Chinese New Year pork & cabbage dumplings

Happy Saturday to you – not this time from bed (whaaat?!), but actually from my desk at home! As you willl know if you stop by regularly, Nick and I have just returned from an epic 14 day trip to Shanghai/Berlin/Amsterdam/Berlin/Shanghai and back home to Auckland. Phew! One of the absolute highlights of my stay […]

Japanese curry balls & okonomiyake

Goooood morning, good morning – well for once I am upright sitting at my ‘big’ computer while I write this, having hauled myself out of bed for a wee tiny run on this muggy morning. Crikey what a few days it has been! On Thursday I woke at 4am, got picked up by a cab […]

New Year’s Eve Partaaaay – mini smoked fish cakes with garlic, lemon mayo & mushroom crostini

Hellooooooo from Waiheke Island, New Zealand. I am taking (literally) two minutes to quickly post this on my way to catch the ferry for a doctor’s appointment in town. (Thank you Waiheke library for the kind use of your free wifi.) So, hurrah, stitches out today, and then I’m back out to the island to […]

classic Italian-style tomato bruschetta

It feels like an eternity ago that we went on our epic (for us) one month trip to Italy – I can’t believe it’s only been about 18 months! While we were there we ate loads of beautiful fresh produce, and a particular favourite ‘dish’ that we have been recreating ever since is this super […]

evening-after-the-night-before soup

Goooooood evening, good evening, good evening (as Stephen Fry would say) – this is just a super easy soup recipe I thought I’d quickly pop up on a whim. Last night Rich and I headed off to his final school prize-giving and graduation ceremony, followed by a grad dinner. It was such a fun night, […]

corn & red pepper cheese stuffed fried rice balls (Mexican-style arancini)

Feeling in a reflective mood this morning – blogging really is a bit of a weird thing – who sits at home in front of a computer sending bits of themselves out into the universe? I originally started From the Kitchen years ago as a way to practice my photography and share some of my […]

stormy night carrot, cumin & coriander soup with red lentils & dukkah

Could it rain any more – I hope someone is busy getting the ark sorted…?! Crikey I was going to post this later in the week, but I feel that this is a soup emergency. On the way home from work grab some carrots and some dukkah and delicious bread (also check the ingredients list […]

heirloom tomatoes with prosciutto, burrata & basil

Remember those amazing heirloom tomatoes from the other day – the ones I couldn’t help but buy and bring home to photograph? Well this is what happened to them…probably not really suitable for New Zealand at the moment (unless you’re eating it in front of a roaring fire) but absolutely perfect for a lazy spring/summer […]

fresh pea soup with chedddar & chive scones

We have just arrived back from a wonderful weekend at Waiheke, with incredibly beautiful, hot sunny weather, loads of swimming, bush walks and a pretty spectacular slow cooked pork shoulder on the barbecue. It seems so weird to think of my American friends enduring a really bitter winter – we’ve seen some coverage on TV […]

basil pesto & caramelised onions – the holiday essentials

These are two things that you will almost always find in my fridge as both can instantly bring even the dullest meal to life – and they are perfect to pop in the packing pile to take camping – even a humble sausage is transformed! In winter I often swap out the basil/pinenut combo in […]

Classic Chicken Liver Pate

OK – I am still waiting for a reply from blogger as to why my photos aren’t uploading properly, but in the meantime, in order to get a post up, am resorting to using screengrabs as these are closer to the photos than the actual photos – arrgghh! Anywaaaay, last weekend we were invited to […]

Te Matuku Bay Oysters with Mignonette Dressing

With a cyclone warning to be heeded we caught the ferry back to the mainland from Waiheke yesterday. It was sad to say goodbye, especially with a blue-sky day thumbing it’s nose at the forecast and the first of the Merlot grapes being picked. However, as the set up is more camping there than anything […]