#iwanttobeatrophywifeexceptnotreally

Another weekend with E. has made me realise that
a) I am spoilt prodigiously
b) I do actually accomplish a lot in my weekends in terms of study and so I am now behind (but it's okay because I had yet another wonderful weekend)
c) I should not take any more 6:50am flights back because they are always delayed
d) I don't want to leave his side ever and even if this possibly means being a stay-at-home mother... but then also (my rational side kicks in):
e) I don't want to be identified by my appearance alone

Let me quantify each one:
a) I fucking love my perm and I would do it again in a heartbeat when I have the means to pay for it myself because I don't want E. forking out for it again. Also, we had yet another lovely degustation experience - this time at Roots. Let me just say now that this place positively enchanted me and took the whole experience of degustation to the next level. I think it might even be better than Pescatore... and that's saying something. Anyway, degustation revolves around having multiple miniature dishes, each one skilfully prepared and consisting of an explosion of flavours and textures. You're not meant to chomp your way through them (like the scrubs in the table next to us who started after us and ended up overtaking us) because you will be sorely disappointed; you're not paying for quantity - you're paying for quality.
Roots was amazing. We weren't sure what we signed up for when we booked ourselves in for an eight course meal (in reality, ten course)... with no menu. So it was a massive surprise as the waitress brought out each dish because we had no idea what to expect and good heavens, it was worth the trust. In fact, E. was so taken by the place that he asked a barrage of questions when we went to pay.
(1) Cheddar cheese bread puff: one word describes this. Heaven. Honestly, imagine bread the consistency of mochi, but is fluffy at the same time with a molten core of delightfully aged cheddar. My stomach rumbles at the thought.
(2) Pickled tomato and gherkins with edible flowers and parsley oil: I will admit to thinking initially 'Oh, damn it - what have we gotten ourselves into? Is this just a hippie style degustation menu?' but this was a light way of starting the meal and I could not have been more wrong about the whole experience. And I didn't know that gherkins could taste that good.
(3) Pumpkin with egg yolk sauce served with sourdough bread and olive oil: I don't normally like pumpkin, and neither does E. But this dish made pumpkin into delightful bites of joy. In fact, we spent a veeeeery long time over this dish because each mouthful was beautiful. This might've been my favourite dish.
(4) Paua served with oatmeal, salsa verde and garlic chips: I refrained raising an eyebrow when the waitress said oatmeal. But fuck me, did that oatmeal go beautifully with everything else.
(5) Fish with leek, sauce and salmon crackers: Normally, I'm only a fan of fish that has been pan-fried or is served sashimi style. But this fish (I have not the foggiest idea how it was prepared but I can tell you that it was neither) was honestly so flavoured packed that I also laboured over each bite because I didn't want to finish it.
(6) Jerusalem artichoke, sauerkraut, smoked eel and soil baked potato: you had to eat everything all together in order to experience the bite of the the sauerkraut, the crispy texture of the artichoke, the saltiness of the eel and the earthy smoked flavour of the potato in perfect matrimony.
(7) Quail with barley and egg (baked in the oven for 45 minutes at 60 odd degrees) with sundried seaweed: At this point, my heart was torn between lingering over each bite because we were approaching the end and excitement over the next dish.
(8) Venison with barley, caramelised onion and onion ash: Venison has that rather musty taste to it if not prepared properly, especially if it's served rare. Nope - still amazing. My only complaint was that the onion was just on the raw side, so I got that stingy taste when I ate it.
(9) White chocolate coated pork crackling. Sounded weird as but honestly, amazing. When you bite into it initially, you get the sweetness of the chocolate, but then as that dissolved, you were left with the saltiness (and crunchiness) of the crackling. You know how people combine salty and sweet food together like salted caramel to make something taste from good to brilliant? Same principle here but on steroids.
(10) White chocolate cream with fejoa and berry ice cream: Oh yes... a perfect end, a perfect 10, the home run to a 10 out of 10 dinner.

b) OSPE is in three weeks and I feel so unprepared. The timing sucks because I go to see E. again the weekend before OSPE and so this limits the time I have panicking over Ping's lectures.

c) My flight out was cancelled this morning. Bonus: Air New Zealand gave me $12 to spend for breakfast (I wish I had seen the muesli and yoghurt before I had spied the scone). Downside: Missed out on two lectures this morning and so spent this evening playing catch up instead of studying.

d) Sunday was Mother's Day and so it meant that it was literally impossible to get into any place for lunch without a reservation. In hindsight, we were idiots for not booking but we had an even better experience just having fish and chips in the car while overlooking the port, and listening to Michael Buble. Also, dug into some divine slow cooked lamb with scalloped potatoes, washed down with cider later that night. And I enjoy raiding his closet and being with him means being able to take full advantage of the fact that we are the same size. I stole his cardigan and brought it back home with me - and received three compliments for it. I think it's worth mentioning at this point that I had picked out the cardigan. I'm honestly so content when I'm with E., regardless of the surroundings. I used to think that when you love somebody that you just sort of reached an endpoint - like that was the maximum you could ever feel for another human being. But in actual reality, the best thing is that love is sort of infinite - it just keeps going and that makes me happy because I know that what I feel now might possibly be nothing in comparison to what I might feel say, ten years from now. Ick. That's rather disgustingly cheesy.

e) We ran into one of E.'s registrars in a cafe - who addressed me as a 'fashionista'. Now, don't get me wrong, I like having my sense of style acknowledged, but I also realised at that point that I'd rather be known for other sensibilities, such as intelligence. So, it's odd having spent a weekend being as content as a cloud and wanting to just settle down and forget my studies because it's juxtaposed with this drive, or rather need, to prove myself.