The art of bitter greens
Curly endive is the one salad green that grows in my garden all year round. It's my essential salad green. Right now the plants are going to seed. They have shot up into tall spikes with small purple flowers. But there are still frilly green leaves for the taking,...
Kawhia Kai Festival
The Kawhia Kai Festival is an annual food event celebrating Maori food and culture. It takes place at the remote, normally quiet settlement of Kawhia on Waitangi weekend, and this year I went for the first time. It's one of the Waikato’s most famous food festivals....
Ducks in a row
On a sizzling hot summer’s day, good icecream is a great idea. And the place to go for locally made frozen treats is right here in my neighbourhood: Duck Island, on the corner of Grey St and Cook St in Hamilton East. Duck Island's quirky, playful icecreams are fast...
More than an apple a day
This is a great time for backyard apples. I’ve just started my first brew of home made cider vinegar from windfall apples. Both my apple trees are doing well, and other people’s are doing even better. If I had to pick a favourite fruit, it would be apples. They are...
Out of the box
The vege and fruit box arrived this morning. The fridge is stuffed to overflowing, especially the vegetable drawer. But it won’t be for long. This post is about what happened to all that food. I love getting a box of produce delivered. It narrows down the choices with...
Laughing at vegetables
This week we got a big laugh out of the Ooooby box. Kohlrabi is one of those things that reminds you that the universe has a sense of humour. Something I’ve learned through growing my own veges (not very skilfully) is they often come out looking funny. Funny ha-ha....