Author: Bunny Eats Design

Ponyo wants ham!

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Years ago, we had an art exhibition at Rising Sun on K Road on my birthday. My family got me a glazed ham for my birthday (at my request) and we brought it to the exhibition to share with friends and art appreciating strangers. It was grand. A few years later, at a different bar, I met a guy that said he met me once at an exhibition where there was ham. Ah, to be forever associated as the art and ham girl. Awesome. Fast forward another 5 or 6 years, it’s my birthday today and what better way to celebrate than to have another glazed ham with my nearest and dearest. I adore ham and when I saw the Studio Ghibli movie Ponyo, I could relate. Watch this clip if you don’t know what I mean. As for the ham, I’m inspired by Pepsi, mango and brown or palm sugar. I think a cup of each should do the trick and a squeeze of lime juice for an extra South East Asian inspired pop.

Chalkboard Kitchens

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The idea of running my bare hands over a dusty chalkboard gives me an uneasy feeling. Almost as bad as fingernails dragged across its surface. Even so, the idea of chalkboard as decoration, art or furniture and it’s ever changing surface is really appealing. We had a chalkboard as a prop at our wedding reception with guests writing messages that got continuously more risqué as the night progressed. A chalkboard kitchen I’m not entirely sure how you would get past all the chalkdust this would inevitably invite into your kitchen, but it does look pretty cool. I’ve always had a thing for black kitchens. Even if you didn’t mind eating a little chalk dust for these designs, it just seeing chalkdust around the kitchen would probably annoy the crap out of you. Here are some of my favourite chalkboard kitchens from around the web.  11 Magnolia Lane’s chalkboard pantry doors. I love how she used chalkboard contact paper instead of paint so that it could be removed fairly easily. I’ve never thought about using contact …

RAW: AUT Grad Show

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This week, 7 years ago, I had just completed an illustrated children’s book and had set up for the AUT Grad show for the Bachelor of Art and Design. It happened to be the same week as my 21st birthday and I was so busy with the exhibition that I flagged a formal 21st party. Instead, I opted for a spontaneous knees up at Rising Sun bar on K Road where The Koala worked. We lived on K Road back then so it was an easy choice. It was a good party, not that I remember, but for the next week, random strangers told me that they had met me my birthday and that I was really happy. Good to know. Well, this year’s AUT grads are on show and I’m going to visit tonight for the preview evening of RAW. I love going to grad shows. Something about the naive enthusiasm, the relief that it’s all over and the general buzz, is great to be around. It’s always inspiring and a little daunting to see …

Monday Bunday: Giant Red Rabbit

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There’s a new giant rabbit sculpture at the Sacramento International Airport in California. Conceived by Denver artist Lawrence Argent, this bunny sculpture is entitled “Leap”. Bunny stats: 56 feet long 10,000 pounds $800,000 Made out of alumninium That’s a whole lot of bunny! This big bunny is one of the 14 art pieces at the airport. How cool is that?

Hakanoa (Ginger Syrup) Braised Pork Belly

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I’m quickly falling in love with Hakanoa Hand-made Ginger Syrup. “Made from filtered water, organic fairtrade raw sugar, fresh ginger, organic dried ginger, organic sultanas and fresh lemon juice,” this syrup ticks all the boxes ethically and best of all, it is delicious. More info on this product can be found on their website hakanoa-handmade.co.nz. I’ve used it to make sangria as well as ginger flavoured milk. Don’t know it until you’ve tried it. It is amazing. Best of all, I like to use it as a marinade in meat dishes and my favourite meat and cut has got to be the delicious pork belly. Free range pork belly should be available where ever you find free range pork. Maybe you are bored of pork belly these days. No problem. Hopefully the world gets tired of pork belly and it will return back to being a cheap cut of meat. More for me! If you still have room in your life for another pork belly recipe, try my Hakanoa Braised Pork Belly recipe. The addition of cornflour …

CreativeMornings AKL #2

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I’ve been following CreativeMornings in the US for a few years now, after seeing it at Swissmiss. I have watched many of the back catalogue of taped sessions from the comfort of my own home. I think of it as a TED aimed at designers. “CreativeMornings is a monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types. Each event is free of charge, and includes a 20 minute talk, plus coffee!” Art, coffee and pastries make me a happy girl. More info in CreativeMornings at their website http://www.creativemornings.com or the Tublr site for CreativeMornings Auckland here. I took the morning off yesterday to be inspired at CreativeMornings at Alleluya Cafe at St Kevins Arcade. Jade Tang and Elise Sterback are the powerhouse duo behind Creative Mornings in Aucklad. The second edition of CreativeMornings Auckland, it followed a similar format to the first one last month at Box Cafe. Considered the best graffiti artist in NZ and one of the world champions of his craft, Askew One a.k.a Elliot O’Donnell gave designers and creatives an insight into his processes and inspirations. …

Prepare a raw meal

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One of my “To Do” activities this spring was to prepare a raw meal. Don’t worry, I’m not giving up hot meals just yet, I just thought it would be interesting and a challenge this spring to make something that was raw, good looking and edible. So I gave it a go. It was harder than I thought even without cooking involved. I picked ingredients based on flavour and colour. I used a few questionable ingredients that have been processed/fermented/pasturised like oil, soy sauce and milk. You can get raw versions of these things apparently. I didn’t for this experiment, but you could. I used gurnard and salmon and squeezed fresh orange and fresh lemon onto the lot. A happy ending via a strawberry smoothie.

I Love Strawberry

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I love strawberries and I find it hard to resist buying just a punnet when I visit farmers’ markets. This recipe is so easy and uses very little strawberries that you could make it 2 nights in a row if you wanted to extend your punnet. Cooking strawberries is some kind of voodoo magic to me. The taste and fragrance of these hearts, so potent you will be amazed it’s not artificial. There is no need to add more sugar to this dish as jam is already quite sweet. I used feijoa and ginger from Peninsula Preserves that we picked up from Lyttelton Farmers Market last month. This post is an entry for Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blogging event open to all Kiwi bloggers. Founded by Alessandra Zecchini, this month’s event is hosted by Mairi from Toast. See here for more info on this month’s event. Strawberry Heart Puffs Makes 2 hearts Ingredients 1 sheet frozen puff pastry 5 strawberries  2 tablespoons jam  Butter for greasing Optional: icing sugar for dusting  Preparation Lay puff pastry out the counter to defrost. Preheat oven to …

Tofu Tuesday: Sangria

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One of my “To Do” activities this spring was to make white sangria. I first tried it this year at Urbis Design Day and thought it was a lighter, refreshing version of red sangria (which I also love). We had a few friends over in the weekend so I made both red and white. The white was yummy, but the red was even better. I’ve grown out of love with white wine over the last year or so and while I don’t like chardonnay, I picked it because it’s less acidic to me than the other whites. Thanks Mum for this cool blue drink set for my early birthday present! I’ve put it to good use already. I made a simple sugar syrup with 2 cups of sugar dissolved in 2 cups of water. Boiled for 5 minutes (stirring occasionally just for fun) and then cooled and stored in a glass bottle. I used fresh strawberries (sliced) and canned fruit salad with additional canned mixed berries for the red sangria. Tofu the bunny gets the green …

A Bargain To Eat Upon

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As much as I love eating outside, we’ve never really owned an outdoor table. We either sit on the edge of the deck with plates perched on laps, or if we’re feeling really fancy, we drag the dining table out. We don’t often bother as it doesn’t really fit through the door and takes a bit of shoe-horning and coaxing to get it in and out. Then, I found this sturdy table on Trademe for $20. It looked a bit rough, but had potential. Brought it home, sanded it and gave it a few coats of paint. We already had sandpaper, a bucket of paint and a sponge paintbrush leftover from other projects, so this really cost $20. Perfect for alfresco dining over summer. I’m dreaming of BBQs and cocktails in the backyard. Now all we need are outdoor chairs or benches. But for now, our dining chairs will do just fine.

For the up and comers

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The lovely Eva from Kitchen Inspirations has awarded Bunny Eats Design with a Liebster Blog Award. Eva is wickedly skilled and has a fiery growing edge. She is determined to make her own croissants from scratch. To someone like me who can’t even make a simple pizza dough, her foray into croissants is intense voodoo magic. Thanks for the award Eva! What is this award? Liebster is a German word meaning darling or beloved. The Liebster Blog Award is to recognise your favorite up-and-coming bloggers who have fewer than 200 subscribers*. With 100 facebook subscribers and 20ish email subscribers, I’m grateful for you lovely readers. Maybe now would be a good time to shameless plug: Subscribe to my blog by FB or by email subscription! Rules are: Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you. Check, see above. Reveal your top 5 bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. Check, see below Copy and paste the award on your blog. Check, see above. *Apologies if …

Glenn Jones does foodie tees

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Glenn Jones a.k.a. GLENNZ is a local designer and illustrator based in Auckland and you may have seen some of his work floating around the interwebs. He has designed a lot of shirts that ended up on user submitted T-shirt design site Threadless.com. Glenn now has his very own store and website at http://www.glennz.com where you can buy right from the horses mouth (so to speak). He does all sorts of fun designs from animals to futuristic to pop culture. One thing they have in common is the characteristic Threadless style. You’ll know when you see it. Here are some food related designs by Glennz.

Spiced Carrot & Coconut Soup

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With the amount of eating over the last 7 days, I’ve been craving some simple vegetable dishes. I had half a loaf of Blackwoods Bakeries focaccia from the weekend and my parents had just given me a big bag of carrots. What started off as a pauper’s dinner got fancy real quick. Don’t let the carrots full* fool you. This is a rich and satisfying soup. *Edit: Wow, genuine Freudian slip. Spiced Carrot & Coconut Soup Dinner for 2 or a starter for 4. Ingredients 5 carrots 3/4 can coconut cream 3 cups stock (I used chicken but use vegetable if vegetarian) 1 teaspoon green curry paste (check if vegetarian) 1 tablespoon olive oil Sage garnish  *Use vegetable stock if you want to make this vegan or vegetarian Preparation Chop the ends off the carrots and cut into bite sized rounds. I didn’t see any point in peeling these ones, it’s up to you. In a large pot, quickly brown the carrots in olive oil. Add the green curry paste and stir through. Add stock, bring to …

Out Standing 2: David Schofield at Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market

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David Schofield is the 2011 New Zealand Chef of the Year this year and it was a pleasure to see him whip up some quick and delicious dishes on Sunday morning at the Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market. This was the very last of a national series of cooking demonstrations at farmers’ markets organised by Kylie and Blair from Out Standing In Their Fields. Farmers’ markets celebrate seasonal, local food and buying at your local producers is a great way to show your support. The stars were hot smoked salmon, flounder, oysters, and free range bacon. David had a wealth of knowledge and it was clear how passionate he was about his food by the trivia he shared with the crowd. He encouraged questions and interaction from the audience. Having plenty to talk about, David disclosed right from the start, “I waffle”. His veering was hardly offcourse, never pointless or uninteresting and I enjoyed his tidbits of foodie folklore. Toothsome trivia from David: The demand for perfect produce encourages imports. If we happily buy odd shaped and …

Tofu Tuesday: Tofu and Georgie

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Tofu has a new fan. Georgie is a cat from next door and I have seen Georgie and Tofu them sniffing noses through the fence. It’s freakin’ adorable. Georgie is timid and has a moon shaped face and orange eyes. Unlike the other cats, I’ve never seen Georgie come over to our property. He seems to just want to make friends from through the fence.

Monday Bunday: Rabbit cushion roundup

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I think of novelty cushions as a ninja attempt to get soft toys into the living room. My cousin Charlene made me a larger than actual size sized ham cushion. Complete with black sequins as clove studs. It’s wonderful. I don’t have any bunny shaped pillows, but that doesn’t stop me from browsing. Top 5 bunny pillows 1. Bunny pillow by Bomb Design. Comes in a range of different fabrics including lamby-bunny! 2. The Rise and Fall Bunny Pillow from Urban Outfitters. 3. Rabbit cushion by Becky Baur. 4. Rabbit cushion by Julia Rothman. 5. Pink neon rabbit pillow by Lalalabel.

Taste at The Cloud

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Taste at the Cloud has been running at the Cloud on Queens Wharf since September 13th. Today is the last day. I highly recommend you check this out today if you are heading around the city. It’s your last chance! There is no entry fee, you only pay for your food and drink ticket. Tickets come your choice of 2, 4, 6 or 8 dishes with matching beverage. Prices $17, $28, $42 or $54. The more dishes you buy, the cheaper the average price per dish. We didn’t realise until after we had bought our three separate tickets that we could split 1 or 2 big tickets between us. Oh well. Hopefully this info benefits someone else. There are menus from four themed kitchens: Seaside, Urban, Rural and Winery/Orchard. Each offering four kiwi showcase dishes. You can choose to mix and match any of the menus. You simply queue at the kitchen of your choice, collect your food and then your drink. We checked out the food at the Cloud yesterday and Now I wish …