{"id":417,"date":"2016-09-30T05:26:07","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T05:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/?p=417"},"modified":"2016-09-30T05:26:07","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T05:26:07","slug":"food-glorious-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/?p=417","title":{"rendered":"Food Glorious Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1078959560-devot-attention-to-eating-food-picture-quote\"<\/p>\n

Food is a huge focus in most folks lives.
\nIt\u2019s a pretty important thing.
\nAnd everyone has a view point about food.
\nSome don\u2019t care, they just eat anything and everything.
\nSome care fixatedly and are extremely particular.
\nSome have deadly allergies
\nSome have intolerances
\nSome are just plain picky and ride on the back of those who have those allergies.<\/p>\n

Me, well I just like food.
\nBut I am very particular as well.
\nMy food has to be good.
\nReally good!
\nI won\u2019t pay for crappy fast food unless that is the absolute last option and I am at deaths door!<\/p>\n

I have cooked and baked nutritious delicious food all my married life.
\nI have literally fed armies, fed the multitudes.
\nBut when Tim was killed, my\u00a0spirit to cook died too.
\nMy confidence disappeared.
\nI relied on the kids to produce many of our\u00a0meals.
\nIt\u2019s take me a while to get back on the planet in that regards.
\nNow we are off the farm and usually only 2-4 of us at home our meals have changed, simplified.
\nI use a lot of vegetables and not a lot of meat.
\nBecause one of us is vegetarian, I tend to cook around her and then add meat according to what rest of us want or need.
\nAnd actually, I am finding that I don\u2019t need or want a lot of meat any more.
\nI am \u2018fussy\u2019 in some respects which makes it so easy when I go out.
\nI don\u2019t eat pork or venison because I don\u2019t like it and I don\u2019t eat mutton or lamb because no-one can cook it like Tim did \ud83d\ude09
\nI also try and keep my food as unprocessed as possible.
\nAnd I keep my sugar intake to a minimum.
\nI\u2019m not religious about it, I have done being a slave to it.
\nFood is to be enjoyed, but in that enjoyment I try and make wise choices.<\/p>\n

In our city\u00a0house we have an oven which I am not familiar with, I hate using it, and can only usually succeed to get it operating if Mahalia is here to operate the switches!
\nSo I cook mainly using\u00a0the mini bench oven, the slow cookers, the rice cooker and heavy cast iron cookware\u00a0on the gas stove.
\nWe live on salads and stir fries of varying combinations depending on the seasons,\u00a0combining them with potatoes in many disguises, noodles, rice, buns, etc.
\nThe slow cooker is also a brilliant stand by, I can prepare a nutritious economical meal which can often\u00a0last us for more than several days, once again combining with whichever carb you choose to make each meal different & interesting.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t need to turn out great quantities of baking anymore so 6 muffins cook nicely in the mini oven.
\nThese were made to Mahalia\u2019s request using pumpkin puree, halloumi cheese and toasted seeds.
\nThey tasted really good!
\n\"img_9975\"
\nAnd when you have roast veggies left over what better way to use them up than bubble and squeak with some organic farm eggs lovingly squeezed from Marah’s\u00a0chooks by my gorgeous little grand daughters \ud83d\ude42
\n\"img_9807\"<\/p>\n

But being in the city also has another benefit.
\nWe can eat other peoples cooking more often!
\nThere are some wonderful cafes & restaurants\u00a0here.
\nI especially love the cafe culture, the diverse range, the outdoor & street\u00a0seating that our climate allows us to enjoy.
\nThe thing I love about eating out is sharing.
\nSharing time with friends.
\nTaking time out of the busyness of life and just stopping.
\nI love nothing better than to meet with a\u00a0friend and spend time enjoying their company along with good food and great coffees.
\nI love\u00a0exploring and finding new treasure troves, and returning to old favourites.
\nThere’s\u00a0one or three I have frequented recently deserve a mention –<\/p>\n

The Baker’s Coffee Shop<\/a> makes excellent coffees &\u00a0exquisite pastries onsite.
\nMahalia and I treated ourselves the other day, it is probably not a place I need to go too often because the pastries are just wickedly wonderful and self restraint is extremely difficult \ud83d\ude09
\n\"img_9990\"<\/p>\n

7010 Your Local<\/a> is another fav.
\nThe cool thing here is that the food is different every day.
\nBut each time it is just so good.
\n\"img_9950\"\"img_9979\"<\/p>\n

I have to make particular mention of the\u00a0relatively new\u00a0La Capilla Restaurant<\/a>.
\nOwners\u00a0by head chef Takeshi, one of the best chefs in our region.
\nI recently took my lad out there for a special lunch.
\nHe said it was absolutely the best meal ever as he pretty much\u00a0licked his plate clean \ud83d\ude42
\n\"img_0107\"\"img_0106\"
\nAnd of course, being a special lunch we couldn\u2019t leave without sampling one of Takeshi\u2019s delicious deserts each.
\nSO good!
\n\"img_0111\"\"img_0112\"<\/p>\n

The other absolute fav place of ours is East Street Vegetarian Cafe & Bar<\/a>.
\nIf I want to keep Mahalia happy I just suggest going there for lunch, or dinner, or dessert, or…….. any excuse really and she is very happy \ud83d\ude42
\nIt has the reputation of being the best vegetarian restaurant in NZ and I agree whole heartedly.
\n\"img_9823\"\"img_9822\"\"img_9821\"
\nThe ambience is retro and funky, the staff are super cool and the food is awesome.
\nDouble thumbs up to this place.
\nMains are exceptional and desserts are pretty darned good too.\"img_9824\"\"img_9825\"<\/p>\n

A cafe that I don\u2019t get too that often as it is on the other side of town is\u00a0Blackbird Eatery<\/a>.
\nIt is tucked away inside a local gym and as it is only a couple of minutes further to the airport it is worth leaving a bit earlier for your flight so you can\u00a0fuel up\u00a0on the way.
\nIt\u00a0focuses on raw and fresh foods.
\nI was heading to the airport so enjoyed a get together with two of my girls here last week.
\nWe did the afternoon tea sweet thing, the brownies\u00a0were made from gf, df ingredients and were divine but we shoulda divided two among three of us as one each was a bit much for our relatively sugar free bodies.
\n\"img_0095\"<\/p>\n

I popped down to Christchurch this week.
\nIt was a very impromptu visit so I didn\u2019t rush about catching up with everyone like I often do.
\nPretty much focused on the business to hand and getting some much needed rest.
\nBut I did manage to share a couple of meals out whilst there.
\nA pre show snack at Rendezvous Hotel\u2019s Junction Bar<\/a> before going to Evita.
\nEveryone else was eating platters of deep fried bar food.
\nAs I said further back, I am personally trying to make good choices and too much deep fried or sugary food is not a good choice for me right now.
\nThis beetroot salad was wonderful, the buffalo yoghurt and hazel nuts mixed with roast onion and beetroot was just perfect.
\nWhat I really liked was that they were willing to accomodate my preferences and swap some ingredients for another.
\n\"img_0163\"
\nI do have a couple of concessions\u00a0which include the occasional glass of cider and a mocha.
\nThe cider must not be apple, anything but apple!
\nAnd the mocha has got to be good – very hot, not lukewarm and milky -eeewk!
\nI walked on the Wildside<\/a> with Nathan and enjoyed a Mandarin & Lime Cider while had had an Asahi<\/a> beer.
\nHe tried to convert me, but no, beers\u00a0for me.
\n\"img_0152\"
\nJoe’s Garage in Rangiora<\/a> was our second choice for dinner.
\nBut as the first choice was closed for staff training we opted for Joe’s.
\nIt was a\u00a0good choice.
\nNot too crowded while we were there so fairly peaceful, staff were great and the food was pretty darned good.
\nNathan proclaimed the steak to be perfectly to his liking and my salmon was delectable.
\n\"img_0153\"\"img_0154\"<\/p>\n

I could not leave Joe\u2019s without having a Killer Smoothie so had that for dessert.
\nMy goodness, they are the absolute best smoothies.
\nEver since my first one at the Sumner Joe\u2019s Garage many years ago it is top of my menu choice whenever I have the fortune to find myself there.
\nIt is basically yoghurt with black doris plums & honey.\"img_0155\"<\/p>\n

Basically when it comes down to it, there is really nothing that surpasses sharing good food with good friends.
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Food is a huge focus in most folks lives. It\u2019s a pretty important thing. And everyone has a view point about food. Some don\u2019t care, they just eat anything and everything. Some care fixatedly and are extremely particular. Some have deadly allergies Some have intolerances Some are just plain picky and ride on the back … Continue reading “Food Glorious Food”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26,41,23,36,37,21,6,17,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybigballofstring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}