Author: Bunny Eats Design

Monday Bunday: Koyzndan

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I first stumbled across Kozyndan’s work in 2007 and was mesmerised. Was there really another asian girl/white boy duo out there making bunny art? Really?! When I found out they were having an exhibition right here in Auckland a few weeks later, I was ecstatic! Their opening night at Webb’s gallery was packed. Nice to see digital art getting a foot in the door at more a traditional auction house like Webb’s. They have just released Uprisings – a rotocast vinly sculpture that can be a bookend or a stand alone sculpture. Based on their bunnyfied version of Hokusai’s famous print “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa”. At only $75, it’s well priced for a fabulous modern piece of bunny art. Here are more of Kozyndan’s bunny influenced pieces.

Osaka Food Review

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Osaka, Japan is considered to be the city of gourmets. Bunny, eats and design can all be found all over this city. We also did a day trip to Kyoto. Eating out Eating out can be a confusing experience for the uninitiated. Some restaurants have machines by the door. You are supposed to put money in the machine and push some buttons to receive a ticket of your order. You sit down at a table and hand the ticket to the person serving who takes it to the kitchen and later brings out your food. We didn’t know this so when we sat down at a table without visiting the machine first, it became a very confusing situation for all involved. The server needed our ticket and we had no idea what she wanted, we just wanted menus so we could order or at least point to something randomly. After a bit of gesturing and watching other diners, we figured it out. Although the machines don’t have any English, they have photos of the dishes …

Friday Favourites 3: Deep Fried Oyster sushi

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Deep Fried Oyster sushi from Bian Sushi. It’s divine. Bian Sushi is one of my favourite sushi places in Auckland. They play light jazz, have a great selection of sushi which gets eaten quickly due to demand. High turnover means fresh sushi. At lunchtime, the queue can snake from  along the sushi counter, through the shop and out the door. Thankfully the line is a fast moving one. You should avoid sushi places that don’t have any customers. An empty dining room might be a warning, but the sushi that you eat will probably have been sitting there since the morning. Bian also have a menu if you want to order hot food from the kitchen and these come in full and half sizes. Half size is perfect if you can’t decide between sushi or hot food. You can have both! Highlights: Free green tea and free tartar sauce, Deep Fried Oyster sushi, green beans sushi, unagi and their spicy chicken rice dish (karaage). Bian Sushi & Donburi 183 Symonds St Newton Auckland Ph: (09) …

Taste of Auckland

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Taste of Auckland is a celebration of Auckland’s top restaurants and local food and wine. This year’s event will be held in Victoria Park, in the city centre from 18 – 21 November. Taste of Auckland is great for eaters like me that would love to eat at fine dining restaurants but don’t have the budget for it. Instead of paying $50 for a meal at Auckland’s top restaurants, try a $10 sample of their top dishes instead. There are also many gourmet food products. I tried Zest ice cream here for the first time. I’m a devoted fan now. I also tried Paraiso Lychee Liqueur for the first time at Taste last year. That stuff is magic. One thing I love about food expos is that you can ask questions to the presenters and the sellers and they all know a lot about their product and can give you advice. You just can’t do that down at your local supermarket chain. The format is a little different this year with set session times instead …

Rarotonga Food Review!

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Rarotonga is part of the Cook Islands which a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. The island is small – you can drive around the entire island in under an hour. We came here at the end of autum last year for our honeymoon. What is a honeymoon on a tropical island, without amazing seafood and fruity cocktails? Maybe I’m weird, but after a full day of snorkelling, I just want to eat seafood. “Oh look hun! Pretty fish! Can we eat that?” We had been pre-warned that the food in Rarotonga was good. We were even given a few recommendations on places to eat. These were Kaena – a tiny nondescript dinner restaurant by the diveshop and of course, Trader Jacks in the town centre for their amazing seafood platter. Both of these places we visited twice during week we were in Rarotonga. We also visited Flame Tree Grill which with a massive pet moray and a very kiwi feel about the place (kiwi owned perhaps?) promised much but didn’t quite deliver. The …

Food on the box

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We don’t pay for tv so we don’t have the food channel, but I feel spoilt by the amount of foodie programmes on the free channels. On TV in the last month or so: Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey Rick Stein eats in many of the South East Asian countries we plan on eating in very soon. It’s like watching a travel show written for hungry people just like me. Rick’s shows have a seafood slant on everything. I adore eating fresh seafood in Asia, so the seafood slant is fine by me! This series covered: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bali and Bangladesh. Peta Unplugged in Marrakech New Zealander Peta Mathias and her gastronomads on a culinary tour of Marrackech….just finished and replaced with… River Cottage – Spring Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage winter season has only just finished and now we’re onto the spring series. River Cottage isn’t just about food, it’s also about sustainability and lifestyle. It’s about growing, catching, gathering as much as it is about cooking and eating. We would love …

Almost Fish and Chips

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Lemon pepper fish with potatoes dauphinoise, salad with lemon ginger dressing. Lemon pepper fish came out of a box. Potatoes Dauphinoise Ingredients 3 potatoes 3 cloves of garlic 1 teaspoon dried herbs (optional) Half a cup of cream Plenty of salt and pepper 1 tablespoon oil Preparation Preheat oven to 175°C. Peel potatoes and slice into 2mm thick rounds. Peel and finely chop garlic. Coat the bottom of an oven proof dish with oil. Arrange 1 layer of sliced potato on the bottom of the dish. Drizzle with a cream and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of dried herbs. Repeat last 2 steps finishing with a layer of potato. Bake at 180°C for 45 minutes. Divide into desired portions and serve. Lemon Ginger Dressing Ingredients Juice of 1 lemon 1/4 cup oil 1 teaspoon mustard powder 1 teaspoon minced ginger Pinch of Salt Ground Pepper 1 teaspoon sugar Preparation Whisk all ingredients together. Can be refrigerated, just give the dressing a whisk/shake before serving.

Friday Favourites 2: Chicken & mushroom pie, with pesto & parmesan

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Chicken and mushroom pie, with pesto and parmesan from The Fridge. Big pieces of chicken breast and mushrooms in a creamy pesto sauce snuggled by a puff pastry shell. Actually, The Fridge do a lot of pies and they are all good. The Chicken and Mushroom pie just happens to be my favourite, but do try the others if they tickle your fancy. New Zealand’s most popular pie has got to be the humble mince and cheese pie, but at The Fridge, you will have to opt for a mince and mozzerella instead. Their Bacon and egg pie has mozzerella in it too. These pies can be wrangled with your hands, but they should be eaten with a knife and fork. If you’re not quite feeling up to a pie, the chicken and bacon caesar wrap is worth your time. The Fridge has been very kind to us in times when we are nursing a hangover. Their brand of gourmet lunch bar food fixes a hangover quick smart! The Fridge 507 New North Rd Kingsland Auckland Phone …

Naked Little Dumplings

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I had all the ingredients for dumplings but I didn’t really feel like wrapping them. So I made these naked dumplings instead. What makes these different to meatballs? Well, they have pork, prawns, ginger and shitakke mushrooms in them, so they’re dumplings! Naked Little Dumplings Ingredients 200grams pork mince 100grams raw, frozen, shelled prawns 4 dried shitakke mushrooms 1 spring onion 1 teaspoon salt Ground black pepper 1 tablespoon applesauce 1 teaspoon minced ginger 1 egg, beaten 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce oil Serve with rice, vegetables and coconut cream. Preparation of naked dumplings Thaw prawns in water and chop each prawn into 3 pieces. Boil mushrooms for a minute and drain. Cut off the hard stem and chop the mushrooms finely. Add all the ingredients except for the oil to a mixing bowl and mix, mix, mix. Add a little oil to a non stick frying pan. Using wet hands, measure out a tablespoon of mixture and roll into a ball. Add to the frying pan. Repeat until the mixture is all used up (about …

Vogel’s Billboard

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This billboard from Vogel’s Bread makes me chuckle. New Zealand fashion icons have been translated into toast. But before I got any further, just in case you have never heard of these 3 labels, you need some context, so here’s a few photos to illustrate, followed by the billboard. Huffer (worn by Orlando Bloom) Trelise Cooper Zambesi model The billboard: The Huffer: 3 slices of tomato The Trelise Cooper: hundreds & thousands sprinkles The Zambesi: Thickly spread Marmite

B for Breakfast, C for Congee

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Congee is rice porridge and often served for breakfast. It’s also served to babies and sick people as it is easy to digest and is often served with extras. When I was a newborn, I was feed congee with fish. Some people enjoy it plain, but I prefer some “toppings”. My breakfast congee. Rice, pork mince, spring onion and ginger. Boil half a cup of long grain rice in about 3 inches of water. Cook for 1-2 hours until the grains of rice have broken down and there is no longer rice and water but rice bound in a thick liquid. Add a handful of minced pork or chopped chicken and cook for another 15 minutes. Add a splash of soy sauce, salt, ginger and spring onions. Serve or cool and refridgerate. Can be microwaved or reheated on the stovetop each morning for breakfast.

Seafood roundup

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I would love to live in a tiny fishing village for a while and buy fresh seafood from the fishermen as they come in from sea. Here is a collection of seafood plates I’ve whipped so far this year: What do you do when you haven’t been shopping in a while and only have cheese, potatoes, peas…and then find half a bag of prawns in the freezer? You make cheesy potato gratin with pea puree and sweet chili prawn skewers of course! Mussels in coconut cream and sweet chili sauce. Feeds 2 hungry adults for less than $5! Add a $10 bottle of red and you’ve got yourself a date 🙂 One day I’ll figure a way to avoid photographing the steam coming off hot food…without having to wait for dinner to grow cold. Creamy prawns with rice and green salad and beetroot. Easy and decadent. Saute half a diced onion and a couple of cloves of chopped garlic in some butter. When those are cooked, add enough prawns for 2 and cook until just done. …

Friday Favourites 1: Salt Pepper Hapuka

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Welcome to Friday Favourites! Every Friday I will post 1 favourite dish from 1 favourite restaurant. Salt Pepper Hapuka at Canton Cafe I dream about this dish all the time. Firm, bite sized chunks of  hapuka with a little chili and dice onion. This crunchy, boneless, deep fried number is never greasy. I can’t count the number times I’ve ordered this over the years but it’s always a winner. Nici Wickes (World Kitchen) from The New Zealand Herald put Canton Cafe down as number 17 in her 50 dishes to die for article last year. 17. The Canton Cafe in Kingsland has heaps of great dishes but we reckon the standout is chilli ginger prawns, closely followed by their salt, pepper and chilli hapuka. Canton Cafe is BYO with no corkage fee and is cramped, busy and noisy. Don’t come here for a romantic dinner. Do come here for cheap, fast, delicious food. Make sure you book ahead and allow some time to find that elusive Kingsland parking. All you can eat rice and tea to wash …

Lemon Roast Drums

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Hump day roast. Red skinned pototoes, carrots, red onion, brown onion, whole cloves of garlic, chicken drumsticks. Salt, pepper and oil. From the garden: 2 lemons, rosemary and sage. Chop, peel (optional), grind, drizzle, zest, squeeze, sprinkle, toss. Bake at 200°C for 40 minutes. Could have done with another 10-15 minutes actually, but sometimes you need to eat NOW. Especially when it smells this good. This kind of roast is easy enough to do mid week. Do you roast mid week?