NZ Part 1

New Zealand! Where do I begin. It is such a beautiful country, don't get me wrong, Australia has many beautiful places too but our Kiwi neighbour has plenty to boast about. I know two weeks was never going to be enough time to fully explore and enjoy the sights of this country but it gave us a good taster of where we want to come back to and new places to discover on another trip.

We started our adventure on the South Island; we flew over the snowy mountain ranges on approach to landing in Queenstown and what we saw was amazing. Staying in both Queenstown and Wanaka, we enjoyed 4 days of skiing on Mt Cardrona. Apparently all the mountain ski resorts in the Otago region had recorded some of the lowest July snowfalls in years, however there was still enough powder around for us to ski and we had a great time on the slopes. Both Queenstown and Wanaka are stunning, especially with the back drop of the snow capped mountain ranges completing the picture. We definitely would like to come back here as there is so much more to explore and do not to mention other ski resorts to try!

Besides skiing we went horse riding with Dart Stables down at the nearby little town of Glenorchy and rode through where they shot a lot of the scenes for the Lord of the Rings trilogy which was very cool, not to mention it was my first time riding a horse! :) This trip we didn't do any thrill seeking activities like a lot of people go there for, however on another trip I might consider some paragliding, it looked pretty awesome. I don't think I'm game enough to go bungee jumping, I'll leave that to the real thrill seekers!

We did a spot of bird watching and photography and found some quite pretty little things and some of the more unusual birds that are native to NZ. We spent 9 days in the region, nowhere near enough to fully appreciate everything that the South Island has to offer, one day we will go back and explore some more. We took hundreds of photos, too many to share on here but you get the idea how beautiful this part of the world was. In part 2 I'll talk about the North Island where we spent the rest of the trip!

 Queenstown, looking over Lake Wakatipu

Queenstown, looking down from top of the Skyline Gondola/lookout

 Lake Wanaka with Mt Alta in the background

 Skiing! Cardrona Alpine Resort, Mt Cardrona

 James and I on horseback on the Lord of the Rings trail

NZ Birds

Clockwise from top left: Tauhou (also known as White Eye, not native but I've never seen them before); Tui; Kereru (native pigeon) & Crested Glebe

Potato & Bacon Frittata

While we're already nearly half way through winter, comfort food makes its appearance to cheer one's cold body up. For the last week I have been rather busy in the kitchen cooking some of these winter warmers and decided to share with you one of my favourites of the moment. It is basically a good recipe for left overs but can be made from scratch. The potato and bacon frittata is a good one I have cooked a number of times now and I tend to tweak the recipe with what I have at hand in the fridge and pantry. When I made this one, it was a perfect opportunity to try out the new camera too. I cannot remember where I got the original base recipe for this from, but seeing as I change it slightly each time, I'll call this my recipe.

Ingredients:
- 3 medium potatoes peeled and roughly chopped (you can use left-over roast potatoes)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 2 bacon rashers, cooked and finely chopped
- 1/2 large capsicum, de-seeded and chopped
- 1 large bok choy, stalks chopped and leaves torn (alternatively you can use baby spinach, but I didn't have any on hand)
- 4 eggs, lightly whisked
- 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup finely grated colby cheese (or a cheese that has a good melt)
- a few sprigs of finely chopped parsley (I didn't have any growing at the moment so I used a teaspoon of dried parsley)

1. Pre-heat a fan forced oven to 200°C.
2. If not using left over roast potatoes, partly cook potatoes in water for 5-8 minutes in the microwave (or about 10 minutes in a pot on the stove), drained and put aside.
3. Heat a frying pan with oil, once hot add the onions and garlic and fry until lightly golden brown.
4. Add the potatoes and toss and stir until the outside edges are beginning to brown.
5. Grease a rectangular flan pan (approximately 15cm x 30cm) and tip the potato and onions in and evenly distribute around the pan.
6. Sprinkle over the finely chopped bacon, chopped capsicum and bok choy.
7. Whisk the eggs lightly with paprika, salt and pepper, pour over the potatoes and the other things in the flan.
8. Sprinkle over the grated cheese and parsley and place in the oven for 20 minutes or until egg is cooked through and potatoes are tender with the cheese browning on top.
9. Remove from the oven, slice and serve while hot.

This can serve four people as a side dish or two people for a main. It was delicious and the perfect food for the rainy weather we have been having recently.

Winter Warmers

One of my most challenging crochet projects to date I finally finished on Friday. I must say I am proud of my achievement as I only picked up a crochet hook and taught myself how to crochet a year ago. I was delighted when I found the February issue of Mollie Makes at the newsagents a couple of months back (it is UK magazine so the newsagents here a little behind getting them - if at all). I had stumbled across this delightful read after finding out about it from Katia on her Plushka's Craft blog.

Upon seeing the cover I was in love with the wrist warmers that graced it, and was even more excited to discover that the issue had included the pattern for them. After reading it I couldn't resist and decided I would definitely have to give it a go at making these.

I already have a couple of pairs of knitted fingerless/wrist warmers, I practically live in them during the winter months as my fingers and wrists ache from being cold, and I couldn't resist adding another to the collection. These are slightly different to most of my crochet projects, made using a fine mercerised cotton with a soft satin sheen. Its made entirely using the same tiny hook as the bookmarks, no small challenge!

While crocheting the bookmarks were a challenge as well, these wrist warmers are the first that I've actually followed a pattern. Yes, OK I have followed patterns before (notably the Amigurumi toys I've blogged about here and here) - but I have always tweaked them to a degree and they were fairly straight-forward in comparison. The sleeves of the wrist warmers were fairly easy to do, it was the lace detail up the top at the cuff that tested my skills and patience. I had to give myself several breaks for my hands and fingers as I gripped/squeezed too hard at times trying to keep the cotton at the right tension as I chained, but I got there in the end and couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I'm looking forward to wearing them out and about this winter! :)