Monday, April 25, 2011

A few of our favourite things...

Libby: When I stayed with my friend Rebecca in France last year she cooked delicious osso bucco in a beautiful heavy cast iron Staub pan. I wanted on but there was no way I could bring one home with me (I estimate they weigh upwards of 5kg). I looked into buying one once home and found they were in the region of $500-600 NZD! So I checked out the Peter's of Kensington website - a fantastic kitchen/homeware store in Sydney with super-discounted prices - and found this lovely green cocette for under $200 NZD. I ordered it, had it sent to a friend in Sydney and collected it when there last week. The green was much cheaper than any other colour but I love it - I think of it as "feijoa" green!



Becs: I love these packs of Mainland sliced swiss cheese. I know it's not quite gruyere but it has a similar sweet nutty taste and melts beautifully. Perfect in a simple grilled cheese sandwich, one of my favourite lazy meals. I have been craving French onion soup since our dinner at Plum Kitchen last week, so made some to eat over the Easter weekend (which has been unseasonably hot here in Christchurch so not ideal for such comfort food, but it was enjoyed none the less!)




Miriam: It's been a mostly cold and wet Easter weekend at my parents place in Rotorua. The indoor weather meant had time to re-discover the website www.ted.com. TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) markets itself as Ideas worth spreading: Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. I've enjoyed many talks over the past few days on a variety of topics and there's many more I still want to watch. If you have a spare 21 minutes I'd recommend JK Rowling's speech at Harvard graduation ceremony on 'The fringe benefits of failure'. It's a nice way to put life in perspective.

7 comments:

  1. Libby, I love that colour green. I look forward to sampling food from it sometime soon when I book a trip to visit you in Wellington.

    Becky, who'd have thought that you'd approve of pre sliced cheese!

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  2. That's definitely feijoa green - how gorgeous!

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  3. Beautiful pot. Having pretty kitchen pieces makes cooking that much more pleasurable. We were gifted a beetroot coloured one for an engagement present and I use that pot more than anything else in the kitchen. It's proving very good for autumn too. I love that it can be used on the stovetop also can be chucked into the oven. My husband and I love Maasdam cheese but it can be pricey. I wonder if your Mainland sliced swiss cheese is a cheaper alternative? Maasdam is quite similar to Gruyere I think but is a little fruitier.

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  4. It is a beautiful green colour. My kitchen pride and joy are two Le Creuset pots: one dark brown, purchased from a French fair in Pauatauhanui, and the large bright orange pot I brought in a fit of post holiday spending madness. I feel really happy when I cook in either of them!

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  5. Love your feijoa green pot - and a perfect description of the colour! Am very envious everyone is enjoying feijoas at home at the moment!

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  6. I want one of those pots!! Now just have to convince my sister she wants to lug it back from Sydney for me, I sense much lending of clothes and cooking of bribery meals coming up......

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  7. Feijoa Green! Love it! And that's some good looking cheese too. I met Mairi of Toast last week and she was raving about supperclub - sounded amazing :)

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