One Does Not Simply Move to New Zealand

Recently my family came up to Cleveland for a last visit, and a family member (shout out to Aunt Florence!) suggested that a blog might be a fun way to keep family and friends in the loop on this amazing, terrifying leap we’re taking.

Hopefully anyone reading this knows the general story, but just in case, here’s some background: Taylor and I met online, and one of the first things that caught my attention was that he said he was from New Zealand. Between the general novelty of meeting someone who grew up in another country and the beauty of the many New Zealand-filmed fantasy movies I love, I was fascinated. I remember standing in line to get into a Cleveland Guardians baseball game on our first date and promising that I would try not to ask too many questions about New Zealand. While we had plenty to talk about, I can’t say that I kept that promise that day or in the subsequent years.

We visited New Zealand for the first time together in December 2023. We had an amazing whirlwind of a trip, and I learned that it was even easier to fall in love with it in person. When Taylor got a job offer from a NZ-based company last year, it really sparked the "what if" discussions, which gradually got more and more serious until we decided to make the leap. There are so many things that made this decision hard: being on the opposite side of the world from our family and friends, selling our first house, the uncertainty of leaving our jobs and stability to jump into the unknown. But eventually, we came to the conclusion that there would never be a better time to try to do something a little crazy. After nearly a year of planning and preparing, we are now (insanely) just over a week away from the next chapter of our lives as Kiwis.

The Blog

So, background out of the way, onto the blog. Even though this is really only a shared journal, I can’t help but dive headfirst into something I’m excited about (for a little while at least), and luckily Taylor is the same way! So the first thing to do was to come up with the perfect whimsical but practical name. Taylor and I spent some time brainstorming, volleying names and topics to build around. Finally, Taylor (annoyingly) had the perfect idea: Paws & Pavs, to focus on our dog and cat who are making the journey with us and my love of baking. Hopefully, as we transition, this will be an opportunity to share some interesting aspects of our move—finding a place to live, cultural differences I encounter, job hunting in another country, etc.

The Paws

First, the pets. The boys (pictured below in one of their few peaceful moments together) are the best representation of both my stress and excitement around moving. As nerve-racking as the human part of the move: selling all of our belongings, packing and repacking our bags, and suddenly becoming homeless and unemployed (temporarily) is, it is dwarfed by the anxiety and effort of the pet move. As I write this, we are currently in our third unexpected accommodation following a complete rerouting of the pets' travel plans, a cancelled flight, and an air-conditionless hotel in a sketchy Long Island neighborhood (which I plan to detail fully in my next entry). There have definitely been many times that we have questioned if we were doing the right thing—both for their well-being and ours. But at the end of the day, I can’t imagine not having them with us. When I picture our life, I can’t help but picture walking Tiki down new trails and cuddling Pinky while we watch the rain. So hopefully those experiences are what I will be able to document here!

As of today, Pinky and Atticus flew from New York to Los Angeles, where they will board for a few days before boarding a second flight to Auckland. I’m not a superstitious person, but I do feel at risk of jinxing their journey if I talk about it too much before it happens. So the plan is that my next entry, which will hopefully follow in a few weeks when they should be through the bulk of their travels, will go into a little more detail on the long process they have been through.

And the Pavs

Then the baking. As my former coworkers (some of whom are hopefully reading this) know, there are few things I enjoy more than baking, especially something random and overly complicated. Even though I often create a lot of unnecessary pressure for myself by not starting until 8 p.m. the night before I’ve committed to bringing a baked good somewhere, I always find the process and the outcome to be incredibly rewarding once I actually do it.

Since I’m anticipating a whole lot of stress (and hopefully some new audiences for baking) during this move, I thought including some of my baking adventures here would be a fun way to motivate myself to try some interesting new things and bring all of you along on my journey. With the title of this blog, there really could be no other first entry but the pavlova (or pav).

My original plan, and hopefully the plan going forward, is to use this to document recent baking efforts. In this case, I vastly underestimated how much time and mental effort needs to be devoted to completely upending your life, so I figured I would share some fun pavlova history and my experiences making them over the years.

One of the most interesting things about the pav is its controversial origin. While it’s generally agreed that meringue desserts were already around and that the name was based on the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, both New Zealand and Australia staunchly claim that the first pav came out of their nation. To this day, both countries like to engage in (mostly) friendly banter about the true creator (this article has some more on both the history and the controversy). Of course, as a soon-to-be-adopted Kiwi, I firmly believe New Zealand beat Australia to the punch by nearly seven years.

My favorite thing about making pavlova is its versatility. The meringue portion of a pav should ideally be crisp and crunchy on the outside while the center remains perfectly soft and marshmallowy. But from there, you can go as crazy as you like, with the pav acting as a vessel for whatever fruits, cream, or flavors your heart desires.

The first pavlova I made (below) was an effort to impress Taylor shortly after we started dating. Using what Taylor described, I aimed for traditional Kiwi toppings: whipped cream, tart lemon curd to cut through the sweetness, strawberries, blueberries, and of course kiwifruit (called thus in New Zealand to distinguish it from the bird and the people). While that is still probably my favorite combo, I’ve branched out as well: peaches and custard, mango and passion fruit, and a build-your-own mini pavlova bar for work.

If the inspiration to make your own pav ever strikes, my go-to recipe can be found here: https://houseofnasheats.com/pavlova-recipe/

That is more than enough for an introduction, so my update tl;dr (too long; didn’t read): Pinky and Atticus have set off on their journey to becoming globetrotters with their flight to the West Coast. Taylor and I are continuing to prepare for our own flight in just over a week. And New Zealand definitely gets the credit for the invention of the pavlova.

If you'd like to follow along our journey, you can hit the subscribe button at the top right to get notified when I manage to get a new post up.