The Clevedon Village Farmers Market is held every Sunday from 8.30am – 1pm. My Mum and I, along with my best friend, enjoyed a recent morning there and stuffed ourselves silly. Seriously, there is so much food you are going to want to try, you should really go with an empty stomach.
food blog
Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf
Can you believe we’re almost at the end of November?! I am glad it will soon be Summer here in New Zealand though. I miss NYC but I really don’t miss the bitter winters they have there! Last weekend I took a trip to a strawberry farm in Clevedon. Even though it’s not Summer yet, the strawberries were sweet and delicious. I got my mum one of the frozen yogurt cones blended with strawberries, which she really enjoyed. I will definitely be making more trips back there before the season is over. Check out my Instagram feed for photos.
Chocolate Ganache Filled Cupcakes With Meringue Ghosts
It’s almost Halloween! I’ve always enjoyed dressing up in costume and going to a party or event to celebrate. I think my favorite costume was when I dressed up as a lolita doll (Japanese style). I went all out, including buying those special contact lenses which make your iris look extra large & round. I chose purple ones and I had such a hard time putting them in my eyes! I’d never worn contacts before, and it took me 20 minutes just to put one of them in! It certainly took some getting used to, but I loved the effect it gave my eyes. This year I’m not dressing up (boo!) but I had to make something Halloween-themed to eat. I decided on chocolate cupcakes, filled with chocolate ganache, and finished with whipped ganache and a meringue ghost. Talk about chocolate overload! This is seriously one of the best cupcake recipes I’ve made, the cupcakes are so rich but not overly sweet, thanks to the ganache. And the meringue ghost makes a cute addition. You can either ‘paint’ the eyes on the ghosts with melted chocolate or by using an edible gel pen. The pen would be the easiest way, but I went with the melted chocolate & a toothpick as it’s what I had on hand. I hope you all have a scarily good Halloween! 🙂
Cherry Pie
Cherries are one of my favorite summer fruits; as soon as they come into season I always make sure I have them in my fridge. So it goes without saying that cherry pie is my favorite of all fruit pies. This recipe is all from-scratch, and trust me, it’s worth it! I used to be intimidated by making my own pie crust from scratch, I thought the whole process was too involved and tricky. After doing it several times, and improving each time, I realized it’s actually very easy, you just need to understand the golden rule of keeping all the ingredients cold. Only use as much water as you need for mixing the dough. It also pays to make some room in your freezer for the pie, so you can put it in there 10 minutes before putting it in the oven. This will ensure that the crust stays intact and the sides don’t droop.
Matcha Coconut Energy Balls
Matcha and Coconut are two of my favorite things. It was only a matter of time before I put the two together to create a satisfying treat. These energy balls are raw vegan, and come together in a matter of minutes. Matcha ( a special form of green tea from Japan) has many health benefits and also gives you a boost thanks to the caffeine. Matcha is made from high quality tea and the leaves are ground down into a fine powder. Because whole leaves are injected, this makes Matcha a more potent source of nutrients than green tea. It is rich in antioxidants that can help prevent cancer and heart disease, and can help to regulate sugar levels in the body.
Tramezzini NYC Preview
Last week I was fortunate to get to preview the offerings at Tramezzini’s first brick and mortar location on the Lower East Side. Tramezzini began their business as a vendor at the weekend food fair ‘Smorgasburg’ in Williamsburg and Prospect Park and was founded by brothers Filippo and Massimiliano Paccagnella, and their friend Davide Pedon, all hailing from Venice, Italy. For those of us not yet in the know, a tramezzino is an Italian sandwich made with soft, white bread with the crusts removed.
Black Sesame & Chia Seed Granola
I grew up in New Zealand eating toasted muesli with milk for breakfast. I never liked the untoasted kind, it just didn’t taste as good to me. As far as I know, we didn’t have granola, that was more of an American thing (which I didn’t discover until adulthood). Both muesli and granola are made with nuts,…
Cha Cha Matcha
It had been on my list for a while to try the ‘Special Swirl’ soft serve at Cha Cha Matcha. Every month they introduce a special flavor that is swirled with their matcha soft serve. This month’s flavor is vegan Tangerine Dream. Located on Broome Street in Nolita, the cafe showcases the flavor of authentic Japanese Ceremonial matcha.
Cha Cha Matcha was founded by recent New York University graduates Matthew Morton and Conrad Sandelman. The two met while studying business management and hospitality and both had a fondness for matcha. Morton is the son of Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton. They wanted to see if a matcha bar would be viable in New York so they traveled to Japan to visit small, independent tea farms and decided to partner with one in Uji, outside Kyoto. The goal was to create a matcha blend that was smooth, with more caffeine (to appeal to New Yorkers) and less bitterness. Since opening in April 2016, Cha Cha Matcha has enjoyed great success, with long lines extending out the door every weekend.
Sweet Offerings at Levain Bakery
Ever since I moved to New York City back in 2012, I’ve been enjoying Levain’s famous monster cookies. My go-to flavor is the Chocolate Walnut. But for whatever reason, I’d never tried the Oatmeal Raisin cookie ($4). Big mistake on my part! This cookie really holds its own, alongside the chocolate versions (there’s also a Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and a Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip). The Oatmeal Raisin is rich and buttery, with the signature chewy center and is full of juicy raisins.
Hot Cross Buns
Hot cross buns are a staple at my house during Easter. My Mum is a big fan of them, however it wasn’t until I became an adult that I got a liking for them. I was one of those children that used to turn my nose up at anything with raisins in it. I’d eat the raisins by themselves, but if they were in a muffin, I wouldn’t touch it. How times have changed! Now I can’t get enough of cinnamon raisin bread and hot cross buns.