Saturday, January 3, 2015

Los Angeles

Hollywood, Walk of Fame

A few of my favourite things in Los Angeles: in Hollywood I did like to see the stars on the Walk of Fame, but no much else really, so I ended up taking tons of photos of my feet!

Hollywood, Walk of Fame

Hollywood

Hollywood, Walk of Fame

I really liked the Walt Disney Concert Hall, amazing architecture!

Walt Disney Concert Hall
And I like the Mexican feel of Olvera St, very touristic, like Hollywood, but also easier to photograph (i.e. everything was 'in scale' and not so grand!).

Olvera St,  Downtown



Olvera St,  Downtown
For shopping The Grove was cool but...
Xmas Bus in The Grove


Santa Monica was better! And it is also cool at night if you walk down the Pier, and to the very end of Route 66!

Santa Monica Pier

And of course a full day was dedicated to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park.
Disneyland

California Adventure 

Disney treat

Beverly Hilton
A last comment has to be about the Xmas decorations in LA, which are quite 'grand', and especially in Hollywood, Below are a few photos of the lobby in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, decorations and tree just about everywhere! And just look at the size of this cookie house, also in the Beverly Hilton : I now have some serious cookie house envy!

Beverly Hilton
Beverly Hilton
Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©


Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Los Angeles Venice Beach


Entering Venice
Our holiday started in LA, first time here for me, so I am quite excited to visit a new city, and to play tourist at the very photogenic Venice Beach.

Max and the family buying CDs from street punters

Skate park

Graffiti

Mao's Kitchen
Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Have a great holiday!


Dear all, have a great Summer Holiday (if you are South).
Xxoox Alessandra




Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Meri Kirihimete me ngā mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa

Meri Kirihimete me ngā mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all



Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

Manuia le Kerisimasi, ma le Tausaga Fou

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année

新年おめでとうございます

Fröhliche Weihnachten
und ein gutes neues Jahr

¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo!

聖誕快樂 新年快樂


Photo by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Parmesan and Borage fritters: four ingredients, gluten free!


Borage flowers are perfect for fritters, and for many other recipes, but I mostly use them for fritters because everyone loves them.

Ingredients:
Borage flowers and young leaves (or other edible flowers)
3 free range eggs
1 tbsp parmesan cheese
Olive oil for frying.

 Pick the top of the plant as soon as it flowers, about 10 cm of stem with a few young leaves too. Don't wait until the flowers make seeds, these are too hard to eat!!! Rinse the stems well and several times and drip dry them. You can also use zucchini flowers for this, I had just a three in the garden and in they went into a batter made by whisking three eggs with a tbsp of parmesan cheese. Fry with extra virgin olive oil turning once until golden and crispy, and serve hot (but even cold leftovers are great to put into a sandwich, if you manage to save some, that is!).

Would you like more recipes for borage flowers? Try these:



Also check out the blog Cooking with Flowers for more ideas and recipes using edible flowers.



What else is in the garden now? New potatoes! Yum!


And the first tomatoes, finally!


And to finish a couple of photos of flowers in Nan's garden in Christchurch!



Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Wonderful Italian cheese in New Zealand

Mature cheeses from Emilio's cheese

I had a lovely dinner in Christchurch with Italian friends, and met local cheesemonger Emilio Festa of Emilio's cheese. I love cheese and this was a fantastic opportunity for me to try some NZ made Italian style cheese with a glass of Cracroft Chase Pinot Gris (my favourite Pinot Gris made in NZ by Italian Wilma and Alessandro Laryn). 

Emilio and Adriana
Fresh cheeses from Emilio's cheese
I cannot say which was my favourite cheese, they were all so delicious that it was too hard to decide, but I was moved when Emilio took out the crescenza, something so difficult to find here in New Zealand! I took some home for the family and everybody loved it!

Crescenza from Emilio's cheese

Pity that Emilio's cheese is only sold locally and doesn't make it to Auckland, but if you go to Canterbury check out the local Farmers' Markets around Chch, and Emilio's FB Page to find out where his cheeses are sold.
Only by supporting good local artisan cheesemongers we can truly develop great cheeses in New Zealand.





Photo by Alessandra Zecchini ©


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Do you know the name of these Campanula flowers, and Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers


Sue gave me these beautiful flowers, the purple ones smell like honey, so delicious!
I believe that they are a type of Campanula (bell flowers), but I don't know the exact name. 
Do you?




Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers


Arantxa picked flowers from the garden: roses, lavender, sage, violets and nasturtiums 
 I made my trusted vegan chocolate pudding, and since we are in season I wanted to top it with some strawberries, and maybe some flowers too? So I asked Arantxa to look after this.


For 4 puddings:
500 ml oragnic soy milk (I use Vitasoy, either Original, Milky or Calci Plus)
2 tbsp raw sugar
1 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality)
1 tbsp cornflour
Natural Vanilla essence (or a little cinnamon if you prefer)
Strawberries and edible flowers to finish.

Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 4 dessert ramekins or small bowls (or teacups) and refrigerate. Cut the strawberries and place over the puddings, then add the petals of edible flowers (I think that maybe there was a bit much here, with lots of lavender, rose and sage aromas… but it was definitely a very perfumed dessert!).




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Sweet New Zealand, this is the end!

Well, we did get to 40 months of uninterrupted Sweet NZ blogging events, and I really would like to thank all the host and all the bloggers who took part. All your recaps are listed here!

But in the last year the interest has diminished, in part due to the fact that I have also been too busy to blog and therefore follow the event properly (i.e. writing to bloggers to encourage them to enter), and in part due to the fact that I am not the only busy person around! Many NZ bloggers stopped writing, or are writing less and less. Recently I attended the NZ Guild of Food Writers conference and I was a bit sad to hear that the general perspective in the industry that the NZ Food blogging scene is, basically, negligible. I am not sure if this is true or not (what do you think?) and I like to think that there are still many bloggers out there that update regularly and keep a conversation going, but I am also sure that Sweet NZ is not sustainable anymore, and so I have decided to stop at 40. Thank you to Frances and Arfi who supplied the last recipes for this edition, here is a quick recap:

Raw, vegan and gluten free sweet for Christmas? Homemade marzipan From Only Recipes



Yorkshire curd tart by Frances from the Bake Club

Chocolate and plum mousse with Italian meringue base and Fresh As plum powder from Alessandra Zecchini



Strawberries with orange and cinnamon, by Alessandra Zecchini





Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Chocolate and plum mousse with Italian meringue base and Fresh As plum powder



What I like about mousses is that you can just improvise, and as long as you beat well the main ingredients (eggs and cream) you can never go wrong! I made this with Arantxa; while I made the Italian meringue and whipped the cream she whipped the egg yolk, and while she folded the chocolate I folded the plum cream, and there was a lot of licking of spoons and bowl at the end, and 7 lovely mousses in the fridge!



3 large free range eggs, separated
2 tbsp icing sugar
50 ml water
300 ml cream
1 tbsp cocoa2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp Fresh As Plum Powder (plus some to sprinkle)

Start by making an Italian meringue base: whip the egg white until stiff. In the meantime boil the water and icing sugar into a syrup. When the syrup is bubbly, start to thickens and smell like candy (but before is turns white or caramel! Be careful here!) pour it at once into the egg whites, (while beating). Keep beating until the meringue is cold again.

In another bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar and cocoa for a loooooong time, until light and creamy. In a third bowl beat the cream well too. Divide the Italian meringue into two, add the Fresh As plum powder to one half and beat for one more minute, until the meringue is pink.

Divide the cream into two and fold with the pink and white meringue mixtures. In one bowl you will have the pink plum mousse ready (set aside) and in the other the white 'base' to which you will need to add the chocolate mixture. Do this slowly and folding well.
Pour the chocolate mousse first into glasses or verrines, and then top with the plum mousse. Sprinkle with more Fresh As plum powder and refrigerate for a few hours.




I am entering this recipe for Sweet NZ #40, to enter your November Recipe click here.
Sweet NZ image


And now: two images of some of my favourite flowers, peonies, for my Pinterest Board! 




Photo and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

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