winosandfoodies

Star Anise

All you want to know about Star Anise.

Cinnamon

All you want to know about Cinnamon.

Happy Easter Everyone

 

Chopsticks on Bowl

 

Autumn

It's much too hot here to keep fresh flowers and fruit on display. These are all fake ....fake mulberries, fake blueberries, fake olives. 

Rhubarb

All you ever wanted to know about rhubarb. Picture taken at our local markets.

Lemon Cake From 2006

 

It may look as if I've lost my blogging mojo.  I haven't, I'm just very busy. One of my best buddies from Perth is visiting.  I'm happy to say we are having as much fun shopping and going to the movies as we did when we were 16. We just need to stop and have coffee more.

This is the cake I made on this day in 2006.

PS Thanks to everyone who has dropped by recently and left comments. I apologise I haven't had the time to respond.

Here is the David Herbert recipe which I first discovered when I had lunch at Arfi's house.

Lemon Cake
by: David Herbert

185g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 Tbs finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 23 x 12 cm loaf tin and line the base with baking paper. In an electric mixer, beat the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest for 2-3 minutes, or until soft and well mixed. Gradually add the beaten eggs, alternating with a spoonful of the flour, mixing well after each addition. Fold in the remaining flour and mix gently until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 50-60 minutes (my oven only took 45 minutes), or until golden and firm to the touch. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack.
Mix together the sugar and lemon juice until just combined, without letting the sugar dissolve. Quickly spoon the sugar mixture over the top of the warm cake. The juice will sink into the cake and the sugar will form a crunchy topping

For You Sue

My friend Sue was in town recently and we took her for a prawn picnic in the park. ...
........no Sue I'm not showing the photo with mayo on my face.

The Nutella Jar Is Empty

Murray River Pink Salt

I love Murray River Salt....and they aren't paying me to say that. It's a pretty pale pink colour.

A Rewarding Plate of Antipasto

A little weekend antipasto.

This is a snack we enjoyed when my son Chris was visiting last week. He worked hard on editing a photo for me for the LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow round up. I was really  pleased with the final result and felt he deserved to be rewarded with some of his favourite foods. Visit on the 13th May to see how clever he is.

Spanokopita For Lunch

Todays lunch was the best spanokopita I've had in ages. I don't have time to share the recipe right now but will later.

I'm still waiting for my domain name to be reinstated. All links will be working again at that point. At the moment you can't leave comments. Hopefully that will be fixed soon.

I've  almost finished the LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow round up. It's going to be FABULOUS. Come back and see on May 13th.

This week I was seriously impressed to get a mention of the event here.

A Pear of Corellas

 

Garlic

I treated myself to a new point and shoot  Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 camera recently. This photo was inspired by a photo taken by the talented Ilva at Lucullian Delights .

I have a nice couple of days ahead. Mary  is coming to visit for the weekend.  We plan on celebrating Bastille Day   with Marina.  So that will be a New Zealander, an Australian, two Italians and a Canadian celebrating the French national day with New Zealand lamb and Australian and New Zealand wines. 

Citron Tart

Olive Harvest

Here are the olives the Suburban Hippy  picked.

...and an Angel At My Table  picked this basketful...and some rosemary.

We couldn't reach the olives at the very top of the tree but I'm sure the birds will enjoy them.

Gnocchi at Euro

Gnocchi in a seafood sauce with wasabi roe - one of my favourite meals at Euro  at the Viaduct Basin in Auckland.

Signs of Summer

Summer tomatoes

Butter Buddha

Buddha carved from butter at the New Zealand Hospitality Show 2005.

Meringues Strawberries Cream

Christmas Eve dessert at our house.

Quick Nibbles

Cut out some circles of pastry and put them on an upended mini muffin tin, place a second mini muffin tin on top, bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool then fill the pastry cases  with a large spoonful  of mascarpone, top with a little jam  or jelly and eat.

Foodie Foto

The   hongi  carved from butter at the New Zealand Hospitality Show.

Foodie Foto

Beautiful blood oranges on display at the recent New Zealand Hospitality Show. Unfortunately they are rarely seen in the supermarket or fruit and veggie shops.