Today I stayed home sick from work, since I woke up with a nasty sore throat - judging by a survey of facebook statuses at least four of the 15 EAPSI fellows have come down with mention-worthy colds since we got here, which makes me wonder what they put in the breakfasts at our hotel in Wellington. Also my office at the university doesn't have a window, and it was a beautiful morning (late afternoon, it's raining again), and I can work just as well from my couch, in the sun, with the balcony door open. But just cause I can't sneeze without thinking my throat's being ripped to shreds though doesn't mean I don't need to eat, so for lunch I went around the corner to the Rationalist House, mostly because I keep walking by and wondering what the hell it is. Apparently it's a secular humanist organization - church for atheists - which I totally support, even though they come across as kind of an asshole on their website. Anyway, they have a cafe, called Rations (har har), which serves mainly sandwiches and pie. Pie is kind of the national dish of New Zealand, along with mussels and lamb, so I got one of those - chicken, since the lamb curry was sold out. I'm not quite sure what all the hype is - it was basically a single-serving chicken pot pie, and under-seasoned at that. Which I kind of already knew, but given pie's ubiquity around here I somehow expected something more. C'mon, Rationalists - God (or whoever) invented herbs for a reason. Use 'em.
That said the afghan (chocolate-walnut cookie with chocolate icing) was pretty darn good.
Oh dear, how unfortunate that your first pie experience was disappointing! But one thing you'll soon need to learn (unless there's a Aussie/Kiwi difference I'm unaware of) is that 'pie' is almost never used as a mass noun. :-)
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