Posted on Jun 30, 2005 in Cookery Books, Living in New Zealand, Read | 2 comments

Judith Cullen’s Cookery Classes ***

Judith Cullen’s Cookery Classes ***
New Zealand cook Judith Cullen used to run her own café in Dunedin before she changed careers to become a successful teacher of cookery classes, many of which are run from her home. Judith Cullen’s Cookery Classes is her first published book but she has a fresh and simple approach that many more...
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Posted on Jun 28, 2005 in Eating Out, Living in New Zealand | 0 comments

Breakfast at Formerly The Blackball Hilton

We weren’t very well organised for the last bank holiday weekend so it was Sunday morning before one of the Boyfriend’s friends and his girlfriend came over and we tried to figure out where to go for the night. Despite fears that all accommodation would be booked solid for the weekend, a quick...
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Posted on Jun 26, 2005 in Lovely Lunches, Storecupboard Specials | 4 comments

Red Onion Marmalade

Red Onion Marmalade
Being flat stony broke these days, I like to try and bring my lunch to work with me rather than be dependent on cafés. Sometimes the lunch is leftovers from dinner the night – rice or pasta with some kind of sauce – but other days I am forced to rely on sandwiches. Having eaten plain ham...
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Posted on Jun 24, 2005 in Read | 3 comments

Malouf book update

Malouf book update
I’ve just heard from Greg Malouf‘s publishers – Hardie Grant Publishing – that his new book finally has a preliminary title. It is apparently going to be called Saha – Food and Travels Through Lebanon and Syria. From talking to him at Savour New Zealand, it looks like this will...
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Posted on Jun 23, 2005 in Bake, Food for Friends | 0 comments

Moroccan-style Bread and Butter Pudding: Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding with Turkish Delight

Moroccan-style Bread and Butter Pudding: Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding with Turkish Delight
When I was a kid, Bread and Butter Pudding was the desert that we all loved. I wasn’t too impressed with other traditional milk puddings like Farola or semolina and often would walk away from the dinner table with my pockets full of secreted spoonfuls rather than actually eat a bowl of the insipid...
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Posted on Jun 21, 2005 in Bake | 0 comments

An Irish Apple Cake

An Irish Apple Cake
As I’m still buying about two kilos of apples a week – I never can resist those markets – I decided, after my success with the French Apple Cake, that it was time to chance an Irish version. I turned to Clare Connery’s Irish Cooking for inspiration and took her version of White Soda...
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Posted on Jun 19, 2005 in Food Books, Read | 0 comments

Never No More by Maura Laverty *****

Never No More by Maura Laverty *****
When I was a little one, with a voracious appetite for books and cooking, one of the books that I devoured was my Nana’s well-used copy of Full and Plenty by Maura Laverty. The distinctive blue and yellow covers contained a treasury of old Irish recipes but the icing on the cake for me were the...
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Posted on Jun 17, 2005 in Bake, Living in New Zealand | 0 comments

Ginger nuts: Chocolate Gingerbread

Ginger nuts: Chocolate Gingerbread
Ginger is big business in New Zealand. Whether it’s the pieces of Ginger Crunch available in every café and bakery, gingernut biscuits beloved by the Boyfriend’s parents, the many brands of commonly available ginger beer (not in the least bit like the insipid ginger ale mixer common in Irish...
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Posted on Jun 15, 2005 in Food for Friends | 2 comments

Old faithful: Chicken with Garlic and Lemon

Old faithful: Chicken with Garlic and Lemon
Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt and that has surely been the case with one of my trademark dishes – Chicken with Garlic and Lemon. This is a dish that I have been cooking for years. It gets trotted out at regular intervals if friends are coming round for dinner and for many years it, and a...
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Posted on Jun 13, 2005 in Eating Out, Living in New Zealand, Lovely Lunches | 0 comments

An afternoon interlude: Riccarton House Café

An afternoon interlude: Riccarton House Café
It’s not very often we go out for Sunday lunch but the fact that I had a voucher for the Riccarton House Café in Christchurch made our minds up for us last weekend. The café only does lunch but that’s well worth the hour-long walk from our house. It has the perfect setting. Riccarton House is...
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Posted on Jun 11, 2005 in Do, Living in New Zealand | 0 comments

A good haul

A good haul
In the Salvation Army shop the other day I discovered the one thing that would make me look the part while marketing – a wicker basket! Since then I’ve been trotting very happily to the market with my basket on my arm although sometimes I have to bring along a bag to supplement what it can hold....
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Posted on Jun 9, 2005 in Bake, Grow | 2 comments

Using up apples: French Apple Cake

Using up apples: French Apple Cake
We’re coming to the end of the true apple season here – although I’m sure we’re still going to see plenty of apples in the shops – but the Apple Man at the St Albans Market has finished up his selling for the year. He and his partner were picking and selling almost 1,000 kilos...
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Posted on Jun 7, 2005 in Read | 0 comments

Moorish by Greg and Lucy Malouf ***

Moorish by Greg and Lucy Malouf ***
Moorish is the second cookbook by Greg and Lucy Malouf, restaurateur and food writer respectively. Greg, who is commonly regarded as one of Australia’s most innovative chefs, has been credited with influencing and introducing a generation of chefs and diners to the flavours, tastes and textures of the...
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Posted on Jun 5, 2005 in Food for Friends, Storecupboard Specials | 0 comments

Mainly Moroccan: Ras el Hanout

Mainly Moroccan: Ras el Hanout
If you’ve ever seen photos of Morocco, you’ll be familiar with the piles of vividly coloured spices in the market places. My one-time housemate, on a trip to Morocco a long time ago, brought me a mysterious little bag from one of the piles. She didn’t know what it was, neither did I, but I...
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Posted on Jun 4, 2005 in Print, Work | 0 comments

Food & Wine Magazine, Ireland

Food & Wine Magazine, Ireland
Great excitement here this afternoon when I got an email from friends in Ireland to say that my article on food in New Zealand has been published in this month’s edition of Ireland’s Food & Wine Magazine! It’s the new look edition of “Ireland’s Food and Drink Bible”...
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