The Kindness Of Strangers …

The Kindness Of Strangers …

Every year on the 30^th Of December our town has a Market Day.

Richmond's Biggest Market Day was last Wednesday, 30 December 2015.

Over 100 stalls with gifts, crafts, food and entertainment for all.

Crafters from all round New Zealand meet and sell their wares.

On top of the Crafters, there was also allot of food stalls and clothing etc.

This year as I walked {with my stick Mac} the main street of town {which is closed for Market Day}, I came across my favourite spice company “The Original Smoke and Spice Company”.

I love love love their “Marlborough Sea Salt” …

“Marlborough sea salt is smoked by hand, and then tumble roasted with garlic, shallots, coriander and the mighty chilli! The result is one of the finest seasonings in the world. Suitable for both shakers and grinders, our sensational smoked seasoning will enhance all foods, elevating them to the heights of culinary nirvana”

The opening line of the Smoke and Spice man was “have you tried our Salt before?”

My reply was “I don’t need to try it, I love it!”

I have actually been out of this Salt for 3 months, so jumped at the chance to buy it.

I purchased 4 packets of the “Original Smoked Seasoning” and 1 packet of the “Lemon Zinger Seasoning”.

Before I left, the man asked why I had a stick.

I replied that “my body was shit”, he then asked if the shit would improve, and I said not likely.

As I turned to walk away, the man asked me to come back to him, and he pulled out of his pocket a beautiful flat black shiny stone, and gave it to me, to keep on my person for when things got bad.

I can’t tell you how touched I was, and how much this meant to me, as I was going through some serious medical issues.

I had to laugh though, when I got home my hubby showed me 4 packets of unopened “Original Smoked Seasoning” that were {somewhere} in the pantry!

So I am all set with my “Original Smoked Seasoning”, and it should last me till next when I see this lovely man from the “The Original Smoke and Spice Company”!

"Thank You" my Smoke and Spice man aka "Stranger".

If you check out the “The Original Smoke and Spice Company” website, you will find some mouth-watering recipes to try out!

And here a couple of articles that were written about "Richmond Market Day", from the Nelson Mail and Nelson Live.

I Just Met Nadia Lim, MasterChef 2011 Winner!!!

Nadia Lim, MasterChef 2011 Winner

#‎NadiaLim ‪#‎CantWaitToMeetYou! ‪#JustMetNadiaLim #‎winner

This evening I had the great pleasure of meeting Nadia Lim, MasterChef 2011 winner, and author of 4 cook books!

The event was hosted at Petite Fleur at Seifried Estate, in Richmond, Tasman.

I won a ticket with a Richmond Mall promotion, and was all ready dressed {in my new Jacqui e dress} and ready to go by 11am {the event started at 6.45pm!!!}!!!

I went with my very good friend Tracy, and a couple of her workmates, and we had such a great evening ...

On arrival there was a glass of wine each, and 2 platters per table.

We had a goodie bag at each place setting, which had 2 magazines “New Zealand Taste” and “WildTomato” inside, along with a number of sampler products from local shops around Richmond, including a glue stick {from Paper Plus} and a coffee card from Muffin Break ...

Anna from Paper Plus was the MC for the evening, or “Oprah” as Nadia called her, and Nadia was an amazing speaker, and I went home buzzing with excitement.

As I had {another} meeting with my Dietician Tonia earlier this week, allot of the lingo that Nadia used I was familiar with, as I have been asked by Tonia to start the "FODMAP Diet" {"Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols", FODMAPs are carbohydrates (sugars) that are found in foods}.

Nadia talked about how at the age if 12, she decided that she would be a food author, and marry her idol “The Naked Chef” Jamie Oliver!

Years later the first part of Nadia’s dream came true, the later part, well unfortunately Jamie married his sweetheart Jools!

We could have listened for hours as Nadia spoke about meeting her mother-in-law for the first time, and her faux pax made on live TV when recounting that first meeting, along with many other antidotes.

There was a question and answer session that must have lasted at least 30 minutes, and Nadia handled each question with ease, and I loved that she repeated what the question was {as she had a microphone} before relaying her very informative answer.

All too soon, the evening was drawing to a close, but not before we had the opportunity to purchase Nadia’s cook books at a discounted price, and also get a signed autograph from Nadia and a selfie!

I purchased her latest book “Nadia Lims’ Fresh Start Cook Book” over 100 delicious everyday recipes for lasting good health and weight loss.

My favourite recipes thus far, as I thumb through the book are “Grilled Cinnamon Bananas With Maple Caramelised Pecans + Yoghurt”, “Salted Caramel Fudge”, “Strawberry, Basil + Lime Sorbet” and ohhhhh yum “Chocolate Berry Fudge Brownies”!

As you can tell, I have a sweet tooth {not good when you are meant to be on a low sugar diet!}, but Nadia’s most recent book also has recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Vegetarian, Meat, Chicken, Fish + Seafood, Desserts + Treats, Healthy Snacks, and Essentials.

With a background studying nutrition and dietetics for five years at Otago University, Nadia is more than qualified to offer advice on nutrition, and share her love of food.

If you get the chance, take a look at Nadia’s website www.nadialim.com or better yet, pop into your local bookshop or library and pick up a copy of one of Nadia’s books: “Nadia’s Kitchen”, “Nadia Lim’s Good Food Cook Book”, “Easy Week Night Meals” {included in the book is her famous “Thyme Stuffed Chicken With Roast Pumpkin and Mushroom Sauce" recipe} + her latest book “Nadia Lims’ Fresh Start Cook Book”.

WOWsiers, what a night!

“Thyme Stuffed Chicken With Roast Pumpkin and Mushroom Sauce"

Nadia’s Cook Books may be purchased through her website www.nadialim.com or through any good book seller.

The Most Divine Cheese Ball EVER …

The Most Divine Cheese Ball EVER …

I recently borrowed this yummy recipe from a friend, and then switched up the ratios/volumes!

250g Cream Cheese, diced/cubed {Philadelphia is perfect, but NOT diet/lite or spreadable}

1 Cup Cheese, grated {Edam is perfect}

1 Red Onion, diced

125ml {1/2 Cup} Sweet Chili Sauce {ended up accidentally using half the bottle!!!}

Slivered Almonds

Make the Cheese Ball the night before it is to be consumed!

Leave the Cream Cheese out of the fridge for 2 hours to soften, and then dice/cube.

Grate the Cheese.

Mix in a bowl all ingredients {except the Slivered Almonds}, stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients combined.

Split the BIG Cheese Ball ingredients into two, as this recipe makes enough for two Cheese Balls.

Spread the Slivered Almonds on to a dinner plate, and then roll the Cheese Ball, until covered entirely with Slivered Almonds.

Place Cheese Ball in a serving bowl, cover with cling wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

Serve with Crackers {the “Peckish” brand is soooo yummy!}, Carrot Sticks, Celery Sticks etc.

I have to admit the last Cheese Ball{s} I made was Friday night, for my S#@$%&Y Party on Saturday. The second Cheese Ball was left in the fridge, and I ended up eating the WHOLE Cheese Ball, along with a WHOLE packet of crackers on Monday night @ midnight.

WARNING … once you start eating the Cheese Ball, it’s very hard to stop!

Enjoy!

“Valentine’s Day Cup-Cakes”

Today is Valentine’s Day, and JorjaRose had a “shared lunch” at school today.  
Sooooo we decided on a Valentine’s Day theme for her “plate”

Each child is asked to bring a plate of finger-food to share, what with 600+ kids at school, and 200+ in her Syndicate, there was quite an array of goodies to eat!

Last night, JorjaRose made these cup-cakes by herself with supervision from moi.

We used a packet of “Edmonds Angelic Vanilla Cake”, and only had to add an egg and some water to the mixture {as per the directions}.

 

 

 

Instead of baking a Cake, we decided to make Cup-Cakes, and there was enough batter to make 18 Cup-Cakes!

 

 

AND this morning she was up at 7am ready to ice the Cup-Cakes!!!

When we went to make the icing, we discovered we had no food colouring, so added Jelly Crystals in the icing, which gave it the pink colour.

We made these cute little Toppers by re-purposing paint strip samples, and punched out a zillion hearts in different colours of pinks, and then we used double-sided tape to adhere to the long toothpick skewers.

 

At the shared lunch, JorjaRose’s Valentine’s Day Cup-Cakes were the first to go; secretly I think the little girls just wanted the heart Toppers!!!

 

 

 

 

Summer BBQ/Cook Out

On Saturday, we hosted our very first “Summer BBQ/Cook Out”!

 

Although we have lived in our home for 12 years now, this was the first time we had had guests over for a BBQ, other than immediate family.

The guest list was small, just two couples and their children, but we had great fun in planning the occasion.

I really wanted the atmosphere to be relaxing, so after hubby had mown the lawns, Wayne and Reilly lifted the 3-Seater couch from the lounge and wicker furniture set {from our bedroom} outside onto the grass.

We also had 2 sets of matching outdoor wicker furniture, each seating 4, with glass topped tables, and we popped the sun umbrella up between the tables.

 

 

 

 

As a centre piece on the tables, I used a lovely floral arrangement in shades of pinks.

 

I came across these gorgeous bottles from The Warehouse for only $2 each.

I purchased 3 of the plain bottles for chilled water, and I just love the one with Lemons on the front, which I had to fill with my "Homemade Lem♥nade", which I have tweaked the recipe to ...

 

Kathe's "Homemade Lem♥nade"

Zest of 3 Lemons
Juice of 8 Lemons

3 cups of Water

2 and 2/3 cups of Sugar

1 teaspoon Citric Acid

1 teaspoon Tartaric Acid

1/4 teaspoon Epsom Salts

After juicing the Lemons, I then strained the juice to get rid of any stray seeds etc.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 1 minute.

Leave to cool before bottling.

This recipe is very strong, so you only need to add a fraction of syrup to a glass {approx. 1cm in depth} before topping with carbonated water i.e. Soda Stream {but without the flavour added} .

An xtra cool and refreshing drink, which any spirit can be added to, Vodka, Tequila, Gin ... yum!!!

As is the Kiwi custom, each family bought a salad and some meat for the BBQ.
We had a yummy selection, including chicken kebabs, and the crumbed sausages went down a treat!

 

The salads were xtra healthy, and the favourite one was mine {or course}, which was Pam’s “Sweet Mango Mesclun Salad”, my secret is that I purchase it pre-prepared and ready to serve, it even comes with the dressing!

My Summer Look ...

 

 

I painted my nails the night before in shades from OPI:

OPI “Italian Love Affair” from the OPI Italian Collection, a very light cotton candy pink with iridescent shimmer

OPI “Wonderous Star” from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection, this gold-flecked shimmer has heavenly shine.

OPI “Which Is Witch?” from the OPI Disneys Oz The Great and Powerful Collection, Is this silver glitter with iridescent sparkle or the other way around?

 

 

When I first came out dressed in my gorgeous floral sundress, and my husband, {and I am not kidding you} said ‘You’re wearing that to this?!!!”

To say I was heartbroken was an understatement, so off to the bedroom I went, and changed into this casually Summery Clarity Tunic, matched back with nude wedges by Pulp.

I had just finished making my latest piece of jewellery {from my JorjaRose Jewellery Collection}, so wore this cute necklace and matching earrings, which  matched back perfectly with my nails and the Clarity Tunic, so I felt a tad glam after all!!

We had a fantastic evening, and I can’t wait till we do it all over again!

   

 

Best $6 Ever Spent … “THE Chocolate Fountain”

My daughter JorjaRose had saved her pocket money up {she gets $3 a week!}, and our local department store had a sale on, AND we came across a Chocolate Fountain for $6!!!

Looooong story short, I encouraged her to buy it {not for my eating pleasure of course!!!}.

So far we have tried Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate and Cadbury White Chocolate, both were extra yummy!

I cut up healthy strawberries and bananas, and not so healthy marshmallows!

The best ever were toasted marshmallows {toasted on the gas cook-top}, then dunked in delicious chocolate … mmmmmmm Heaven with a capital H!

We also tried toasting the bananas, which caramelised them a bit, and the strawberries too!

 

 

 

 

 

My top tip is NOT to melt the chocolate in the microwave, as the instruction sheet says!!!

Tis what {unbeknownst to me} JorjaRose did, I woke up to the house smelling rancid, as the first block of chocolate was burnt to a crisp and the whole house was stunk out!

Instead, place water in a pot on the cook-top, place a bowl on top of the water, melt the chocolate and cooking oil in the bowl, stirring occasionally.

I used way less cooking oil than the instruction sheet said, which is much healthier too!

 

 
Calories wise, my rule of thumb is, there only as many calories counted, as time spent on the stick.

Therefore each gorgeous morsel is worth 5 calories!!!

 

 

 

I may just have to limit this treat to once a week, instead of every second night!