A few of our favourite things...

Miriam: My parents have two quince trees. I remember in my teenage years complaining about how ugly quinces were and suggested they remove the trees. Thankfully they ignored my teenage grumblings. Transformed into paste and coupled with blue cheese, the humble quince had its time in the spotlight in the early 2000's. I became a firm fan and have remained so ever since. Mum has perfected the art of making quince paste and keeps me in good supply with wee portions wrapped in baking paper and tied up with string that can either be consumed immediately, kept in the fridge or frozen and used year round. Delicious!



Libby: I already count Wellington's Harbourside Market as one of my favourite things but the herb stall located on the Te Papa side of the market (not to be confused with the herb stall on the Waitangi Park side) deserves its own special mention. It has all sorts of herbs and Asian greens that you can't find all in one place anywhere else in Wellington. On Sunday I picked up generous bunches of mint and coriander, spring onions, lime leaves and chillis, all for $1 a pop. Incredibly cheap and so, so fresh!

the ultimate sandwich

Dinner date today comes courtesy of the venison sandwich stall at the Rotorua Night Market, to which we paid a visit last Thursday night while on holiday up North. Rewena bread (Maori bread that is leavened with a potato starter) stuffed with a venison burger, homemade beetroot relish, kawakawa aioli and salad.

The bread was delicious, a bit like a cross between a good ciabatta and turkish bread - light and spongy with a holey crumb and very moist. It had been fried before being oven baked to finish cooking and let the excess oil drain away, so had a lovely chewy crust.

I was so impressed with the attention to detail at this stall - the finishing touches like the homemade condiments, the little brown box the sandwich was served in and the the wee flax toothpick to hold the bread together. The sandwich was delicious, and at $8 value for money; Miriam and I went halves and that was ample after the late lunch we had enjoyed earlier. So if you get the chance to visit the market (every Thursday from 5-8pm) look out for the guy wearing the red chef's jacket!

L'Isle sur la Sorgue - a market visit

L'Isle sur la Sorge is a small village in Provence that gets completely overtaken by a the market on Sunday mornings. Stalls line its narrow streets and riverside footpaths. I've been to a few markets now and taken many, many photos of all the food especially the fruit and vegetables but this market was the highlight. Stall holders take such pride in how they present their products. On mum's advice (she loves this market too) we arrived early and avoided the crowds.

Here's a selection of (mostly) food photos. There were clothes, jewellery, quilts and olive oil soaps on offer too but I was there for the food!

I would have loved to have bought lots of delicious goodies but being on the move it wasn't really practical so I chose a cute little bowl to add to my collection...

Noosa

Becs and I (along with family & friends) recently returned from a holiday in Noosa, on Australia's Sunshine Coast. Here are some of the culinary highlights from our travels;

Lamington is a lovely wee design store in the main street of Noosa, that also happens to sell lamingtons. They are packaged up so beautifully, and although I didn't eat them (due to the coconut) everyone reported that they were delicious.

We were treated to lunch at Bistro C, which has become a family favourite restaurant. Right on the beach, it must be one of the best located restaurants around, and we watched porpoise's frolicking in the sea as we enjoyed our food. We all loved this desert of poached pear with caramel risotto. Poor Dad was under the illusion that he'd ordered this for himself, and was rather taken aback when 4 other spoons started attacking it!

The Eumundi market, held every Wednesday and Saturday is a foodie highlight. I am a big fan of the ginger beer stall, it is such a refreshing drink on a hot day!

We also loved Claude's Food which sold delicious fresh salads and treats. Becs and Daisy both loved the rice pudding they shared, and we all enjoyed Claude's chickpea & pumpkin salad.

Bulk macadamia nuts from Nutworks. A 1KG bag of Macadamias was about $23 (Australian). Much better than the $50+ we can pay per kg here in NZ. Needless to say, we stocked up on lots of nuts.

We stayed across the road from Noosaville Fish Market, that claimed to have the best fish and chips in Noosa. And they were worth writing home about. The calamari was a particular highlight.

Although not always able to partake in eating the delicious food, wee Daisy found that there was generally a pair of sunglasses on someones face just wanting to be grabbed off and chewed on!

Rotorua market - part II

Not only does Rotorua have a Saturday morning Farmers Market, it now has a Thursday night market too. I'm back in Rotorua for Easter and a visit to the market was top of my activity list after hearing rave reviews about it from my family.

The atmosphere was quite different from the Saturday morning market, with live music creating an ambiance not unlike some of the markets I've been to in Europe. But unlike a foreign market, I could only walk a few stalls before bumping into someone I knew - or even if I didn't know them, eveyone seemed up for a chat!

This Mount Eliza Cheese tastes as good as it looks! We bought a slab of the Eliza Blue (not featured in this photo) and I can't wait to tuck into it with some of the quince paste we bought from the adjacent stall.

I dined on a $5 plate of Porcini Mushroom Ravioli with a creamy garlic sauce from Pastamia. I've been a fan of this pasta since I first discovered their ravioli in the frozen section of Thorndon New World. Ever since, I have been a ravioli snob, turning my nose up at the standard fresh ravioli from the supermarket which I find very gluey with its unrecognisable fillings. The delicious Pastamia ravioli is at the opposite end of the ravioli spectrum.

I was quite taken with this banana ice cream from Rudolf Steiner Kindergarten... the 'icecream' is apparently an old Rudolf Steiner tradition. Amazingly, the only ingredient is frozen banana, which is pressed into a juicer, and the result (served in a cone for $2) is a smooth creamy guilt free delight. Not quite so guilt free, but even more delicious is the baking at Sugar and Spice. Siobain's melting moments are perfect and great value at $2 a pop. This stall is oh so pretty and all the baking gets the LWD's tick of approval!

I finished my dining experience with a great coffee from the meanbeans mobile van. The perfect end to a great evening of food and meeting & making friends!

farmers market - Rotorua style

Rotorua has a Saturday morning farmers market. It's quite different from the French Market I frequent in Parnell - but there's a certain charm having stalls amongst the geysers and mud pools of Kuirau Park.

Becs and I both happened to be in Rotorua on a Saturday morning so we visited the market, with my brother David acting as our local guide. There was an abundance of fresh produce as well as plenty of hot food stalls and other stalls selling brick-a-brac.

David raves about the somosas at the Indian stall and brought 6 for $5 for us to try. They didn't disappoint. The pastry was perfect and the filling inside was fresh and tasty. Becs liked them so much she bought some frozen samosas to take back to Christchurch.

You can certainly see Rotorua's Maori influence coming through in the market, with several stalls selling more traditional Maori cuisine, like this rewena bread.

We were quite taken with the linguistic originality of this stall selling 'prawnitzo' kebabs - prawn and chorizo (!) We were a bit too full of samosas to try them - but perhaps something to look forward to on our next visit.