Illustrator Luke Chueh doesn’t just draw bunnies. But he certainly has a morbid fascination with them. Luke’s characters have a cuteness about them but also a sinister element. There is a sadness. Luke lives in and works in LA and his background is in graphic design. You can view more of his work (including non-bunnies) over at his website www.lukechueh.com
This week, I made a Tom Yum Gai (hot and spicy chicken soup) at Siam Rice Thai Cookery School. Read about my Tom Yum experience here. Cookery school is a great value way to spend the day at 900 baht($38NZ/$28US) per person, includes hotel transfers, ingredients, class, market tour, 6 dishes, 1 curry paste and a vegetable carving session. I purposely chose to cook 6 different dishes to those I cooked at Baan Thai. If this were a science experiment, I would have repeated the dishes. You will not need to eat anything else on the day, so the price includes your meals for the entire day. A full day course runs from 9.30am to 3.30pm and runs at a good, relaxed pace. There are half day and evening classes available for those with limited time (Evening course: 800 baht. Half day course: 700 baht). No hard sell on anything at all. If you wanted to buy beer or souvenirs, you had to get up and enquire, but they were reasonable 50-70 baht for a …
I made this bowl of Tom Yum Gai for one at the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School in Chiang Mai, Thailand, so you’ll have to pay them a visit if you want the exact recipe. Tom Yum (or Tom Yam) soup is the hot and sour soup of Northern Thailand and Laos and I first got hooked on this spicy broth back in my student days. We were flatting on K Rd, with a pretty good Thai place just a few doors down at Lim Chhour Food Court. Cash poor but still wanting to eat something with punchy flavours and actual nutrition (instant Mee Goreng and Yum Yum noodles can only take a girl so far) Tom Yum with tofu and vegetables plus a box of steamed rice cost $7 all up. Tom Yum and many other Thai soups and dishes feature 8 fragrant ingredients: Lime juice Kaffir lime leaves Galangal (Thai ginger) Lemongrass Chili (Bird’s eye chili) Palm sugar Spring onion and coriander (cilantro) Fish sauce Fish sauce is a key ingredient in Thai …
Like many others, one of the things I most look forward to when traveling to exotic locations, is the local cuisine. I always try to sample a nation’s well known dishes, as well as their lesser known ones. Far from home, the food can be challenging, comforting, and humbling. But even so, after just a few days of authentic food, all I want is a sinful pizza or burger or pasta. What is it about these kinds of meals that grab a hold of you and why do I feel so guilty indulging? While traveling through Laos last week, quite probably my favorite country to visit out of all the countries that I have been to so far, I was struck by how ubiquitous the pizza, burger and pasta menu is. Laos food is simple, fresh and delicious and I love how good it makes me feel. I am no food scientist, but it’s possible the free range and organic ingredients are the culprits. Almost every restaurant offers local Laos fare as well as pizzas, …
Week 2 Before blindness, when Tofu was offered a grape or a piece of carrot, he took it firmly between his bunny teeth and ran away with it to somewhere he deemed “safe”. His instinct tells him the treat is too much of a good thing and he doesn’t trust us enough to eat his treat near us. Now that he cannot see, this impulse is a bit messed up. He recognises the treat, lunges for it, misses, takes off, realises he hasn’t got the treat, frantically returns for the treat, while still ready to flee. If he could just calm down and look for the carrot methodically, he’d find it. It’s a concerning how hysterical he gets over a piece of carrot. When there is just the three of us home, it is familiar. The sounds of the the house are regular and objects are where they should be, Tofu gets around fine. When there are lots of people in the house, random feet and bags in unusual places, Tofu gets disorientated. He can’t …
This fluffy sculpture by Kathy Temin is a cuddly play on a well known duck-rabbit optical illusion. The sculpture looks so sweet and cuddly I want to put on my pyjamas, slippers and watch telly with it. Viewed from the yellow side, it is supposed to resemble a duck. Viewed from the pink side, a rabbit. Though why it’s head is severed and presented on a watermelon plate is beyond me.
Week 1 First week of blindness in both eyes, we all had to adapt. I admit, the first few times I saw him run into things, it was a funny sight but now it breaks my heart. However, blindness doesn’t stop Tofu from running at full speed. What a brave wee soul. A common collision is when he’s running at full speed down our hallway and we have a clothes horse set up. Even with perfect vision, a bunny would have trouble seeing the skinny legs of a clothes horse and the problem is that the clothes horse is not always up. It’s not in his memory so he forgets to put it in his mind’s eye. If we can find a new place to put the clothes horse, we could eliminate this problem. Tofu’s “raisins” can be found littered around outside his hutch. We keep his litter tray inside his hutch and most time he goes to the toilet in there. It’s hard to say if it’s blindness or if he is marking out …
Tom Whalen has a distinctive illustration style that lends itself nicely to screenprinting. I’m loving this poster Tom designed for a one off screening of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, although the sexy Jessica Rabbit could have been a larger part of the design. You can view more of Tom’s stunning illustrations over at his website www.strongstuff.net
Food Rules by Michael Pollan, 2009. This short guide based on “a deep reservoir of food wisdom out there” is a book for foodies and non-foodies alike. Big science words are used apologetically, but this book aims to be comprehensible to a mainstream audience. Less about science and nutrition, more plain common sense, this is a pretty easy read. This book should be read in schools. Imagine a generation of people with proper food wisdom. Stress on the importance of real, live and even fermented foods, with meat used to flavor a dish, rather than as the main event. As someone who always spends her paycheque on good food, my favorite quote that is mentioned in this guide would have to be: “Better to pay the grocer than the doctor”. I found Pollan to be far from preachy, and shares what I’m sure you already kind of know – but might have forgotten – about food. Perhaps food scientists will disagree. Whether you live by these food rules, or just file them away for detox …
As well as attempting to try new beloved recipes this autumn, I put “Do something with eggplant” on my list of things to try. You can read more about my autumn list here. Eggplant is one of those vegetables I loathed as a child. Shiny and sinister looking, their heft is light beyond their size. Slimy and bitter and neither egg nor plant, this weird looking vegeta-fruit was not a friend of mine. I hated mushrooms – which I adore now, courgettes (zucchini) – which I also love now. Over the summer, eggplant made appearances at a few BBQ feasts and I let my guard down. Maybe it was time to be a grown-up and try eggplant again. I decided to cook with eggplant for the first time ever. Maybe I should have introduced it slowly, as a minor part of a meal, rather than diving in and making it the star of the show. We had two eggplants and ate them with an orzo salad. I picked yellow and red tomatoes and rosemary from …
Salmon. I love it raw. I love it cooked. I love it smoked. I love it poached. I love it pan fried. I love it baked. I love it steamed. It is creamy, fishy and super rich. Everything I’ve read says that salmon makes too strong a stock. I’m not afraid of a strong fish stock, but if a strong stock makes you queasy, this recipe is not for you. I’ve wanted to make a chowder for the longest time and a quiet, Autumn weekend at home last month was a good time for it. You can easily spend too much on seafood for a chowder. Sure, it will be delicious, but what about making a delicious chowder using cheaper ingredients? I picked up 2 salmon heads for cheap at my local asian market. Fish heads are usually cheap and I’ve been eyeing these up for a while now, wondering what to do with them. To prepare, make sure the gills are removed – they usually are. Cut the fins off with a pair of …
“Love was kind, for a time Now just aches, and it makes me blind This mirrors haunts, by eyes too bright That I can’t see the others in my life” – MUMFORD & SONS, Lover’s Eyes In January this year, we noticed a cloudy white cataract appear in one of Tofu’s eyes and few months later, another cataract formed in his other eye. We took him to the vet were given eye drops. Eye drops neither cured it or harmed it, but helped the weepiness some. Now that Tofu is blind in not one, but both eyes, things are a little different in his world. The cause Cataracts (also known in bunnies as moon eyes) cause vision to become cloudy and can result in blindness. Since the size of Tofu’s cataracts fluctuate, his eyes are still searching for light which means he may see light, but the picture is severely impaired. Cataracts can appear with age and Tofu is 4 years old. While rabbits can live over 10 years, it’s hard to say how old the average …
Some days, I feel like this beautiful painting by Kelly Vivanco. You can see more of Kelly’s artwork on her website www.kellyvivanco.com
After reading the book Heat by Bill Buford, I’ve dreamed of curing my own pork. Curing meat uses salt to draw out the moisture and this allows the meat to last much longer. When the apocalypse that we’re all waiting for hits, we might need low tech techniques like these to make our food go further. Maybe. In the meantime, there’s nothing wrong with home made bacon just for fun. Traditionally, pig slaughter takes place in autumn, after a summer of fattening up and curing begins at this time of year too. The work is generally done outside and needs cooler temperatures to keep the meat happy. Winter is too cold in many parts of the world to work outdoors, so Autumn is the perfect season. Also, in the northern hemisphere, the holiday season follows soon after autumn and there is much appreciation of pork over the festive feast period. Christmas ham anyone? I’ve always loved the idea of curing/brining my own bacon. I wasn’t sure if I was going to smoke it too since I …
A decade ago, the year Semi-Permenent set up a chapter in Auckland, I was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, first-year design student. I had just started going out with The Koala and when we heard about a new, fledgling design conference we purchased our precious tickets. For a student, even the concession ticket was a lot of money. The Koala and I attended the very first NZ Semi-Permanent event at the Bruce Mason Theatre in Takapuna and we were blown away by the world-famous calibre of creative speakers. Since then, I’ve barely missed an event. I think I’ve missed two. One because we were saving our pennies for our wedding and another time we were out of town. Semi-Permenent took a break from our shores last year, but this year they are back and on in just a few weeks! I won’t be in Auckland so I won’t be attending this year. But if you are around, you should check it out. The two day event runs on 18 and 19 May 2012 at the ASB Theatre at …
Rabbits spend much of the day grooming themselves, but as they get older or rounder or sick, they may have trouble keeping their bottoms clean. When Tofu’s bum gets messy, he gets a bath. We usually bathe Tofu in the bathroom sink and it’s a two person job. But recently I bathed Tofu in the bath and found that it can easily be a one person job. Important: Get everything ready before you start. Never leave a rabbit unattended in water. Here are detailed instructions on how I bathe Tofu. Every bunny is different. Tofu doesn’t panic around water, he panics if he feels unsecure. Your rabbit might be different. The different smells, sights and water might be too much for him or her. Use this as a guide and use your best judgement. We have tried blowdrying Tofu, but he is very fluffy for a rabbit. It takes a really, really long time. If your rabbit is less fluffy, you could try blowdrying, but I find that the bunny burrito method works quite well …
Nini Sum of Idle Beats (one of the few screenprint/poster studios in China) released this lovely screenprint “Rabbit Year In Shanghai” last year. A tiny edition of 56, it has sold out of course. Probably many times over. You can view Nini’s other poster designs at http://www.idlebeats.com. I also had an inkling to look up Nini’s own website. I’m sure glad I did because I found a few further bunny related gems. Check out her site www.ninisum.com. It’s super cool and surrealist.
Celebrate The Koala and I have been together for 10 years, and we recently celebrated our third wedding anniversary. As with any good relationship, good eating has been and will probably always a part of our relationship. To mark 3 years, we treated ourselves to a degustation dinner at Kermadec in the Viaduct. Two years ago, our first official anniversary dinner was unplanned. It ended up being at KFC in Hamilton. It was scoffed down, on the way home from a wonderful weekend in the Bay of Plenty, but we can’t help thinking of how far away a degustation in the Viaduct is from “Kaccas in The Tron”. Degustation A degustation is a tasting menu, designed by the chef. You get to sample a range of delights over many courses, and the number of dishes usually ranges from 6 courses up to 12. It’s considered the best way to sample a chef’s skill. Instead of choosing what you want to eat, you completely surrender your choice to the chef. Degustation can be matched with wine …
Today, we embark on a 40 day adventure. I thought this song by my new favourite group Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was quite fitting.
A couple of weeks ago, this grass bunny made a journey from Australia to New Zealand, courtesy of Cass from the food blog Food My Friend. Cass is the proud owner of a lop called Flatpac. You can see Flatpac Fridays here in case you need a bunny booster if Tofu Tuesdays isn’t quite enough 🙂 Everyone at home loves the grass bunny. Including Tofu. Thanks Cass! Check out previous Tofu Tuesday posts here.
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