Grog and Tucker (Drink and Food)

My jeans are being a bit squeaky tight -  I blame the Kiwi food (never my fault of course).  In NZ my favourites are easily procured at the chippy or petrol stations: individual steak and kidney pies, battered oysters and Vogel toast with butter and marmite. The new fruit ciders my cousins were drinking were too good, I banned myself from them.

My second cousin Libby (a trained opera singer) and the new Isaac's Cider

I tried to teach Harley, 15, to make toast with butter and marmite.
 "Needs more butter" I said.
"You and your family"Harley replied "it's a wonder you're not all really huge. It's always 'more butta, more butta.' "

Mum's ham tastes like butta too

There was a new store over the hill called  Whakatane International which sold round-the-world packaged foodstuffs and vintagey things like Tab. It seemed under-stocked to me, but Kevin thought the displays were deliberately like that in a cool and Warhol-esque way. Clearly I married a cup half-full guy.

Whakatane International store

Of course the best place to eat in Ohope Beach was the "T&L Restaurant" Tallulah, 11 and her cousin Leah set up. For a couple of days they sat all day at our cottage waiting for customers and we took pity on them and booked in for two meals each. (Though Cy, 8, was eventually banned for complaining.)
I suggested that maybe they could drop off flyers to the neighbours.
"We're not sure we want to serve people we don't know" said Tallulah.
Not sure that business model is going to work...

Dad, dressed in one of his gifts, paying Tallulah 

Restaurant Bookings for the week and one of Cy's complaints scribbled out

You know I'm the lazy mistress of the quick and dirty recipe, er easy assemblage, and here are two I picked up from my sister Sharon and friend Kerry.

Sharon's Fresh Rolls:
Rice paper, matchstick-sized carrots and cucumber, lettuce, vermicelli, shrimp fried in garlic (frozen is fine). Dip the rice paper in warm water for a few seconds till it softens, plop on small amount of the rest, roll up and voila! Shoot, forgot the dipping sauce...Oh just buy that.

Kerry's Kumara and Pumpkin Seed Salad:
Roasted cubes of sweet potato, toasted sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds, small raw florettes of cauliflower and broccoli and cooked bacon. Mix together with a small amount of mayonaise.

What was your edible nemesis over the holidays - have you banned it now?