I’ve been thinking about writing a blog for a long time now (eight months to be precise). It’s a new year and it’s high time for a new theme to take centre stage in this languishing blog. While cooking up a storm for dinner with friends the other day, inspiration hit and I decided to borrow some words from the card in my kitchen to capture my new blogging matter:
Approach cooking and love with reckless abandon.
As I type I’m watching live footage from the devastating earthquake in Christchurch (multi tasking like all mothers do). It’s heart wrenching, horrenduous stuff, in a city we once called home.
And as I see footage of familiar buildings and landmarks crumbling before shell shocked locals, it reminds me of what matters most – and that’s people.
In my little world in Paekakariki, my little girl who is almost 8 months steals the limelight, closely followed by her Papa Jim and friends and family. And of course, the thing that brings everyone together in the best possible way is food. Nothing beats the delight of bringing people together for a meal made with love: tasty, delectable delights, free flowing wine, wild conversation, laughter and noise. Oh la la.
For the last two months we have started to introduce our little girl to the delights of food – part of parenthood that we have approached with great gusto. Armed with inspiration from this blog and that blog, we’ve been tasting, sampling and playing with any food that our little girl can put in her mouth. Yes, we’re following the Baby Led Weaning approach which means that we don’t puree food or feed our little girl. Instead, she feeds herself and eats what we eat.
Starting with strawberries and melon at Christmas, the journey so far has included falafel, turkey, curry, sushi, steak, pumpkin, kumara, avocado, sweetcorn, Morrocan lamb sausages, crackers and hummus, crackers with salmon pate, green beans, and anything and everything in between. Her current favourites are Papa Jim’s roast potatoes with tumeric, chilli and garlic (thanks Gordon Ramsey). Not exactly what Plunket (or their main sponsor/advocate Watties) endorses but it just makes sense to us. And our little girl is thriving. Of course the funny facial expressions of disgust or delight (or a strange combination of both) are priceless.
The pictures speak for themselves.
Curry and Roti
Green Beans
Picnic time
Corn on the cob in one hand and tumeric, chili potatoes in the other
So tonight I’m preparing a new meal for the love of my life – spiced pork with a salad of fresh sweetcorn and greenbeans – a meal that my little girl is bound to enjoy. Thanks Dish magazine (and my lovely friends who gave me a subscription for Christmas!).
Spiced pork with Sweetcorn and green bean salad
Postscript: Of course this all seems rather trivial compared to what’s happening in Christchurch.
Hi, I’ve been looking into your blog on and off since I heard about it on RNZ all those months ago. We live in Chch, your latest post though you say is trivial has taken my mind of aftershocks and the terrible devastation around us for a couple of minutes at least, thanks.
Thanks Katherine. The devastation that has unfolded since I wrote this is heart breaking. It’s hard to think about the delights of good food and long winded dinners when clean water is in scarce supply. That said, I’m glad that this provided some escapism for you – and I hope you and your whanau are doing ok. Every one is thinking of Christchurch and sending positive vibrations.