All posts tagged: food

Another local foodie mecca

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At the end of the month or in November, there’s to be (yet another) supposed foodie mecca around here called Ponsonby Central. There will be cafes, specialist food stores, a street food strip, a fresh produce market and even an in-house radio station. It looks like there may also be some character office space available so if I stumble across a wad of cash, this might just be where I’ll plonk our new design company. Dreams are free. The focus on the process of making fresh food is sure to appeal to your average foodie. On site there will be coffee being roasted and bread being baked. At the butchery, carcasses will be hanging up and these will be cut behind glass doors for all to see. Sustainability and recycling are also big issues at Ponsonby Central and the old building was pulled apart and the materials re-used. All businesses have signed on to a recycling initiative as part of their contract. Stores to include Produce market Bakery Fish monger Butchery Cheese shop Street food …

Halloumi with Balsamic Reduction

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There is an almost unbearable smugness that comes with frying up a piece of home made halloumi. It might be a bit of work, but the satisfaction and the cheese is completely worth the journey. A couple of weekends ago, I roped in my best friend Coco into a day of cheese making. She is more adventurous than I when it comes to cheese, but we have a mutual love of squeaky cheese or halloumi. As a virgin cheesemaker, I didn’t have a single specialty item I needed to make cheese, so instead of buying each new item on it’s own, I opted for the easy way out and bought a Mad Millie Fresh Cheese kit. There are several kits available, but for me, the fresh cheese kit meant quick results so fresh cheese it was. The fresh cheese kit also makes feta, quark, cottage cheese, cream cheese and ricotta. It’s not cheap at $70NZ but the items soon add up when bought individually and at least I knew I have all required pieces. The …

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, …

LBTL Challenge: Day 4

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Day 4 Menu 2 slices of french toast and 1 sliced banana A small bowl of leftover egg fried rice (from dinner last night) Chicken noodle soup Satay fried noodles with a fried egg 1 slice of peanut butter toast I’m getting into the swing of things now by giving myself enough to eat during the day. Eating 4-5 times a day is working for me. I didn’t have good start to the day when I found that a quarter of my banana was black and slimy because of how I’d ripped it off the bunch at the store. When you have a single piece of fruit for the week, quarter of a banana is a lot of banana to miss out on. I took a lemon and 3 slivers of ginger to work today to add to my steaming hot mugs of water. It’s like a flavour explosion compared to plain water. I’m drinking a cup of ginger tea while I’m typing this. Just a slice of ginger and hot water. Simple but beats …

LBTL Challenge: Day 3

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Day 3 Menu 1 bowl of Congee (made with 2 cups of chicken stock, no meat, garnished with a clove of garlic and ginger matchsticks) 2 Peanut butter sandwiches 2 slices of toast with peanut butter Egg fried rice Today I’m halfway through the 5 day Live Below The Line challenge. I feel good in the morning and at night, but at work, I haven’t allocated enough to eat. This afternoon in the office, I felt lightheaded and dizzy and started seeing stars. Generally, I feel foggy from a couple hours after a meal until the next meal and god help me if I have to do any work that requires a lot of concentration. I wouldn’t trust myself to operate heavy machinery or drive. Luckily, I don’t have to do either. Breakfast was yummy and the 1/4 cup of rice that sounded like so much yesterday was gone too quick. I ate one sandwich at morning tea and the other at lunch and I was still very hungry so it was a long, long …

LBTL Challenge: Day 2

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Day 2 Menu 1 soft boiled egg on 2 slices of toast Satay Vegetables on rice with broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, garlic and ginger Chicken soup (Chinese style) with a bowl of rice Day 2 of the Live Below The Line challenge was much easier than yesterday. I’m going to blame yesterday’s fogginess on a lingering hangover. I felt a combination of sick, hungry or stoned all day. After a bowls of chicken congee, a nap, 2 more bowls of chicken congee and great night’s sleep I fixed myself and I got up early this morning for breakfast and to cook my lunch. I cooked 3 cups of rice last night and was surprised that it made 5 generous portions. With 5 cups of rice for the week, I’m going to have more than enough rice to eat. Good thing I love rice! This is the meal I made for lunch today and the amounts can easily be multiplied for more mouths. I haven’t worked out exactly how much this costs but it’s less than $1 …

All-In-One Seafood Stew

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I was recently given the opportunity to test drive a recipe from a new cook book. Adie McClelland’s first Black Dog Cottage Cookbook was published in 2009 and her second book, sensibly titled The Second Black Dog Cottage Cookbook was released in August. She’s a well travelled foodie and it shows through her recipes. Her style of cooking is much like mine – unfussy and easy but with a Mediterranean angle. I think she would forgive me my casual cooking style. The Second Black Dog Cottage Cook Book has just been released throughout New Zealand. For more information please visit Phantom House Books http://www.phantomhouse.com or their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BlackDogCottageCookbook. I wanted to make the All-In-One Seafood Stew because it’s what I would order if I were dining out. This recipe requires 10 tomatoes, which for a long time were unbelievably expensive and probably not very good. They’re starting to come down in price now so it was time to tackle this stew. After a quick scan of the recipe, I identified just one unknown ingredient: passata. Passata …

OOOOBY 11

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This week our CSA box included: Vegetable 1/2 a Squash 21 Dwarf Carrots 4 Celery Sticks 1 Fancy Lettuce 4 Spring Onion 1 Avocado Fruit 7 Gold Kiwifruit 7 Fuji Apples 6 Navel Oranges Add Ons Wild Wheat Ciabatta Apple Juice 2L The most interesting thing in the box: Nothing was particularly exotic this week, but the nubbly carrots are pretty delightful. Menu 11 There might be some erratic eating this week so I’ve kept my menu plan pretty open in case I spontaneously need to binge on something. Trucker’s meal: Steak, fried eggs, chips and salad with beetroot, lettuce*, spring onion* and carrot* Avocado and cream cheese on ciabatta toast Pan Fried Halloumi with Squash* Spring Salad with carrot*, orange* and spring onion* Minestrone with celery*, carrots*, onion, beans and orzo, served with ciabatta* toast French toast with brown sugar stewed apples* * CSA from this week or previous week CSA Link Party I regularly join a CSA box link party. A link party is a weekly or monthly round up of relevant blog links in …

Humpty Dumpty and the King (of Salads)

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We don’t eat salads over winter, but now that it is spring, it’s supposedly time for lighter eating. That bikini body isn’t going to appear from nowhere. Just kidding. This is not that kind of blog. I invested in a one piece last year and I don’t think I’ll be getting a bikini any time soon. Caesar salad is a gutsy dish that should not be reserved for summer. It’s odd that while I love Caesar salad, I’ve never tried to make it before. The anchovy mayo is inspired by this rich anchovy mayo from The Fridge, Kingsland. Caesar salad is one of those salads that shouldn’t really be classed as a salad in case it gets confused for rabbit food or something else particularly healthy. It tastes amazing because of all the kick ass ingredients like parmesan, Worcestershire sauce, bacon, olives and anchovies. Parmesan and anchovies When it comes to pungent foods like anchovies and parmesan, buy the best quality version you can afford. I always thought I hated parmesan, but I’ve recently realised it’s cheap parmesan …

OOOOBY Box 10 and our “Old Girl”

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We bought our Frigidaire when we first moved from an inner city apartment to the ‘burbs. I got her off Trademe for a song, second, maybe even third or fourth hand and we immediately had her resealed by a pro. This fridge-freezer has moved house with us four times and we reckon she could be from the 1970s, making her older than me. Our old girl had a freak out over the weekend. I wish I had before and after photos to show you, as the stalactites were amazing. We shifted her a few inches to the right and I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but the top third of the freezer turned into an ice cube with icicles as thick as my wrist. Ice expands and within hours it got so bad that we couldn’t close the freezer door. The Koala came to the rescue, carefully using a hammer as an ice pick and excavated the ice from the top shelf and around the seals. I’m now trying to use up everything in …

OOOOBY Box 9

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OOOOBY now offer an organic only box, so this week we’re giving it a test drive. The original box that we usually get is 100% local but not 100% organic. This week our CSA box included: Vegetable Half a Crown Pumpkin 1 Broccoli 1 bunch of Silverbeet 4 Carrots 1 Avocado 1 Fancy Lettuce Fruit 8 Gold Kiwifruit 7 Fuji Apples 4 Navel Oranges 1 Lime Add Ons Apple Juice 2L Wild Wheat Ciabatta The most interesting thing in the box: Colourful carrots. Menu 9 Pumpkin* soup with bacon bits and garlic parmesan croutons (made with ciabatta*) Cheeseburgers with lime* guacamole*, egg, fancy lettuce* and onion served with oven baked fries Salad with yellow and purple carrot*, fancy lettuce, boiled egg, olives, ham, chick peas Parmesan bagels with avocado* and cream cheese Buttery Golden Pan-Fried Flounder with sauteed silverbeet* and mashed potatoes Steak stir fry with broccoli*, onion, garlic and carrots*. Served on noodles Mini quiche with egg, broccoli*, silverbeet* and ham Roast chicken with pumpkin*, potatoes, onion and garlic. Served with rainbow carrot* salad. …

OOOOBY Box 8

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Yesterday I came home to not one but two boxes from OOOOBY. I guess our three add ons this week meant that 1 box wasn’t quite enough for everything. Good thing I returned 3 boxes today. To send your delivery boxes back, all you have to do is leave your empty boxes out. When your box is delivered, they will take back any empty boxes to be reused. I have a bunch of fruit and one kumara left over from last week. Our lemon tree is in full fruit and I made a yummy lemonade over the weekend. Might have to make another batch this week. This week our CSA box included: Vegetable 1 Broccoli 20 Mushrooms A huge bunch of Spinach 4 Spring Onion A bunch of Coriander Fruit 5 Pink Lady Apples 9 Green Kiwifruit 2 Grapefruit Add Ons All Good Bananas Apple Juice 2L Wild Wheat Ciabatta The most interesting thing in the box: Grapefruit. The Koala isn’t keen. What am I going to do with it? Welcome to ideas! Coriander. I …

OOOOBY Box 7 and an Asian influenced menu

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Last week’s cafe menu with burgers, pasta, french toast, burritos, fish and chips and pizza exploded in The Koala’s comfort zone, but I prefer to eat more asian influenced meals. This week we received bok choy and lime which will be great for an asian inspired menu. As a good Chinese girl, even living in New Zealand, I grew up eating rice once, even twice a day. This week our CSA box included: Vegetables 3 Red Kumara (Certified Organic) 1 Baby Cos (Self Certified Organic) 2 Bok Choy (Self Certified Organic) 1 Cauliflower (Conventional Sprays) 4 Carrots (Conventional Sprays) Fruit 9 Gold Kiwifruit (Certified Organic) 2 Limes (Self Certified Organic) 3 Navel Oranges (Self Certified Organic) 2 Apples Newstead Gold (Conventional Sprays) Add Ons 1 loaf Wild Wheat Ciabatta 2 litres pure Apple juice The most interesting thing in the box: Bok choy and limes. Menu 7 Asian style chicken broth with carrots*, onion, ginger and rice Korean BBQ Beef (Bulgogi) with baby cos*, korean noodle salad (japchae), kimchi and rice Wonton soup (pork mince, chives and scallops) with bok choy* Honey lime* chicken and cauliflower with toasted …

It’s Fon-DO, not Fon-DON’T

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Part 1 of 3 A cold winter night after a clear winter day. Gaudy knitted jumpers. A crackling open fireplace before an inviting wool rug. The smell of wine and cheese. One warm room and a few close friends.  This is how I imagine a traditional fondue party and the inspiration for our fondue party last week. I’m not sure exactly when fondue parties fell out of fashion, sometime in the early 90s? I’ve never had fondue before but melted cheese as the basis of a meal? Hell yeah! The Koala and I rearranged our lounge, downloaded a crackling fireplace video for the TV, put tunes on shuffle, cut up and arranged food in little bowls and waited for our guests to arrive. Coco was the only one in the group that had eaten a fondue before. She had it in Switzerland so I made her my fondue expert (even if her experience was over 10 years ago). For some reason I always thought that the cheese was melted in the fondue pot. But after …

OOOOBY Box Week 6. Cafe Menu

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Cafes can be found all over New Zealand and they all serve similar menus with their own twist. New Zealand cafe culture is HUGE. We take our coffee espresso very seriously and while restaurants are reserved for special occasions, people go to cafes for no real reason but to eat. The casual, informal style of dining appeals to our kiwi mentality. This week, cooking at home with our CSA box, we’re having grilled haloumi, french toast, salad, burgers, quesadillas a pasta dish, a soup and even a smoothie. Very much inspired by a stock standard cafe board. This week our CSA box included: Vegetable Garlic  (Self Certified Organic) Pumpkin (Certified Organic) Avocado (Certified Organic) Fancy Lettuce  (Self Certified Organic) Fennel (Certified Organic) Broccoli (Conventional Sprays) Fruit Pink Lady Apples (Conventional Sprays) Green Kiwifruit (Certified Organic) Mandarins (Conventional Sprays) Add Ons 1 loaf Wild Wheat Ciabatta 2 litres pure Apple juice All Good Fair Trade Bananas The most interesting thing in the box: Fennel. I’ve cooked it a couple times and while I don’t usually like aniseed, I do like fennel. I like the idea of …

Apocalypse Spaghetti is for Sluts

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The Koala’s fascination with conspiracies and the end of the world coupled with my love of survival tips and post apocalypse fashion mean that post apocalyptic movies and TV programmes are held in high regard around here. I don’t truly believe that shit is going to hit the fan in our lifetime. But I guess the old adage, “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best” works in this situation. Before shopping day, or before OOOOBY box Tuesday, when I’m scraping together what little fresh food we have to make a meal or even using pantry only or freezer only ingredients, I always think to myself, “I hope society doesn’t crumble tomorrow, I’m not prepared today”. I hope that when it all comes crashing down, we will have a full fridge and pantry. Being city dwellers, there will be little fresh food at the end of days and while looting will be a popular past time, so will eating food from cans. Being able to conjure a few meals from pantry only ingredients is a …

Cauliflower Soup

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This cauliflower soup was quick to make and well received at our house. Being fairly restrained on the ingredient list means that you can really taste each of the flavours. Get a good caramelisation going in the pan before you add water to intensify the flavours. This soup is perfect with  garlic butter toast or fresh buttered rolls. Cauliflower Soup Ingredients 1/2 a head of cauliflower 2 potatoes 3 cloves of garlic 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 teaspoon brown sugar 2 bay leaves 4 cups water 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 rashers streaky bacon (omit for vegetarian version) 1 cup of milk 2 teaspoons sour cream Preparation Cut the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Peel and cut the potatoes into 3cm chunks. Heat the olive oil in a hot pan and add the cauliflower and potatoes. I wouldn’t use a pot as you don’t want to overcrowd the vegetables, but you could cook in batches if you prefer. Peel and crush the garlic cloves and add to the pan with the brown sugar and salt. Resist …

This Week’s Specials – Week 5

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I’m having fun writing a weekly menu and we generally stick to the plan.  I admit I may be a bit ambitious when writing it. I also don’t think it helps to write a meal plan on an empty stomach! I came home with a few yummy things from The Food Show including 2kg of Southland Queen Scallops and 4 kinds of cheese! Still, this week, our pantry reserves are getting low and we haven’t been to the supermarket in a while so we’ll have to pick up a few things. This week our CSA box included: Vegetable Mushrooms Spinach Carrots Cauliflower Broccoli Fruit Newstead Gold Apples Gold Kiwifruit Winter Nelis Pears Mandarins …and a loaf of ciabatta. Meal Plan Week 5 Cauliflower*and potato* soup topped with with bacon and sour cream. Served with ciabatta* garlic* toast Individual cottage pies with carrots*, peas and mushrooms*, topped with cheesy golden mash Queen scallops and spinach* pasta, tossed with butter and served with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and a lemon* wedge Cheese fondue with ciabatta*, baguette, carrot, broccoli and tortellini Chocolate …

OOOOBY Box Week 5

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We are now in week 5 of our weekly CSA deliveries from local company OOOOBY. All three of us look forward to OOOOBY Tuesdays and the cute name probably doesn’t hurt. This week included lemons and potatoes which are on our “do not want” list so we didn’t receive them. We don’t want potatoes and lemons not because we don’t like them, but because we do. Rather than praying for potatoes each week, we buy them in bulk so that there is always a sack to be used. Our lemon tree is giving us delicious, juicy lemons this winter so no need to have those delivered either. This week our CSA box included: Vegetable 8 Mushrooms (Conventional Sprays) 1 giant bunch of Spinach (Self Certified Organic) 6 Carrots (Conventional Sprays) 1/2 a head of Cauliflower (Conventional Sprays) 1 Broccoli Fruit 7 Newstead Gold Apples (Conventional Sprays) 11 Gold Kiwifruit (Certified Organic) 6 Winter Nelis Pears (Certified Organic) 6 Mandarins The most interesting thing in the box: Mushrooms. Not that they are strange, but because this is the first time we’ve seen mushrooms …

Design at The Food Show

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I’ll be honest. I buy food and wine that has beautiful packaging. My pulse quickens, I may gasp aloud and I’ve been known to squeal with delight. I am an absolute sucker for pretty bottles, labels, quirky illustrations and unique materials. As a print designer who also happens to be obsessed with food, I would love nothing more than to design just for the food. All day, every day. Heaven. Yesterday at The Food Show was like food design geek OVERLOAD. So many lovely designs. So little time. It was a lovely surprise to see The Good Tempered Chocolate Company at The Food Show. The ornate, hand drawn logo I designed for Hayley was on display for everyone to see. Excite! Hayley’s hand made chocolates are to die for and she sweetens me up by bringing me her wonderful treats to sample. I had the pleasure of trying her new Peanut Butter Deluxe Chocolate a few weeks ago and she launched it at The Food Show. Hayley shared a stall with Pic’s Really Good Peanut Butter. The …