Te Henga, and Sugar-craft Owl

I posted about Te Henga (Bethells Beach) before (here), this is one of the best West Coast beaches... of course not a swimming beach for me: just look at the sign!!! But it is a magical place, especially for surfers. The sand is black and you need to walk quite a bit to reach the beach... so make sure that you wear some foot wear, like Flip-flops, (thong sandals, flip flops, zories, slip slaps, thongs, pluggers, toesies, jandals) or you will burn your feet!

The view is amazing, magical and surreal. And almost empty...

The waves are strong, swim between the flags (not that I would, but my husband and the kids do go in, they are stronger swimmers than me, even the my 10 years old boy!).

Volunteer life-guards keep the watch

We took our German wwoofer here, overseas visitors are always amazed at the scenery here.

No recipes today, but I would like to show you my marzipan owl. I made it with ready made marzipan and used sugar sprinkle leaves for the feet, sugar cachous for the eyes, and candied fruit for the beak. I hope that you like it :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Gnocco Fritto

Gnocco fritto is a fried bread they make in Emilia Romagna. The gnocco fritto form my village is particularly nice, sometimes I think that this is because it is high in the mountains, and the water is better... but on the other hand it could just be that my memory of it is better.

My husband feel in love with gnocco fritto the first time he visited my village, and my kids love it too (of course, it is utterly delicious!!!): if it was for them we would have it every week! Instead I try to limit fried food, and so I just make it 3-4 times per year. For the dough I just use my pizza dough recipe (but I don't really check on quantities). Some people even put eggs in the dough... I just use flour, water, salt and yeast. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours before rolling it out.

Roll out the dough

I like the round gnocco fritto, so I cut it with a bowl (and the centre with a smaller bowl).

I used rice bran oil for frying.

Then I fry the centre holes, the kids love them!!!

The rest I cut into squares.

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini and Aranxta Zecchini Dowling ©

2010, Travel and Friends

Traveling is not so much about money, is about friends.

Last year was a year of travel for us. Travel but also many other things... a good year! I will travel again, I love traveling, but perhaps closer to home this year: the kids needs a full year at school, with their friends, and I need to do a few things around the house, and to concentrate on my work.

I have a lot of friends to thank for last year's travels, friends who opened their homes to us. Family too, of course, but somehow from family you expect this. But to have friends scattered around the globe is the best thing ever: we can all visit each other, often! And of course I have to thank my children for being such good kids, polite and thoughtful guests, easy to travel with.

So this year I will be more 'homey', looking around for ideas in home decor blogs, if you have any good suggestions please let me know :-)! And of course I am always keen on more gardening tips and inspirations!

Last year, in brief

January: a mega crop of everything in my veggie garden!

February: Left New Zealand for Singapore, Vietnam, and finally Italy!!!

March: Base in Lombardy, Skiing in the Alps, and popping into Switzerland... another dot in the kids' map!

April: Visiting several Italian cities, the highlights were in Tuscany... with some shopping too, for once!

May: More Italian cities, lakes, and villages to visit, with a base in Boario, where the kids attended school.

June: Summer again, with more cities to see, and a week in London!

July: New base in the Dolomites, trips to Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Sardinia.

August: Art immersion in Veneto, family time, and friends visiting :-)

September: More trips to wonderful places in Italy, including my Dad's birthplace, in Emilia Romagna, and his place of rest, in Sicily.

October: Back home, to New Zealand, and working hard at my book!

November: Traveling within New Zealand, for work as well as pleasure.

December: Summer again!!! And so good to have a Christmas at home... and to plan the next trip!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Easy to Impress Galliano Tart, and my Bottle of Rum!

New Year's cleaning in the air... I need more space! There is a cabinet full of bottles, I drink very little and I decided to finish up a few liqueurs, possibly by cooking them! I had this one, Italian Galliano, perfect for cakes and tarts!

I improvised: I used some frozen sweet short crust pastry as the base, and then mixed 3 eggs with 3 tbsp of sugar and 300 ml of cream. When the mixture was light and fluffy I added 75 ml of Galliano.

I added 10 savoiardi (sponge biscuits), crushed, and poured the mixture into the short crust pastry case. I baked the tart at 180°C for about 40 minutes. So easy!!!

Just needed to decorate it with icing sugar and borage flowers. It tasted great! I can use the same recipe with more liqueurs, like Sambuca, Amaretto, Frangelico, Rum....

Or maybe not!!! Sure I can use Rum, but not this bottle! I found it with the others... 23 years old, the best of Guatemala... It was presented to me in 2006, and I thought that it was so precious that I didn't want to open it.

The best part was that the master blender gave it to me, she is a lady (unusual, not many women are Rum Master Blenders) and she signed the bottle and wrote my name on it. I saw that the name and signature had almost faded, and I felt a bit... aware. Aware that the world is a transient place. Yes, I am not a drinker, but this year's resolution will be to open this bottle, maybe on a special occasion, or maybe just during a quiet evening at home. And celebrate life!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Lentil Ravioli with Fennel Butter, and Summer in Auckland

Happy New Year to all! The weather has been lovely here in Auckland, and there are so many good places to go. Yesterday we went to Takapuna beach in the North Shore:

For Xmas we stayed on our West side, where the sand is black and the beaches are dramatically beautiful and wild:

Green walks in the Waitakere Ranges,

And bright red Pohutukawa flowers, the New Zealand Xmas flowers.

Today we went to see the qualifyings for the ASB Classic Tennis. We watched Italian Alberta Brianti play against Elena Bovina from Russia. So strange, I don't feel very Italian at times, and yet, when there is a sporting event all of a sudden my heart starts skipping. It felt like there was my own sister there playing on the courts, and I was really happy when Brianti won. Great match!

Lunch was a picnic in the park. Quite novel for us, who live in the bush, to go and have a picnic in the city! It was lovely :-)

And now to the ravioli! I made some flower pasta (recipe here), I used roses, borage and nasturtiums. I cooked some brown lentils, then I passed them in a pot with olive oil, a shallot and salt. I used them as filling.

Possibly herbs would have been better: the lentil filling is quite dark, so the petals were not so visible. I'll remember this next time :-)! For the sauce I cooked some baby fennels very slowly with butter and a little water. I added more butter, and just a pinch of salt at the end.

The fennel butter matched the lentil filling beautifully. A great dish for New Year (FYI, in Italy it is traditional to eat lentils for New Year). The borage flowers are decorations, but they too can be eaten, and we did!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©