pita pizza

This is what I took to work for dinner last night.  I had to have 2, as one was not going to be enough, but I guess 2 is a little piggy.  They are a small size though.

These pita breads make perfect pizza bases and I really like them as they have nothing crappy in them.
I have a special technique when it comes to these pizzas as I start them off in the cast iron fry pan on the hob.  Put what you want on it and then put it in the pan and gently cook till the bottom of the pita starts to brown.  Then put the pan with the pizza in the oven on grill and grill till the cheese has gone golden and bubbling.

For this pizza I just added what was in the fridge.  There was some tomato onion jam that was left over from the beef sandwiches that I made in the weekend so that was my base (put on quite thickly), then went on the ham,  chopped red pepper and of course the mozzerella cheese.
Once it was cooked I added some rocket, basil and a squeeze of lemon.
They are really thin and crispy with a soft chewy topping.
Yum I feel like one now...I just might.

anna s' famous bacon and egg pie

On Sunday we had our annual 'Monty Cup' cricket match, 'Fathers against Sons' (in recognition of Montys' birthday).  The sun was shining, the competition fierce and the food and drink fabulous.  I had high hopes to take lots of photos but got to caught up in the game and the company.
This is Annas' famous bacon and egg pie, apparently made with 30 eggs. This pie is as legendary as the cricket match itself.  This picture is from last years match as unfortunately I put my barefoot right in the middle of this years pie, still no one complained and every last piece was eaten.

P.S the boys won and there were no injuries this year.

dinner on sunday

We had a family dinner at my sisters house on Sunday.  What a beautiful hot day.

This is the entree we had which was really good.
Prawns, crumbled chorizo, roasted pumpkin with rocket and aioli and a stunning city view to boot.

sown the seeds

Yes I got my hands dirty last weekend.  I finally planted some seeds in my new raised bed.

 It has taken a long time to get to this stage and I thought I'd better get a move on or summer will be over.  I do not know what I am doing when it comes to vegetables and I have not had a lot of success in the past with previous attempts elsewhere in the garden,  so I have high hopes for the raised bed.
Herbs I have no problem with.  I think it is because I am impatient and don't do things correctly.   I have sown beetroot, cauliflower, lettuce, parsley and chive seeds in a very random dispersal, so lets hope things will grow.  It all adds to the mystery.
I do have an irrigation system now too.

The raised bed could not be possible without the expertise of Chris and his wonderful construction skills.  As you can see nothing would possibly grow in that clay.
Now it is filled with a beautiful combination of high grade top soil and compost.
I will keep you up dated with how I get on...

blue cod with prawn salsa

This is what we had for dinner last night.  The blue cod came courtesy of my sister and brother in law.  It came from the Chatham Islands and for those who don't know, the Chatham Islands are 800 km east of the South Island of New Zealand..
It is the most devine fish I have tasted, dense and sweet.
It was simply panfried in butter and olive oil and light dusted in flour before hand.  I used cornflour for Finns.

For the salsa put together what ever you have in fine dice.. I used


1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper
8 tomatoes
2 avocados
1 fiercely hot green chile
1 mango
1 tablespoon of finely chopped coriander
zest of 1 lime
250g of chopped cooked prawns


The dressing was a combination of palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce.
The salsa goes really well with corn chips too...

This is my ultimate favourite dinner...
actually some shoe string fries and some aioli  on the side and it would be perfect,  oh don't forget the wine...

photos by Jacob

triple cheese grilled sandwich

As I had plenty of caramelised onions and tomato sauce left over from the other nights dinner and plenty of cheese in the fridge I thought grilled cheese toasts for lunch were in order.
Firstly. toast the bread lightly, then add your tomato sauce, onions and grated cheese.  I grate all 3 cheeses (mozzarella, parmesan, gruyere) in a bowl and mix together before adding them on top of the onions.
Put under the grill until golden and bubbling.  Finally top of with black pepper and some fresh thyme.
Good melting cheese is essential.

angus beef sausage in a bread roll

Last nights dinner was mean't to be mashed potato, sausages with onion gravy but I changed my mind when I saw these bread rolls at 'New World' and decided that it would be quicker to put the sausages in a bun instead.  The bread rolls were very good.
The sausages are 'Angus beef with garlic' gluten free of course,  not that you can see them hiding in there.  Finn had to have his own gf bread.
I caramelised some onions and attempted to make a BBQ sauce which didn't quite work out how I wanted it too.  It tasted nice but it wasn't a true BBQ sauce, next time I will follow a recipe.
Cheese was also added as requested.  All in all pretty good.
Par boiling the sausages and making the sauce and onions earlier in the day make for a fast put together dinner.

saturday family breakfast

Breakfast made courtesy of Chris, everyones needs taken into consideration.

vietnamese salad

We had this salad for dinner last night, but the pictures are from the left overs that I had for my lunch today.  I just added a few more fresh vegetables and herbs.

For this recipe you will need

• 500g minced chicken
• 500g minced pork
• 400g of thin rice noodles (soaked in cold water until flexible)
• 1 cup of finely sliced cabbage
• 1 cup of finely sliced cucumber (skinned and seeds removed)
• 1 cup of bean sprouts
• 2 spring onions finely chopped
• 1 small finely sliced red onion
• 1/2-1 cup of finely chopped peanuts
• 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped mint
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped galangal or green ginger
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander roots and stems
• 6 small finely chopped or 3 large kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tablespoons of jaggery or palm sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 2 limes,  zest and juice
• chile flakes or 1-2 fresh chiles

Start off heating 2 tablespoons of plain oil to a wok or fry pan and gently saute on medium heat, garlic, galangal and coriander root and stems for a couple of minutes.  Do not let it get to much colour.
Next, add the chicken and pork mince all at once and cook through.  Add a little salt to taste.  Then add the sugar, chile and fish sauce.  Turn off the heat.
 Meanwhile drain the rice noodles of the cold water, then cover with boiling water from the jug, drain immediately and then rinse with cold water to stop them getting over cooked.  (you do not want them soggy).
Fold in the cucumber, cabbage, red onion, spring onions, bean sprouts,and peanuts, followed by the herbs, zest and juice of the limes. Add the noodles and combine. Taste for balance and add more of what you think it needs.


Serve and add extra herbs and sliced veges if you want on top.
This is a  really flavoursome delicious healthy meal which can be eaten at room temperature.

eat well travel often

73 letterpress

Eat well I do, travel often I do not...
but I have come across a great website called airbnb.com which is a global network of accommodation offered by locals.  It seems really cheap and there are some really cool places that you might not otherwise find, especially in the big cities.
The site is really easy to use, with no fluffing about..

Here are just a few that I came across that seemed interesting

Bali beach surf house, Kuta

Elba Island, Italy

Loft, Paris France

Ocean front, Malibu, California US

Fashion district, Milan Italy

Brooklyn, New York

Airstream trailer, Austin US

plant a fruit tree

Why don't you plant a fruit tree this year.  We have planted a feijoa tree and a ...

passionfriut vine.  Chris is trying to get it to creep up the deck post on the sunny side of the house...

and this is an avocado tree that sprouted from a pip that was in the compost.  I have it growing in a pot at the moment.  I don't know how successful they will be but I'm giving it a go..

food on Wednesday

Finn made himself a BLT for his after school eat.. I know I have gone on about this before, but you can't get much better than that combination, except of course if you add avocado... This is on gluten free bread

Jacob however made his version of oven fries.  He peels, wedges and parboils his potatoes by putting them in the microwave covered for 8 mins with a little water and then roasts them with olive oil and turns them over every 10 minutes until his liking, taking about 30 to 40 mins.  His dip is some concoction of mayonnaise, capers, red onion, garlic and parmesan cheese...they were yum...

 And for dinner we had a fairly predictable beef stir fry.  Always a good way to use up the vege in the fridge.  I marinated the beef in garlic, ginger, kaffir lime leaves ground up in the mortar and pestle and of course my trusty sweet soy sauce recipe, using cornflour and a little more added water.  Served with rice or noodles, we had both as I didn't have enough of either...still, just what I felt like.

beach house bliss

This incredibly beautiful home just might supersede my ultimate dream home... can't make up my mind...This home is on an island off Brazil.
Check out more photos from here from Jo at 'desire to inspire'...

Own private beach...

with pool...