Organic Devil's Sugar with Mt. Spaghetti on Toast Lands Us in Hot Water.

    The "spring break" school holiday started off with an amazing health discovery.  We had friends over for dinner whose child has some food allergies.  For dessert we had purchased New Zealand Organic Chocolate Ice Cream, as our friends knew this as a safe food for their child.  So what makes it organic?  I see the herds of dairy cows happily munching on the beautiful green grass hills on my way to work each day, so I am certain the main ingredient in the ice cream is starting from a certified "organic" source.

    So I had to laugh the following morning as I added a healthy scoop of ice cream to my breakfast oatmeal (try it, you'll like it) and read the ingredients label. Fourth on the list after organic cream, organic sugar and organic chocolate was none other than Organic Maize Syrup!  The much maligned sweetener...none other than the Devil's Sugar.  Maker of free radicals and a possible cause of obesity (other than our over eating, lack of sleep, and sedentary life?)  Label that syrup with its Mesoamerican name, and wah lah...Organic!  Bothered me so much, that I added another scoop!  Hope my pre-breakfast, predawn 5K run balanced out the danger of the Maize.

       I did not realize another interesting breakfast choice would be the theme of our travel during the school holiday.  Once again, Kim as social organizer/connector on our travels came through with a real bummer of a place to stay and visit.  A friend Kim met had invited us to stay with her family at their family condo in Mt. Manganui.  (Another postcard picture, but it is the best one I could find.  The arrow points to the little "shack" we stayed in.)  Mt. Manganui is a two hour drive southeast of Auckland, and fortunately it is one of the few places in New Zealand where the coast is commercialized like the California coast.  It has taken on the name of Mt. Spaghetti on Toast after our visit there.
         

   Let me introduce you to Harry, the youngest son of the Hannan family.  He is credited with introducing Joel and McKeely to the morning delicacy of cold spaghetti (canned spaghetti no less) on toast.   Harry is the youngest of the three children in his family, and the picture shows his go get 'em attitude.   His mum is great about balancing nutrition for her family (they own the local supermarket) but sometimes with a strong willed five year old, a mum's gotta do what a mum's gotta do!  So when Harry made his morning demand for the same meal he had for dinner, the spaghetti on toast breakfast was introduced. 

     Being the naive Americans, Kim and I only realized a couple of days later when we stopped at a cafe for lunch, that lo and behold, there on the bottom right corner of the chalk board menu, was spaghetti on toast.  We have taken notice of it on most every cafe menu since then.  Seems we have found a new Kiwi delicacy.  At the end of our two day stay in Mt. Monganui, the children had consumed 6 cans of the Mattie's spaghetti and a loaf of bread.  Nutritional balance, no, but it did give them enough energy to make the climb up the mount.

   

     I showed my appreciation for Harry's introduction of spaghetti on toast to our children on our final day in Mt. Monganui by almost allowing the poor kid to drown!  Bad dad morning.  Both Joel and Harry were keen to get out boogie boarding on the final day.  Problem was, the swell and surf were a little larger than the preceeding day.  I had volunteered to take the boys to the water while Kim, Deanne and her daughter Emma prepared (drank their coffee) themselves for the day.  Joined by McKeely we walked down to the beach.  The boys being boys, headed directly to the water.  Directly at the point where the biggest waves were hitting the beach.  I did my best to guide them further down the beach to the more gentle surf (woke the neighborhood by yelling at them!). 

     They headed down the shore a slight distance.  I was distracted briefly talking to McKeely and unbeknownst to me, the boys had immediately headed back into the water.  Next thing, I look back, and there is poor Harry getting pummeled by big waves while moving further out into the ocean than Joel.  His sudden realization that he is only half Joel's height, and in danger, showing on his face.  His boogie board strapped to his wrist doing a good job of bashing his head with eevery pounding wave.  After each wave passed, as he resurfaced, I could see the tears and fear growing in his, and my own mind.

    Swim bag dumped, warm dry clothing that I hoped to wear home from the beach still on, I splashed out into the surf.  Time sometimes seems to stand still during moments of high anxiety, and this became one of them.  Seems like I could not get out beyond Joel and to Harry fast enough.  Harry's minimal life line of the boogie board strapped to his wrist then separated and floated away from him.  Three more waves crashed over his head before I was able to get to him.  I lost sight of him a couple of times as he went under.  Standing now chest deep in the water, I finally was able to grab him as a fourth wave foamed into both of us.  It was only then, as I turned back to shore, that I noticed the concerned surfer on his board, a few meters from us. A look of relief on both of us, as the surfer handed me Harry's boogie board that he collected shortly after I had grabbed Harry.   

     Fortunately Harry was warmed, dried, and tears resolved, ready for more action by the time his mum showed up.  Me, I was thankful for the extra energy of the morning breakfast of spaghetti on toast!

   The rest of our week took us back up the east coast of the North Island to the Coromandel Peninsula.  As it is still spring time here, activity on the Coromandel is not yet full on.  The Coromandel is a popular summer tourist area, due to its beauty, and its proximity to Auckland. Our first destination after leaving Mt. Monganui was Hot Water Beach (HWB) again on the east side of the peninsula. 

   HWB is a wonderful  geologic feature that exists due to the volcanic nature of the islands.  Hot springs exit the earth along the beach front, and become accessible at low tide.  We had departed Mt. Monganui trying to time our arrival at Hot Water Beach to be just before the nadir of the low tide.  Due to the winding road, and some car sickness experienced by McKeely, we were a bit late, which turned out to be a bonus.    

     As you can see, with a little sweat equity, you can have your own hot tub on the beach.  With our late arrival, some visitors already had turned to prunes with their soak, and were abandoning their tubs.  The nice lady in the picture above to Kim's left, who was hosting a birthday party for 8 year old boys on the beach, saw us wandering about, and pleasantly informed us that the tub next to hers had just been abandoned.  Bonus! I had to show us in the pictures with shovels in hand, just to prove that we were still willing to put in a little effort to be lazy!

   The serenity of the sound of the rolling waves, coupled with the warm soak in the pool was relaxing to say the least.  As the tide came in, Joel and McKeely enjoyed sprinting out to the ocean and back to the pool for warmth.   Once again while watching their joy, I was reminded of the beauty of our world, the friendliness of people, and the thankful heart we all need for being alive each day.    And even though some days I may end up in hot water, while other days, life can be a beach, when you put those experiences together, life does not get any better!