Food writers event next week

Saucy words and seductive pictures

Join food writer David Burton & photographer Murray Lloyd for an hour-long feast for the eyes and ears

Murray will deliver les hors d'oeuvres – a PechaKucha style slide show illuminating the fine art of food photography

This will be followed David’s recipe for becoming a food writer, after which we’ll give him a good grilling about the sticky bits (open Q&A: BYO questions)

 Time: 6pm, Tuesday 17 April 2012
 Place: Agostini Room, 4th floor, Museum Hotel, 90 Cable Street, WELLINGTON, New Zealand

 Cost: Travcom members $10, non-members $20, includes a welcome drink and nibbles

Register with and send cheque to: Helen Davies, Travcom administrator, at 2B Pukehana Avenue, Epsom, Auckland 1023. Ph. 09 624 5707 or email: helen.daviesATclear.net.nz

This event has been organised by the Wellington branch of the Travel Communicators’ Association. For further information, please contact one of the local committee:
Judith Doyle (judith.doyle AT xtra.co.nz)
Heather Hapeta (heatherhapeta AT orcon.net.nz )
Sarah Bennett ( sarah AT bennettandslater.co.nz )

Love and food and a movie title

 My computer keeps reminding me I haven't done a blog re 'my life in the day of a newly diagnosed diabetic' so to make my electronic memory shut up I'm reproducing this letter to the charactor in the movie 'Shirley Valentine.' the blog should have been entitled "I like to eat food that reflects the place I'm at' but that can wait until tommorrow - after all, it's weigh-in day so should have something to report! - here is the letter:
"Dear Shirley Valentine, Greece is not the only island with places in which to fall in love . . . with life. I could have stayed longer but other places beckon and this was a nice interlude along the way. Okay, more than nice. Research for my writing I could call it, justify it. But I won't. It was, 'why not?' Good for the ego too. But Shirley, I have to tell you - different races, religions and different islands, same talk. No surprise really, is it. Our stories are so similar - I didn't leave a husband at home but once I arrived at this island, maybe with your story in mind, after all parts of our lives followed similar paths.

White sands, blue skies, charming restaurant / resort owner and voila! Late one night, a knock on my door. Are you awake? Blah blah lady, only talk, blah, blah, friends, blah, blah, I never did this before, blah, blah, I don't know what's happening to me, blah, blah. And so the story goes - you fill in the gaps, I know you know the words 'they' say.

I just smiled and enjoyed myself knowing tomorrow or the day after or next week I'd stay ciao and carry on my journey. Islands are seductive. So my soul sister, I too fell in love, again, with life, on an island - A great way to start a New Year."

PS these birds fell in love too: in love with freedom when they were released.

Discover Christchurch was on todays agenda

Just a quick blog today as i am off out agon very shortly, and have been out all afternoon - with Hassle-free tours.  I was testing ( for you) their new Discover Christchurch tour. i concur with an Asian traveller on board "I enjoy very much."  So, I'll be blogging about it on my wordpress travel blog soon so check there in a  few days.

Something I discovered about me today is how I need to be more aware of my lack of eating patterns . was hungry late morning, ate a couple of rice wafers and pickle, which of course took the edge off my hunger and it wasnt 'til i was waitng at the Tram Stop in the square for hassle-free to pick me up ( its so great living in the centre of ChCh -- which is how we shorten the name Christchurch) that I realised I hadn't eaten lunch! Not eating is not good when you are supposed to be eating well and regularly.

Well guess what, as soon as I was on board  the mini-bus I was given a little bar of chocolate and a tiny bag of crisps. (what Americans call chips). of cousre i ate them, and now home have worked out that calorie/food value wise, thay are about the same as a meal would be .. empty calories but at least not over my allowance.

now, with a meal of my organic home grown lettuce, potato, cold meat and dressing, i ma now full and ready so go out for the evening .... so ciao, and thanks for listening.
PS
 one change in behavour tonight was I didnt stop to get take aways from the Thai restaurant down the road ''cos its late and i have to go out' but came home and within 10mins had a tasty healthy meal in front of me. PPS
I didnt do the extra walk today as planned to make up for yesterdays sloth so tommorrow  I WILL!

destination london?

Going to London? It's now possible to enjoy the city even more. The tourist board published an excellent free booklet (Go Further in London) that tells us exactly how to how to make our budget go further. The booklet is available in many places and information is also on the website www.visitlondon.com.

London's made up of many villages each with their own character and style. It's one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world and I've been taste-testing the food of different ethnic groups. Try Lebanese delights in Edgware Road, Chinese food right next to Soho and Indian food in Brick Road, and Brixton for some Caribbean or African flavours - whatever your tastes, it’s available.

You know the big tourist destinations (see side bar) but what about places and events that are less well known: many free. For me it’s the green spaces that make London wonderful: large swathes of uncut grasses are left to flower and seed - attracting butterflies, insects, birds and other wildlife - these contrast with the manicured parts and the 'keep off the lawn' signs. Wandering around these parks is a real treat - it's hard to believe one is in one of the world's largest cities. Take a picnic lunch and spend time in Greenwich Park that has the meridian time-line, observatory and Maritime Museum, and superb views over much of London and the Thames.

Experience nature in the city at Barnes in West London - home to the Wetlands Centre - both resident and migratory birds are easily seen.  Check the website or phone for special activities.

Within the city there self guided walks - with free maps –around well-known icons of London and other fascinating places along the way. London is a good walking city and the tube also gets you around easily.

Markets are another superb way of seeing Londoners at work and play.  With more than three hundred to chose from there is something for all tastes - Greenwich for arts and crafts, Petticoat Lane for a variety of goodies, Spitalfields for flower lovers and Covent Garden for British made articles. Brixton even has a guided walking tour around the area and markets  Camden's my favourite for its alternative-lifestyle atmosphere and Borough is the place for fabulous food. Open on Fridays and Saturdays you can buy anything from organic food through to black bean chilli, oils and olives, ostrich burgers, cheeses and chocolates - a veritable cornucopia.

Explore Hampstead and its cemetery (Archway Station Northern Line) - one of London's most celebrated literary and intelligentsia suburbs. This area has more 'blue plaques' celebrating its residents than any other London borough: these range from John Keats, Boy George, AA Milne, and Agatha Christie through to Richard Burton, George Orwell, Freud, Twiggy and many others.

The Highgate cemetery (guided tours daily) is divided into two; the West Side is sentimental Victorian - when people didn't die but were merely sleeping. The East part is still being used: buried within its walls are Karl Marx, George Elliot, Christine Rossetti and Michael Faraday, to name a few. The headstones make interesting reading and are wonderful for atmospheric or spooky, black and white photography.

And finally, on my small list of hidden London gems, is the fabulous St Pancras Chambers. This Victorian, Gothic style building was originally a hotel, which closed in 1935 when it became railway offices. It is being restored to its former glory and will soon become a luxury hotel (Marriott) and apartment block.

The prestigious Art and Design Show is held twice yearly and the unrestored backdrop of its interior is a great foil to the pieces on display. Michael Czerwinski, artist in residence, is responsible for developing the systems that have made the visual art exhibitions, opera and other performances possible. Guided tours take place on most weekends.

So once you have seen some shows, once you have done the museums (mostly free) and art galleries, and once you have completed the top ten sights, buy a travel card and explore the many unheralded jewels in this ancient city.

London's top ten attractions  (by ticket sales)

1 London Eye

2 Dali Universe

3 London Dungeon

4 Tower of London

5 The Original London Tour (Open top double decker bus)

6 Madame Tussaurds

7 Hampton Court Palace

8 Westminster Abbey tour

9 Banqueting House

10 Kensington Palace

 (Source: www. visitlondon.com)

·        30% of London is green open space

·        London has 1,800 parks and open spaces

·        Richmond Park has 2,000 acres of landscape

·        Greenwich Park was created in 1433 and is the oldest royal park

·        Hyde Park has been a royal park since 1536

·        Hyde parks riding track - Rotten Row - was the first public road to be lit at night in England

·        Hyde Park has 4 miles of horse rides

·        Kew gardens has 40,000 varieties of plants and grows more species than any other garden in the world

·        Kew's Victorian Palm House is 2248 square metres and houses banana, coffee and paw-paw plants

 

Other gems

BBC TV centre www.bbc.co.uk/tours

Brahma Tea & Coffee museum

Ride a canal boat from Camden

Chelsea

Physic gardens

Bank of England museum

Theatre Museum

I love cheese!

I love food and New Zealand has great food - including our cheese ( photo taken at Lyttelton Farmers market)

Living alone, I whip up few culinary delights: this is despite watching the occasional TV chef, attending a cooking school in Thailand, managing a cafe in Athens, and working as an entree chef in an Italian restaurant, under a temperamental French Chef in Wales!

However this experience has qualified me, like people at an art gallery, to know what I like - and what I miss when I travel. So if it’s cheese you miss, or you want to know more about New Zealand cheese’s here are some ideas from Christchurch, Canterbury.

Right in Christchurch is a wonderful specialist cheese shop – Canterbury Cheesemongers. I used to buy cheese from their cute little refrigerated van when I was at the Christchurch Arts Centre Market each weekend. Since then they have opened an independent shop at 44 Salisbury St only minutes from Cathedral Square - and moments from my apartment: they tell me ‘the van is now selling fresh salmon in Fairlie’.

With an aim to not only sell cheese from people, who care about what they are making, but also to stock foods that go well with cheese, their shop is well worth a visit for nibbles or to stock your campervan for you travels. They also bake bread and other sweet things so pop in for a coffee and enjoy the smells of home cooking while you buy your cheese (or free range eggs, yummy fig and walnut roll or Hazelwood dukkah – all food I can recommend).

Most are of their cheeses are hand made by people who are both skilled and passionate and who thrive on the satisfaction of producing great cheese.

They take on the job of ripening these cheeses by providing perfect conditions for them to develop their potential flavour. They say “We don't suffocate a cheese in plastic or wax but allow it to develop a natural rind of mould and bacteria. This is what people have done since cheese making started - this is how you get better, more interesting and delicious cheese.”

So eschew international fast food places and any restaurants that will deliver just the same meals you can get at home, and visit the local farmers markets and cheese factories and give your taste buds a simple but scrumptious surprise with our tasty local foods.

POST EARTHQUAKE UPDATE (4th Sept 2010) from the Canterbury Cheesemongers ... "If there is something I have learnt over the last couple of weeks it's that Canterbury Cheesemongers is much more than bricks and mortar. It's all about people, cheese and good food.  Since the finality of seeing the old building truly flattened, we have been keeping ourselves busy this week getting our little old yellow van up and running and looking at possible new premises. 

and .. January 2011 .. 

New shop - The Arts Centre, Old Registry Building, 301 Montreal St, Christchurch.  Entrance from the Market Square.Open Tuesday to Friday 10am-6pm and Saturday 10am – 5pm.  Closed Sunday, Monday and public holidays.

We are pretty happy with the end result of the last couple months hard work...  who knows, maybe in a little while, we’ll be pleased that the Earthquake shook us into our new and better shop

www.cheesemongers.co.nz/mailorder.asp