dark green enough to be blue | welcoming spring

When you start to get emails from strangers asking if everything is all right with you - it's a good indication that perhaps it would be a good time to write another update. The truth of the matter is, I haven't been cooking all that much recently, and when I have, it's either been simple things (nobody needs to be told how to boil an egg), or things I've already written about here, or I haven't had my camera around or the inclination to take pictures.

And if you're expecting recipes, don't hold your breath - I am currently ticking off lists and packing up my pack to head over to Europe for the next month. I leave in just a few days, and as there always is right before a trip, there's so much to do. I keep reminding myself that it's a privilege to be in the position I'm in, and that helps in those moments when certain computer programs suddenly decide to crash, or you spend 45 minutes figuring out how to add a greek letter into a scientific poster using said program. It's certainly satisfying when you finally figure it out!

I've also managed to acquire a new bike to replace the one that was stolen. I guess karma has a way of working these things because although I loved my previous bike for different reasons, the new addition is a sexy old school road bike, much like a bike I used to ride at home that really belonged to my mum, and which she rode through parts of Europe many years ago. So I'm taking pleasure in zipping around town and down the hill to work and out to the beach whenever I like again - bikes are really quite wonderful.

I'll probably update here a bit while I'm away, for the benefit of my family back here who might be interested in what I'm up to and where I am. Maybe you'll be interested too - but if not I'll hopefully be back with renewed inspiration for spring recipes at the beginning of October. Thank you for the kind emails to those who sent them - hope everything is well in your lives too.

PS. A few songs on high rotation here lately below..

you have the sun, I have the moon | life and a playlist

Hello there, it's been a while! In between a misplaced camera cord, cut off internet, and a full schedule something's got to give and as it turns out, blogging here has taken a turn on the back burner. That's ok, because I uploaded my pictures and was reminded of all the delicious things we've consumed over the past weeks, things to share.

1. When I'm feeling overwhelmed with work I turn to pictures that include the moon: this was the moon rising on Christmas day, in the Wairarapa.
2. I also turn to the piano when I feel overwhelmed. This was a recent opshop sheet music purchase.
3. The last of the experimental redcurrant and raspberry jelly with raw yoghurt. Delicious. As T said "It's like a fruit corner but you control how much of the best fruit bit you get!"
4. People who know me in real life know I'm not much of a morning person: but this Monday morning found me cycling around St Clair at 6:45am, and in the salt water pool by 7am. I'm planning to repeat this tomorrow.
5. Redcurrant and raspberry jam drops, a recipe sent to me by Mum.

Joining in with Em here.

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Before it's too late, a February playlist:

1. love to a monster - okkervil river
2. frou-frou foxes in midsummer fires - cocteau twins
3. i have the moon - the magnetic fields
4. little river - tallest man on earth
5. do you remember - the horrors
6. starry eyes - white birds & lemons
7. road, river and rail - cocteau twins
8. human qualities - explosions in the sky
9. true to myself - ziggy marley
10. in time - zero 7
11. diamond ring - pedro the lion
12. cecilia ann - the pixies
13. waltz in a flat (brahms) - piano: ivor kureschy
14. blue monday - nouvelle vague
15. push the sky away - nick cave & the bad seeds
16. sing me spanish techno - the new pornographers
17. magpie to the morning - neko case
18. half dead - the mountain goats
19. hanging high - lykke li
20. set me free - the kinks
21. regrets a paradise - japanese motors
22. i don't know what i can save you from - kings of convenience

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And now, dinner has been consumed and I'm making the lovely jay's eggplant pickle, and some more roast apricot jam. All the jars with screw top lids have been utilised, thanks to another batch of jam, some plum chutney made by L and some kasundi made by J earlier in the week. It's that time of year - the end of summer, where evenings are spent stirring summer flavours together to store in jars for the winter. This past week, I've felt autumn on the way. Slightly cooler temperatures at night and in the morning, slightly shorter evenings. Soon all the leaves will turn red and yellow .. soon, and then it'll be winter.

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title from the magnetic fields - i have the moon

set your intentions, dream with care | summer and a playlist

Oh, what a week it's been. We've been so lucky with the weather, sunny days everyday. That's unheard of around these parts where January is usually a month of cold snaps and frequent rain. "We've really had a summer this year," says Karen from Mazagran as she weighs and grinds beans for me. She's right, we really truly have.

This weekend L and I made hay while the sun shined! Well, not really, but we did help a friend of L's move and stack some bales, which involved an adrenaline-inducing ride over bumpy farm land on a ute piled high with hay bales. I finally got a tour of T and L's beautiful future abode. L and I stood at the Mapoutahi pa site and looked out over the cliffs to the deep green ocean. On the way home, we stopped at Merrell's for raw milk, yoghurt and his homemade mango lassi, not knowing that T did the same on his way home. I think we will be making another batch of haloumi this week..

1. New onions, garlic and fresh ginger - the beginning of a dal.

2. Coagulating milk to make haloumi and ricotta.

3. Homemade haloumi, sourdough toast, tomatoes and mint: pretty delicious lunch.

4. Boysenberries and chocolate ice cream - a sundae in a tea cup.

5. Part of the homemade card printing process

8. An opshop mission yielded a work top, and magazines from the 80's as a gift to a friend M who had an epic 80's party on Saturday night, involving the limbo, dance-offs, multiple leotards and pretty outrageous hair. This was one of the ads from a 1983 woman's weekly. Times change!

Linking to Em's stills collection.

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day 9/365

today I'm grateful for osbourne and the mapoutahi pa site - beautiful, hidden places that I've just discovered. I'm grateful to live in a city I'm still discovering, seven years after moving here .. 

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title from xavier rudd - follow the sun. 
Click read more for playlist ... 

all is calm, all is bright | farewell 2012

The time has come! It's the end of the year, the beginning of the holidays, and I couldn't be more happy about it. I'm planning on reading a few books, spending some quality time with family and friends, treating my hair to regular doses of salt from the sea, probably gaining a few more freckles, and generally making merry. I flew home last night and I've already spent time with Dad up in the Wairarapa, played a few carols on the piano, caught up with an uncle and a cousin.. and the weather has been warm, so warm for this summer solstice day (that may or may not be the end of the world). 

I wanted to take this time to thank each and every one of you who take the time to follow along with my blogging journey - I truly appreciate and value each and every one of your comments. I hope your holiday season is kind, relaxed, happy and joyful; and if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, fingers crossed for a white Christmas! For me, I'll be contemplating whether or not a river swim is in order, and hopefully basking in the sun. I'm signing off until the New Year (will be back with lots of recipes early January) - have a very happy one. In the meantime, please enjoy my December playlist - not too Christmassy, don't worry - and my favourite results of a black and white film I recently developed. 

Arohanui, namaste.. xx

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1. the submarines - birds

2. bob dylan - little drummer boy

3. vampire weekend - cape cod kwassa kwassa

4. iva lamkum - black eagle

5. 17 hippies - el dorado

6. the magic numbers - take a chance

7. lcd soundsystem - movement

8. ben howard - keep your head up

9. mariah carey - o holy night

10. cary brothers - blue eyes

11. okkervil river - a girl in port

12. bic runga - birds

13. she & him - christmas wish

14. beach house - childhood

15. band of horses - is there a ghost

16. bing crosby - medley: what child is this/the holly and the ivy

17. neutral milk hotel - in the aeroplane over the sea

18. coheed & cambria - always & never

19. ella fitzgerald - have yourself a merry little christmas

20. explosions in the sky - postcard from 1952

21. local natives - sun hands

22. the beach boys - cotton fields

23. the brian jonestown massacre - somewhere

24. bing crosby - mere kalikimaka (merry christmas)

they are only pearls | november 12 playlist

"I hope your hair isn't all mad-scientist-y," my mum says down the phone to me, amongst other things. "No, no," I say, "of course not," partly out of the habit of assuring her and providing the answer she will want to hear, and partly believing it to be true. It isn't until later, brushing my teeth before bed, that I notice my hair in the bathroom mirror and realise just how well Mum knows me, despite living in different cities. I make an appointment for a haircut next week.

November is a bit of a mixed-up month - not summer, not spring; where the weather can drop 10ºC in an afternoon, where heavy showers come out of nowhere. Even today, a solar eclipse and the resulting strange mid-morning faux-twilight that could've simply been imagined, all mixed up. I ate black beans, fennel salad and homemade hummus for lunch and felt better. It makes sense, then, that this is a bit of a mixed-up playlist, a little of everything, some old, some newer, some soft, some slow. Hope you enjoy some if not all! 

1. kno - dying nation
facing a dying nation..listen to the retold lies

2. édith piaf - sous le ciel de paris
sous le ciel de paris s'envole une chanson
elle est née d'aujourd'hui
dans le coeur d'un garçon

3. the lumineers - ho hey
i don't know where i belong
i don't know where i went wrong
but i can write a song

4. rilo kiley - it's a hit
the camera pans back to reveal your true identity
a wolf in sheep's clothing
a smoking gun holding ape

5. cat power - the greatest
and then came
the rush of the flood

6. macklemore & ryan lewis - thrift shop
i wear your grandad's clothes .. i look incredible

7. hanggai - togur jin shan

8. phoenix - rome
could he be waving from a tropical sunset?

9. atmosphere - pour me another
two for the fool trying to pull apart the puzzle

10. iron & wine - each coming night
cause light strikes a deal with each coming night

11. iva lamkum - daggers
born to lead not to follow
I'm warming it up turning in loose

12. i love you but i've chosen darkness - the ghost
the building is virtually black now

13. interpol - obstacle 1
we can find new ways of living

14. irma thomas - time is on my side
you always say
that you want to be free

15. ben howard - keep your head up
I try my best to embrace the darkness
in which I swim

16. johnny cash - hurt
what have I become, my sweetest friend?

17. dub fx - the rain is gone
I could see the all the colours of the trees
they were smiling at me

18. the pixies - where is my mind?
your head will collapse
but there's nothing in it

19. wilco - on and on and on
please don't cry
we're designed to die

20. the rolling stones - fool to cry
and it makes me wonder why?

21. simon & garfunkel - comfort & joy
let nothing you dismay

every day seems a little longer | october 12 playlist

Music is a big part of our kitchen. We plug our iPods into the speakers and listen to music that makes menial tasks like washing two sinks worth of dishes bearable - even pleasant. When I have the kitchen to myself I sometimes risk putting my whole iPod on shuffle - it can be very hit and miss! Here are some of our favourites over October.

1. kings of convenience - homesick

2. billy bragg & wilco - listening to the wind that blows

3. modest mouse - the world at large

4. bright eyes - lua

5. belle & sebastian - this is just a modern rock song

6. the mountain goats - broom people

7. buddy holly - every day

8. the falls - home

9. london symphony orchestra - ombra mai fu

10. feist - i feel it all

11. studio ghibli soundtrack - merry-go-round of life (howl's moving castle)

12. grizzly bear - all we ask

13. the white buffalo - love song #1

14. sarah humphreys - happiness is on this hill

15. paleo - world's smallest violin

16. hope sandoval & the warm inventions - around my smile

17. iron & wine - flightless bird, american mouth

18. wilco - she's a jar

19. xavier rudd - paper thin

20. hirini melbourne - te kopere (the rainbow)

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title from buddy holly - every day. photograph taken in varanasi, january 2012