Mussels in Havelock

This blog was always intended to be describe daring adventures ( or short climbs) demanding hikes in wild places (or gentle strolls to photograph waterfalls). It was never intended to provide culinary critique, but in continuation of a series of posts about the excellent coffee, fruit and wine of New Zealand, it seems necessary to add seafood to the list.

We actually ate out very little during our three week stay in New Zealand, but one meal that stands out is mussels in Havelock. We decided to break our journey between Takaka in the South Island and Tongariro in the North Island at Havelock entirely because of the description in the guidebook. "Havelock is where the produce from the 200 mussel farms within the Marlborough Sounds are taken to be processed. It calls itself the Green-lipped Mussel Capital of the world, which is not a title that anyone would seriously want to challenge." And what else is there to do in Havelock but eat mussels.

One of many restaurants specialising in mussels

After a shared starter we set to work on eating mussel platters at the Clansman restaurant. The green-lipped mussels are larger and have a superior flavour to any I have previously tasted. The platter must have contained over 40 mussels, and getting through these was as daunting a task as pulling on the slopers of Payne's Ford.

Anni with her mussel platter. This included steamed mussels in their shell, grilled mussels, marinated mussels, beer battered mussels and mussel patties.

Wine tasting in Marlborough

Vineyard, grape unknown.

Uuden Seelannin viinit ovat lähteneet tosissaan maailmalle vasta aivan viime vuosina. Marlborough sijaitsee eteläsaaren pohjoisosassa, ja siellä viini kasvaa subtrooppisissa oloissa. Tunnetuimmat ja parhaiten onnistuneet viinit ovat yleensä Chardonnay ja Sauvignon Blanc, ja muutoinkin tuotanto on valkoviinipainoitteista. Täällä kesät voivat olla hyvinkin sateisia ja kuumuutta ja kuivuutta vaativat viinit onnistuvat vain silloin tällöin. Pinot Noir on lähes joka viinitarhan valikoimassa, mutta taso on vähintään häilyvää.

Abel Tasmanin ja kiipeilyn päätteeksi otimme suunnan kohti Pictonia, ja siinä Marlboroughn läpi ajaessamme poikkesimme kolmella eri viinitilalla. Ostimme koko loppureissun ajaksi yhden viinipullon per jäljelläoleva ilta maistelujen perusteella. Lyhyesti: Minua kiehtoi enemmän paikallinen Riesling, kuin mainostettu Chardonnay. Ainakin viime vuosi ja 2006 ovat kohdelleet Rieslingiä hyvin, ja sitä keräsimme jonkin verran mukaan. Pinot Noiria lähdin oikeastaan etsimään, mutta pettymystään seurasi toinen, kunnes lopulta löysimme viinitilan, jossa tarjottiin 2006 erittäin hienoa tuotosta, mistä oli 'nuoruus' kaukana.

Vihje: Paikalliset tuskin lähettävät 2008 Chardonnayta ja Pinot Noiria ulkomaille, niin heikolta niiden osalta näyttää. Jos kuitenkin satutte saamaan käsiinne 2006 satoa, niin onni voi potkaista. Sauvignon Blancia en osaa arvostella, se ei oikein säväyttänyt minua missään.

New Zealand has stepped on the wine map quite recently. Especially Marlborough region is famous for its whites, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. After Abel Tasman and sweaty climbing we headed towards Picton, and whilst driving through Marlborough, we stopped on three vineyards to taste the local products. In the end we managed to approve of and buy a bottle for each night of the rest of our trip.

I was quite a lot more impressed by the local Riesling, than the famous Chardonnay. Especially last year and 2006 were of notable quality. Marlborough is mainly a white wine area, although each vineyard produces small amounts of Pinot Noir, too. Marlborough being almost sub-tropical, most wines are doing quite well. The catch is in the word 'almost'. Many summers are quite wet, and wines requiring heat and dryness do not come up as often as the locals would like. I myself was after Pinot Noir, but had to face disappointment after disappointment, until at the very end of our tour, one vineyard offered us a really fine quality wine from 2006.

Hint: New Zealand wine producers are probably not going to send out huge amounts of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from last year, the quality is really not that good. If, however, you happen the get your paws on something from 2006, try that: you might be pleasantly surprised. I'm not saying anything about the prospects of Sauvignon Blanc. I don't really know the wine and nothing impressed me, actually.

Last but not least: Why oh why do we have to suffer from 20kg restrictions on Finnair flights to NZ? Nothing would have pleased me more than the ability to pick a couple of nice special bottles and bring them home...

Kiwi as......

The New Zealanders seem proud of their country and when describing something as Kiwi don't only mean that it comes from New Zealand but that it echoes the sentiment that everything should be the best it could possibly be. Even listening to the radio, the message came clearly, "whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability and take pride in being a Kiwi".

Of course New Zealanders have a lot to be proud of. Not only do they have an incredibly beautiful country, but they also have fantastic food. When we walked through the supermarket, the produce was all marked New Zealand apples, New Zealand pears, New Zealand mandarins, in fact New Zealand almost everything. We did a lot of driving, and passed many farms. Most of these had small stores where you could take the local produce and put a few dollars in an honesty box. This way we stocked up on fruit and enjoyed the local plums, peaches, strawberries, boysenberries and whatever else happened to be in season. The New Zealanders have a lot to be proud of, and great fruit is certainly one of them, or as they would say themselves it's "Kiwi as, bro".

Kiwi fruits on a tree in New Zealand.

New Zealand coffee

New Zealand Coffee is great. Coming from someone who comes from the country with perhaps the worst coffee, this might not be saying much. But then it is at least very good. The barman explains, "it all starts with the espresso, if you add an equal volume of milk you have a flat white". The flat white seems to be the standard, and it is, as you'd expect pretty damn tasty (and strong).

Root Beer

Anakaisa, a colleague at work who had lived in the US asked me if I'd tried root beer. I hadn't. She had said that it was strange and tasted like the mouthwash you get at the dentist. I was sceptical, either the Americans have very odd soda or more likely the Finnish dentists give very odd mouthwash. Well there's only one way to test this, and so I tried the Root Beer. The photo says it all. I tried to tell myself to swallow, but something inside my mind told me to swill it around and spit it out. The verdict: America has vile and strange sodas.

Aamiaisesta - About breakfast

In English: Our second day in Arches ended with nasty dust storm, and we decided not to camp, but seek the comforts of a hotel. The hotel advertised a 'continental breakfast'. We did not ask, which continent this would be. The continent in question was clearly inhabited by people with sweet teeth. The coffee was fine, although there was no option for milk, but only cream, or the wonderful half-n-half. They also had, what would at first glance look like orange juice, except orange juice does not fluoress, or taste like sweetened mixture of E-numbers. The food was a choice of muffins and sugared pastries.

Whilst camping, we've been partially successfull in finding real grain containing cereals without too much sugar in them. It takes some effort, and in smaller shops search is plainly hopeless.



Suomeksi: Toinen päivämme Archesissa päättyi ikävään hiekkamyrskyyn ja päätimme jättää telttailun yhdeksi yöksi ja etsiytyä hotellin suojiin. Kyseinen hotelli mainosti 'mannermaista' aamiaista, emmekä me kyselleet, mistä mantereesta mahtoi olla puhe. Tämä manner on selvästi sokeripeikkojen asuttama. Kahvi oli ihan juotavaa, mutta maitoa ei ollut, ainoa vaihtoehto oli kerma tai paikallinen half-n-half, kerman sekainen maito. Appelsiinimehu lähemmin tarkasteltuna osoittautui sokeroiduksi lisäaineiden ja keinotekoisten aromien paraatiksi. Varsinaisena 'ruokana' oli muffinsseja ja sokerikuorrutettuja viinereitä. Nam.

Telttaillessa aamisvaihtoehdot ovat olleet paremmat. Tiukalla etsinnällä supermarketin hyllyiltä löytyy ihan oikeaa viljaa sisältäviä aamiaismuroja, joihin ei ole lisätty liiaksi sokeria tai väriaineita. Pienissä putiikeissa etsintä on toivotonta.