Am I the only one?
I’m reminded of this every spring…am I the only foodie that doesn’t like asparagus?
All posts filed under: Culinary Adventures
Food pyramids are boring.
<rant> I’ve never eaten to a food pyramid. Not even for a day. I don’t see the point when they seem to change with every generation. Someone somewhere decides a specific eating pattern is a good fit for the population and it gets broadcast. I don’t like margarine. But I buy it because it’s supposedly be better for you than butter, but these days, some kinds of margarine are linked to heart attacks. Margarine and butter contain the same amount of fat. With the rules changing every 5 minutes and dependent on who you talk to, who and what can we trust? I don’t eat KFC every day because I don’t feel good after 2 days of consecutive junk food. If I felt good, I would consider it. We should eat food that tastes good and makes us feel good. If I didn’t enjoy what I ate and did it purely for the health benefits, when the rules change, I would be pissed off. I would be if I had been suffering through margarine all …
On the bandwagon at Depot
This week, I convinced Miss A to try out Al Brown’s new restaurant at Sky City: Depot with me. It’s had great reviews and what I read about the food really appealed to me. If you haven’t read the reviews, this place is small. The are no real chairs, just stools that you perch at. This means your bags and coats may need to find a hook on the wall. It also means that you’re unlikely to get cosy enough to let your dining experience drag on. Smart. Third time’s a charm. We had failed to get a table twice the night before – at about 7pm (full) and then at about 10pm (kitchen closed). This time we were joined by Uncle and more determined to eat. It was lunch so the turnaround was faster and that means better odds for a table. They don’t take bookings here and they get busy. You have been warned. We took one end of a large table. If communal dining isn’t your thing, then you might want to say …
Mayolicious
It’s salad season again and we have had a week of warm spring days. One ingredient we keep in continual supply in our fridge all through the year, but gets eaten at an alarming rate in the warmer months, is Best Foods Real Mayonnaise. This mayonnaise is the thickest, creamiest mayo in a jar. Plus, it’s 21.1% fat free!
Nice Jug.
It’s not often your Mum sends you to a corner of the interwebs that is both awesome and unfamiliar. Thanks Mum! Mum was making palmiers which she’d made a million times before, but when I said I wanted to make them too, she referred me to Videojug. Videojug! Where have you been all my internet life? Videojug is a collection of professionally made “how to” videos. Find out how to just about anything. It’s no frills and gets right to the point. There are 10 categories you can choose from or you can just type in a topic or a keyword into the search field. Often written instructions don’t quite describe how to execute a new cooking technique. How much sugar to sprinkle on palmiers? How more force to use when pounding beef carpaccio? The top viewed videos on Videojug today are: How To Kiss Someone Passionately How To Avoid Trapped Arm Whilst Cuddling In Bed How To Get Naked Together For The First Time How To Kiss Creatively How To Put On A Condom How To …
The Fridge: Chicken Caesar Wrap
Everyone always raves about the gourmet pies at The Fridge in Kingsland. They truly are magnificent. But people forget about their amazing wraps too. This wrap is all I ever want for breakfast after a night out. It’s fairly mild, but that creamy, tasty anchovy mayo and layers of bacon balance it right out. I wish I’d placed a toy in this photo for size comparison, this wrap is impressive in it’s girth. If you’re impressed with things like girth that is…
Farmers’ Market Demos
Zo from Two Spoons recently brought my attention to the farmers’ market cooking demos that are running from 4 September 4th to 23 October in conjunction with the REAL New Zealand Festival. The demos are free. Yes! Free! One of my spring goals is to visit a new farmers market, so the timing is impeccable. There is a competition to be a Market VIP for the day with great prizes including a chance to meet with your local chef. Visit this link to enter. You can visit the schedule on their website or over on Facebook. The Auckland demonstrations are: 15 October 2011 at Parnell Farmers’ Market. (10am – noon) Chef: Julie Biuso 23 October 2011 at Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market. (10am – noon) Chef: David Schofield More info on Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market can be found here. More info on Parnell Farmers’ Market can be found here.
Hello Spring!
Woot! It’s that time of year again here in the Southern Hemisphere. Spring runs from now until the end of November so those hearty winter stews make way for lighter, brighter things like salads and BBQ. Raw food is back on the menu. Seafood comes back in full force. Stuff in your garden and in other people’s gardens start to bloom again. You’re happier eating lighter food and you start eating it outdoors. Here is my list of 10 spring inspired tasks to tend to my growing edge: Eat a flower Forage something and cook with it Make Vietnamese Spring Rolls Have a spring themed picnic Make a white sangria Visit a new farmers market Make macadamia and coriander pesto (using garden bounty). Make Oysters Kilpatrick Deal to a freshly caught fish Prepare a raw meal What are you looking forward to this spring?
Bitch and Wine
Here are the tasting notes from Saturday’s cheese and wine tasting party. The budget was $15 which is a common budget for all the drinkers in the group and I asked my guests to buy a wine that they had never tasted before. There were 6 wines and they were all reds. I really enjoyed being able to taste the reds side by side and there was no shame about trying one and then another and then going back to the first one just to “make sure”. Drinking wine helps the creative review process. Whether it is a valid opinion is…up to you to decide. Disclaimer! The following are the drunken opinion of a group of 11 amateur wine tasters. These notes do not reflect the feelings of this blog or of sober adults. Right to creative license reserved. In alphabetical order… 1. Durbanville Hills Pinotage South Africa, 2009 “Gives me grabby hands” Looks like Purplish Smells like Food A petrol station on fire with a terminator walking slowly from the flames Kind of gritty, …
Say Cheese!
The cheese tasting notes from my cheese and wine tasting party on Saturday. With 8 cheeses, there was good range including 3 blues which were wildly different from each other. It wasn’t surprising that the blue cheeses were the most polarising and there was a mixture of blue cheese haters and blue cheese lovers in the group. Countries 5 Cheeses were from New Zealand, 1 from Denmark, 1 from Italy and 1 from Basque (Spain/France). Beasts 6 cows milk, 2 ewe’s milk and there were no goat’s milk cheeses. Types Soft: Brie Semi-soft: Karu, Maasdam, Havarti (2) Blue: Gorgonzola Dolce, Bleu des Basques Brebis, Castello Blue Below are the tasting notes from the cheese and wine tasting party. More info about it in yesterday’s post. In alphabetical order… 1. Castello Bleu From Denmark “The gateway blue” “I like blue cheese but I don’t like this” “Don’t like blue but I love this” Looks like Cream cheese Smells like A warm cat (a nice cat) Tastes like Creamy, salty Goes well with Crackers Bread Stars out of 10 3 and …
Cheese and Wine Tasting Party
Yussss. Got to cross off something from my to do list by throwing a cheese and wine tasting party. I suddenly had a free weekend so got together a few friends for a party on short notice. My geekiness was met with understanding and all the tasters were great sports at sharing their opinions on the cheese and wines. It’s not surprising that the opinions got more colourful as the bottles of wine emptied out. Rules Bring a cheese or a wine that you have not tried before Budget $15 Some guests brought both cheese and wine and we ended up with 8 kinds of cheese, 6 kinds of wine as well as plenty of breads, crackers, antipasto and oils to share between 11 of us. I had a box of backup wine in case we ran out. Can’t have guests going thirsty! We gathered around the dining table with wine glasses in hand and rotated around the table tasting each item until there was pretty much nothing left. We tasted everything once, going back …
Free farmed vs. Free range
Hellers Free Farmed Streaky Bacon $8.75 for 250g ($35 per kg) Freedom Farms Streaky Bacon $11.70 for 250g ($46 per kg) I bought Hellers the other day instead of Freedom Farms. It was the cheaper choice but I noticed that it was “free farmed” rather than “free range”. So, what’s the difference? I didn’t know, so I did a little investigating… Free farmed: 20% of New Zealand pigs are free farmed. Considered an ethical choice, it is more common in NZ than free range. Free range: 1% of pigs farmed in New Zealand. Pigs have complete free range. The difference is free range pigs are allowed to move freely between paddocks. Free farmed means that pigs are only allowed to move freely within their own paddock. If you are interested in more information including the difference between the farming styles in NZ, visit Pig Farming In NZ here. There are lots of interesting facts about NZ pork including: …None of the pork, bacon or ham you eat is ever in an individual crate or cage. Only …
Happy Eats
It’s getting easier and easier to buy free range and fair trade. Less than a year ago, I turned my nose up at spending so much on happy food, but I’m getting to the stage where I can almost skip the prison chicken. This week, I picked up a bunch of happy eats at Nosh. I try to be realistic, so when free range is on special, it’s a good time to stock up and freeze. Turks Free Range Chicken thighs are on special this week for $7.99 per kilo pack. Other stuff I picked up were Freedom Farms pork rump steak $23.99 kg. All Good Fair Trade bananas $4.99 a bunch. I brushed the chicken thighs with a mix of honey, soy sauce and a good squeeze of lemon. Then baked for 1 hour at 180°C alongside a tray of kumara and a bulb of garlic. Turn up the oven in the last 15 minutes to get a crispy skin. Serve with beans. Super easy. In the past, I always thought that free range were a …
Will design for Dahi Puri
I went for a walk yesterday during lunch and my curiosity had me peering into the window of a not-yet-ready-to-open new business. Freshly painted dark red walls. Luxurious fabric covered chairs. What’s this? A tell-tale shiny new sign resting across some chairs. It bears the name of one of my all time favourite restaurants. Delight! Excite! This restaurant is consistently considered one of Auckland’s favourite Indian restaurants and the place to go for south Indian food. They currently have 3 restaurants and this will be their 4th. Many years ago, The Koala lived behind their Hobson Street restaurant. This was in the early days long before I fell in love with cooking. We ate there a lot. When the family realised that The Koala was artistically inclined (the art in the alleyway gave it away), they requested help with a child’s homework project. Butter chicken was payment for artistic guidance. I wonder if times have changed?
Malthus, Meal A Day
Meet Malthus. Malthus is an aquaponics* unit that is designed for the next generation’s home kitchen. This is a conceptual piece and has a planned production of 100 pieces. It grows 1 portion of salad and 1 portion of fish each day. I love the concept but I wouldn’t enjoy eating the same food every day. You wouldn’t enjoy me blogging about fish and salad every day! Or would you? Maybe I could rename the blog “365 ways with fish and salad”. I could write a cookbook for future generations. But…if you could grow 1 portion a day of any meal, what would it be? More info here at Conceptual Devices. * I’m guessing aquaponics is a portmanteau for aqua+hydroponics.
The Multi-task Cook
Do you ever cook more than 1 meal at time? I multi-task. As I write this, I am also cooking. Plum sauce chicken thighs roasting in the oven Rice in the rice cooker 8 individual bacon and egg quiche are baking for tomorrow’s lunch On the stove top, a pot of congee bubbling away Chicken wings marinating in the fridge to go with the congee Choy sum (Chinese mustard greens) sitting in pieces on the chopping board with sliced ginger and garlic, ready to be thrown into the pan when the chicken is almost ready. Tonight’s dinner, tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch prepped and cooked in just 1 hour. I don’t usually pump meals out like this, but it’s good to know I can load up my bases if I need to. I’ve got a million projects on at once at the moment (eating and design). It’s fantastic and I’m enthusiastic about all of them, but I need to prioritise so I don’t burn out. I already knew this was coming. My horoscope predicted the year …
Overeat at a Steamboat
For those who are unfamiliar with this style of cooking, a brief introduction: Steamboat begins with simmering stock to cook a range of raw (or pre-cooked) ingredients at the table. Everyone at the table participates and take turns fishing out their cooked treats. Various sauces are used for dipping. Personally, I prefer a beaten raw egg with a little oil, soy sauce and chili. The egg helps to cool the food so that you can eat it fairly quickly. Other names include hot pot or Chinese fondue. Many different cuisines have a variation of this and are known as Shabu shabu in Japan, Thai suki in Thailand and Lẩu in Vietnam. It’s easy to overeat at a steamboat because you never really know how much you have eaten. So you cook a piece and eat a piece until you can’t do it any more. Steamboat is usually a big social affair and with lots of people, there are usually lots of different dishes. This time it was just my parents, sister and The Koala and …
Breakfast buffets in S-E-A
We had a few buffet breakfasts while traveling in South East Asia. These photos are the only evidence. The rest I’m afraid, has been destroyed devoured. Cafe Deco Macao The Venetian, Macau Cafe Deco offers 24/7 dining and seats 1000 diners. Breakfast at any of The Venetian restaurants was included with our suite so we picked the buffet option at Cafe Deco Macao. My breakfast was a croissant, a strawberry danish, smoked salmon, sausage, salami, ham, samosa, curried rice, chickpeas, corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, hashbrown, scrambled eggs, bacon, fried egg. I sampled about 10% of the breakfast dishes on offer. There were breakfast foods from many different cuisines including Chinese, Japanese and Indian. The buffet station stretched around the edge of this 32,000 ft² dining area and it’s possible to get lost on your way back to your table. I know this because I got lost! We begin with the most epic breakfast buffet I have ever laid eyes on. Everything about this hotel was decadent and over the top. 40 levels, 3000 suites, an indoor canal, …
Hawker Food: Banana Pancakes
If you are up past bedtime in tourist areas of Thailand or Laos, you will find a banana pancake cart. Pancake vendors are one hit wonders and rarely make anything else. Hawker food or street food lends itself to specialisation. That is why I love it so much. These pancakes aren’t made from a poured batter. Like roti, a piece of dough is flicked and stretched out so big I worry it might tear. Oil and/or ghee is added to a hot surface and the pancake quickly but carefully peeled and put on the pan. The result is an oily crepe. As it cooks, a banana is expertly sliced and dropped into the centre and chocolate sauce and/or condensed milk swirled on top. The corners of the pancake are folded into the middle, topped with more ghee and the package is then flipped over. When it’s done, the banana pancake is transferred to a paper plate, cut into bite-sized squares and served with sticks. It’s perfect late night food for travelers and the average price …
Bangkok: Eating fish, eaten by fish and 20kg of shopping
Our epic South East Asia adventure came to an end with 2 nights in Bangkok before flying home to New Zealand. Bangkok is a great place to end a holiday as you can load up to the gills with shopping before hopping on a plane. We did the typical tourist sights in Bangkok on a previous stopover so we didn’t want to do any more. I estimate we gained 20kg in shopping in 2 days. Last time we were in Bangkok, our 2 day stopover resulted in 13kg of shopping. If you measure by weight, we are definitely getting better at shopping. Our 2 days of epic shopping in Bangkok put us up to 39.9kg. We were allowed up to 40kg in checked luggage so pretty close! Eating fish This steamed fish dish was barely cooked and would have tasted amazing if only it didn’t have about 10 times more chili than I could handle. I scraped off all the chili, ate it with all of the teddy bear shaped rice and still needed lots …
Bunny Eats Design 