Author: Bunny Eats Design

Tofu Tuesday: Narrow depth of field

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I haven’t experimented much with live subjects on my new 50mm lens because I’m not quick with manual focus yet. I’m getting better though. I love the narrow depth of field, but it’s the hardest setting to manual focus with. Narrow or shallow depth of field means that only a small area is in focus. The rest is blurred. This is pretty cool for food photography or portraits. Here is a portrait of Tofu hanging out in the narrow depth of field. There is a pretty solid band of focus and the rest (both front and back) are blurred.

High up in Chiang Mai

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Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is a temple way up high overlooking Chiang Mai. There is a cool legend about this site. From Wiki: “a white elephant which was released in the jungle. The elephant is said to have climbed up Doi Suthep…trumpeted three times before dying at the site. It was interpreted as a sign and King Nu Naone ordered the construction of a temple at the site.” As at any site, there were plenty of snacks available outside. Fried quail eggs and cups of sweetcorn (seasoned with condensed milk) were eaten with enthusiasm. Simple street food. This monk figurines lined a low wall. I love their cute features and chubby cheeks.

Chiang Mai Thai House

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If you go to Chiang Mai on a modest budget, you should stay at Chaing Mai Thai House. We stayed here for a week and wish they weren’t fullY booked during the rest of our stay in Chiang Mai or we would have stayed there for the full time. Our fan room (nightly rate: 400 baht / $16NZ / $13US) had a TV with plenty of movie channels, our own bathroom with a big teak mirror, a queen bed a wardrobe and a lovely big window. Fan room was fine for winter, it was warm enough that a daily swim was welcome, but I actually prefer fan over air con. Facilities include a computer room with 5 computers and free internet, a swimming pool, a cafe/restaurant (good food and reasonably priced), a laundry service and a tour service. Only a a few steps from a fabulous dentist on Thapae Rd (handy if you need dental work done) and situated between the Old City and the Night Bazaar. Lots of bars and restaurants within walking distance as …

40 days and 40 nights

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40 days into our epic SE Asia adventure and we had eaten amazing things in 7 exotic countries. 40 nights into our epic SE Asia adventure and I missed cooking. I met up with Leanne and Kathy, the lovely Australian sisters from our tour, for a cooking class at Baan Thai Cookery School in Chiang Mai. At Baan Thai, I cooked and ate 4 dishes at one of their evening classes. Chicken pad thai (fried noodle dish), Seafood in coconut milk soup, Green curry with chicken and fish cakes. The green curry was the best green curry I have ever tasted. It was the last dish of the night so I had a pretty good idea of how much curry paste I liked by then. This was spot on. The instructors will encourage you to use plenty of chili and curry paste, but hopefully you know what you can handle and can be firm about how much you want to use in your dishes. You’re the one that has to eat it after all. My finished …

Eating at the Night Bazaar, Chiang Mai

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Back to sharing our epic SE Asia adventure…It’s already June and I’ve only chronicled about half of our time away… Sila-aat two times Our first night in Chiang Mai was our last night together with our tour group. For dinner, we visited the Night Bazaar which is also a shoppers paradise. Over the next 2 weeks, The Koala and I would come back many times to shop and to eat. Our last meal as a group was at seafood restaurant Sila-aat. They have a few live fish and the rest is displayed on ice at the counter. They have some a good selection of seafood platters that we wanted to try but the timing  was never quite right. I felt like something light so picked some light Chinese dishes. The Koala picked a heavy Chinese dish. Snow peas. I adore snow peas, but they are freakin expensive back home. My local supermarket sells snow peas for $26NZ per kilo. Does anyone know why snow peas are so damn expensive? Straw mushrooms and shrimp. I love …

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back chili mac

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Here is where we need ya, hey it’s nice to see ya! Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back Chilly Mac This catchy chorus isn’t about food but it’s not exactly a misheard lyric either. In any case, hearing about Chilly Mac made me want to eat a chili mac for dinner. What’s better than chili mac? Chili mac and cheese! First I made mac and cheese based on the good old Edmonds cookbook recipe. Then I browned some mince with a heaped teaspoon of chili seasoning, added a can of pasta (tomato) sauce and a can of kidney beans. I poured the mac and cheese into an overproof dish and topped with the chili. Grated cheese on top and then bunged it into the oven to get golden for about 20 minutes. I made enough for about 4 people so there was plenty left for leftover lunch the next day. These days the only time I bring lunch is when I have leftovers. There’s no effort involved in making a little bit more at dinner …

Tofu Tuesday: Bunny bath time and Monocle Morph

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Rabbits are very clean animals and spend a huge amount of time grooming. But from time to time they can get a bit messy underneath due to diet and/or weather. Usually, we trim away offending dirty fluff and dreads. Bunny bath time Last Thursday we gave Tofu his first bath ever. It wasn’t nearly as traumatic as we thought it would be, but it was a 2 person job. One to hold him firmly and dip his bottom into the sink and the other to shampoo and rinse. That was pretty successful and we got all the brown bits out. But then come Friday evening, Tofu was wet all underneath which is unusual for him and very uncomfortable. He was eating as usual and running around the backyard quite happily but his fur was wet, smelly and dreaded and the skin inflamed. Local vet visit We usually take Tofu to a miracle worker of a vet which is quite a long drive away, but this didn’t seem to be a life or death situation, so we …

How to have a posh high tea at home

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This afternoon, I hosted my first ever high tea. I have never really been to a high tea and to me it’s a bit posh. I invited friends and family and arranged for everyone to bring something to eat and a teacup and saucer. I also picked up a few teacups and saucers from the local Sallies. Mt Eden Bakers Delight kindly contributed their brand new Apple Strudel scones and their popular Date Scones for us to sample. We tried  both varieties voted for our favourite with a show of hands. At first Apple Strudel won only by 1 vote but after a late vote, it won by 2 votes. Apple Strudel wins. I thought I would prefer the Apple Strudel, because I thought I didn’t like dates. Turns out I was wrong. I love dates! We had teapots of Earl Grey and also some other teas like Rose and French Vanilla. A big pot of french press coffee also went down a treat. Bakers Delight Apple Strudel scones. The crowd favourite. Bakers Delight Date …

A cartoon dinner for real life people

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In cartoons, they always have dinner with a brown meat, some green and some creamy white. Sometimes there’s yellow or orange, but the 3 main colours on cartoon character’s dinner plate are brown, green and cream. This is what I call a cartoon dinner. Instead of mash potatoes this time, I boiled kumara (sweet potato) and then gave them a good stir and finished them off in a hot oven. The trick is to get the kumara roughened up so that the rough bits crisp up nicely in the oven. I marinated a couple of slabs of steak in Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. Then fried with slices of onion. As the steak was resting, I added red wine to the pan with a little flour and made a red wine and onion sauce. Brocolli made up the green component. And there you have it. A dinner fit for a cartoon character.

Frank Kozik is coming to NZ speak to me.

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…and some other people…in August. Since Semi-Permanent has postponed their event until 2012, We Can Create will be the only big design event this year. What a relief! I was torn on whether to go to SP or WCC and after they announced a batch of amazing speakers, I quickly bought an earlybird ticket. The real attraction for me is Frank Kozik. Kozik’s client list includes MTV, Nike, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Melvins, The Offspring and Butthole Surfers. His lowbrow illustrative style is distinctive and has been imitated once or twice. Kozik is an illustrator/graphic designer/toy designer. He deals with bunnies among other things. The Koala bought Kozik’s Happy Labbit toy for me as a gift once upon a time. Here is the Happy Labbit hanging out with Sharmi a few years ago. The Koala painted the Labbit to look like Tofu and the Labbit attended our wedding in Christchurch in place of Tofu. The Labbit sat at the head of the table right in front of  The Koala and …

Cook Duck (thanks to Nosh)

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Singing songs like “The Man I Love” or “Porgy” is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck. – Billie Holiday As much as I adore duck, I have never cooked it. Until now. When I saw Nosh’s recipe for duck this week, I knew that I had to make it. Absolutely had to. With a title like Sticky Cherry Duck legs with Parsnip Mash and Roast Fennel, I didn’t stand a chance. They even listed Nipple Hill Pinot Noir for the marinade. Cherries, duck legs and nipples. I don’t know where this is leading to, but it sounds sexy. The recipe can be downloaded from their website here. It is a pdf so don’t freak out when your computer pauses for a moment to download and open the file. My only adaptions were that I used bouillon instead of stock, garam masala instead of allspice (I thought I had, but turns out I didn’t have allspice) and I roughly split the recipe in half since I was cooking for …

An edible giveaway and a thing or two about high teas

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High tea or dinner, was a heavier meal with eaten at the dinner table. It included meat or fish and vegetables and was a working class family meal. In New Zealand, casual as we are, abbreviated this high tea to tea. What we call high tea in NZ refers to a dainty, posh arrangement and is actually just afternoon tea. High tea or afternoon tea is the enjoying of tea served with tiny sandwiches and baked goods. To make matters more confusing, what I know as afternoon tea in isn’t a really a meal at all, but just a break from work. Although if you choose to eat scones and have tea during your break, that is ok too. More info on the history of afternoon and high tea can be found here. I’m planning a wee high tea at home this weekend. A little bit posh, but mostly just fun. Boys are welcome. I was deciding whether or not to invite boys but I’m glad I did because they were the first to RSVP. I suppose …

White Temple. One for the bucket list

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The next morning we left Chaing Khong and drove to Chiang Mai via Chiang Rai. At Chiang Rai we visted Wat Rong Khun – the White Temple by artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. A glaring white and covered in tiny mirrors, this glorious beacon encourages dark eyewear. This temple is unlike any Buddhist temple you have ever seen. The red skull road cones that we passed on the way and the life size Predator stuck in the grass outside were fairly bold suggestions. The decapitated heads hanging from trees was a pretty blatant give away that this was no serene place of meditation. If you find all this fairly interesting, you must go inside the White Temple. No photography was permitted but the unfinished murals on the wall inside are incredible. The artist relies heavily on pop culture icons as well political figures to create an inspiring, modern scenes of doom and glory. Bush, Bin Laden, Avatar, Neo from The Matrix, Spiderman, Batman are a few of the unconventional characters found on the inside walls of this …

Monday Bunday: Rabbit shotglass

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This chic rabbit shotglass by Goody Grams balances on it’s head and ears or can be placed upside down (or is that right side up?) when not in use. The head is made of pewter and has a ceramic glass. This, a white version, and other animal designs including bear, ram, rhino and bull are available for purchase  from Yanko for $28 a piece.

The best weekday breakfast for a cold Autumn morning

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This is the congee I’ve been eating this week. I treated myself to a 50mm f1.8 lens for my Nikon D3000 this week and this is the first food photo I’ve taken with it. This lens has no auto focus when screwed to my camera so I’m hoping that this lens will force me to get better with the camera’s manual settings. I usually just put rice straight into water to boil for congee, but I read that soaking the rice prior to boiling  makes for creamier congee. It’s true! This week I’ve been eating congee with seasoned pork mince and ginger for breakfast. Garnished with fresh spring onion slices from the garden, soy sauce and sesame oil. Pork and Ginger Congee (Makes 3-4 servings) Ingredients 1 cup long grain rice (a rice cup is 180ml) Water 200gm lean pork mince 2 slices of ginger for each serve (cut into matchsticks) 1 stem of spring onion (chopped) Splash of soy sauce Drizzle of sesame seed oil Preparation Soak the rice for a hour or two …

How to deal with 60+ types of New Zealand seafood

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The Greatest Meal On Earth website has a handy table on New Zealand fish. All the basics about 60+ local seafoods including characteristics of the meat and how to cook each kind. If you come across an unfamiliar fish at the fish markets you can count on this table to tell you what to do with it. I especially like how you can sort by each of the categories. For example, you can choose to view all local seafoods that are eaten raw. There are 16 of them and of those, there is only 1 seafood that is not cooked at all. That would be kina. A Ruby is not a jewel. The other day at the fish shop, I spied some pretty looking Ruby fillets. I’ve never cooked Ruby before and I didn’t know what to do with it. Lucky for me the table recommends: Poach, Smoke, Steam, Bake, BBQ, Casserole, Fry. Which pretty much means I can do whatever the hell I want with it except eat it raw. So I pan fried …

Heading to Thailand on the Mekong River – Day 2

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At 6am the next morning, we left our guesthouse in Pakbeng with our pre-ordered, packed breakfasts and bag-carrying local boys in tow. The morning is cold there are no windows to close. We wear our layers and shrink our necks and hands into our clothing to keep warm. By lunch we’ve shed the layers and are happy in our t-shirts. We draw more, play cards, draw more and give most of the drawings to the kids on the boat. Kelvin’s drawing of the girl and the boat. Monk Bunny. Hilltribes Bunny. Buddha Bunny. Mekong River Catfish. We didn’t see any, but these fish get crazy big. As in 3 metres long and weighing 300 kg. Mekong River doodle. Lunch on the boat is a delicious Laos style feast made by the family. At 40,000 Kip / $7NZ / $5US each, we certainly ate until we were full. The chicken curry was the crowd favourite. Immigration is painless and we get stamped in for a 2 month visa for Thailand. Too bad we only need 1 …