Issue 31

MY HUSBAND AND I had the most fantastic experience in the world as winners of the Wine and Roses Weekend which recently featured in NZ Life & Leisure magazine. This fabulous weekend has created a long-lasting and romantic memory, including a love for Havelock North.  The prize package was exceptional and so much fun!  We enjoyed absolutely everything:  the flights, the beautiful red roses and gift basket crammed with vouchers, the stunning shops, the personal treats and the movie, the fabulous boutique hideaway cottage and, of course, the delicious food and wine.  Most of all, we met some inspirational and talented people and we've shared the Havelock North experience with many friends and family.

The Wine and Roses prize package experience was like living some of the beautiful pages from NZ Life & Leisure for a few days.
Maureen Crombie

I HAVE JUST RETURNED from my first visit to New Zealand. I travelled alone which, although it has its drawbacks, enabled me to take in the experiences of your country at a very personal level.  Not knowing what to expect from such a close neighbour, I was amazed and astounded by the beautiful landscapes, the friendliness of the people and the strength of your culture. Your magazine caught my attention on the very first day and I purchased it on my last day to take home with me. 

Editor Kate Couglan shares her well-tried vegetarian recipe using sheeps’-milk cheese.

The vegetable garden at our holiday cottage yields vast quantities of silver beet pretty much all year round  so our never-ending quest is to find ways to eat it. This is a favourite though I suspect it is more about the delicious pecorino than the silver beet. But hey – silver beet is so good for you.

Salad:

• Large bunch of fresh, washed silver beet with the stems cut out, sliced finely as in an old-fashioned lawnmower lettuce salad
• 2 cups frozen broad beans, either blanched or steamed for 2 minutes in a medium  microwave, shelled
• 2 spring onions, sliced thinly on an angle, including 2/3rds of the green stems
• I orange, cut into segments free of pith (do this over a cup to catch the juice for the vinaigrette)
• 200g pecorino, crumbled
• 1/2 cup lightly toasted walnuts (bake in 180C oven until golden, watching to make sure they don’t burn)

Vinaigrette:

• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 teaspoons grainy mustard
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• Shake all together until honey has melted; add salt and pepper to taste.
• Arrange silver beet on a large, flat platter, top with layers of beans, spring onions, oranges and walnuts and finally crumble pecorino over the lot. Dress with vinaigrette.

In Auckland I buy Blue River sheeps’-milk cheeses at Huckleberry Farm in Greenlane and Remuera’s New World.

Editor Kate Couglan shares her well-tried vegetarian recipe using sheeps’-milk cheese.

This is a favourite from Auckland’s Benson Road Cafe & Deli.

• 2 cups organic French green lentils (or Le Puy lentils), rinsed well
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 generous teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 generous teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, quartered and finely diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 generous tablespoons tomato paste
• 800g canned whole tomatoes (or Watties Indian-style)
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 100g sheeps’ feta

Warm oil in a heavy- based (ideally deep-sided) pan over medium heat Reduce heat and add mustard seeds turmeric, cumin and coriander; warm, but do not burn, until you can smell the flavours.  Add onions and garlic and sauté gently until onion softens. Add carrots and cook a further 3 minutes. Add tomato paste, tomatoes, half the stock and the lentils.

Cover with a lid and cook on low heat for 1 hour, adding more stock as required. Stir occasionally.

Check for seasoning and add ground black pepper and salt if required.
Sprinkle generously with sheeps’ feta and serve with either mashed potatoes, kumara/potato mash or brown riceand a garden salad – delicious autumnal fare!

Caroline Anderson’s famous recipe for rollmops

Rollmops

• A catch of medium-sized yellow-eye mullet, scaled and filleted
• salt (not iodised)

Layer the fillets in a glass or plastic dish (not metallic) and lightly sprinkle each layer with salt. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Quite a lot of liquid will be pulled out of the fillets and they will firm up.

The following quantities are approximate as it will depend on how many fillets you have but as a guide, for 12 to 15 fish this should be more than enough.

• 1 litre cider vinegar
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced
• 2 sticks celery, finely sliced
• 6 cloves garlic,
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar
• 6-8 bay leaves
• 12 peppercorns
• 12 whole allspice berries
• heaped tablespoon yellow mustard seeds

Place all ingredients in a saucepan, slowly bring to the boil and simmer for one minute. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, rinse salt from mullet fillets in cold running water and lightly pat dry with paper towels.

Roll up the fillets, skin side out (use half toothpicks to keep them rolled up if necessary) and pack into sterilized preserving jars. Pour cooled spiced vinegar over rolls, ensuring the spices and onion are evenly distributed among therm.

Seal the jars and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 week but up to a month to allow the flavours to develop.

Discover Marlborough, your welcome to the South Island. The townships of Blenheim, Picton, Awatere, Havelock and Kaikoura are all close to each other so take a road trip for a taste of the region.

Begin with the little seaside town of Picton. Exhilarating activities here include sky diving for a panoramic view of Marlborough from 15,000 feet above, or sea kayaking to take in the scenery.

Explore Blenheim’s art-and-craft trails and wineries, tee off at some of the world’s most beautiful golf courses and browse the main street full of boutiques.

Just kilometres away is Awatere and its picturesque Pacific coastline. Catch a glimpse of its ruggedness on a four-wheel-drive tour or venture out to the Awatere Valley to visit vineyards and formal gardens.

Dust off your hiking boots and experience the wildlife in the fishing village of Havelock and the surrounding Sounds. Trek the Queen Charlotte track or stop by Canvastown, an historic gold-mining township.

Beneath the slopes of the Southern Alps lies the seaside township of Kaikoura where you can scuba dive, encounter an albatross or whale watch either from the air or by boat.

It would take more than a cyclone to quench the spirit of those who live on Aitutaki. Even After February’s devastating storm, it’s business as usual at the resorts which have always offered holiday-makers a legendary welcome. Words & Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

To many it might seem hard and lonely and often downright dangerous but life at sea is everything this adventurous fisherwoman wants. Words: Brenda Webb; Photos: Tessa Chrisp.

THE TANG OF DIESEL hangs in the air as an old kauri fishing boat strains on its salt-encrusted mooring lines in Picton Harbour. Circling seagulls screech in anticipation as a lovely, fresh-faced woman clad in torn jeans and blood-splattered gumboots fillets fish, a red and green parrot perched on her shoulder. Thirty-two-year-old Caroline Anderson laughs easily and swaps friendly banter with her customers who are here to buy fish, freshly hooked and netted from the sparkling waters of the Marlborough Sounds.

The gutsy fisherwoman, with a degree in aquaculture and a background of working in remote areas which include Antarctic waters, is trying to make a living selling fish direct from her 60-year-old fishing boat Wairoa. She looks totally at ease in this nautical environment. That’s not surprising as the boat she so casually moves around doubles as her home.
 

Thoughtful clothing production can result in fashion that is beautiful, stylish and not destructive to the environment. Words: Bette Flagler.

An academic view

Whether or not the fashion industry cares about sustainability depends on what market a particular brand has in its sights. “Large parts of the industry don’t express a desire to be more sustainable because they are successful at what they’re doing,” says Holly McQuillan, a lecturer at the Institute of Design for Industry and the Environment at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts. “They’re making money; they have no incentive to change.” Holly says most consumers are unaware of the impact clothing production has on the environment although there are some in the industry who care about the effects of their businesses. Holly’s work focuses on sustainability from two angles. About 15 percent of fabric is wasted when garments are cut using traditional patterns. Holly and her postgraduate students are designing zero-waste patterns and she is developing a service where garments are designed for individual clients and then altered to suit current fashions. “It’s a sideways step of the fashion system.”
 

NICE

The world watched when global leaders met in Copenhagen to thrash out a climate change deal but a stone’s throw away fashion leaders also met at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit. Sponsored by the Nordic Initiative Clean and Ethical (NICE), their aim was to discuss the role the fashion industry has in promoting sustainability and social responsibility. NICE is a joint initiative of the Nordic fashion industry in response to their “recurring wish to raise awareness and work more focused on implementing sustainable and responsible business methods”.
 

Human gene therapy could be the next generation of skin- care science But, as cosmetic lovers, should we be concerned? Words: Tracey Strange; Photos: Belinda Merrie.

So controversial is the use of embryonic stem cells in medicine, even the mention is enough to send shivers down the spines of some. But their use in cosmetics? The new million-dollar buzz-words in high-end face creams, stem cells are currently being sold as the next miracle in the quest for younger-looking skin.

The difference, for anyone still doing the embryo/face cream shudder, is that despite the way these cutting-edge cosmetics are marketed, the stem cells currently associated with them aren’t actually the human kind, capable of growing into multiple types of new tissue. They are the Clayton’s kind: not actually stem cells themselves but ingredients claiming to trigger or harness the human stem cell’s potential.

Products such as Lancôme’s Absolue Precious Cells, Dior’s Capture XP, Nimue’s Stemplex Serum and Ré Vive’s Peau Magnifique (exclusive to Mecca Cosmetica) all claim to help “wake up” adult stem cells and spur them into producing newly minted epidermal cells. Often, as is the case with Stemplex and Absolue, the magic ingredients aren’t human stem cells but plant stem cells from apples. The results include fewer wrinkles, smoother and more even-looking skin tone, less redness and inflammation, increased firmness and an enhanced glow.

Events worth noting around the country

Words: Ann Warnock

Material Girls

7 to 30 May, Statements Gallery, Napier

Five Whanganui glass artists collaborate on an exhibition comprising new works, diversity and a dash of the comic. This is a return exhibition for Karen Ellett, Katie Brown, Carmen Simmonds and Sarah Courtney Plant who showed together at Statements two years ago. This time they’re joined by Isla Osborne, renowned for her fine glass jewellery. With intricate hand-engraved works, cast-glass sculptures, chandeliers, platters, paperweights and perfume bottles, the exhibition delivers the metamorphic elements of an exciting medium.

Phone (06) 834 1331, www.statementsgallery.co.nz

Erupt Lake Taupo Festival

6 to 16 May, Taupo

An explosive interactive work encompassing the might of what simmers beneath the volcanic plateau in the central North Island takes centre stage as part of the Taupo region’s biennial cultural festival. There is also a site-specific work staged amidst the hot roller and hairspray mania of a main-street hairdressing salon and a large-scale musical project which seeks to capture the spirit of the lake and the land. Also on the agenda are visual arts, theatre, dance, cabaret and comedy acts showcasing both local and international talent.

Phone (07) 376 0348, www.erupt.co.nz
 

Mille-Fleurs

8 May to 25 July, The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson