what kind of cookie are you?

I am a fortune cookie! yeah.. I like giving people advice. you know, bossing people around, giving people advice, same diff.

find out what kind of cookie you are, by visiting this site, (which I came across over at Back In Skinny Jeans) and then later this weekend, I will tell you what kind of cookie we’ve been eating around here.. they are soooo good, I’m making more.. I will be posting a recipe!

I can cook on crutches: I have a stool in the kitchen, and I give advice to tom, on what he should pass me from the fridge/cupboard. ha ha!

NZ - Whakatane & White Island

well, wordpress has finally fixed the uploading glitch, and I can post this!

my recent trip to my homeland involved quite a bit of driving around and socialising and quite a bit of eating.. I’m sure no-one is surprised! I’ll break it down into a couple of posts, but I certainly haven’t recorded everything we ate! here is the first leg…

I flew into Auckland, and was met by Mother, Uncle & Aunt, and promptly driven 5 hours to Whakatane. this is the Eastern Bay of Plenty, a truly spectacular part of the world. I have many memories of traveling through here as a child; this coastline, with it’s dramatic white cliffs and black sand is exquisite, especially in summer when the iconic Pohutukawa are in bloom.

In Whakatane we met up with Grandparents and Aunts, and spent a couple of days eating, walking, shopping, talking and laughing, as well as fitting a trip to an active marine volcano in. you know, just casually. we visited Whakaari (White Island) with PeeJay, and were all blown away (NOT literally!) by the island and the tour company.. if you are ever in that part of the world, I can only recommend you go, it is certainly unlike anything else you will ever experience.

We stayed at the White Island Rendezvous (also owned by the tour company) where suites are well equipped, with massive bathrooms, and again, we were impressed by the service and genuine friendliness of the staff, not to mention the cafe’s breakfasts and coffee!

as we were celebrating Grandad’s 84th birthday (that’s him with mama and I in our volcano safety gear), we also enjoyed rhubarb and lemon syrup birthday cake, courtesy of aunt Kim, and Limoncello made last year by mother from her overproducing lemon tree.

we also ate out a few times, including the lovely hidden gem; Roquette, a short stroll from our hotel. it’s been open about a year, and we were all impressed with their staff (esp. the kindness and humour in accommodating an unbooked table of 6), as well as the yummy menu and great winelist.

next leg: Northland.. coming soon!

slightly less appetising

folks, I know I promised a very good write up of the yummy kiwi things I ate, but I have a very good excuse why nothing has shown up here yet. for those who do not keep up with the goings on in the t+z sphere, I’m sure you will be shocked to hear that I painfully twisted and dislocated my knee (due for reconstruction in a mere 2 weeks time) and may well have caused some additional damage, possibly to the remaining major ligament, resulting in an ambulance ride to emergency, and spending most of this week in hospital.

I can hear your collective gasps and cringes, and I immediately must address your utmost concerns for my wellbeing as you commiserate “oh my dear, poor you! the food must have been awful!“

yes, it was, well, not great. but it wasn’t horrible. apart from a truly awful beef soup one night, which I spent the rest of the night bringing back up (probably for unrelated reasons), the food was ok, and the shepard’s pie was actually quite good, although it happened to be the first thing I was really up to eating after 2 days, so that may have clouded my judgment a little. but, overall, not too bad at H’otel Prince of Wales, although the ambiance was a little stark, and some of the other patrons did not behave themselves.

here we have: chicken noodle soup; roast beef with ‘Italian vegetables’ (kind of a rattatoulle, ok), potoatoes (good), baby carrots (insipid) and gravy (tasty); a slice of white bread with margarine (wholemeal bread and butter was selectable on the daily menu, but this was the first day of meals for me so no selections); a banana-y muffin (dense and moist) and gluten-free vanilla icecream. every meal also came with hot water, and a tea bag (or presumably coffee sachet if elected), and a cute cutlery, napery and seasoning package.

so really, I am quite ok, it wasn’t so painful after all.

(oh, the knee is mending too. Tom is in the field, so I am recuperating at the ‘in laws’, where stair negotiation is supervised, and it is very peaceful and comfortable, not to mention the food is of a considerably higher standard. I will post the nz and other more appetising foody things soon!)

the puku is in nz

I’m in my birthland Aotearoa, visiting the whanau. just a quick 10 day visit, I am actually flying back to Oz first thing tomorrow, so it’s my on last day that I get internets again. not because nz has no internets, just because I have been driving all over the north island visiting family and hotpooling and touristing and, um, eating.

so when I am back in sydney I will start posting some food things in earnest, but in the meantime, to whet your appetites, here are some crunchy kumura chips, from a mountain top cafe, which you can also buy frozen, in any supermarket.