Indelible Memories

There are some occasions that you know you will never forget - such as our evening last night at Auckland's Euro Bar and Restaurant. The synchronicity of great friends, amazing food and some pretty fine wines was enhanced by our position at the chef's table, where we were cooked for and waited on by our own personal staff. Their ability to interact when appropriate but allow us to totally enjoy ourselves, the food and the company, was most appreciated. Yes, we paid for it, but because it was such a special night, I am sure the pain in my wallet will fade long before the lingering memories on my palate, and the warmth in my heart.

No Like, No Pay! - Yeah, Right!

Another Venetian tale, although this one is not so ambiguous as to whether it was 'worth it' or not.
Shane's ambition on our one Italian stop, was to sample an excellent, authentic Italian pizza. Made by an authentic Italian. I had done some searching prior to leaving NZ and had identified an area away from the usual tourist haunts that recommended we would find exactly that. Unfortunately the iPhone GPS was not playing nicely as we navigated through the back streets, and we kept losing our way.
Hungry tums and hot feet therefore took us back to a place slightly off the beaten track, though still quite touristy looking, which we had passed earlier. Ristorante 1251. A guy had been vocally advertising a mantra of "You no like-a the pizza you no pay". We took a seat not anticipating that this would be a reality for us.
I was a piglet and ordered two courses, starting with a mozzarella and tomato salad, which despite being a little under-seasoned, was quite refreshing and delivered what it said on the packet. When Shane's pizza arrived - funghi with additional olives - it was sans olives so went back to the kitchen. It reappeared with a few cold olives scattered on the top. He ate in silence, leaving the majority of his pizza uneaten on the plate.
Meanwhile the order for my seafood dish had not gone through. I eventually realised this when it had not turned up and alerted the waiter -  foolishly as it turned out as it coincided with the realization that the funghi pizza was not good, and I wished I had just stuck with the salad.
The waiter cleared, enquired after the uneaten pizza, and was told it was 'not nice'. When he returned with the bill, the pizza was charged for. What happened to "You no like-a the pizza you no pay?", we asked.
Exit the meek waiter, enter the firey chef/owner or whoever. What ensued was a barrage of shouted insults from this dude, including his insistence that all his pizzas were excellent, and a good amount of punctuated finger pointing at Shane accompanied by "I no like you! I no like you!"
Well we didn't like him either. And we don't recommend any visitors to Venice eat at Ristorante 1251

PS Ristorante 1251, in a digital age beware the pissed off customer. This is not the only place I have expressed my displeasure!

Recommended Dining

I took up the opportunity to dine at one of Auckland's newest restaurants, Botswana Butchery, last night. With locations in Queenstown and Wanaka, the Auckland restaurant opened in March this year. Despite the mixed reviews I read prior to going, I must say it was one of the best meals I have had for a while. (Certainly a million times better than Wildfire on Friday - a bitterly disappointing experience).
Two of our party are young chefs-in-training, so the menu was carefully devoured and dissected and the waiter suitably quizzed (mainly by me actually) prior to orders being made. He did really well, contrary to some of the criticisms I read about wait staff in the reviews.
Given the name of the restaurant, it would have been wrong for a farmer's daughter to not order red meat, so a Savannah Eye Fillet it was. The menu allows diners to select the sauce they want from a comprehensive list, and I went with the waiter's recommendation of a mushroom and cognac sauce. You can then select your own sides - the five of us shared our choices, and there was plenty to allow for a decent taste of each (except maybe the baby beet salad I ordered, which really was side sized.)

The wine list is extensive, and I was more than happy with my Gibbston Valley Pinot Gris, though it was pointed out that perhaps with the red meat that I should have gone red; others enjoyed Hawkshead Pinot Noir.
Dessert menus were perused with four sets of eyes heading straight for the chocolate fondant; me though - I went for the lemon tart with melon parfait, which was amazing. The phone pic does not do it justice. Apparently the fondant was better. Not that we shared tastings, but there was certainly much raving about it from the four who ordered it. I also very much enjoyed my Cloudy Bay dessert wine. Delish.
All in all, while not a cheap night, Botswana Butchery will be a future destination for me for a special event.

Garden Goodies

My Mummy and Daddy Box

I often feel a little jealous when my friend Viki blogs about the things she gets and creates with her regularly delivered Ooooby Box. Today I came home with a whole heap of fresh garden goodies of my own, which came together thanks to my parents. I am calling it my Mummy and Daddy Box -  an array of produce fresh from the garden at Fothergills on Mimiha; carrots, beetroot, beans, courgettes, cabbage, cauli, broccoli and feijoas.

Plus a few extra things that also originated from the garden, such as...

Forgot to include the feijoas in the ensemble above!

• Several jars of preserved feijoa and apple (last year's lot being palmed off to make way for this years!)
• A coupe of jars of my favourite Bread and Butter pickles.
• A fat pork chop, bacon and ham steaks

The latter items came from a home grown piggy -  who would have been raised on scraps from the garden...

Dinner smells delicious!

Reminiscing...

Some things I love...
I love Tauranga.
I love sushi.
I love my friend Zara.

Zara introduced me to sushi several years back, around 2000, when a little sushi shop opened up in the main street or Tauranga. Zara had lived a year on Japan, and I was unfamiliar with this cuisine and how/what to order, so I made her pick pieces for me. From then I was hooked, and to this day sushi remains my take-out of choice, and whenever I return to Tauranga I try to stop at the same little sushi shop.
Today I had the pleasure of seeing Zara, albeit briefly. Had our plans been more in synch maybe we could have gone out for sushi lunch? However as it was, a shopping excursion to Tauranga with my niece saw lunchtime coincide with our arrival outside my sushi shop. Or so I thought. I commented when I entered that things looked different, but it was not until we sat down outside that I realised the 'my' sushi shop was about 3 doors up! Seems Tauranga has also developed quite an appetite for sushi if two can co-exist in such close proximity...
The sushi was yum anyway, but I did feel I had let my original little shop down. Still my fave...

Anyone else eat too much?

Christmas ... a laid back day with simple but simply delicious food, including ...
Turkey
Ham
Slaatje
Salads
Salmon
Ambrosia
Ice-cream
Cake
Turkish delight
Peber Nodder
and fresh summer berries... prepared and modeled by the girl clad in cherries, Lisa. Who would not add pineapple because it was the wrong colour. I approve!
All consumed in typical Kiwi style outdoors, in the summer sun. It was great to have Esther spend Christmas with us - honorary 'daughter' and ex rotary exchange student of John and Frances. She brought the Pebernodder, which are very more-ish! Little crunchy biscuity delights which you can still squeeeeze in even when you have no room. I will still be full in the morning, that's for sure!
But with two family birthdays tomorrow and the next day, the eating fest is set to continue for a wee while yet...

Say "Cheese"

I quite like supermarket shopping, though am decidedly predictable in what I buy. Today, with a sizable gift voucher burning a hole in my pocket, I moseyed around New World in Botany Downs selecting things I rarely buy  - well not all at once - and depositing them with gay abandon into my trolley. My contributions for the Christmas table and ensuing days at with the family at home in Matata. A few cheeses here, smoked salmon and smoked chicken there, other nibbly bits that I love but am always either too tight or diet conscious to purchase... and quite a few bottles of wine. Needless to say, the voucher amount was easily exceeded. 

THE Gingerbread House.

I am sure my friend Viki will be blogging about this too, and I will attach the link to her blog when she does.
(Here 'tis)
I am picking she will let her readers know of the challenges and anguish that went in to building this creation - an amazing Gingerbread House for her daughter Isabella's 4th birthday party.
We, and all the children, saw only what she had ultimately intended - an intricate, child-appealing house of delight.

My only regret is that I did not stay to taste it! Knowing Viki it would have tasted equally as good as it looked.
The cake pops (aka trees) in themselves were pretty amazing.

Fitting it all in

Aside from the learning overload and reflective thinking that fills one's brain whist at a conference like Ulearn, there is another kind of filling up that also occurs. The filling of one's stomach. Much supplied food and eating out, coupled with lengthy periods of sitting tends to swell one's stomach beyond its normal parameters.

So imagine my surprise when I opened my new pair of tights this morning to see that the 'girth' was barely as wide and my calf, let alone my thigh, or heaven forbid, my waistline. The photo does not actually illustrate how narrow the point of entry was!
But easily stretch to the right proportions they did - in fact, because they are waistband-less, they are fantastically comfortable, and capable of accommodating further inevitable spreading that will occur over the next two days!
P.S. let's hope the food of the future is as pleasant it was at lunch today, and better than it was at dinner last night!

Voila!

Another idea I have been toying with is 'finding' alphabetic representations in the real world to photograph. I first stole the idea from artworks representing 'significant words' in shops like Texan Art Schools and An Eye for Art, and have since read about trying to 'find' the whole alphabet on various photoblog sites.

When I unpacked the chillies from the shopping today... Volia! They landed on the bench in the most uncontrived, perfect 'V'.  So I made the most of it. I wonder if my alphabet might have a food theme?