All posts filed under: Events

GIVEAWAY 5: TASTE OF AUCKLAND – DOUBLE PASSES

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Today’s giveaway is open to NZ residents only. The highlight of my foodie calendar has got to be Taste of Auckland in November. I have blogged about here and here and it’s a chance for every day people to have a taste of very lovely plates of food by many of Auckland’s best chefs. Pictured in the montage above are some of the dishes I’ve had the pleasure of trying at past editions of Taste. Taste is now in it’s 5th year, you can look forward to delicious offerings from: The Commons Fish Depot Everybody’s Izakaya Toto’ The Grove Bracu Baduzzi ….plus food and wine producers and much, much more. I am happy to announce as part of Bunny Eats Design’s 3rd year anniversary celebrations, two lucky readers will win a double pass each to Taste of Auckland courtesy of the festival. Prize can be redeemed at any session. Taste of Auckland 14-17 November 2013 Victoria Park, Auckland city http://www.tasteofauckland.co.nz To enter, please fill in the form below including a prize question. THE SMALL PRINT …

Bunny Eats Design turns 3!

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A big thank you for your support over the last 3 years. For those that have been following over the years, I hope you have noticed the growth and development of this blog. I also hope I have gotten better at delivering my thoughts and recipes. I know my photos have improved, some of my early photos were cringeworthy so it wasn’t hard to get better. 🙂 I have loved meeting all of you online and feel lucky that there are so many kindred spirits out there and that I’ve met you. As a big screaming THANK YOU, I’m running 5 giveaways over 5 days of some of the things that I’ve shared with you on this blog, courtesy of a bunch of cool people and great local businesses. Due to the nature of these prizes (mostly edible), most are are open to NZ residents only. While I’d love to post ice cream to an overseas address, I’m afraid it just doesn’t travel well! Apologies to my out of New Zealand readers. But today I …

Collecting teaspoons

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The Koala and I are proud owners of decent amount of cutlery, thanks to generous wedding gifts. But like socks, teaspoons have a habit of being abducted, MIA or vanishing into thin air. I suspect there is a parallel universe wasteland of mismatched socks and whole armies of mismatched teaspoons. Our local supermarket giant has a new stamp collecting campaign.Collect 30 stamps to receive a significant discount on cutlery. To receive a 4 piece teaspoon set, you need to collect 30 stamps and then the set is yours for $1.99. To get 30 stamps you must spend a minimum of $600. Parting with $602 will buy you 4 teaspoons. I feel that if I had already spent $600 a $2 gift wouldn’t be out of line, though the RRP of these teaspoons is a cool $30. Thoughts?

Street Eats Auckland 2013

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The Scene Thousands of Hungry Hungry Hippos Aucklanders flocked to Street Eats at Shed 10, Queens Wharf, yesterday to gorge themselves with cheap and cheerful eats. Local cafes and restaurants offered a handful of dishes each priced mostly $5 to $10 and the atmosphere was festive despite the “shed” location. Matched with a tipple of your choice, it was a fun way to try a bunch of food on a budget. Advertised as a family affair and appealing to the everyman, the crowds were larger than expected which was both a curse and a blessing. The event was advertised for 10am to 7pm but when my friend Coco and I arrived in the early afternoon some places had completely sold out. With the success of this inaugural event, it should mean many years of Street Eats to come. Street Eats is part of Auckland Restaurant month and more info can be found at: www.biglittlecity.co.nz/auckland-restaurant-month/ The Eats Even though we were low on cash, the EFTPOS line snaked back three days long so we decided to spend …

Auckland Restaurant Month on a budget

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I enjoy eating out just as much as I enjoy cooking and in a few days it will be Auckland Restaurant Month. Testing out the promotional menus is a great way to get out of a winter hibernation funk. With over 20 foodie events and 120 restaurants participating, get into Auckland and eat something new this month. More info can be found at: www.biglittlecity.co.nz/auckland-restaurant-month/ Street Eats at Shed 10 The number one foodie event I’m looking forward to during next month is Street Eats at Shed 10 on Queens Wharf. Entry is free and you can expect a feast from 10.30am to 7.00pm on Saturday 10 August 2013. “Taking place at Shed 10 on Queens Wharf, Street Eats is a family friendly event with our favourite chefs serving up their most beloved street food.” I am hoping Street like the restaurant section of my favourite food festivals but without the entry fee. The lineup for Street Eats includes: Besos Latinos Atico Cocina Ima Cuisine Mecca Cafe Toto Merchants of Venice Monsoon Poon Faro Korean Restaurant Thai Street …

Slow Cooked BĹ“uf Bourguignon

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This post is part of Our Growing Edge, a monthly blogging event to encourage us to try new food related things. Sonya from And More Food is the host for month’s event. If you have a blog and have tried something new with food this month, come and join this event. Mother’s Day is a popular day for eating out, because mothers generally get a holiday from kitchen duties. Interestingly, the Entertainment Book is invalid on Mother’s Day, but not Father’s Day (which is traditionally a popular day for eating in). With my sister and her boyfriend currently eating their way through Turkey, this is the first time where I get to play only child. Being more confident in the kitchen, I offered to cook for Mum. Now, I never thought I had a tiger mother, but maybe I was wrong. For Mother’s Day, Mum requested Julia Child’s BĹ“uf Bourguignon! I had never made this dish before and I was also using a slow cooker for the first time. A perfect candidate for Our Growing Edge this month. This slow …

Mid-week holiday

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Waitangi Day in the middle the week is freaking AWESOME. I completed 2 of my 10 summer tasks. If we had public holidays on Wednesdays more often, I’d get more shit done. Not burnt out enough to need a full day’s quiet time, not tacked onto a weekend to lead to 2 days of partying plus one of nursing a hangover. Waitangi Day is unofficially considered New Zealand Day and there’s a whole lot of history if you want to get into it, but for most kiwis, it is a public holiday that can be guaranteed to be sunny. My morning was spent nursing a bowl of leftover pasta, attending to emails and blogging while cooking up a batch of tomato sauce. Eager to take it for a test drive, the afternoon was spent with a van-load of friends at Cheltenham Beach. This is our favourite swimming beach at high tide (don’t even bother at low tide). We enjoyed fish and chips with my bottle of home made tomato sauce, a refreshing swim, making sand …

Our Growing Edge – An Intro

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Dear Food Bloggers and bloggers who also happen to like food, I would like to introduce to you a concept I’ve been nibbling on for some time. 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. Who can join? This blogging event is open to anyone. It is not a competition and there are no prizes or winners, it is just a way  to share new experiences. You do not have to commit every month, only when you have something to share. The host will do a write up and a round up on the first of the following month on their blog. If you would like to host a month, please email me or comment below. Submissions To enter, you must blog about …

A sucker for scallops wrapped in bacon

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I’ve been gorging on seafood and booze all weekend and today is the final day of the Auckland Seafood Feastival. Please note, it wasn’t until late afternoon that I realised that it was a feastival rather than a festival. On a blue skied Saturday, I attended with my three of my friends at the opening time of 11am and we didn’t leave until closing around 6pm. I would say we gave it a mighty good bash. Scampi Street I’d been raving about Scampi Street since last year so we grabbed two plates of BBQ scampi to share. Scampi Street was slightly relocated this year and didn’t have the same “street” or alley feel. I recently learned that scampi are known as langoustine so if you know that term for it, you’ll know that these are sweet and fleshy and can be good eating. The scampi were smaller than last year’s and were not cut in half (crayfish style) for easy eating. The result was messy and a little disappointing. After I’d hyped it up so …

Double pass to om nom yum

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I am pleased to announce a double pass worth $40 to give away to one lucky reader courtesy of the Auckland Seafood Festival. All you have to do is share one word that best describes your favourite seafood in the comment section below. Delicious words like Mills & Boon 50 Shades for food voyeurs. Terms and Conditions One entry per person Valid email address must be supplied with entry and winner will be contacted by email Entries close midday Monday 21 January 2013 Winner drawn on Monday 21 January 2013 and announced on this blog and on the Facebook page You must be able to attend the Auckland Seafood Festival on any of the festival days: 26, 27 or 28 January 2013 Prize not transferrable for cash. No food, booze, flights, travel or accommodation expenses will be provided. You make your own way there You must be aged 18 and over to enter To be eligible, entries must fulfill the competition requirements Bunny Eats Design reserves the right to reject any entry if it does not meet the criteria above …

Dreaming of plump, sweet scampi

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Auckland Anniversary means that our little city enjoys a 3 day weekend. This mid-Summer holiday means locals flock to the beach and the outdoors and gorge on fine food and booze (New Years resolutions already forgotten). If you’re interested in feasting on incredibly fresh, beautifully cooked seafood, head down to Halsey Wharf at Wynyard Quarter next weekend for the Auckland Seafood Festival. A community project with proceeds going to local charities, there’s all sorts of good juju in attending this festival. Not to be missed if you love seafood. With over 65 seafood dishes on the menu there is surely several dishes to tickle the tastebuds of seafood lovers. The Wild Seafood Challenge is on again and for $12 a good way to tick off some seafood boxes. This year’s Wild Seafood Challenge includes: Raw Kina Marinated Sea Cucumber in Coconut with Ginelli’s Lemon, Lime and Cucumber Sorbet Marinated Grilled small fish with Kawakawa aioli Grilled Octopus The Mussel Mary with Ginelli’s Champagne sorbet Grilled Scampi Last year’s super popular Scampi Street will be back and …

What are you doin’ New Years Eve?

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Wishing everyone a happy New Year! This duet by Zooey Deshanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was uploaded one year ago today. Adorable. I learned how to play the ukelele one afternoon last summer. I was left to my own devices at my parent’s house and so I helped myself to my little sister’s uke. It’s a fun instrument to pick up, especially if you’ve ever played the guitar or violin (I played both) but I’ve forgotten how the uke chords go already. No doubt this time of year is seriously overrated, but I’ll be first to put my hand up to organize something fabulous to do. We usually head to one of the many beach towns around and stay in a bach (holiday house) for the week. This year many of our friends are away so it’s going to be a little more low key. Still, we bought ourselves two bottles of our favourite white and gold rums for the occasion. Party on lovelies.

Auckland Markets this December

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For those living in Auckland, here’s my pick of city side markets where local talent will showing their wares this December. I’ve listed them in date order and the first one starts tonight in St Kevin’s Arcade on K Road and the last one is on the 23rd. Thursday 6 December 2012 First Thursday, St Kevins Arcade, K Road, 6-9pm, www.firstthursdays.co.nz Friday 7 December 2012 Silo Markets, Silo Park, 5pm til late, http://www.silopark.co.nz Saturday 8 December 2012 Auckland Art & Craft Fair, Aotea Centre, 11-4pm, aucklandfair.blogspot.co.nz Silo Markets, Silo Park, 12-6pm, www.silopark.co.nz Mt Eden Village Craft Market, Mt Eden Village Centre, 1-4pm, http://www.eventfinder.co.nz Friday 14 December 2012 Christmas Markets, Aotea Square, 5-10pm, http://www.the-edge.co.nz/christmasmarkets Silo Markets, Silo Park, 5pm til late, www.silopark.co.nz Saturday 15 December 2012 Made & Found Market, St Johns Church, Ponsonby, 1-4pm, www.facebook.com/MadeAndFoundMarketDay Mt Eden Village Craft Market, Mt Eden Village Centre, 1-4pm, www.eventfinder.co.nz Silo Markets, Silo Park, 12-6pm, www.silopark.co.nz Christmas Markets, Aotea Square, 5-10pm, www.the-edge.co.nz/christmasmarkets Sunday 16 December 2012 Christmas Markets, Aotea Square, 10am-5pm, www.the-edge.co.nz/christmasmarkets Last minute rush! Sunday 23 December 2012 Beresford Square X-Mas Fair, 1 Beresford Square, 12pm-6pm, link. …

Everything is too delicious – Taste 2012

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It’s my birthday week and I’ll go to a bunch of awesome foodie events if I want to. I love this shiz. Food, wine, good music and the best company. Yes please! My friends Coco and Livvy went with me to opening night tonight. Taste of Auckland started today at Victoria Park, Auckland City and boy what a treat. Coco is a seasoned Taste veteran like me and it was Livvy’s first time. We are all pretty adventurous eaters so it was fun to share our dishes. We arrived keen as beans, just after 5.30pm and stayed until the 9.30pm closing. I would recommend the full 4 hours to get a well paced walk through and a class or two of your choice. The weather was perfect with only a the tiniest hint of drizzle later in the evening. Not enough for us to head to shelter or pull out umbrellas. From the 11 restaurants represented, we tried 9 dishes from 9 restaurants. Not bad, maybe with an extra person we could have made it to …

Taste of Auckland is almost here

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Taste of Auckland at Victoria kicks off tomorrow and runs through until Sunday. Last year it coincided with the Rugby World Cup with an additional Taste at The Cloud event and was renamed Taste of New Zealand, but this year it is back to it’s original name. I look forward to this every year because it’s just another excuse to be a glutton. Seriously though, the food at Taste is stunning to look at a even better to eat. It’s different to The Food Show as it is more fine dining and gourmet products. I think of The Food Show as the supermarket expo and Taste as the fine dining and gourmet expo. What’s on There are various masterclasses: whiskey, coffee and cocktails as well as chef cooking demonstrations on stage. This year, 11 restaurants will be featuring 3 dishes each at about $8-12 a plate. Gourmet food, wine and booze producers will also be out in full force and Taste is always a great opportunity to taste new things and grab bargains. The Menu The awesome thing about …

Beasts of the Southern Food – Movie ticket giveaway

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New Orleans is right up there on my bucket list as a place to eat my way through. Every time anything remotely New Orleansy (is that a word?) comes my way, my ears prick up and I’m on high alert. Crawfish boil, shrimp, gumbo, jambalaya, deep fried beignet, po-boys, Oysters Rockefeller, red beans and rice. Yes please. Director Benh Zeitlin and screen writer Lucy Alibar’s new film Beasts of the Southern Wild conjures up a magical fantasy world under chaos sometime in the not too distant future. Think Where The Wild Things Are and Pan’s Labyrinth meets New Orleans. Dubbed “the best movie about New Orleans ever” even though many claim that it isn’t about New Orleans at all, this hero tale is set in a fictional place called “The Bathtub”. No story accused of being about New Orleans would be complete without food references. This movie is going to be a good one. Films for Foodies Next month, as part of Rialto Cinema’s monthly Films for Foodies event at their Newmarket location, there will be a very special screening …

And the winner is…

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  Congratulations to Erin K! Your parcel of goodies will be on their way to you soon. Thanks for all who entered, especially those living in far away places. For those living in Auckland, I have another competition coming up this week just for you so check back this Wednesday.

BookTrack and the extinction of books

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On Saturday I had opportunity to attend a sold out TEDx event here in Auckland. If you are unfamiliar with TED, it is a series of talks based on the notion that brilliant ideas are worth spreading. I’m a fan of TED and I love that I can experience brilliant ideas from brilliant minds and be inspired not only by creatives, but from many different industries. One of Saturday’s speakers, Paul Cameron, CEO of BookTrack spoke about their innovative new product. But first, let me share some statistics. It would only take a generation or two in this direction before reading for pleasure became a lost art. Reading is pleasurable because it is engrossing. When I read a good book, I see the world through that book. I think about the characters when I’m not reading. Reading also shares deep dark feelings between author and reader. You don’t get a meaningful inner monologue when watching a movie. Reading presents ideas in ways that video alone cannot. I’m a perpetual list maker and one of my …

Didn’t we do well?

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It’s Saturday and I’m so glad the challenge is over. This week has been torturous, emotionally, physically and mentally draining. Here’s a rough visual on what I ate while living below the line this week. I didn’t take photos of every freaking peanut butter sandwich or toast, so each picture of toast is just a symbol for the slice/s of toast or sandwiches I ate. I stuck to 3 meals a day over the first two days, but I soon found out that the portions were either too small or not nutritious enough and I wasn’t coping. So from day three onwards, I had more meals. Note a whopping five meals on day four! I can’t get over how tired I was all week and even light headed and dizzy at times. I was super forgetful and felt stupid and foggy a lot of the time. It could be caffeine and sugar withdrawal as well as lack of nutrients. Most days after work, I ate something and then napped for a few hours, got up, …