Rain, floods and chocolate

We had some rather dramatic weather this week, with torrential rain causing land slips and travel disruptions.  117.4mm fell in … More

A cat, a cake and a seagull

It is another lovely sunny day today, Saturday, and I’m sitting here with the door open, enjoying the autumn sunshine … More

Muffins, pineapple and lots of cakes

Last weekend’s bad weather meant a lot of time spent indoors.  This meant I got in a cooking and baking … More

A pie, some parsnips and Australian rules

Saturday, as I mentioned in my last post, was Anzac Day, and I have to confess that we failed to … More

Chicken, limes and Gwyneth Paltrow

Some of you may have seen the fuss in the media this week about Gwyneth Paltrow’s attempt to live off … More

Poppies, lemons and cake

Friday was Poppy Day, the day we in New Zealand buy our poppies prior to Anzac Day.  This year marks … More

Baking, biscuits and barre

The weather brightened up at the weekend, with some sunshine, though late Sunday the weather turned and we had quite … More

Pumpkins, feijoas and making chutney

With early autumn, comes a new wave of fruits and vegetables.  Apples, beans, capsicum (peppers), pears, passion fruit, pumpkin and … More

Wine tasting, a ferry ride and a short trip to South Island

We spent Easter Sunday in quite a different way to usual, by setting off first thing in the morning from … More

Easter, eggs and hot cross buns

Easter is a spring festival if ever there was one, and it still seems strange to me to celebrate it … More