The Food Show

Food festivals are so much fun and a great way to explore food in your country. Its also a great opportunity to score some great show deals.

Today Matt and I went to the Food Show in Auckland at the ASB showgrounds. We have been to other shows in Auckland, but this show is the most diverse and the most generous. There are lots of stands and nearly all of them offered generously sized samples, and I mean generous.

Usually at a food show the exhibitors offer tiny bits to try or cook a few things and watch the people fight over it. Not this show, these guys give you whole stuffed peppers, a whole sliver of prosciutto, decent spoonful of salmon, and actual cups of tea. I've even had to turn down samples because I was too full haha. You won't eat a meals worth of food there (so I would still have a small meal before I go) but its unlikely you'll leave feeling unsatisfied. I like this system more as I have a better idea of what things tastes like and what I'd like to purchase in stores.

My favorite memory of the day was seeing the Petal cupcake stand. The teeny tiny brightly coloured cupcakes for $1 each. Cute! What made it unique was the packaging which is folded to look like a flower bud. Different sizes based on how much you buy. It was so adorable. It tastes amazing too so I'll definitely be visiting that store soon.

Finding Laucke Flour Mills, the bread mix kit stand, was awesome too. They were offering 2 kits for $5 which is enough to make 6 loaves of bread. Can't wait to get stuck into making bread properly :)

The show deals were great!! As usual we chose to stay till closing time, that is when the deals double. For example we got two huge bottles of cider that is retailed in stores for the price of one, 3 tubs of mozzarella for $10, 3 antipasti things with a few extras thrown in. We practically did our grocery shopping there haha.
 
More photos here, The food show! sorry about the low quality, I need to work out a good way to take photos.

I highly recommend this expo, visit it when you can! Here is the website for future show updates.








Ps. This week I managed to do zumba 3 times. I blame staying up too late for the Olympics (its unlucky London is exactly opposite to New Zealand, we need to sleep when the action is happening). Better luck next week.

Feather hairbands

I love hair accessories that add texture to otherwise straight and bland hair. A bit of feather action, a bit of sparkly bead bling. These hairbands adds some interest but also blends perfectly into my long straight black hair. They kinda look like long earrings too seeing as the strands start behind the ear.

These hairbands were found at Diva, $28nzd for the two (one was on sale).  They have a few different types, different beads, coloured and textured feathers. I chose two black ones because I just want a 'tiny' bit of detail. I didn't really want it to be obvious I had feathers in my hair, but.... I may change my mind come summertime.

They are comfortable and look cool, happy :)

Olympics!

Hey guys, oh its been awhile... Bear with me, I am not so good at being a consistent blogger yet.

Anyways, the 2012 London Olympics are upon us! Who is excited?? I'm not hugely into sports, but every now and then I am happy to pull out my green and gold to cheer my Aussies on! I love the Olympics because it is so international. We see athletes from all over the world; some countries we don't hear much about and some we hear about but now get to see them from a different perspective. The Olympics allow me to feel a sense of pride for my island nation, and a strange need to cheer on all the little nations that come to compete.

One of my favourite things about the Olympics is the opening ceremony. I love it so much I was willing to wake up 4 hours earlier than usual to watch London tell her story. This show started quite differently to the jaw dropping opening acts of Beijing and Sydney (I cannot remember the Athens one much for some reason :s). The London one started off really slow... a meadow scene... haha. I was confused (I was half awake) but I gave it some time and slowly the story began to form and the British quirk and character developed. Seriously, the British can be so hilariously funny sometimes (the Queen segment and Mr Bean). I really love the storybook segment, performed by children and staff from the NHS. This show is true to their character from an outsiders perspective. I'm happy they didn't try to be something they weren't. I would imagine some British people complaining about how things were done, but, that is British for you haha.

I decided I wanted to celebrate the event by cooking up a London Olympics breakfast. Behold.... My Olympic ring English breakfast fry up!