Eat, drink, and be merry...

Foodies and winos, prepare to be jealous- We have spent the past few days in the northern town of the south island called Nelson. It is a place where the sun shines virtually every day of the year. This makes it a very desirable place to live and a truly lovely place to visit. It also has more culture than I feel we have experienced anywhere see in New Zealand up to this point.



We could tell upon our arrival at our cute little English-cottage-style hotel that we were going to like it here a lot. And we have.
Thanks to our new friend, "the cuddly cook," we knew there were a few restaurants we needed to try while we were here. The girl at the front desk gave us a few as well. Everything was really spectacular. I will now lay out for you our meals:
1) Cafe Affair - we went for a light lunch the day we arrived in town. (sadly I left my camera at home this day so much of the charm of the downtown area I'll need to commit to memory and you'll need to imagine, or google-image, you're pick). It was bright and sunny and we sat outside. Our waitress was the exact kind of friendliness that seems to embody the south island (which is only just 25% of New Zealands population!). she had plenty to tell us about the area and was all too happy to make us a dinner reservation at a restaurant across town!
2) The Boat Shed - this was dinner the first night. Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere! It felt like Maine (or, since I haven't actually been to Maine, like what I imagine Maine to be like and what my mom says reminds her of Maine). A charming restaurant over the water (stilts). We got there just at sunset and though I did not have my camera, I was able to take the following picture with my iPad:


I mean, heaven!
The Cuddly Cook had given us specific instructions on what to order, however, neither option was on the menu so we just went with the servers choice. Ohh! What a treat! We were delivered one mouth watering dish after another.
3) Orangerie- the following night (I'll write about this day in a separate post) we stayed in to dine at the hotel restaurant. We'd had a big day and also the chef was new and had some hype, so why not? It was a darling little French restaurant.
4) wine tour!!! Nelson is one of those pockets of the worked that is pretty perfect for some varieties of wine. Today (as in the day I'm writing this, Thursday? I'm not sure I've completely lost track of days...) we went for a full day wine tour. We were promised that the tour would be no more than 13 people. We were not promised that we would have it to ourselves, but as it is the off season in an off year we did. Our sober driver/ tour guide, Lyall, picked us up for a day we had really been looking forward to.




The beginning of the day at our first stop - the Richmond Plains and Te Mania Vineyards. We got to choose 4 of 8 wines to taste. My mom quickly declared see did not like Riesling, which Lyall took as a challenge to fond one see would like for the rest of the day.



Lyall and Angela, the super fun enthusiastic italian expert at Richmond.



Even the wineries are very excited about the rugby world cup.

Because it was just the two of us and we told him we like the art culture here, Lyall took us to an amazing glassblowing gallery. It was filled with some of the most incredible glass blown objects I have ever seen. I also got to showcase how much I remember from the glassblowing class I took senior year of college.

We continued on to Seyfried winery where we had a lovely lunch and four more tastings (after that I lose count of how many I got to taste...) we continued to love the Sauvignon Blanc's (not a huge surprise - this is what the region is know for, "full bodied whites.") Mom was still not a fan of the Riesling, but what she hated was a wine neither of us had heard of with a German name.



Yup. There's the name (but don't be confused, this is from a different vineyard).
We then went on to Woollaston, a beautiful winery that really reminded us of a chic Napa vineyard. No surprise it's a joint venture between a wealthy American and an established New Zealand winemaker.



Really big fans of their branding.



View from Woollaston.
We finished off the day at Waimea. Here Lyall hid the names of the varietals and tried to get us to guess the varietals. Still determined to get mom to find a Riesling she could stand he brought one out that severely grossed us out. Up to this point I had drunk the full taste of every wine put in front of me. This one I simply could not do. It smelled like skunk! But the Pinot Grijs there I thoroughly enjoyed. It went down like water (although mom thought it tasted like water so that may have been why).
We were returned to the hotel and had a big dinner reservation coming up. I was not hungry and feeling pretty icky so I went for a little run. Nelson has an amazing system of bike and running trails. You could just go and go, everything is marked with distances and to point you in the right direction. I mean really, what a gem of a city/town!
5) Hopgoods - everyone we talked to told us at Hopgoods is the best restaurant in Nelson, so obviously we had to go. Still not all that hungry we shared an entree (which is a starter in NZ and Australia) and a main to share. Entree: goat cheese soufflé over matchstick cut apples, beets, and candied walnuts. Mom wants to recreate this badly. Main: pan seared flounder like fish (native to the sea around here) over cauliflower cream and paprika sauce, mushrooms, and herb gnocchi. It was just a stunning meal. I couldn't bear to pair it with any more wine but luckily New Zealanders take their beer just as seriously, and they had a perfect pairing for our meal.
6) Macs Brewery - just because we were done with dinner didn't need to mean the night was over. Just across the street from Hopgoods is a bar (that was once the brewery for a beer brand, Macs, that you now see all over New Zealand and Australia). I have fallen pretty in love with their cider. We sat down with our drinks and tried to teach ourselves some more rugby. This is when we saw a grown man and athlete get pantsed on live tv, and NO ONE MADE A BIG DEAL OF IT. In the middle of a play, the opponent caught a guys shorts as he was running and pulled them down all the way. The other guy kept running. This went on for at least 5 seconds!!

And with that, I'm out. I'll write soon about the day I alluded too. Night!





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