Yurts and hops in New Zealand
It’s a little bit of time out, New Zealand. Time out to enjoy coffees and summertime, fresh sweetcorn and ice cream with cousins. It’s just a pity that it sometime takes so long to get...
Category: Living in New Zealand
Living in New Zealand in 2005
Cinnamon Rolls from On The Track Lodge in New Zealand’s Marlborough Sounds
Think Cinnamon Rolls. Sweetly spiced, fragrant Cinnamon Rolls. Now think about walking for five hours through the New Zealand bush and arriving, just a little hot, sweaty and footsore, at On The Track Lodge...
Christchurch Hot Chocolate
My email has been acting up recently so it’s taken me a while to realise that I actually have a couple of real messages amongst all the ridiculous spam that crams up my inbox....
Slow Food Events in Dublin, Ireland and Christchurch, NZ
Whether you’re in Dublin or Christchurch, New Zealand this weekend, there are plenty of Slow Food-organised events taking place. The Christchurch branch have their second “how to survive when ship-wrecked” morning by the sea taking place on Saturday 23 September. Led by Slow Food member, amateur botanist, professional fishing guide and enthusiastic forager Peter Langlands, participants will spend the morning gathering seaweeds, shellfish, crustaceans and fish from Canterbury’s shoreline at Port Levy. Information on species identification, harvesting and cooking techniques will be combined with some cautionary notes. Car pooling will take place from the CPIT car park at 9:30am. You can email Convivium Leader Bill Bryce for directions and hopefully you’ll avoid what happened to me last year – a frustrating hour spent waiting in the wrong CPIT car park!
A New Zealand classic: Ginger Gems
One of the kitchen items that I regretted having to leave in New Zealand were my gem irons. Gem irons – cast-iron baking tins,
Goodbye to New Zealand
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...
Simply Irresistible French Desserts by Christelle Le Ru
Why is it that recipe names look so much more evocative when written in French? Gâteau au chocolate et à l’abricot seems so much more sophisticated than just plain Chocolate apricot cake. Still, from the look of this slice of this moist dark cake pictured in Christelle Le Ru‘s Simply Irresistible French Desserts I don’t think that anyone will complain if you set it in front of them, no matter which name you use. But Carrés à la noix de pécan and Crèmes chaudes aux myrtilles (Pecan squares and Hot blueberry creams, respectively) certainly do have much more of a ring to them en Français and that’s a great deal to do with the charm of this Christchurch-based Frenchwoman’s self-published cookbook.
Peter Gordon's Tomato and Chilli Jam
Before I came to New Zealand I had only vaguely heard of Kiwi chef Peter Gordon. From articles that popped up every so often in the English newspapers that I read, I knew that he cooked at The Sugar Club (still, I think, a truly brilliant name for a restaurant) and that he was designated king of what became known as fusion cuisine. That all changed when I made my first batch of his Tomato and Chilli Jam. Now he is known as the person responsible for coming up with the recipe of this addictive addition to sandwiches, sausages, noodles, patés, cheese, cold meats or just about anything that needs a little zip. I discovered it through an article in Cuisine magazine and you’ll find the recipe right here.