A few of our favourite things

Miriam: I am a picker and a licker in the kitchen. I think that's why Becs gave me this tea towel for my birthday back in October. I've just 'framed' it, using an embroidery ring. It now hangs proudly in our kitchen which I think sets the scene nicely.

Libby: My freezer is crammed with things I stash away with the best intentions but never get around to using: overripe bananas to turn into banana bread... leftover bread to blitz into breadcrumbs and half-used bags of frozen vegetables I've long since lost interest in. But in amongst all, carefully wrapped in newspaper I found a small bag of whitebait that I'd bought back in January! A very exciting Sunday evening discovery! The whitebait was turned into fritters with the help of a couple of eggs, a very small amount of flour and some salt and pepper. We ate them with a squeeze of lemon on an unseasonably warm and sunny Wellington evening. It felt like perhaps Summer wasn't quite over.

Becs: I have been on a preserving binge lately. Batches of tomato chilli jam, tomato sauce, pear and walnut chutney and spicy plum sauce have been brewed up, and bottled with the help of my ever faithful wide neck funnel. An essential tool to get sticky things into jars neatly and with a minimum of mess! The funnel was a present from Mum several years ago, and is one of my most used kitchen tools, as I use it weekly when bottling sauces and compotes for Posh Porridge.

a few of our favourite things...

Becs: The perfect Spring meal? Dinner one night last week consisted of 2 slices of buttered white bread, a fat whitebait fritter made with West Coast whitebait simply mixed through a couple of beaten free range eggs from a friend's chickens, and steamed asparagus with plenty of salt and pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

 Miriam: While in Tauranga for Nat and Rowan's wedding in the weekend I had a trip to the Tauranga Farmers Market. We brought some of this apple and feijoa juice. It was delicious; so fresh with perfectly balanced flavours, and not too sweet. I was grateful to have some of this on Sunday to quench my thirst after a night of celebrating, drinking bubbles and dancing.

Libby: I've been eating strawberries by the punnet over the last week and the ratio of sweet little berries to insipid, watery ones is improving with each punnet! A sure sign that Summer is well and truly on it's way. They're good straight from the punnet but I also I love them mixed through bircher muesli, with a little softly-whipped cream with lemon curd folded through, or in this case... piled atop a beautiful strawberry tart.

West Coast connection

Today is two years since Becs' husband Mike 'The Culinary Master' tragically died.

Becs and Mike used to live is Hokitika on the West Coast. Before they moved we thought there was nowhere worse in the world to live than Hokitika. However Becs managed to embrace The Coast and the culinary delights on offer. One such delight was whitebait. Here's a photo of Mike whipping up a batch of whitebait fritters.

I decided to make whitebait fritters when I had some friends round for dinner on Saturday night. Unlike when Becs could buy fresh whitebait at the Hokitika dairy, I went to four different shops before finding some in the frozen section at New World. I tried to turn a blind eye to the fact that my whitebait came from Indonesia and made them as described by Becs here on her old blog West Coast Kitchen.

I'm sure my fritters paled in comparison to the ones Becs and Mike used to make, but they were all gobbled up none the less. The men were particularly thrilled that they were permitted to eat them while drinking beer in front of the rugby. I think Mike would have approved.