winosandfoodies

Abbiamo un Vincitore

JenJen over at I Love Milk and Cookies  has announced the winner of Hay Hay Its Donna Day #6. Again a very close competition with only one vote  to decide the winner.

Congratulations to our first winner from Italy, Cenzina at il cavoletto di bruxell .  Her wonderful Italian adaptation of the Donna Hay bacon and chedder fritter with balsamic onions was the fritter of choice  this month.

Cenzina   has the honour of hosting the first year  anniversary of the  Hay Hay Its Donna Day event. Drop by her gorgeous blog and say hi.  So you can't read Italian... no problemo....every picture tells a story.  We'll be announcing the latest event very soon.

Pink Peonies

You've probably guessed I love pink....and there is nothing prettier than a pink flower.  Despite their cost, I just had to buy a bunch when I spied them at the market this morning.

Feasting after Ramadan

click to enlarge
Arfi  invited me to attend the Halal Bihalal  celebration held by the Indonesian Muslim community in Auckland. It takes place on the day following the end of Ramadan.  The Muslim community gather together to share a meal and ask for forgiveness.    We enjoyed some wonderful food provided by Arfi and her friends.  The food was a mixture of fruits, brightly coloured sweets, pastries and spicy meat and chicken dishes served with lots of white rice. These are just a few pictures of some of the prettier food.

...and here is Arfi and me.

Another Insalata Caprese

I've become addicted to the Mozzarella  from the Mahoe Cheese Company.    Bob  gave us a free sample   and now I can't get enough of it.  Luckily I can walk across the road to my local grocer  for my daily fix. Here is the salad I made for lunch today.   There was  some rocket in the fridge which needed using up before it went off  so todays fix came on a bed of rocket. Therefore it isn't a true Insalata Caprese, but hey us addicts don't care.

Labour Day Baking

I was flicking through the pages of a Taste  magazine, looking for inspiration for dinner tonight, when this recipe caught my eye.

CINNAMON APPLE CAKE
1/2 cup caster sugar
90 grams butter softened
2 small eggs, lightly beaten together
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 1 /4 cups  self raising flour
100 ml milk
4 large apples
1/4 teaspoon finely ground cinnamon
Icing sugar for dusting

Set aside 1 tablespoon caster sugar for dusting over cake.
Beat butter in bowl until light and loose.
Add sugar and beat until light in colour.
Beat in eggs a little at a time, adding 1 -2 tablespoons flour to stabilise the mixture.
Add lemon zest.
Sift rest of flour over and fold in along with the milk.
Transfer mixture to a 23 cm baking tin lined with baking paper and carefully spread mixture level with a flat bladed knife.
Peel, quarter and core apples and place in water and lemon juice mixture to stop the apples browning.
Partially slice the pieces of apple, about three quarters of a way through each piece, open them up like a fan and press them deeply into the cake batter.
Mix the reserved tablespoon of caster sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle over the cake.
Bake in  a preheated to 180C (regular bake) for 1 hour or until cooked through and golden brown.
Cool in tin for 15 minutes, then turn onto a plate.
Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar.

The cake has a wonderful lemon flavour and the apples will be meltingly soft.

Here's how the top will look.

Donna Day Round Up Is Up

JenJen has posted the  round up to Hay Hay Its Donna Day #6.  Go visit and see everybody's fabulous  fritters.

Hospitality Show New Zealand 2006

One of my favourite annual events is the New Zealand Hospitality Show.  The New Zealand Culinary Fare is a major attraction with the cooking events as exciting as any sporting event. It's a little like an Olympic compettion with teams competing for the cooking equivalent of a gold medal. I usually find a seat (if I'm lucky), at the front close to the action and follow one team from beginning to end. This year I followed the student team from the Wellington Institute of Technology.   

Another Weekend Away

The water really is  this incredible colour.  Driving along Highway 12 last weekend we came across this stunning scene when we looked back after passing through Opononi. It is the entrance to the Hokianga Harbour  and an area I'd like to go back and explore in more detail.

Here's a few places we visited with our friends Greg and Judy  who I met here .

We stayed overnight in the lovely little seaside hamlet of  Russell  in the Bay of Islands.

We dropped in to visit the  Mahoe Cheese  outlet and after buying several cheeses Bob kindly gave us a packet of mozzarella to take away. When I mentioned we had the beginnings of a Caprese Salad  he then gave us some basil. All we needed to find was a road stall selling tomatoes, which we did as we drove through Keri Keri .

We sampled wine at Longview Estate  and where we bought some of their Boundary Block Riesling. Our money went into this very old cash register.

On the way back to Auckland we drove through the Waipoua Forrest .  This is what a 2000 year old tree looks like.

A visit to the Bay of Islands is not complete without seeing the Hundertwasser  designed local loos.

Hay Hay Its Donna Day - F is for Fritters

I usually make corn fritters without a set recipe and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Today I followed Donna's recipe almost to the letter. My only change was to replace the original green onion with red onion.  These were the best corn fritters I"ve ever made.  I served them with a salad of tomato, cucumber and mint and a squeeze of sweet chili sauce.  Check out this month's host JenJen  for the recipe and entry details.  JenJen will be posting the round up at I Love Milk and Cookies  .  Hay Hay Its Donna Day #6 closes on 15th October and look for the round up on 22nd October.

Silly Me

I accidently deleted a comment by mistake as junk. If you can't see your comment left in the last two days please email me.

Dry River Craighall Amaranth Riesling '98

A glass of '98 Dry River Craighall Amaranth riesling and suddenly my day improved.  It started out badly, very badly. I decided to get a couple of tickets for  Cirque de Soliel  to give to Chris for Christmas.  From time to time he earns his living doing this

....that's him in the blue shorts....and this

..him again in the black outfit.  (Click on the photos to get a larger picture.)

So you can see getting really good seats was important. Sadly I was too late for the best seats and had to settle for Row G.

Then I noticed a major store had a 30% off women's clothing for the day.  I gathered a few items together and went to the changing rooms.   As I was removing a shirt over my head the swing tag flicked back and the corner hit me in the eye.  Wow that hurt I said to myself and continued with the next outfit.  My eye felt a little watery as you would expect. When I looked up to see my reflection in the mirror this creature from a horror movie stared back at me. The white of my eye was completely red.  More than a little concerned I hurriedly got back into my own clothes and walked down the street to my doctor.  Seems the tag hit a blood vessel which caused the eye to bleed. Apparently it is like a bruise and will go purple and then yellow before I look normal again.

Back home and I managed to burn the first batch of crostini I was preparing to serve with a topping of sour cream and salmon.

So how was the riesling you ask. Brilliant. I'd invited a wine industry friend and his wife over because I knew he would appreciate it.  He always brings great wines when he visits so he deserved to be rewarded.  I was given the honor of tasting the first mouthful.  Bliss. I felt a smile spread over my face. Thankfully it wasn't corked. It took alittle while for the aromas to come through and when they did they were quite minerally. The taste was citrusy with lots of lime and  lemon flavours with a hint of honey and a long finish. A little too dry for Bryan but the rest of us loved it.

Visit the winery web page and read the production notes here.

Blog By Mail - At Last

I was beginning to think my blog by mail parcel had been stolen or lost in transit. But no, this morning when I arrived back from a walk on the beach there it was.

"Open it" Bryan said. No! First things first, after my 3K walk I needed breakfast and secondly I wanted to take my time and enjoy the moment.  So after I finished my porridge topped with blueberries, macadamia nuts and brown sugar I ripped the top open and found this.

Doesn't the sun look warm shining through the back of the chair onto the box.   I carefully put my hand into the sea of foam. Not really. I plunged in with gay abandon and found this lovely hand made card from Helene.

I'm guessing she made that cake too.  Look at all the other goodies I found.

Helene has been very busy and made many of the items herself. You can read all  about  them   on her blog  tartelette .  There was still a little green tea in my cup so I opened the double ginger cookies and they were  a perfect match.  I spent a pleasant half an hour sitting in the sun reading the Southern Living Magazine.

Now I had a busy morning planned so left the items on the kitchen bench and did all my errands. When I came home I was ravenous so tore the wrapping off the cheddar cheese crackers. No I didn't.  I carefully cut them with the scissors because they were vacuum packed for their long journey. Then I tried one, then another, and another.  And now I'm thinking I'm going to have to walk 6 K tomorrow.  Finally I crumbled a couple over my lunch time salad. 

Then Bryan made the coffee while I carefully cut open the packet of sesame spice cookies. These hadn't travelled quite so well and a few were broken.  Broken biscuits don't affect the taste though. These were gorgeous...and morish. I have no idea how many I ate. That's the great thing about broken biscuits. You can't count them.

In honour of her French background Helene included a packet of Galettes Bretonnes.  As her home is now in the Southern US she also sent a jar of BBQ sauce from Charleston and  Corn Bread mix.  And finally a lovely jar of Blueberry Tea Jelly which tastes sensational scooped out of the jar with a teaspoon and I'm sure will be wonderful on my toast tomorrow.

Thank you Helene for the thoughtful way you put your blog by mail package together. And thank you to Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness  for organising this round of Blog By Mail.

Hay Hay Its Donna Day #6

F is for fritter.  Visit Jen for the recipe and details . Entries to be posted by 15th October.

Peach and Blueberry Yoghurt Jelly

This is my version of the Yogurt Jelly Arfi  served when we had lunch  at her house. Like all food bloggers I've altered it to suit the ingredients I had in the cupboard and fridge.

1 litre plain yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
6 teaspoons powdered gelatin
1 can sliced peaches in juice, drain and chopped into dice
1 cup blueberries

Melt honey and add to yogurt.
Drain peaches and use 4 tablespoons of juice to mix with  gelatin.
Sprinkle gelatin over juice and heat to melt.
Cool gelatin mixture and add to yogurt with peaches.
Gently fold in blueberries (If using frozen blueberries add to mixture after it is in mold).
Pour into mold and place in fridge until set.
Serve with extra fruit if desired.

Drinks at the Beach

Why a weekend away is relaxing.

Cammomile and Lime Tea at sunrise.

Lion Red at sunset.

Ross Estate Grenache  at midnight.

And the Winner Is....

Tami has announced   the winner  of Hay Hay Its Donna Day #5. Here  is the beautiful tart that won by one vote.

Congratulations to Jenjen and I look forward to her hosting Hay Hay Its Donna Day #6.