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.

Spring time eats

What I ate this Spring. First of all: lots of fruit!

On muesli for breakfast, and smothering this amazing pavlova made by some friends.

Second of all: Lots of avocado.

And in less healthy eating news, I made this huge orange-chocolate cake for Mr Meet-Cute's birthday.

I enjoyed some good cafe breakfasts, like this porridge with macadamia and stewed rhubard at Milkwood.

Mitte is another cute neighbourhood cafe that does amazing breakfasts.

Some simple dinners at home: freekah salad with salmon, sausages, bread and salad, and my Mum's tuna quiche.

And some dinners out and about: Longrain thai salad, and fried chicken and slaw, and burgers from Belle's Diner (their fried green tomato burger is amaze).

Afghans! For some reason I got them on the brain and wasn't satisfied until I'd made some.

Reuben sandwich from Woolly Bully.

Spring has also been the season of smoothies.

Tea and scones, a winner whatever the season.

The joyous face of someone clutching a pizza from Al Albero.

Feijoa Fiesta!

There's a feijoa tree in front of our house and my feijoa stash is getting out of control! Time to make some chutney perhaps? I'm also hoping to make the most of fig season by using this handy map to find out where my fig trees are at.