Coromandel

Waihi, is the gateway to the scenic Coromandel Peninsula. Tourists of all nationalities, stop to shop, in the quaint craft and art shops, buy food and wander around. One of the newer tourist attractions; is the 5 km walk around the rim of the open pit gold mine, Martha Hill. More like Martha hole! The scale of the mine is hard to fathom. A spill of black truck tyres, down one edge, looked reasonably insignificant until you walk past one, up close.

The walk is oddly disconcerting. The beginning of the track starts out looking like the usual flax and grass, beautification, landscaping effort. Then, the walker moves into more of a scrubby tree and bush area, stumbling across an old bullion storage shed, complete with the rusted steel racks. The downward track leads into a no man’s land which is really eerie. Here, more than a decade ago, land was swallowed up. Houses disappeared into gaping abysses. (The town’s underground is honeycombed with old shafts and drives and is unstable.) Then, the authorities removed the houses and sheds, leaving just the concrete pads. Now, the area is barricaded off from road traffic. Fruit trees and camellia bushes flourish on what were house sections.

Lastly, the walker moves closer to the mine workings and up to the relocated skeleton of the Cornish pump house. There is no way a landscaped walk way around an ugly open cast mine, makes up for the lost hill.

Politically, this is a highly topical subject in the country, at the moment. The government has indicated it wants to increase New Zealand’s economic base but the price is to destroy some of the most scenic beauty in the world.

The Engine Room

If I was a paid critic, I would be doling out gold stars for the food. The Engine Room is located in Northcote, actually Northcote Point, in Auckland. My sister and I went there for my birthday meal. We could not get a table so we sat at the bar and were pleasantly surprised at the attentive waiters and friendly atmosphere for a very busy, if noisy, service. I loved my choice of fish with fennel puree, mussel and saffron vinaigrette.

The truth is, I had passed the interview for MasterChef NZ, the TV show, and had my cook off, two days later and any inspiration I could get, was very appreciated. (I probably alarmed the owner with my scribbling in my notebook.) However, by dining there, the respite from being 100% obsessed with food at the time was most welcome. It is a most peculiar feeling being competitive in the field of your favourite hobby. My pastry let me down on the day so I am not a Master Chef, just as always, a passionate foodie.

Hay hay!

It is late afternoon and the shadows are drawing long and hard across the paddocks. We are anticipating the first biting frost tonight. Already, the sky has that glass-like, cold look. Roger has gone to feed the cows with sweet hay.

The old cat will slink out the front door later, cat swearing under its breath, making its way to the barn. Then Monty will haul himself up on the tractor wheel before burrowing into the hay bales and dream mousy dreams until morning.

The hay barn is a repository of junk and treasure -‘man treasure’. Roger has been ferreting about, looking for extra dog bedding and came across parts of my father’s World War 2 kit. I am not that sentimental to want to pass canvas bags, down the line to future generations, so I will put them up on Trade Me. Incredibly, his sock mending kit complete with ‘number 19 standard issue thread’, is in mint condition.

Hay, that’s an interesting afternoon’s find!

Lovely Lace

I have a box of old sewing bits and pieces. I couldn’t help thinking about who wove the lace threads, half a century ago. Were they cottage industry workers from quaint cottages or did they sit battery hen style, in a draughty huge workshop in a smoggy Midland’s city, wearing grey smocks?

I wonder what garment, the collar came from? It has been in the family as long as I remember and I think my grandmother gave it to me. The laces are English in origin, for New Zealand was a colonial outpost, and we traded butter and lamb for fineries in those days.

I came across my French embroidery kit I bought in Saumur, from a petite lace and haberdashery shop near the river. (It is a pity my French is not up to scratch, as the instructions are very detailed.)

Days have gone too when we carried a fine handkerchief. Grub roses. Drawn thread work. Entirely hand stitched.

I wonder what I will do with these little threads of history?

Love a Duck

I am so glad duck shooting season ends this weekend. One selfish reason is that I dislike being woken abruptly by some horrendous shotgun blast, mere metres from my bed. Last Saturday morning at 6.30am on the dot, someone hidden in the scrubby bushes on the harbour’s edge, let rip. With all the rain we have had, the wee ducks have enjoyed playing in the flooded streams and ponds. I counted three dozen today. But now dusk is drawing in, they have all disappeared.

I believe birds are very intelligent.

Duck for cover, rule 1 – go swim on the pond by the house. Rule 2 – fly over the house and try and aim for the washing line or the people talking outside. Rule 3 – avoid the mad hunter with the pathetic duck caller, down the road. Rule 4 – oil your wings as the squeaky noise you make when flying, gives you away or stay hidden until dark.

Hey Pesto!

Winter kicked Autumn out (quick smart) this year. Our balmy Indian summer has changed into a soggy wet week with phenomenal rainfall. So, out to the garden I go between showers and liberate the last of my basil which I was growing on to seed. Then I harvested the forest of dill. But even I could not deal with that much pesto. I rang the neighbours and duly dispensed food kits complete with the recipes and a bag of nuts to crack. I also, include the tip on how to store the pesto.

Recipe:
     • 2 firmly packed cups of any soft herb (basil, dill, parsley ...)
     • 2 cloves of garlic
     • ½ cup of olive oil
     • ¼ cup parmesan or tasty cheddar, finely grated
     • ¼ cup roasted nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, macadamias ...)
Place all ingredients in the food processor and blitz.

Top tip – Put the pesto in a large snap lock bag and spread it out flat then freeze in a flat position and break off the amount your require while frozen.

Favourite uses: as a garnish on top of soup, as a base for pizza, as an ingredient in savoury scones or muffins, as a dip with grissini breadsticks, as a hidden flavour boost when roasting vegetables.

Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa)

What a relief we feel to have harvested our Kiwifruit crop before the seasonal storms began.

The charming Vanuatu pickers arrive in mini buses and quickly strip the vines of ‘Hairy Berries’. The firm fruit gets placed in bins then whisked off to the packhouse. Our fruit was graded as a superior, premium, sweet fruit so it will be sent to Japan and Korea for consumption.

It is a pity the fruit is not able to be completely soft and vine ripened after a few frosts zap up the sugar content and the flesh turns emerald green and truly becomes deliciosa.

Waterfalls in the forest

Katikati residents are privileged to have beautiful walks, beaches and a plethora of outdoor activities to choose from in their proximity. The spectacular Kaimai Mamaku ranges has exquisite scenic bush and waterfalls and few locals even know some of them exist. The falls we enjoy the most are a mere fifteen minutes walk down through bush to hear the roar of the water. The scenery is so stunning, I always go first in the line so I can turn around and watch people’s faces when the first sight the main waterfall.

Curry Lunch

Bring out the Bollywood props and dust off the curry recipes. June is our annual Curry lunch date. Everybody brings a curry and we share and compare flavours and vote for our favourite.

This year I am vamping up the decorations. I am going to contrast fuchsia with yellow and melon colours and make wow factor ‘Taj Mahinis’ with orange flavoured grappa as a base and cranberry and pineapple juice. One year I made the slices of dehydrated orange flower decoration. A month or so later we had a plague of caterpillars and found only the skeleton of the orange slices left. They had had a Bolly good feast.

Season of Mellow Fruitfulness

Fickle weather and foul winds drive us indoors to cook wholesome things. But we must not forget in twelve week’s time, the ground will warm up again and seeds need sowing.

I am a convert to Heirloom or Heritage seeds. The end results may look a little less straight and supermarket shiny but the TASTE is sensationally different.

Once upon a muddy time, the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand, with its tree bereft paddocks, at the beginning of the 1900’s, invited Mediterranean workers to seek the kauri gum residual lumps. The gum workers would probe the soil with a long wire then bag them up. Gum was valuable and traded into everything from varnish to flooring products. And, workers needed feeding with quality food.

Here, I have my Dalmatian bean pods drying on the vines, long after harvest has finished. I will wait for a windy, clear day to crack open their crusty ‘J’ shaped husks. Then, I will place them in an unsealed envelope to air and wait until one month before the longest day before harvesting. This is because beans like a warmer soil to unfurl.

All to do now is to rake leaves and more raking and more leaves. I’ll leave you to it!

Baby clothes

Some days are just that little more poignant than others, don’t you think? It is a perfect May Day with a radiant blue sky and a few puffy cotton wool clouds on the horizon. It is also a perfect day for sorting out the sewing boxes.

When I came across the 1950’s pattern my mother had given me, I felt sad. She would have loved to have seen her granddaughters all grown up and enjoying their lives. I dug out the little baby gowns she had made when my daughters were born and traced her delicate embroidery and smiled at the memory of her sitting at her tiny black Singer sewing machine, crafting these with love.

Book look

Recent favourite reads include; what I call the Paris Metro specials. Petite booklets divinely sized to sit comfortably in one’s hands. I thought they were French humoured, quirky and intriguing but a little dark, in content. These were including; Un Secret by Philippe Grimbert and The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan.

My recent lighter reads include the novels by Tracey Chevalier.

My recent favourite book, to date, is The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt. The cover depicts a most exquisite take on an Art Nouveau brooch.

Hot stuff

Hi, we like Thai Food. Adore the stuff. At home we enjoy; Fat Boy fish sauce, fresh limes from the garden mixed with fresh ingredients. But smarty pants Kiwis asking sweet Thai ladies at our favourite Thai restaurant ‘Thai Palace’ in Bethlehem Tauranga, to give us; “what you would eat at home”, served us right. Every dish was too hot! So are these chilli peppers I grew this year. They are the Jalapeno variety.

Ideas: Chilli in stir fry, chilli in salad dressings, chilli in any minced chicken or meat, chilli in sweet corn fritters, chilli in casserole, chilli in prawn vermicelli salad. I no longer wonder why not too many bugs like them!

Flying Shack Schnapps and Grappa making

Who can question a lifestyle advocating alcohol and ultimate sustainability? Here we complete the last of the summer wine making. Three fine gentlemen supervise the press but the special thing is in the barrel; front of picture. The grape skins are pressed into a ‘cake’ in the cage. Roger places all the cake skins and fine twigs into the grey barrel, adds water and ferments it. Along comes Henri (or Roger), with his mini still and schnapps (fruit alcoholic product) or grappa (grape alcoholic product) is brewed. The second distillation is the dangerous one and could make the still a flying shack.

We had Henri’s Father’s Day picnic lunch mid distillation, by the Spirit of Henri shack then went whitebait fishing. Mark (son of Henri) and Roger of course, shared Father’s Day with Henri. Paella, Salad Mimosa on a Provencal tablecloth ooh la la! Why was I only game enough to make the salad for a top chef??? Mark’s restaurant is by the way called, Ortega Fish Shack. Check out his creds...

Paella

Blame Spain! An overnight sojourn in the resort Roses meant we are now in love with Paella and Roger defines it; lots of seafood, good quality home made chicken stock, spices, tomato, paprika and extras to add.

Dear Friends, it is thunder and lightning here but why are we having around 20 degrees C in the last throws of Autumn? Roger makes paella. It is delicious. I make the chicken stock and all green herbs are home grown. Secret tips – keep clean ingredients, cook off onion and spices first and above all be quiet and patient as cooking likes a quiet vigilance. Bon chance.

Gorgeous Gift

Here is a cute hot water bottle for tots:

Dear Friends, what do you give a five year old niece for her winter birthday? This adorable present is the brainchild of Australian 'Annabel trends'. I bought it at Mount Maunganui's sensational shop innersense.