a week in my life, part three: eating and drinking my way through Auckland

welcome back to my WIML series, where each week i detail out how i spent the prior week as an american temporarily living in new zealand! this past week was spent at “home”, which mostly consisted of eating and drinking in auckland. this post summarizes february 17th – 23rd.

favs of the week:

all the details:

Activities

• worked out at sala. walked past this cool looking gym a few weeks ago, and knew I needed to try it. This was the week I did so and I was not disappointed! It’s a huge space with 100+ classes a week and several class types, ranging from yoga to pilates to high intensity tread/floor classes (like Barry’s). I went to a HIIT pilates, reformer strength, and full body class – loved them all! the full body class was maybe not the best move after a night out though…
• Golf lesson! two lessons deep and feeling sooo much more confident about my ~golf game~ already.
• set up my new shop page. you’ll now see a tab for “shop” in my website’s navigation menu, where you’ll find all of my fav travel products and resources. i’ll add more over time. 🙂
• watched some cats… signed up for a dog walking website (because I miss lainey) and of course the first booking I get is to cat sit. but they were cute and I’m watching them again next weekend too.
• went to auckland’s festival italiano. this was such a cool italian festival in newmarket! it was mostly italian food and drink vendors, but there was also live music and it was just a fun atmosphere.

Eats

only including those worth mentioning here 🙂 we seemed to eat out a ton this week and only at italian restaurants?? 10/10 week of eats though I must say.

• Proscuitto and almond croissants – Amano. as mentioned in last week’s week in my life, we tried amano croissants and loved them, so we needed to go back for more! I opted for the proscuitto this time, and we had the almond to share (because a dessert one was necessary). Additional details on croissants around the world of course!
• tiramisu and raspberry mini donuts – butter baby. We got these cute little donuts at takutai square on wednesday when they have a bunch of food trucks there! these were sooo good.
• truffle arancini – elmo’s. i mean truffle… arancini… do i need to say anymore??
• hot to trot! pizza – elmo’s. mozz, chorizo, pepperoni, spicy nduja honey, whipped ricotta… what dreams are made of. the dough was honestly a little too thin to hold all of those amazing toppings, but still a very good pizza.
• spicy rigatoni alla vodka – elmo’s. a close second for my fav eat of the week. the noodles were cooked perfectly al dente and the sauce was plentiful and packed with flavor. exactly what you would hope for in a spicy vodka pasta.
• cacio e pepe – pici. don’t have a photo of this, but just trust that it was unreal. the noodles were thick and chewy and definitely homemade, and the sauce was stellar. this dish is what pici is known for, and it was definitely worth the hype.
• stracciatella with tomatoes – pici. best bite of the week!! the tomatoes were so fresh and flavorful, the cheese was salty and perfect, and it was topped with breadcrumbs and olive oil. we got it with the foccacia and wow… no notes.
• blueberry buttermilk gooey butter cake ice cream – duck island. loooved this flavor. duck island has not disappointed us yet!
• non solo pizza. we went out to eat with clay’s coworkers and ordered a bunch of things to share. I don’t have pics from it because I was too embarrassed to whip out my phone in front of everyone lol
• chili scramble with bacon – barker’s cafe. this is the cafe that lets you make your own soda with their homemade syrups!! their food is good but nothing to get too excited over. this meal did revive me after wanting to die at our saturday morning high intensity sala class though.
• lamb meatballs – baduzzi. got these at the italian festival! actually so good, going to have to go to the actual baduzzi storefront now.
• chicken nibbles (boneless wings), cheese balls, fries, mac n cheese, and sticky rice cake – my fried chicken. we kind of randomly ended up here on Saturday afternoon, and we’re so happy we did. it was not only so good, but so cheap. we had all of the food mentioned plus a beer and a glass of wine and paid around $35 (usd)!! our favs were the chicken in the hot n sweet sauce, cheese balls, fries, and mac n cheese.
• pork spring rolls – mi & chi. these were a nice lil snack but nothing too amazing tbh!!

drinks

coffee, alcoholic, etc!! only those worth mentioning.

• jalapeno and cucumber margarita – elmo’s. super spicy with a cooling effect from the cucumber. definitely my favorite marg in auckland thus far, and my fav drink of the week!
• Spuggies hazy pale ale – Twofold. This is a cute brewery / restaurant in parnell with great beer and a fun atmosphere! haven’t had food other than their fries (which i rec), but I have heard their food is good as well. the spuggies beer was v good and I would definitely get it again!
• the kawasawa – Pineapple on Parnell. This kawakawa (nz plant) infused tequila cocktail was extremely interesting, both and tastes and looks. would probably order again though?
• chili pineapple marg – bedford. This was good, but not amazing! like a 7/10. needed more spice for sure.
• spicy marg – hopper’s. Can you tell I was on a marg kick this week? this one was also not amazing, maybe a 6.5/10.
• Head in the clouds – alpine wine co. We had a bottle of this chilled red at Pici and we loved it.
• gin and soda – hotel ponsonby. nothing really to say about a gin and soda (although I did get it with the Malfy pink grapefruit gin and it was v good), but hotel ponsonby was a very fun bar! loved the older architecture and charm of the interior, and they have an awesome outdoor area.
• flat white – kompass coffee. this place is literally always crowded and when I went was no exception. i honestly expected it to be outstanding because of the constant crowds, but I didn’t find it too impressive? more details on my mission to find auckland’s best cafes of course!

etc

reads:

• Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. finally finished this incredibly boring book. do nottt recommend lol
• American operator: a tier one story by jeffrey wilson and brian andrews. the fourth book in the tier one series! I’m flying through this one. Highly rec this series if you’re into action / thrillers.
• How to win at travel by Brian Kelly. brian kelly, aka the points guy, just came out with this book to share his knowledge of the travel industry. I’m about halfway through it and really liking it! even as someone who has traveled a fair amount, I feel like I’m learning a lot from it.

Currently planning:

• family visiting us in NZ in a few weeks!
• melbourne for the f1 race in march – plz help us get tickets 🙂

stay tuned for part four <3

More week in my life content to come! if you have comments or questions, please let me know below.