Author: Bunny Eats Design
I ♥ Pork & Apple…still
Tasty, fatty comfort food. Make a big pot of this stew plus a big pot of rice and help yourselves to little bowlfuls whenever it takes your fancy. Great for lunch the next day and this stew seriously tastes better and better with time. Pretty similar dish to this rough guide. I seared (even burnt bits) the pork in a pan before I simmered and included some chunks of turnip (Chinese white carrot). Star anise might not be familiar to y’all but it’s a aniseed flavour that I love even though I don’t like licorice. They are added to food for flavour, but don’t eat them. It’s not nice to crunch on so try and remove them prior to serving or if they are intact, they can serve as a pretty garnish. The rough guide to Aromatic Pork Belly and Apple Ingredients: Pork belly, granny smith apple, onion, garlic, ginger, 5 spice powder, cloves, star anise, black vinegar, raw sugar, soy sauce. Preparation: Brown the pork and then simmer with all the other ingredients for about 1.5 …
Rediscovering old favourites
Once upon a time, I was wedding crazy. It wasn’t a long time, about 8 months of intense wedding planning, but in that time I read everything I could about weddings. One of my favourite blogs back then was Peonies and Polaroids written by Cara. It wasn’t strictly a wedding blog, but she was also swept up on the wedding planning buzz so that’s what I’d decided her blog was about. Once our wedding was over and done with, my wedding obsessions stopped. I stopped reading wedding blogs. But blogs continue being written and read without me following. Blog topics move on. Fans come and go. I rediscovered Peonies and Polaroids. Since then, she’s moved on a bit from weddings, she continues to blog about “photography and beauty and love and stuff”. Most importantly she is now bunny obsessed and anyone that is bunny obsessed is alright in my book. Her and her husband run a wedding photography business so the photographs on her blog are exquisite. Even mundane, every day subjects. You should check …
Monday Bunday: Bunny Ninja Pirate Pin and Origimi Rabbit Pin
“Ninja Bunny pwns bad guys with his amazing ninja skills. Pin him anywhere for full ninja protection! This gold plated pin comes in a crywolf box, and is stamped with the crywolf logo in the back.” Available for $7CAD at Crywolf. Also available as a cellphone charm, necklace and zipper pull. And this week I’ve also fallen in love with this Origami Rabbit pin. You can get it for me from The Little Drom Store. Only $29 Singapore dollars.
Fungus invasion
These cream coloured mushrooms are popping up all over our backyard. We have never had mushrooms in our backyard before, but I guess this warm, wet weather is doing all sorts of things out there. Anyone know what they are? Are they edible? Are they toxic? Are safe for rabbits? Should we be getting rid of them?
Family Dinner with Chef Joey
We hadn’t seen the family for over a month – since they left us in Hong Kong and we continued with our travels – and last month was our first meal as a family. My sister Joey was the executive chef for the evening. On the menu were some yummy BBQ pizzas, skewers, pasta salad and a couple of classic Chinese desserts. Skewers: streaky bacon with cheese stuffed mushrooms. Chicken, camembert and cranberry pizza. Pesto pizza. Smoked salmon pizza (with a healthy dollop of sour cream). Mango pudding or Mongoh bodeen. Egg custard tarts or Dahn tart in the background. I had painted my nails yellow… …and The Koala happened to be wearing a yellow shirt. So it was only natural we had to pose with the yellow desserts.
Red Pepper Soup
After I read Millie’s Red Bell Pepper Bisque recipe in her blog Millie Mirepoix this week, I went straight to the local Chinese market after work, bought 4 red peppers and whipped up something similar. I read overseas blogs, but reading NZ blogs is more relevant when we cook seasonally with seasonal produce. I also made some rosemary and celery scones. Served hot and buttered they filled us right up. I love that soup is so forgiving and experimentation usually leads to wonderful things. Millie Mirepoix’s Recipe is here: My changes were: 1 heaped teaspoon of green curry paste instead of cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon instead of chicken stock No crème fraîche 2 carrots instead of 1 2 celery stalks instead of 2 This soup is surprisingly filling and I only needed a cup worth and a scone the next day for lunch. Curses to the tupperware container that was not leak proof! Thank goodness I always plastic bag stuff before it goes into my handbag. Tofu the rabbit very much liked …
What’s the deal with Urbis Designday?
Last Saturday we went to Urbis Designday where 12 showrooms collaborate with 12 designers from fashion and design industries. We had an awesome day, saw some interesting things, drank some yummy things and tasted some wonderful things. Good value at $30 per ticket (or 2 for $50). We figured we ate and drank an average of $10 each at each of the sites and including the taxis in between, we would have enjoyed $150 worth of Urbis. Here are some of my photos and a bit of a run down… 0. Media Design School / HP Future Designers at MINI Garage (HQ) This was were picked up their wristbands for the day if they hadn’t received them in the post. While this wasn’t considered one of the exhibits or a number on the circuit, this was actually one of my favourites. We spent a while here watching the Media Design School 3D projects. As you enter a big inflatable room you are given headphones and a Kapiti white chocolate and raspberry ice cream. Similar concept …
Eating Borneo #7 – Christmas in the Jungle
Paganakan Dii A short drive from Sandakan airport we found ourselves at the incredible Paganakan Dii. This accommodation set in the jungle of Sepilok is rated number 1 by both Trip Advisor and Travellers Point reviews. This high rating is well deserved and it is considered to be budget accommodation but don’t let the price tag fool you. Discreetly hidden inside a nature park, this place features 3 long houses with dorm style sleeping as well as private duplexes. The food is good, the beers are reasonable and breakfast is included every day. There is a great common area as well as lots of good spots to just hang out. Discreet driveway leading up to Paganakan Dii. Being tourists at the nature park. This bird loved The Koala to bits. View from a sunbathing deck. A lovely morning in the jungle. Dorms. Basic, but clean and comfortable. Windows and doors beside every bunk. View of the jungle from bed. No glass windows, just mosquito netting and slat shutters. Dorm balcony. My sister Joey brushes her teeth …
Eating Borneo #6 – Sepilok
In Sepilok, we stopped off at a random food court on the side of the road for lunch. I liked the fact that we seemed to be the only tourists here. I ordered a Meehoon Goreng Singapore. It was way too spicy. I suffered through this one and didn’t even get a quarter of the way through before I gave up. The soup it came with was good though. Chicken and mayo with rice. This was nice and mild for The Koala. A’s fried noodles with an egg on top. This is a ubiquitous dish and for good reason. It’s yum, cheap and filling. Cruising in Sandakan On Christmas morning, Mr Aji dropped us back at Sandakan airport where we had a rental car waiting. I’d been a bit worried about renting a car in Borneo. I was worried that we might end up with a clunker on dodgy jungle roads. Instead, the roads were smooth and the car turned out to be a super sweet ride. Because we arrived in Sandakan on Christmas Eve, …
Eating Borneo #5 – Sukau
Mr Aji Tours http://www.mrajiexpeditions.blogspot.com On Christmas Eve, Me, The Koala and A met up with my sister Joey and her boyfriend D at Sandakan airport in the Sabah area of Borneo. Our first day in the area, we met with Mr Aji who chauffeured us in style to Sukau and then onto the Kinabatangan River for an early afternoon river cruise. Mr Aji is a passionate wildlife photographer and had one of the biggest zoom lenses I’ve seen up close. It was incredible to see all the animals in the wild and Mr Aji has a hell of a keen eye. We saw proboscis monkeys leaping from tree to tree, An orangutan mother with her baby, a troop of curious macaques, lots of birds like the rhinoceros hornbill, snake bird, egret, black and white hornbill, eagle, Stockbill and common kingfishers. Because we were on the river earlier and longer than other tours, we had the river to ourselves. The boat driver turned off the engine and we just floated down the river and listen to …
Tofu Tuesday: Pika
We often call Tofu Pikachu. It’s not a tough stretch of the imagination. Not when there’s Photoshop just lying around. Pika!!!
Monday Bunday: Dust Bunny and OCD Chef
Adorable Dust Bunny by Fred and Friends. Inside every home cook is an OCD chef just dying to get out. Get this The OCD Chef chopping board for the OCD chef in you. Marked out on the board are medium dice, small dice, julienne and fine julienne. Unfortunately it looks like the measurements are in inches so maybe not for the metric OCD chefs. This chopping board makes the OCD chef in me squeal in delight and then laugh maniacally. You can get it from Fred & Friends www.worldwidefred.com. I’ve been a fan of Fred Flare since forever. Their quirky, whimsical yet useful accessories and knickknacks are right up my alley. Their newer brand Fred & Friends has some awesome kitchen and house goodies. Great for gifts and for yourself. Can be found online or also at your local Living and Giving store.
Burgers at Matakana House
Opensouls, one of my favourite bands in the whole world, played their final show last Sunday. It was at Leigh Sawmill Cafe which is about an hour drive north. So we made an afternoon of it and packed the van with some friends. Clinging on to the last threads of summer, we visited the beach by Goat Island for a swim and a snorkel. It was a beautiful day in Auckland but as we drove north, the skies turned grey and by the time we’d finished swimming and snorkeling, it was pelting down. Swimming and snorkeling are a surefire way to work up an appetite and with Leigh Sawmill closed until 4pm for set up and every single shop in Leigh closed on a Sunday afternoon, we were forced to drive to Matakana for a munch. Matakana is pretty gourmet as far as small towns go and I realised I’d never been there before. They have a highly rated farmers market which I do hope to visit another time. As we drove down the main …
Sexy French Sausages. Take 2
I squeezed another meal out of those sexy French snags. More assembling than actual cooking. A huge plate, but the kind of dinner that makes you feel good afterwards. I presented this plate to my husband who for some reason thought it was a shared platter for dinner. He realised his mistake when I brought out a second plate of food for me. One each FTW! Cheese, beans, avocado, cucumber, eggs, spring onion, lemon pepper, cherry tomatoes, rocket and sexy French sausages.
Eating Borneo #4 – Sandakan
Both Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan are in Sabah which is in the north of Borneo. Tourists often fly to Sandakan Airport before heading to the Orangutan Sanctuary in Sepilok, The Kinabatangan River in the Sukau area and Turtle Island near Sandakan. This area of Borneo is on your bucket-list if you want to love wildlife. Asian Delight – Sandakan Airport We ate fair bit at Asian Delight because it is the only restaurant at Sandakan Airport. We also give it thumbs up for having air conditioning. Here are a few dishes we ate there around the Christmas period. The Koala’s Western style breakfast with a basket of fries. My noodle soup. A’s rice filled omelette. I had to try a Nasi Lemak at least once. While I like dried fish this was a bit much for me. But the chicken wing was really good. So good that I just ordered chicken wings and rice the next time we came to this restaurant. As with most places, western style food is available is usually more expensive and …
Eating Borneo #3 – Chicken Rice
In Malaysia, Chicken Rice is super popular and can be found in many little eateries including fast food places. I had Chicken Rice in Brunei, Chicken Rice at a KK cafe and when I saw that KFC in KK had a version of Chicken Rice, I couldn’t resist. I never said I was a gourmet. I’m a foodie if you consider a foodie to be food obsessed. I crave KFC every now and then and The Koala never denies my cravings. When I’m eating fast food chain in a foreign country, I always order the most exotic local choices. This really was just a piece of chicken and a portion of chicken flavoured rice. No broth or dipping sauces in sight. Rice was ok. Nothing to wave a tambourine at. The Koala’s more complete meal in the background with a scoop each of coleslaw and mash potatoes. Quite a different recipes to the versions we are used to in NZ.
Happy Paddy’s Day!
Traditionally a day to dig out those Irish roots and an excuse for us to have a green themed morning tea at work today. I whipped these babies up for the occasion. Spinach, cheese, spring onion and egg in puff pastry. One was sacrificed for quality control so an uneven 11 will make it to work with me. The Koala wanted to eat one but 11 quiches to feed about 20 people is difficult enough as it is. Similar recipe with bacon can be found here. Speaking of green stuff, we’ve got feijoa, macadamia nuts and a tiny scallopini creeping into our garden.
3 sleeps
I’m sitting on a $10,000 couch carefully eating candy floss and ice cream. My hands are undeniably sticky and I wonder if I will get into trouble. Nearby, an opera diva sings in a language I don’t recognise and a grand pianist accompanies her. I’m tipsy, but I’m not hallucinating. No, it’s not a dream, it’s one of my fondest memories of Urbis Design Day. An Auckland showcase of local showrooms, fashion and design industry stars. There’s only 3 more sleeps until Urbis Design Day graces our city again. This year’s collaborators are: Halo NZ and Trelise Cooper Interiors design denmark / Sylvia Sanford Häfele / Esther Diamond Poggenpohl / Make Something Automation Associates / Matter ECC / Scrap Wall Antipodes Design Store / Luxaflex / Taylor Boutique Kohler / Salasai Essenze / NZ Design Collective (Te Rongo Kirkwood, David Trubridge, Anzac Tasker, Peter Collis and Brogen Avril) Furniture Lab / Dulux / We Love Inc Fisher & Paykel / The Alt Group Media Design School / HP Future Designers at MINI Garage Designer Rugs …
A constant supply of bacon
It is important that I have a constant supply of bacon in the house. Streaky bacon preferably. I buy a kilo of the stuff, separate into 4 piece portions, roll up and freeze. As long as the bacon roses aren’t touching each other, they will be a snap to remove and defrost. Better living everyone!* *line stolen from Wendy Myer
Bunny Eats Design 