Christmas in New Zealand

Some people dream of a white Christmas. I, however, dream of a bright Christmas, full of beaches and BBQs, for this is the kind of Christmas we have down under in New Zealand.

Sawa and I were lucky enough to get to go back to New Zealand for Christmas - the first time back since we arrived in Canada. Although our time there was short, we managed to fit in plenty of the special things we've been missing since we left in August 2009. Most importantly, we got to spend lots of time with my family and with Sawa's family, who also flew over from Japan. However, of more relevance to this blog is that we got to have some of the delicious food and drink that NZ does so well.

Of course, NZ wine is world famous, and deservedly so. But one of the other great things about NZ is the glorious outdoors, and people there love to take advantage of the beautiful summer to get outside and enjoy food and wine al fresco. My philosophy is that everything tastes better when it's enjoyed outside. Sawa's stuffed Siberain huskey, Shibe, seems to agree.

 

Sunday brunch: The secret to happiness

I know we posted about Sunday brunch last time, too, but I don't think I can emphasize enough what a beautiful thing it is to have a lazy Sunday brunch. Arguably even better than the sleeping late, drinking coffee, and eating a delicious brunch is the part AFTER that when you can make MORE coffee and lie down again. It's like the circle of life, but even better because Mufasa doesn't die.

Eggs Florentine

Sorry I didn't manage to post anything last week. I was busy first trying to figure out the best way to explain correlations and dissociations between musical, genetic, and linguistic similarities among aboriginal Taiwanese tribes, followed by trying to figure out the best way to teach small children to sing.

Actually, although we've made several delicious meals over the last two weeks, including a lovely Sunday brunch this morning of french toast, bacon, bananas, maple syrup and fresh whipped cream this morning, none of them looked very pretty. So, we're dipping into our pre-Lord Jeff's Table archives today for a much nicer-looking Sunday brunch from a few months back: Eggs Florentine.

Best Coast Scramble

 ...I call it that because I am newly enamored of the west coast, and because it involves avocados!

The day before law school classes started back up, I had a lovely potluck brunch with some people from my awesome study group. M hosted and made peach bellinis and a spinach and apple salad; T brought these delicious little maple apple cinnamon muffins that she made with yogurt and applesauce; J brought her lovely self, fresh from a run in DC's 90-degree heat. I brought the ingredients for this scramble, which was really easy to throw together at M's place.

I had most of these ingredients on hand because I'd gone to Eastern Market the week before; I usually buy what I see that looks good and then come up with a way to use it. Salmonella is not a big thing to worry about when your eggs come from a farm, so we didn't hesitate to enjoy these.

Brioche French Toast (with lemon curd and blueberries!)

Greetings fellow food fans! 

As most of you may know, I've been living in the Oz-like city of Chicago for the past year. Now I grew up in sunny California and then moved to the less sunny but rather picturesque East Coast and that whole time, the Midwest was little more than a place to change airplanes. While I can't say my year of living here has made me love Chicago (sorry, I know it tries to be very friendly....), it has taught me to love two new things...blueberries and brioche. Especially in French Toast.