Posts from 2011

Posted on Sat, 02/04/2011

The day has dawned steely gray and chilly, and after taking the dogs down below for their early morning run, and breakfast over the papers, I decided to head into the kitchen and turn the oven on, and play round with some...>>>

Posted on Sat, 02/04/2011

Good customers of ours came in for lunch yesterday and brought us a cookbook, one they'd told me about when they'd been at a cookschool the previous week. And as is typical of a small community, Gillian relayed who various...>>>

Posted on Tue, 05/04/2011

  This is the sort of thing that I find absolutely fascinating.... How often over the years have I reached for a bottle of Tabasco sauce and used it purely becos a recipe has called for its inclusion. I know it adds...>>>

Posted on Wed, 06/04/2011

Both Rick and I have just got back in from doing some exercise - seperately I might add! He's beaten me to the shower so am checking my emails and looking out towards the restaurant and musing regretfully, that its dark already. I...>>>

Posted on Fri, 08/04/2011

I wrote a blog sometime ago, about Grant Achatz's new restaurant that was about to open, Next, in Chicago, something that has subsequently happened. I watched this video with interest, becos it gives insight to the food...>>>

Posted on Sat, 09/04/2011

Something to make you smile, I hope! Today has been glorious - the sun has shone all day, and I've spent a pleasant number of hours doing the addresses on the envelopes for the hard copy version of the latest newsletter...>>>

Posted on Sun, 10/04/2011

Oh the excitement!! Rick and I have just got up and are contemplating a leisurely breakfast over the Sunday papers, before we head to the table to 'do' the hard copy newsletter, and get it all folded and in the envelopes...>>>

Posted on Mon, 11/04/2011

This link is to a fascinating dissertation on desserts, which provokes a number of questions - why do we finish our meals with a sweet course?, and discusses in depth the work happening in Spain to push the boundaries of...>>>

Posted on Tue, 12/04/2011

I finished the mammoth task of reading all my old diaries at the weekend. A task that I'd lived to regret setting myself, becos it was vastly more time consuming than I anticipated, when it first struck me as a good idea...>>>

Posted on Wed, 13/04/2011

One of the things I put alot of time and effort into doing at Somerset is supporting NZ producers. An approach made much easier over the last few years as more and more people have gone into business making interesting stuff. I...>>>

Posted on Fri, 15/04/2011

I came home from the restaurant about 9pm last nite, with a glass of pinot ( Michelle Richardson's actually!) in hand, keen to continue with my clearing out of all the office memoribililia that I've accumulated thru the years. Boxes...>>>

Posted on Mon, 18/04/2011

I know I splutter rude things about competitions in general, but I'm still pragmatic enough to know that winning an award like this is good for business, and when it happens to someone I like as much as John Hancock, then...>>>

Posted on Tue, 19/04/2011

We ended up at Bella Mia for dinner last nite with friends, after watching the harrowing ' Sarahs Key'. Others had joined  us, and they are habitues at Bella Mia, so we went with interest, not having been there for ages,...>>>

Posted on Tue, 19/04/2011

My antipathy to these sorts of lists is well known. I mutter on a regular occasion about various awards and competitions, becos to my admittedly jaundiced eyes, they so regularly lack credibility. But inevitably, unfortuntely,...>>>

Posted on Wed, 20/04/2011

I rate Anthony Bourdain. Something I've said many times. I admire his fearless approach to calling things the way he sees them, and not, in any shape or form pandering to the elitism that can surround our industry. He is...>>>

Posted on Thu, 21/04/2011

It is a grey, drizzly unpleasant day. The afternoon is turning into evening and I'm not far from  getting on the spinner for awhile in front of Mash, since its too miserable outside to want to venture out for a walk,...>>>

Posted on Sat, 23/04/2011

It became rather trendy a few years back to start using beef that had been grain fed. Beef that came with a hefty price tag, but which was fashionable and much hyped in the food magazines. We tried it, were underwhelmed,...>>>

Posted on Mon, 25/04/2011

Its wet - heavy rain that looks like its going to hang around all day. We slept in late,  becos its too miserable to head over to the Mount, the dogs are pacing outside, waiting for me to appear to take them down below...>>>

Posted on Tue, 26/04/2011

Back in July 2007, we had a butter making session with David, a customer of ours who happens to be a diary scientist. For Rick and I it was a revelation, becos although we knew that butter was made from cream, we really hadn't...>>>

Posted on Thu, 28/04/2011

I am about to head into town to buy myself some trousers for winter - need something that I can wear in the restaurant that isn't denim. Was checking my emails before I departed and got caught reading this really interesting...>>>

Posted on Fri, 29/04/2011

We called into The Good Food Company the other day, when we were over at the Mount, and had a wander round the shop picking up things that appealed. It is a very inspiring space to wander through I must say, becos the range...>>>