Caffeinated Creativity

This photo comes from one of my very gifted photography students, who styled and snapped this beautiful photo. I love the caffeinated creativity.

Coffee, anyone?

Wonderland Food

We recently attended, and photographed, an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. Here are glimpses of the feast and two of the opulent table settings that created a festive atmosphere for the little ones.

Photographing Food

Food is an art form unto itself. The various tastes, textures and smells suggest the idea of different artists being commissioned to create each individual one. Food is a universal language with an accent from the regional places its meals and recipes are derived. Only certain types grow at geographic locations and the people itself can become identifiable by their diet. 

To capture something everyone loves so much seemed a daunting task during a recent photography course. The students were presented with an array of foods to arrange, photograph and present to the group. Imaginations ran wild as the photogs sought to capture food through a lens. 

Just Delicious Filler

This is a filler post chocked full of some of the best vitamins on Mother Earth. Brown rice. It serves alone with butter, as a mix-in or a tasty main when gussied up. It's nutritious and filling. It will accompany our Taco Tuesday dishes and of course, we're going Spanish rice style.

Great Gumballs

This photo was taken by my sons after they jarred some old-fashioned gumballs they'd received as a treat. Less tasty than they are beautiful, it's great for your soul to have a bit of nostalgia ready for your palette.

Beautiful Bottles

A friend of mine recently posted this photo on Instagram. They prefer to remain anonymous but it's simply a beautiful bottle lineup.

Lunching at Hinton's Resturant and Vineyard

Hinton's Restaurant and Vineyard was the latest location for our middle of the week lunch date and the dining experience could not have been better. The scenic location is conveniently located just minutes away from Christchurch Airport and a short drive from the city centre. It is the location of many events because of it's ideal surroundings of gardens, vineyards and buildings laden with history. Even our table was lined by aromatic lavender (pictured below). 

As recommended, we pre-ordered our meals. We were met by owner Dina Hinton upon our arrival and our first course was promptly served shortly thereafter. The staff was gracious and welcoming despite a fashion photo shoot taking place a few meters away which we were told happens quite often at the family owned property.

  Lunch time service is tricky because you want your food quickly but it still must be as fresh and delicious as dinner would be. Being attended to by a quality wait staff is a must have aspect of lunch dining especially. Everyone is busy and in need of a bit of a getaway come lunch time which is where attentive restaurant staff can make the food taste just that much better. Hinton's is the spot for this. Serving lunch Tuesday through Sunday starting at 11:30, their specialization in serving the midday crowd has paid off. The food was good but the highlight of our entire experience were the appetizer and the dessert. They were the Alpha and Omega of lunch that day. 

To start, our tasting plate featured chorizo, feta in basil infused oil and home-marinated Kalamata olives. Each savory bite was a new experience as we mixed and matched the selections to top our homemade crostinis.

Dessert was this cherry flan using local ingredients to create a decadent dessert that many don't do too well. We have dined at many a restaurant that presented us with watery flan molded into odd shapes to distract from the bland flavour. This was not the case here. The cherries were plump and fresh which matched perfectly with the silky flan. The crust was light and not too buttery or overpowering. This plate was finished off with fresh cream and a sprig of mint.

Detail of the sugared fruit that topped the flan.

Hinton's Restaurant and Vineyard is located at 750a Wairakei Road in Christchurch.
For reservations and bookings: +64 3 358 8599

The Corn Is Coming

This is a quick post of our impending corn crops in the garden. This is such an amazing plant to watch flourish, grow and then eat. We are thinking of corn on the cob (with butter of course), corn fritters, roasted corn chowder, salads and tortillas. Summer is in full force and we couldn't be hungrier.

Food Meets Fashion

Fashion Week is hitting the major cities across the word and though you make be thinking that food is far away from the throws of fashion, guess again. Project Subway hit the New York catwalk last week with models strutting some very fashionable designs. Designers were challenged to create a fashionable piece using the companies napkins, plastic wrappers, cups, etc... We think the designs are pretty great and even Jared the Subway guy was in attendance! New York Times photographer Robert Caplin covered it all including the announcement of winner Danilo Gabrielli. Check out a few images below: