All posts filed under: Culinary Adventures

Sliders Party

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  The Koala and I had friends over for a sliders party last weekend. We love home made burgers and make them all the time. With The Koala as captain and me as his prep chef, we usually create towering cheeseburgers with all the trimmings that require you to unhinge your jaw to feast upon. Having a burger party was on my foodie bucket list. Having never made sliders before, we might have been too ambitious with our five slider menu. Luckily we didn’t have many guests and everything went smoothly (if a little frantic). We made 50 sliders but this was too many as the sliders were more filling than anticipated. Our eyes were much bigger than our stomachs so we sent everyone home with extras and we grazed on leftover sliders all night. It was hard to pick the winning slider, but the top three were: (in no particular order) Crispy Pork Belly Pan-fried Fish Peking Duck All the sliders were good, some were just better. In future, I would just make the top three flavours. Five kinds was too much …

Auckland Eats for Bastille Day

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Tuesday 14 July is Bastille Day. In France, it is called La Fête Nationale or Le quatorze juillet (fourteenth of July). This marks the start of the French Reveloution in 1789 and the first anniversary in 1790 a year later. In France there will be fireworks and parades. Here is a list of Auckland restaurants and their Bastille Day celebrations. >> Click on the restaurant names to visit their websites. La Cigale 69 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell Bastille Day celebration $75pp for 3 courses. Expect dishes such as beef Tartare, snails, duck a l’orange. Prize for most French looking table Touquet 23 O’Connelll Street, CBD. Tourquet have a 3 course set menu for Bastille Day: A flute of French sparkling wine, pork and venison terrine, blanquette de veu (veal casserole), creme brulee and madeleine. $58pp. Cheese course for an extra $25. Their regular menu will also be available. La Fourchette 8C Turua Street, St Heliers 3 course set menu with Veuve Clicquot champagne. $70pp. Salmon Tartare or Greek Artichokes or Escargots s/ in Garlic and Tomato Ragout. Pavé de Boeuf, château potatoes, spinach …

Kiwi Flavours in Mt Eden

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Last month, I was invited to Tuihana Cafe for a Zomato meetup. A mere 600 metres from my house, I was a little embarrassed that I’d never visited Tuihana Cafe before. With a clean, modern interior with gorgeous monochrome wallpaper on one wall and a huge photographic print of the owners on Piha beach, Tuihana has a modern kiwi feel…like a brand new beachside bach. The owners are Nate and Leslie: Nate is the operations guy and Leslie in charge of the food. The story We met with Nate, who guided us through their menu and business as if we were new staff getting up to speed. I’ve worked in hospo before but I’d never seen anything like this sort of training. Nate had printed a set of notes for each of us, props at the ready for our viewing pleasure and professionally photographs via his iPad to explain the dishes. Nate’s background is in IT and this geekery clearly shows with their tech integrated cafe. As someone tethered to a computer, phone or wifi …

Our Growing Edge July 2015 Intro – Party Edition

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We all have bucket lists. Whether they’re written down somewhere or kept in our heads and hearts. Our Growing Edge is the part of us that is still learning and experimenting. It’s the part that you regularly grow and improve, be it from real passion or a conscious effort. This monthly event aims to connect and inspire us to try new things and to compile a monthly snapshot of what food bloggers are getting up to. More info on the event can be found here. This month is hosted by Pia from Joie de Vivre and Cupcakes. The theme is PARTY WITH FRIENDS. I’ve got a few ideas for this month. Maybe I’ll even tick off a bucket list item. Some ideas you could try this month: Throw a 4th of July BBQ party Translate a family favourite to feed a large group Host a dinner party at home Invent some new drinks for a cocktail party Throw a make your own taco/burger/pizza party Create some make-ahead party canapés. To join, click on the submission button below:   Below are just a …

Banh mi in winter

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Early 2000’s, The Koala and I arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam at 6am local time during the coldest month of the year. We’d just flown in from balmy Kuala Lumpur and had been awake for at 24 hours. We weren’t prepared for the cold but we dumped our stuff at our hotel and went exploring. The city was wide awake, bright and bustling. Big baskets of bread stacked on the footpath and banh mi sellers bundled up and huddled together like winter birds cozied up on a branch. What is banh mi? For those unfamiliar with banh mi, the word “banh mi” (pronounced BUN-mee) just means “bread” in Vietnamese but has come to mean a single serve baguette sandwich. The French colonials left behind baguettes and pate when they left Vietnam in the 1950s and the locals created this awesome fusion sandwich before fusion was a thing. Stuffed with pork or chicken, pate, mayo, cucumber, coriander (cilantro), pickled vegetables and sometimes chillies, they are made fresh to order so you get to choose (in our case point) the …

Ma Cherie: Passions In Life

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#NZbloggers are hosting a weekly blog post challenge. This week’s theme is Passions In Life and you can check out other posts on this theme here. Passions in life I have been designing for 10 years and extremely fortunate to have found my passion early. When I was fifteen I wanted to be a graphic designer and by sixteen I had done work experience at two design agencies. At seventeen I was awarded a scholarship and at eighteen accepted into a design programme. I have collected a couple more passions over the years but graphic design is my greatest passion (and the one that puts food on the table). This post is about another person who found their passion at fifteen and is creating his own delicious empire on the back of that passion. Ma Cherie I was delighted to be invited to the grand opening of Ma Cherie’s courtyard cafe in Ponsonby last week. It was an evening of tasty morsels, music and French champagne. The macaron tower was the star and was well and truly devoured over the course of the evening. I brought along my …

Our Growing Edge June 2015 Intro – Picnic Edition

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A new month means new edition of Our Growing Edge. Thanks to those who submitted to May’s edition. Below are just a few of the submissions from May’s edition of Our Growing Edge. Check out the full round up by Jordan and Cindy over on My Daughter and I. Picnic theme Those of you in the northern hemisphere will be enjoying longer and brighter days while us southerners are hunkering down for winter. Maddie from Supper Lovin’ is our host for June and we have a gourmet picnic theme this month. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Some suitable ideas are food that travels well, baked goods, summery drinks and cocktails, salads, sandwiches. Dishes you love eating at picnics but have never tried making, maybe classics with a twist. Submissions for June are open from now until the start of July. More information here.

Dinner today, lunch tomorrow

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#NZbloggers are hosting a weekly blog post challenge. This week’s theme is Tomorrow and you can check out other posts on this theme here.     Leftovers I know some people that find leftovers disgusting, boring, lazy or common. Well, I am not one of those people. I love leftovers and plan my weekly menu to include leftovers. It saves The Koala and I time and money and who doesn’t want more time and money? One of the highlights of my work day is lunch. I know all the cheap places to eat around my office, but even those are generally push past the $10 mark. So instead, I’ve been making a bit extra at dinner time to take for lunch. I used to be the kind of girl who went out for lunch every day. Now I treat myself to lunch 2-3 times a month. Tips for leftovers: Cut up large pieces of food before packing so lunch can be eaten with a fork or spoon rather than a knife and fork. Avoid microwaving seafood …

Our Growing Edge – May Intro post

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It’s May already? As I type this, I can hear the rain pounding on the roof. Outside is dark and gloomy like night. The rabbit is inside today, there is nothing for us outdoors. This week I’ve been making soups and curries but those of you in spring are enjoying salads and lighter dishes. I can see them in my blog feed and on Instagram. April’s round up of Our Growing Edge is now live over on Everyday Life Mom. We have some gorgeous entries including dishes I’ve never heard of before. Perfect for Our Growing Edge! Check it out here. For those who are just joining, Our Growing Edge is a monthly link up that aims to connect and inspire us to try new things and to compile a monthly snapshot of what food bloggers are getting up to. Time to tick off some foodie bucket list items. More info here. This month is hosted is hosted by Jordan and Cindy from My Daughter and I. To join, click on the submission button below:  

Anniversary Dinner at Odettes

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The Koala and I celebrated our anniversary over a decadent dinner at Odettes. Odettes is pretty new to the Auckland scene and a cafe by day, restaurant by night. Odettes was recently named “Best Room” (the interior design award) by Metro and runner-up for “Best All Day Restaurant”. The hand made tiles around the room are a lovely detail that caught my eye. Ex Ping Pong The space is the former Miss Ping’s – a ping pong bar (table tennis, not Thai style) but it has been completely transformed. The dining room is vast with super high stud, comfy banquet seating with plenty of throw pillows for comfort. The colours and textures of the decor are great and the lighting is dim and romantic. Like many cool places in the city, they don’t take bookings so we arrived before 6pm because we had a show to make later. There were not many diners when we arrived and while more arrived later, the dining room didn’t fill up like I had envisaged. How we roll The …

Tasting Menu with Matching Wines

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I was stoked to be invited to a Zomato Foodie Meetup at One Tree Grill last week. As much as I love food and wine (like, HEAPS), I have never experienced a tasting menu with matched wines. I was in for a treat. I was annoyingly early for our 6.30pm start. When I arrived I was greeted by Charlotte who I know from what feels like another era. About 8 years back we lived and breathed a restaurant and bar in Parnell called Blowfish. It was a funny time. Charlotte took my coat and set me up with a delicious Xanadu Shiraz on a comfy couch. We chatted about old times and One Tree Grill. There were 8 of us and it was a pleasure to dine with other foodies and we had plenty to talk about food-wise and about our experience. Bloggers at the dinner were Cecilia from Ultimate Om Noms, Amy from My Dining Journey, Tiffany from Heartshrooms, Jen from Mango and Beans. The decor is inviting with dark wood furniture, white tablecloths, neutral colours, a large …

A Lime Free $29 Challenge

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A few years back I fundraised $635 for Live Below The Line by cooking and eating $2.25 a day worth of food for 5 days. $2.25 per day is considered the extreme poverty line in New Zealand. I came up with a bunch of simple recipes based on $11.25 worth of groceries and blogged about my experience. I won’t lie, it was miserable. I experienced hunger and deficiencies. While I made sure I ate 3+ times a day, I felt foggy and light headed. Most days, I came home from work, ate a small, unsatisfying meal and went straight to bed. This really highlighted for me, the struggles the poor have to face daily. How can someone possibly get ahead if they feel like that constantly? Yesterday I saw the fury of the internet unleashed on Gwyneth Paltrow when she posted her $29 SNAP challenge. If you missed it, here it is again. I also got swept up in the fury and I reposted it to my Facebook page. 7 limes? What planet do you live on? …

Our Growing Edge April Intro and March Round Up

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Cynthia from Eat Munch Love has published the round up for Our Growing Edge March. There are some creative ideas in there and gorgeous photography by a wide range of bloggers. Have a look! It’s fabulous! For those who are just joining, Our Growing Edge is a monthly link up that aims to connect and inspire us to try new things and to compile a monthly snapshot of what food bloggers are getting up to. Time to tick off some foodie bucket list items. More info here. This month is hosted is hosted by Nikki from Everyday Life Mother and Wife. To join, click on the submission button below:

Cheap date – $5 Wednesdays

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Academy Cinemas is a boutique cinema right in the heart of Auckland City. They’re located just under the public library and you might miss them if you don’t go to the library. They show a small selection of movies including biopics, festival, arty and indie. Academy Cinemas serve Stoke craft beer, organic juices, boutique wines, Kokako Coffee and Kapiti Ice cream. On Wednesdays, thanks to Vice, movies are $5 all day. Make sure you book ahead as this is proving to be quite popular. Tickets are usually $15.50 which is still cheaper than other cinemas who usually charge around $20. Academy Cinemas have an active Facebook page here if you would like to keep up to date with their goings on. Watch and Eat Combo I love a good dinner and movie combo and I’ve blogged about food and movie pairings before. Dinner and a movie can get expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. These are my suggestions on movie and dinner combos that won’t break the bank. All restaurants are within walking distance of the cinema (I’ve provided walking times) …

Diving into fish tacos

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  Warning: May contain innuendos. I love fish tacos. I dream of staying near the coast in Mexico and gorging on fresh fish tacos every day. We’ve enjoyed tacos at home a few times, specifically pulled pork tacos so when we received some lovely fillets from our delivery last week, I figured it was time to explore the fish taco at home. I’d never made them before, but it seemed pretty straightforward to me. I just made up the process as I went along. The perfect fish taco has a good balance of fish, salad and condiments. I hate a dry taco. Saucy tacos FTW! My preference is soft shell tacos, specifically corn tortillas. I first tried Tio Pablo’s corn tortillas last year when I was going through a gluten free phase, but turns out, I prefer the flavour of corn tortillas over flour tortillas. I used tarakihi fillets, but any medium white fish will do. Snapper, red gurnard, or trevally would also be suitable. Other types of fish such as flounder, turbot or salmon would probably be amazing. Feel free …

5 NZ Wines paired with 5 NZ Cheeses

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I prefer to buy New Zealand cheese and wine. We have such wonderful products here it seems a pity to buy imported. I recently bought some NZ wine from the Advintage Online Wine Store who – like many New Zealand wines – are based in the Hawkes Bay region. Advintage offer a range of wines including wines from NZ, Australia, France, Spain Italy, and USA. What I liked about the Advintage website is you can easily sort wines by price, region and variety. They also have a few useful categories such as SPECIALS, CLASSICS or HIGH ROLLERS depending on how your shopping/drinking style. Prices are per bottle or per case with good savings for both. I found it super cool that their case pricing applies to mixed cases. You don’t have to buy all the same wine take advantage of their case pricing, as long as you buy 12 bottles of any wine, you’ll pay the case rate. I selected five New Zealand wines priced from $18-$22 on Advintage but actually retail at $24-$35 elsewhere. The wines I picked where ones …

Our Growing Edge March 2015 – Intro

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A new month means a new edition of Our Growing Edge. I founded Our Growing Edge to encourage fellow bloggers to experience and share new food adventures. Every month I push myself to do something a little unexpected and different in the kitchen (or outdoors as I was barbecuing last month). Here are a few submissions from February’s collection of Our Growing Edge, the full round up to be published on Love Live Life by Kim shortly. Pictured: Top Row: Supper Lovin’, Vittles and Voyages, Bunny Eats Design. Second Row: Think Eat Repeat, The Kiwi Diaries, Christy’s Food Rush. Third Row: The Cook’s Pyjamas, Searching For Spice, Andre’s The Home Baker Fourth Row: Spicy, Quirky and Serendipitous, Love The Little Bakery, Joie De Vivre and Cupcakes. Host This month’s host is Cynthia from Eat Munch Love. Cynthia is a passionate foodie from Vancouver who loves developing scrumptious recipes, and living healthfully. If you would like to host an event, contact me and we can arrange a month for you. To find out more on how to join Our Growing Edge including the link to submit, see the event …

10 tips for charcoal barbecue noobs

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The Koala doesn’t spend much time in my kitchen our kitchen, but like most red-blooded kiwi males, The Koala is happy behind a barbecue (with beer in hand). We haven’t had a barbecue for a few years so The Koala and I bought ourselves a charcoal barbecue for Christmas. Introducing our Charmate 57cm Premium Charcoal BBQ. There were 3 options for this size which we dubbed the cheapie ($80), the middle of the road ($200) and the Weber ($400). We went for the $200 option and also picked up a cover, a barbecue tool set, a lighter, Manuka wood chips and 2 bags of hardwood lump coal. Yes, we got ourselves coal for Christmas! We must have been bad this year.   Gas barbecues are super popular here in New Zealand because they are quick, convenient and cheap to run. But we figure, we cook with gas in our kitchen every day. We know what gas cooking tastes like. We would like a new experience please!   Charcoal is different to gas (no shit). You get a …

Gong Hei Faht Choy!

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It is Chinese New Year today and it is the year of the goat (a.k.a. sheep / ram). My Chinese parents are both born under this year. It is custom to eat only vegetarian food on this special day. Avoiding meat on the first day of the year is believed to give you a long life because idea that nothing should be killed on the first day of the year promotes Buddhist beliefs and traditions. If you’re in need of an extra karma boost, say no to bacon, steak, chicken wings and ribs for just one day. In honour of this meat-free tradition, here are are a few of my favourite vegetarian recipes. Click on the images to view the full recipes. 1. Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms 2. Spiced Carrot and Coconut Soup 3. Caprese Salad 4. Eggplant Misocheese 5. Jubilee Rice 6. Grilled Cabbage Wedges with Lemon Thyme Dressing 7. Cumin Hash Browns 8. Halloumi with Balsamic Reduction 9. Beetroot and Goats Cheese Risotto 10. Tzatziki with Chunky Turmeric Vege Chips   Wishing you a wonderful Chinese New …

Happy Valentines Day!

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Wishing you a wonderful day whatever you might be doing. The Koala and I have been together for about 13 years now and we eat dinner together most nights. While we have celebrated Valentines Day by a dinner out several times, it’s not really our thing. It’s just so cheesy and expected. So, I’ve planned a antipasto potluck with friends in our backyard tonight. There will be sangria, olives, cheese, seafood, cold cuts, candles, a tablecloth and heart shaped sunglasses (pictured, modelled by Tofu the bunny). There will be a tw couples and a lots of singles. Any excuse for a feast 🙂 Do you have a romantic dinner for two planned? Is it going to be something like this?