Rangiputa - again!

This is the place that gave me the recipe with which to enter Master Chef - the gorgeous fish cake with smoked capsicum salsa.
We were treated again to a return visit during Labour Weekend.
The olive trees were in full bud with bees a-buzzin'...

The sea was without a ripple

and the dolphins were in the bay

All that was missing was the fish - but not for want of trying.
The bait almost jumped into the boat, but after that we had our work cut out. Very little fish resulted... but who cares! We had a marvellous time in the sun with  good friends.

Stew's Birthday

Okay it's not really a food post, but we had 18 for dinner and I had work that day so it was an exercise in organisation and relaxation. We shifted the outside table in , covered everything in white cloths and had the simplest meal - a whole fillet on the barbeque, caesar salad, potatoes dauphinoise and a huge chocolate log and apple strudel to finish.

 

Oliver arrived from Wellington

 The Howick chapter pulled funny faces....

 My brother Craig was in town unexpectedly

 Richard enjoyed the beers and food as usual

 Big McWatson got heavy with the photographer,

 Ann captured some of the food (for once it wasn't all eaten before we remembered to take pics.)

 Stew tried really hard to enjoy himself

 The olds made it too...

and as usual, everyone stood in the kitchen while I tried to cook. Pete!

Searching for Doughnuts...

There just has to be a REAL doughnut somewhere in Auckland ..... fried, not baked, and crispy crust with real cream, coated in cinnamon and sugar.
I'm trying, oh dear I'm trying.... through several so far but no luck.