Arriving in New Zealand!! :) - Jess

So far since arriving in Auckland I (Jess) have noticed a few things, the first being, Kiwis LOVE their food mainly what I've noticed is they love their pies, seafood, sandwiches, and lamb of course. There are a ton of restaurants at every corner. What stinks is that it seems the food and beverage industry is so competitive here me and Tom have yet to find a favorite place. It seems you have to really dig for those places here. (any recommendations would be appreciated) Also all the food in New Zealand is SO over priced, every menu has "the best fish and chips" which yes its fresh and probably tasty enough but I cant even justify spending around $45 on one of my favorite indulgences. BUT me and Tom went to the water front fish market the other week, and THAT was fresh fish and chips for only $7!! Another thing I'd like to get off my chest is since working as wait staff in Auckland the Kiwis drive me NUTS with their coffees! To be honest the New Zealanders are some of the nicest people I have met but picky picky about their coffee. I cant tell you how many times women will come in and order " a trim/soy hot chocolate with whip cream and extra chocolate sprinkles". I'm honestly not certain if they realize how silly they sound or if its just gotten to the point that the person with the most ridiculous coffee order is the coolest? It's not just the women either, a ton of business men out to lunch seem to also have this ridiculous coffee order problem, just yesterday a man at a business lunch ordered " a trim cappuccino in a smaller cup extra hot extra dressed" HA? Maybe I'm just used to Canadians "can I just have a cup of coffee" but I don't even think these Kiwis know what they're drinking. Anyways I love a challenge and so far New Zealand is providing a challenge to me and Tom; fish and chips $45, cup of coffee $10, a bell pepper at the grocery store $6 finding those $7 fish and chips priceless. I look forward to finding our favorite sit down restaurant and to seeing what me and Tom come up with out of New Zealand for our menu so far I have; fish and chips seafood pie with a $30 cup of shut the hell up on the side.