Raro Markets

The Punanga Nui Markets in Rarotonga are an absolute must visit experience, especially if you want to try some island food. Like these Raro donuts. So delish.

Poke is another one of my favourites. This is paw paw cooked in coconut milk thickened with arrowroot, and on the right is banana.

Head Ei's. The flower crown trend has been going strong in Raro since way back.

Raro Holiday #2

I realised after my last Raro post that I hadn't included any pictures of the beach. Ridiculous! Here is one of a bebeh on the beach to make up for it.

And here is one of Dog Patrol, owning the beach. He was looking great. (remember my last Dog Patrol post?)

Cute Raro houses.

This is the workshop of the carver who worked on Dad's birthday present.

Ika Mata (marinated raw tuna). Damn I miss eating this every day.

Cute Stuff #5

A round up of cute stuff I've seen lately.

Alice Oehr's incredible illustration advertising this screening of one of my fave movies. She totally nailed Molly's awkward expression here!

Studio Home interview Potheads creator Kim Jaeger, and have a poke around her place. I'm really enjoying the artist profiles on this site, they really delve into people's backgrounds and how they got to where they are today.

Bill Murray alphabet by Adelaide Daniell

Dolly's Bust Magazine cover

Maria, of Schorlemaedchen has started a new cooking blog with her partner called Mostly Saturdays. I love her blog, and pretty much 'like' everything she posts on instagram. The new blog is still in it's early days and already I can't get enough.

Enemies Yay poster. This would look so awesome in Ray's room.

Mushroom and Barley Soup

I was inspired by this Hungry and Frozen post to make mushroom soup the other night. It was very easy to make and ended up being so delicious I thought I'd share.

You will need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic (I like things super garlicy, you might want to only use one clove, up to you!)
• 2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 2 slices chopped bacon (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• a generous splash of white wine
• grated parmesan and chopped parsley to serve (also optional)

To cook:

• Heat olive oil in a heavy pot and add garlic, then mushrooms, bacon and sage. Get it all nice and sizzling, then once it's starting to get a bit sticky deglaze the pot by splashing in your wine. Lower heat and leave for a few minutes to reduce and cook.

• Add stock and barley and bring to the boil. Simmer for around 20 minutes until the barley is cooked through and softened.

• Once it was cooked I used a stick mix straight in the pot to blend it up slightly to create a half smooth, half chunky texture. Now you're ready to serve it up, with plenty of parmesan on top, and some chopped fresh parsley.

I managed to prepare all this while Ray was having his dinner. Then I left it simmering while doing his bath, I put him to bed, then I jumped in the bath, then it was ready to eat! Not that I ate it in the bath. I got out and ate at the table, then spent the rest of the evening on the couch. A most peaceful and relaxing Saturday evening!

Modern House

Just some more house porn to get excited by, or if you're in the market (and the money), to actually own. This is the Hollander House, built North of Sydney by architect David Hollander, and it's for sale right now!

The house was built in 1969, and designed to look like a giant rock. Hollander adheres to Frank Lloyd Wright's principles of organic architecture, and has said of his design that he chose curves which he thought were correct aesthetically.

So who wants to put in with me to buy it? I don't have money but I promise to do the dishes every night!

Raro Holiday

As I mentioned in my last post, we just returned from Rarotonga. We had a big family celebration for my Dad's 70th birthday. Even though it's Winter in the Cook Islands, it's still warm enough to go to the beach, and eat tropical fruits.

Beautiful flowers. Hibiscus flowers only last for a day so my Mum picked a new batch every morning for the table.

We gave Dad a tuna harpoon for his birthday, and commissioned a local carver to work on the handle. It turned out so good!

Huge avocados off our tree.

Massive grapefruit!

A teeny banana!

Preparing rukau, made from taro leaves. You have to remove the stemmy middle, which has that fuzzy mouth taste similar to kiwifruit. Otherwise it tastes like spinach.

Mr Meet-Cute lending a hand.

Coconut buns.

Taro cooked in coconut cream, and ika mata, which is fresh raw tuna.

Le Bon Vivant Bakery and Cafe. We had a delicious lunch here.

They make their own version of 'Mayonnaise', which is a classic Raro potato salad, made with tinned beetroot to turn it pink.

And donuts, which are another popular Rarotongan food, though traditionally they're not made with sugar and cream like these ones.