New Zealand has gone into a total lockdown in an attempt to eliminate the Covid19 virus. Like a lot of other people I am choosing to call it a Rāhui rather than lockdown. This Maori concept is like to "tie ho". It is used to prohibit access to a natural resource temporarily, in order to preserve it....

Marlborough Feijoas Yes it is that time of year again. Feijoas lying on the ground at all the local bays, at the mercy of roaming wekas and possums. Unless I can get there first. This lot were from Pam's at Ohingaroa and they include some of the biggest feijoas I have ever seen! Big Feijoas He...

One of the things I fell in love with at our new home in the Marlborough Sounds, was the huge fig tree at the end of the deck. By the end of summer it was completely covered in masses and masses of figs. I had dreams about all the things I was going to do with kilos of ripe, luscious figs come aut...

Kiwi, Korean and Japanese influences all paid a part in the creating of this dish. I had been on a bit of a Korean gochuchang binge anyway, loving its umami bite. And I wanted some soba. I had a bit of a hankering for my time spent living in Japan- truth be told. And with steaming hot days, cold s...

The year of the Monkey has just begun in the lunar calendar. Often called Chinese New Year, it is also celebrated by other Asian countries to various degrees. I have been lucky enough to have been living in China and Korea at different times, and have celebrated this amazing holiday in both cultures...

I know that fermented food is good for you. It is all the rage from kombucha to kimchi, sauerkraut to sourdough, kefir to kashk. People have got the fermentation bug. I absolutely hate sauerkraut, but adore kimchi. Go figure; both are variations on fermented cabbage. I guess I need that chilli hit...

Having bought a packet of fresh curry leaves from my local Indian supermarket, I was determined not to waste any. You can’t get fresh ones all the time (usually only dried) so I wanted to make the most of them. Fresh Curry Leaves Curry leaves do not taste like curry. They are called curry leaves...

Whenever we have a good length of time in a foreign country, we hire a rental car and just go where the moment takes us. We're notoriously lax at planning in advance so, using local maps, a Tom-Tom or our phones, we often head out without bookings or a plan and just trust in following our noses (or...

I make my own cheese, which produces a lot of whey. But rather than tip it out, there is so much that can be done with this “by-product”. When you make cheese, enzymes added to the milk causing it to separate into solids and liquid. The solids, or curds, are strained and become the cheese. The rem...

I started feeding my Border-Collie/Labrador cross  home-made food a year ago. The lab in her wins out too often and she gets too fat on commercial food. I wanted food that wasn’t full of fillers and additives, or suspect ingredients. She is not allergic to any foods that I know of, but I wanted to...

I have a recipe asking for Black Cardamom. Is that the same as Green? Can I use them interchangeably? In a word; NO! Most recipes calling for cardamom mean the fragrant green cardamom. Black cardamom is much stronger and smokier. Although they are related, they have completely different appearan...

A shorter version of the following appeared in The Press and the Dominion Post on October 22nd. The name Za’atar is used to describe both the blend of spices and also its key ingredient; Middle Eastern wild thyme. The wild thyme is usually sourced from places like Jordan and Syria, but it is not...