Aunty's Does the Dunkley's NZ Craft Show!

Aunty's been a very busy baker making & packing almost 300kg of muesli over the past few weeks. Its really hard work and the packing fiddly but now comes the fun part! I have a stall booked at the Dunkley's NZ Craft Show in New Plymouth this weekend. Its a 4 day event tagging onto Mondays Public Holiday here and held in a big stadium. I think there will be about 80-100 stalls selling everything from handmade cards, knitted booties to Old Busmans Bourbon, leather bags, pottery and of course muesli! Aside from making muesli I need to decorate my stand to attract some customers. I haven't had much time (or money!) to put a display togther but bought 10m of fabric to cover the MDF stall boards, sewed some gingham tablecloths and then will scatter my felt flowers & leaves I whipped up last night. I was going to stuff the flowers too, like the leaves, but my orange thread ran out!



But its worked out for the best as the leaves are quite heavy and might not stay up plus I have twice as many flowers. Funny how disaster turns into a plus like that. Well wish me luck I am really hoping to win a prize or place for Best Dressed stall. I'll post some Show pics next week!

Aunty at the Foxton Fair

After a totally TOP holiday in snowy Queenstown Aunty hit the road with a load of muesli to the annual Easter Sunday Foxton Fair. The weather forecast wasn't singing out summer but I'd booked my lot at the fair sometime ago and you just have to take a punt. Plus the lure of being part of a market AND Fun Fair was too much! After a 3 hour drive in stunning autumn countryside I hit Foxton and found my spot & set my stand up & squeezed in time for a few snaps.

It was an odd mix of stalls from jams & pickles to plants to candy - I was over from some bootleg T-shirts and 3D tiger pics with the famous Foxten De Molen Windmill in the background.


But some super cool crafty stalls too! I am a complete sucker for knitted babies booties. They're so cute & fluffy & teeny & fit babies feet in them. I had to physically stop myself from buying a pair reminding myself that Oscar would not wear them. Unless there were some with cars on them which there weren't!



And what makes a fun fair?? Spinning clown heads! I have no idea what this Fun Fair Game is called but the whole concept looks so easy and the colourful clown heads just lure the kids in.

I had such a great day. The muesli stand did well and the rain held off until I was an hour from home so thanks Foxton for an awesome Easter Sunday Fun Fair!

RECIPE - Tomatillo Salsa Verde

I have just discovered the BEST SALSA ever and is really easy and highly addictive. I could sit down with a bowl of this green tomato salsa and polish off a 500g bag of corn chips grinning like a big fat spider. This is made with a Mexican tomato variety called Tomatillos (pronounced "to-mah-tee-oh") which are in season at the moment (and available at the Taranaki Farmers Market in abundance!). they look just like a green cherry tomato but have a "husk" on them which needs to be peeled off.

Here is a quick & easy recipe or you. If you can't get Tomatillos then use green or cherry tomatoes.

TOMATILLO SALSA VERDE
Makes 3 cups
1/2 kg tomatillos
1 small red onion peeled
1/2 cup fresh coriander or 2 T of jar coriander concentrate
1 T lime juice
4 slices Jalapeno pepper (optional)

Remove papery husks from tomatillos & rinse well. Chop n half and place cut side down on a baking sheet on oven tray. Grill for 5 minutes and colour the skins.

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor & whizz until all ingredients finely chopped. season to taste with salt. Cool in the fridge.

Serve with corn chips or as a sauce on an Mexican dishes. I used it on fish tacos made on the bbq. Yummo!

Central District Field Days

Aunty's just back from the Field Days held in Feilding (yeah weird spelling) where I flogged over 100bags of Aunty's Muesli to the hoards of people who went. I think there were about 25,000 people! The weather wasn't that great which wasn't good for sales but in the grand scheme of things I think my little stall did rather well. One poor stall holder only sold 8 bottles of fruit wine one day. But there is a recession on and we all had a fabulous time. Old Busmans Bourbon tent was always pumping!

Little Oscar was a big fan of all the big farm machinery. There we digger races, tractor pulls and lumberjack comps & calf shows. He was a little disappointed with the chainsaw race which actually was 2 men assembling a chainsaw. We wanted noise & woodchips flying guys!



There were lots of helicopters too and the Red Checkers aerobatics were fantastic. Lucky the sun came out for that show but it was too difficult to capture on camera especially when I was peddling my new Pear & Almond Bircher to the masses!

We rented a beach bach at Himatangi Beach which is a little beach spot that seems trapped in a 1950s timewarp which we loved. Lots of kids getting round on dune buggies and you can drive on the beach. We spotted an older gent on a trailbike with 666 on the tank wearing only a leopard print thong on one of our beach walks. Hmmmm!



Managed to get in our last of the summer beach swims. Could have stayed longer but back to the Farmers Market this Sunday!

Taranaki Farmers Market Video

Eryn the Market Co-ordinator put this market montage together. Isn't she clever!

RECIPE - Fish Pie

At last someone is selling fish at the Farmers Market and I bought some smoked filleted kawhai on the weekend. Kawhai is a NZ sea trout and the flesh holds firm when its smoked and is a bit "gamey" I guess if a fish can be gamey. Its a bit cooler today & at last raining after the driest 2 months on record here in Taranaki, so a hearty fish pie was perfect for tonight's dinner.

I amended my normal recipe to make this a little healthier than normal but using soy milk instead of normal milk, rice flour & kumara (sweet potato) instead of starchy spuds.


This was so delicious I ate WAY too much of this tonight and currently sitting on the couch about to pop!

SAUCE

50g butter
2T rice flour
2c soy milk
1c chicken stock
1c smoked fish
1 c prawns or scallops (frozen fine)
1T chopped parsley
1 med diced onion
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper

Melt butter on LOW heat, add onion & cook until soft then remove from heat. Stir in rice flour until thoroughly mixed. Stir in 1 cup of soy and return to LOW heat. When mixed add chick stock, mix, then add 2nd cup of soy and mix thoroughly. Add parsley, bay leaf & seasoning.The sauce shouldn't get gluey but should still be "stiff" (see pic for consistency). Add in prawns and fish and turn off heat once prawns are pink. Remove bay leaf.TOPPING
4 largish kumara
Parmesan shavings
salt n pepper

Boil kumara and mash.

Oil a small but deep dish and pour in sauce. Top with kumara mash and run fork through so you get rows of ridges. Sprinkle on cheese & season and place in centre of 160 degree fan oven. Bake for 20-30 mins and grill top for last 5 mins. Let pie sit for 10 mins before serving. I like this served with a big spoonful of peas. Ugh I am so full but this was so YUM!

Hollard Gardens Market Day

Sunshine! grass under feet! lots of happy gardening people chatting about gardens!


The Taranaki Farmers Market hit the road out to Hollard Gardens out by the mountain for the opening of the National Rhodedenron Festival.



I loved the Eastern European accordian music playing in the background & Aunty's stall looked splendid with grass underfoot (-:


The scenery was picture perfect. Clear skies, snowcapped mountains, flowers in bloom. Wish the Farmers Market was held there every weekend (-:

Quack

"Yes Oscar there are some ducks"
" Well they are in the cage because they are going on a holiday"
"Where? Well there is this nice local family that own the Happy Sun restaurant that will come and collect them soon"
" Yes Oscar they have duck eggs on the menu".

Winter in Taranaki

Its currently 8degrees but feels like 5 degrees. But the sun is out and the snow on the mountain is stunning.

Will be a fresh start for tomorrows Farmers Market. Brrrr!

Menu!

So I have BORROWED my 18mth old sons blackboard to display what home baked goodies I have on offer at my market stall. Do you like it? My Sticky Date & Apricot muffins continue to sell out each week. They are HUGE in size and I top them with yummy muesli. This week I ditched the Banana Loaves (boring!) and introduced the world to the tastes of Blackberry & Cinnamon Apple mini loaves. I think the berries on top were pretty tempting.


I did save one for Busker Pete who played some mean accordion toons raising money for the Neurological & Stroke Foundation. Good one Pete!

Busy Buzzing Market

What a difference the weather makes - Sundays Farmers Market saw glimpses of sunshine and people came flocking. I had hoped the piano accordion player would make it down but there was no sign of him. Maybe next week. He'll get the market pumping with some foot tapping toons!


This week I indulged in some delicious pastries from Petit Paris bakery stall. Its positioned right next to me and I could not resist the Croissant Amandine - almond filled croissants. JM's BONJOURS are terribly French & authentic too. I have noticed the little old ladies have taken quite a shine to him. Oh well if his visa runs out soon maybe we could arrange something for him!

Nature's Bounty

It was another wet day at the Taranaki Farmers market last Sunday but the sunshine broke through for the last hour. People still come rain or shine so it doesn't really matter what the weather is doing but I always feel bad for the customers battling the elements as I am snug under the shelter of my stall with my gumboots on. There are some great stalls at the market and this week I remember to buy some produce for myself! I just HAD to buy Mr Mammoth Carrot.
I'll be using him in my Mini Carrot Loaves for next weeks market.

Also I couldn't resist Sue's lovely stall with avocados,tamarillos & fejoas! We are blessed with lots of interesting winter goodies here in Taranaki.

Aunty's AuGo-Go!!

At long last, after 3 months of research, baking, packing and sweating in the Galleon kitchen, Aunty's Natural Muesli launched at the Taranaki Farmers Market on Sunday June 6th.

Thank you to all who braved the torrential rain to be my first customers.