[ot sa vwa] There are 3 reasons to head to Haute-Savoie, a department in France with the largest mountain range, known for the many ski resorts. Number 1 – the mountains…the hills are alive.. 2 – the lakes,…
I love Summer, especially the long days, easy dinners outside and rosé, but September mornings are crisper and the evenings are shorter. Last night we had a beautiful evening and it was reason enough to set up dinner…
As Paris is known for its pastry and the Ritz is known for excellence, I am known for my love of cake and specifically la Madeleine. The Madeleine has been a favourite of peasants and royalty since the…
Having moved from New Zealand to France, I had to say good bye to some of my favourite foodie things – feijoas, good coffee, [All Press], popped buckwheat cereal [Blue Frog], ‘smoke and fire’ peanut butter [Fix and…
Paris is now allowing outside dining. Galleries and Museums are also open again. We had some free time before a meeting and wondered around the Gare de Lyon area. This train station is one of Paris [and Europe’s]…
La Flotte or ‘the fleet ‘is one of the oldest villages on Ill de Ré with authentic charm on the Atlantic coast. This idyllic village is classified as ‘Les plus beaux Villages’ – ‘the most beautiful villages’ in…
Everyone has a bolognaise recipe. Some use pork mince, red wine, white wine, chicken stock, beef stock, sage, nutmeg ….. I’m sharing my bolognaise recipe, which my daughter thinks is one of my best dishes. She also knows…
Birthday number 2 in lockdown. Restaurants are still closed, no celebration drinks or meals, it is ‘take outs’ only with a 7pm curfew. Last year I baked and slaved, this year I’m using leftover cake from a shoot…
Oat milk, miso paste, soya sauce, coconut milk, chickpeas, lentils, olives, aubergines, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, lemons, chilli, olive oil, peanut butter, tahini and maple syrup – My essential vegan shopping list. I’ve been cooking vegan these past…
What would Valentine’s Day be without sweet treats? We love candy – especially gummies and swirly liquorice. Chocolates are a given. Here is our Valentine’s candy seller in the streets of a small village in France. Hope February…
I bought some roses to welcome our house guest, Willow. [I am creating a blog post about Willow’s vegan diet which had us making some delicious new recipes from Nadia Lim’s Vegful as well as rediscovering Anna Jones…
The word trifle derives from the French word ‘trufle’ – which means “something whimsical” or “of little consequence.” Kitty never knew this. But her festive trifle lived up to its origin and then layered on the extra, more…
Panettone is the perfect Christmas gift. I gifted myself two. One panettone, two panettoni. This Italian yeast-leavened sweet bread/cake makes its appearance during the Festive season. Stanislao Porzio, food commentator and panettone expert explains: “Panettone, as we know it…
Travel assignments are the very best. Travel assignments like going to Italy in the Summer and a dream brief to celebrate the food culture of Umbria with the lovely Nadia Lim is why I love my job. We travelled by…
A seasonal cheese, only made in Autumn and Winter, thanks to the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, who determines the regulations for making cheese in France. It can only be sold from Sept 10, after it has matured for three…
One of France’s signature drinks, the Kir, an elegant aperitif, has become my favourite wine cocktail. The Kir cocktail is made with one part crème de cassis, or blackcurrant liqueur, and four/five parts chilled dry white wine. One…
They say a lot can change in a year, and it has. Two years actually. My last blog post was written in New Zealand and this one is written in France. The whole world has experienced a pandemic…
#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width:...
We love olives, which are technically a fruit. If we had a tree we would preserve our own, as I was taught on a shoot, but for now we will just make this delicious tapenade with ready to…
Fish and Chips from your local Fish and chips shop on a Friday night is Kiwi as. Wrapped in newspaper crowned with a can of Watties tomato sauce. Best enjoyed on the lounge floor or on the beach….
Brioche is my kind of Viennoiserie. “Traditional viennoiserie are made from white wheat flour and use packaged yeast cultures. These active cultures cause the quick rise of the dough, creating the perfect flakiness when it is baked….
I love cultural food traditions! In France Epiphany [Jan 6th], is celebrated with a delicious frangipane filled puff pastry cake called La Galette des Rois or the Cake of the King, a 700 year old tradition. Boulangeries and…
The last batch of fruit mince pies was baked this morning. This is usually the best batch, with all the careful adjustments of this season’s recipe. This will be the recipe I pass onto my daughter. Dark chocolate,…
Christmas day jam makes Christmas extra sweet. This is Jo Wilcox’s Christmas Day Jam and it features in the latest Nadia magazine Dec/Jan 2019. Jam making is actually so simple, I made this batch last week and it…
In defense of the G word. Gluten. I love you. This post is dedicated to you. These are all the things you carry so beautifully into my mouth, from simple jam and honey to French cheese and smoked…
It is cherry season in New Zealand, which means Christmas is around the corner. Have you baked your Christmas cake yet? I love a rich fruit cake with marzipan for Christmas. This buttermilk bundt cake recipe is topped…
Fiji is a South Pacific gem and the tropical holiday we really needed. We love Auckland, but not so much its Winter. So we hopped on a plane, sun hats in place [yeah we were that family with…
Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl. Every year I photograph Nina to create a memory of each new birthday. I loved styling and photographing this year’s sweet theme. I baked and frosted for days, buttercream icing is…
It is Friday and undoubtedly Summer today. It’s also a long weekend, so here is my Summer Long Weekend PIMMS cocktail recipe. You can also just get the stylish ready to drink bottles and garnish with fresh cucumber,…
Glasshouses are magical places. They create their own climate that can enable certain crops to grow throughout the year. The French called their first glasshouses orangeries, they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. The Victorian era…
Mooncakes are stuffed Chinese pastries enjoyed during the Mid-Autumn festival, which falls on the 15th day of the 8th Chinese lunar calendar month. This year it is today – 24 September. The festival celebrates the harvest under a…
Spring means longer warmer days with open toes, picnics, blossoms and popsicles. Here are my favourite popsicles and recipes, which we made on Spring Day! Happy Spring everyone! 1. Watermelon popsicles with yoghurt You will need: 3 cups…
Sunday brunch is incomplete without toast topped with marmalade and cheddar cheese and a strong cup of tea. When we moved to New Zealand I quickly fell in love with the citrus here and Sunday brunch has become…
We loved exploring and photographing Auckland [New Zealand] for Voyeur/Virgin Australia’s in-flight magazine. You can read the article on-line here. We love the fact that Auckland is so accessible, it is big enough to make it feel like…
We went for a drive in the countryside on a rainy Winter’s afternoon, but quickly pulled off to the side of the road when I spotted an orchard of amazing glowing orange fruit. We always travel with our…
Pie is my favourite. Chicken leek, braised beef, rhubarb and apple and lemon meringue pie – so I was especially excited to shoot a pie feature for Nadia magazine.[June /July 2018] I do make my own pastry when…
Chestnut season in New Zealand is March until May. I found these organic Johnny Moo chestnuts at my grocer and decided to roast them and celebrate Autumn. It could not be easier, cut a slit in the shell,…
Weekends are for easy but delicious meals. I photographed this easy recipe for Nadia magazine. Turkish flatbread with mushrooms, mozzarella, chilli, hummus, garlic and red onion, it will only take 30 minutes to make. Simply brush the flatbreads…
We love Easter. On Easter Sunday after morning church, we celebrate by having an egg hunt, some cake and cookies. This year the hunt was in a forest, the perfect backdrop with loads of neat hidding places and…
Blackboy peaches are in season! It is not a hybrid plum-peach, it is an actual peach variety. Their pretty dark velvet skin and fleshy inside make them my favourite peach. Her is an awesome jam recipe which…
So, Nina has made her first cake! A pink Valentine’s lemon, almond and raspberry cake. It’s an “adapted from an adapted” recipe from The Caker. Adapted because we didn’t have 300g almond meal and we used yoghurt instead…
My granny had a magical plant in her backyard, it had little golden tomato like fruits hidden in fragile little husk houses. The French named the fruit ‘Amour en cage’ – love in a cage. We used to…
I love a perfect avo, because you never know exactly what you will get – as you slice into it you kinda hold your breath, well I do. If it is a perfect avo it is usually celebrated…
I was pleasantly surprised when my hydrangeas started blooming [new house, new garden ], the colours were amazing! Not just the blue blossoms, but a range of blues, purples, pinks and greens. A big thank you to the…
I thought I would share this recipe because it is so easy and delicious. I don’t have the fancy friand baking tins, I just used a muffin tin. This recipe makes 18 muffin tin size friands [which auto…
A highlight of our “stay at home” holiday so far is picking and eating our own strawberries from a nearby strawberry farm. The farm is open to the public after the professional pickers got their share [for export],…
A stone’s throw from our new home is an amazing apple, strawberry and pear farm. The apple trees look so festive with their little red apples and blossoms and remind me of a Christmas tree, so our Christmas…
Andrew and Lisa Hay welcomed us on their Shuckle Ferry, where we documented the harvesting of their Pacific oysters in the inter-tidal zones of the Mahurangi River. It was a beautiful sunny day and the low tide allowed…
These pretty pink clusters of pink greet me whenever Im looking out my kitchen window making a cup of tea. Flemish botanist Charles l’Ecluse discovered them in the 16th century. They are the national flower of Nepal.
Sue and John Brokx have the most beautiful organic macadamia farm in West Auckland. It also has the most impressive Wwoofers accommodation. WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Volunteers work on the farms in return…
I learned “how to globe artichoke” while shooting an article for the latest TASTE magazine. I was always a little intimidated by this archaic looking thistle. We actually eat the unopened flower bud before it comes into bloom,…
I can’t get enough of this beauty at the moment. I adore magnolias.
You can add watermelon to anything and it will be a good thing. I remember my first watermelon and feta cheese salad, I was like : what?! this is delicious! Watermelon has to be in my top 5…
One of my favourite commissions is called Backyard Abundance for Nadia magazine. Each article features a food and fun craft idea with ‘in season’ produce. We used herbs in our latest article and Tracey experimented with flower, citrus…
We visited Boric Apple Orchards in West Auckland where for three generations the Boric family has grown apples. They produce 17 apple varieties and their fresh apple juice is pressed from their own apples grown onsite. Apples in…
I just loved shooting and styling this stir-fry feature for Nadia magazine June/July 2017. Recipes included Beef and beet stir-fry with greens, Chicken, bacon and brussels sprout stir-fry, Pork and fresh pineapple stir-fry with cashew and coconut dressing,…
We celebrate the Queen’s birthday in New Zealand on the 5th June [rather than the monarch’s actual birth date], it is a national holiday with scones and cream, Victoria Sponge and tea celebrations. Naturally we turn to Mary…
Autumn’s little egg shaped gifts of Feijoa are what I’m eating just about everyday. Originally from South Brazil, this aromatic fruit is available mid March to early June. Im lucky enough to have a tree in my garden…
It’s 14 degrees in Auckland. That means soup time. We love soup, my daughter ends up eating more bread than soup with her dipping-eating the soup, but who can resist a Wild Wheat soup dipped sourdough? Best bread…
I can eat nuts on and in everything- salads, meat, chocolate, porridge and ice cream! Walnuts and Macadamias are delicious eaten fresh, but this walnut tapenade is so good, I had to share it. Read the whole article…
My daughter Nina made a beautiful bright Easter egg basket at school- I loved the bright colours and our Easter party table reflected her colour craft masterpiece. Chocolate hot cross bun “cake”, loads of chocolate eggs, mini cupcakes…
The best part of my job apart from tasting all the food, is the travel and food stories where I get to meet local producers and discover new products. Waiheke is the most beautiful island in the Hauraki…
Blood oranges are citrus royalty in my book. My local food store has to stock up again after my visit, as I piled my brown bag to tearing point. That is how much I love their crimson beauty…
On assignment for Nadia magazine, we met the most wonderful farmers, the Wills, and their beautiful water buffaloes in dreamy Whangaripo Valley. The buffaloes freely graze on the 50 acres pasture and they produce milk, yoghurt and cheese…
It is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day and I am sharing my favourite pancake or crêpe recipe with you. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent and usually celebrated by…
New Zealand is the land of Milk and [Manuka] honey, in my opinion. The milk and dairy here are the best I have ever had. This shoot was inspired by the milk and my new kitten Sparkles, who…
Celebrate love this Valentine’s Day with a pretty watermelon cocktail. It’s super easy to make, you will need : 10 mint leaves and a few for garnish 1 Tbsp caster sugar 1/4 cup / 60ml lime juice 3…
Chinese New Year, my excuse to eat my weight in dumplings. The year of the Rooster and it is a pretty big celebration around here and dumplings are at the heart of it , well for me. Last…
I have beautiful mint growing in my garden, the bees and I are loving the pretty lavender blue flowers, these are edible and I don’t trim them. You can make a herb tea with the flower heads. My…
Three words. ALMOND CRUSTED PANEER. I’d choose this dish over chocolate ganache cake any day, and I LOVE cake. My dear friend Yudhika Sujanani [www.yudhika.com] introduced me to this treasure while I was shooting her book Memoirs –…
I really love that just about every house in our neighbourhood has a fruit tree or two, we have an orange tree. I often think nobody will go hungry here, kids walk home from school with a fresh…
Who likes warm wine with spices? I do! It’s so Christmasy and it smells delicious. I was thrilled when I was asked to photograph this spicy mulled wine and Copper Kettle Kumara Crisps – my favourite snack!…
Christmas in New Zealand does not include snow and hot cocoa. Inspired by the lush, green sub-tropical climate of Auckland and long Summer days we are making Chocolate pastry Tropical Fruit Mince Tarts, thank you Tracey Sunderland for…
The December holiday is my favourite, I just love Christmas, Summer and the festive food and mood. The last thing I want to do is get stuck in the kitchen making complicated lunches. School day lunches are very…
Intravenous vitamin and mineral injections and drips, cutting edge health care or celebrity endorsed lifestyle…
What do you do when you receive a bunch of beautiful roses? You admire them for a few days and then you make little bundt cakes with rose glaze and sugar petals! For the rose petals you would…
Radish pickle recipe 500g radish 1 cup vinegar 1 cup sugar 1 cup water pinch of salt Mix the vinegar, sugar, water and salt together in a saucepan, bring the mixture to a boil over low heat….
October is cheese month in New Zealand. We met some amazing buffalo cheese makers on assignment in Whangaripo and they gave us some beautiful cheese! I will post more about their farm, family and cheese soon. I…
I was born in South Africa where eating worms is considered a delicacy in rural areas, low fat high protein. Mopane worms are large edible caterpillars of the Emperor moth, enjoyed dried, fried or in a stew….
The really neat thing about living at the Coast is the fresh sea air and fresh seafood in abundance. I added some asparagus, lemon, chilli, dill and garlic and my weekend was looking very good indeed. Crafters…
Here are some images from an editorial shoot I did in Kati Kati [New Zealand] at an amazing farm where they grow Tamarillo’s. They are from the same family as the tomato and are also known as the…
Little Tables is my first cookbook where I am author, photographer and décor stylist, I enjoyed complete freedom to create a beautiful and functional cookbook with a difference. It was inspired by my daughter, Nina, who is featured…