Was I actually invited?

Eating dinner at someone's house has to be one of my most favorite things to experience, especially in a new place. I have found here that I LOVE when I get invited over to someone's house for dinner. I don't know if it is the fact that EVERYONE always has a plate of yummy food out before the meal--filled with crackers and cheeses and dips. Or if it is trying all sorts of food that is delicious--my favorite being roasted pumpkin. Though I do have to say the conversation about how Americans eat pumpkin is getting a tad bit old. In NZ you eat pumpkin ALL the time. It is roasted, most often with potatoes and kumra (sweet potatoes). It was a little different for me at first. We carve pumpkins in the States, not eat them. But the conversation is the same each time.

Kiwi: Do you eat pumpkin in the States?
Me: No, not really we carve it.
Kiwi: What? You don't eat pumpkin? You eat it sweet, huh?
Me: Yeah we have pumpkin pie.
Kiwi: Oh that's gross pumpkin is not intended to be sweet.
Me; Well we just do it different. Our pies our sweet not savory. (they don't have sweet pies at all here)
Kiwi: Pumpkin is not for a pie and I don't really like your pumpkin pie anyway.
Me: I don't really like pumpkin pie either, actually. And you don't really make it out of a pumpkin like you guys cut up your pumpkins. You buy a can of pumpkin pie filling.
Kiwi; That is just wrong. You eat kumra sweet too?
Me: Kind of. At Thanksgiving we bake it with brown sugar and cinnamon with marshmallows on top and....
Kiwi: That is not the way you are supposed to eat it.
Me: Do you have any chocolate? (trying to change the subject because I am so tired of defending something I don't even really like) :)

Anyway, back to going to people's house for dinner... I do thoroughly enjoy it here. So much so that I invited myself to dinner twice this week. I know, I know, rather presumptuous, but I really like these new friends I am meeting and know that Kiwi's love being hospitable, so I just help the process :)

Wednesday night I was at my friend Andy and Sally's for dinner. We had a roast (which is not like an American thinks of it) It is usually some kind of roasted meet with potatoes, carrots, kumra and you guessed it....pumpkin. It was rather yummy! And then Georgia their daughter had me try her favorite candy: Perky Nana (chocolate covered banana tasting thing) It was good! Though we did get a good laugh out of the fact that I thought this whole time she had been saying to me "pookienana." Sometimes I still don't get the accent right. And I helped Georgia start her very own blog. You should check it out: pookienana.blogspot.com :)




Then on Thursday night I went to Jane and Andy's house for dinner. Andy is an amazing cook, or so I kept hearing. So of course I needed to invite myself to their house:) We had a great time just laughing, eating yummy food (definitely had cheese and crackers before dinner that I loved), telling stories, and having an AMAZING meal that Andy cooked. Everyone was right. Want to guess what we had? roasted pumpkin:) We also had a great pasta dish as well and dessert was my favorite....pinapple and chocolate. We sat around the table with dessert in front of us so long we had to bust out another huge chocolate bar.




Though there was not "cuteness" invitation or interaction (thought he was into another girl last week...we will just have to wait and see if anything ever happens), it was such a GREAT week! And l thought I would end by sharing with you my current favorite shirt in New Zealand. Jane and Beks had both worn it yesterday so I had to take a picture to share with you....enjoy!