All posts tagged: foodie

Pies and wine

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I had the BEST foodie day in Britomart last Friday. A couple of hours work in the morning and then lunch at Ortolana with fellow bloggers Ari Eats and Miss Charlotte Cake, followed by a gourmet pie masterclass, followed by coffee at Oaken (one of my favourite spots), followed by a food and wine matching class by Ostro, followed by dinner at Indochine with my bestie (and more wine).   Social Kitchen I was invited as a guest to a couple of masterclasses at Fisher and Paykel’s Social Kitchen in Britomart, set up as part of Auckland Restaurant Month. With a covered seating area, stage and demonstration kitchen, these were presented by Kelly Gibney of Bonnie Delicious blog. Chefs, restaurants and food personalities represented included Paul Carmichael (Momofuku Seiobo), Kyle Street (Depot, Federal), Gareth Stewart (Euro, The Culpepper), Michael Dearth (The Grove) Jordon Rondel (The Caker), Giapo Grazioli (Giapo) and more. Each class was starkly different and there really was something for every level of foodie. The weather was glorious so it was nice to see beanbags out …

The Food Show Auckland 2016 – review and packaging porn

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I went solo to The Food Show today. If you’ve never been on your own before (this was my first time solo), it’s totally awesome. You can zip around quickly, miss the things you’re not into and spend longer chatting about food and to exhibitors generally being a big food NERD. Also, you can take photos of pretty packaging for as long as you like without anyone thinking, “Come ON, let’s GO (you weirdo)”.  The Food Show is huge. Like, MEGA. You could conceivably visit every day for 4 days and still find new things you missed before. I recommend allowing 3 hours, any longer can be a bit overwhelming and it’s easy to get lost. If you do, don’t panic. Eat something and just enjoy. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, The Food Show is packaging and food design HEAVEN. If you’re a budding graphic designer looking for food-related inspiration or even someone looking to get into making and packaging their own product. Go to The Food Show. I even saw creatives walking …

Fragrances for Foodies

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Was duty free shopping an all-ages field trip in your family? As a kid, I spent a lot of time at duty free stores. My uncle worked in duty free and we always had family or friends going to or coming back from Hong Kong. My sister, cousin and I spent hours browsing the displays, snacking on beef jerky or kiwifruit lolly samples, and reviewing all the perfumes. We collected all the paper test strips in our teeny-tiny handbags to enjoy later. We never noted the names of the perfumes and of course, the strips marinaded together in our bags and smelled sickly sweet, but it kept us amused. Gourmand fragrances I have always been always drawn to gourmand fragrances. A gourmand fragrance has notes like candy/fruit, honey, chocolate or vanilla and are also known as foodie fragrances. Gourmand fragrances appeared in the early ‘90s and were descendants of Oriental fragrances which were made with exotic notes from the Middle East and India. There are gourmand fragrances for both women and men. Sugary sweet The …

YouTube round up

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Here are some videos of my favourite foodies on Youtube guaranteed brighten your day. Too cute! Too clever. Too greedy! Too well behaved. I hope you enjoyed these foodie videos as much I do. Please share your favourite foodie videos in the comments below!

Our Growing Edge First Edition! (Jan/Feb 2013)

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It’s coming up to midnight, I’ve had an espresso and ironically, I’m writing this on an empty stomach. I think I would prefer Chinese water torture over missing dinner and then compiling a lengthy food filled post. In the spirit of the Oscars this week, I would like to give a huge thanks to all the foodies who joined the very first edition of Our Growing Edge. This event would be nothing without your passion, skill, hard work and hungry bellies. With 35 submissions to Our Growing Edge this month, there was plenty of variety in the new foodie experiences. This event showed a surprisingly well rounded cross section of what foodies are doing. Blogs from New Zealand, Australia, UK, USA and Canada were well represented. Blogs from Asia or with Asian culinary backgrounds also made an appearance. Success! Before we move onto the highlights… It would be wonderful to have Our Growing Edge hosted on different blogs all around the interwebs. To host a month, all you have to do is write a round …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Dietlind Wolf’s work is swoon-worthy

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I’m no food stylist but when you take photos for a blog, you can’t help but look at your food differently. Composition, light, props, colour, texture, shape and white space are some of things I consider when shooting my food. I cringe at the photos I took when this blog started in 2010. But they’ll stay up because they’re a reminder of how far I’ve come. Looking at beautifully styled food is inspirational rather than depressing and my favourite food stylist in the world is Dietlind Wolf who is based in Hamburg, Germany. Her work is truly swoon-worthy. I adore her use of organic shapes, groupings and interesting props from all sorts of places for editorial spreads. Please check out more of her gorgeous displays on her blog dietlindwolf.blogspot.com. Bonus: Check out tomorrow’s post on beautiful, organic and nature inspired dinnerware.

Tasting, tasting, 1, 2, 3.

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2011 will be my third Taste festival and I’m looking forward to trying and buying new delicious things and soaking up the good atmosphere down at Victoria Park. Taste of New Zealand kicks off this evening in Victoria Park, Auckland and the menu can be found on their website here or scroll to the bottom of this post. The dishes range from 8 to 20 crowns and a crown costs $1. This year, there are 13 restaurants offering 35 dishes. Quick breakdown: Dessert 5 Shellfish 5 Fish 5 Venison 3 Beef 3 Pork 3 Lamb 3 Duck 2 Chicken 2 Rabbit 1 Mixed grill 1 Vegetarian 1 There are loads of dishes for omnis and pescis, but only 1 vege dish of portobello mushroom. I ordered 4 dishes last year (all the ones on my wishlist) and I recommend 3 or 4 dishes per person for dinner. Don’t forget to make room for all the samples on offer. It’s great to have someone with you so you can sample their dishes too. Last year, we tasted …