First Post.

On By rocionzIn Uncategorized

I love New Zealand.

It has some sort of magical quality that I can’t quite describe.

The Māori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, which means ‘land of the long white cloud’

I first came across this country in primary school, when a group of teenagers from New Zealand came to Argentina as part of a rugby exchange programme. They performed a haka on the schoolyard and my impressionable nine-year-old brain was just mesmerised by its sheer power. I tried to replicate the words and the hand movements for weeks (to no avail). 

Marae (sacred Māori meeting house) in the Auckland museum

To this day (more than 20 years later) every time I watch a haka being performed I get chills.

Haka is used throughout New Zealand for many reasons; to challenge, to demonstrate appreciation, to encourage or to discourage, to acknowledge achievements, to welcome, to farewell, as an expression of pride, happiness or mourning. There is almost no inappropriate occasion for haka; it’s a display of collective thoughts and emotions and it’s just really gripping and moving.

School’s haka for teacher’s funeral

Jump to about four years later. My 13-year-old self watches The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time. My mind is blown. A multi-race world with hobbits, elves and orcs. Fight between good and evil. Friendship. Altruism and responsibility. Fate and free will. I was instantly OBSESSED. ‘Middle-earth’? Where is this dreamlike land?? Turns out this place is real and it’s called New Zealand.

Bilbo Baggins’ hobbit-hole. Taking this photo was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life (I told you I was obsessed)

Cut to 17 years later (present day). Somehow I ended up living in Middle-earth. I have been living here for almost five years. And to celebrate that milestone I decided I want to cook all the recipes in The Great New Zealand Baking Book. And I want to blog about it. I don’t know how long it will take me or how good the content will be, but I love baking, I love New Zealand and I want to do this so I thought those were enough reasons to go for it. 

Bungee jumping in Queenstown. I’m ‘taking the plunge’ in a much more metaphorical way– starting a blog not jumping off a bridge

Migrating here hasn’t been easy and the process is never really over, but as luck/chance would have it, I found out my New Zealand resident visa was approved the day I made the first recipe for this blog. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but I like to think it does. 

First recipe coming very soon.

3 thoughts on “First Post.”

  3. Pingback: Louise Cake – The Great New Zealand Baking Book Project

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