Queestown Adventure!

Aunty is just in the process of packing her bags for a much needed holiday to Queenstown in the very stunning South Island. If you haven't been there before most of the LOTR trilogy especially LOTR II&III were filmed there with the snow capped alps backdrop in many shoots. The house we have rented overlooks Lake Wakatipu which translates to "Place where the Demon Lies" in Maori. Wonder if we'll see any taniwhas while we're there? No plans for bungy jumping but might jump on the Shotover Jetboat which is a complete adrenalin rush and also up to the snow for a muck around with the kids.

We're meeting my husbands whanau there too so no doubt we'll be cooking up some venison on the BBQ and knocking back some wines on arrival. Yeah!

This will be my view this time tomorrow with giant glass of bubbly in hand. Cant wait.

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!

Kids Room Decor

Aunty's been having a break from baking & muesli since being flat out with the Field Days. Ive been inspired by my mate over at Happy Gas who has been having some creative room makeovers and posting some top links to other blogs for inspiration. So I've been moving some pictures & furniture round here & which is a super cheap way to redecorate.

I've now moved onto decorating the "bunk room" for my 2 year old who is still in a cot but should move into a big bed soon. Here is the room in all its white blandness. I want to have a Sea Creature theme and not sure how the Thomas the Tank Engine duvet covers fit in with this. Hmmm!



So here are the beginnings of the Sea Cave, I'm making a roman blind with some IKEA crabby fabric kindly shipped over from OZ from my sister-in-law. I've also put in an order for some more crabby fabric from my mother in law who will be over in May to make fringed cushions with inspiration from over at My Poppet and I have some fish posters & chalkboard whale stickers also. And other ideas ticking away.

Watch this space!

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!

Chocberry Granola

At long last a new muesli variety! Chocberry Granola has been a long time in the making and I am really pleased with this one. Its a super crunchy muesli with NZ rolled oats, sunflower seeds, linseed & Manuka honey as the base with toasted almonds, sultanas, dates, coconut chips, dried cranberries and DARK CHOC CHIPS! All topped off with a new label design too.

I have so many ideas for different mueslis and would love to roll out a few more but the process is not that easy. Firstly I have to experiment with recipes and flavours & textures while still keeping the muesli healthy. Its really easy to boost flavours with oil & sugar but then I wouldn't be creating a healthy natural muesli! Each time I make a different recipe I have to run the ingredients through a Nutrition Calculator to see if I am happy with the calorie, fat, protein, carb & sugars content. Then more recipe adjusting. I have to be totally happy with this process before rolling it out as once I have my labels made up thats it - I have to stick with that recipe to ensure the nutrition levels are right for each batch. So each bag of muesli is a complete labour of love (-:

I highly recommend the Chocberry Granola sprinkled on top of Boysenberry Ice cream with some fresh berries thrown in. Yummo!

Taranaki Farmers Market Video

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

Endless Summer

Its really hot here in New Plymouth today. I can't wait for Oscar to wake up from his midday sleep so we can go & cool off in the water at the beach. AND I am still getting strawberries in February. True sign of a hot summer!