Wishing you and your family a lovely Christmas this year from Bunny Eats Design. Here’s a round up of Instagram bunnies celebrating Christmas this year. Just because. Click on the images to view their Instagram accounts directly. And last but not least, here are a few of Tofu over the years.
Have you done all your Christmas shopping? Have you wrapped your presents yet? Do you need a helper? Click here to see more editions of Tofu Tuesday.
Two days before being announced the most Instagrammed location in New Zealand, a group of bloggers (including myself) had a fine day out on Waiheke Island. It coincidentally happened to be the day Fullers started their new half-hour ferry timetable. As well as more ferry departures, Fullers have a new menu for those who want to enjoy local delicacies on board. The new menu includes Passage Rock wines, Tuatara craft beer and cider, Waiheke fudge and Te Whau Lodge’s toasted muesli. Thanks to Fullers, I am giving away a return double pass ticket (worth $72) to Waiheke Island so you can design your perfect Waiheke Island adventure. To enter, simply complete the entry form at the bottom of this post including a skill question. (Answer can be found here). Only a 35 minute ferry ride away from downtown Auckland, Waiheke offers a warm microclimate, vineyards, fine food, white sand beaches, art galleries and outdoor activities for the adventurous. A popular destination for weddings and weekends, it’s really no surprise that locals and overseas visitors flock to Waiheke year round. Maddy …
L’Authentique (law-thon-teek) is a small local charcuterie run by Frenchmen. Charcuterie (sha-koo-ta-ree) is the culinary art of turning meat (mostly pork) into delicious things such as sausage, bacon, ham, terrines and pates. Known primarily for their handmade sausages, I love L’Authentique’s gluten free, dairy free and free range meat products. There are no fillers here and definitely no carcinogens (for those who worry about recent food headlines). The Koala and I have been eating lots of L’Authentique sausages this year. We tried the whole range of sausages so far and they are great to serve up at home or to take to a barbecue where you want to impress. I’ve yet to meet a sausage lover who doesn’t fall in love with L’Authentique sausages. Summer collaboration L’Authentique have just released two summer sausages for the Kiwi barbecue. In collaboration with Javier Carmona, Executive Chef at Orleans, a hot and smokey Louisiana Andouille (ahn-DOO-eee) sausage that comes in a 4 pack; and in collaboration with Hallertau Brewery, the Asian-inspired Peking Maximus which is made with Hallertau Maximus …
My lovely assistant working on some button mushrooms. Click here to see more editions of Tofu Tuesday.
Bunny eats dandelions. He loves them so much, he crams them in two at a time. I got myself a little gourmet foodie right here. Foraged, organic dandelions. Only the best for this bunny. Our vet nurse calls dandelion “bunny chocolate”. But I suspect that after hours, she might call it “bunny crack”. Click here to see more editions of Tofu Tuesday.
This month is hosted by Jazz from Dash of Jazz. The theme is NOSTALGIA. To join, click on the submission button below: We all have bucket lists. Whether they’re written down somewhere or kept in our heads and hearts. Our Growing Edge is the part of us that is still learning and experimenting. It’s the part that you regularly grow and improve, be it from real passion or a conscious effort. This blogging monthly event aims to connect and inspire us to try new things and to compile a monthly snapshot of what food bloggers are getting up to. If you have a blog and are planning to write about a new food related experience, join us! More info on the event can be found here. Our host, Jazzmine is a Texas native with Nigerian roots, loves classic Southern cooking and has suggested the theme NOSTALGIA for this month. Some ideas you could try this month: Cook a recipe you remember from childhood Make a family favourite with a new main ingredient Cook a loved one’s favourite recipe Recreate a recipe that is well …
In this week’s news, Stolen Spirits have sold a majority stake to American booze barons for a cool $21 million NZ. This investment is exciting news for a small, local business that started up in a flat right here in Mt Eden. Tofu the bunny salutes your achievement! Click here to see more editions of Tofu Tuesday. P.S. Bunny Eats Design does not promote underage drinking. While Tofu just over 8 years old, this is around 65 years in rabbit years. It’s OK!
Auckland Fair is on next Sunday at Shed 10 on Queens Wharf from 10 to 4pm. Entry is $5, kids under 12 free. For those who haven’t been before, it’s a huge collection of carefully curated local makers under one roof. There will be jewellery, homewares, art, ceramics, textiles, snacks and heaps more. I’m looking forward to picking up locally made goodies for Christmas presents. Even applying a lot of self restraint, I ALWAYS end up buying some gifts for myself. I can’t help it. There’s so much awesome stuff. Buying locally this Christmas, even for a few gifts means your loved ones receive something unique and it supports small local businesses meaning this Christmas will be a little brighter for your community. I’ve rounded up a few gifts for foodies you will find at Auckland Fair. If you are not in Auckland, this list can serve as an ideas to find similar items in your area. Top gifts for foodies Ceramics A home cook can never have too many lovely bowls and plates to display their …
I have a set of small funnels. I thought the middle sized one would fit Tofu the bunny perfectly. He had other ideas. Turns out the funnel is perfectly shaped for tossing around the garden. Click here to see more editions of Tofu Tuesday.
This is a sponsored post. The Koala and I love a good steak, but I don’t order steak when dining out because it’s so easy to cook at home for a fraction of the price. I often go for the fattier steaks because that’s what my tastes buds like, but when I heard there was a leaner steak coming out that still tastes good, I was all for it. The flat-iron steak is a relatively unknown cut to the kiwi palate. A butcher’s secret, this cut is for people in the know. It is called the oyster blade steak in NZ and Australia. It is known in the US as the flat-iron steak and in the UK as the butler’s steak. Affectionately known as the ugly steak, this flat, rectangular cut comes from the shoulder and is trimmed to make it very lean. Because it is so lean, it’s important not to overcook a flat-iron steak. Just 3 minutes on each side in a hot pan and 5 minutes resting time. This month, Silver Fern …
I was recently invited to try the the latest from Hell Pizza. I make pizza at home and standard toppings are not my speciality. Smoked salmon, spiced lamb and fat prawns wind up on pizzas at our house. Hell Pizza are on that adventurous foodie journey too so I was interested to see what was on offer. Enlisting the help of some Wellington food heroes, Hell Pizza have created the “El Cabra”. The Spanish word for goat, this Mexican-inspired dish was created by Chef Martin Bosley, Panhead Custom Ales and Mexican restaurant La Boca Loca. Hell Pizza are infamous for their naughty marketing tactics and controversial pizzas (hide your rabbits and your kangaroos) but this time, I feel like they’ve gone for something pretty accessible. I’ve eaten goat recently and I’ve cooked with it before and it’s really nothing to be nervous about. The flavour of the goat meat is very similar lamb – one of our country’s most prized meats. It’s a wonder why we don’t see goat on the menu more often. Did you know that all Hell Pizzas …
I was given this teeny tiny gift bag a few weeks ago. I thought Tofu might like it to store his goods. Click here to see more editions of Tofu Tuesday.
Last night, my friend Miss A and I attended Project Botanicals as guests of Bombay Sapphire. Coincidentally, this event coincided with my birthday (week) and I am not one to turn down birthday cocktails. The pop-up is at James, an unassuming venue at the bottom of Parnell which you might have driven past but not noticed before. I’d been there for dinner with The Koala before years ago but it’s not somewhere that gets much foot traffic. It’s a shame because it’s a great venue. The space was beautifully transformed with flowers, cloth and blue lighting…an event planner’s wet dream. Gin is enjoying a revival these days and if you thought you didn’t like gin (as I once did) I urge you to rethink it. With so many flavours and ways to prepare drinks these days, gin cocktails have come a long, loooong way. Bombay Sapphire is made from 10 botanicals and each botanical was celebrated and translated into a cocktail and food pairing. A $40 ticket buys you a two hour session with two cocktails and two …
Hear me out friends. It’s my birthday today and I have an important message. My friend Vanessa has is moving from Auckland to Guatemala for a year. True story. Vanessa is one of those friends you have who is super smart, well travelled, passionate and with a heart so big it couldn’t possibly fit inside that chest of hers. She is a giver. Maybe you have one of those friends yourself? Here’s a pic of Vanessa, me and The Koala on the back of a truck in Thailand. Don’t ask me what The Koala is doing in this photo. I just don’t know. A group of us had finally met up in Koh Tao, it was Vanessa’s birthday and we had a rad time in the islands of Thailand. I’ve shared many a meal and drink with her Auckland and overseas. Vanessa will be volunteering full time next year as the Communications Officer for Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos doing the type of fulfilling work most of us can only dream of. Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) Spanish for ‘Our Little Brothers …
I think Tofu is the most magical beautiful handsome daisy chain crown wearer in all of Mt Eden. Don’t you? Tofu wore this daisy chain for a full 5 minutes. After that, he devoured it. Om nom nom nom! Click here to see more editions of Tofu Tuesday.
This year, I wined and dined at Taste of Auckland. Twice. Going twice is some next level shit because if you’re like me, there’s no way you get even CLOSE to trying all the dishes you want in one session. This year was blue skies and summer glory and festival veterans will be positively basking in the sunshine. The reason being that the weather was horrible at last year. It rained so much, the grounds were chocolate mousse and gumboots were on trend. This year at Taste, sunglasses, summer dresses and a slight sunburn were high fashion. Things to see Fisher and Paykel’s Social Kitchen was thoroughly educational and entertaining. I caught the SUMMER OF YUM ice pop session with Our Kitchen (F&P cooking blog) and Dr Feelgood. Hosted by Kelly Gibney from the food blog Bonnie Delicious, I learned some handy tips about ice pops. For example, to stop ice crystals forming, you need to freeze the ice pops as quickly as possible so that ice crystals don’t have enough time to form. This can …
Spring is whitebait season here in New Zealand and as a North Island girl, whitebait has always been a slightly unattainable delicacy. So imagine my delight when The Koala’s parents visited from the South Island with a precious cargo of whitebait for me as an early birthday present. Having never done anything with whitebait before, I thought whitebait fritters was the best dish to cut my whitebait teeth on. Known in New Zealand (particularly the South Island) to be a casual seasonal treat, served with lashings of butter on soft white bread this simple dish is a delicacy us North Island folk can only dream of. Fresh whitebait is best (if you can get it), I froze mine so that I could take some time to think about what to do with it. Thaw whitebait in the fridge overnight and make sure you drain it well before working with it. Fritters served with lemon, asparagus and a pale ale, this is a spring time lunch fit for kings and queens. Dig in with your hands or use …
With special thanks to Meadow Mushrooms I am pleased to announce the winner for the mushroom giveaway. Drawn by Random.org the winner is…**drum roll please!** Linh! Congratulations Linh and thanks to all who entered. To keep up with announcements including giveaways, make sure you follow me on Facebook or Bloglovin’.
This month is hosted by Lauren from Sweet Southern Lifestyle. To join, click on the submission button below: We all have bucket lists. Whether they’re written down somewhere or kept in our heads and hearts. Our Growing Edge is the part of us that is still learning and experimenting. It’s the part that you regularly grow and improve, be it from real passion or a conscious effort. This blogging monthly event aims to connect and inspire us to try new things and to compile a monthly snapshot of what food bloggers are getting up to. If you have a blog and are planning to write about a new food related experience, join us! More info on the event can be found here. Our host, Lauren is a keen baker and the theme this month is holiday baking. Some ideas you could try this month: Host Thanksgiving or a feast at home with a festive dessert Bake a pie Try a new cookie recipe Make a gingerbread house or gingerbread men Update an classic cake recipe with holiday spices …
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