoyed her time here and she’s ready to move on.  I really admire her and appreciate the friendship that she and I developed here.  We’re from quite dissimilar cultures and yet here in Kiwi Land we were able to cultivate a friendship.  I think that is something truly magical about New Zealand.  I will always appreciate that.