Holiday Food Porn: The New Zealand Edition

Better late than never, that's what I always say...because I am about 2 months late on this bandwagon.  I've amassed so many food porn photos that I've just dreaded having to put them here because y'all know how lazy I am when there's a backlog... Anyways I've given myself a kick up the butt and decided to trawl through all my holiday photos to give you the pleasure of foodgasming.

My stomach was particularly pleased this holiday season because of the travelling I did around Asia. My general rule of thumb for travelling is that, where the food is, I follow. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that China and Singapore definitely more than satisfied my appetite. 

I experienced so many foodgasms over my holidays that I've had to split it into 3 editions: one for every country I ate in. The first edition is dedicated to the tucker in Kiwiland.

So, in true, lazy me fashion, I'm just going to lump a whole load of pictures here and hope that your stomach explodes with the amount of amazing food on display...(remember to click on the food for larger pictures!)

My friend and I had a cute lil' lunch date in a quaint and tucked away Japanese restaurant in the heart of Auckland CBD. There was a student special for $9.50! I ordered the tofu-don because I got my wisdom teeth out a few days before and I still couldn't chew anything. The best thing about this place was that there was UNLIMITED PICKLED GINGER REFILLS!!! SAY WHAAAAT!? I always hate it when the ratio of pickled ginger to everything else is off. The acidity and sharpness of the ginger is an important component of any Japanese dish, and I need it in EVERY MOUTHFUL to counterbalance the saltiness and richness of the meal.

**CLICK FOR SO MANY MORE PICTURES!**

 

The silken tofu just melted in my mouth. SAH DELICIOUS.

The restaurant had these sake bottles lined up in a row for display - cute! :3

On another lunch date out in the CBD, we decided to try for something that wasn't Asian (hard, I know...) and we found a trendy little burger bar called Velvet Burger. They had some pretty unorthodox burgers on their menu, such as venison, but I just opted for  boring (but delicious) beef. The had an AMAZING chutney with their burgers, but like every single freakin' time, THEY DIDN'T GIVE ENOUGH. WHY IS THERE NEVER ENOUGH CHUTNEY FOR THOSE WHO LIKE THEIR MEALS TO BE SAUCY? *sniffles*

Their plates were also really fancy!

This was a meal my friend and I made for lunch. It was supposed to be a seafood garlic pasta but it didn't turn out so great...first mistake was using wholemeal pasta instead of semolina pasta. We thought the wholemeal pasta would be healthier (which it is), but the texture of the grain was too coarse for the delicate flavours and textures of the seafood. Second mistake was not using enough garlic. The seafood was quite strong and the lack of garlic meant that we could only taste the oil...which brings me to the third mistake: I drenched this thing in oil. Like, waaaaay too much oil. I thought "Oh, the only sauce for this is oil. I've got to put more in"...which unfortunately meant that by the time I had finished showering olive oil on the poor pasta, a pool of oil was left at the bottom of the bowl. Was this thing edible? Yes...but I was disappointed in my lack of culinary skill this time round...

I MADE CINNAMON ROLLS!!! It took forever for the yeast to rise, and even then I was super unhappy because I forgot to first activate the yeast in hot water (rookie mistake, Ruohan!). But thanks to my dad for kindly kneading the bloody thing until it started to resemble something edible. This was the first time I made them, so I had no idea about quantities. I am an excessive cook; I stuffed these with nuts and suffocated them with icing. Heart attack in a scroll, but so worth it. 

I ALSO MADE A SPONGECAKE!!!I topped it with strawberries and cream, because it's not summer unless you drown your cake in cream and then attempt to raise its nutritional value with fruit. :3

I love Christmas dinner because it gives me a great excuse to cook food I probably wouldn't get to cook. I rediscovered this awesome baking book my mum bought for me when I was like 16 and my cooking skills were still pretty poor. I tried making bread before, but I always failed - BUT NOT THIS TIME. I rolled up my sleeves and kneaded this zucchini bread until it was beaten senseless. And then I baked it and it tasted effing FANTASTIC! *tear* LOOK AT THAT CRUST (and it was so moist inside!). The zucchini was surprisingly flavourful for a vegetable that normally tastes...tasteless. 

Well, that's enough for now. I have more food photos in the works and a MASSIVE backlog of things to publish. So drool drool drool and keep alert for more om nom noms coming your way! :)

Peace out,

Ruohan