Author: Bunny Eats Design

Painting Japan

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Last week’s horrific events in Japan hit me while I was sitting under our reproduction of Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. I spend a lot of time sitting under this piece of art and it takes up a big wall in our lounge. I saw it with fresh eyes. With one eye glued to Facebook to check on my Japan based friends and the another eye on the TV watching the news unfold. Watching video footage of the earthquake I noticed how calm the people were. The sounds of voices talking, not screaming. People at their desks waiting for the earthquake to be over. Holding computer screens up. Not fearing for their lives. They do get a lot of earthquakes, but I don’t think that is it. People have been questioning why there hasn’t been footage of looters in Japan. I am embarrassed that our society has come to expect looters to arise in tragedies. Some countries have been known to bring in military assistance to stop the looters. Not Japan. I really admire …

Tofu Tuesday: Pro Skateboarder from way back

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Sorry for neglecting my weekly Tofu Tuesday blog posts. I know he has many fans across the world. This week’s edition is an oldie but a goodie. If I told you that Tofu was a good skateboarder back when he was only a year old, you probably wouldn’t believe me. Simon a.k.a. Cracked Ink took these photos about 3 years ago and they have only just now seen the light of day. Simon is an amazing artist and his work can be found here.

An Easy Pleaser

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Steak, wedges and salad. Black Rock Aged Beef Scotch Steak marinated in honey and soy sauce. Pretty self explanatory. Has husband seal of approval. Honey Spiced Kumara Wedges Serves 2 Ingredients 2 medium kumara Pinch of coriander flakes 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon curry powder 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon flour Salt 2 tablespoons oil A good squeeze of honey Preparation Pre-heat oven to 200°C. Peel kumara and cut into wedges. Test a clean plastic bag by scooping it with air, twist the top closed and squeeze it to test for holes. When you find a good bag, fill it with the kumara and all the other ingredients. Twist the top and give it a good mix and shake about. Carefully pour out kumara wedges onto an oiled baking sheet. Arrange the wedges so they all stand up on the short edge. Bake for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven a few minutes before serving so they will crisp up a bit.

Eating Borneo #2 – Seafood Feasts, Kota Kinabalu

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No visit to Kota Kinabalu is complete without visiting it’s famous seafood foodcourt Seri Selera Kampung Air. The touts working outside are fierce and getting your business is their number one priority. Maybe you want to have a look around first. Maybe you are happy with eating at whoever grabs you first. Here in the north of Borneo, sea creatures of many shapes and sizes wait in glass tanks. Maybe they cross their fins and claws as you walk past, hoping to get picked last. Most creatures have a price on their tank. The ones you should be wary of are the creatures without price tags. Most places advertise by the 100gm. 20RM might sound cheap, but a small 500gm lobster is going to set you back 100RM / $45NZ / $33US. Our mantis prawns. One orange/black and the other white/black. Tiger and zebra! The mantis prawn are kept separate in plastic bottles so they cannot fight each other. The tiger and the zebra came to about 1 kg. Slipper lobster or Moreton Bay Bug. …

Sexy French Sausages

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I hadn’t been to Nosh in ages so I visited there on Wednesday afternoon. Yip, still love that place.  It was ok weather when I left the house but it was pelting felines and canines the whole walk back. Committed much? I’m still convinced that you can shop smartly there and come out better off than your giant Australian chain. $3 for 3 avocados? Yes please! A bag of rocket for $2.50? Don’t mind if I do. I was casually browsing the meat section as I usually do, when I spied some sexy French sausages. The sausages sang to me, “Bonjour, mon cher ami, bon-jo-ur!” and I shyly fudged a little high-school French back. There was something very likeable about these sausages and we became instant friends. Later on, with sausages safely tucked away in the fridge, I asked The Googe about these new sausage friends of mine. I guess asking The Googe about a new ingredient is like Facestalking someone you’ve just befriended. The Googe says: Toulouse sausage. Pronunciation: too-LOOZ Notes: This exquisite French …

Foodie Treasures from the South East

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Some of the foodie treasures I picked up from south east asia. I’ve always wanted a mortar and pestle and making my own green curry from scratch in a cooking school in Chiang Mai made the want a need. Weasel coffee from Vietnam, table cloth, coconut wood salad servers and serving spoon from Thailand I also gifted a package to my work because they were fantastic about letting me holiday for 10 weeks. In their package there was the same chili sauce, weasel coffee, Sabah Tea (from Borneo) and coconut salad servers. I coveted this Thai/Laos style BBQ cooker, a chopping board and a cleaver, but alas, these were not to be found in the usual tourist markets. If anyone knows of a Thai BBQ restaurant in Auckland or where to buy a cooker from, let me know.

A Cook’s Treat

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If you are a fan of Anthony Bourdain, then you may think I am refering to the white stuff that goes up one’s nose to aid a long night at work. But no, I don’t mean cocaine. The cook’s treat I’m refering to is much cheaper. In fact, it’s free! If you cook, then you may be familiar with a cook’s treat. It’s a portion of a meal that isn’t dished up but is rather eaten up by the cook. This delicious morsel is gobbled up by the cook and the guests none the wiser. It’s can be considered a reward for the hard work of preparing a meal. In baking, it is well known that licking the beater and the bowl clean of batter is a compulsory honor reserved for the cook. A cook’s treat can be an ingredient that is used for flavour (or fat) and then usually discarded. When we were in south east asian, we had the local bbq. A lump of pork fat is used to oil up the cooking …

Congee. Jook. Rice Soup. Rice Porridge.

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I love congee! I love Jook! Chinese congee is usually very mild. Bland even. Even the chicken and scallop version I had for breakfast not long ago in Hong Kong could have done with a little more seasoning. So it was a delight for me to try versions of this dish that other asian countries had to offer. Congee is not something that is found easily in Auckland city. Kiwis don’t really dig it and it’s considered poor people food by those who love it. Not something you would order when you eat out. What’s the difference? The easiest way to differentiate between rice soup and rice porridge is that rice soup is cooked rice in a flavoured broth. In rice soup, the rice and the soup are separate layers. You can have a spoonful of soup and then a spoonful of rice if you please or you can have both at once. Much like noodle soup. Rice porridge has the consistency of porridge because the rice granules are cooked until they break and thicken the soup. …

Today’s Experiment…

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Today’s experiment is portobello mushroom wrapped in streaky bacon, topped with cheese and a fresh sage leaf. Baked for 20 minutes… I love the lighting in the kitchen in the afternoon. But as soon as the sun goes down, food photography is close to impossible. Pre-oven experiments: afternoon sun, no camera flash. Post-oven experiment: after sunset with flash. Look at that terrible lighting! No. Don’t look at it. Just look at the yummy experiment. Served with fried eggs (with capers, fried garlic and worcester sauce), rice and buttered corn. I suppose the goal is to cook and photograph food during daylight. It makes a huge difference. But, with winter coming up, it’s probably not going to be likely. Hmmm…at what stage do I set up a mini photography studio in our kitchen?

Eating Borneo #1 – Rainforest Cafe, Kota Kinabalu

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The second stop on our trip was Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian part of Borneo. Malaysia is pretty cheap in terms of food and booze, though not the cheapest on our trip. So cheap in fact, that when we saw the price of the dishes, we stupidly assumed the portions were tiny. So we ordered 2 dishes each. 3 people. 6 meals. http://www.rainforestlodgekk.com/rainforest_cafe2.cfm Here, at Rainforest Cafe we stuffed ourselves until we couldn’t see straight. Unfortunately, all the food was good. We couldn’t sacrifice any dishes and with no fridge in our room, we didn’t chance taking a few boxes of food home. We were rendered completely useless after this feast. Lesson to self, order a meal. If you are still hungry, have a snack later. Asia is full of snacks. There is no need to eat yourself senseless. A couple of weeks later, our second visit was much more dignified. Rainforest Cafe offer a range of lunch sets for 6.90RM / $3.10NZ / $2.30US. Your choice of main comes with a drink and a …

I have worms

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No, not the itchy bum kind. Not the metres long kind growing in my belly so that I can eat the world without the increasing waistline. I’ve got Tiger worms and Blue worms. They are composting worms. I’m going to tend these worms to in return for their “liquid gold” poo juice (or some call it worm wee). From the Wormsrus Worm Bin ad: Great starter worm bin complete with worms , bedding and instructions. Collector base with tap for worm tea. 2 food trays. Bedding. 250gms compost worms including Tiger worms and Blue Worms. Easy set up. Great price. Full after sales service for life with the worm experts , 15 years in the industry. I received the package on Thursday, but didn’t have time to set it up. I hoped that the worms would be ok in their box for another day. Wouldn’t it be awful if I killed our new friends before they even got here? Well, after a Friday afternoon beer, I set this the bin up and I must say, …

Mystery fruit

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Someone at work dumped a bag of citrus in the lunch room so I popped a couple into my handbag to experiment with later. Still not sure what these are, they have thick yellow skin, orange flesh and no pips. They are more sweet than sour with no bitterness. It didn’t really matter what they were, I squeezed one and marinated half a kilo of chicken wings with the juice and little soy sauce and chili sauce. Popped them in a super hot oven for about half an hour and…Bam! Mystery fruit chicken wings. I admit, I maybe have gone a little overboard with the vegetables. That or we need larger plates!

Eating Brunei

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Arriving in Brunei at 7am after a 10 hour flight from Auckland, we were exhausted. We should have given into a few hours nap but with only a day in the tiny sultanate, we foolishly stayed up to be tourists. Nothing was open that early anyway so we hung about the hotel for a couple of hours and had a swim in the pool etc. Really should have taken that nap! Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. Big, white, gold, in the centre of town. Truly dazzling in the summer sun. Don’t visit without your sunnies! Our first meal was at Food Zone in the shopping complex by the big white mosque in town. Chinese Cuisine can be found here at a fair price. We ordered a Steamed Chicken Set, a Roast Chicken Set (both sets include chicken, chicken rice, pickles, sauces and soup), Sweet & Sour Prawns, Siu Mai (pork dumplings), Ha Gaw (prawn dumplings) and drinks. A measly $24 ($19US) for the lot. Brunei dollar and New Zealand dollar are pretty dollar for dollar, meaning …

Eat Your Greens! (With Bacon)

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We did a little shop the other day. The first shop in over 2 months meant that we got a few essentials. From these things I was able to pick out an easy soup to make. Pretty standard, so maybe you already have these ingredients in your kitchen too. Soup isn’t the kind of thing most of us make on a summer afternoon, but this will fill you up without making you feel heavy. Tasty enough to serve to company as a starter.   Easy Green and Bacon Soup Serves 2 Ingredients 2 medium potatoes 1 cup of frozen peas half an onion 2 pieces of streaky bacon Salt Lemon pepper Dash of cream Preparation In a pot, boil a litre of water. Peel and chop potatoes and add to pot. Slice onion and add to the pot. Boil for 20 minutes. Chop bacon into matchsticks and fry until done. Add frozen peas to the boiling pot and bring up to boil. Drain out most of the boiling water (leaving behind a small amount) and blend …

One week later

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We were in Bangkok last week when we found out Christchurch had been hit by a major earthquake. My sister text me and we immediately tried texting my husband’s family. Feeling so helpless so far away, we went online and read with horror of what was unfolding down there. Lyttelton – where my inlaws live was hit hard. Our wedding reception venue, The Cave had been obliterated. We didn’t get a text reply from our family so we tried calling from Bangkok. Success. They were ok. All of them. Staying with other family at their house near the airport. It’s been a week now since the earthquake. My thoughts go out to those with friends or family still missing. Thanks to all the support we’ve had from our overseas friends. It’s crazy with media these days how the world is linked by a few strands. Many of you across the globe knew about the earthquake the moment the rest New Zealand found out and before we knew anything about it. It feels like a small …

Scallopini in the house

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I planted a zucchini seed from the packet on the right before we left New Zealand and our friend Lum had been tending to it while we were away. The tiny seedling I left two months ago is now a huge beast that takes up most of the planter. Turns out it wasn’t the sausage shaped zucchini I thought it would be. These flower petal shaped things baffled me. The frog and buddha didn’t know either so I had to ask The Googe what they might be. The Googe said they were Scallopini Squash. What do you cook when you haven’t really cooked in 2 months? We never ate salmon while traveling. Something about eating NZ salmon in a foreign country just doesn’t sit right with me. So salmon was definitely on the cards. I roasted the larger of the scallopini squash in a bit of oil, garlic and fresh rosemary. Paired with some potato mash and the salmon that I’d been missing, made for a simple but slightly fancy first dinner for some jetlagged …

We are home.

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It has been an epic 65 days of traveling, eating, drinking, experiencing and adventuring with my husband The Koala. Along the way, we’ve traveled with friends and family, met up with old friends and made new friends. We visited 7 countries and stayed in 18 different places in south east asia. Brunei, Malaysia (Borneo), Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. It’s been exotic and surreal. Being back in front of my mac, in our lounge (looking just the way we left it) it feels like the last 2 months happened to someone else. In the 2 months we’ve been away, I “cooked” only 3 times. A half day cooking class in Chiang Mai, and if you count it as cooking, we had local BBQ where you cook raw ingredients at your table at a restauarant- we did this 2 times (Vang Vieng, Laos and Koh Phangan, Thailand). All other meals – I’m talking an average of 3 meals a day – were eaten out. That’s 192 meals right there! I didn’t photograph every single …