Suburban Sanctuary: Happy New Year!

It's been a highly relaxing, enjoyable break over the Christmas/New Year period. I have lurched from one delicious meal to the next without breaking stride and somehow managed to fit in morning and afternoon teas, nibbles and drinks as well! To me, Christmas is all about good food, shared with good people which is certainly how I spent my holiday!

My husband and father-in-law are keen divers and fishermen so our holidays usually include an abundance of seafood and over the last 10 days I have been spoilt with fresh Crayfish, Paua (Abalone) and Blue Cod, along with all the usual Christmas goodies.

Stand out highlights of my holiday include trying Kina roe for the first time - it was cooked in a risotto, so fairly tame compared to the traditional Maori way of eating it raw, but delicious none-the-less! A Boxing Day picnic of fresh Paua cooked on the beach (augmented with some bangers!). A particularly lovely evening spent with friends over roast lamb. Freshly picked raspberries with cream and home-made mini meringues... heavenly! And, coming home to see how the garden had fared in our absence to find six huge, beautiful, perfect brocolli ready to be eaten!

THE most exciting thing that happened to me this Christmas though, was receiving Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion! I have lusted after it from the moment I first saw it in my local bookshop and after dropping several hints to my husband, I actually had to come right out and make a specific request as I was terrified my extrememly subtle hints would be lost on him! He scored bonus points too for getting me a Chef's Torch, which I have been harping on about with absolutely no subtlety whatsoever, for over a year!