peanut butter problems

I like a good peanut butter sandwich, me. But lately I've become a bit frustrated with the peanut butter that's available in New Zealand. In the last couple of years, just about all of the pb manufacturers have moved their production to China. It may seem a little reactionary, but politically, ethically, and and from a health point of view, I'm just not that happy buying everything I eat and wear from China. The recent San Lu baby formula scandal has cemented many people's fears (rightly or wrongly) about the ethics of Chinese business, especially when it comes to food products. To me there seems to be a cavalier "Let's see what we can get away with regardless of the effects," attitude. Besides, I try to buy New Zealand-made wherever I can.

But I digress.

This move to China has been accompanied by a change in flavour in the peanut butter. The insidious addition of sugar to some brands notwithstanding, it doesn't taste as good as it used to. It just tastes wrong - like cheap, poor quality peanuts. I was delighted when, in response to public pressure, Sanitarium announced that they would sell Australian-made peanut butter here. But I needn't have got my hopes up - the flavour is just as poor as the awful Chinese stuff. So I'm left with the choice of buying New Zealand-made organic pb like Ceres (delicious actually, but a lot more expensive) or making my own. I think I'll try making my own - now where can I find decent peanuts...

the long hot weekend

Well, the past Waitangi weekend has been a scorcher. Although it's been uncomfortably hot here (especially at night), I can't imagine what it's like in Australia (esp. Victoria), where temperatures are up to 15° higher. Ouch.

It didn't feel like a particularly productive weekend, but we managed to do a few interesting things. We decided not join the hordes evacuating the city over the long weekend. I took my new road bike out twice for a couple of rides of about 20 km each, thankfully leaving early enough in the morning that I didn't evaporate in the heat. They were both enjoyable, apart from getting stuck in the middle of Waitangi day celebrations in Okahu bay on Friday. The bike held up well except for a clunk appearing in the headset and a squeak from the chain. I really must get some chain lubricant. I'm very tempted to repack the hubs with grease as well.

I decided have another attempt at bread baking, this time baguettes. Dean Brettschneider was again my tutor, and the DVD that came with his book has proved invaluable. In this case, one video is worth a thousand pictures! The recipe requires resting overnight in the fridge (as do most of his recipes), so it's not one for impatient people, Unfortunately, his recipe also includes onion and pumpkin, so I had to guess the water content somewhat. I think I used a little too much water, as my loaves spread out too much during the final proving. That said, the final product was delicious. Bring on the next loaf! What a challenge.

In DIY news, the bathroom is finished! It looks pretty damn good if I say so myself. Of course, despite my best efforts, my worst fears were realised. The first time fitting the basin, everything was perfect, but the waste outlet was misaligned by about 35 mm horizontally. It took me a few moments to realise that I had placed the template on the wall backwards! It would have been fine if the waste had been centred in the basin. So I had to remove and re-hang it, and this time the waste was perfect, but in my haste, I didn't take quite as much care drilling the mounting studs into the wall, and consequently, the basin slopes ever so slightly to the left. Bah. At least it isn't really noticeable to the naked eye, and it doesn't affect the performance. All that's left is to fit the towel rails. It feels odd not having that project lurking in the back of my mind any more. So, onto the next one - replacing the floor in the entrance way and laundry. In fact Vic and I went tile shopping for this area on Saturday, but didn't find anything decent. I'm in favour of a mid-light grey tile, but Vic wants something beige-y.

Having also pinched a big bag of windfall apples from our (absent) neighbour, the resulting stewed apples were a little lacklustre. So I turned half of it into spiced apple muffins, which turned out very tasty and moist. Success! I did make a mistake in sprinkling the tops of the muffins with brown sugar and mixed spice instead of cinnamon. This gave them an ever-so-slightly curried flavour! Nevertheless, they were still delicious.

Whilst out tile shopping on Saturday, Vic and I stopped by two farmers' markets - one at the Jubilee Building in Newmarket, the other at La Cigale in Parnell. La Cigale was much bigger, with a greater variety. I'm not sure why we didn't buy much, but I think you still need to have what you want in mind before you go. It was a fantastic experience though - great to see this sort of thing in the middle of Auckland! Once we'd finished there, we were suitably hungry, and headed for the reliable Dida's Foodstore for lunch. I was disappointed to find that the 'Eggs en Cocotte' wasn't on the menu, but instead I had the still-very-tasty Spanish scrambled eggs with lashings of diced chorizo. Vic had a delicious roast beef sandwich. The coffee was good, but unmemorable.

merry christmas!

We had a fairly low-key Christmas this year. We’ve been keeping our spending on a tight reign in preparation for the new addition to the family. There will be lots of extra costs coming up, and Victoria is going to be taking perhaps a year off work. It’ll be a stretch, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. Fortuitously, our mortgage will be coming up for renewal in February, so we have the option of reducing our repayments for a while at least (not to mention the current lower interest rates). But I digress…

As has become the tradition, we headed around the corner on Christmas morning, the car groaning under the weight of presents, to Victoria’s sister’s house for Christmas lunch. We sat around in the proper laid-back Christmas attitude ruminating on the events of the year, nibbling strawberries and sipping punch. We exchanged presents before lunch, and unsurprisingly Charlotte, our 5-year-old niece collected the most impressive haul, although bro-in-law Steve made a late surge with a complete Guitar Hero World Tour setup for his PS3. The highlights of my pressies were the book ‘Global Baker’ by Dean Brettschneider – a very successful kiwi baker, and a bag of Grano Tenero ‘00’ flour from Vic. Oh, and a new wooden spoon! Bring on the pizza baking!

Afterwards we headed to a beautifully-laid table replete with goody bags at each place. As usual, Steph put on a very impressive spread, starting with poached Salmon fillet (sure to become another tradition) before moving on to the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings. Two types of stuffing, multiple roast and fresh veges, bread sauce and cranberry sauce left little room for dessert. Luckily, I found a spot, as we had the first of my puddings along with the requisite cream, custard and brandy sauce. As it turned out the pudding was a triumph (if I say so myself) – even better than the previous year’s efforts. It was very flavoursome and dense, but also surprisingly light, soft and moist. It didn’t suffer from the lack of figs, and the three types of toasted nuts (walnut, almond and hazelnut) added a subtle earthy undertone. Yum.

We’d barely started digesting lunch when we had to abscond to my parents’ place for dinner, although we did sneak a quiet hour at home in between. More indulgent lounging around ensued, punctuated with a few bouts of GT4 racing using Dad’s new Logitech steering wheel control – a present from Mike. Also from Mike was a ticket for me to see Top Gear live! Very cool, and way too generous! Dinner was fantastic, the main course being an amazing Beef Wellington, the first Mum had made. With the horseradish sauce and roast veges on the side, it was nigh on perfect. Dessert was pudding again, only this time it was last year’s that Mum had kept. This one definitely had suffered from the year’s aging. It was a bit dry and hard, and much of the flavour seemed to have disappeared somewhere along the way. Lesson learned.

It may have been a low key Christmas, but it was all the more enjoyable for it. I actually felt quite Christmassy this year, and played all the Christmas music we have to death all through December! It’ll certainly be a different dynamic next year with a baby in the house!

bathrooms and puddingspoons

Although it didn't really feel like it at the time, I had quite a productive and enjoyable weekend. On Friday we sang carols in Ponsonby, and on Saturday and Sunday I got just a little closer to finishing the bathroom.

The bathroom project has been ongoing for well over a year now (I don't really want to think exactly how long), but it has been a pretty comprehensive renovation. I'm learning everything as I go - just about every aspect of the build is a first for me! It started out as a repair to the cracked shower tray, which then mushroomed into a complete strip and refit courtesy of bad build practice (no waterproofing and no tile underlay) and rotten floors and walls. I completely gutted the room and replaced the floor, adding new bearers between existing joists to accommodate the thinner 12 mm plywood floor (to keep the tiles close to the existing floor level). The floor sounds thin, but I did the calculations, and I'm absolutely happy with the overall stiffness and feel of the floor with the bonded and nailed tile underlay. I also replaced most of the wall panels with fibre cement. The biggest job so far has been the tiling and associated jobs. I didn't realise how big a job it was to tile even a small bathroom from floor to ceiling. Ouch! Only now am I putting the finishing touches on - currently the silicone in the corners. There are a few rough edges, but overall I'm happy with the finish so far. However, I'll need probably another six tubes of silicone to complete it! If I get a move on I'll be able to fit the basin and shower walls next weekend.

I also managed to get one of the shelves up in the garage. The house has a severe lack of storage space, so any more is really helpful, especially when you are a bit of a hoarder :) They are simple 300 mm-wide shelves of (my beloved) 12 mm ply - non structural defect grade bought on special from ITM. They are supported by multiple cheap pressed-steel brackets also from ITM. I've probably gone a bit overboard on the number of brackets, but they were cheap, and I really don't want them failing. Even with just one of the four shelves up and in use, there is a noticeable increase in floor real estate. Result. Got to use my jigsaw for the first time too.

Meanwhile, I was also cooking my second batch of Christmas Puddings. It's become something of a tradition for me to cook puddings at Christmas. There's something very special about selecting and preparing all the ingredients, and the magical smell that fills the house when they are simmering away on the stove. This year marked a bit of a departure in a couple of pudding-related areas. Firstly, I decided to rationalise the ingredients (read: make 'em cheaper) due to economic factors that I'll go into later. To this end, I have omitted the figs (shock!) and used pre-blended fruit mix, as well as padding out the mix with fresh apple and carrot (both are acceptably traditional, I'm assured). Secondly, I tried cooking the puddings in the slow cooker rather than the stove, with excellent results. I considered using suet again this year instead of butter, but the timing was wrong, and I wasn't keen on the cleaning and chopping aspect. Maybe next year. Overall, the puddings have come out even better than expected - very moist, and with a lovely dark colour. I must say that the slow cooker method was fantastic - the cooking time doubles, but there is no need to constantly check the water, and little consequent risk of them boiling dry and burning. And you even can go out and leave them cooking. I am a convert! Bring on Christmas - I can't wait to taste them!