Author: Bunny Eats Design

Taste of New Zealand 2011

Published by

It was a stunning day on Thursday when we visited Taste of New Zealand at Victoria Park, Auckland. The rain the night before had turned the grounds into a moist chocolate cake. I was at this culinary festival with 3 of my favourite people and my trusty camera. We tried a several dishes, several beers and several wines and plenty of free samples in between. I hit 3 out of the 4 dishes I had my eye on. Not too bad. I could have drank less and eaten more, but I wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun. My evening started with a glass rose from Tohu Wines and the lovely lady there shared her tips on the festival including where to find free lamb and which restaurants were the best value. From my experience, for the average diner, Taste is not for a cheap night out. Tickets, plus meals, plus drinks, plus products can quickly add up. It’s a treat and you pay a fraction of the price of what you would pay at some …

Tale of two prawns: Steamed Garlic Prawns & Super Tasty Grilled Prawns

Published by

A thing or two about prawns Prawns in New Zealand are imported raw as we have no prawn fishery. They are snap frozen at sea and can be easily thawed at home, so never buy thawed prawns because you don’t know how long they have been thawed for. Maybe it’s only been a couple of hours, but maybe it’s longer. Why risk it? If they’re snap frozen at sea and you thaw them just prior to cooking, they will be as fresh as possible. Prawn size and weight If you have bought prawns before, you may have noticed a special numbering system in place. It seems counter-intuitive, but the smaller the number, the larger the prawn. Less is more! Well, less is big. U10 or U20 means under 10 or 20 prawns per kilo. These are the biggest prawns and also the most expensive. Handy guide to prawn sizes (per kilo) Extra large 10/20 also displayed as U10 or U20 Under 10 and Under 20 prawns per kilo Large 21/30 Under 30 prawns per kilo Medium …

Transferable skills

Published by

I was at work and in my fist was a small piece of paper that said “Italy”. During the world cup season, we each had to bring in a morning tea based on our drawn countries. What to bring? There are many yummy Italian foods. Pizza, pasta, antipasto, breads…. Being a terrible baker, I challenged myself to bake for everyone at work. Chinese fighting muffins Light, fluffy bread and moist cakes? Never! It’s not my style. My baking is generally hard and dry. So I figured, why not harness my natural talent for making Chinese fighting muffins? Look upon it as a transferable skill. Maybe you have a negative cooking skill that could be turned right given the perfect recipe? Biscotti is hard and never moist. Biscotti is classy. Biscotti would be perfect. I found this online chocolate biscotti recipe by Susan from Farmgirl Fare. If I’m afraid of making something, the words easy and beginners in the heading makes a big difference. I worried about burning these since it’s hard to tell if dark brown biscotti …

Tasting, tasting, 1, 2, 3.

Published by

2011 will be my third Taste festival and I’m looking forward to trying and buying new delicious things and soaking up the good atmosphere down at Victoria Park. Taste of New Zealand kicks off this evening in Victoria Park, Auckland and the menu can be found on their website here or scroll to the bottom of this post. The dishes range from 8 to 20 crowns and a crown costs $1. This year, there are 13 restaurants offering 35 dishes. Quick breakdown: Dessert 5 Shellfish 5 Fish 5 Venison 3 Beef 3 Pork 3 Lamb 3 Duck 2 Chicken 2 Rabbit 1 Mixed grill 1 Vegetarian 1 There are loads of dishes for omnis and pescis, but only 1 vege dish of portobello mushroom. I ordered 4 dishes last year (all the ones on my wishlist) and I recommend 3 or 4 dishes per person for dinner. Don’t forget to make room for all the samples on offer. It’s great to have someone with you so you can sample their dishes too. Last year, we tasted …

Monday Bunday: Lucha Rabbit by Theodoru

Published by

This Lucha Rabbit 3d poster makes my heart squeak. Theodoru Illustration clearly devours and creates all things cool, funky and vinyl and more of his work can be found on his website www.theodoru.com. Working in Vienna, Austria, Teodoru takes bold, bright elements from various familiar graphics like  Mexican lucha libre. His work makes me think of a childhood cartoon on acid. Here are some more bunny inspired pieces by Theodoru. Part fish, part bunny.

Out Standing

Published by

On a beautiful Saturday morning, Parnell Farmers’ Market celebrated their “Hello Spring” event with face painting, Walnut the clown (making super balloon animal hats), Old Macdonald’s barnyard petting zoo and the main course: Julie Biuso’s Out Standing In Their Fields cooking demo. With 14 books under her belt and a 15th due out next month, Julie wears various foodie hats including writing, radio, television and teaching. I’m a subscriber to just one food magazine and Julie happens to be their food editor. Julie is well known for her accessible style of cooking and Taste magazine is my favourite for that same approach to food. Food shouldn’t be fussy! The first dish, a hot and sour pork salad was zingy and smart. Using asian exotics like lime, palm sugar, coriander, mint and fish sauce it has punchy flavours that bring out the freshness of the produce. Julie’s handy tips:  Use soft brown sugar as a substitute for palm sugar Refrigerate onions to save your eyes Don’t be scared about using fish sauce as a seasoning This …

Cleaned up food

Published by

I’ve been on a TED talk buzz lately watching an average of one a day. I recently came across Ursus Wehrli’s humorous TED talk Ursus Wehrli tidies up art. “We Swiss are famous for chocolate and cheese…Our trains run on time. We’re only happy when things are in order.” This cleaned up soup and cleaned up fruit salad and just 2 of the examples from Ursus Wehrli’s upcoming book The Art of Clean Up (or Die Kunst, Aufzuraumen, from Kein & Aber). I can’t help but wonder if the cleaned up soup and fruit salad would need to be eaten in order. Otherwise, why sort it at all? If these appeal to you, you might also like this OCD Chef chopping board.

Snapper are my first world problem

Published by

Someone wise once told me, if everyone in the world put their problems into a hat, you would be glad to pull out your own. It’s true. I was pining for flounder, but at the Chinese market, flounder are held in high regard and the price reflects this. Snapper is cheap at the Chinese supermarket. At the regular supermarket, the pricing is the other way around. Snapper is expensive whereas flounder is cheap. Isn’t it funny? I had to settle for snapper. A little bit of coconut cream, chopped garlic, spring onion, green curry paste and plenty of salt and pepper. Wrapped these fish in paper and baked for 30 minutes. It wasn’t so bad. Tip: Buy flounder at the regular supermarket and snapper at the Chinese supermarket.

Orzo Salad – Day 1

Published by

I’ve never made orzo salad before but I figured it was worth giving a go. I think of orzo as rice shaped pasta and at $4 for 2 x 500g bags at Nosh last week, it was worth a whirl. 250g of orzo made enough for 2 nights dinners for 2 people and a lunch. So in theory, my $4 of orzo will be enough for 20 portions. Yowzers! I just boiled the orzo for about 7 minutes in salted water, drained and mixed with pesto, halved cherry tomatoes and avocado. Served with a grilled mushroom topped with cheese and herbs and a sexy slab of marinated rump. It’s a fast, easy weekday dinner that gets me excited about the warmer weather.

Tofu Tuesday: Tocks on cut grass

Published by

Our landlord cut our grass in the weekend. Woot! It’s nice being able to sit on the lawn again. Not that it stopped Tofu before. Tofu’s winter coat has shed and his molting has ceased it’s assault. He’s basically wearing short shorts and a singlet in this photo. Maybe he needs a lilo, a paddling pool and a cocktail with umbrella?

Monday Bunday: Silly Pink Bunnies

Published by

Jeremy Fish (sillypinkbunnies.com) draws awesome bunnies. He has also contributed in the art scavenger hunt in London in conjunction with Juxtapoz Magazine and Absolut Vodka. If I were in London, I would be scavenging for this signed piece. Isn’t it divine? Watch the trailer for the whole project here. (Is it still called a trailer if it’s not for a film?)

Lyttelton Farmers’ Market is pumping

Published by

Last Saturday we visited Lyttelton Farmers’ Market and it was pumping. Good to see. People still want to eat (and eat well) post quake. The aftershocks haven’t stopped, but life must go on. There were bunches of sweet little daffodils for $1 each, music, yummy ready to eat foods, fresh fish and lots of ingredients for the home cook. Many of Lyttelton’s buildings are gone but it’s great to see that the businesses live on. Ground Culinary Centre that was on London Street was a pile of debris when we visited at Easter and is now a tidy but empty lot. Ground are are still making yummy deli style salads. We bought a yummy feijoa and ginger jam by Peninsula Preserves to take back to Auckland with us. Hopefully the Markets are keeping business afloat until they can open up somewhere else.

I want to put a ding in the universe

Published by

By now you have probably heard that Steve Jobs, at age 56 has passed away. Am I an apple whore? Maybe. Do I have an iPhone or an iPod or a Macbook? No. Do I have an iMac and an iPad? Sure do! I like apple products because they work exactly like they were supposed to. In high school, I had an after school job and when I was 18, I bought my first imac. It was the alien looking, long necked imac that would serve me for the next 7 years. I have to say, that neck made a robust handle. I know this because it moved house 7 times with me. I would pick it up by it’s neck and take it to the next place. 10 years later, I’m only my second imac and more recently, an iPad too. Steve Jobs designed products that are fun to use. The fact they look good too is a nice bonus. At least the iPad and iMac I have are fun to use. I can’t vouch …

Oysters Hong Kong

Published by

  Since we’re messing around with oysters this week, I figured I could mess around with Oysters Kilpatrick. My asian-inspired version uses ingredients like lap cheong, spring onions and black vinegar which you can find in any Cantonese kitchen. I’ve named it Oysters Hong Kong. From a previous post:  “Chinese dried sausages or Lap Cheong are dry cured sausages normally made of pork and fat. These are smoked, sweetened, seasoned and taste like awesome. The sausages I buy from my local are vacuum packed and hail from Canada. You might like these if you like streaky bacon cooked in maple syrup.”   Oysters Hong Kong Ingredients 12 fresh Pacific oysters (opened) 2 Chinese sausages (Lap Cheong) 3 tablespoons black vinegar 3 tablespoons spring onion, chopped Preparation Turn on grill to 200°C. Slice the Chinese sausages into thin rounds and fry until brown. Set the oysters on an oven tray lined with foil. Bunch up the foil so they oysters have a nice bed to lay upon. Top with the cooked sausage and black vinegar. Grill for 2-5 minutes. …

Make Oysters Kilpatrick

Published by

I usually prefer my oysters fresh and unmolested, but things have changed since trying Oysters Kilpatrick for the first time at Mikano in April. They were Bluff and they were divine, but at $5 each, they are a special occasion treat. Oysters Kilpatrick is a dish from Australia and this 70’s retro-to-the-gills recipe isn’t for the faint hearted. Can you taste the oysters at their full potential? Maybe not. Are they delicious? Yes sir! I’ve always said Worcestershire rather awkwardly and today I noticed this month’s edition of Taste Magazine sorts me right out: How do I say…Worcestershire? The famous secret-recipe sauce named for its English home county has lost a syllable over time: ‘Wuss-tuh-shuh’ or just ‘Wuss-tuh’ for short. I’ve been ordering my oysters from New Zealand Seafoods (www.nzseafoods.co.nz) for years. They own oyster farms in Mahurangi Harbour and offer fresh, shucked Pacific oysters for $50NZ (about $40US) for 5 dozen. It’s about $6 to deliver which I consider money well spent. The oysters are always well packaged (export quality) and ready to eat. Oysters Kilpatrick …