Too many tomatoes, too little time

A bumper crop, all ripe at once
Breakfast: take a plethora of toms, addd basil, feta, parmesan, basil, salt and pepper and a trickle of balsamic

 I love our grill - we use it for many things. The oven is too large to heat just for something like this.,

 Delicious! I think we might try to cut out a lot of white bread (sniff!) as I'm starting to believe the stuff I'm reading about wheat causing women to swell in the stomach area - to put it kindly.

Fortunately coffee and a pastry are only half an hour away... breakfast is usually a little larger than this.

My rowing weekend at the Blue Lake Rotorua...

...featured a barbeque cook-off. Six teams, one barbeque, 10 minutes and 2 judges.
It was a wild night - a tropical cyclone raging outside, no facilities bar a bucket of hot soapy water, a trestle table and a small pantry of ingredients, 1 knife between 24 people and a bowl per team.

The creations were impressive, ranging from spicy thai chicken burgers and impressive yoghurt and mint sauces, to Blue blue beef burgers with plum chutney and blue cheese dressing (my team!)

 My team were of course dressed for the occasion in MasterChef aprons and chef's hats.

 Six burgers presented for the judges - where's Ray when you need a caustic comment about garnishes that you can't eat!?

 Some very serious effort going into the judges' deliberations.

Unfortunately too many glasses of The Wright Off cocktail we designed for the event meant that I can't remember who won - but it wasn't my team. They say we cheated... Hard to believe! I think they meant we were cheated.

Fishing tonight..

 Fishing last night - so I made sushi, such a simple thing and easy to eat with one hand while the rod is in the other...

 Caro contributed a home-made mince pie, home baked bread and we that with a bottle of Lindauer Summer (my new favourite sparkling...) while the sun set and the full moon rose.

 Bill Hohepa, you're a legend. We find he always knows what the conditions will be like. LOTS of tiddlers, we threw many more back than what were kept, but enough for lunch today.

How slack can a blogger be...?

can't quite believe the time that's flown by.
Must make a New Year's resolution, not to be so slack.

Ooops... fail!

Christmas - the most repeated food blog posting of all

Rather boring for the reader I'm sure - however in the absence of more interesting food experiences lately, here you go!
Christmas Eve lunch was my contribution, with a 3-course meal for the whole fang damily, 2 choices per course and 17 people.

Stew and I hung branches and candles 

 My Mum and Dad played our silly game and wore the crowns

 Here's my grandmother (97 this year) and nephew Harry - home from Yale for 2 weeks to the delight of everyone, especially his mother and grandmother

 Ann designed the menus for me - Rangiputa Fish cakes (below) or mussels in white wine sauce for the entree.

 Mains were barbecued turkey with cranberry relish, or fillet of beef. Simple sesame asparagus and a caesar salad on the table made the sides easy.

 Harry had everything that was going, plus a packet of chocolate biscuits from the pantry. While he thought we weren't looking.

 Dessert was a choice of mini pavlovas with champagne and mint strawberries, or my home made baklava. Most had both.

Stew was King of the barbeque!