Nutty Mornings

It was always there, just out of sight, waiting.
But what was it waiting for?
- The Tangle Box by Terry Brooks

I have been doing a lot of eating out lately, which is not to say that I haven't been cooking (which also happens a lot...and in case you started to feel concerned, I have still been cooking way more than I have been going out) but just that, well, there are reasons. But anyway, what you really want to see is some food and, with my crappy camera in tow, I have some...

So on Wednesday morning I met my cousin D at the Heritage Hotel Lobby Bar for breakfast because I'd managed to score a 2 for 1 voucher off Moira's blog. Well that wasn't the only reason but it helped! We both ordered the pancakes (there wasn’t a lot of choice in terms of larger meals although there are several small options) and fresh juices.


I have a favourite juice combo - carrot, apple, beetroot and ginger so naturally when I saw that on the menu (Liver Lover) I knew I had to order it and I have to say, this was the best version I've had. I loved how super thick and super gingery it was.

The menu was new and for some reason (of which I can’t remember now) we got one plate of pancakes before the other. To make up for it though they brought us out another dish as well, the soyurt parfait with cranberry muesli, grated apple. I thought this was really awesome but D thought the yogurt tasted a bit too much like soy (I'm pretty sure it was the Kingland Soy yogurt).


We both ended up ordering the pancakes (there wasn’t a lot of choice in terms of larger meals although there are several small options). To be more precise, berries, macadamia and buckweat pancakes served with maple syrup and grilled banana.


The pancakes weren’t very sweet which I loved and had an awesome nutty texture (both from the buckwheat and the macadamias). They tasted healthy...but in a good way if that makes sense. Plus they kept me full all morning and into the afternoon which was fortunate as I was so rushed off my feet at work I didn't get to have lunch until quite late.

I will be honest here and say that I didn't exactly expect that much when I went but I came away feeling very excited. Our waiter was excellent and the manager came over to have a chat with me and he seemed genuinely passionate about their new menu and the direction the food at the Heritage is going in. You've gotta love that.

But come back next time (or at least some time in the future) for an even more exciting meal at the Lobby Bar...

Desperate for vegetables

So there is all of my tale. I cannot die until my time is come, and who can know when that is? Until then I will be alone, alone as no mere man can ever be, alone with my wretchedness and meaningless evil and self-disgust until the world collapses and is born anew..."
- Child of an Ancient City by Tad Williams and Nina Kiriki Hoffman

AGES ago (as in way back in January when I was back in Christchurch...although at least we are in the same year) B and I went to the Welcome Chinese Vegetarian Cafe for dinner. I just did a quick check and yes, it is one of the few vegetarian restaurants that have managed to open after the earthquake. So go there if you are in Christchurch because they make great food.

I can't remember anything that we ordered so you'll just have to make do with the pictures!!! It was all delicious but as usual, too much food but better too much than too little!










I have to admit that once I got home though I was really feeling the lack of vegetables in the dishes we'd chosen. Hmmm, my tastebuds have certainly changed over time!

Back up in Auckland and only a couple of weeks ago I went to a vegetarian Indian restaurant with a couple of friends, Jai Jalaram Khaman after my flatmates raved about the place.


I ordered a thali (most options were vegan apparently) and also got some other random dish on the side that I forgot to photograph because clearly the lady serving us felt sorry for me not being able to sample on of my friend's dishes. It was good, whatever it was though! Actually, all the food was really delicious but again I came home really feeling the lack of vegetables. I think there might be something wrong with me!

From inside the box

He shook his head sharply in the hope that it might dislodge some salient fact which would fall into place and make sense of an otherwise utterly bewildering Universe, but since the salient fact, if there was one, entirely failed to do this, he set off up the road again, hoping that a good vigorous walk, and maybe even some good painful blisters, would help to reassure him of his own existence at least, if not his sanity.
- So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish by Douglas Adams

Hello!! I have been floating around on another planet but tonight I have briefly touched down to give you a post (and a recipe!!!) and just say, well, there is some big stuff happening soon which is all terribly exciting but terribly scary at the same time but you'll have to wait.

So...food.

For the last few weeks I've been getting a fruit and veggie box from Ooooby (you can see Moira's posts about Ooooby here) which has been really cool because not only does it save me trips to the shops where I ultimately end up buying the same thing every week but it has also led me to try things I don't normally cook with. My goal each week is to finish the box and try everything. It's not a very hard goal but it's fun!

Anyway, each week they include a piece of paper that tells you where everything is from and if it's organic or whatever. They also include a few recipes which normally I ignore because I'm not very good with recipes but one week they included a red cabbage in my box and I had no idea what to do with it so I thought I'd give the recipe a try...and was pleasantly surprised! Perhaps I should do it more often!


Cabbage, Avocado and Pear Slaw
I ought to say here that this is not quite the recipe that was included because, well...but it is pretty much the same.

Sesame Dressing
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil (or rice bran oil but I used olive oil so therefore that's what I've put!)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil
Salt and pepper (which I think I might have forgotten to put in but I can't remember now

Salad
2-3 cups (approx) finely shredded red cabbage (or sort of chopped as thin as I could be bothered if you are like me)
1 pear, cored and sliced
1 apple, cored and sliced
1 avocado, peeled, de-seeded and sliced

Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together and set aside. Toss all the salad ingredients together, pour over the dressing and serve.

You might not want all of the dressing but it is quite nice! The slaw is quite good on the side with almost anything but even better with slices of fried tofu on top.

Escaping with Big Boots

Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was going to happen, and he brushed the honey off his nose with the back of his paw, and spruced himself up as well as he could, so as to look Ready for Anything.
- Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne

So...I'm getting quite bad at this blogging thing and right now things are feeling more than a little stressful which is all rather understandable but doesn't change the fact that I have a whole lot of friends trying to live in a city that pretty much resembles a war zone. But I did have a beautiful weekend. M managed to fly up from Christchurch on Friday night (he requested that I bring water and food to the airport - just a hint at how desperate things are down there) and was quite excited about having a shower since his place was still without water. After M showered and we had dinner we escaped up to my beach house for the weekend.


Somehow Auckland managed to turn on a beautiful fine weekend with no rain whatsoever which is a bit of a miracle! After lazying about and sleeping in (felt like the first time in ages) and going for a paddle on our archaic (but totally awesome) polystyrene surfboards and swimming I made us lunch...hummus, tomato and mushroom toasted sandwiches with a red cabbage coleslaw (recipe to come).


After lunch we did a bit more lazing about because we could and then wandered up the hill for some fresh air. The view from the top is always incredible (not that the view from out our front door isn't though!).


Then I made us an awesome green curry packed full of veggies, chickpeas and butter beans (my new favourite bean) on brown rice. We both went back for seconds.


I actually had some bananas I hadn't got around to eating or freezing (this is quite rare since I normally pretty much buy bananas, deliberately leave them on the bench for a couple of days and then freeze to make smoothies) so I decided I was going to make us banana bread. The one from Veganmicon to be specific. I think I've got it down pat now and it's my favourite. It even toasts quite well a couple of days later too.


We had a slice each for dessert straight from the oven and then pretty much devoured the rest the following day. SO good! Of course, we needed delicious banana bread to fuel us for a run in the hot sun over in Tawharanui...


Apparently I am in this photo as a tiny wee pink dot halfway up the hill but I am too small to really make out
And then all too quickly it was time to go home again and for M to head back to Christchurch. It felt even harder than normal to see him go...

Life is surreal

His eyes were filling with some great emotion, as a pitcher fills with water when it is dipped in a spring.
- The Waste Lands by Stephen King

Things have been busy and now things are just plain overwhelming and scary. It all seems so surreal. Everyone I know in Christchurch is okay but that doesn't really make it that much better. I can't help worrying about M and all my friends. I just want them here and safe. Makes being at work seem completely irrelevant.

But you've got to try and keep your spirits up so here is the cake I made for a combined birthday party we had in Christchurch a few weeks ago for M and our friends.


This is before the cake made it to the party hence the awesome kitchen bench background
We ran around outside doing a crazy orienteering course, we ate lots of delicious food and even more delicious cake and we danced to awesome 80s music until I was too tired to stand up any more. Beautiful memories.

Shaky ground

How many men had their marriage vows witnessed by fire-breathing dragons and man-eating cats?
- Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop

Oh dear! I'm getting very slack at this blogging thing of late but life has just been so super busy. I flew to Christchurch on Boxing Day then we went kayaking which you can read about here and here.

When we got back I hung around in Christchurch for another 3 weeks. In amongst working (I can do some work remotely) and surviving aftershocks (there was a 5.1 one morning which was a rather interesting way to wake up) we had some more adventures as usual! Then it was back to Auckland...well, for about 5 or 6 days anyway until I flew back down for the weekend! Now I am finally back in Auckland again and attempting to settle back into routine but it is proving a bit difficult!

So in my last post you got to see some of what we ate kayaking. Here are some other holiday meals (you can probably see a theme to our camping meals by now!!). At a holiday park in Hamner Springs we cooked up an indian curry mix from a packet with a tin of coconut cream and as many vegetables and beans as we could cram in. Simple and delicious.


Another weekend we went exploring around Craigieburn and camped somewhere near Mt White Station with some friends. Dinner consisted of veges, beans and pasta sauce on, well, pasta. So good after a long day out adventuring.


Here's the view from our campsite that night. I love the brooding sky.


When we weren't out exploring we still ate pretty well. I got very slack in the picture taking though...

We also had M's parents round for dinner one night and cooked up a storm. I didn't take pictures on the night (feeling a little bit self concious!) but here are some photos of the leftovers...M made a massive vegan lasagna which was pretty incredible. I think he made it with a whole lot of veges (mushrooms, courgette, pumpkin and possibly a whole lot of other things!), beans and tinned tomato.


For dessert I made a crumble with rhubarb from M's Mum's garden, apple and sultanas. It was SO good that it was difficult not to dive in for seconds and thirds but I was way too full.


Another night we went round to their house and M's Mum cooked up a really wicked vegan feast of salad, pizza and black currant crumble. I couldn't believe the effort she went to for us, even finding vegan cheese and I wish I'd taken photos but rest assured everything was super delicious.

Paddling for food

And there was nothing you could do about a woman like that. She just turned herself into a hammer and you ran right into her.
Fortunately.
- Making Money by Terry Pratchett

So yes, we are now well into 2011 but my posts are still stuck in last year...typical! I've been so busy I only end up getting further and further behind!

Anyway, after Christmas M and I had planned to do a 3 day kayaking trip up the Queen Charlotte Sound which is in the Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island. Unfortunately the weather turned ridiculously nasty overnight and as we continued our drive North it felt like our little rental car was going to either be blown off the road or stuck in water. A typical kiwi summer!

So that meant we couldn't start our kayaking that day and we were stuck in Picton for the night. We didn't fancy another night camping if the storm was going to continue so after ringing round a few places we managed to find a motel with space.

After scouting around the local supermarket in search of food to cook up for dinner, I discovered Bean Supreme marinated tofu on a super special (it had an expiry date for the following day). Sweet! Add a packet of frozen stir-fry veggies and we were set.


Fortunately the following morning dawned calm and clear so we were off on our adventure. We had flexible dates so we could still head out for 3 days of magical scenery.


Our kayak on the left all packed and ready to go




It was one of the most amazing adventures I've ever done and I can't wait to do another kayaking trip! You can read more about our trip here.

So what do you eat when you're out kayaking for a few days? You can pretty much take the kitchen sink with you on these double kayaks so we ate pretty well! We had a little gas cooker to make breakfasts and dinners on and lunch was a fine assortment of veggies and peanut butter on crackers (finished off with some licorice for good measure). M did most of the cooking while I did the chopping of vegetables. There's nothing like a bit of teamwork.

Dinner on the first night was pasta with fresh veggies, a bottle of pasta sauce and a tin of kidney beans. Our veggies had a little trip into the sea so there was no need for salt (okay fine, we did rinse them in fresh water afterwards but a little salt never hurt anyone right?).


Our second dinner was boil in a bag rice (classic!) and curry (made with a random sachet of curry paste we found at the supermarket, fresh veggies, a small tin of pineapple and a tin of chickpeas). The others at our campsite kept commenting on the amazing smell coming from our little cooker. I think they were jealous.


Breakfasts were porridge made with wholegrain oats, water, jumbo raisins and banana. Oh, and I had to add peanut butter to mine because I'm like that. Kept me going all morning each day (always important if you're going to be paddling for hours on end.


Everything tastes so much more amazing when you are outside on an adventure!


Happy New Year everyone!!