Great Barrier Island

 

We have just come back from three magnificent days on the wonderful Great Barrier Island.  I was kind of dreading the trip…let’s be honest, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but who really wants to go away with the in laws and all the extended family!?! My darling husband’s Gran and Granddad have just celebrated their diamond (60th) wedding anniversary and decided they would like all the family to go for a holiday to Great Barrier Island. Quite an incredible feat in this day and age…I really do hope we get to celebrate ours too one day.

Great Barrier Island is straight off the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, about 5 hours ferry ride from Auckland.  We got to go on private charter flights, in what I would define as people movers with wings. Our flights up took about 35mins from Tauranga.

When we arrived we were met by our local tour guide Steve, who took us on just about every winding road on the island over the three days we were there and filled the trips with interesting stories about the history and locals of Great Barrier Island.  On arrival at Claris airport we boarded his bus and he took us across the Island to the spectacular Whangaparapara harbour, where we stayed at Great Barrier Lodge. On the front lawn of the lodge, a rope swing hung in a tree…the kids spent every possible minute and not enough if you ask them on the swing.  It was just  an idyllic location!

Enough words from me…here are a few more photos of what we saw and did!

 

Gala Day is Here!

Come one come all, Ngaio School Gala is TODAY Sunday 11th March 11am-2pm – Come along – great food, great stalls , wines, beers and very cool auction items. Bring friends, family and people on the street!!!!

I’ve had a bit of a sneaky look around, you should see all the wonderful crafts the talented crafty team have made! There’s a couple of hundred fantastic looking cakes, the deli (my personal favourite) is filled with delectable treats to keep the cupboard filled all year, there’s some fantastic second hand stalls too – White Elephant, Toys, Books and Clothing! And So MUCH more…got to go finish the set up, so I won’t linger!

Ngaio School is in Ngaio, Wellington with access via Ottawa Road, Colway Street and Abbott St.

The countdown is on ….

This week is School Gala week at Ngaio School!  So we are in full flight in terms of preparation.  I am on the committee and rather involved at an overall level…let’s just say I signed myself up to be “indoor stalls coordinator”. So, I am getting my head around allocation of classrooms, 100 odd tables, 160 pens, 1000s of plastic bags, rolls of cellotape etc etc etc. This years gala organisation has involved a major reshuffle of stalls around our rooms and spaces due to the hall and three classrooms being closed until strengthening work can be carried out to bring the building up to scratch.

If you are in Wellington, the gala is on Sunday 11 March 11am-2pm! Come enjoy the fabulous food, family fun, and many stalls on offer.  One of the highlights of the gala is the auction, with many great items to bid on including not one but two springfree trampolines!

I hope to make some Macarons later in the week to be sold at the cake stall on the day, but it will all depend on how the rest of my week goes.

Filling the lunchboxes!

Tomorrow is Monday, that of course calls for baking for the lunchboxes.  My daughter is allowed to take “brainfood” to school so , that calls for some creative additions to her lunch. “Brainfood”consists of tasty, healthy morsels that can be consumed in class, if the child is getting hungry. Miss K seems to think that her “brainfood” box entitles her to extra muesli bars and such.  I have managed to convince Miss K, she has to put in at least one fruit or vegetable as a part of her “brainfood” but then she also requests a muesli bar, or dried fruit and nut mix.  So today, we made this Smart Slice from one of Sophie Gray’s fabulous books (a.k.a Destitute Gourmet).  It was a great way to use up all those weetbix crumbs at the bottom of the weetbix box!

My dear aunt regularly makes cheese straws for family events, Mr O just loves them, so I taught him how to make them today.  They are super easy to make, just a couple of sheets of flaky pastry and some tasty cheese grated and rolled into the sheets. He is more of a savoury fan and thought they might be good for school lunches.  Well they will be if there are any left by Monday!

 

We finished off our baking stint today, with Fudgy Choc Chip Cookies. They are very popular amongst our family and friends, I discovered the recipe in The Foodtown Magazine in 2003 and have made them regularly ever since.  They are quick to make and make a good quantity. I’ll share the recipe below the picture.

Fudgy Choc Chip Cookies

175g butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg

2 cups plain flour

½ teaspoon each: baking soda, salt

11/2 cups chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 170C

Whisk together the cooled, melted butter, with sugars, vanilla and egg. Mix in the flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips.

Place large spoonfuls of the dough on greased trays and bake for 12 minutes.

Cool on baking trays and then transfer to wire cooling rack. Makes 30.