Jordandchan

back to place we got engaged - almost the same carriage - the ferris wheel at luna park - an enchanted evening…

on saturday night jordan treated me to a very special night out - after a gorgeous picnic with friends we headed off on the train to a secret location (well a secret to me), a quick change of transport and trying to not get recognised from people of my past - we made it to luna park. Keep reading…

Pad Thai, Himalayan, Dim Sum, Japanese Pancakes, Chilli Corn Cobs, Salt & Pepper Squid and more - as far as the eye could see…

Last night we went (along with D+K+P) to the Night Noodle Markets in Hyde Park. Put on as a part of Crave Sydney, a large section of Hyde Park (nearest to St James station) was separated and large number of stalls were set up offering every imaginable type of Asian Cuisine, along with usual market staples like Gozlemes and (of course) a beer garden and bar.

There was a sea of tables and chairs set up, and although it wasn’t too full when we arrived, by the time we left it was thoroughly filled. Most stalls had dinner for about $10 and many would deliberately throw a few different dishes onto the plate, to give you the opportunity to sample a range of things. As it got darker, and fairy lights and chinese lanterns gave the whole area an almost magical feel.

We had a nice evening as the sun went down, having a beer, sharing some interesting new food, and good company. I can highly recommend it.

On Wednesday evening we headed of to the Canterbury Twilight Farmer’s Markets at Riccarton House. There is normally a weekend markets on but they have started running a Wednesday night market as well to see how it goes.

Keep reading…

The weather has lately taken a turn for the amazing - so we set off on Saturday for a splendid drive up to Oxford which contains nothing more than a few arty shops and Seagars cooking school and cafe.

We decided to have a light lunch and i chose the “tea plate” which contained a 3 tiered cake stand complete with hot savouries, sammiches of all shapes and sizes and sweet treats on the top…

It was a lovely time and thank you to Jordan for the lovely surprise of chosing our destination.

That’s right, we have a BBQ, and it is very, very, very, very exciting. Since we arrived, we have missed being able to just fire up the barbie for dinner like we would have back at fleet st. And as nice as our frying pan has been, it just doesn’t seem to do a good job of cooking meat, so it has been a long long time since we had a nice steak.

It all started because we want to organise a Grand Final (NRL) bbq for a few weeks time, and of course didn’t have a bbq. One of the ladies from Chan’s work heard that we were looking for one. and offered we could buy hers.

Keep reading…

Well, i think the best coffee we have had yet has been usurped. By a little place we found by accident while we were away in Methven on the weekend. Keep reading…

We headed out for a leisurely breakfast this morning after having slept in. C1 Espresso had a lot good things said about it on the net, so we thought we would check it out, and we were very impressed. Keep reading…

We headed to the hills on Saturday, for a day in Waipara, home of a whole bunch of wineries. Our first stop was actually a Salmon Farm, which anyone who has heard the story of our honeymoon will know was very exciting for both of us. But for very different reasons.

After that stop we drove the hour or so north to Waipara. The first winery we stopped at was called Mt Cass, and was a fabulous little place. The owner had to come out of his house to open up for us, and we spent a good 40 minutes there talking to him and his puppy Cass, a very large Giant Schnauzer. We also tasted 4 wines, and ended up coming home with a bottle of two of them.

The day turned into a slight comedy of errors from there as we visited another 5 or so places, including 2 olive farms, and all of them were closed. We stopped off at anothe winery called the Mud House, which was a lot grander affair. We got another couple of bottles and headed 10 minutes down the road to have our picnic lunch at the beach.

We continued back to Christchurch and stopped of at a little place called Brew Moon. Its a little micro-brewery and cafe and we has some fantastic afternoon tea, and some average coffee… We also grabbed a 640ml bottle of their Pale Ale to give a try, a bargain at only $6.

We thought we were safely on our way back home until we spotted Prenzel a bit further down the road. We first ran into Prenzel on our honeymoon. There was a shop down in Cromwell (down south) that stocked a few of prenzel’s products.They specialise in liqueurs, schnapps, olive oils, dahka and the like. On walking into the shop we were offered a glass of mulled wine (which was incredible) and given about a 10 minute introduction to their products. We wandered for a while and left with a bottle of the Mulled Wine mix (you make it up with boiling water) some Schnapps and a bottle of lemon infused rice bran oil (it has a higher flash point than olive oil, so you use it for cooking).

We finally headed home after an exhausting but enjoyable day, with a lot to show for our efforts.

As always, you can see all the photos in this flickr gallery.

This morning we headed off to do some fruit and veggie shopping. Chan had spotted a sign for a weekend veggie market on the way out of the city, about 10 minutes away, so we headed for a look.

We found the place, and it turned out that “market” was the name of the place, rather than a description of it. But we were pleasantly surprised as we looked around the couple of stands the place had. The veggies were so cheap it was rediculous, and you could tell it was fresh, the carrots and potatoes had only been dug this morning. It was $2 for a big bag of potatoes, and $1.50 for a bunch of carrots, complete with tops. We had a basketful so quickly we had to get another one. We ended up with a huge cardboard box of veggies for $30, it was crazy.

And the veggies taste fantastic. I think we will be making a regular habit of getting our veggies on saturday at the “market”.

(you can check out more photos on flickr)

We have decided to add an extra category for quick little review of places we eat as we try and get to know a few places around the city.

We were on our way home from church this morning, planning on sandwiches for lunch when we drove past an Indian place called Tulsi. We had spotted this place a couple of times, mostly due to it’s boast of “Lunch From $6 including Rice and Naan, so we decided to stop.

As expected, it was a little more than $6 if you wanted something other than a vegetarian dish, but the prices were low nonetheless. We had a Lamb Korma and a Lamb Badan Pasala both of which were fantastic, and had a little bit of bite without being too hot. The portions were perfect, just large enough (including a shared bowl of rice) to be filling without gorging ourselves, and the naan was delicious.

The service was speedy and friendly, and they seem to cater for everything from large groups through to single diners, there were even a few families with young children there. A short, delicious lunch for under $20 for the two of us. And we have marked it out to visit again.