It was absolutely pouring rain when we woke up, but I’ve come to learn that New Zealand’s weather can be rather bipolar. The day begins stormy and ominous and by lunchtime the sky is a piercing shade of blue. The air gets dryer the further south we go, so that freezing wind/blazing sun temperature shift … Continue reading Traveling New Zealand: Glowworms and Country Driving
I’ve been anxious for weeks about driving in New Zealand. Neither Katie or I have ever done “left side driving”. I played a vision in my head on loop of careening into a medium or whacking a bicyclist. It is this paranoid daydream that drove my decision to purchase the super-ultra-mega-hit-anything-pay-nothing car insurance that agencies … Continue reading Traveling New Zealand: Rotorua Geysers & Left Side Driving
Auckland is a good central city to start a trip, but my favorite part of it all was the areas surrounding it. When you travel enough, you start to become less enthused by big cities other than your own. There are enough inherent similarities in so many cities that you lose the intrigue of the … Continue reading Traveling New Zealand: Waiheke Island & The Coromandel Peninsula
This trip has been a long time coming. Like crazy girls, we decided to cram finishing graduate school, finding a new apartment, and planning a 2.5 week trip on the other side of the world into the span of a few short months. Most of our trips begin with incomplete itineraries that we fill as … Continue reading Traveling New Zealand: 24 Hours to Auckland
Dang, it’s been a while since I posted. After finishing grad school, I assumed that my life would fall into a blissful ease full of boozy brunches and Lifetime movie marathons. I figured that I would have an excessive amount of time. That’s what’s funny about life though—how much you have squeezed beneath the surface … Continue reading Spaghetti Squash w/Lamb Meatballs & Lemon Parsley Cream
*Breathe in* --this is a critical “1st step” after getting up in the morning, in advance of facing an outside world that is still as chaotic and intense as it was yesterday (when that fails, there are 3 liquor stores within a 3 minute sprint of this apartment). The country is still in a state … Continue reading Zucchini Fritters with Lemon Dill Yogurt Dip
Just when I thought graduate school had hit its ultimate peak of mania, I had one of “those weeks”. I can’t tell you exactly what my week consisted of. In a blurred tizzy of studying for my first in-class midterm since I was 20 (I’m a research paper girl), an exceptionally chaotic few days at … Continue reading Butternut Squash & Apple Soup with Honey Parmesan Croutons
I probably write about my graduate school mania too frequently. But for those of you out there who are considering the self-destructing journey of getting a degree while working a full-time job, let me tell you this—it takes grit. When I’m sitting on my living room floor on a pile of course syllabuses, crying like … Continue reading Lamb & Mint Meatballs with Greek Yogurt Dip and Sweet Potato Chips
Coming back to the city after an awesome episode of traveling is always an adjustment. I came back from mild and breezy Iceland earlier this summer and stepped right into the searing heat of New York City. Despite the humid and claustrophobic subway platforms and the distinctive sidewalk scent of garbage day in July, there … Continue reading Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
Being out of class for the summer has been extraordinary. I feel like I just emerged from a thick layer of endless fog that I had been blindly flailing inside of for the past few months. I remembered that I had actual friends. I remembered what it felt like to be free to make plans … Continue reading Dry-Rubbed Skirt Steak with Port Pomegranate Reduction
