What's new

All Good banana chunks

All Good Bananas been working hard with Oxfam New Zealand and Samoa’s Women in Business Development Inc. to bring you these Organic Dried Banana Chunks. By partnering closely with Oxfam & WIBDI, a not-for-profit organisation working with over 250 small-scale farmers growing organically certified Misiluki bananas in Apia, they’ve been able to provide these Samoan farmers with a market for a product that currently has almost no economic value locally.

They are so d'lish and wonderfully sweet, so no sweeteners or preservatives are needed.... just organic, naturally dried bananas.

Available from Ripe Deli, The Little Grocer, The Juicery, and the Kokako pop-up cafe at HP Winter Garden. I hope that these little beauties go nationwide soon!

All Good Banana Chunks sell for around $3 per pack.

Loaf Mini Bites

Loaf has just launched its new Mini Bites, a range of mini-bite versions of their popular and best-selling delectable slices. Now, if you don’t need a full size Loaf slice, small bite size versions are waiting at a retailer near you.

Mini Bites are available for RRP $5 in supermarkets and gourmet food stores nationwide. 

Kokako Pop Up Café Opens at HP Wintergarden - Auckland

Auckland Coffee Roasters Kokako are dishing up a contemporary sustainable taste of Kiwi café culture in the heart of the city’s new Wynyard Quarter inside the HP Wintergarden.

The café pulls together some of New Zealand's best artisan brands like Il Buco Pizza, Hakanoa Ginger Beer, Quina Fina Tonic water, Heavitree Juice from Gisborne and Pete’s Natural Lemonade from Nelson... and of course Kokako's fairtrade organic coffee.

Once you’ve finished you can dispose of your plates and food scraps in a hungry bin worm farm or the cafes contemporary recycling facility.

The café runs for 6 weeks until 23 October 2011 and is open from 8am - 4pm weekdays and 9am - 4pm weekends.

Collective Dairy's yoghurt drinks

From the stables of The Collective Dairy comes their new yoghurt drink. Just shake and suck. "Beneficial bacteria in a smooth, creamy, low-fat protein drink that's not only a healthy hit, it's a speedy one too."

The flavours are:

• Berrystart
• Vanilla + Honey
• Passion
• Mango
• Malt + Honey

RRP $3.99 each (250ml)

Available from selected supermarkets, but it will be stampeding into more stores as time goes on.

City Market's Gaggenau kitchen series

From now until December, City Market is running an exciting series of cooking classes from Wellington chefs, in the City Market Gaggenau Kitchen. All classes are $50 each and you can choose from titles like French Classics, Playtime Chocolate and Bistro Food at Home.

Classes are small, so book early!

Wellington Fisher & Paykel MasterClass

For the first time, Visa Wellington On A Plate is running a whole day MasterClass featuring some of Australasia's finest chefs: Desmond Harris, Alexa Johnston, Al Brown, Martin Bosley and Chef Wan (Justin North was scheduled to demonstrate but he is sick and is unable to fly). Get up close and personal and learn some of their secrets!

The full-day ticket includes all demonstrations, morning and afternoon tea, lunch showcasing some of the best Wellington regional ingredients and a Wellington Fisher & Paykel MasterClass recipe book and a goodie bag. This schedule has been adjusted from the original, due to Justin's absence. The demonstrations will now be one at a time and full day ticket holders will be able to see all five chefs in action (previously we had to choose four demonstrations to attend).

Friday 19 August 2011, 9am-5pm
Tickets are $325 +$8.75 booking fee

Or pick up to two demonstrations for $50 each! (Goodie bag, refreshments, lunch and recipe book not included)

Auckland Food Show
The Auckland Food Show is on 28-31 July. Highlights for me this year are the new masterclasses ($35 each) and The Loaf & Weston Milling Baking Theatre. Check out The Food Show website for ticket prices and other info.

Wine Away

So you've spilt red wine all over your carpet. Oops. You can try Wine Away, which is a great natural solution to get rid of wine stains from carpet and fabric - even some older stains! Formulated with natural fruit and vegetable extracts, and without dangerous bleaches or phosphates, Wine Away effortlessly makes red wine, cranberry juice, and other red stains disappear, leaving things looking as they should.

Prices start from $2.30 for a single sachet, to $23 for a spray bottle

October 2010

The delicious Kohu Road have released a luxury sorbet range just in time for the warmer weather! Available in chocolate, mango, passionfruit and strawberry, they are all natural (like their ice cream range). The sorbets are gluten-free, GE free, dairy-free, vegan and kosher... it sounds like a healthy treat and they are so d'lish! The flavours are intense, so you don't need much per serving. I can't decide whether my favourite is the mango or chocolate... I think it may depend on my mood at the time!

RRP $18.90 1 litre

Nervous about blue cheese? Mainland Special Reserve has just launched a mild blue cheese called Eltham Blue. A creamy cheese with a hint of blue, it is a good place to start introducing yourself to the world of blue cheeses. Try it with fresh figs, spread across dense walnut bread or a spinach, pear and pancetta salad. It’s also a stand out on a cheeseboard and divine with a glass of wine.

RRP $7.49 125g

Italian Film Festival is back. Screenings start in Auckland 29 September and then travels to Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, Napier and Tauranga. Not exactly a food event but it's my favourite film fest :)

Rialto Cinemas, Auckland: 29 September – 17 October
Bridgeway Cinemas, Auckland: 30 September – 13 October
Embassy Cinema, Wellington: 13 October – 27 October
Rialto Cinemas, Christchurch: 20 October – 3 November
Rialto Cinemas, Dunedin: 27 October – 10 November
Suter Theatre, Nelson: 3 – 17 November
Century Cinema, Napier: 10 – 24 November
Rialto Cinemas Tauranga: 17 November – 1 December

Carrying on with the Italian theme, is the Wellington Italian Festival, Sunday 26 September at Westpac Stadium. Have a look at all things Italian: food, fashion, furnishings and more! Entry is $8 for adults, $5 kids

The area around Britomart is coming together quite nicely. There's a couple of new places that have opened recently that I want to check out: Cafe Hanoi (Vietnamese cafe) and 1885 Britomart (bar and cocktail lounge)

Breville's Scraper Mixer Pro has an innovative scraper beater that folds ingredients and continuously scrapes down the sides and bottom of the bowl, significantly cutting mixing time.

This mixer even has an attachment available that will make ice cream in 20 minutes.

Scraper Mixer Pro $739.95, ice cream attachment $119.95

Genoese have launched a new range of nutty, fresh pesto-style dips. They come in little, stackable 135g tubs and flavours include: sundried tomato, chargrilled capsicum, fresh mint and fresh basil. RRP $4.79

The Masterchef New Zealand book is packed full with recipes from the top 24 contestants from the first series of Masterchef NZ. It also includes useful sections on what to stock in your pantry, what to look for in cookware and cooking and presentation basics. RRP $49.99

July 2010

It's so good to see some healthy alternatives for ready-meals these days. These meals from Tasty Pot are a great little find. They truly are very tasty and deceptively filling - I could only manage 2/3 of a pot for lunch. There's lots of gluten-free or vegan options. I added some cooked chicken to the Thai Green Curry to make it a lunch for two.

Ingredients are locally-sourced where ever possible and there are no colourings, additives or preservatives. Fantastic stuff.

Flavours include: Quinoa Super Salad, All Your Greens, Mushroom & Barley Risotto, Roast Veg Hotpot and Thai Green Curry. Available from selected supermarkets in the upper North Island for $7.49. I hope that the rest of the country will get to sample these pots of tastiness soon!

The Auckland Food Show is on this month! Discover, chat and nibble your way around the hundreds of stalls. I'll be heading to some of the celebrity chef demos too... even if it is just to rest my feet for an hour or so.

29 July - 1 August
ASB Show Grounds, Greenlane
Tickets $22 ($35 for Preview Day 29 July)

You've heard of New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker, but have you heard of Twitter's Hottest Home Baker? A fun project developed by an Auckland lass, the bake-off happens on the last weekend of every month. A theme is selected at random by the website and a tweet is sent out. You then have 72 hours to bake, photgraph and tweet your entry. Then gather votes for your entry and you can win bragging rights! What a fun idea!

We really are producing some wonderful food here in New Zealand. Q Gardens is another company making delicious goodies without using artificial colours or preservatives.

Their range includes Date Chutney, Eggplant Kassoundi, and Chilli Tomato Relish. Great with cold meats or cheeses, the chilli tomato relish is also great stirred through pasta or used as a marinade.

Q Gardens' products are priced $9.90 - $12.90 for 270ml bottles and are available at selected foodie places nationwide (see here for a place near you)

Did you know that you can get Fairtrade bananas? The team from All Good Bananas are working hard to spread the word and get Fairtrade bananas easily accessible for us. Find out where you can buy All Good Bananas here.