Meat Not So Cheap
As the meat industry marks 125 years this week since the first export shipment of frozen meat, you have to wonder why we are paying the same prices as people in the UK. Despite the fact, that the meat has travelled 20,000 kilometres, a shoulder of fresh lamb sold in UK supermarkets costs NZ$17.10 per kilo, yet here in NZ we are paying NZ$18 per kilo. Diced NZ lamb is even cheaper at NZ$15.62 per kilo, while we still have to pay NZ$18 per kilo. A fresh leg of lamb though in UK costs NZ$16.23 per kilo, while we pay NZ$14 per kilo.
NZ exports 92% of its lamb, which leaves only 8% for local consumption - mainly unwanted legs, I bet.
Cheap as Chips
You would of thought with NZ been surrounded by the sea, that fish would of been one of the cheapest foods available to purchase, but it isn't. Snapper, one of the more popular fish has risen to $14.95 per kilo for whole fish. If you don't want to go to all the trouble of filleting the fish yourself, you can expect to pay nearly $32 per kilo for fillets. It seems that a kilo of whole fish after it has been de-headed and boned results in only around 350 grams of fillets. The bones & the head are the best part of the fish and make the best soup. You get to suck the eyeballs out of the fish head as well so buy a whole fish and enjoy. There are still places arounnd that wrap their fish & chips in newspaper.
Hot News
If you thought that chilli peppers, aren't all that old, think again. An archaeological study has discovered that chilli peppers (why they call them chilli is beyond me, as they are as hot as Hell) were added to change the flavour of other wise bland-tasting food, long before the construction of the first pyramids in Egypt. In fact they have achieved the culinary accolade of being the oldest known kitchen condiment after scientists found evidence that people were cooking with them more than 6000 years ago. Scientists used a technique that involved analysing microscopic starch grains found on cooking and grinding tools from 6100 years ago at two sites in Ecuador. Chilli peppers belong to the capsicum group but are technically classed as fruits.
Farmers Markets
No, it's not a market where you can pick up a farmer for a song, but where you can purchase produce & other goodies sold direct to you from the vendors. The markets have a code of practice, that says farmers / vendors may only sell what they themselves, grow, farm, pickle, preserve, bake, smoke or catch. The markets are intended to foster community spirit. You need to take along your own basket or cloth bags - remember you are been green - as some of the stall holders don't have plastic bags. The nearest market that I know of to where I live is the one called City Farmers Market, held at Britomart (behind the train station) in the central city area on Saturdays from 8.30am - 12.30pm. There are 32 Farmers Markets around NZ.
Northland Pineapples
If you thought pineapples were only available in yellow and could be grown only in places with tropical heat, like Queensland, well think again, because a Northland grower has set up NZ's first RED pineapple farm / plantation at Rangiputa. What can you do with a red pineapple ? Well, everything that you usually do with a yellow one except sit on it of course. It seems that pineapples are hardy little growers and can withstand drought, wind, full sun, shade or even a light frost, but in Northland ? I remember when I was a kid living in the north it was so cold in the mornings sometimes, that clothes left out overnight on the clothesline would be as stiff as a board. There's them growing pineapples of all things.
Off The Menu
Sugar laden soft drink, Spite is to be taken off all menus of a NZ fast food restaurant chain and replaced with artificially sweetened Sprite Zero. One small step for mankind, one big step for trying to combat the high level of obesity and the development of diabetes, especially in children - I don't think so. To me, it's not the wrong type of food and the drink that is the cause - it's the amount of food & drink that is consumed, that is the cause. The old saying of - you are what you eat, rings true. I eat all foods in moderation and as friends will tell you, I am as skinny as a rake. In fact if I took all my clothes off and stood next to the rack, you wouldn't see me. Come to think of it, you wouldn't see any of my friends either - all you would see would be their dust !!! (hehe)
Sunday, January 14, 2007
WORLD RECIPES & FOODIE BLOGS !!!
Please Note: I have dated this post 2008, for the sole purpose of this post staying at the top so..........please scroll down for 2007 posts. Once I get a chance, I'll start listing food blogs on the side-bar.
January Listings
Peru
UK
New December Listings - Canada x 2 / USA / Thailand
I still need "foodie blogs" from other countries to list here !!!
Invites will go out to friends, to post their favourite recipe. I will include the "password" so all they have to do is type up their recipe and email it - it will post straight on to the blog.
Argentina - Pomelo Pleasures
Australia - The Housewives Calendar of Puddings
Australia - Oz Tucker
Australia - The Old Foodie
Canada - Is that my buréka? New - Listed 13th December
Canada - Frugal Cuisine Posted 24th December
India - Sailu's Indian Food
Japan - She who Eats
Malaysia - FooDcrazEE Recipe #2
Malaysia - Have Your Cake And Eat It Too !!!
Malaysia - Pearl Of The Orient Listed 13th August. Please Note: She has stopped posting, but her blog is still up. We live in the hope, that she will return !!!
New Zealand - Open to anyone ??? Come on !!! Where are you ???
Peru - Peru Food Listed 14th January 07
Singapore - Tazz In The Kitchen
Thailand - Thai-Pan Listed 24th Dec.
Vietnam - Vietnamese God
UK - Xochitl Cooks
USA - Sweet Sensations
USA - Bunnyfoot
Sunday, November 05, 2006
World Recipes & Foodie Blogs
"Spolit For Choice"
We, New Zealander's are spoilt for choice when it comes to the amount & the variety of food available not only in our food stores, supermarkets, service/petrol stations with mini supermarkets which are open 24/7 but also the variety of food available from takeaways, restaurants and cafes. Last year, NZ had a total of 3524 takeaway outlets, as well as 6705 restaurants & cafes. New food places seem to be sprouting up all the time and one place that has sprouted is the Nosh Gourmet Food Market in Glen Innes, one of Auckland's suburbs. I haven't been out there to have a look yet, but one day.........!!! From what I have heard from friends though is that it's a great place for '"fresh food", although a little on the high side price wise, but it's the same old story - you get what you pay for and when you pay a little extra, well you get top-nosh !!! Don't take my word or my friend's word for it - check it out for yourself, if you just happen to be out that way.
Spud Lovers !!
It seems that people in the deep south who love oysters, pay top $ to get the first of the season's harvest, while here in the north, people will do the same to get the first of the season's new potatoes - Jersey Benne !!! The new potatoes are intitally selling at $10 per kilo - a dollar up on last season's prices but the price is expecting to drop to $8 per kilo. The grower planted his organic crop in June and is just starting to harvest them now. As more potatoes from other growers start to be harvested, the price is expected to drop to $5 per kilo.
We, New Zealander's are spoilt for choice when it comes to the amount & the variety of food available not only in our food stores, supermarkets, service/petrol stations with mini supermarkets which are open 24/7 but also the variety of food available from takeaways, restaurants and cafes. Last year, NZ had a total of 3524 takeaway outlets, as well as 6705 restaurants & cafes. New food places seem to be sprouting up all the time and one place that has sprouted is the Nosh Gourmet Food Market in Glen Innes, one of Auckland's suburbs. I haven't been out there to have a look yet, but one day.........!!! From what I have heard from friends though is that it's a great place for '"fresh food", although a little on the high side price wise, but it's the same old story - you get what you pay for and when you pay a little extra, well you get top-nosh !!! Don't take my word or my friend's word for it - check it out for yourself, if you just happen to be out that way.
Spud Lovers !!
It seems that people in the deep south who love oysters, pay top $ to get the first of the season's harvest, while here in the north, people will do the same to get the first of the season's new potatoes - Jersey Benne !!! The new potatoes are intitally selling at $10 per kilo - a dollar up on last season's prices but the price is expecting to drop to $8 per kilo. The grower planted his organic crop in June and is just starting to harvest them now. As more potatoes from other growers start to be harvested, the price is expected to drop to $5 per kilo.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Two Really Hot Naked Chicks !!!
Scroll down.............
keep going...............
they are really hot & naked..............
Are they hot.........or what ???
keep going...............
they are really hot & naked..............
Are they hot.........or what ???
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Curry Flavour Mushrooms - Nothing New
A company is selling small brown, curry-scented milkcap mushrooms (10 pound for 250 grams) which are said to be a natural food that grows wild in their country. When I mentioned the fact to Granny Smith, she said that curry-scented mushrooms were nothing new. She said that many moons ago when she grew her own mushrooms in cold & damp places she used to mix packets of curry powder into the mix in which the "mushrooms" grew. The mushrooms picked up the "curry" which resulted in "curry-tasting" mushrooms, so there you go. Also when she saw mushrooms growing wild on her property she made up a "curry mix" and feed that to the mushrooms . Another thing she used to grow was "pink daffodils" !!! They will be a couple of the things, I will grow on my property, when I get old(er). As for mushrooms, well I already have friends who treat me like a mushroom - "they fed me shit and keep me in the dark" !!! (hehe)
Healthy Food ???
The Board of Health in New York is out to keep New Yorker's healthy with a proposal to ban cooks at any of its more than 24,000 food service establishments from using ingredients containing the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on labels as partially hydrogenated oil, otherwise known as artificial trans-fat. Under the proposal, which has yet to be approved, restaurants would need to get artificial trans-fat out of cooking oils, margarine and shortening by next July 1st and all other foodstuffs by July lst, 2008. The proposal would create a huge problem for national fastfood chains.The ban would not affect grocery stores and would not apply to naturally occuring trans-fats found in some meat and dairy products. A similar ban has been proposed in Chicago, but is still under consideration.
Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Beat 500g softened butter, 1 & 1/4 cups of brown sugar, and 1 - 395gram can of condensed milk in a bowl until light & fluffy. Combine together 2 cups self-raising flour & 3 cups plain flour and add to the mix.Stir in 500g Dark chocolate bits.Roll 1/3 cupfuls of mix into balls. Place 4 at a time on greased oven trays . Press balls to form a 10cm circle. Cook in a moderate oven, 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Ice Cream !!!
Street's Ice Cream one of the oldest brands of ice cream, is made by Unilever Foods. It is also one of the several different brands sold in supermarkets & dairies, throughout Australia & NZ. With so many brands avaiable, it is difficult trying to "pick" what sort of ice cream to choose.
More Ice Cream.......
One of NZ's own ice cream companies, Tip Top Ice Cream was started in 1935. Some of NZ's favourites would have to be - Hokey Pokey; French Vanilla and just plain Vanilla. As well as supermarkets & dairies, there are small shops in the shopping malls, which sell nothing but ice creams and or sorbets. There are also "mobile ice cream" trucks, which ply their trade driving around the streets playing a tune, which would have to be the second worst tune, next to that frog or whatever you like to call him.
Peppercorns !!!
Peppercorns grow as a symbiotic climbing vine called "piper nigrum" on a tall thin tree in India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The berries are green, then ripen to bright red and hang in clusters like grapes.
Black pepper is the unripe berries that have been picked by hand and then left toi dry and shrivel in the sun.
White pepper ripens on the vine than is hand-picked, soaked and milled to remove the outer skin. Because of this treatment, they never taste as aromatic as the black ones.
Green peppercorns are picked unripe then freeze-dried or preserved in jars.
Pink peppercorns which come from South America have a mild flavour and are appreciated for their colour.
It is best to grind peppercorns as you need them, not only because the smell tickles your tastebuds, but because once ground, pepper rapidly loses it's flavour.
Pepper is of course a stimulant, a diuretic, improves sexual ardour, reduces fever and aids digestion. If food is love, pepper enchamces that love with mystery & eartiness.
Grind a peppercorn or two over a "dish of softened ice cream" and......... ???
I'll be back............
A company is selling small brown, curry-scented milkcap mushrooms (10 pound for 250 grams) which are said to be a natural food that grows wild in their country. When I mentioned the fact to Granny Smith, she said that curry-scented mushrooms were nothing new. She said that many moons ago when she grew her own mushrooms in cold & damp places she used to mix packets of curry powder into the mix in which the "mushrooms" grew. The mushrooms picked up the "curry" which resulted in "curry-tasting" mushrooms, so there you go. Also when she saw mushrooms growing wild on her property she made up a "curry mix" and feed that to the mushrooms . Another thing she used to grow was "pink daffodils" !!! They will be a couple of the things, I will grow on my property, when I get old(er). As for mushrooms, well I already have friends who treat me like a mushroom - "they fed me shit and keep me in the dark" !!! (hehe)
Healthy Food ???
The Board of Health in New York is out to keep New Yorker's healthy with a proposal to ban cooks at any of its more than 24,000 food service establishments from using ingredients containing the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on labels as partially hydrogenated oil, otherwise known as artificial trans-fat. Under the proposal, which has yet to be approved, restaurants would need to get artificial trans-fat out of cooking oils, margarine and shortening by next July 1st and all other foodstuffs by July lst, 2008. The proposal would create a huge problem for national fastfood chains.The ban would not affect grocery stores and would not apply to naturally occuring trans-fats found in some meat and dairy products. A similar ban has been proposed in Chicago, but is still under consideration.
Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Beat 500g softened butter, 1 & 1/4 cups of brown sugar, and 1 - 395gram can of condensed milk in a bowl until light & fluffy. Combine together 2 cups self-raising flour & 3 cups plain flour and add to the mix.Stir in 500g Dark chocolate bits.Roll 1/3 cupfuls of mix into balls. Place 4 at a time on greased oven trays . Press balls to form a 10cm circle. Cook in a moderate oven, 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Ice Cream !!!
Street's Ice Cream one of the oldest brands of ice cream, is made by Unilever Foods. It is also one of the several different brands sold in supermarkets & dairies, throughout Australia & NZ. With so many brands avaiable, it is difficult trying to "pick" what sort of ice cream to choose.
More Ice Cream.......
One of NZ's own ice cream companies, Tip Top Ice Cream was started in 1935. Some of NZ's favourites would have to be - Hokey Pokey; French Vanilla and just plain Vanilla. As well as supermarkets & dairies, there are small shops in the shopping malls, which sell nothing but ice creams and or sorbets. There are also "mobile ice cream" trucks, which ply their trade driving around the streets playing a tune, which would have to be the second worst tune, next to that frog or whatever you like to call him.
Peppercorns !!!
Peppercorns grow as a symbiotic climbing vine called "piper nigrum" on a tall thin tree in India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The berries are green, then ripen to bright red and hang in clusters like grapes.
Black pepper is the unripe berries that have been picked by hand and then left toi dry and shrivel in the sun.
White pepper ripens on the vine than is hand-picked, soaked and milled to remove the outer skin. Because of this treatment, they never taste as aromatic as the black ones.
Green peppercorns are picked unripe then freeze-dried or preserved in jars.
Pink peppercorns which come from South America have a mild flavour and are appreciated for their colour.
It is best to grind peppercorns as you need them, not only because the smell tickles your tastebuds, but because once ground, pepper rapidly loses it's flavour.
Pepper is of course a stimulant, a diuretic, improves sexual ardour, reduces fever and aids digestion. If food is love, pepper enchamces that love with mystery & eartiness.
Grind a peppercorn or two over a "dish of softened ice cream" and......... ???
I'll be back............
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Chelsea Sugar !!!
Just in case you "missed it", I have repeated this post here, as the video's are worth sharing.
Video's Of Recipes
There is approx. 34 Chelsea Sugar recipes which feature in the video's. Having a quick look thru the list of recipes, I can see 3 classic's my Mother used to make - Anzac Biscuits, Hokey Pokey Biscuits & Banana Cake !!! (That's if the little monkey didn't eat the banana's first !!! hehe)
Where Did Hamburgers Originate From ?
Althought the "hamburger" is well & truly part of USA, it came orginally from Russia. In medieval times, a favourite Russian food was raw meat scraped and shredded with a blunt knife and then seasoned with salt, pepper and onion juice. German saliors visiting the Baltic ports like the meat and took the recipe back to the port of Hamburg in Germany - hence the name, "hamburger". Unable to face eating the raw meat, the Germany's usually grilled it. In the 19th century, German immigrants took the recipe with them to USA. In 1900, when Louis Lassen served the meat between two slices of bread, the American hamburger was born.
Recipe - Coconut Macaroons
Combine 4 cups desiccated coconut; a 395 gram can of condensed milk; half a teaspoon of grated orange rind & i teaspoon vanilla essence in a large bowl, mix well. Shape heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls. Place a cup of desiccated cocnut in a plastic bag - toss your "balls" in the coconut. Place the balls 3cm apart on greased oven trays, press a piece of glace red cherry in the middle of each ball. Cook in a moderate oven (180degree's C) for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Leave on trays for a couple of minutes and transfer to wire racks to cool.
Meat Pies ???
They are trying to put the "meat" back into "meat pie", just don't ask what animal it was. Transtasman food regulators are trying to ensure that the humble pie contains at least 25% "meat flesh", which can/could include skin, fat & connnective tissue. At present a meat pie is defined as a pie containing 25% meat - its formal definition covering the part or whole of a carass of any buffalo, camel, cattle, deer, goat, hare, pig, poultry, rabbit or sheep. But some pies haven't been up to scratch with their 25% meat content and have been dubbed "rat coffins". Others "meat" the 25% by including snouts, ears, tendons, tongues and other unsavoury body parts.
(I wonder if that includes their "willies" ???)
NZer's eat approx. 60 million pies per year.
World Vegetarian Day
Last Sunday was World Vegetarian Day !!! So I am a week late in posting this, but never mind - have a look at the website as I am sure you will find it very interesting.
Tea, Mr Shifter ???
Believe it or not - tea was discovered by a Chinese emperor over 5000 years ago, when some "leaves" just happened to blow into a pot of boiling water - well so the story goes.
Nowadays, you don't have to wait around for leaves to blow into your pot - all you have to do is to take a "teabag" out of the packet and pop it into your cup.
There are three packets of teabags in my cupboard - one is of the old and well known
"Choysa" tea - round teabags I might add, not "square", but if & how it improves on the end cup of tea I wouldn't have a clue. Choysa Tea has been around in NZ since 1905, but no doubt as loose-leaf tea rather than the tea-bags we have today.
The other 2 packets of tea are from another older company called Healtheries which was established in Auckland in 1904, as a miller of speciality flours. Today, 102 years they still mill flour as well as supply cereals, health foods & supplements and a wide range of herbal teas. I drink two of the teas from their range - Peppermint Tea and Chai Tea, which is a blend of enchanting indian spices and decaffeinated black tea.
Where does "Mr Shifter" come into it.............it was advert for Choysa tea, where a father & son monkey were furniture movers. They were moving a "lady monkey's furniture", one of the items of which was a piano. They were trying to get the piano from upstairs, downstairs when the lady called out "Tea, Mr Shifter"? The piano rolled down the stairs !!! They were sitting down having a cup of tea, when the son asked his father "Do you know the piano's on my foot"? The father said.............noooooo, but you hum it son and I'll play it !!!
There were also other "monkey TV adverts" as well, but for some reason or other, that one tickled my funny-bone !!!
I'll be back............
Just in case you "missed it", I have repeated this post here, as the video's are worth sharing.
Video's Of Recipes
There is approx. 34 Chelsea Sugar recipes which feature in the video's. Having a quick look thru the list of recipes, I can see 3 classic's my Mother used to make - Anzac Biscuits, Hokey Pokey Biscuits & Banana Cake !!! (That's if the little monkey didn't eat the banana's first !!! hehe)
Where Did Hamburgers Originate From ?
Althought the "hamburger" is well & truly part of USA, it came orginally from Russia. In medieval times, a favourite Russian food was raw meat scraped and shredded with a blunt knife and then seasoned with salt, pepper and onion juice. German saliors visiting the Baltic ports like the meat and took the recipe back to the port of Hamburg in Germany - hence the name, "hamburger". Unable to face eating the raw meat, the Germany's usually grilled it. In the 19th century, German immigrants took the recipe with them to USA. In 1900, when Louis Lassen served the meat between two slices of bread, the American hamburger was born.
Recipe - Coconut Macaroons
Combine 4 cups desiccated coconut; a 395 gram can of condensed milk; half a teaspoon of grated orange rind & i teaspoon vanilla essence in a large bowl, mix well. Shape heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls. Place a cup of desiccated cocnut in a plastic bag - toss your "balls" in the coconut. Place the balls 3cm apart on greased oven trays, press a piece of glace red cherry in the middle of each ball. Cook in a moderate oven (180degree's C) for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Leave on trays for a couple of minutes and transfer to wire racks to cool.
Meat Pies ???
They are trying to put the "meat" back into "meat pie", just don't ask what animal it was. Transtasman food regulators are trying to ensure that the humble pie contains at least 25% "meat flesh", which can/could include skin, fat & connnective tissue. At present a meat pie is defined as a pie containing 25% meat - its formal definition covering the part or whole of a carass of any buffalo, camel, cattle, deer, goat, hare, pig, poultry, rabbit or sheep. But some pies haven't been up to scratch with their 25% meat content and have been dubbed "rat coffins". Others "meat" the 25% by including snouts, ears, tendons, tongues and other unsavoury body parts.
(I wonder if that includes their "willies" ???)
NZer's eat approx. 60 million pies per year.
World Vegetarian Day
Last Sunday was World Vegetarian Day !!! So I am a week late in posting this, but never mind - have a look at the website as I am sure you will find it very interesting.
Tea, Mr Shifter ???
Believe it or not - tea was discovered by a Chinese emperor over 5000 years ago, when some "leaves" just happened to blow into a pot of boiling water - well so the story goes.
Nowadays, you don't have to wait around for leaves to blow into your pot - all you have to do is to take a "teabag" out of the packet and pop it into your cup.
There are three packets of teabags in my cupboard - one is of the old and well known
"Choysa" tea - round teabags I might add, not "square", but if & how it improves on the end cup of tea I wouldn't have a clue. Choysa Tea has been around in NZ since 1905, but no doubt as loose-leaf tea rather than the tea-bags we have today.
The other 2 packets of tea are from another older company called Healtheries which was established in Auckland in 1904, as a miller of speciality flours. Today, 102 years they still mill flour as well as supply cereals, health foods & supplements and a wide range of herbal teas. I drink two of the teas from their range - Peppermint Tea and Chai Tea, which is a blend of enchanting indian spices and decaffeinated black tea.
Where does "Mr Shifter" come into it.............it was advert for Choysa tea, where a father & son monkey were furniture movers. They were moving a "lady monkey's furniture", one of the items of which was a piano. They were trying to get the piano from upstairs, downstairs when the lady called out "Tea, Mr Shifter"? The piano rolled down the stairs !!! They were sitting down having a cup of tea, when the son asked his father "Do you know the piano's on my foot"? The father said.............noooooo, but you hum it son and I'll play it !!!
There were also other "monkey TV adverts" as well, but for some reason or other, that one tickled my funny-bone !!!
I'll be back............
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