Brown Sugar Kitchen update
267 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby, Auckland
Tel. 09-360 0593
They’ve changed their name. Not quite sure why. But now they’re called Sugar Brown’s Bakehouse. Hmm. Well, whatever they’re called, we have discovered a little secret. Go at five to five on a Saturday (and possibly other days too) and cakes are all two for one.
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La Cigale french market
69 St Georges Bay Rd, Parnell, Auckland. Tel. 09-366 9361 www.lacigale.co.nz
Saturdays from 8am. Wednesday mini-market 12 – 6:30pm
Our first reaction when we got here was why have we not been coming here forever? The market was bursting with deliciousness. First stop was coffee and then a wander around. Strawberries were $5 for a huge punnet. Too many to eat all in one go so they’re now in the freezer.
The fresh produce down the back was far too exciting to photograph at the time. Bunches of fresh herbs, fresh garlic… fresh everything! Red currants, organic avocados for 70c (!), okra, artichokes, marrows, beautiful lettuce, sweet red peppers – oh I could go on. It felt like being in the market at Aix. Oh how we miss Aix in summertime.
Inside there was more. An absolute fount of cheeses (sorry if that’s not english) – but there were a lot. All at room temperature. All waiting to be tasted. Oh my.
Just before we left we grabbed a packet of Lebanese bread for $2. I think it was the same guys who do Takapuna market. Anyway – this is THE best lebanese bread we’ve had in a very long time. We had it filled with salad for our lunch that afternoon. It was absolutely perfect.
The organic box has been cancelled. La Cigale is our new weekly Saturday morning ritual. And this time we’re getting two packets of the Lebanese bread. Just the thought of what brilliant pizza bases they’ll make is enough to get us very excited indeed.
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Michael Park School fair cake stall
Michael Park School. 55 Amy Street, Ellerslie, Auckland
Once a year in November from 9:30am till 3:00pm
Phone the school for details 09-579 3083
This is a very special cake stall indeed. We didn’t arrive until eleven o’clock and we felt truly lucky to find this little gem. An organic banana cake with the prettiest decoration you ever did see; of borage and nasturtium flowers. Exceptionally good value at $13 – and it was a jolly nice cake. Lovely and moist, it’s lasted the week out beautifully.
There were also little lemon cupcakes. The icing just brimming with fresh lemon zest. Oh so delicious! They were only fifty cents so everyone was happy!
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Buttons contemporary jewellery
How did the idea of buttons.co.nz come about?
The idea for ‘buttons’ came out of the desire to build a hall for our children’s school on the south coast of Wellington. We were having our annual fair and our usual brainstorming for new and interesting stalls, when the idea of button necklaces came up. We all did a bit of rummaging round in the op shops and our cupboards, then came together with our collections of buttons and loads of ideas.
The stall was a huge success and more importantly we loved it and enjoyed working together.
What do you enjoy most about running buttons?
We all have such fond memories of our own mother’s and grandmother’s button jars, bags and boxes and we share this memory with so many others.
It’s been an amazing progression from a few buttons simply threaded together to the intricate work we do now, and the cohesive collection we’ve developed. Our first necklaces we made bear no resemblance to our current collection. We love the entire process of making our jewellery. The huge fun there is in gathering the buttons, the fact that we are creating something beautiful out of lovely old thing, even the envelopes we make as our packaging are made from gorgeous old wallpaper. As a group we have all brought such different skills and strengths together. Luckily for us they are all very complimentary and we are still having fun… It’s a great feeling.
When did you set up buttons online?
After working with our current retail stockists around New Zealand for almost 2 years, taking buttons online seemed the next logical step to take. Luckily we had friends who were extremely talented and patient in this area and helped us develop and build our site… It has been a long process and huge learning curve and we are thrilled to have been up and running for about for 4 weeks now.
Our next challenge is to spread the word around the world!
Are you involved much in the crafting community in Wellington / NZ?
We love the local craft scene.Its so fantastic and inspiring to see what other people are creating . One of our local stockists (Mindy @Juniper ) runs stitching evenings at her store. It is so great that these traditional skills are being kept alive, shared and then given a new twist. We are always searching for new inspiration and new skills to learn. Given our diverse day jobs we are bound to come across something to share and then the next idea will be born and we’ll go on from there.. It’s a very natural progression for us… we can’t wait.
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Brown Sugar Kitchen
267 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby, Auckland
Tel. 09-360 0593
We stopped in here on Saturday afternoon because we easily found a park within the shouting of, ‘Cake. Stop!’
The lemon loaves in the window wrapped in butter paper were a sight to behold. I found myself at an absolute loss for a decision and erred towards a raspberry mud cup cake instead of the usual passionfruit and yoghurt. I got the last lamington for Kevin and another mud cake cup cake for the baby.
At the back of the shop, a shelf piled high with biscuits all in pink icing were looking a touch magical there reminding me of my childhood. A display of gift cards also drew my gaze – some of the illustrations were simply delightful. And a shelf of perfect lollipops in all colours of the rainbow shaped as stars, moons and plain round lollipops. More childhood feelings. And the person who served me seemed; Just, really really nice. And genuine.
When I went to pay the brown sugar cinnamon rolls were beckoning – flaunting their gorgeousness so brazenly they were right by the eftpos counter. So many delicious things were left behind that day. But so many delicious days lie ahead.
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Margaret McHugh
To be found at various markets around Auckland
For info on her catering services, visit www.gourmetfoodstore.co.nz
We discovered Margaret at Devonport Farmers market. Muttering to ourselves “She looks like she knows what she’s doing” we made a bee-line straight over.
Margaret was most affable and chatty, giving us a piece of this and a piece of that to try. And it was all so delicious. Kevin the sausage roll aficionado gave this one the thumbs up.
We’d heard of the legendary date scones a few weeks earlier, so how lovely it was to happen upon them like this. No sugar, just the sweetness from the dates themselves go into making these the most delicious scones we have had since roughly 1978. We enjoyed these later in the morning in the blissful sun at a friend’s new flat in Stanley Bay overlooking the harbour across to the city – with a very fine coffee.
Margaret had been up since three that morning preparing the food at her kitchen in Sandringham. You wouldn’t have guessed it from the sheer energy she exuded. Margaret is a passionate foodie – and that’s exactly the kind of person you want to be buying your food from.
Having just obtained a full rundown of future diary dates we can confirm she will be at Sandringham market this coming Saturday, Albany Market on the first Saturday of each month over Summer, and in Greenhithe market on November the 18th.
Margaret is also to be found running her catering business and the café by the Auckland Courthouse.
** The email that’s being referred to below has been published at The Spare Room – where they’re using our now rather infamous photo.
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Ricotta. And grapefruit marmalade.
It’s been a poor year for our grapefruit tree. We’ve only had about ten fruit so far and I think only another six to go. But it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t make marmalade – so I did that yesterday. But not until I’d been out to the trusty Mitre 10 in Henderson and bought myself some nice jars.
I used the recipe from the Edmonds Cook book. I ran out of sugar though and was a couple of cups short but forged ahead regardless. So this morning I jumped out of bed early to check the marmalade. It was the perfect colour, but just like sweet grapefruit drink! Off to the dairy to buy more sugar. Back home I tipped all the marmalade back in the pot and corrected my sugar levels. This time, perfecto.
Always. Follow. The. Recipe. (At least until you know what you’re doing).
Last night I also made ricotta using Campbell’s recipe.
Ricotta
- 2 litres of milk
- Heat slowly to 93° in a thick bottomed pot, scraping the bottom as it heats up
- Remove from heat
- Add in the juice of one and a half lemons
- Stir only twice – as in 1 stir, 2 stirs – that’s it
- Leave 15 minutes
- Line a small sieve with cheesecloth and scoop the curds into a colander that you’ve also lined with cheesecloth
- Leave to drain for twenty minutes
- Fini
Gorgeous together on Vogel’s toast or a nice sourdough.
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The German baker at Devonport Farmers Market
Sundays at the Devonport Ferry Building
On the way down to Cheltenham from Takapuna flea market we saw a big sign telling us the Devonport Farmers Market was on. So we delayed Cheltenham and headed down Victoria Street instead. We had heard not great things about the Devonport Farmers market but it seemed perfectly good to us. Although we do prefer our markets outdoors.
I had the best ever pastry from here – I’ve no idea what it was called, but the first taste was custard, then salt, then ricotta and then lemon. I’m going back next week just to get another one.
Their Nüssecken may not have been triangular but they tasted better than right as did Kevin’s delicate ginger cake thinly coated in dark chocolate.
We forgot to get their details but think they originate from the Bays. But never mind as we know where they’ll be next week and then we’ll find out who these amazing food pixies are. And we’ll go early. They might just have some Bienenstich!
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Mrs Jones
Millstream Building, 17 Elizabeth Street, Warkworth
Tel. 09-422 3275
www.mrsjones.co.nz
Tuesday to Friday 10am – 5pm. Saturday 10am – 4pm. Sunday 12pm – 4pm
Mrs Jones is a cornucopia of nice things to look at and buy. We got quite carried away taking photos here and we’ll let them do most of the talking.
This is a quality shop, right (say that in a cockney accent please). There’s a jolly fine collection of Crown Lynn that takes up much of one wall in the back room.
Everywhere you look are highly covetable pieces of art that we, for one, want to buy.
A 1970s New Zealand dining table and chairs. And just look at that photographic print on the wall to the left – can you just imagine that in your living room. Oh my!
The walls are just clad in art – they’ve got a distinctive style in here. And it’s very good.
In the book alcove we spy barkcloth duffel bags. we rub our eyes in disbelief, but it’s true. There they are in broad daylight right next to a picture of a sheep from Onehunga.
Each of the eight sub-rooms has been decorated to set off its contents. One might note the rather reading room -esque wallpaper above.
We liked the vermillion and the cyan walls too. Especially with the hand coloured landscape photographs.
We spent ages and ages in her marvelling at all the lovely eye candy. Maybe you ought to to!
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Nut and Bee
We caught up with Annette of Nut and Bee last week to find out all about her very cool online shop that’s been making waves internationally for a wee while now.
Nut and Bee sells things with Annette’s sweet, whimsical (and sometimes laugh-out-loud) illustrations on them; including t-shirts, stickers, bookplates, stationery, button badges, magnets and art prints.
Annette is amazingly prolific. She produces three new illustrations a week, and people can vote on the ones they’d like to see on a product. The unicorn gets my vote 
How did the idea of Nut and Bee come about?
A couple of years ago I was at university, and doodling on my lecture notes every day. When I drew something I really liked I would post it online, and other people seemed to enjoy my little creatures too. I already had a website to sell my crochet toys, which I enjoyed running, so I decided to do something with the drawings as well. I’ve been very keen on cute Japanese stationery and stickers for many years, so a range of paper goods was the natural choice!
When did you set up Nut and Bee online?
Nut and Bee (in its current form) opened for business on December 24th 2005 with three lettersets, one bookplate set and one sticker set. Of course Christmas Eve wasn’t the ideal time, but I had everything ready to go and couldn’t wait any longer!
What do you enjoy most about running Nut and Bee?
It’s really satisfying to create things, and then get awesome feedback about them – it makes my day when someone takes the time to email me about how much they enjoyed their order. I’m also really pleased and proud with how the business is growing. I’ve gone from five products to over 150, I put new drawings online three days a week, and Nut and Bee is well on its way to supporting me.
Are you involved much in the Crafting community in Auckland / NZ ?
I have some crafting friends, and I vend regularly at the Craftwerk and Artisan Craft markets, but not beyond that. I’m really busy at the moment because I still have a day job and I’m doing some postgrad study as well, so I can’t get involved with the community as much as I would like to.
Any little interesting stories you would like to share?
I have a field in my checkout that asks my customers what their favourite animal is. I get some very cute answers in there – lots of people are really specific, like “cats that are small and white”, but others say things that aren’t actually animals, like “ghosts” or types of fruit! That’s OK though, I don’t mind if your favourite animal is the banana
Thanks Annette!
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