Saturday, October 8, 2011

The Hangi


Today we ventured an hour north of our city through the most gorgeous fall scenery to the NZ Consul's home for the 11th annual Hangi. I have lived in New Hampshire for 5 years now and have never met another NZer in the state, then all of a sudden there's hundreds of them at the Hangi - and they all talk just like me! Quite bizzare!

Here is the Consul wearing his NZ rugby shorts & socks, and what else but a blazer?!!...

The weather was absolutely perfect, the food was delicious and cooked perfectly, and we had good friends go with us which made it even more fun. A Hangi is a traditional New Zealand feast cooked in the ground with hot rocks, covered with sacks, then dirt. It cooks for a few hours, then is taken out and *hopefully* is cooked through. Last year it wasn't, but this year it was!

Here you can see it being dug out and served up...









This is lamb on the right, beef on the left, all from NZ!

It may look ugly but I know all you Kiwis reading this know how yummy it is!

They had some kids games and races...

...and during the welcoming ceremony they announced a boy and girl winner for sportsmanship. My Coleman won! They said it was because when he was running his shoe came off and he kept on going! (You can see my 2 boys running in the photo above, and you can also see that Coleman, at the back, only has one shoe on!) He won a ceremonial shovel (for digging the hangi out with) and a huge 1 kilo bag of lollies (candy) all the way from NZ!!!




Not only did he win, but my daughter's friend who came with us also won!

We were quite popular with our 2 kilos of lollies and a few hundred homesick Kiwis!

Of course there were desserts coming out our ears including pavlova...

What a great day! Better than yesterday I might add :)

7 comments:

By Hoki Quilts said...

Yummmmm, when I was teaching we used to have hangi for lunch every Friday - now I own a quilt shop in the SI and I haven't found anyone here that 'puts down' a hangi at any time - shame.
Thanks for sharing xx
hugs
Miche'le

aussiequilter said...

wow-you make me homesick.What a wonderful day cheers Teri

Marlene said...

No matter where we are in the world Kiwis never lose the Kiwi spirit. It is ages since I tasted a hangi. Glad you had a great day.

Sue said...

Well done you guys! What a fabulous way to celebrate being Kiwi in a foreign land. The food looks fabulous.

Lynn said...

It all looks like so much fun and the food looks delicious. When our small town here in Nebraska has it's celebration each summer they cook the beef in the ground like that and it is always so good.

Quilt Station said...

Love a Hangi...totally brilliant, and we are in the semi finals of the RWC. What a great weekend!!!
cheers,
Margaret

Raewyn said...

You can take the kid out of kiwi but cant take the kiwi out of the kid... or something like that!! Glad you had a great day..it looks so much fun.