Over the past 50 years our tastes have grown for softer, sweeter, easier foods. Unfortunately, this means that we waste more of the food we cultivate. For example, we eat more chicken breast than any other part of the chicken. (Journalist Felicity Lawrence has some powerful examples in her book “Not on the label.”) As …
What a great way to have a conversation with customers! Trade Aid develops products, such as this chocolate sauce, with its Fair Trade ingredients. Using QR codes and the ‘Test kitchen’ label, it and for our feedback on the product. Trade Aid, I love your ingenuity in creating community engagement. It feels like we have …
There’s a lot to love about Café Mimosa in central Takapuna. The kooky decor. The wonderful smells. The friendly welcome that staff never fail to give. But most of all there’s the food. It’s food that’s good, in more ways than one. Many cafés pay lip service to organic options and dietary restriction needs. Mimosa’s …
Local History Online describes the Old Hellaby’s Building in Birkenhead as a Category A building of heritage significance, with ” finials, quoin-stoning, parapet and balustrade, divided fanlights and columns.” Quite. The Ravenhill café has certainly made three most of its original features, like gorgeous tiles and marble benchtop, and have (wisely in my opinion) done … Continue reading
I’ve been dreaming of farinata – a chickpea flour pancake – since I had it near Genova years ago. I finally got around to trying a recipe this week – and it’s super easy! The batter is simply chickpea flour and water, whisked to a runny consistency, then olive oil is added after the mix … Continue reading
I love the Auckland Italian cultural group “Italiani agli Antipodi”. Once a month, Paolo and Cristina host an Italian cooking lesson which is easy but special, and always delicious! The latest meetup was fresh egg pasta made into ravioli with two fillings and sauces. One was shrimp with a simple creamy tomato sauce, and the … Continue reading
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” William Shakespeare What’s in an expectation? Does it affect our sense of tastiness? In a dish, what’s the right balance between surprising and weird? If we had a meal made up of foods that were naturally unexpected colors, what would it be like to eat it? … Continue reading
After a few days of loads of bread and cheese, I was interested to make a dairy-free, gluten-free dinner. What better than cashew nut paella? I often make vegetarian paella with green peppers and tomatoes, but I wanted to try something without tomato for a change. Instead I tried broccoli and cashew nuts in the … Continue reading
The Greedy Kiwi 