Bibliocook - All About Food

Award-winning blog of Irish food writer and broadcaster Caroline Hennessy.

Category: Do

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Do / Living in New Zealand

Eat Local Challenge

I’ve just discovered the Eat Local Challenge posted by Jen on her life begins at 30 blog. She invited fellow food bloggers to make the commitment to eat local during August. In her own words:”For the month of August, I would like to invite all bloggers to join me in taking a challenge to eat food local to where you live. You will be able to build your challenge parameters yourself, and set reachable goals for the month. Ths goal of this time is to eat as much local food as possible, and to really pay attention to where your food comes from.”Typical that I should discover this as the month ends but it did put me thinking.

Yoga – and Pumpkin Pie 0

Do / Living in New Zealand

Yoga – and Pumpkin Pie

Govinda’s in Dublin – a vegetarian restaurant run by the Hare Krishnas – has a great reputation and was one of those places that I always intended to go for dinner. Somehow I never managed to make it there but, when I was searching for a yoga class in Christchurch lately, I discovered that they run them in the Christchurch branch of Govinda’s. not only that but, for $15 you get an hour’s yoga plus your dinner. How could such an offer be turned down? Last week I tried the class and I think I’ll be returning every week for the food, as well as for the yoga. After working hard for an hour, the delicious meal is truly well deserved.

All things chocolate (beer) 6

Do / Living in New Zealand

All things chocolate (beer)

Beer drinkers, as wine drinkers, are pretty well catered for in New Zealand. There are plenty of microbreweries and brew pubs about – Brew Moon, the Dux de Lux and the Twisted Hop are amongst some Canterbury favourites – but even the big breweries have pretty decent beers. One of the biggies is Speight’s Brewery. Known as “The Pride of the South”, it is based in Dunedin and produces a very tasty dark beer called, in an obvious move, Old Dark.

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Cookery Books / Do / Living in New Zealand / Read

Savour New Zealand: Dean Brettschneider

New Zealand baker Dean Brettschneider was one of the people that I encountered at the recent Savour New Zealand in Christchurch. Together with Lorraine Jacobs, a Cuisine food editor, he has recently published Taste, the third in a series of quality books on baking. At Savour New Zealand, when not signing stacks of Taste and his other books, he gave an eagerly anticipated class called Kneading the Dough in which he made a loaf of my favourite sourdough bread.

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Eating Out / Living in New Zealand

Wandering in New Zealand

Those of you who are regular readers may have noticed that it’s been quiet on Bibliocook over the last week or so. The reason for this is because I have recently returned from a road trip up the East Coast of New Zealand’s South Island with my mother and aunt who were visiting from Ireland.

Brew Moon Brewery and Café 0

Eating Out / Living in New Zealand

Brew Moon Brewery and Café

When you’re driving the long distances that are necessary to get anywhere in New Zealand, good quality rest stops, with coffee, cakes – and clean toilets – become very important. That’s why it breaks my heart to discover one so close to my current hometown of Christchurch.

Bibliocook.com - Lemons in our NZ garden, 2005 2

Do / Living in New Zealand

The loss of the lemon tree

Having thought that there wasn’t too much different between the New Zealand and Irish climates, I’ve been amazed to discover that lemon trees grow here. And, what’s more, they actually fruit too! While living with the boyfriend’s parents in Nelson it was a great treat to go out and pick some lemons from a tree that fruits year-round but, as we live in much colder Christchurch, I didn’t think that we would have that option ourselves.