Well, all good things come to an end at some stage. I’ve left New Zealand – with many regrets – to return to my job in Ireland. I will continue writing about food from this side of the world with, perhaps after my 12 months away, a new perspective on what I may have formerly taken for granted.
Nor have I abandoned New Zealand totally. I intend to go back at some stage in, I hope, the not-too-distant future and today I paid for a subscription to my beloved Cuisine magazine. I’ll need something summery to keep me going through the grey Irish winter! It’s been a fabulous year, getting to know the Boyfriend’s country, friends and family and New Zealand food has been a true eye opener.
Things I’m going to miss…
My spacious and airy kitchen, stocked with equipment picked up on the cheap from markets and charity shops around the country.
Food writer, broadcaster and author Caroline Hennessy has been focused on food and writing since editing Ireland’s first food website for RTÉ in 2000. Chair of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, she established the award-winning Bibliocook: All About Food in 2005, is the author of two books about beer and food and has a column in the Irish Examiner in which she writes about small food producers and the ways in which they develop and maintain a sustainable local food system.
Wow — I didn’t even know you were planning to leave! Hope the move went well, and look forward to hearing more about your cooking adventures from your new-old home —
Thanks Barbara and greenLAgirl – I’m missing New Zealand (and all the glorious food) loads. Also, winter time isn’t so good for getting settled again! Still, it shouldn’t be too bad when I get myself set up with somewhere to live here in Dublin and my own kitchen again. I’ve been peeping in my boxes of old kitchen stuff and it’s going to be exciting to unpack old favourites although I know I’m going to be constantly looking for things and realising that they’re in my NZ kitchen!
Hope your Hay Hay It’s Donna Day went well, Barbara. I was looking forward to participating but was kitchen-less. Maybe next time…
New Zealand update from the Boyfriend in NZ til January…-The vege/herb garden is going to seed, yet I’m hoping for a suprising resurgence with a recent placement of fresh super smelly compost. Is it possible that plants can realise midway through going to seed that maybe its not worth dying after all?!-Remember all of that pumpkin soup you made? Theres now about 8 pumpkin plants trying to strike out from our compost bin. Is there a risk that our house will be covered by pumpkin vines by the time we get ourselves back to NZ?-Food stocks have reached critical conditions. We’re down to only 5 different relishes previously obtained from English Park market!-Food standards and morale are down to all time lows after Caroline’s departure. Will need to import her back.
Thanks Plum – I’ll be keeping an eye on your activities back in the summer (at the moment anyhow!) hemisphere.
Boyfriend – glad to see that you’re surviving with only five different relishes in the storecupboard! I’ll be looking forward to your garden updates although I don’t think there’s much hope for the mizuna which was trying to seed itself about a month after we planted it. Are you still picking a bowl of salad leaves a day? It’s far from salad weather over here in Ireland…
Missing you already.
Wow — I didn’t even know you were planning to leave! Hope the move went well, and look forward to hearing more about your cooking adventures from your new-old home —
Thanks Barbara and greenLAgirl – I’m missing New Zealand (and all the glorious food) loads. Also, winter time isn’t so good for getting settled again! Still, it shouldn’t be too bad when I get myself set up with somewhere to live here in Dublin and my own kitchen again. I’ve been peeping in my boxes of old kitchen stuff and it’s going to be exciting to unpack old favourites although I know I’m going to be constantly looking for things and realising that they’re in my NZ kitchen!
Hope your Hay Hay It’s Donna Day went well, Barbara. I was looking forward to participating but was kitchen-less. Maybe next time…
Oh Caroline, that’s a shock! Hope all goes well for you in Ireland. And I’m looking forward to hearing about your adventures over there.
New Zealand update from the Boyfriend in NZ til January…-The vege/herb garden is going to seed, yet I’m hoping for a suprising resurgence with a recent placement of fresh super smelly compost. Is it possible that plants can realise midway through going to seed that maybe its not worth dying after all?!-Remember all of that pumpkin soup you made? Theres now about 8 pumpkin plants trying to strike out from our compost bin. Is there a risk that our house will be covered by pumpkin vines by the time we get ourselves back to NZ?-Food stocks have reached critical conditions. We’re down to only 5 different relishes previously obtained from English Park market!-Food standards and morale are down to all time lows after Caroline’s departure. Will need to import her back.
Thanks Plum – I’ll be keeping an eye on your activities back in the summer (at the moment anyhow!) hemisphere.
Boyfriend – glad to see that you’re surviving with only five different relishes in the storecupboard! I’ll be looking forward to your garden updates although I don’t think there’s much hope for the mizuna which was trying to seed itself about a month after we planted it. Are you still picking a bowl of salad leaves a day? It’s far from salad weather over here in Ireland…