Home, cooking and music in the park

I love going away and being on holiday, but it is also nice to be home.  We were pleased to find no storm and/or earthquake damage on getting home, and also pleased to see our visiting cat again, who in return, seemed glad to see us.

One nice thing about being home is being able to eat a more varied selection of food.  When on the road, it is so easy to stop of at various fast food outlets (names hidden to preserve my dignity!).  I had found a nice, simple and healthy recipe from Laura Vincent through Radio New Zealand, chicken with capsicum (peppers), olive and lime.  It couldn’t be simpler – heat oven to 210C, place chicken pieces (I used breast, but thighs or legs would be really good) in a single layer in a roasting dish.  Slice a red pepper into thin pieces, peel and quarter a couple of shallots, and slice a lime into 8 bits.  Tuck all of these around the chicken, pour over olive oil, season (I used fresh oregano from garden as well as salt and pepper), and roast.  The recipe said 1 hour but my meat was done in about 40 minutes.  Add some chopped olives about 20 minutes before the cooking time is over (the boys don’t like olives so I missed them out, but I could easily have added some at one end for myself).  This is so simple and so tasty, especially when you squeeze out the lime over the chicken.

Before cooking

I am now way behind on the Apartment Therapy January Cure thing having been away, but I did buy flowers on coming home and intend on spending some time on catching up this coming week.

This week’s flowers

On Friday afternoon, I went to Pauautahanui Inlet.  It is a really lovely place with various walks around the area.  I particularly liked the boat houses by the edge of the water, some of them quite fancy.

Pauautahanui

Three examples of boat houses

Finally, last night (Saturday) we went to one of the final free concerts in the Botanic Gardens.  It was a great atmosphere, and I loved the way parts of the gardens were lit up to highlight particular parts like the duck pond or this little spot.

Are there fairies in there?