Sweet Chilli Jam

I was first introduced to sweet chilli jam years ago when I visited Australia to see my mum's sister Aunty Raina Ruri and her whanau.  She was renowned for whipping up a 3 course meal with literally only a handful of ingredients in her pantry.  She may not have had fresh herbs or fresh stock, but what she did have was the initiative to get depth of flavour by using what she had.   It was no problem to throw in some chutney or tomato sauce to give her casserole a little lift.

I've pretty much had a jar of sweet chilli jam in my pantry.  It's great to add to stews, as a dipping solution with some home made dim sims or even poured over some sour cream as a quick dip with some corn chips or vegetable sticks when unexpected visitors arrive and it turns into afternoon drinks.

The amount of chillies used is really up to you.  The more you have, the hotter the sauce and although I state to use red chillies, I've used long green chillies as well, as it's turned out perfect!!!

Ingredients
12 - 20 long red chillies
2 whole heads of garlic, cloves peeled
2 large pieces of ginger - about 200 grams
5 cups of caster sugar
1 cup of water
1 cup of white wine vinegar
1/4 cup of fish sauces
Zest and juice of 8 limes.

Method
Get a pot that big enough to hold all the ingredients.

Chuck the chillies, garlic and ginger into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Add the chilli mixture into the pot with the remaining ingredients and stir over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Once the sugar is dissolved bring to boil until the sauce is reduced by a third.  This should take about 20 mins.

Pour into sterilised jars.

Makes approximately 1200 mls.

Happy learning peeps!

Coffee Table to Bench Seat

I've had this coffee table stored in my husbands shed for a little while now.  The idea was to give it a new lease on life as it had seen better days.

As usual, I picked it up for cheaps and chips then found this wonderful material from spotlight.  I painted it Annie Sloan graphite, using a dark wax, then chopped up an old mattress foam we had left over from Aaliyah's room renovation and with the help of my husband, put it all together.

I am really really really happy with how this has turned out. 

Happy living people!

Garlic & Herbed Salt

This recipe is so easy to make and is so handy to have in the kitchen!!  You can decide what kind of herbs you want.  Rosemary, thyme, marjoram or oregano all go really well.  If you only have one herb in your garden, then one is all you need.

You can even adjust the volume of herbs and garlic you wish to use or add something like lemon zest and chopped chili.  The opportunities are endless!!

Ingredients
500 grams of sea salt
10-12 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 - 10 tablespoons of fresh herbs, finely chopped

Method
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together and let stand uncovered for 12 - 24 hours.  That's it!!!

Store in an airtight container and use on any meats you wish!!

Happy living!!

Lest We Forget

Tomorrow (25 April 2015) is ANZAC day here is New Zealand.  A day that marks the battle of Gallipoli where troops from New Zealand and Australia fought alongside each other in World War One to defeat the Ottoman empire at the Gallipoli Penninsula in what's now known as Turkey.  For 8 long months they fought and when the campaign ended, thousands had perished.    

2015 marks 100 years since the battle and thousands of New Zealanders have made the voyage over to Turkey to commemorate the event.  There has been a lot of publicity leading up to this years ANZAC day, with immense government support.  It is after all a very important part of New Zealand history.

Last Saturday I flicked on the television to catch the end of a Q&A section where they were discussing the celebrations.  Imagine my surprise when the presenter then proceeded to discuss the New Zealand land wars.  A topic that was quite refreshing to see on mainstream television but more importantly a topic that isn't widely known by New Zealanders.

The land wars is a series of wars between the NZ government and local maori from the 1840's and lasted nearly 30 years.  The land wars initially began as a result of maori being reluctant to sell their land to the increasing number of settlers arriving to New Zealand.  Maori had become wary of the NZ government and saw that any agreements between both parties such as the Treaty of Waitangi, were largely benefiting the settlers and rapidly becoming less and less beneficial for maori. 

To maori it was important to hold onto their values, their land and their culture but also wanted to work peacefully alongside the settlers. Maori saw the potential of working with the settlers and were thriving economically within their own regions. Prior to the land wars, they were already shipping and selling goods to the settlers in Auckland and overseas, therefore in effect, maori had established their own international trade agreements, without the assistance of the government.   It was a system that worked well for maori and the settlers at that time.

By the 1860's the land wars escalated after maori introduced the Kingitanga movement as a means to unite maori and collectively work with the british monarch to seek a common ground where they could live long side each other.  The intention was always a peaceful one.  The NZ government saw differently and were convinced that the movement was a form of rebellion against them and tens of thousands of british troops arrived in NZ with the intention to defeat maori.  Over the 30 year period,  tens of millions of acres of land confiscated from maori, and tens of thousands of men, women and children perished.  

The land confiscations resulted in the NZ government selling land to the increasing volume of settlers, including the british troops who had arrived for the NZ land wars.  The monies gained from the sales of confiscated land was used to finance the NZ land wars.

To the NZ government, this was a successful campaign and the NZ economy began to thrive without maori involvement.  To maori, it was devastating   Through the land wars, they were stripped of everything of value and so began a very long period of despair and isolation.  It would take 150 years for maori to receive the first apology and for the NZ government to acknowledge the wrong that had been inflected.

To a large percentage of New Zealanders, the NZ land wars is not something they know a lot about.  In fact, NZ history is a topic that is not taught widely in the NZ education system unless of course a school chooses to incorporate it into their curriculum.   Q&A stated that something like 70% of schools choose english history instead of NZ history and this choice only happens at a stage in a students life when the student chooses to study history at school.

NZ statistics state that only a small percentage of the future leaders of NZ choose to learn history at school... therefore a lesser percentage who are lucky enough to have their school choose NZ history over english history.   I don't claim to know everything about NZ history, but you don't have to be a scholar to realise it's not a promising outlook for the future of NZ if we choose not to embrace our history - good or bad.

2015 marks 100 years for the battle of Gallipoli and 170 years for the NZ land wars.  

Happy learning peeps!

Art Deco Wardrobe Revamped

I am so impressed with how my daughters room has turned out, that I had to share the before and after pictures of her wardrobe. 

This piece of furniture was one of the first things to purchase for her as her room was the only bedroom without built in storage.  I found it on trademe and got a good bargin I must say.  The previous owners lived out in out in the middle of nowhere and were moving to Australia in search of better opportunities.

I didn't think it really suited the age of the house .. and had more of an art deco look, but it had two doors and more importantly a mirror :-).  It looked pretty good in the space but I wasn't really feeling the dark wood.

On goes 3 coats of annie sloan Pure White and the transformation was instant!!

BEFORE

 

 

AFTER

 

Although the room has had a make over as well, I think it looks 100% better and brightens up that corner of the room.

 

Happy living peeps!

 



Aaliyah's Room - Revealed

It has taken some time to reveal Aaliyah's room. Mainly because it took longer to finish the room itself, let alone play around with the furniture to get it looking good. Aaliyah's brief was chic, feminine and classy so we had to balance that with the existing chattels of the home itself. 

Believe it or not, first thing that came was carpet.  This bedroom had wonderful wooden floor boards exposed unlike the rest of our bedrooms which are all carpeted.  Beautiful? Yes.  Practical? Not in the winter.  I found a match of the existing carpet in the home and the solution was resolved.

All the paint colours match that from our lounge.  The ceiling and architraves is aoraki quarter with the main wall colour sandfly point.  All colours are from the dulux range.  

Aaliyah had a mix match of different types of furniture so we decided to paint them all the same colour to tie the colour scheme in.  In fact, we painted everything with the exception of the birdcage, orchid and bed linen.

Aaliyah did think of a feature wall for her room, however she couldn't decide what that would be so we made all the walls the same.  This idea isn't completely out off the books though, as I think a different colour behind her bed would really add to the awesomeness of her headboard.  I blogged about this in HEADBOARD GETS MAKEOVER.

We are still playing around with little things in the room, and there is some wall art that is a work in progress, but for now we are happy with the finished result and Aaliyah is happy she has her room back.

Happy living peeps!!

First of My Maori Potatoes

I'm right in the middle of planning and planting my vegetable garden for the winter/spring period and couldn't resist sharing this blog.  

Last night we harvested the first of our maori potatoes. I've always wanted to grow my own maori potatoes and I was lucky enough to get a good supply of potato seeds from a great whanau friend from Ngaruawahia who gave me a couple of different varieties.

I planted them in early November over a 4 week period in a combination of my raised vegetable garden beds and a portable potato bag - the second idea was based on watching Annabel Langbein doing her piece on her TV programme. I planted over a 4 week period to stagger harvesting time to ensure we had a good supply from the easter period onwards.  We just had to decide when was the right time to test the first harvest.

Yesterday we were presented with the perfect opportunity.  My husband decided to burn off the results of trimming a few trees from around the Ponderosa, then came up with the idea of cooking our dinner over the fire.  Just quietly, he's been wanting to do that for a while.   Venison stew was on the menu using only things from our vegetable garden or in the cupboard so up came the potatoes, carrots, spring onions then bay leaves, tomatoes, rosemary, homemade herbed salt (which I will blog about soon), garlic, lots of cracked pepper, brown onions and two good bottles of red wine.  One to go in the pot and the other to drink while sitting by the fire watching the magic happen.

It just so happened my sister came over to help me drink the bottle of wine and enjoyed the experience of sitting by the fire and watching our dinner unfold.

The potatoes weren't as big as I thought they would be, but they were delicious none the less. Our harvest didn't even dent the side of whats still in our garden and I'm really happy with this.

If I'm to plan for the next lot of maori potato planting, I definitely need a different and bigger area to plant as they are one of those crops that need space in order to multiply and do their thing.

Happy living peeps!

Beef Are Bulking

I've been reflecting on past posts about beef -  more importantly my last post about the NEW ADDITIONS - Part 3 and I can't believe how fast time has gone.  Our calves will be 12 months in July and we will look to let them go over the next few months.  Hopefully Bullet has done his job again, which means the 4th additions will arrive around July-August this year and we have to make way for them to arrive.  We simply don't have enough land to sustain them all.

In saying that, all our beef are conditioning well and we get some great feedback from neighbouring farmers about it.  The beef industry is pretty strong at the moment and will continue for some time as the demand for beef keeps rising so the better the conditioning the better the return.

Out of the 7 calves we have this time round, two are bulls which means they should fetch some good dollars as they tend to condition better than the heifers.  The better of the two is Rua (aka tipi bum bum) and our neighbour has his eye on him for future breeding, but we will see how it goes.  We sold our last lot of calves to our neighbour and he had to take them to one of his other properties as they kept wanting to come back home.

Our beef is pretty low maintenance really.  Apart from making sure they have enough feed, water and keeping their health in top order, they pretty much look after themselves.  Although calving period will be a demanding time but it's a challenge we signed up for and I'm excited to see what happens this time round.

Happy living peeps!

Waikato Te Awa

Easter is generally a time for me to chill and relax after a very busy couple of months leading up to it, however this year I did something quite different.  This year I participated in a journey of discovery along the Waikato river - Te Tira Hoe o Waikato 2015.

The official documentation I recieved after enrolment was the "tira" is an opportunity for the people of Waikato-Tainui to take a journey on the Waikato river aimed at reinforcing the relationship between the people and their awa (river) - that being my people and my awa.

I have whanau and friends who had already taken this journey in previous years, all coming away saying how truly awesome it was for them.  With that said, I entered into the tira with an open mind and without any expectations, BUT there were places along the journey that I wanted to rediscover, if only to rekindle some wonderful childhood memories growing up under the guidance of my grandparents on the awa and the stories they shared with me.

Upon reflection, my grandparents taught me that the awa will provide strength and direction for us throughout our lives. It flows through us, just as we flow through it. With every turn, there is a purpose and with every purpose there is knowledge to be gained or lessons to be learnt. The awa must be respected and we must look after it, so the awa can continue to look after us long after we have physically left this life. 

The journey covered a distance of 125 km by river and 300 kms by road, from the source of the awa at Waikato Iti to the mouth at Port Waikato and it truly was an uplifing experience - physically, spiritually, socially and emotionally. Connections reclaimed. New relationships formed. New knowledge gained. Lessons learnt. Tears shed. Laughter had. Respect confirmed. Purpose delivered!!!



I am very humbled to have been a part of this journey with the other 70 plus whanau who came along with me.  It's an experience that I am proud that I lived, that I loved and more importantly that I learnt. 

I thoroughly encourage all Waikato-Tainui whanau who are registered with the tribe to take on this journey. It will be one of the best investments into your future you will ever make.

Through my grandparents, and now through Te Tira Hoe o Waikato 2015, my connection to the awa remains strong.  It has, and always will continue to nourish me physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.  It's now my turn to ensure I repay that commitment.

MANGOHIKUROA TE WAKA!!