Soup's On!

Its freezing outside! The perfect weather for a warm bowl of soup. I've made 2 delicious pots of soup in the past couple weeks, and both happen to be orange. The first was my Cleaned-up version of potato-leek soup. It starts with lots of sliced leeks.




But instead of potatoes, I used red-skinned yams, which are more nutrient-packed than white potatoes. They're high in vitamin C and B6 and have a lower glycemic index than white potatoes. Despite frequent mis-labeling, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing, but they can be used interchangeably in this recipe.





Yam and Leek Soup
3 large leeks, whites and light-green parts halved, thinly sliced and washed well, dark green parts halved, cut into 2" pieces and washed well
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 Tbls unsalted butter
1/2 cup white wine
2 lbs red-skinned yams, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)

• Combine vegetable broth, water and dark green parts of leeks in a large pot. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain broth into a large bowl and discard dark green leeks.
• Wipe out pot, add butter and heat over medium heat. When butter starts to foam, add leeks and stir to coat with butter. Cook for 2-3 minutes until leeks are slightly softened, then add white wine and 2 more minutes until most of the liquid has cooked off. Cover and cook until leeks are softened, about 5 more minutes.
• Add reserved broth back to pot with yams, bay leaf and thyme. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, until yams are very soft. Remove bay leaf and thyme and discard. Working in batches, puree soup in blender or puree in put with immersion blender. Return soup to pot, stir in cream (if using) and heat until very warm. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Last weekend we had a little family wedding celebration at my parent's house. We invited Derek's parents and his brothers and their families over for a delicious lunch of paninis and soup. We broke out the panini maker I got as a shower gift, which I think has now been permanently adopted by my father. He made cubans and reubens and I made some brie and pear paninis. We also had a crab and broccoli bisque, chicken gumbo, white bean soup and I contributed with a roasted tomato soup. Roasting tomatoes is a delicious way to bring out flavor and sweetness from the usually hard and mealy tomatoes you get in the grocery store this time of year. But I bet this soup would be even better with tasty summer tomatoes. I also added some roasted red peppers. This recipe has cream, but you could definitely do without it for a healthier vegan version.

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup
adapted from 101 Cookbooks
4 pounds tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 large red bell peppers, seeded and quartered
1 large sweet onion, peeled and quartered
EVOO
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
salt & pepper
3 cups light vegetable broth or water
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 cup heavy cream

• Preheat oven to 375º
• Line 2 large baking pans with foil or parchment
• arrange tomatoes, skin sides down on one pan and peppers and onions on another. Cover both with a good glug of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add garlic to pans.
• Roast until tomatoes start to collapse and onions and browned and caramelized, about 45 minutes. Check garlic about 15 minutes in and remove from pan once softened.
• Peel garlic and add to blender with vegetables, working in batches. Puree until mostly smooth, with some chunks still. Add to large saucepan over medium heat. Add vegetables broth or water until desired consistency is reached, add paprika and season with salt and pepper. Heat until simmering, then stir in cream. Serve and enjoy.

My mother topped the celebration off with a beautiful chocolate raspberry wedding cake she made and our families got to see us officially cut the cake!

Breakfast and Biscuits

Happy Saturday morning! As you may have noticed, I love making big breakfasts on the weekends. Usually its fluffy pancakes one morning, eggs the next. I think weekend breakfasts should be hearty and a little indulgent. Usually they end up being more like brunch for us, holding us over through Saturday errands and Sunday football. One of our favorite breakfasts - and one of the few meals my husband actually taught me how to cook perfectly - is egg sandwiches, preferably on a good buttermilk biscuit. But, I must admit, my biscuits usually come from the bakery section of the grocery store. For years, my mother and I have been searching for the perfect buttermilk biscuit recipe. But no matter what combination of flours, fats and techniques we've tried, we always ended up with dry, tough, hockey pucks. Until now! Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you...

The Best Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

From who else but Martha Stewart? And surprisingly, this recipe is very easy. The key steps seem to be very cold fat, in this case a mixture of butter and vegetable shortening.


And well sifted dry ingredients.  This recipe uses all purpose flour and cake flour, which keeps the biscuits light and fluffy.

A good floured biscuit cutter is also important. You need to cut straight down the edges of the dough, so the biscuits will rise properly.

My mother and I both happened to give each other biscuit cutters for Christmas, so I was covered here.

Its amazing what a difference these little tweaks made. The biscuits were golden, flaky perfection. And way better than store bought.


Best Buttermilk Biscuits
Adapted from Martha Stewart
makes 12
3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for work surface and biscuit cutter
1 cup cake flour
1 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbl plus 1 tsp sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces plus 2 Tbl melted butter for brushing tops
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated, trans fat free vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk

• Preheat oven to 400º
• Sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Sift again.
• Using a pastry cutter or 2 forks, cut butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Make a well in center, and pour in buttermilk. Stir with a wooden spoon until dough just holds together.
• Turn dough onto a well floured work surface, and need into itself 3 or 4 times. Pat dough into 1" disc. Using a well floured 3" biscuit cutter, cut round from dough. Place rounds 2" apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Gather scraps, pat back into disc, and continue cutting rounds until all dough is used. Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter.
• Bake until puffed and golden brown, and 15 - 18 minutes. Serve warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days, or freeze.

The biscuits pulled apart easily to fill with a fried egg, Gruyere, and a perfect slice of tomato.


This is obviously a particularly indulgent breakfast that should be saved for the weekends. During the week, I prefer breakfasts that are filling but not too heavy, and packed with as many healthy ingredients as I can cram in to kick start my brain and body for my busy work days. My breakfasts also need to be portable and easily eaten at my desk. Green Monsters are perfect for this, a smoothie packed with kale, almond milk, banana and flax seeds. I also frequently include yogurt with fruit and granola or oatmeal cooked with banana and topped with yogurt, nuts and fruit in my routine. Oatmeal is a traditional breakfast cereal, but there are so many other grains out there that make a great morning meal. This week I made a big batch of breakfast quinoa, which I kept in the fridge at work and heated up a serving every morning. Quinoa is the highest protein grain out there, so it makes an ideal breakfast. And its delicious, nutty flavor pairs well with fruit and nuts. Just like oatmeal, you can experiment with a huge variety of mix-ins.

This recipe makes a week-long batch. To re-heat, I scoop a single serving into a bowl with sliced bananas, and pop in the microwave at work for 1 minute, 30 seconds. The bananas melt into the quinoa, making it sweeter and bulking it up a bit. I then top it with a little milk and some dried fruit. But thrown in whatever you like!


Breakfast Quinoa
makes 5 servings
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbl sucanat, or honey or agave nectar to taste

• Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer on low until liquid is mostly absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and sucanat. Enjoy warm or chill and reheat later.
  

And because I'm always thinking about my next meal, I'd also like to share with you my lunches this week - a Delicious and colorful Udon Soup with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage, and Yams.

Bon Appetit!

Get it on the plate, girl

Chilly January weather calls for chili! While a traditional chili is usually based around ground beef, there are so many vegetarian variations you can make using different combinations of beans, vegetables, and grains. My latest version was inspired by this recipe in Food & Wine for Winter Vegetable Chili that uses hominy to bulk it up. I wondered why I had the Tori Amos song "Little Amsterdam" running through my head all day Monday, since its been years since I've listened to it. I realized as I was cooking it was because of this lyric:

"Little Amsterdam/In a Southern town/Hominy/get it on the plate, girl"

That's my job - get it on the plate! Hominy is corn that has been treated with lye, and you can buy it canned. This is also the base for corn tortillas, but the corn is finely ground after its treated to make a flour. The hominy in the can is whole, soft kernels.

This recipe is a delicious way to use seasonal vegetables. It came out a little spicy for my taste, but if you remove the seeds from the chipotles that would cut down the heat a lot. This recipe also makes a huge pot of chili! Derek has been eating it for lunch all week, but the leftovers will also freeze well.

Winter Vegetable Chili
liberally adapted from Food & Wine February, 2010
4 Tbls olive oil, divided
1 1/2 - 2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded
1 medium onion, chopped
3 - 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2" pieces
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2"pieces
1 Tbl chile powder
1 Tbl ground cumin
salt & pepper
2 Tbls unsweetened cocoa powder
1 x 28 oz. can peeled whole tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
2 - 3 canned chipotle peppers (with or without seeds depending on heat preference), plus 2 Tbls adobo sauce
2 cups water
1 x 14 oz can hominy, drained
1 x 14 oz can red kidney beans, drianed
chopped cilantro and sour cream or greek yogurt for serving

Preheat oven to 400º

Toss butternut squash with 2 Tbls olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast in a baking pan until just tender and lightly browned, about 20 - 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 Tbls olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Add red pepper, carrots, and sweet potato and saute until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in chile powder, cumin, and cocoa powder and season with salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute more.

Meanwhile, puree tomatoes with juices, chipotles and adobo and water in blender until smooth. Add mixture to dutch oven along with hominy and beans and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer over medium-low heat until thickened and vegetables are tender.

Serve topped with chopped cilantro and sour cream or greek yogurt.



I usually like to serve cornbread with chili, and this time decided to spice my cornbread up a bit. I got a madeline pan for Christmas, and since I don't make little tea cakes too often, I thought it would be the perfect vehicle for individual cornbread madelines. I also added some chopped green onion and chipotles for a little kick.



Green Onion Chipotle Cornbread Madelines
1 cup cornmeal (I like Bob's Red Mill course ground cornmeal)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sucanat (or sugar)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
3 Tbls unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 green onions, chopped
3 chipotles in adobo, seeds and sauce scraped, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400º

Whisk together cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a medium bowl. Add egg, milk and butter and stir until just combined. Stir in green onion and chipotles.

Fill a greased Madeline pan with batter, filling each cup not quite to the top. Or, fill a greased 9" square baking pan with batter. Bake for about 15 minutes, until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Watch carefully as these cook fast! Let cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely or slightly warm.

Renewal

Now is the time of year when we all look towards change. We take a look at ourselves - inside and out, for better or worse - and think about what we would like to make better, make smaller, make firmer, make happier.  And we resolve to achieve those things before this time next year.  My resolution for this year is to try to be tidier in our tiny apartment, and not leave my crap all over the place.  Derek was very excited to hear this, although he has yet to see any results.  But I'm working on it.  

I'm also working on making up for the gluttony of the holiday season by returning my focus to healthful eating.  The 3 cookie a day habit I developed around Christmas must be kicked.  And the intake of vegetables and whole grains must be dialed up!  I'm back on my Green Monster kick, using my brand new shower-gift blender to make almond milk and liquify kale.  Its so much easier to get your healthy greens in when you have them at breakfast. It also helps when you can make delicious, healthy meals that don't taste like health food. That just taste delicious. That is this recipe, for a warm, comforting risotto made with hearty, heart-healthy barely and delicious roasted vegetables.


I used brussel sprouts and some beautiful orange, purple and white carrots because they were local, in season, and I can't get enough brussel sprouts.

You can easily use this base risotto recipe to create lots of different combinations, adding different vegetables and crumbling in cheeses to boost the flavor. Root vegetables and hearty greens are perfect for the winter and young asparagus and peas would really shine in the spring. Nuts and dried fruit would make this a creative side dish. I made this dish once with beets and marscapone cheese to amp up the creaminess, and it was a pink beauty.


You could also experiment with different grains here. The whole grains in one's diet should go way beyond whole wheat pasta and bread. There are so many out there to explore with a variety of flavors and textures. I love the chewy, nuttiness of barely, but you could also try this with farro, wheatberries, or more adventurous grains like amaranth.


Barley Risotto with Brussel Sprouts and Carrots

serves 4
4 Tbls olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
2 - 3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
5 cups vegetable broth
1 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 pound brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved
1/2 pound carrots, chopped into 1" pieces
1/4 freshly grated parmesan cheese (omit for vegan recipe)
salt and pepper

• Preheat oven to 400º.
• Pour vegetable broth into a medium saucepan, and heat until warm but not boiling. Reduce heat to low.
• Toss vegetables with 2 Tbls of olive oil in large roasting pan and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast until lightly browned and tender, about 20 - 25 minutes, while barely cooks. Set aside when roasted.
• Heat a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and saute until softened, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and saute 2 more minutes. Add pearl and saute until fragrant and slightly toasted, about 3 more minutes. Add white wine and cook until wine is absorbed. Add 1 - 2 ladles of broth, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until broth is mostly absorbed, stirring frequently. Continue adding broth by the ladle-full until barley is tender but still slightly chewy.
• Toss cooked barley with parmesan cheese, than stir in brussel sprouts and carrots. Pass additional parmesan on the side.

We ate this dinner on our brand new plates, also a shower gift. We got his and her's plates - mine have subtle white flowers and Derek's have bicycles. Very fitting...

'Tis the Season

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

After too long a hiatus, my new year's resolution is to recommit myself to this blog and post more wonderful recipes and photos than I have been over the past few months. Between a crazy work schedule and little things like getting married, I just have not had the time lately. But I heard from so many of you after my New Zealand post telling me how excited you were to see me post again and how much you've missed the blog, that you have all really inspired me to get back to it. Thank you all so much for supporting me. I plan to give you more delicious treats in 2010.

But first, a recap of the holiday season! This Christmas came at us fast and furious, descending as soon as we got off the plane from our trip in the form of a huge snow storm. And this was just the beginning, as we got dumped with another foot the following weekend. But being trapped in the house for the weekend was the perfect excuse to spend it cooking and baking!

Cranberries seemed to be my inspiration and theme this year. Cranberries and eggnog! I started the weekend with our Saturday morning tradition of pancakes. But I mixed it up a bit and made them with eggnog.

I also added a handful of chopped, toasted pecans.



I topped the pancakes off with cranberry maple syrup. Festive fuel to get us ready for battling the crowds and tackle our last minute Christmas shopping.


Eggnog Pancakes with Cranberry Maple Syrup
serves 2
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbl sugar or sucanat
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 1/2 cups eggnog
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 to 1/2 cup lightly toasted pecans, chopped
butter, for griddle
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (preferably grade b)

• Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
• Slowly pour in eggnog and whisk until just combined. Add beaten egg and whisk until combined, but batter should still be lumpy. Stir in chopped pecans.
• Heat griddle or non-stick pan over medium-low heat. Grease pan with a bit of butter. Add ladle-fulls of batter to hot pan, and cook until bubbles on the top start to burst. Flip pancakes and cook 1 - 2 more minutes. Keep cooked pancakes warm in 150º oven cover in foil.
• While pancakes cook, heat cranberries and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until cranberries just begin to burst. Let cool slightly and pour over warm pancakes.

Dinner that night came from a great article in January's Food & Wine. Gail Simmons went through each season of Top Chef, and fixed all worst dish disasters. We're big Top Chef fans - although we're still not caught up on last season! Our DVR misses us. I was totally won over by Gail's recipe for Carla's roquefort souffle that curdled in the oven and was never served to the judges in the season 5 finals. I've been on a major blue cheese kick lately, and found a great hunk of really creamy, stinky cheese at Lionette's Market that was perfect for this recipe. Lionette's is one of my new obsessions. Its a little shop in the South End that sells local produce, eggs, dairy, cheese, bread and meat. This will definitely be the place I'll be sourcing meat from if I ever decide to cook it. The staff knows all the farmers and can tell you exactly where the meat came from and how it was raised. No mystery meat here.

The individual souffles rose beautifully in the oven, and were a nice golden brown.


They did sink a bit by the time they made it to the table! It was a perfect light meal served with a salad of arugula and shaved fennel and some grilled bread.


I adapted the recipe for 2 - but ended up having enough batter for a third little souffle. You could probably make 2 with slightly bigger ramekins.

Blue Cheese Souffles
adapted from Gail Simmons for Food & Wine Magazine
serves 2
1 Tbl unsalted butter, plus more for buttering ramekins
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 Tbl all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 ounces good quality blue cheese
3 eggs, seperated
1 Tbl snipped chives

• Preheat oven to 375º. Butter 2 or 3 1 cup ramekins and coat the inside with 1 Tbl of parmesan each.
• In a small saucepan, melt 1 Tbl butter. Sprinkle flour over butter and cook for about 1 minute, whisking constantly. Pour in milk, salt and cayenne and cook until very thick and bubbly, whisking frequently.
• Scrape milk mixture into a large bowl. Stir in crumbled blue cheese and remaining parmesan. Whisk in egg yolks and snipped chives.
• In a large bowl, beat egg white until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whites into the milk and cheese mixture until no white streaks remain. Pour mixture into ramekins, filling about 3/4 of the way full. Place ramekins on baking sheet and back until puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
  

We woke up Sunday morning buried in snow. Perfect baking weather! I started with these Eggnog Cranberry Muffins from Annie's Eats.


I brought these to work and everyone loved the crumb topping.

I also made mini black and white cookies. I've never made these before and they are one of my favorite cookies. I like the chocolate side the best, and this icing was really chocolaty. I used a toothpick to divide the frosting and smooth it out.


Delicious alongside LA Burdick's Dark Hot Chocolate.

For dinner I made another recipe from January's Food & Wine. There was a feature on the best vegetarian recipes. This one was very hearty and seasonal - Baked Butternut Squash and Cheese Polenta.

The polenta is mixed with roasted and mashed butternut squash, smoked gouda and pine nuts, then baked until the top and sides get golden and crispy. I served it topped with tomato sauce mixed with sauteed mushrooms.


Tomato Sauce with Mushrooms
2 Tbls olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
salt and pepper to taste
1 - 2 Tbl balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
1 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl unsalted butter

• Empty tomatoes with juices into a large bowl and mash with a potato masher or squeeze with hands (its messy but fun!). In a large pot, heat 2 Tbl olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until lightly softened. Add garlic and saute until just beginning to brown. And crushed tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer until bubbling. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in balsamic vinegar and simmer a few minutes. Stir in red wine and simmer for about 10 - 20 more minutes, adjusting seasoning as needed.
• While sauce is simmering, heat 1 Tbl olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tbl butter and stir until melted. add mushrooms and saute until all the liquid is released, about 10 minutes. Continue to saute until lightly browned on edges. Stir mushrooms in tomato sauce.

I roasted a huge butternut squash for the polenta, and used the leftovers for the Butternut Squash and Kale Bread Pudding I made for Christmas dinner. I also made a batch of brussel sprouts with buttered pecans.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Buttered Pecans
serves 10 - 12
4 pounds brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cups sliced pecans
6 Tbls unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt

• Preheat oven to 400º. Spread pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven until one shade darker and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Pour pecans into small bowl and mix with softened butter and salt. Set aside.
• Spread brussel sprouts in a large pan. Toss with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast until tender and browned, 20 - 30 minutes. Toss with buttered pecans and serve.

My holiday sides were delicious, my father was the true star chef on Christmas day. He roasted a goose and made a rich port gravy, and he made beef wellington.

I had tastes of both of them and they were very good! He did an amazing job.

The holidays are almost over and we are going on yet another vacation! Our good friends Lisa and Marc invited us to join them in Bimini for New Year's. We can't wait to escape the cold and snow with a little island sunshine. See you in 2010 with a tan!

New Zealand Wedding

First off, let me apologize to my loyal readers (my mom and Lizzy) for my extended absence from the blog world. But I have a good excuse - I got married in New Zealand! On 25 November, 2009 Derek and I became husband and wife. We still haven't gotten used to calling each other that. And New Zealand was just the most amazing setting. We would not have done it any differently. And it was so hard to come home after 3 weeks there.

We started the "premoon" flying into Auckland and drove straight North to the Bay of Islands, where we spent a couple nights in Paihia, a cute beach town. The highlight of the stay was a chartered sailboat tour  given by a really interesting couple. He was the captain and she cooked us a delicious lunch of asparagus quiche, homemade bread, pumpkin soup and almond cookies. All cooked from scratch in her little boat kitchen!




We left the beach in our rental car, and I tested my skills at driving stick shift on the wrong side of the road. It was a bit nerve wracking for both of us.


We headed to the Waitomo caves, where we stayed in the world's only Hobbit Hotel.


At the caves we took a tour where they suited us up in wetsuits and and sent us through the caves in inner tubes.


The ceilings of the caves were quite cool, all covered with glow worms. From there we drove to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing where we took a gorgeous day-long hike.





That's Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings!

Our last stop on the North Island was Wellington, the capital of NZ. Its a very cool, artsy city. This is where we decided we would live if we moved here. We took the trolley up to the botanic gardens and had a great view of the city.


We checked out parliament, where Derek was a statue.


We had some very good meals in Wellington, including a stop at La Tartine Gourmand recommended Capitol. We ate a yummy lunch of cheese and fries at The Tasting Room.




And breakfast both days was at Fidel's Cafe, described in the "the book" (Lonely Planet NZ was our bible) as the place for left wing radicals. Derek thought he would fit right in.

On both our trips I had the Fidel's Kickstarter, a juice made with apple, lemon, ginger and wheatgrass.

The food was great throughout the trip. They're very into seasonal, local eating there (partly because its an island) which is obviously right up my alley. And because it was late Spring in NZ, all of the delicious foods that recently went out of season back home were just becoming available. We ate a lot of asparagus!

From Wellington we took the ferry over to Picton on the south island, and feasted on these gigantic greenlip mussels.


Then it was off to Marlborough wine country, where we would be getting married! The day before our wedding we took a bike tour around the vineyards and had lots of wine tastings, a gift from my darling Lucy.

It got a little tough to stay on the bike towards the end! Then we checked into our cottage at Hans Herzog vineyard, where we would be staying and having the ceremony. It was absolutely amazing! We stayed in their little rose cottage, which was totally adorable.




For dinner the night before the wedding, they brought us the vinter's platter to eat in our cottage. We were expecting bread and cheese - but it was so much more! There were dishes of poached shrimp, scallops, smoked salmon, cured whitefish and an onion tart. All out of this world!


The morning of our wedding, we had a special delivery - the camper van that would be our honeymoon suite!

It was also Derek's dressing room as I got ready in the cottage.



We held the ceremony in the little garden behind the cottage. Our witnesses were our photographer and wedding planner, and other than that it was just the 2 of us.



Our friend Colucci wrote a piece for the ceremony which had us in hysterics and tears.



Everything was absolutely perfect and the setting could not have been more gorgeous. It was so romantic, special, and unique. And fun and relaxed, unlike the typical wedding! It was exactly what we wanted.

We followed the ceremony with a lavish 7 course dinner with wine pairings at Hans Herzog's gourmet restaurant. This was a big part of the reason I chose to have our wedding here - they are supposed to have the best restaurant in New Zealand.

And now, I have a confession to make. Throughout our trip, I ate meat! For the first time in 13 years! I wasn't suddenly ordering huge steaks, but I tried bites of meat whenever Derek ordered it. Most of the meat in New Zealand is grass-fed - we saw sheep and cows happily grazing all over the country. This is how animals are really meant to be raised, and I have much less of an issue with eating meat when its treated humanely and given a good a life. And I've also recently started to get uncomfortable with the restrictions I've placed on myself by not allowing myself to eat meat. Its become more like "I can't eat meat" as opposed to "I choose not to eat meat," which is really how it should be. I'm not expecting to really change my diet significantly, but I like having the option to try meat if I feel like it. Its actually quite liberating! Although overall, I wasn't crazy about any of the meat I tried. It all just seemed so chewy to me, when I'm used to eating fish. The exception was our wedding night meal. There was not a lot of meat in the seven courses. We started with a couple glasses of bubbles and some hors d'oeuvres.



We were served parmesan marshmallows, a little lemongrass coconut soup, and smoked salmon rolled in dukka. Then we moved on to a scallop carpaccio, followed by a vegetable salad, and poached shrimp topped with pig's snout.





Yes, I ate the confit pig's snout. But the highlight of the meal was the beef carbonara. Thin, perfectly seared slices of beef alongside an onion marmalade, with a coil of clear "pasta" topped with a runny poached egg. Yes, I ate just about every bite. I left a little piece for Derek so that I didn't eat ALL the meat.

Dessert was carrot-inspired, which sounds a little odd but was quite tasty.

A little carrot sorbet accompanied a cake with carrot, ginger and meringue. We also had a cheese course and petit fours at the end of the meal. And wine with every course! We were most definitely satisfied. It was the perfect celebration meal. Then we took the short, windy walk back to our cottage.

The next morning I cooked a lovely last breakfast in our cottage. The restaurant brought us fresh farm eggs, smoked salmon and home baked bread for us to prepare ourselves. I fried eggs and laid them on toast and smoked salmon.

Then it was time to move into the OCV - we called her Lamdchop.

Our travel around the South Island in little Lambchop was easily the best part of our trip (except getting married, of course). The van had everything we needed - kitchen, bathroom, dining room, bed - even a TV with DVD player. And it was pretty compact for being a little house on wheels. Derek loved driving it. I, on the other hand, cried the entire time I was driving it, which was only for about 30 minutes. New Zealand is a very camper friendly country. As long as there were no postings, we could park for the night in any spot we found, and there were trailer parks we could stay at in even the tiniest towns. The first night in the OCV was our best camping spot. We found a little road off the main highway (which was also a little road) that led right down to a little parking area on the beach.

I cooked the first of many delicious meals here. Pan seared king fish, broccoli, and mashed purple kumara, which is a New Zealand sweet potato.

We also snacked on some cherries we picked up at a farm stand, and dessert was a delicious chocolate mousse cake they made for us at Herzog.



From here we headed to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. There is such a variety of terrain in NZ, we could go from the beach to glaciers in just a few hours. We spent 2 days at Franz Josef trying to get a helicopter trip up to the top, but the weather was too rainy and cloudy the whole time to go up.

It was a little better at the Fox glacier.

We had another delicious OCV dinner while camping at the glaciers, of broiled salmon, asparagus and more kumara.

Then we made our way down to Queenstown, spending the night at another great camp spot by a river on the way.
We also stopped at a beach where penguins were nesting!

Can't you see them? Yeah, they were pretty far away, but luckily we had binoculars and got a pretty good view of 2 of them playing in the waves. They were pretty cute.

We made it to Queenstown, the extreme sport capital of New Zealand. This is the place for bungee jumping, sky diving, and parasailing. But we passed on these activities in favor of my favorite sport - ice cream eating!

We discovered Patagonia Chocolates in Queesntown, and went there 3 times! They had all kinds of interesting truffles, including wasabi and lemon pepper, and amazing thick and rich hot chocolate, which came flavored with chili, fresh ginger, or lavender.

We also did a little horse back riding at Moonlight Farms set in the mountains.

The raised deer on the farm, which we assumed was for venison since they seem to raise a lot of that here. But Haley, our Scottish ride guide, told us they actually raise the deer for their antlers, which they scrape the velvet off of and sell to the Chinese for medicine. And it doesn't hurt the deer, and they grow right back.  Its supposed to be an aphrodisiac!

That afternoon we had lunch back in Queenstown. Fish and chips were pretty popular here - the English food influence.

We had some local beer with lunch - I got a pint and Derek had a liter.

But he still finished before me.

After we sobered up a bit, we drove down to Glenorchy, an adorable little town at the end of the road South of Queenstown.





After we left Queenstown we had a long drive to Christchurch, where we would drop off the OCV and end our trip. This was the point where I finally got behind the wheel...and cried more than at our wedding. Driving the big van, on the wrong side of the road, with a stick shift - it was just too nerve-wracking for me!

Before Christchurch we stopped at the Banks Peninsula, which was formed by 2 volcanoes. We drove along the edge of the summit and stopped to hike up Gibralter Rock.



I made tuna melts in the OCV for lunch.

We parked at a beautiful campground by the beach that night. Our last night in the OCV!

It was sad to say goodbye. I had been traveling with my wedding bouquet for the past week, but it this point it was time to toss it. Unfortunately, I only had a trash can to catch it.

With tears in our eyes, we dropped off the OCV in Christchurch. We became so attached, it was really starting to feel like home.

We did have an excellent last meal in Christchurch, at the Clarendon.

I started with roasted asparagus over ciabatta with a poached egg. My last asparagus for a long time!

And roasted monkfish topped with fried whitebait, which are tiny white fish that are only in season for about a month and considered quite a delicacy here.

And then, we embarked on our 35 hour trip home. We've been back for 2 weeks now and still wish we had never left! New Zealand was the most amazing, beautiful country and we had such a special time there. We're already planning our trip back for our anniversary!