Rainy Day in Dunedin - croissants, Mitre 10, meringue & yogurt, & the pool!

We woke up to another day of rain.  Pooh.  Vanessa had taken today off to do stuff with us, but we had to change up the plans because of the buckets of water falling from the sky.  We got to do a lot of everyday Dunedin stuff.

Vanessa ran down to The Friday Shop (so named because it's only open on Fridays) and brought home delicious almond croissants.  The Friday Shop is a French bakery, and you have to get there early to get the goods.  Luckily, due to the rain, at 9:30am there were still croissants left!

From there, we went to Mitre 10 (aka Home Depot) to get screws to hang Vanessa's new dryer on the wall. Todd was a happy camper, and Vanessa designed an island for her kitchen.  While we are slowly adding Kiwi words to our vocabulary, we have no idea what this sign is advertising.

After a bit of shopping at the mall and on George Street, we headed to No. 7 Balmac, a coffee shop that's "a bit flash" (aka fancy) where Vanessa's friend Sheryl is a barista (and apparently a very well known barista.  Video will be coming soon of how she makes the fern in the coffee. It's amazing!!)  We had a lovely lunch in front of a roaring fire...and we experienced many new things.

Ordering coffee has been extraordinarily challenging for us...who knew this would be a problem given this New Zealand is part of the British Commonwealth?  As you can see from the menu, there are a few options we don't have.  Thank goodness for Cheryl!  She happily answered a bunch of our questions, and we think we've got it down.

Short Black: an espresso

Long Black: a double espresso with a bit of water (but not an Americano for your Starbucks lovers)

Flat White: an espresso shot with a bit of warm milk, comes in single or double


They do not (anywhere) have plain old coffee.  All coffee drinks come from the machine (you know the big espresso making, steaming milk one).

After my trim (skim) Flat White, I had what Vanessa was having.  Hot water with a couple teaspoons of honey, some lemon juice, and a ginger extract of some sort.  IT WAS SO YUMMY!!!!  I have to figure out how to make it.  Vanessa says she has some ginger tea and that we can probably come pretty close.  I will go back to No.7 Balmac anytime for more of this.

So for dessert, I ordered lemon meringue which comes with a side of yogurt.  Yogurt, you may wonder?  Yup, and it was the perfect complement to it!  You take a bit of the lemon meringue (super sweet) and dip it in the yogurt and yum!!  The yogurt cuts down the sweetness a bit.  Delicious.

After home for naps, we headed over to Moana Pool.  In addition to a gym, it has a huge 50 meter pool, a diving well, a couple of teaching pools, a water slide, a wave pool, and  river that you can float down.  It's lovely and about a 10 minute walk from Vanessa's house. I'm going to get a pass to go swim there in the mornings, so I can ensure that I'm not the Fat American in New Zealand.

 The best way to finish a Friday is with fish & chips! And they also make donuts at the Fish & Chips shop.  You may have heard me say many a time that I love donuts and french fries (chips), so this meal makes me a happy, happy camper.  I thought every Friday was fish & chips dinner, but Vanessa says she only does it once a month because it's so horrible for you.  Damn.  But in light of my goal to not be the Fat American in New Zealand, this is probably a good plan.  Our next date with fish & chips will be in June.  Sigh.