Went for a walk around the waterfront this morning seeing as it was fine and reasonably calm. The fruit & veg market by Waitangi Park seemed far more upmarket than I remember – fresh bread even! We saw the jumping fish again - signalled by a huge flock of birds floating in wait in the harbour and then all scrambling to flight when the fish started jumping. Judging by the size of the fish (we saw a few that had been caught flapping about on the walkway) I doubt the birds had a chance to actually catch any but they sure were trying!! We went around by the lagoon as that’s where we’d seen the fish a couple of years ago but all was still – did see a couple of ducks having a lovely snooze in the sun though.

Man it was cold yesterday! The 10 degree cold snap was very unseasonal and caught us by surprise so we stayed inside and cheffed! Made something new and warm.

Festive Vegetarian Chilli
Cornbread

Was delicious and filling. The cornbread went *so* well with the chilli. The Mister has had it at Ernesto’s down the road a couple of times and said it tasted just like that. (Yes, again the meal was inspired by the Mister …)

Also made the Christmas mince and am going to put it into jars today. I did get the Mister to help with the cutting and we have a lovely fine mix.

As we were away last weekend when I would traditionally do my Christmas fruit-based baking I’ll probably do it this weekend. I’ve been mulling over what to bake.

Christmas Cake – made this for about 7 years in a row and stopped a couple years back to try something different. For me this is the ultimate in tradition which is one of the reasons why I bake for Christmas – neither the Mister nor I are actually into fruity baking. The cake is pretty big, and rich, and we can never get through it.

Pan dolce – I tried this once the year before last. It was cool. Needed orange blossom water which was a first for me. Our friends came over to have some and that’s another reason why I bake for Christmas – I want people to come over for ‘coffee and cake’ so we can say Merry Christmas to each other and look at my lovely Christmas tree laden with only orange decorations. I’d rather do this than presents to be honest. The pan dolce dried out a bit. The Mister wasn’t too keen on it because it was quite crumbly.

Fruit mince pies – had my first attempt at these last year and they went pretty well. Mince was a bit bulky though so it was quite hard wrestling plump raisins and bits of apricot into the tiny pastry cases. However, I know that now, and we have our chef friend’s set of Global cooking knives so I can get the Mister to help me cut up the fruit this year. The pies were quite easy to transport to baking-deprived friends at work and our American friend Jiff was impressed. The Mister liked them quite a lot – probably because there was more sweet pastry than fruit.

So I think it’s going to be pies again. Whilst I bake for my own enjoyment and idea of what Christmas and tradition is all about, it basically boils down to what the Mister will eat! Aaahhhh – the true foundation of a solid marriage!

Hmmm, just did a search on Google to see if Superfino had a website for my previous post and the parameters Superfino Ghuznee turned up a couple of pages of results with an orangeblog post on page one!! I’m still *very* unsure about being so out there. I know that’s a ridiculously hypocritical statement given that I have a blog, and I know I’ve said and blogged this before. I still feel like I want to have control over who reads my ramblings. Haven’t quite figured out why yet. It’s not that I’m afraid of identity theft, and in fact as a friend of mine said if you’re out there with a blog and are actually getting known through it, then identity theft is pretty hard. For me it’s something else but I’m still working on what.

Have to say, Superfino is super fine! Have stopped in for lunch a couple of Saturdays now – well, more of a snack than lunch – a refreshment even – so their concept of calling themselves a ‘refreshment bar’ is working well.

They were quiet when we got there (only 4 tables inside) but by the time we left were packed! The other times we’ve been there the outdoor area on Ghuznee Street has been popular.

Our perfect little Saturday snack-lunch is:

• wine (all their offerings are by the glass, NZ & abroad)
  
• toasted prosciutto & gouda ficelle (made by them on the tiny counter every morning) with fantastic sweet pepper chutney (Barkers I’m told!! must get some …)
  
• caramel date cupcake with butterscotch icing (Contessa’s … have always loved these)
  
• coffee (Supreme, and made by the Supreme trainer no less!)

All good – thanks Ralph & French girl (don’t know her name yet)!