Author: Bunny Eats Design

The Honesty Box Menu 3

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The Honesty Box this week was a great assortment of warmer climate vegetables. I guess winter is well and truly over. This menu reflects a warmer season, though I’m not quite ready to give up on soup yet! For those of you in the northern hemisphere, I hope you are starting to incorporate soups into your weekly meals, they’re a cheap and filling way to eat lots of vegetables and you’ll have a lunch or two of leftovers to deal with too. We have almost finished our 20kg of Eketahuna Meats beef and with the last package of sausages, I’ve taken to removing the casing and breaking up the sausage meat to make quick meatballs. Great for soup and pizza. The Honesty Box Menu 3 Items in bold are from The Honesty Box. Baby potato salad with smoked salmon, capers, boiled eggs, chopped broccoli and chopped herbs Meatball, barley and vege soup (celery, carrot, onion, potato) served garlic cheese plaited loaf Meatball pizzas with tomato base, mushrooms, black olives, onion, garlic and cheese. Served with …

THE HONESTY BOX 3

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I’m testing out a few CSA and produce delivery companies in Auckland. If you are curious about CSA and like see what other people around the world are getting each week in their boxes, please check out at the weekly link party What’s In The Box over at Heather’s blog In Her Chucks. First impression Once again, a branded The Honesty Box arrived with a smart but simple typographic print. There was 10.5kg of produce in this box and at $37.50NZ including delivery, the average cost was about $3.5NZ per kilo. Good value. My first impression was that this box was very optimistic of the season. It’s early spring yet eggplants, capsicum and strawberries!? Amazing! No doubt, grown in greenhouses, it’s pretty awesome to see these in the box. It should be noted that the vegetable and fruit ratio was almost even this time round at 54% vegetables, 46% fruit. Vegetables 5.8kg Fancy red lettuce x 1 Celery x 1 Baby potatoes x 25 Eggplant x 1 Avocado x 1 Capsicum (red pepper) x 1 Carrots x 2 Onions x 2 Kumara …

Friday the 13th: A Gory Fruit

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Happy Friday the 13th! Last week, a coworker and I devised a plan to dress up in black today and order Hell’s Pizza for lunch. Almost everyone at work agreed to join in so it must have been a good idea. Hope you enjoy yourself a kooky-fun day too! Today’s slightly morbid, semi-gory post is in response to this post. “Way, way back in the late ’80s, a young boy at Glenholme Primary School in Rotorua, New Zealand accidentally slammed his fingers in the classroom door. I will never forget it because he also happened to be holding a tamarillo at that precise moment. The horrific tamarillo mess will be forever etched into my mind. As the news spread that someone had squished their fingers in the door, the fact that he was also holding a tamarillo dropped away. To our active imaginations, it was finger guts that bloodied the classroom entrance.” Until I shared my tamarillo memory, I didn’t realise that tamarillo were uncommon in other parts of the world. A little research suggests …

Tofu Tuesday: Hutch mod

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We have taken the top off Tofu’s hutch and lined the base with hay. It is easy for him to get in/out now and encourages good hay eating habits. At first he didn’t know how to get in and out because we had removed the door. But once he realised there were no walls and got used to it, he liked it very much. He jumps in and out from every conceivable edge. We don’t have anywhere to lock him up now. So when we want to vacuum*, Tofu gets some backyard play time. Thank you for all the good mojo sent to Tofu since his illness last week. Yesterday we went back to the vet for a scheduled check up to make sure all the meds are on track. They have kept him overnight so that he can get another eye flush today, but we’re feeling good that the bladder sludge has been cleared. We will be picking Tofu up tonight but feeling good this time, though his treatment will not be urgent, hope …

“Chin chin” to Tasting Menu

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My friend Coco and I recently went to see the movie Tasting Menu compliments of Vendetta Films. A sweet, light Spanish film about passionate foodies from around the world experiencing the final meal at the world’s best restaurant in Catalonia, Northern Spain before it closed it’s doors. The inspiration for this fictional restaurant is Ferran Adria’s famous (but now closed) Michelin 3-star elBulli which resided on beach in Catalonia. Tasting Menu was unexpectedly funny, wonderfully foodie and the ensemble characters are surprisingly well written for a refreshingly short 85 minutes. There was just enough back story and conflict to hold our interest and I couldn’t help but compare the the converging storylines of the characters to those from the movie Love Actually. I’ve only delighted in a degustation menu once in my life and while it’s a special occasion type of meal, it’s a long, artful process where you are at the whims of your chef. The dishes in this movie all sounded lovely The food prep scenes were clearly well researched and consulted, though …

Our Growing Edge August round up by Palachinka

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A big thank you to Marija from Palachinka for her beautiful round up of Our Growing Edge August. What a delicious collection of new food adventures we had last month! It looks like the pages of an amazing foodie magazine. The calibre of entries this month was top notch! Check out Marija’s round up over here on Palachinka and if you also have a food blog, please join us in September’s edition. I’m still looking for a host for December and future editions so comment or email me if you are interested. Have a great (and delicious) weekend!

Collecting teaspoons

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The Koala and I are proud owners of decent amount of cutlery, thanks to generous wedding gifts. But like socks, teaspoons have a habit of being abducted, MIA or vanishing into thin air. I suspect there is a parallel universe wasteland of mismatched socks and whole armies of mismatched teaspoons. Our local supermarket giant has a new stamp collecting campaign.Collect 30 stamps to receive a significant discount on cutlery. To receive a 4 piece teaspoon set, you need to collect 30 stamps and then the set is yours for $1.99. To get 30 stamps you must spend a minimum of $600. Parting with $602 will buy you 4 teaspoons. I feel that if I had already spent $600 a $2 gift wouldn’t be out of line, though the RRP of these teaspoons is a cool $30. Thoughts?

Slim pickings meal plan

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September and Spring It’s officially spring here in New Zealand. The weather is painfully gorgeous though the air is still chilly. It feels like autumn (fall) which is my favourite time of year. Auckland is known for her bi-polar schizo weather so I doubt it will last. The start of the month also means a new edition of the monthly event Our Growing Edge. Please head over to here and here to it check it out. If you have a blog and enjoy trying new things in the kitchen, it’s a chance to share and celebrate your successes (and failures). It’s been one of those uncertain weeks in terms of eating as we had family come to stay so ate out a few times and had some a meals at home. We went grocery shopping without any idea what we were going to eat so now we’ve got to make something out of a bunch of seemingly random ingredients. No produce box delivery this week. I made pulled pork (again) over the weekend so we’re …

An update on our little geriatric

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I just got a call from the vet and Tofu will be staying another night at the animal hospital. He has been diagnosed with bladder sludge (basically like bladder stones only they haven’t formed stones). His blood and poop have been tested and given the all clear. One tear duct was blocked and now clear. He has been washed and tomorrow he will get his bladder flushed of  sludge. So this is fairly good news and a relief. Can’t wait until we can get him home tomorrow but The Koala and I are confident that he is in great hands. Thank you to all the well wishers and we felt each and every one of them.

Tofu Tuesday: Geriatric status

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Tofu the rabbit has been unwell and yesterday afternoon we took him to Lynfield Vets  who are the best bunny vets in Auckland. He has spent the night at the animal hospital. Tomorrow they will run a whole series of tests on him including x-rays, eye flush and what they call “Full Geriatric Testing”. I have never thought of Tofu as a geriatric. Not even once. He was already miffed when the vet mentioned that he was overweight, he probably won’t handle his new geriatric labelling well. Let’s face it, we have a double cataract, overweight, geriatric bunny but we love him to bits. We will be collecting him tomorrow afternoon and fingers crossed that he is OK and that his health concerns are identified and come with straightforward treatment. I hate to think what we will do if he isn’t OK. This bill alone is more than a week’s wages, but what else can you do? Please keep little Tof in your thoughts today. No new photo for today’s post but here are a …

Monday Bunday: The Goodwinn Collection

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J.Crew’s Goodwinn Collection has a smart bunnylicious advertising campaign. Each bag in this range has a different capacity which is measured by bunnies. Choose the perfect size bag for  your bunny requirements. The Goodwinn Purse fits 1 bunny, The Goodwinn Hobo fits 2 bunnies, and The Goodwinn Tote fits 3 bunnies. Never get caught out again. Source Please note, I believe these bags are measured in baby bunnies, an adult male rabbit like Tofu might be the equivalent of a Goodwinn tote. Love bunny things? Check out more editions of Monday Bunday here.

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

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August 29 is officially More Herbs, Less Salt Day. I adore herbs and I wish I’d done a herb garden instead of our vegetable garden. I suppose it’s still not too late for that. I’ve grown rosemary, mint, coriander, basil, parsley, sage, tarragon and thyme. They’re all pretty sad looking at the moment, but hopefully this spring will give them magic beanstalk powers. My favourite herb is coriander and I can eat that stuff like spinach. The Koala loathes it though so I don’t cook with it but rather, dump it on top of my own plate as a garnish. Luckily it’s the kind of herb that works fine for that. What is your favourite herb? Are there any herbs you dislike? In honour of More Herbs, Less Salt Day, here are five of my favourite herb-filled recipes. All of these are particularly simple to prepare. Just click in the images below to be redirected to the recipes. Enjoy!

The most creative ice cream in the world

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Last week, I was invited to visit behind-the-scenes with Gianpaolo Grazioli at his quuintessential gelato shop, Giapo on Queen Street (Edit: since 2017, Giapo has moved to 12 Gore Street, Auckland). Giapo is the name his mother called him and therefore Gianpaolo = Giapo. Giapo has just one location and has carved a niche for very fine ice cream, gelato and yoghurt and most of their flavours are organic using locally sourced ingredients. This newly renovated institution is much more than an your average ice cream parlour. Not a single store-bought rainbow sprinkle, pink wafer or Snickers in sight, the flavours they do have are smart, original and  very good. While I was there I sampled a range of gelato, ice cream and yoghurt flavours such as dark chocolate brownie, vanilla cardamom and eggplant, banana yoghurt, hazelnut chocolate, tiramisu, finishing off with a classic digestive: green tea ice cream. I was impressed to learn that everything was made on site daily. The stainless steel kitchen was small and spotless and Gianpaolo and his expert crew …

Stinky horizons

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I’ve met a some friendly, slightly unhinged goats in my life. I have a fondness and respect for them. Pictured above is a friendly nannie goat and I at a friend’s family farm. Good times. But I have always been terrified of goats cheese. It is too pungent for my taste and if you are Chinese, you may know the word “Soh”. “Soh” refers to a despised goat/sheep smell, not exactly endearing. A couple of years ago, I realised that goats cheese was tolerable as an ingredient. Like any pungent food, like anchovies, fish sauce, even garlic, on their own, they can be overwhelming – but paired with other, gentler foods, they can be wonderful. I mean, I love using fish sauce but I wouldn’t knock back a shot of Golden Boy’s smelly brew. Always looking to expand my growing edge, to broaden my stinky horizons, I decided to take the beaded lady by the horns and cook something with goats cheese for the first time. No stock risotto I’ve opened Pandora’s box and it …

The Honesty Box Menu 2

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Another well thought-out box from The Honesty Box. This is what our 11kg of produce is being turned into this week. The Honesty Box Menu 2 Items in bold are from The Honesty Box Porterhouse steak with The Koala’s fried potatoes and broccoli with cheese sauce Creamy scrambled eggs with spinach, garlic, thyme, onion with Swiss-style cheese on toast Deviled sausages with onion, kiwifruit and apple. Served on potato pumpkin mash with steamed broccoli Beetroot and Chevre (soft goats cheese) risotto with fresh thyme and lemon slice (pictured) Pumpkin and rosemary soup with soft buttered bread rolls Spicy chicken nibbles with pumpkin and rosemary wedges Braised beef, carrot and beetroot with star anise, cinnamon and soy. Served on rice Smoked salmon and spinach fettuccine with garlic parmesan butter sauce Cheeseburgers with beef patties, red onion, beetroot, avocado and wasabi mayo Sangria (with fruit)