Waitangi Day

Here's how Scooter and I spent the 6th of February which was a public holiday on account of Waitangi Day.


I didn't spend the whole day just enjoying the sunshine; I decided to do some baking. I'm a gal who likes crisp cookies but my husband prefers his chewy and soft so I've been on the lookout for a really good chewy cookie recipe. The contender this time was Deb's Oatmeal Cookies. I'm sure she won't mind me sharing the recipe here but if you want to read her original post check it out on Red Shoe Ramblings. For my variants I used dried blueberries - just because I had them in the pantry; and some chocolate chips. In the oat department I didn't have enough regular cooking oats so had to make up the difference with some giant oats I'd bought to make muesli. I thought the cookies were a little on the sweet side which may be why they spread quite thin and then of course ended up a little crisper than I expected. It could be that I used butter (unsalted lactic butter in fact) instead of shortening. I would like to try them again and make the orange version. Note that all comments in the following recipe are Deb's.

Deb’s Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla (the real thing, please!…not that icky imitation stuff made from wood pulp…ugh!)
3 cups uncooked oats (I use the quick-cooking kind because I like the finer texture, but if you want chewier cookies the old-fashioned ones work too)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup (more or less) raisins

Method
Preheat oven to 350F. Beat together shortening and sugars until fluffy, then add egg, water, and vanilla and beat until creamy and smooth. Combine dry ingredients, then add to sugar mixture a little at a time, mixing well. Fold in raisins (I like the golden ones!) or any other extra Stuff (see variations below). Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment paper-lined cooking sheet (grease the sheet if you don’t have parchment paper, and then go buy some before the next time you bake! seriously!!) and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. (Less time will give you a softer, chewier cookie, which is what I like. If you like yours crispy-crunchy [*cough*freak*cough*] then go for the longer time.) Makes around 5 dozen cookies.

Variation One: Relatively UnJunky Orange Spice Craisin Oatmeal Cookies
Leave out raisins
Instead of 1/4 cup water, add 1/4 cup orange juice
Add 1/2 tsp. orange extract
Add 1/2 tsp. orange zest
Add 1/2 tsp. ground cloves (optional, but I like it)
Increase cinnamon to 1 1/2 tsp.
Add 1 cup (or a little more…I don’t measure) dried cranberries

Variation Two: Totally Junky but Very Yummy Chock Full o’ Stuff Cookies
Leave out raisins (or leave them in if you think they’d taste good with the other stuff…your cookies, your rules!)
Add 1/2 cup each (more or less…I don’t measure this part):
~dark chocolate chips
~toffee chips
~cinnamon chips
~sweetened flake coconut


The previous night my neighbour came over for dinner as she and I were both home alone. We decided we needed to cook something a little on the healthy side so we had pan fried salmon fillet. I thought the richness of the salmon needed a fresh and zingy tasting accompaniment so I made some mango and avocado salsa. It's not like you really need a recipe for salsa but here's what I did.

Mango and Avocado Salsa

Ingredients
1 mango
1 avocado
2-4 red tomatoes
1/2 a small red onion
Juice of half a lime
1/2 cup chopped coriander (cilantro)
Salt
Hot sauce if desired - I used Waha Wera which is a kiwifruit and habanero hot sauce

Method
Finely dice the mango, avocado, tomatoes and onion and combine with the lime juice and coriander
Season to taste

I had leftover salsa and thought it would go really well with some grilled shrimp for my dinner the next night. I was right! To make the salsa a little more substantial I added some diced red pepper and some yellow tomatoes that needed using up. You could probably also turn the salsa into a salad by adding a can of black beans or kidney beans. Doesn't this look delicious?

Did you miss me?

I haven't been home to do much baking and cooking lately as I've been a bit of a social butterfly and sports spectator over the last few weekends.

First up was the Toyota Racing Series at Manfield. Watching sports, let alone motor racing is not really my thing but when you're watching from the comfort of a corporate box with your own bathroom and access to food and drink it makes the day much more enjoyable. We even got to "walk the grid" and go down onto the track before the race cars were getting ready to start.




Secondly I went to the Wellington Rugby Sevens tournament. This is a much loved sporting event and tickets sell out in minutes. I've been fortunate enough to attend the for the past three years. The day is as much about entertainment as it is about the sport. People put a lot of thought into their costumes and it's really fun seeing all the different groups of people. Of note this year were kermits, vikings, brides, flintsones, parking wardens, whoopie cushions (yes really) and convicts to name a few. You can't really pick anything specific from the photo but you can get an idea of the variety and colour. The official photo gallery is really worth checking out. One very popular person was someone who bore a striking resemblence to Colonel Sanders. As he moved through the crowd you could hear everyone chant "Colonel, Colonel, Colonel".


The entertainment was great and I particularly enjoyed the Austen Powers and Freddie Mercury impersonators - I love Austen in his Spy Who Shagged Me persona.


Crowd favourites are always the Kenyans. After every match they do a little dance which I tried unsuccesfully to capture here. They are so popular that despite losing their game the crowd spent more time cheering for them than watching the semi final that was being played as the Kenyans came off the field.


The day was finished off perfectly with a win by New Zealand. This is when I wish I had a better zoom on my camera so I could capture these perfect specimens of atheleticism with their shirts off doing a celebratory haka! Yeah baby. There's a better photo in the gallery.


We stayed at the Bolton Hotel which is one of my favourite places to stay in Wellington. The beds are really comfy and they have those faux fur rugs that feel so snuggly and they even have a pillow "menu" where you can order up a different pillow if the regular one doesn't suit your needs. One of these days I must try out their lavender scented pillows. Previously when we've stayed I've kicked myself for not having my camera because the view from hotel is of a little historic building (the Sexton's chapel in fact) and part of the Bolton Street Memorial Park which contains 1,334 gravestones and memorials dating back to about 1840.


Part of the Wellington motorway was built over the Cemetery which you can see here. The photo doesn't do it justice at all but Bolton street is really really steep.