Friday’s Letters: Fierce and light and young

Friday's Letters My Foxy Corner

Dear Self: Now is the time to remind you not to volunteer for everything. Sometime’s its good to get a day off. Pat on the back for taking a very stressful week and doing a pretty good job at conquering it, even without adequate sleep.

Dear Dreams: I know you feel a little murky and things are little unsure right now. Rest assured that you are always at the forefront of my mind and with a little careful planning you shall soon become goals which will then become achievements. Just be patient with me.

Dear Creamy Mushrooms: I am one step closer to making you perfect and then I can stop throwing money away for brunch.

 Dear Tiny Turtle (Niece): Looking forward to your visit. You grow so fast and your smile is bigger every time I see you. Love to you and your chubby cheeks.

Dear Serial: I may have been the last person to this confusing and emotional journey, but I have finally finished all of your podcasts and have been left suitably in tatters. Just give me a goddam answer already.

Dear Workmates: Please stop jumping ship and leaving me to fend for myself. I need you all to make life more bearable. Along with wine and chocolate, which will never leave me.

Dear Savings: You and me have got some talking to do.

Dear Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Every time I watch you, I love you more and more. Thank you for being such a beautiful movie.

Dear February: You are one very busy month. Take it easy, you are supposed to be the best month of the year, even though you’re the shortest. Bring on birthdays and anniversary’s and other good things.

Dear Angel Olsen: Thanks for creating such beautiful music with lyrics that talk straight to my heart. Like the ones that gave me my title.

Dear Merlin: So it turns out you are a pretty amazing tree climber. Thanks for those moments in the middle of the night where sleep evades me but you are always around for cuddles. Thanks for being such a big boy at the vet. Love you and your giant paws. <3

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A Mexican Feast at Flying Burrito Brothers

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to my first Zomato meetup where I got to try enough Mexican food to last me several weeks.

This meetup was hosted at Flying Burrito Brothers in Newmarket, which had opened a little while ago and had a menu to delight any foodie with Mexican tastebuds (my hand is firmly in the air).

Virgin Mojitos Flying Burrito Brothers

Virgin Mojitos and dark lighting, sorry in advance for all the other photos

We started with a virgin cocktail; mine was mint and agave and all kinds of refreshing – which was much needed after dealing with Auckland traffic after work. We were then given a tasting board of their starters (bocaditos) to share around whilst we all were introduced to one another. Highlights for me included the Jalapeno Relleno (corn crusted jalapeno) as well as the Quesadilla De Queso, a delicious cheese, chilli and coriander quesadilla which went perfectly with their fresh tomato salsa. The highlight of this platter was the hot spicy cheese dip, Chilli Con Queso. I could live off the stuff (not for long though).

Flying Burrito Brothers

The Starting Platter

After gorging on starters, plate after plate of delicious dishes came out until our table was creaking. There were enchiladas, fajitasand burritos, but the highlight for me was the mushroom quesadilla (Quesadilla de Hongos) which was cooked to perfection and came with generous amounts of guacamole, sour cream and salsa. I must mention the Holy Mole Enchilada. Filled with chicken, I didn’t really try this but couldn’t resist tasting a little of the mole sauce which was rich and delicious.

Flying Burrito Brothers

Enchiladas, Burritos and Fajitas, Oh My!

Flying Burrito Brothers

Mushroom Quesadillas, perfect for any cheese loving vego

Flying Burrito Brothers

Luckily we had a bit of a break before desert, the conversation was pretty lively and the white sangria came out and was light and tasty. When the deserts arrived they were quickly demolished. We tried the Banana Chimichanga, tortilla wrapped fried banana served with ice cream and cinnamon sugar. Good but in my opinion, not as good as the Churros which came with three different dipping sauces. Yum.

Flying Burrito Brothers

Never too full for desert. Never.

 

It was such a fun night and an amazing way to sample some of the delicious dishes offered by Flying Burrito Brothers. I now can’t wait to go back with more friends and eat so much I can’t get home.

Flying Burrito Brothers

What the table looks like at a foodie meetup.

What are your favourite Mexican dishes?

Review of 2015’s Laneway Festival

So it’s been just under a week since Laneway, and I figured it was probably time I shared my experience after reading quite a few others. Spoiler alert: I had an amazing day.

Overall, Laneway 2015 was organised amazingly well. It was sold out and yet the crowds didn’t bother me at all. I waited no longer than 5 minutes for the bathroom and enjoyed about 11 different acts. I’ll run you through my day:Laneway 2015 Silo Park

We made our way to Laneway pretty early, getting there for Princess Chelsea at 12.00pm and let us walk around and explore a bit before the crowds arrived. We then found a spot on the grass, in the shade of the silos, to see Princess Chelsea put on a beautifully sweet and charming show. I think one reviewer put it perfectly when they compared her to Lena Dunham hosting a kitten kissing competition. It was pretty adorable, and she played my favourite song of hers, Cigarette Duet. It was a pretty perfect start to a gorgeous day.

Laneway 2015 Princess Chelsea

Princess Chelsea in the midday sunshine

 

We then ambled over to see the last 20 minutes of Tiny Ruins, a New Zealand artist who was captivating in her soft voice and quiet hold over the crowd. We also enjoyed a delicious vietnamese cold coffee to battle the sunshine. Conan Mockasin took the stage next, and put on a show that was weird but nonetheless entertaining in its 70s psychedelic rock vibes that had everyone dancing.

Laneway 2015 Connan Mockasin

Connan doing his thing. Whatever that is.

Auckland Laneway 2015

Angel Olsen was someone I was looking forward to seeing all week, and she didn’t disappoint, playing a bunch of my favourite songs in a very effortless way. I was pretty much captivated for the entire 40 minute set and didn’t want it to end. New girl crush by the way. The moment her set ended, Courtney Barnett started on the stage next door so we grabbed a quick cold drink and then watched her take over the stage, obviously having just as much fun as all of us who were watching her.

Angel Olsen at Laneway 2015

Angel Olsen a little bit crooked. I blame all of my dancing.

Royal Blood’s rock performance was one of my favourite moments of the day, with a huge number of people all yelling out the lyrics and dancing along to their high energy tracks. I am not a dancer but I don’t think anyone stood still throughout their songs. There was a lot of head banging and I didn’t even care.

Laneway 2015 Royal Blood

British Duo, Royal Blood

After a couple of hours of dancing around in the heat our energy reserves were pretty depleted so we grabbed a delicious meal at Bird on a Wire who were selling giant bowls of their delicious salads, topped with fresh chicken or crispy tofu. It was exactly what we needed to prepare ourselves for the next few hours.Auckland Harbour Laneway 2015

Jon Hopkins played a beautiful techno/synth set in the sunshine in front of the silos, with people dancing along to his seamlessly hypnotic electronica tracks. We then made our way to see some of Angus and Julia stone, where for the first time all day I found the crowds a little overwhelming.

Crowds at Laneway 2015

Crowding in beside the Silos to catch a glimpse of Banks

The crowds packed in for Banks, who despite some technical issues, had everyone enthralled with her quiet, shy demeanour but her beautiful voice and big beats. It took a bit of work making our way up close so with Little Dragon up next we decided to hold our ground amongst the pulsing crowd who were crammed into the small space. Probably the most memorable moment of the whole 11 hour day was watching the sun set over Auckland harbour during the Little Dragon set. It was spell binding. Dancing along with hundreds of other fans to some of their best songs made me forget about the heat and my sore legs and the crowds and just enjoy the moment.

Little Dragon at Laneway 2015

Little Dragon putting on one hell of a show as the sun goes down

After an hour of full on dancing, I needed a bit of a rest before St Vincent took the stage dressed up like some kind of gorgeous alien model. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to watch much of her but once she had started I was hooked on her quirky synth sounds and awkward dance moves. St Vincent was one of the best performers of the day, with her crowd in the palm of her hand hanging on to each and every sound that came out of her mouth.

St Vincent Laneway 2015

Before heading home, slightly sunburnt and totally exhausted, I wanted to see some of Flying Lotus who was finishing off the evening with his amazing 3D show. I only knew two of his songs so once I had heard them both, my weary legs demanded I take them home. As a small sidenote, Silo Park looked just as beautiful in the dark, lit up spectacularly, as it did in the gorgeous summer sunlight. What a beautifully charming venue to spend the day in. Sunset over Auckland Laneway 2015

I know some people complained about Laneway; the crowds, the long lines for the drinks/bathrooms etc. etc. I had a totally different experience and so I think this is up to the individual. We decided not to bother with alcohol because I paid a fair bit for my ticket and wanted to get my music’s worth out of it. After drinking at Big Day Out last year, I found that I had more fun this year, danced just as much and didn’t need anything extra as I was pretty giddy just on the experience of the whole day. The heat was at times pretty unbearable but there was free water all over the place and spots of shade to cool down. The clashes were minimal (for me) and the only act I missed was Belle and Sebastian. We went in wanting to make the most of our day, and got way more than we bargained for.

Auckland Laneway 2015

If you made it to the end of all that congrats, your reward is my 5 lessons learnt at Laneway 2015:

  1. If you are wanting to see lots of new amazing acts, get there early. More space, more relaxed atmosphere and heaps of wonderful music.
  2. Listen to a few of the acts before hand to help plan out who you would like to see and make the most of your time
  3. If you want to get drunk, go to a bar. The more you drink, the more time spent in lines, less spent experiencing great music.
  4. Reapply sunblock. Turns out that 1 application at 11am does not prevent you looking like a lobster at work on Monday.
  5. Take advantage of the free water and stay hydrated.

What was your experience at Laneway 2015?

Music | Loving for Laneway

Its summer and summer wouldn’t be summer without a music festival. Last year it was Big Day Out, this year it’s Laneway and I couldn’t be much more excited.Laneway Festival 2015

Even if you don’t happen to be going along, there are a few faces who I had no clue about prior to excitedly spending my pay on a ticket. So I thought I should share a few new favourites. (I’ll be honest, I knew about 3 acts at the time I bought my ticket, fools rush in?)

1. Courteney Barnett

Courtney is an Australian singer with rambling lyrics that are hilarious and weirdly witty, as well as a unique style of dead pan story telling singing that reminds me of Kimya Dawson. Listen to Avant Gardener (ever wanted a song about having a panic attack during a heat wave in public) and Pickles in a Jar.

Courteney Barnett Laneway 2015

2. Jon Hopkins

I never thought I would be keen to see a sonic technician live but this guys arrangements hook me and apparently he is quite the live performer (I’m curious to see more than anything else). His synth/keyboard tunes are smooth and easy to relax into, I find them oddly hypnotic. Some may seem familiar as he has done a bucketload of collaborations. And I had never heard is name until a couple of weeks ago. Win. Might not be for everyone but take a listen to Breathe This Air and a familiar sounding Light Through the Veins (if you have 9 minutes free).

Jon Hopkins

3. St Vincent

I’m sure everyone other than me is already aware of St Vincent, sometimes I think I go through life without acknowledging anything new. St Vincent (Annie Clark) is someone quite unusual, in a great way, with some twisted indie pop melodies and haunting but playful vocals I don’t really have anything to compare her to. If you haven’t already, try out Cruel and Cheerleader, a couple of new favourites. I can already imagine how incredible she will be live. Dreamlike techno? I’m just going to stop trying.

St Vincent

4. Angel Olsen

I saved my favourite for last. I have fallen fast for Angel Olsen’s retro style of music, playing her songs on repeat since discovering her just 4 days ago. She is now probably the act I am most excited to see. This is one example of where I listen to one song and become instantly attached to a musician. Her LP, Burn Your Fire For No Witness is already going to be one of my favourite albums of 2015. Her style ranges from heart wrenching folk, like my favourite track unf*cktheworld and Windows, to experimental electric rock and more upbeat tracks like Hi-5. Her music is dreamy and intense. I would pay to go to Laneway for her set alone.

Angel Olsen

These 4 are all new to my ears, there are also the old favourites who I have wanted to see for a while like Banks, Belle and Sebastian and Little Dragon! And with a timetable of minimum clashes I am pretty hopeful at catching all of them. Bring on Monday 😀

Let me know if you are going and who you are excited for (not that I can squeeze much more into my day)!

xx

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Friday’s Letters: A Little Magic

Friday's Letters: A little Magic

Dear Long Weekend: We both know how needed you are right now. I don’t think I could work another full week right now even if I wanted to.

Dear Edd: Thanks for being the best chilli chef I ever did know. If I had to choose one meal for the rest of my life, your vegetarian chilli would be a top contender (along with a lifelong supply of chocolate and red wine x).

Dear Unrelenting Fear of Rejection: Stuff you and stuff all your mates too. This week I totally ignored your voice in the back of my head and I don’t even care if I get rejected (okay, i’ll care but not enough to stop me trying in the first place).

Dear Frozen Strawberries: Where the heck have you been all my life?

Dear 2015: Sorry for being a bit absent so far, in more ways than I can count. I promise to try harder to make the most of all of your days and use my diary more.

Dear Brothers: Happy Birthday to one of you, much love to all four of you, even when shit goes wrong. We all make mistakes.

Dear Coffee: I think I am slowly coming to the sad realisation that I’m not sure we can be best friends anymore. Don’t worry, the break up will be slow and gentle. I couldn’t handle it any other way.

Dear Merlin: So I haven’t officially introduced you yet but you have, without a doubt, been the best part of 2015 so far. Thanks for being such an incredible character and for meeting me after each and every crappy day, ready for cuddles and already purring. I already can’t imagine life without you. xx

 

Strawberry Fields Forever

Summer Strawberry Picking in AucklandWith Summer in full swing and the weekend hours more precious then ever, I have been trying to tick off various things from my Summer Bucket List. One of these was to gorge on strawberries at a pick your own farm, and with my two little brothers over for the day we had the perfect opportunity for it.

Summer Strawberry Picking in Auckland

With a few recommendations from friends, we decided on Garelja Bros Strawberry Gardens and spent a wonderful half hour or so filling up buckets and containers (and our mouths) with the most beautiful and delicious strawberries I could imagine. The boys had a great time and I was busy thinking of all the wonderful things I could do with the bounty we had picked. The hot sun was shining (we were slathered in sunblock), despite its popularity we never had to share our area with any other pickers and the strawberries were plentiful. Within 20-30 minutes we had more strawberries then we knew what to do with.

Summer Strawberry Picking in AucklandSummer Strawberry Picking in AucklandSummer Strawberry Picking in Auckland

The best part about Garelja Bros was when we came to pay, and found (to our surprise) that the mountain of juicy strawberries was only $15. We had expected to part with much more cash (rather happily) in exchange for our few kilograms of fruit. Unlike some other Strawberry farms, Garelja Bros doesn’t do their own strawberry ice cream, but their friendly staff recommended a spot called Juicy on the way back to the main road (turn left, left, left and its on your left :)) that specialised in fresh strawberry ice cream, as well as Coffee, smoothies and gelato. Somehow we found room in our bellies and sat on some beanbags in the shade with a monster of an ice cream to devour. I’d like to say that it was so big I couldn’t finish it..but I’d be lying.

Summer Strawberry Picking in Auckland

Both of these spots were cheap and friendly and provided the 4 of us with a highly enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine. Even better, I now have 4 kilos of strawberries in my fridge and freezer.

Summer Strawberry Picking in AucklandSummer Strawberry Picking in Auckland

If you haven’t been yet, Garelja Bros may only be open for a little while longer (check their Facebook page for details) but I highly recommend them if you get a chance between 10am and 3pm. They charge a very reasonable $5 a kilo and if you can, bring a flat tray to lay the strawberries on in the car so they don’t get smooshed.

Let me know if you have any favourite strawberry spots in Auckland and what else is on your Summer Bucket List!

Summer Strawberry Picking in Auckland

You can see Mr 7 eating on the job here. Cheeky.

Summer Strawberry Picking in Auckland

Another case of Wanderlust

Wanderlust: strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world

Another Case of Wanderlust

I go through phases of wanting to settle down, buy a house, have kids and so on and so forth and then suddenly an urge to spend all my dollars on new experiences in new countries takes over and I realise that I’m not quite ready to put my money into anything else.

Until Edd and I did our trip in 2014 where we visited 11 countries in 2 months, I had been overseas twice. I was pretty under experienced when it came to overseas travels and countries other than New Zealand and Australia. Since our trip, you could say that I have caught the wanderlust bug pretty bad.

My feet are itching to get back on a plane and see more of the world, my wallet right now is saying no. A girl can dream though.

Another Case of Wanderlust

The beautiful Grand Canal in Venice, Italy

Genie from Bunny Eats Design proposed a bit of a weekend project amongst the #brunchclub bloggers to do a Wanderlust tag, and after getting immense enjoyment out of all the great blogs that came out of it I couldn’t help but do it myself.

Another Case of Wanderlust

Me sweltering in the hot Roman Sun, soaking up the cities incredible history

Where was your first plane to?

I flew domestically between Palmerston North and Auckland pretty frequently as an unaccompanied minor which meant that I got to hand everyone their lollies and then have way more than the allocated 1 or 2. It was a pretty big deal back then and I thought myself quite the jet setter. My first international flight was to Sydney to visit my Dad and it stands out in my mind because there was an issue with my passport and me and Grandma were pretty stressed out thinking we wouldn’t be able to fly.

Another Case of Wanderlust

Edinburgh in the beauty of the setting sun

Where have you traveled to that you would love to visit again?

So many places that I would love to spend more time in but Scotland is high on the list. We spent a few, wonderful days in Glasgow and Edinburgh but I would love to go back to explore the Scottish Highlands. I also can’t wait to return to Paris and Amsterdam, two of the most wonderful cities in all of Europe.

Another Case of Wanderlust

We stayed in the perfect area of Amsterdam and fell in love with the cities character as well as its canals

Another Case of Wanderlust

I dreamt for so long of visiting the Eiffel Tower, and now I dream of getting back there.

You’re leaving tomorrow, money is no object, where are you going?

Japan. This is the next country on my list and I hope it will be our next international trip. The beautiful scenery, the incredibly polite and lovely people and the obsession with cats. I feel like me and Japan would get along pretty well. I would also love to go back to the UK, hire a car and spend a month or two road tripping around Wales, England and Scotland.

Preferred method of travel; planes, trains or car?

After training across a large proportion of Europe I have fallen in love with this form of transport. The way that you can sit back and enjoy the scenery as well as the chance to meet new people and chat about different experiences.

Another Case of Wanderlust

Favourite method of travel? Definitely gondola.

Favourite travel website?

We used Tripadvisor to death when planning our trip to Europe and also when trying to decide on what activities to partake in. Blog-wise, I love the World of Wanderlust and browse this frequently when I need to get my travel fix.

Another Case of Wanderlust

The famous Charles Bridge in Prague

Where would you travel to just eat the food?

I would travel back to Italy in a heartbeat, and that is largely due to the incredible food that we had each and every day. Also, it was the ideal place for a couple of travelling Vegetarians and we never had an issue finding something delicious to eat. Oh and need I mention gelato? We lived off the stuff. Somewhere not yet travelled that would be amazing food wise would be Thailand and Japan. I love both of their cuisines and can see myself eating my way through both countries quite happily. Sidenote: Brighton had the best vegetarian restaurants and I needed more days to try them all.

Another Case of Wanderlust

Brighton, a bit of a change from New Zealand beaches, but charming nonetheless.

 

Another Case of Wanderlust

Living off pasta and cheese in Italy.

Is there a place you would never go again?

Luckily, and also unluckily I guess, pretty much everywhere we have visited I would love to go and see again. The one place that wouldn’t reappear on a travel itinerary, even if I was in the area, is Cannes on the French Riviera. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful spot and a charming town, in a weird kind of way. But I think there are much better places to experience the lavish lifestyle on the French Riviera such as Nice. Cannes was just lacking in character, was expensive but dated and didn’t have the right atmosphere for me. Lesson learnt, take advice from family.

Another Case of Wanderlust

We found that Cannes was most beautiful after the sun had departed and the people had returned to their expensive hotels and casinos.

Can you recite your passport number from memory if asked?

Considering I can barely remember how old I am, it should come as no surprise that my passport number is a pretty big mystery to me. But I do always have a photo of my passport details saved somewhere secure just in case of an emergency.

Another Case of Wanderlust

One of the most unique sights we saw, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

Do you prefer the Window, Aisle, or Middle seat?

If it’s a full plane, aisle always. I get a bit claustrophobic and fidgety and like the ability to get up and wander around without climbing over people. If it’s just me and Edd in a row then I love the window because the views can be spectacular. I’ll never forget watching the sunrise, somewhere over Eastern Europe/Asia on our way to Hong Kong. It was pretty spectacular.

Don’t ever put me in the middle. I would rather sit on the floor or in the toilet.

Another Case of Wanderlust

Burano, a coloured little world of canals on an island near Venice

How do you pass the time on the air plane?

I doze through movies and re watch favourite series that don’t require too much focus. I also get really excited by the plane meals, although the vegetarian options can sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

Another Case of Wanderlust

Watching a puppet show on Montmatre as we watched the sun go down over Paris. Just one more memory I won’t ever forget

Another Case of Wanderlust

Because every traveller needs someone to share the experience with. Can’t wait to create more adventures with this dude.

Take a lengthy look at the rest of the wonderful posts on Wanderlust by the #brunchclub ladies!

 

Christmas Fruit and Nut Fudge

Christmas Fruit and Nut Fudge Recipe
This post was promised last week…so I’m hoping that Sunday still counts because as per usual life has gotten in the way and what should have been easy to do took me forever.

I love making handmade gifts but am not a crafter or a DIYer so in place of glitter, mason jars and twine I go with good old chocolate for making gifts for those people who can be a little awkward or tricky to buy for. This fudge I came up with last year and then made recently for our #brunchclub goodie bags, and it seemed to go down a treat!

Christmas Chocolate Fudge Recipe

It uses my pretty standard chocolate fudge recipe and throws in some extra bits and pieces to bring in the festivity. Along with the rich dark chocolate and sweet condensed milk I add some nuts (what ever is handy but my current favourite combo is almonds and pistachios) as well as some dried cranberries and some dried ginger/candied peel stuff that I found and that looked mildly appropriate. The result are rich little morsels of smooth chocolate, crunchy nuts and chewy fruit. The overall objective: Christmas in every mouthful.

Ingredients for Christmas Fudge

Ingredients for Christmas Fudge

  • 375grams of dark chocolate (or thereabouts, use milk if dark chocolate isn’t your thing, although I totally recommend the dark variety, as in my humble chocolate loving opinion, it goes perfectly with the sweetness of the fruit)
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (around about 250g)
  • 100g butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 cup slivered almonds that you have tried to hack into smaller pieces but in reality have just turned into a giant mess
  • 1 cup of crushed pistachios (not too crushed, just not whole? See above)
  • 1 cup dried cranberries (or some other form of delicious dried fruit pieces)
  • 1/2 cup of candied peel/ginger mix

Method for Christmas Fudge Recipe

  1. Put the butter, condensed milk, vanilla essence and chocolate all into a saucepan on a low heat. I put the chocolate in last and keep this pretty low in temperature as chocolate can be one fussy ingredient and the fear of it seizing on me makes me unusually cautious. Not cautious enough to use a double boiler, which you can totally do. Im cautious but also lazy I guess this indicates.
  2. Wait for this to all melt but stir it until your arm hates you. Or get someone who loves you to stir it. It needs pretty consistent stirring, again so that the chocolate doesn’t turn on you and ruin a perfectly delicious gift idea.
  3. Once everything is smooth and combined, take the mixture off the heat and throw in half of all your delicious extras (as in half a cup of each nut, 1/2 cup cranberries and 1/4 cup of the candied mix). Mix this all through then pour into a lined baking tray.
  4. Smooth the whole thing down with a spatula (not too smooth ’cause rustic is totally what we are going for) and then sprinkle the rest of your extras over the top, attempting to be even but in the end, this is an unrealistic expectation to set upon yourself so just go wild. Press this all down gently otherwise all this good stuff will go rampant when we cut it up and bag it.
  5. Set in the fridge for as long as you can, at least a few hours then take it out and slice it!Chocolate Fruit and Nut Christmas

Tips – If the mixture with the chocolate starts to get too thick or its not smooth enough add a little liquid. I use baileys (because I love to add this to everything) but you could just use a little cream.

Christmas Fruit and Nut Fudge RecipeToppings for Fruit and Nut Fudge

Being Lizzy, I forgot to take a shot of these all bagged up with Christmas ribbons, but a recipe post wouldn’t be complete without me forgetting a step. You can buy little resealable bags from places like Looksharp, which make life a lot easier. I then added some twine and ribbon to make them worthy of all the lovely bloggers but you could just eat it all with the purpose of saving all your friends and family the calories.

Christmas Fruit and Nut Fudge Recipe

The great thing about this fudge is that you can totally change it up as much as you want. You can go with white chocolate, macadamias and cranberries (this actually sounds like a good idea for my next fudge post…), chocolate and coffee liqueur with hazelnuts, peppermint chocolate (just add a small amount of peppermint essence and voila!). The opportunities are almost endless! Let me know if you end up making this or if you have any other amazing fudge recipes to share!Christmas Fruit and Nut Fudge RecipeChristmas Fruit and Nut Fudge Recipe

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#brunchclub’s Festive Feast with Chuffed

festive feast with chuffedSo on Sunday we wrapped up the year’s #brunchclub with a rather wonderful feast at Chuffed on High Street in Auckland. It was the perfect way to end the a year that has been full of surprises for #brunchclub, primarily in that it made the transition from being an excuse for me, Laura and Maddy to go eat delicious food and talk blogging to a huge group of incredible New Zealand bloggers. Each month I meet new people and we try new amazing spots in Auckland where we can chat over coffee and brunch.

 Chuffed Auckland Cafe  #brunchclubIts been amazing, and Laura and Maddy are two inspirational bloggers who have become my close friends through this whole thing (a side effect of #brunchclub for which I couldn’t be more grateful).

Maddy, Laura and Lizzy from #brunchclub

Finally a photo with all three of us!

To finish off the year we had 20 wonderful men and women (including ourselves) for a Christmas feast, featuring Turkey, Ham and all the wonderful vegetables you could imagine. Chuffed was a beautiful venue, a little haven in the middle of the city with a stunning outside area that was perfect for our group.

Decor for #brunchclubFood at Chuffed for #brunchclubFood at Chuffed for #brunchclubFood at Chuffed for #brunchclubFood at Chuffed for #brunchclubChuffed Cafe AucklandChuffed festive feast #brunchclubWe had a mixture of bloggers who regularly come to #brunchclub, and others for whom this was their first time, which was so cool (I still can’t believe how many great bloggers there are in Auckland!). We ate and talked the day away, and then rushed down for a quick look at the Auckland Fair (which looked incredible!).

#brunchclub festive feast at ChuffedI nearly forgot to talk about the desserts which were the most delicious part of the day in my dessert-loving opinion. There were two different options, a brioche and blackberry thing with marscapone (which looked delicious and was full of fresh berries), and my personal favourite, a lemon posset with berry coulis and crushed amaretto. Honestly, the lemon posset was delicious, like mind bogglingly delicious. I could have eaten them all, and nearly did. Everyone’s lucky they managed to obtain one to be honest.

Desert at #brunchclub

Drooling all over my key board. Someone help me make this.

Desertat #brunchclub at ChuffedThank you to everyone who joined us for our festive feast, and thanks also to every single person who has become a part of our little #brunchclub and has made this whole year incredible. Also go check out some wonderful posts about this Christmas #brunchclub over at The Confetti Room and Katerina Darling (two absolutely stunning blogs and equally stunning ladies who came along).

Christmas Chocolate FudgeAlso! I may have made some Christmas fudge for the giftbags to go along with some great little goodies from Lush! The post will be up in the next couple of days and would make a great gift for that one person who has everything (mostly shameless self plug trying to encourage you to check back later).

Festive decor with #brunchclubWe can’t wait to bring in the New Year and see what 2015 will bring for #brunchclub. To finish off a bit of a rambly post, below are 5 little things I have learnt from this year (’cause I love lists and you hopefully love lists too):

  1. I do not find socialising with new people easy and potentially never will (put me with cats and its a whole other story). Somehow in spite of this every single time I manage to meet some incredibly friendly and wonderful people who make the effort well worth it
  2. Anything is possible with two amazing friends who seem to be able to achieve a ridiculous amount of stuff in limited time.
  3. There seems to be a never ending supply of amazing cafe’s in Auckland and my goal in life is to try everyone’s pancakes.
  4. Glitter is really hard to get off your face after a hard night’s crafting. You may still look like a Christmas decoration the next day at work, regardless of showering.
  5. There is nothing better than spending a Sunday with like minded people, drinking coffee and eating delicious food.

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festive feast #brunchclub

Introducing: Auckland Food Tours

So my dream day is to be driven around to different delicious destinations where I can eat and buy as much food as possible and then nap the afternoon away. This came true last Saturday when I went along to one of the Auckland Food Tours with Edd and Mr 12. Dreams really do come true.Auckland Food Tours


I am a big fan of food. I am also a big fan of not having to put in a lot of effort in order to eat a lot of food. It’s a dangerous combination (just ask my waist line) but for those food-inclined, a food tour is like a mini miracle. Food tours obviously are a thing that have always existed outside of my imagination, yet somehow I have just never successfully encountered one until last weekend.

House of Dumplings 2

Needless to say, when asked if I would like to come along on one of the food tours I did not take a lot of persuading.

All the details on the tour set up are located over on the website for Auckland Food Tours so I’m just going to mention a couple of my favourite places and then show you a few delicious photos.

Monsoon Coffee

Our first stop, Monsoon Espresso, was one of my favourites although my love of coffee may make me biased. We were shown the coffee roasting process whilst we got to down the good stuff in their beautiful roastery showroom, and whats even better is that they have a cafe in the city! The rest of the tour included Lebanese, Russian, German, Italian and Middle Eastern style cuisines and the type of stops varied from the cafe to a cheese maker in Dairy Flat, with everything delicious that you could imagine in between. Monsoon Espresso 1

There were several places that I will definitely go back to again, one of which is Barakah Foods, the Lebanese supermarket in Wairau that was full of hidden treasures for a super reasonable price. The little unassuming store is packed full of the most delicious things like pomegranate molasses, rosewater, tinned charcoal roasted eggplant, relishes and jams, fresh olives and feta. I’ve only scraped the surface of this shops offerings and I will be back there before Christmas to spend all of my money.

Barakah Food

Along the way we met a variety of incredibly friendly foodies who talked us through their passions in food and let us eat many delicious samples (we definitely did not need lunch). At one point I had a delicious German pastry, warm and doughy and full of creamy poppyseed paste (which does not sound as good as it tasted). As it was thrust in to my hand, still warm from the oven, I think I had some form of delicious bread related epiphany (perhaps along the lines of “oh my god, bread! Delicious!). I also tried Russian dumplings for the first time and may have eaten far more than my share (not my fault). I also ate a lot of cheese, but what else is new?

Massimo Lubisco

Overall Thoughts

Would I do another food tour again? This seems like a silly question because I would happily do one every weekend if I could. These would make such a great gift (oh hey there Christmas!) or the perfect experience for someone visiting Auckland. It was such a fun way to get to know some of those secret places that people discover and with the amount of tastings we received it would be well worth the price. Anne-Marie, who hosted us, was amazing and did a wonderful job of sharing her obvious love for food with each of us. Even Mr 12 was totally obsessed with the day and could not stop raving about how much fun he had.

Auckland Food Tours

Me. Eating Cheese. Because that’s pretty much what I do in every photo

 

Napoleon Pastry

In case you haven’t eaten a Napoleon before, you definitely should.

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