Author Archives: mike

Raining in godzone

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It’s saturday morning and it’s raining here in godzone. The drought is wdll and truely broken.

What do we do?

Well i’m sat here trying to work my new toy (a samsung tablet) while watching ‘Come dine with me’ . Unfortunately we’ve already seen it. So we’ll have to find  something else to do.

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Walkies

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This is the first week-end in Mana for some time that we have actually got time to go out for a walk. Previous week-ends we have either been busy, Jo has been working or we have been back in Hamilton.

But now we have time on our hands where do we go? There are so many choices it becomes too difficult for us to decide. Should we go for a little drive and explore a new area, perhaps around Porirua or over in the Hutt Valley.

In the end we decide to go for a track we have seen while out cycling, it is called ‘The Track’ It’s only 30 minutes each way but at least it will get us out.

The walk starts on sealed road, but then changes to a grass walkway. We can see out over to SH1 and the cycle track we have used on previous excursions. We both thought we would have views out the other way towards the sea, but  unfortunately there is another hill in the way.

To also help us with this walk there are a few geocaches along the way, which we decide to do on the way back.

The first according to our Garmin is close to a stile, but neither of us can see it. The next one near a trig point Jo quickly finds, as she does the final two. Still I log them as my finds.

Here’s the route for today’s walk.

 

Back to Hamilton

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Today we headed back upto Hamilton. Jo had a half day working from home so we could leave at 12:00.

The drive back takes about 6hrs, but with stops this soon becomes 6 1/2 or 7 hours.

Most of the journey is un eventful excepting the morons who don’t want to be behind an MPV so overtake at the very last minute and then jam onthere brakes as soon as they have pulled in front of me.

The mountain had it’s head in the clouds so we ouldn’t see it very well.

The savior for this return trip is we are heading off to Jenny’s for dinner, she never fails to provide a delicious meal.

 

Plimmerton again

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Tonight was a repeat of last night’s walk apart from a couple of things.

1. We didn’t stop at the yacht club tonight.

2. We took the camera.

This enabled me to get a short rest while Jo took a photo of me enjoying the sunset.

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Steak Diane With Garlic Baked Potatoes

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Steak Diane With Garlic Baked Potatoes

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4
Author Mike

Ingredients

  • 600 g Rump Steak
  • 4 cups Mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup Brandy*
  • 2 cups Beef Stock
  • 2 teaspoon Plain Flour
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
  • 3 tablespoons Fresh Chives
  • 300 g Baby Chat Potatoes
  • 200 g Green Beans
  • 2 cloves Garlic
  • 4 teaspoons Ghee

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 170C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
  • Cut the baby chat potatoes into 1cm slices.
  • Arrange on one of the baking trays.
  • In a small mixing bowl mix 1tsp ghee with 1/2tsp salt and 1/2tsp pepper.
  • Using a garlic crusher, crush 2 garlic cloves into the mix.
  • Mix well.
  • Use a basting brush to brush the potatoes with the mixture.
  • Place the potatoes into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until they are cooked through and golden brown.
  • Place the green beans on the other baking tray.
  • Salt an pepper to taste.
  • Set aside.
  • Slice 4 cups of mushrooms.
  • Heat 1tsp ghee in a large and deep non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Season the steaks to taste with salt and pepper.
  • Cook the steaks for 3 minutes on each side.
  • Take out of the pan and set aside.
  • Put the pan back on the heat and add the mushrooms.
  • Cook for 3-4 minutes and add ¼cup brand and cook for 2 minutes.
  • Add 500ml beef stock and cook for 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, put the green beans in the oven, then set the table and make a huge side salad using the extra veggies you bought.
  • In a small mixing bowl mix 2tsp ghee with 2tsp plain flour to make a paste.
  • Mix 1tbs mustard to the cooking mushroom sauce.
  • Bit by bit add the ghee/flour mixture, constantly stirring.
  • Keep cooking for 3 minutes.
  • Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the steaks to the pan.
  • Use a spoon to heap the sauce onto the steaks.
  • Cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until the steaks are warm and cooked to your desire.
  • Chop 3tbs chives and take the potatoes and green beans out of the oven.
  • Serve the steaks with a generous amount of sauce over the top, next to the green beans, potatoes and side salad.
  • Sprinkle the steaks with the chopped chives.
  • Enjoy!

 

Moroccan Chicken with Caramelized Onions

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Moroccan Chicken with Caramelized Onion

Cuisine Middle Eastern
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4
Author Mike

Ingredients

  • 600 g Chicken Thighs
  • 10 Prunes
  • 5 Roma Tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
  • 2 Onions
  • 2 green Capsicums
  • 2 cloves Garlic
  • 1/2 Cup White wine
  • 1 tablespoon Ground Allspice
  • 1 tablespoon Cumin
  • 1 tablespoon Coeiander
  • 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
  • 5 tablespoons Almonds
  • 2 cups Couscous
  • 1 teaspoon Ghee

Instructions

  • Halve and then finely chop 2 onions.
  • Heat 1tsp ghee in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
  • Add the onion and cook for 3-5 minutes or until softened.
  • Add cup rice and mix well.
  • Add 11/2 cups chicken stock and bring to the boil.
  • Cover and turn heat down to medium-low.
  • Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the liquid is absorbed.
  • In a small mixing bowl, mix 1tbs flour, 1tbs cumin, 1tbs ground coriander and salt and pepper to taste.
  • Sprinkle over the fish and use your hands to rub it into the fish until it is evenly coated.
  • Add the baby spinach to a large non-stick frying pan and heat over medium until it is completely wilted (3-5 mins).
  • Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl combine 1/2cup Greek yogurt with 1/4cup low fat mayonnaise.
  • Grate in the rind of ½ a lemon.
  • Mix well.
  • Take the spinach out of the pan and set aside covered (to keep warm).
  • Put the pan back on the heat and increase the heat to medium-high.
  • Add 1tsp ghee.
  • Cook the fish for 3 minutes on each side or until it is fully cooked.
  • Meanwhile, set the table and make a huge side salad using the extra veggies you bought.
  • Serve the fish over the rice with a good dollop of the lemon mayo over the top and the spinach and side salad next to it.

 

And tonight’s walk is….

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After eating a Moroccan styled chicken on Couscous with caramelized onions, for tea we decided we had better extend our walk this evening.

So we headed off down towards the beach and walked to Plimmerton yacht club and back.

I think Jo might have had an hidden agenda as on arriving at the yacht club she suggested we went in and have a look around. We didn’t join but took an application form just in case.

Here is the tonight’s route.

Keeping up the fitness?

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Tonight’s fitness exercise was going to be a walk around the bay, but while Jo was putting on her shoes she saw the tennis racquets. ‘Let’s go have a game of tennis instead of walking’ so off we went to the tennis courts. Luckily a court was available so we had a game for 50 minutes.

Being a gentleman I let Jo win, although she will say I never had a chance of beating her.

We then decided to go for a walk along the prom towards Plimmerton and back.

First Bikeride from Mana to Pukerua Bay

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Today we finally got out on our bikes. This ride was a short ride as we soon found that in the last 6 months we had both lost our cycle fitness. This is not surprising as we haven’t touched a bike since returning from our last European tour of France, Belgium & the Nedtherlands.

29th November

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