 |
| This lovely lady was my go-to veg market seller in Fiji. Now back in Katikati, and we have our own local market to buy locally grown fruit and veggies. |
Day 18
Breakfast:
Feijoa smoothie (have an excess? they make superb smoothies!) and milky rice pudding (leftover from dinner)
Milky Rice pudding Recipe:
1 cup cooked rice
2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
2 TBspn butter
1 tspn vanilla essence
handful raisins
1 tspn cinnamon
Bring to boil and simmer till milk reduces - about 20 minutes.
Cool and eat when still warm.
We have come home to HUGE amounts of fruit lying on the ground, so Mike braved the wild and woolly weather to collect buckets and buckets of red, green and Monty's Surprise apples, feijoas, guavas, figs and limes on Saturday. As it wass raining, I couldn't make a dent on the masses of weeds that threaten to take over the garden, so I contended with the buckets of feijoas and made Feijoa chutney, about 8 bottles of the stuff. One bucket of produce down, 4 to go. We packaged up the rest and distributed among friends and family.
 |
| A small portion of the harvest |
 |
| Dealing with the harvest: feijoa chutney. |
Lunch:
As our daughter and boyfriend were home, they had buns, while we substituted buns for rice crackers
and Mount Eliza cheese, which Mike bought from the local Farmers' Market on Friday night. The cheese is made right here in Katikati, and it is such a treat to have cheese made within a stone's throw of our place!
 |
| Mount Eliza Cheese |
Dinner:
After fossicking in the fridge, I made a veg stew
and rice. My main inspiration was a HUGE marrow from the garden - so I added some red cabbage, onions and carrots (grown in Katikati; market and Onion Place).
We had ice-cream (Tip Top, Vanilla ice-cream made in Manukau, well within our 200km zone)and home-preserved stewed peaches for dessert. I had forgotten how delectable peaches and ice-cream were!! Brings back childhood memories of summer holidays.
Day 19
Breakfast:
Sunday. After a well-deserved sleep-in, we made a garden smoothie
– feijoa, apple, lime, half a mandarin, a silverbeet leaf and 2 figs. Slightly green-tasting, but really yummy.
A carrot snack mid-morning to see us through and then an early lunch consisting of leftovers from the previous evening.
Lunch;
Veg stew and rice with a green garden salad and tomatoes from the market, locally grown. For dessert, I rustled up Feijoa/apple and rice flour pie with cream and ice cream to accompany it. Very, very repeatable! I used the rice flour pancake recipe on top, instead of a flour crumble topping.
 |
| Feijoa/ apple pie with rice flour topping. |
We had our daughter and her boyfriend with us, so headed to the Athenree Hot Pools to alleviate the monotonously grey weather of the weekend, and languished in the hot silky-smooth water. On our return, my craving overcame me; I SIMPLY had to eat some crisps, so we stopped at the local Indian Spice Traders store and bought Blue Bird chips, an Auckland snack. We prefer Proper Chips but they come from Nelson, too far from our place!
 |
| One of the many beautiful mosaics at Athenree Hot Pools |
Supper:
One of my favourites rice dishes, a traditional Christmas dish for us:
Rice salad recipe:
Bring 1 and 1/2 cups of rice to the boil. When cooked, add 1/4 cup butter or oil (Avo, in the case of our local zone), 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and leave to cool slightly.
Add a variety of chopped veggies from the garden and the local farmer's market: capsicum, tomato, celery, cucumber, olives (mine are home-grown and cured), courgette etc. and a variety of herbs. Toss through the rice and serve.
 |
| Our local growers market; Steve and Jen. |
Tip Top Ice cream and home-preserved peaches for dessert.
 |
| I have been experimenting with herbal teas. This was nice: lemongrass, ginger and pineapple sage. Sweetened with just a smidgen of honey. |
