Happy birthday to me me me.....

What a busy time at PK HQ! I celebrated a thirty-something birthday last week, and I must say my haul of goodies has been pretty impressive, very spoilt. I have posted pic's of some of my gifts, as you can see I have a slightly retro bent. I had to leave my old/new to me coffee table at Mum and Dad's as it would not fit in the car, a mid-century Scandi beauty (with just a slight dent in the veneer suffered in transportation, Dette very carefully saved the bits so I can glue them back on!) will post a picture as soon as I take possession. How very grown up to have a coffee table.....

The tea cup set is particularly pretty, and I will be using that for my mid-morning beverage, I also scored a tin of homemade Anzac bikkies from my sister Liz, which I have ekked out as long as possible. Things like that always taste better when made by someone else. The orange casserole is just crying out for an old skool stew, I thought maybe Lancashire Hotpot?

I also have a new cushion for my gounge (girl lounge) which my clever clogs sister Dette made from a vintage tea towel, and a new haul of cookbooks, which will also necessitate a new bookcase, the other two are fill to bursting already. Jamie Oliver America, and Jamie Does... along with Al Brown's fabulous Fish (I don't cook nearly enough....), and in the post as we speak, River Cottage Everyday, Rotis by Stéphane Reynaud ( I lugged his fascinating and funny Ripailles all the way back from Bath, England in my luggage, my suitcase carrier was less than impressed...) and Mastering the Art of French Cooking by the one and only Ms Child. These I will be poring over in my window seat  while cosy in my new sheepskin slippers (my in laws live in Taupo and understand cold.....), ok, not the most rock and roll existence, but I like it.....

I cooked up pork two ways this weekend, firstly rubbed ribs with BBQ sauce from Jamie's American book, with cornbread and tooth achingly sweet Pecan pie. USA on a plate, it was good.

Then on Sunday I roasted Pork Belly, also very delish. This method came by way of our friend Andy in London, he got it from River Cottage Everyday, and kindly emailed me instructions, very helpful! I got the meat from my butcher, who trimmed the flesh and scored the skin. This is one of the many good reasons to use a butcher, they do fiddly jobs in seconds I would take ages to finish...and probably cut myself in the process. I then rubbed the meat all over with a bit of olive oil, and some peppercorns and coriander seeds I crushed in a mortar and pestle. I then rubbed in some sea salt, and bunged the whole lot in a 220C oven for 30 mins. Turn the heat down to 180C and cook another 1.5 hours. I also poured about a cup of apple juice into then tin, so the meat stayed really moist. The skin was not crispy enough for me after the 2 hours cooking, so I simply left the dish in the oven and turned the grill on, it was crisp and bubbly in no time. It is pork skin, along with bacon, that will forever prevent me joining the ranks of vegetarians, its simply a sacrifice I cant make...........our pork and bacon is Freedom Farms, that's about as noble as I can get on this one I'm afraid........

I served this with my new BFF vege, Celeriac. One of the ugliest vege to grace your table, I will post a pic next time I buy some so you know what to look for. It is a member of the celery family, but is a root, with a texture more like kumara or turnip, and an intriguing smell, celery but not, if you know what I mean......?

Anyway, for Potato and Celeraic Bake peel and slice a celeriac, then plunge it straight into water with lemon juice squeezed into it. Unlike yours truly, celeriac goes brown at the drop of a hat. Slice about 5 large agria potatoes thinly, then placed these in alternating layers with the dried off celeriac slices, seasoning as you go. Pour two 300ml bottles (yes, two!) of cream into a saucepan and heat with a couple of bay leaves, some peppercorns and a peeled whole clove of garlic.Strain the flavoured cream over the spud mix, cover it with foil and popped  into the oven with the pork when you turn the temp to 180C. I put it at the bottom of the oven so the temp would actually have been more like 160C, this kind of dish benefits from low slow cooking. The resulting creamy potato celeriac mix is comfort food par excellence, with the tender pork, crisp crackle , some applesauce and a green salad with a really tangy vinaigrette (you need something to cut the richness of everything else), well, if that does not say "I love you Mum and I am sorry what this is doing to your cholesterol, make sure you hit the All Bran tomorrow", I don't know what does?

Can you keep a secret?

After an unsuccessful attempt to find any underground restaurants here in Auckland, I am doing what any sensible girl would do and starting one of my own. It could be there are loads already operating, I am just too tragically uncool to know about them, but ignorance is bliss, and I will maintain Plum Supperclub is the original.....ha!

This has come about for a couple of reasons, I have eaten at some great restaurants , but also some pretty poor ones, and in these straightened times, forking over wods of dosh for something I know I could do better myself, in one instance while sitting on the worlds most uncomfortable chair, in a freezing draft ...well, lets just say it's irritating.
On a more philosophical note (and hopefully without sounding too far up my own backside) I believe in food and community. I am lucky to have a big family who often eat together, and I really think it is so good for the soul as well as the stomach to sit down with others & break bread. I also realize for a variety of reasons , be it time pressures, an inability to cook, or simply the fact they live alone, people don't sit down at the table and share a meal as often anymore. So that's where I come in, you can have a lovely meal, and conversation, and maybe meet some new people at my place....and I wash up:)
So, to the details:
A suggested donation of $50 (to cover my costs) gets you a cocktail, delicious three course meal (with vege option) and coffee or tea. I cant tell you exactly what you will get to eat, but I will probably never cook tripe. Unless you ask me to.
BYO vino.
You will sit with other interesting folk at communal tables (so feel free to come along on your ownsome), in a lovely dining room in Auckland (you will find out where after you book, mysterious non?)), and if you’re lucky you may even get seconds. No one will brush crumbs off the table, or comment on your choice of wine, but you can come and say hi to the chef (moi!), and marvel at my cookbook collection.....

First evening is Saturday 22th May, at 7pm, please email glennandkris@hotmail.com if you are interested in attending. Numbers are limited to 12 (that’s how many chairs and plates I can rustle up)

If you have never heard of underground restaurants (aka supperclubs or pop ups), please read about the Underground Restaurant of the fabulous Ms MarmiteLover in London, http://marmitelover.blogspot.com/ this is where I would want to eat if I were visiting …….

Plum xx

Still eating.....

As per usual when my favorite suitcase carrier and I go on holiday, we have a "for the love of God take the damn photo" photo, this is our Wellington version. For some reason suitcase man took a liking to this piece of sculpture, and made us return on our final morning before flying back to Auckland to take a "shot". The rest of us take pictures, a man with a fairly large Canon takes shots........anyway, you can just see Sweet Mothers Kitchen in the background, I enjoyed a plate of curly fries there afterwards, to help me get over having to look like a dork in yet another "shot". The things we do........We actually ate there on the previous evening, I enjoyed my fried chicken very much, it was spicy, juicy, and came with some yummy rice, and coleslaw, one of my favs. Canon man raved over his Tuna melt, so much so I almost felt inclined to try and recreate it at home, except tinned tuna makes me gag. I mean really gag, if it gets opened in my kitchen(NEVER by me) the tin has to be rinsed and taken outside to the recycling immediately, in case I get a whiff from the bin. I wish I liked it, so healthy, so convenient, just so darn smelly!

I cant rave highly enough about our meal at Hippopotamus, it may be a weird name for a restaurant, but the food was good good good. My Bayonne ham, beetroot and goat cheese salad was sublime, the cream fraiche and truffle oil dressing was a great combo with the beets and cheese. To follow I had tender, juicy lamb rack, which was surrounded in parma ham, with a roasted clove of garlic in the middle. Read and weep people. I finished with Roquefort cheese (my dining companion was moved to comment it was a good thing we had been married so long, having to share a room with garlic/blue cheese girl wasn't immediately appealing apparently....) and a glass of Domaine Dumangin Ratafia de la Champagne, which is a sweet almost liqueur style blend of Champagne & I think a fortified wine...this is the consequence of the cocktail and wine with dinner combo, by the end of the evening the finer details are lost. Suffice to say it was delicious. Mr D enjoyed his Ostrich steak, I thought it was a teeny bit chewy, but I believe it is a pretty lean meat, and my lamb was so tender, it was probably an unfair comparison. A trio of Cream Brulee finished things off beautifully on the other side of the table, I sampled the coffee version, delightful, not too sweet, and really creamy.

I am off to make Meatloaf now, not as tres chic perhaps, but it tastes good......in the meantime please enjoy another tourist shot, courtesy of Canon man.

A happy glass in Wellington........

I shall resist the urge to drone on about the weather.........suffice to say it was fine, besides which my hair often looks like I have walked through a wind tunnel so who would notice anyway? I really love visiting Wellington, it just seems so urban and cool to an Auckland girl, yet compact and manageable for someone who can get lost in a shopping mall.....we stayed at the Museum Hotel www.museumhotel.co.nz opposite Te Papa, it is a good location and I really wanted to try the Hippopotamus restaurant on the third floor.          
After an illuminating day at Te Papa, enjoying the penultimate day of the Pompeii exhibition, I was ready for a treat meal, and happily I not disappointed. We started with cocktails in the bar next to the restaurant. Now I am not normally a cocktail girl, aside from the odd G and T, I don't really partake of spirits. Consequently the effects when I do, quietly falling asleep in my chair at a very nice restaurant in Parnell after two Martinis (why did no one tell me they are pure alcohol?), well, lets just say chic isn't the word. However the Moscow Mule, made with homemade Ginger Beer and a touch of plum syrup, now that was worth risking forty winks over my steak for.....I love ginger beer, and last summer for the first time attempted to make my own. I used the recipe from Homemade 2, produced by NZ Gardener magazine, with explosive results. I was sitting quietly tootling on the PC, when a loud bang made me start (made me swear actually).
I thought the cat had finally made it onto the bench (well done Pru!), instead I discovered my dining room walls dripping, with shards of glass spread like Christmas Dec's all over my axeminster. The worse thing was this was only a single litre bottle, of the four that were sitting in the same box, lethal ginger bombs, ready to go at any moment...........what the hell to do with the either three?? Sensibly, I left the room, rang my husband, had a cry, walked back into the room and walked out again. Several years watching CSI Miami (Horatio was in bomb disposal before moving onto forensics, for non viewers) taught me to put my sunglasses on immediately, then armed with the only safety suit I could find (a green gubba bucket over my head, washing up gloves and several bath towels, every bit as effective yet foxy as it sounds.......) I attempted to move the offending bottles onto the porch..........one exploded so violently it sprayed the garage, four metres away. Like I said , lethal. I am however the eternal optimist, and so delisios was this beverage I am going to have another attempt this weekend........in plastic. The clever, chatty barperson (he looked about twelve, but knew his stuff) told me his recipe contained the addition of star anise and lime, which I will certainly be adding myself. He was fairly loose on actual ingredient amounts, except to say he used both fresh and dry ginger. I suspect it was a cavalier attitude towards accurate measuring which got me into trouble last time, so I am working diligently with a recipe from Elizabeth Luard's "A Taste of the Country". I shall post this for you once I am sure it isn't actually potentially also a weapon of mass staining of wallpaper..........after all, I am an experienced professional, let me take the risk.
I shall post next time about the actual meal, which was delightful, and hopefully some pictures. Although I am banned from showing Mr D in the fabbo hotel spa bath, into which I emptied an entire bottle of bath gel. It was a suds extravaganza, just a little face peaking out of a sea of meringue...........I blame hotel holiday silliness, it's a common affliction.

A Middle East pizza........kinda

This is Mr D's fav supper. It is based on two recipes from Julie Le Clerc's wonderful 'Taking Tea in the Medina", a great book, with wonderful evocative pictures. Homemade pita dough , not that I think he would care one jot if it was homemade or not, rolled out onto a hot oven tray (sadly I have no pizza stone) and covered with a yummy mix of onions fried with minced lamb, a little allspice & sumac, a touch of chilli and some pine nuts. To this version I also added some preserved lemon, I thought I had run out but found one more jar lurking in the pantry from last years batch. I also added a sprinkle of raisins to the Dried Fruit Fiend's pizza........Blast in the oven until crispy, then put big dollops of yohurt over the top, with a handful of mint, a squeeze of lemon & some black pepper. Serve to waiting man on couch glued to The Pacific, basking in the glory of your sheer fabulousness. Make him do the dishes.

Who gives a fig.......?

Lucky me, my sister delivered feijoas and fresh figs from her garden, what a treat. I have an abundence of guava's to trade, I love them, but there is truely only so many a girl can eat.......lunch was a glorious fresh fig and proscuitto salad. I simply sliced the juicy little fruits in half, and threw them on top of my baby spinach, added spring onions, salty proscuitto, and a sprinkle of blue cheese..........the cheese was not strictly nessesary, but I love it, and it was lunch for one.......over the top a tangy vinegrette made with chardonnay vinegar, dijon mustard and olive oil, lucky me indeed...

Cooking classes at home.......

First night , whoop whoop! I must admit I was a teeny bit nervous, mainly around the issue of timing. Two hours seems like a long time, and I guess if you are doing a tax return, or sitting in traffic, it is. However if you are trying to teach four new recipes (plus tips and tricks) to nine lovely souls who have ventured out on Wednesday night, and paid you for the priviledge............well, two hours seemed to fly by. I think I was a tad over ambitious in the amount I tried to cram in (beginners mistake) and of course was rushing at the end. So much so the eggplant for the lamb salad never made it out of the griddle pan...........oh well. I will know for next time.

We made an oven baked risotto (which Jo is making tonight, go girl!), a chicken curry with fresh ground spices, homemade aioli, and a lamb salad, with a delish tahini dressing. I think next time I will make one more complex dish, and several simplier ones, so I can really explain things clearly, and answer questions, rather than throwing things in and out of the oven while gabbling incessently......

 Exhausted today, I cant beleive how tired I was afterwards, but took ages to get to sleep, thinking of all the things I meant to do/not do..........! Here are a few pics of the night, the kitchen got progressivly more untidy, until I was running out of places to put things down, thanks goodness Mr D is so great at washing up. I am taking him to "Winter in Wartime" at the Rialto on Saturday to say thanks, the least a girl can do surely........