Welcome to the
Waikato
Food Basket
This is a blog that celebrates the delicious abundance of the Waikato region.
Eat your Greens
I’ve always loved green salads. My definition of an abundant life includes a garden with an apple tree, a lemon tree – and salad greens and herbs. My absolute essential greens are flat-leaf parsley, curly endive and land cress.
The mighty quince
There’s a garden in my neighbourhood with a quince tree on the front lawn. At this time of year it’s festooned with fat golden quinces.
The mighty quince
There’s a garden in my neighbourhood with a quince tree on the front lawn. At this time of year it’s festooned with fat yellow quinces. And the grass around the base of the tree is covered with windfall quinces. Quinces look like big blobby yellow pears, covered with...
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Writing about eating
A new home for the market
The Hamilton Farmers’ Market has recently moved to its new permanent home in Claudelands Park. The stallholders say they’re happy to be in a covered building. There are stalls outside as well, but it will definitely give the market more options in bad weather. Market...
Mizuna, mizuna
We bought some beautiful feathery red and green mizuna from David of Suncakes Gardens at the Farmers’ Market. When I seized it with enthusiasm, David asked me how I was planning to use it. Mizuna is a mild-tasting member of the mustard/cabbage family. It thrives in a...
Time for tea
I’m very fond of tea in all its forms. (No tea bags in our house!) And I’d often driven past the Zealong tea plantation on the road to Gordonton, but never been there. So when my tea-loving friend Melissa proposed a visit, I was more than happy to agree. On a wet...