All new and shiny!

No, sorry it's not my house... yet!
It's my new website at www.coromandelflavour.co.nz.

A while ago I decided to combine my blog posts and my website into one all new space... and it is just finished... and I am very excited to show it to you. I love the new look and it is much more visual, so less words and more photographs. Yay!

If you have enjoyed following my blog here, please go to the new site and fill out the 'subscribe by email' widget on the right-hand side of the screen. I have done something clever with MailChimp so let's see how it works... it should be just what you're used to; every time I put up a new blog post you should get it in an email in your inbox.

This will be my last post here, so I hope it is au revoir (until we meet again) rather than adieu (farewell).
Love from The Coromandel...
Deborah

The Big Reveal

Nov 4, 2015

The outside of the house is now completely finished and the scaffolding has come down. Suddenly we can see the house for the first time…

We have made such amazing progress over the last few weeks… the bricklayers have been working hard and we have been following behind them with the paint, as fast as we can. Seeing the house for the first time… wow! It looks so white and sleek and modern. We almost can’t believe it. It looks so different from how it did half-painted and covered in scaffolding. For the first time we can really appreciate the design of the house. The architect showed us this tiny cardboard model; from that we had to decide on the design and now it is here in front of us full size!

We have to move out of our rental property by 18 Dec and I will miss the stunning views… we see all the boat traffic coming out of Long Bay, Kik Bay and Oamaru Bay, and we get epic sunsets.

However, back at our own little slice of paradise, there is still plenty to distract. When I look at the photos, I can see how far we have come, but when I walk around the inside, it feels like the clock is ticking now… As we don’t have any wiggle room in terms of dates, we have decided to concentrate on finishing the middle ‘pod’ first, which is our bedroom, Jack’s bedroom, bathroom and kitchen-dining. As long as those areas are finished, I think we can comfortably move in.

So now we are in the middle of lining the interior, the kitchen is being made offsite, and we are thinking about the small outside area that will form the entrance, and a step for each of the big sliding doors. Outside it is still very much a building site, and once the inside is clean, I want to try and keep it that way!

When you build a house, people talk about the endless decisions. But you can’t really believe that there are as many decisions to make as all that.

Here’s an example: just for one bathroom there have been hundreds of decisions about bathroom floor tile shape/colour/material, bathroom wall tile shape/colour/material, type of bath/finish of bath, shape of basin, size of basin, type of taps/ design of taps, storage cupboards, towel rails, shower cubicle, shower head, position of shower waste, style of mirror, position of mirror, lighting for mirror; and the list goes on… It’s huge fun but exhausting too… each decision feels momentus like the whole success of the project hangs on it. It’s difficult to get perspective when you are in the thick of it.

It will be interesting to look back on this process in a few months and see if any of those decisions jar, or if they still feel like the right ones. Wish us luck…

Food Finder Interview

Here's an interview I recently did with Trudi from NZ Food Finder. She has come up with the brilliant idea of creating a space where you can list your own favourite cafés, food producers and share that local knowledge...

http://nzfoodfinder.com/2015/10/21/local-foodie-qa-deborah-hide-bayne-coromandel-town/

The first broad beans are ready!

The first broad beans are ready in the garden, and we are looking forward to a great summer of eating freshly-picked food. It’s the perfect time to plant a few tomato plants or a tray of salad greens if you haven’t got green fingers, or a whole garden of produce if you have. I am planting lettuce, tomatoes, sweetcorn, eggplant, capsicums, beans, zuchini and cucumbers.

But let’s get back to broad beans…

I love the tenderness of the early ones; the skins aren’t too thick and they cook in just a few minutes…The first meal was couscous, fresh mint, spring onions and broad beans served warm with some salmon on the side. Delicious!

And the next recipe using broad beans? A bit of research has given me some great ideas:

> Cook pasta and add asparagus, peas and broad beans for the last few minutes of cooking. Drain, stir in some cream, a squeeze of lemon and fresh tarragon.

> Make pesto. Use 330g of cooked broad beans, fry off 2 cloves garlic & 3 anchovy fillets, then blitz up with 25g parmesan and a squeeze of lemon juice.

> Make quesadillas. Put a soft tortilla in a lightly-oiled hot frying pan, and add some grated cheese. Once the cheese has melted, add slivers of cooked steak, cooked broad beans, jalapenos and tomato on half only. Heat through, fold the tortilla in half and flip it over to cook on the other side. Cut into wedges and serve.

Some good in our ‘hood

On a recent trip to Auckland we went to a café that has been on my list to visit for some time… not only because of their great food, but also their great attitude. 

Crave Café is in Kingsland and their tagline, some good in the ‘hood really sums up their philosophy: all their profits go back to the community and they run the business as a collective.

I really loved:

·                                           > the funky interior

·                                          

                 > the wonderful sounding menu

·               > last but not least, the delicious food!

Check them out at cravecafe.co.nz

What is your favourite way to eat asparagus?

We are living in a bach at the moment and wonder of wonders… we have asparagus growing in our back garden!

They are quite well camoflaged so we didn’t spot them straight away, but now we know the location of every single spear and inspect them every day to see if they are big enough to cut… You can buy the crowns from Country Trading… so I am definitely going to plant a few at my new section.

Have you ever eating asparagus raw? It tastes great! I was carefully cutting the first ones and handing them to Jack to hold… and he was eating them as we went along… so when I looked up to ask if we had enough for dinner all that was left was a slightly guilty look and a load of woody end pieces! Oh well, plenty more spears coming up…

More some ideas than a recipe really…

Ingredients

a bunch of asparagus

choose a few things that go well with asparagus.
Here are some suggestions:

• salt
• bacon
• lemon
• capers
• eggs
• salad leaves
• tomatoes
• Hollandaise sauce 

Method

1. Wash the asparagus, if it has come from the garden and is a bit muddy
2. Snap off the woody end (the asparagus should naturally break in the right place)
3. Eat raw or cook (steam, sear in a cast-iron pan with no oil or butter, roast in a hot oven)
4. Add your favourite ingredients and enjoy!

Happy Spring!

How do you rise to the challenge of catering for a children's birthday party?

Children’s birthdays in general can be a bit of a minefield... expectations are so high on behalf of both the child and the parents and one of the biggest challenges is how to make a birthday cake that will compare favourably with those that have come before…

We go for the morning or afternoon tea option in terms of timing and I always serve very simple food (and always the same things every year): small ham and/or cheese sandwiches, mini meatballs, hummus, carrot sticks and crackers and real fruit kebabs. The only sugar hit in the whole event is the cake... but the cake is the piece-de-resistance and I try to impress...

Last year I made this one with a digger theme:

The year before I made this one with a pirate theme:

Then before that, a train theme:

But this year, I was getting over a nasty bout of flu and I decided that a six year-old birthday party was going to be an easier ride…

Jack, following in my footsteps, has been compiling his own recipe book and found a photo of a chocolaty slice that his liked the look of… ‘Done’, I said, ‘let’s make it for your birthday!’

I hadn’t read the recipe at that point, but it turned out to be a 15 minute no bake slice and one of the easiest things I have ever made… the only downside, is that it uses raw egg, so you need to use eggs you can trust. I buy mine from Yvette in town here, so I know her chooks are healthy and happy.

The kids loved it, the adults loved it and you could only eat little pieces at a time as it was quite rich… and it certainly took the pressure off Mum this year!

Chocolate Fudge Slice

2 packets vanilla wine biscuits

½ cup sultanas

¼ cup walnut pieces

250g butter or Olivani

1 cup raw sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ cup good quality cocoa

2 large or 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten

1. Crush the biscuits in a food processor or in a plastic bag with a clean rolling pin. Line a shallow cake tin (square or rectangle).

2. Melt the butter or Olivani in a saucepan, take off the heat and then add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa, sultanas, nuts and eggs. Stir well.

3. Pour this mixture over the crushed biscuits and mix together very thoroughly.

4. Spoon out into a the cake tin, press down well and refrigerate.

5. After a couple of hours it is ready to serve. Cut into small cubes… and that’s it!