Honey Toffee Walnuts

    This recipe is one of the reasons why I don’t mind scavenging around under walnut trees on cold autumn days, because these toasted walnuts covered in crispy toffee are absolutely delicious. Eat them as a tasty snack on their own, or chop them up finely to use as cake decorations, dessert topping, or […]

Blackberry and Apple Coulis

    This coulis is made from the last pick of the autumn blackberries for this season and my Dad grew them. There was such a lot of fruit that Mum and I decided to make a coulis so we could store it in the pantry and savour that blackberry taste for months ahead. This […]

Preserved Passionfruit Pulp

    In New Zealand, passionfruit fall from the vines in late February and through March (late summer and into autumn). My Dad grew the passionfruit used in the following recipe, and he is so successful at growing these that we had abundance of them. Rather than see them go to waste, we decided to […]

Worcesterberries

  The first thing that needs to be said about the Worcesterberry plant is that this is a vicious, thorny, beast, so make sure to wear a thick pair of gloves when picking berries or pruning because you can easily end up with more scratches than berries.   The large, sharp thorns:     The […]

Excursion off State Highway 2 (SH2): to Ormondville, Takapau, and Waipukurau

  My friend and I travel the Palmerston North–Napier State Highway (SH2) frequently, sticking to the main route so as to arrive at our destination ASAP (with only one regular stop for coffee!), but lately there have been murmurings that we should get to know a bit of the countryside that we zoom past so […]