Otaki trip and farm stay

A few weeks back, we visited a home stay/farm in Otaki about an hour north from Wellington. We went along with another family so N had company ;)
We went via a scenic route along the west coast of North Island along the Tasman Sea.
Once we reached the place, we were welcomed into our cabins by this stunning blue necked beauty!

We set off to explore the place immediately; because it all looked so inviting and exciting. And we wanted to see everything before the sun went down.

The farm is very Bali-inspired. They have their head office in Bali hence a lot of Buddha statues all over the place. 

Some elephants-having-fun statues too!

There was even a cute li'l wishing well and the kids dropped coins into it and made their wishes :) 

There were lots of birds and animals on the farm roaming around freely. Some hens. 

Some geese, roosters and birds-I-don't-know-names-of. 

There were some deer. 

The best part was when the peacock decided to spread his feathers and strut about.

Then it was time for sight seeing around the town of Otaki. And it had so many hues to offer. It was a pure visual delight! 

At the Otaki Beach we saw these seagulls resting.

Ended the day with some delicious food at the local Indian restaurant.

The next morning we had a gorgeous visitor at our cabin door!

Beautiful, isn't it?? 

New Zealand is a beautiful place and here is to many more trips!! 

Apple Crumble Recipe

Here is the recipe for the apple crumble I had made a while back - here. 

I referred to a few magazines and websites to check out the basic apple crumble recipe and then used this following derived version. It is super easy and very quick. Something that I am going to be making a lot!! 

Ingredients:

For the apple filling
- 4 Granny Smith apples (the green ones) You could use any other slightly tangy apples.

- 50 gm granulated sugar - I used soft brown sugar

- 1 lemon juiced - fresh yellow lemons work best
- 20 gm plain flour - For a healthier option use wholemeal flour/unbleached flour
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

For the crumble crust
- 120 gm walnuts/pecans 
- 140 gm plain flour
- 100 gm rolled oats 

- 110 gm dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- A pinch of salt
- 115 gm cold butter, cut into small pieces

Method: 

1) Preheat oven to 180C/400F.

2) Peel, core, and slice apples into small (1/2 inch), almost same sized pieces or slices. 

Place apples in a large mixing bowl and mix with sugar, lemon juice, flour, and cinnamon. Put this mixture into a lightly greased 23 by 33 cm (9 inch by 12 inch) baking dish, and spread out into an even layer. Keep it aside.

3) In another bowl, mix together the nuts, flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt for the topping. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, gently work in the cold butter until pea-sized lumps are formed.

4) Top apples evenly with mixture and bake until apples are bubbly and topping is golden brown, about 45 mins, rotating once halfway through cooking.

You can eat it by itself or with fresh whipped cream or ice cream! 

The otherwise non-sweet-eating hubby also loved it and had 2 servings (really big deal that is). I was super happy, because I had the rest of it over the next few days. This keeps well in the fridge too, warm it in the microwave, put a dollop of ice cream and you are in bliss! 

Happy Baking!!

Linking this to Made with Love Party hosted by these wonderful blogs - Patty at Colours Dekor, Cerys at Rainy Day Mum, Angie at The Magic of Play and Rashmie at Mommy Labs. 

Spring is here!

Well almost here! So while the rest of the world gets ready to face fall/autumn, here in New Zealand spring is about to start. The weather is Wellington though just seems to be the same. Even though the temperatures are slightly higher, it is a lot more windy than the winter. But the silver lining in the cloud is that for the first time ever since I came here I was brave enough to venture out in 2 layers instead of 3.

Glimpses of a few spring must-dos

Eat strawberry gelato from our favourite gelato shop in the city.

Spend time at the waterfront watching sail boats, speed boats and kayaks. This picture was clicked by N *proud mommy moment* He has been showing a lot of interest towards the camera. 

Catch those tiny new greens popping up on bare trees post-winter. 

Swing in the park and fly high in the sky! 

Go for hiking and get to see awesome, picturesque landscape. 

Go to the beach and get dirty :) 

Get some spring flowers to brighten up your day!!

Linking this as my photography to Made with Love Party hosted by these wonderful blogs - Patty at Colours Dekor, Cerys at Rainy Day Mum, Angie at The Magic of Play and Rashmie at Mommy Labs.

Have a great week ahead. Love!!

Rainbows and Apple Crumble!

Woke up today morning and saw this beautiful rainbow! N and I were both excited. N who was halfway through dressing for school, ran to wear his warm pants and grabbed his jacket. Then both of us went into the cold, 4 degrees Celsius temperature balcony and clicked this (it was a full end to end rainbow) - 

Beautiful! Ain't it?? 

Some things are just worth it!

Like having a freshly baked warm apple crumble with some cold vanilla ice cream. Gooey apples baked to perfection, crisp walnut-y rolled oats crust. Yumm! And icing on the cake, erm, crumble is that I made it myself... my first ever apple crumble. Recipe to follow soon... :) 

Happy Friday!!

Recipe - Apple Cinnamon muffins

I had been itching and craving to bake. And bake I did - started with these oh-so-cute apple cinnamon muffins :) 


Found the recipe in a magazine borrowed from the library. Reproducing it here - 


For 12 regular-sized muffins:
- 2 medium apples (about 250 gms each) - you can use any apples you have on hand but you'll get the best flavour when you choose a 'tangy' variety such as Granny Smith or Braeburn. [ I used whatever was available at home] 
- 1 cup plain (unsweetened) yoghurt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups self-raising floor
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts [Didn't have these so skipped them, but would be nice for some texture]
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt

I used unbleached self raising flour - unbleached means well: not bleached flour.  Bleaching is done in order to whiten flour and to to give it more gluten forming properties. Organic peroxides are used as beaching agents for flour.
For the sugar I used brown sugar. 
And I used sea salt flakes for the salt part.

1. Turn the oven to 190 C (or 180 C if using fan-bake)
2. Grate the unpeeled apples (discarding the cores). Place the grated apple, yoghurt, oil and egg in a large bowl and mix well. 
3. Measure all the remaining ingredients into another bowl and stir well with a fork. Tip the dry mixture into the wet ingredients, and gently fold together until the flour is just moistened. (Avoid over-mixing as this will toughen the finished muffins. It doesn't matter if the mixture looks a little marbled, this looks quite good in the finished muffins. 

4. Spray 12 regular sized muffin pans with non-stick spray, then divide the mixture evenly between them. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown on top and spring back when pressed lightly in their centres. 

[I used paper muffin cups instead of directly putting the batter into the muffin tray. Easier to peel off and eat the muffins and to clean the tray! :) ]


5. Leave muffins to cool in their pans for 2-3 minutes, then tip out and cool on a rack. Place cool muffins in a plastic bag, freezing any you don't expect to eat within 48 hours. 

I halved the recipe because I wanted to make 12 mini muffins and not the regular sized ones. My cooking theory has become "small is beautiful". 
But I could have, actually, should have added just a bit more flour - more than the halved version. The muffins were a bit more moist than I would have liked them to be.