A lazy girl goes on her hols.......

I cant quite decide if the best bit of going on holiday is waiting to go , or actually going? I love the anticipation of a trip, and given my propensity for over packing, getting lost & stressing out about having to fly.........maybe I should just plan lots of trips. Wouldn't the Minister of Finance love that? In my imaginary world I would arrive at my destination cool, calm & glam, trotting off business class with a toss of my frizzless hair, carrying my tiny suitcase (I pack a whole fabulous wardrobe in one teeny carry on) jumping into the back of a scooter driven by a hunky Italian to be whisked off to an amazing restaurant......yes please!
In reality of course I stagger off economy, hair in electric shock mode, covered in whatever meal was served (how do you eat with your neighbours elbow in your supper & not spill anything? After a long haul flight I practically need hosing down...) Hauling far to much luggage I crawl into a taxi, only to discover, inevitably, the address for the hotel is buried somewhere at the bottom of a bag, which bag.......

Actually Fiji was fun, after a wobbly start it was a great week. I even came back with a tiny bit of a tan. I say tiny as the only bit of me brown is the back of my neck. The rest of me is slightly more freckled, with an arresting assortment of red mozzie bites covering both lilly white legs, quite festive really...

We stayed at the Hilton on Denerau. It was a good deal and included breakfast, one of Mr PK's stipulations. There are other resorts on the Island, the price between them was pretty similar, so I based my choice on a few friends recommendations. We stayed in a beachfront studio, it was a reasonable size, with a great bathroom, and a patio with a another lounger & chair & table. 

We arrived to pouring rain, were sent to the wrong room initially, when we did find the right room, there was no Playstation, and only four TV channels, of which three were essentially snow. This may sound minor, but given the state of the weather, unsure how long it would continue my two books started to look desperately inadequate. At this rate Mr PK & I may have had to TALK!? To top things off, dinner that night was cold. To be fair the Hilton didn't charge us for dinner, installed the promised Playstation and fixed the resort wide TV issue, and we really did have a pretty fabulous week.

I thought I would put together a few tips, the things I wish I knew before we went on our hols....

1) Food is expensive at the resorts. I had been pre warned, but I don't think I realised HOW expensive!
We had breakfast included, which was great, loads of choice including plenty of wonderful tropical fruit. But the coffees are made with UHT milk, which always tastes a bit funny to me. We didnt eat breakfast until around 10-10.30am (I know, but no kids ok!) so around 3-30-4pm we liked to have something, maybe some cheese & crackers, or wedges by the pool, and a bigger meal later in the evening. An average main at most of the main restaurants on Denerau Island is around NZ$35-40, we had a delicious meal at Moo Moo at The Westin which came in at FJ$320 (approx NZ$240), that was a starter & main each, two beers and two glasses of wine........ouch! We paid a similar amount at the Raddisson, to be fair both meals were excellent, but if you want beef expect to pay at least another $20-40
But there are other options. One night we had room service pizza and garlic bread, which was really excellent for around NZ$30. We don't have a TV in our bedroom at home, so sitting in bed eating pizza & watching a movie is quite luxurious.
Another evening we walked down to the Golf Club opposite the Sheraton and had a beer each, a simple Chicken dinner and perfectly drinkable wine for around NZD$50. It is a lovely spot to sit , looking out onto the course, and the night we went they had a musician playing guitar and singing, he was fantastic.
Another option for reasonable dining, especially if you have kids, is Denerau Wharf. We didn't eat there, but stopped off one lunchtime for a beer & to sit in the sun. I can recommend Vonu beer, much nice than Fiji Premium (in my opinion anyway!) There is a Hardrock Cafe & three or four other options, including Indian & Italian

2) Alcohol is expensive, and the choice can be patchy. Watch the labels, one shop had a 2009 Chardonnay, with an identical bottle behind from 2005. A local beer will be FJ$3-5, an imported beer such as Heineken anything up to FJ$16 (at the bar at the resort). A glass of wine sitting on the patio at sundown is just lovely, so I am glad I chucked a few little bottles of bubbly in the suitcase.


Danerau Port. There is a supermarket & wine shop, which was much more reasonable than similar outlets at our resort.

Having a beer in the sun by Denerau Wharf. Off to my left a queue of tourists were waiting to board a cruise ship, it was delayed so they were slowly cooking in the sun.........

3) There is a "bula bus" that does a circuit of all the resorts on Denerau & down to the Port for FJ$7, this is a hop on hop off fare for the whole day, the last bus is 11.30pm.
There is also a yellow local bus we caught from outside the Hilton which stopped at the Port, and took us to Nadi for the morning. Mr PK got a very nice haircut for FJ$20, I had a wander around the shops. There is a bit of hassle factor, but nothing to onerous. The bus is FJ$1 each way, you pay when you get off, not when you board



I couldn't resist a pic of this retro beauty, I had an oven like this at my last house, except it was about 40 years old, this is much nicer!



The produce market at Nadi. We were fairly limited as there was no kitchen in our studio, but it was interesting to wander around.....

Kava root, there was a lot of this for sale!

The root ground up, ready to be made into the famous beverage

I would like to show you a picture of Mr PK supping his Kava, but he was clearly a thirsty chap as it disappeared before I had a chance.....I didn't partake, after my tummy upsets of a few weeks ago I didn't fancy taking my chances, very annoying!

4) We were chatting to a waitress down at the wharf, she told us Fiji has something like 200 regional dialeacts, bula vinarka, or just "bula" is the universal greeting. It is considered rude not to greet someone this way, get used to it, you will hear it in your sleep.........

5) Dont be a moran like me, remeber the bug spray........

When good feet go bad........bug spray, use it! And a pedicure perhaps...

All in all it was a great week, and I would go again. Taking a few supplies of my own......I would not say it is an "eating" holiday, but it was fine, enough choice and with a bit of thought you can do pretty well....the avearge temp was around 29C, we had a oit of rain but it cleared up very quickly, and the pools were magic. After a few days I was very relaxed, which after a looong year was the point really......

Peace & quiet........take plenty of books and relax..........bliss.

Kedgeree for a holiday......

As usual I left my packing for our holiday to the last minute (despite a staggering amount of list making the week prior), so supper this Friday needed to be quick, tasty & use up the vacuum pack of hot smoked salmon I brought for my sister’s birthday party & didn’t use. The solution proved delicious, a version of Kedgeree that was as good to eat as it was easy to prepare. It is also a fantastic way to make not very much salmon go a long way....

Kedgeree was created by the English in India during the Raj. It is a mildly spiced mixture of rice, eggs & poached smoked fish, usually smoked haddock. Generally served as a breakfast dish, it would have been prepared & served by servants into a lovely silver chafing dish, sitting on a Victorian sideboard already groaning with food, just the ticket to sustain a thrusting young East India Company man before he trekked off to an exhausting couple of hours at the office.
I have a distinct lack of servants, sideboards or chafing dishes, so my not terribly authentic recipe ( I was making it up as I went along, never having actually eaten Kedgeree before!) was instead served up to my husband & sister for supper. Hot smoked salmon is my favourite smoked fish, and eliminates the poaching, making this a very quick supper, even if your kitchen staff are on their hols & you have to cook yourself.....

Kedgeree              Serves 3-4

1 onion
Splash oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
Pinch cayenne pepper or chilli powder
Good grind of black pepper
200 grams basmati rice
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock, heated ( I just bung a jug in the microwave)
3 eggs
4 chopped spring onions
1 cup frozen peas
250 gram hot smoked salmon (or used any smoked fish you like
Handful chopped coriander or parsley

In a large frying pan melt the butter and oil together over a medium-low heat. Peel & finely chop the onion, and add to the pan with the salt. Stir and cook for 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli, stir and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the rice, stirring to coat with the onion oil spice mixture, then pour in your stock, stirring to combine. Cover with a lid (or foil if your frying pan has no lid) and leave to cook on low for 10 minutes

Meanwhile put your eggs into a saucepan of water & bring to the boil. Boil for 7 minutes then drain & pour over cold water. Peel the eggs and slice into quarters.

After your rice has been cooking for 10 minutes, add the chopped spring onions, peas and half the coriander, stir through the rice, which will still be quite wet, cover again & cook another 10-15 minutes. When the rice is tender but not mushy, add the eggs & smoked salmon, gently folding through the rice mixture with two forks. Cover with a teatowel, then a lid (or foil) & leave to sit for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining coriander and serve

It is actually quite a light meal, but sustaining at the same time, with a lovely smoky gentle spice. Very elegant with a glass of bubbly for brunch, and a whole lot easier to prepare then eggs Benedict!

I am writing this from our hotel in Fiji. We arrived to gray skies and pouring rain, which thankfully have stopped, I have already finished one book, and am about to start number two. This is the view from the patio, I can hear palm trees swaying in the breeze and behind me, the insistant,  profoundly irritaing twang of a games machine .......



But the best bit of the trip so far? Besides the in room Playstation? Mr PK just discovered the Sky channel in our room is playing Chelsea v Liverpool at 5am tomorrow morning. We can watch football on holiday without even getting out of bed. Wish you were here??

Hello Wellington......I'll stop talking long enough to eat

I've just spent a great weekend in Wellington with my friend Yummy Mummy. She was having a wee holiday from being mega-mum to two young kids, I was leaving Mr PK to have some quality time with Tommy & Tuppence......ok, any excuse for a trip to Wellington.
We have been friends since we were 5, but have never actually travelled together, so it was a bit of an adventure. Being friends with someone does not guarantee you can share a room, a lesson I learnt the hard way on one particularly fraught trip to New York. I was in charge of booking flights (thanks Grabaseat!) , YM booked the accommodation, and here is one secret to convivial travel, your own bathroom and hairdryer! We stayed at the Boulcott Suites, booked through wotif. It was fab, a bedroom/bathroom each, proper coffee and nice & central, what more could you need? A camera actually, I managed to leave mine at home, so all pics are from the iPhone....

Our home for the weekend.....

We did what friends do, talked, ate , talked, shopped, talked, drank, then talked & ate a bit more, bliss....and jaw ache

Ernesto was a great spot for brunch pre shopping. We both had the  Free-range eggs on  hash browns with  bacon and hollandaise (I know, but we both really wanted the same thing ok?) which was excellent ballast for the morning. Who can resist a crunchy hash brown, I mean really, who? It was also lovely to say hi to Laura over at Hungry & Frozen, who happened to also be at Ernesto ( I spent ages myopically trying to decide it was actually her, before crossing the room & potentially being shot down by someone else not called Laura wondering who the hell I was...)


Dinner at Floriditas was a treat, even if we did eat at 6.15 (people with kids do eat a little earlier....) I went for the Wellington on a Plate menu, which was great value, and delish, YM ordered a la carte.

My meal, from a small set menu selection was

Rocket & walnut pesto, smashed green olives & pea tendrils & parmesan linguine
Verdict: delish, the pesto was really flavoursome, the pea tendrils added a wonderful freshness, and the pasta was well cooked, my only teeny gripe, it could have been slightly hotter
Wine match Nga Waka Vineyards 2009 Sauvignon Blanc

Char grilled aged black angus sirloin, cavelo nero & rosemary roast potatoes
Verdict: Tender well cooked beef, slightly chewy tasty cavelo nero & crunchy rosemary potatoes. Not reinventing the wheel, but a great meal.
Wine Nga Waka Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay (not the suggest match, that was a Pinot Noir, but once a Chard Hag, always a Chard Hag I'm afraid....)

No, this isn't my beef, but YM Chorizo Risotto balls, served with a white port (cue more giggles, we had already had a bubbly....)

Baked vanilla ricotta, caramel pears & gingerbread crumbs
Oh yummy, I don't normally go large on pudding, but this was delish, not to sweet or heavy, prefect after a rich meal....

Confession, we had already started eating when I remembered the camera....

I must confess I didn't get as many pictures as I planned, natural greed overcoming any pretensions to artistic photography (ie I was halfway through my beef before I remembered I forgot to take a pic....dang),so apologies for that.

The set menu with the two glasses of vino was $70, which I think represents great value. The other options, a Pork terrine, pork chop & chocolate mousse also looked fab, get along if you can & try it out:)

As usual I had a great time in Wellington, and would be back in a flash. Check out all the other great events going on for Wellington on a Plate and get along, I'm jealous!

Flying solo, can you dig it?

Sorry, but I heard Isaac Hayes on the radio, "Shaft, ..........can ya dig it?" I suspect it sounds slightly less groovy from a slipper wearing trackie clad white chick in her thirties than Mr Hayes, but Pru thought I was pretty funky.....

Anyway, I am also digging my latest library find, a great book called Alone in The Kitchen with an Eggplant. It is a collection of essays by various food writers on the subject of dining alone, and it is fascinating.

I rather enjoy eating by myself, but being married for the best part of twelve years has limited my opportunities a bit. While I am not complaining ( we still quite like each other, and can spend many happy hours discussing the cat, the hole in the ground and why I spend so much money on food) I occasionally like to eat with just myself for company. Perhaps if this wasn't a choice I would feel differently, but as it stands a solo supper is quite a treat.
 
It was interesting comparing my attitude to some of the authors, but I did disagree with Laura Calder (which surprised me as I love her show French Food at Home) about dining alone as something to avoid at all costs? I love cooking, and really enjoying expressing how I care about people through food (sorry, I know that sounds corny, but there you go) but surely you can only do that if you also care about yourself? So how better to be nice to yourself than with something yummy to eat? I would hardly call that tragic......
 
 
 
  I was home alone the other night, and harvested the mighty crop of veges pictured. Actually that is one benefit of the single supper, not trying to make two zucchini, a couple of radishes and a some peas feed a crowd. I picked up two lovely lamb cutlets from the butcher I my way home, the rest was garden or pantry staples, and it was really good.  
 

 
Herb Lamb Cutlets with Spring Couscous, Griddled Zucchini and Lemon
 
Firstly rub your lamb with a mixture of the following
 
A crushed garlic clove, chopped finely
A splash of olive oil
a pinch of ground cumin
a pinch of chilli powder
Couple of springs of lemon thyme, chopped
A sprig of rosemary, chopped
Salt & pepper
 
While it marinates for a few minutes, pour boiling water over a 1/2 cup of couscous. I pour enough water to come about a cm over the top of the grains, this seems to leave it cooked but not gluggy.
Add salt generously, a chopped spring onion, a couple of chopped radishes, as many peas as you can squeeze out of their pods, and a few pine nuts if you have them. Cover with a plate, and leave to cook for about 10 mins.
Heat up the griddle pan (or grill) and slice a couple of zucchini thinly. Brush with some olive oil and place on your griddle pan until charred and soft. Put on a plate and squeeze over some lemon.
Now cook your lamb on the same pan (I love reusing pans, makes me feel so clever and organised,plus less washing up for the solo diner...) until it is charred, but still pink inside. My cutlets took about 3-4 minutes per side.
While they rest, fluff your couscous with a fork and add a knob of butter or a glug of really good EV olive oil, pepper and chopped parsley, then spoon onto your plate. Put the zucchini on top, and the lamb, with a sprinkle of mint and a spoonful of plain yoghurt. Serve with a glass of something delish and a proper napkin. YUM.
 
I followed this with a bowl of strawberries sprinkled with a spoon of icing sugar and a couple of tiny drops if balsamic vinegar. Tell me that isn't better than a bowl of cereal , Mr PK's solo dinner of choice............?
 

 
I first experienced restaurant solo dining on my first ever trip abroad on my own. We were living in London at the time, and for my thirtieth birthday the whaneau clubbed together and sent me to Ballymaloe Cooking School for a week, what an adventure! I had to fly to Cork airport (my fear of flying was much worse then, so this was a big step in itself...) pick up my rental car and find Ballymaloe House where I was staying. The school is a couple of miles away, so then I had to find that as well. I was off to a flyer when I drove completely the wrong way out of the airport and was halfway back to Cork before I realised........nuptials were not just a way of avoiding solo eating, they were a way of not spending my entire life hopelessly lost.
 

 

Anyway, Ballymaloe House is amazing, but on my first night I realised I would have to go down to the restaurant and eat..........by myself. My friend Tiff happened to ring just as I was contemplating this, when I voiced my concerns (will I look like a total saddo?) she advised me to take a book and imagine everyone else in the room had no clothes on. To this day I cant quite figure out how this was supposed to help, but she travelled for work on her own, and I deferred to her expertise. Armed with Harry Potter and wearing all my jewelery because I couldn't figure out the safe I descended to dinner.
 
 

 
It was just lovely. The staff seemed to take extra care, Myrtle Allen, the owner, and a star of Irish cooking actually came and sat down for a chat and the lovely Scottish couple at the next table asked me to join them for coffee after dinner. And I could watch everyone else in the room, without having to try and appear to be listening to what the person sitting opposite was saying. Every night I enjoyed six courses of glorious food (imagine if I did the 12 week course, I'd have to get an extra seat home....) , then at the end of the week joined Tiff for a couple of days in Cork, she was most impressed with my adventures.....
Would I dine alone at a restaurant in my home town? I have been thinking about it recently and have decided I would like to give it a go. Have you ever eaten in a restaurant on your own? What about solo dining, any special treats you enjoy?

My other solo treats, in no particular order...

A steak, cooked rare and slathered with blue cheese (Mr PK loathes the stuff) with salad
Stuffed potato, often with a blue cheese involvement.......
Mussels cooked with white wine (or cider), cream , parsley and garlic
A Ponsonby Pie-Chicken & Vege (even though it gives me indigestion, sigh...)
A bowl of steamed  Jersey Bennes, with salt, pepper, loads of butter and mint......
Fresh corn on the cob, slathered in butter, salt, pepper and a little bit of chilli (I have to eat this solo as I make such a mess of myself it puts other people off their supper....)

I still have two more fab salads to post, and Mexican corn...yep, back to Mexico , just briefly.