Home on Nathan Hollows

Nugget Watch is finally finished

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:10:47 +1200

Nugget Watch is hands down the dumbest project I have ever worked on.

It started around January 2019 when my eldest younger sister decided it would be funny to send me constant chicken nugget price updates. I thought it would be funny to document that information. By the end of the year I had a live website, a database of chicken nugget prices, and a growing collection of reviews.

The original nugget watch design. The orange background was part of a royalty-fee stock image. It was easier to leave it than change it.

Lime pickled onions

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 red onion - peeled and thinly sliced
4 limes - juiced
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Directions

Slice the onions thinly.
In a large glass bowl or jar, add all ingredients and toss to combine making sure the onions are coated through.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. Shake or mix the onions at least once while they cure. This will ensure all the onions are covered in the juice and will pickle evenly.
Taste before serving and add salt if needed.

Tomato Soup

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

50g Tbsp unsalted butter
2 yellow onions
3 garlic cloves, (1 Tbsp minced)
1.5kg crushed tomatoes and juice
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more to serve
1 Tbsp sugar, or added to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, or to taste to combat acidity
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus more to serve

Directions

Heat a nonreactive pot or enameled dutch oven over medium heat.
Add butter then add chopped onions. Sauté 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden.
Add minced garlic and sauté 1 minute until fragrant.
Add crushed tomatoes with their juice, chicken stock, chopped basil, sugar (or add sugar to taste), and black pepper. Stir together and bring to a boil then reduce heat, partially cover with lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
Blend with an immersion blender.
Add 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese and return to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed and turn off the heat.*
Ladle into warm bowls and top with more parmesan and chopped fresh basil.

event.currentTarget vs event.target

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I was working on Rapua, late on a sweltering summer night while visiting family, finally tracking down the root cause of a bug I’d been studiously avoiding. The steps to reproduce were simple:

Add any “content block” to a game location.
Click to delete the block.
Click Confirm to delete the block.

The block would then disappear with a confirmation, but only sometimes. In between steps 2 and 3, there’s an event listener on the delete button that triggers a modal, populating it with all the information required to make a valid deletion. However, sometimes this information was coming back as undefined.

Wish list

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Tech

Gameboy Advance screen and battery mod The yellow one
Bull horn/megaphone

Other things

Leuchtturm Dooted Notebook A5 Black

Vouchers

Briscoes for bedding and kitchen stuff
Cash for buying camera gear

Brownies

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

85 grams unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
1 1/3 cups (265 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
2/3 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour

Directions

Heat oven to 175°C.
Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment, extending it up two sides, or foil. Butter the parchment or foil or spray it with a nonstick cooking spray.
In a medium heatproof bowl over gently simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together until only a couple unmelted bits remain. Off the heat, stir until smooth and fully melted. You can also do this in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each.
Whisk in sugar, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and salt. Stir in flour with a spoon or flexible spatula and scrape batter into prepared pan, spread until even.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out batter-free.
Let cool and cut into desired size. Let cool in the fridge.

Chicken Chow Mein

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

500g chicken breast
1 Tbsp oil
2 carrots, peeled & sliced into sticks
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
3 spring onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
½ cup water
500g fresh egg noodles
1 tsp sesame seeds

Sauce

¼ cup oyster sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp sugar
¼ cup water

Directions

Mix together the ingredients for the chow mein sauce, set aside.
Slice the chicken breast in half lengthways then thinly slice the whole breast into strips.
Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat then add the oil. Cook the chicken strips until golden brown then set aside.
Add the carrots, red pepper, spring onion and garlic to the pan along with ¼ cup water and sauté for a few minutes.
Add the egg noodles and another ¼ cup of water and continue to fry.
Add the chicken back to the pan then pour over the sauce. Stir fry all the ingredients together to coat in the sauce for a further 2 minutes.
Pour into a large serving bowl or individual bowls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Notes

Chickpea and Potato Patties

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe Makes 10-15 small patties

Ingredients

2 cups potatoes mashed potatoes
1 cup canned chickpeas drained
1 egg (if frying in oil)
1/4 cup minced onions (optional)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp powdered cumin
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Directions

Boil potatoes, peel, and mash before measuring out 2 cups
If using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse before adding 1 cup to the mashed potato in a large bowl. If using dried chickpeas, soak overnight and pressure cook for 20 minutes before using
Using a potato masher, mash the potato and chickpeas together until you get a smooth mixture
To this, add 1/4 cup minced onions (this is optional), 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp garam masala, 1/4 tsp powdered cumin powder, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper, 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves and salt
Add one egg if you plan to fry these in oil. They will break into tiny pieces otherwise.
Mix well until the ingredients are well incorporated. Taste a small bit to see if the spice levels and salt are as you prefer
If you have store-bought breadcrumbs, measure out 1/2 cup and add at this time. If not, toast a slice of bread until nicely browned, powder coarsely in a mixer or blender, and add to the above
Mix again well until you get the patty mixture
Shape into desired sized patty (larger sizes if you want to use for burgers) and set aside

For air-frying the patties

Curried carrot and butternut squash soup

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe Serves 4

Ingredients

1kg butternut squash, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons oil olive or coconut oil
150g carrots chopped small
1 cup chopped leek or onion
3 large garlic cloves finely chopped
2-3 teaspoons ginger puree
2-3 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons turmeric powder optional
½ teaspoon sea salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper I used white for this recipe
3 cups broth chicken or vegetable, preferably homemade
4-6 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
4 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds see link below

Directions

Heat oil in a medium pot until warm. Add chopped carrots and leeks. Cook until softened. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the ginger, curry powder, turmeric (if using) salt and pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes for the flavors of the spices to bloom. Add the squash and broth. Cover and simmer until all vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.
Puree soup until smooth in a Vitamix or blender. Serve warm, garnished with pomegranate seeds and toasted pumpkin seeds if desired. Leftover soup keep well refrigerated for 4-5 days.

Notes

Serve topped with Greek yoghurt or cream, and citrusy dukkah. This also goes well with Quick Naan

Roasted Broccoli with Soy Sauce and Sesame

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe Serves 6

Ingredients

1 head fresh broccoli florets
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 T sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

Preheat oven to 220C.
Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray. (Use the biggest one you have.)
Cut broccoli into pieces about 2 inches long.
Then cut through stems just to where florets start, and break apart so broccoli is in same-sized pieces. (This method of cutting through the stems and then breaking the broccoli apart also eliminates the mess when you cut broccoli and small bits fall off.)
Whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce or coconut aminos, and sesame oil.
Place broccoli in plastic mixing bowl and toss well that mixture.
Arrange the broccoli in a single layer on baking sheet. I like to make sure any flat sides are touching the baking sheet for the best browning.
Roast 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, stir or turn broccoli pieces over and then continue roasting 5 minutes more, or until broccoli is tender-crisp and slightly browned on the edges. (The step of turning it over is only to get more even browning; you can roast it without turning if you prefer.)
While broccoli roasts, toast sesame seeds in a dry pan over very high heat for 30-60 seconds.
When broccoli is done, arrange on serving dish and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Serve hot.

Cantonese Black Pepper Beef

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

Marinated Beef

200 g (~1/2 lb) flank, skirt, or flatiron steak, sliced very thin against the grain
10 g (2 tsp) Chinese Black Vinegar
Sprinkle of salt
Sprinkle of sugar

Black Pepper Sauce

50 g (~1/3 cup) Lee Kum Kee Black pepper sauce (storebought)
10 g (2 tsp) chili oil with fermented soybeans (optional)
10 g (2 tsp) soy sauce
20 cranks of black pepper
Sprinkle of onion powder
Sprinkle of garlic powder
Sprinkle of MSG

Stir Fry Components

Arroz Congrí

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 cup dried black beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped into ½-inch pieces
1 small green pepper, chopped into ½-inch pieces
5 or 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, roughly chopped
¼ teaspoon dried dill
2 small bay leaves
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dry red wine, or vino seco
1½ cups long-grain rice, rinsed

Directions

Rinse the beans and pick them over for any small stones. Put the beans and 8 cups water in a medium-size pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer, partly cover and cook until tender, about 1 to 2 hours. (Time will vary depending on the bean.)
Meanwhile, make the sofrito: Put the oil in a medium-size pot (large enough to hold the rice as well) over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the onion, green pepper and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper. Sauté until the vegetables are limp. Stir in the oregano, dill and bay leaves and remove from heat.
Drain the beans, reserving the broth and being careful to not break the beans. In a large measuring cup, add the vinegar and wine, 1 cup of the reserved bean broth and enough water for all the liquid to measure 2¼ cups.
Put the sofrito back on medium heat, add the rice and stir to combine. Cook the rice for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the seasoned bean broth/water mixture and the salt. Bring to a boil, stir, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 17 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork and return cover to pot for 10 minutes.
Remove bay leaves and put rice mixture into a mixing bowl. Gently mix in the beans, being careful not to break them. Season well with salt and pepper and transfer to a serving bowl. Serve hot.

Picadillo

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe Serves 6

Ingredients

1/2 large chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tbsp cilantro
500 g lean ground beef
40 ml tomato sauce, 1/2 can
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 dried bay leaves
2 tbsp pitted green olives or capers

Directions

Brown meat on high heat in large sauté pan and season with salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces. When meat is no longer pink, drain all juice from pan.
Meanwhile, while meat is cooking, chop onion, garlic, pepper, tomato and cilantro.
Add to the meat and continue cooking on a low heat. Add olives or capers and about 2 to 4 tbsp of the brine (the juice from the olives, this adds great flavor) cumin, bay leaf, and more salt if needed. Add tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water and mix well. Reduce heat and simmer covered about 20 minutes.

Tabbouleh

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe Serves 6

Ingredients

½ cup couscous
1 cup diced cucumber (1 small-to-medium)
1 cup diced tomato (1 large)
1 teaspoon fine salt, divided
3 medium bunches parsley
⅓ cup chopped fresh mint
⅓ cup thinly sliced green onion
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
1 medium clove garlic, pressed or minced

Directions

Cook or soak the couscous until tender according to package directions. Drain off any excess water, and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, combine the diced cucumber and tomato in a medium bowl with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Stir, and let the mixture rest for at least 10 minutes, or until you’re ready to mix the salad.
To prepare the parsley, cut off the thick stems. Then, finely chop the parsley and remaining stems—you can do this by hand, but it’s much easier in a food processor with the standard “S” blade. Process 1 bunch at a time (it should yield about 1 cup chopped), transferring the chopped parsley to a large serving bowl before proceeding with the next.
Add the cooled couscous, chopped fresh mint (if using) and green onion to the bowl of parsley. Strain off and discard the cucumber and tomato juice that has accumulated in the bottom of the bowl (this ensures that your tabbouleh isn’t too watery). Add the strained cucumber and tomato to the bowl.
In a small measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, garlic, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Pour it into the salad and stir to combine. Taste, and adjust if necessary—add another tablespoon of lemon juice for zing, or salt for more overall flavor.
If you have the time, let the salad rest for 15 minutes before serving to let the flavors mingle. Otherwise, you can serve it immediately or chill it for later. Tabbouleh will keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days.

Manakish (Middle Eastern Flat Bread)

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe makes 5

Ingredients

1 cup lukewarm water
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast 7 grams (or 25% less instant yeast powder)
3 cups plain all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup plain yogurt or oil

Directions

Add the water, sugar, and yeast to a small bowl, mix well and then allow it to stand for between 5-10 minutes for the yeast to activate. It should froth up and become quite bubbly during this time.
Combine the sifted flour and salt in a large bowl.
Add the yeast mixture and yogurt to the bowl, mix into a rough dough, and then knead for around 10 minutes until you have a smooth, elastic dough. When poked with a finger, the dough should bounce back again – if it doesn’t, knead it a little longer.
Form the dough into a rough ball and cover lightly with oil, then place back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or cling film and place it in a warm place to prove for between 45 minutes to an hour. During this time, it should double in size.
Preheat the oven as hot as it will go.
Divide the dough into 5 pieces, shape each piece into a ball, and roll flat. Dimple the dough all over with your fingers to make more space for topping and to prevent the dough from puffing up too much.
Top the dough with your toppings and transfer to the over for 5–6 minutes.

Notes

Feel free to season the dough as preferred depending on the recipe; Italian seasoning, za’atar, garlic, and onion powder, etc.
To use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast, reduce the amount by 25%

Print My Day

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Print My Day is a tool I ~~made~~ over-engineered to help me stay organised. A little bit of code pulls data from taskwarrior and my calendar, then sends it to my receipt printer on request.

This thing is great. It has encouraged me to keep on top of taskwarrior and my calendar, and check my phone and laptop less often.

🗹 Genuinely useful 🗹 Over-engineered 🗹 Convenient

Red Wine Reduction Sauce

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon drippings from steak or 1 Tablespoon butter if you have no drippings
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
¼ cup minced shallots or red onions
1 cup red wine of your choice
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 sprigs fresh thyme plus more for garnish
1 cup beef stock
¼ cup roughly chopped parsley leaves
2 Tablespoons butter

Directions

Reserve 1 Tablespoon steak drippings from your cooked steak in the pan over medium heat. If you haven’t cooked a steak, melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a cast iron skillet. Then, add garlic and shallots and saute, stirring until tender, about 1 minute.
Add red wine, beef stock, balsamic vinegar, and fresh thyme sprigs. Bring liquid to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat.
Allow the wine mixture to reduce until thickened, approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove the thyme from the sauce and turn the heat to low. Whisk in 2 Tablespoons butter.

Notes

A drinking wine rather than a cooking wine works best for red wine reduction sauce.
If you are making this recipe and you do not have steak drippings, you can substitute 1 Tablespoon butter to melt in the pan before adding the garlic and shallots.
When making a pan sauce, always monitor your heat. If the sauce breaks, it is likely because the smoking point of the fat was too high when the wine was added.
If you notice the sauce starting to break, immediately remove from heat and begin to whisk vigorously.

Chocolate Ganache

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate type	Choc to cream ratio	Measures
Dark chocolate	1:1	250g chocolate; 1 cup cream
Milk chocolate	3:1	250g; 1/3 cup cream
White chocolate	4:1	250g; 1/4 cup cream

Directions

Chop the chocolate and combine with cream in a microwave safe jug
Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in betwen
When the cream is hot but not boiling, stop microwaving and stir until incorporated

Notes

You can also do this with a double boiler.

Hassleback Potatoes

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

2 large Potatoes
3 tablespoon Olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Black pepper

Directions

Cut the potatoes into about 3-5 mm thick fan-like slices leaving some space at the bottom.
In a mixing bowl, mix all the rest of the ingredients.
Preheat the air fryer at 200°C.
Cook the potatoes for 5 minutes.
Open the basket and apply the seasoning mixture with the help of a basting brush between the slices and on the top of the potatoes.
Close the basket and air fry for additional 20 minutes.
Check the potatoes with the help of a fork for doneness.
Optionally, sprinkle more seasoning or garlic powder on the top before serving.

Italian Beef Stew

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

Spice rub

2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Stew

1.5–2 kg well-marbled beef chuck roast trimmed of large pieces of fat and cut into 1½-inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
6 medium cloves garlic finely minced
6 ounces tomato paste (1 6-ounce can)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons anchovy paste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups dry red wine
2 tins tomatoes
1 ½ cups low sodium beef or chicken broth maybe more
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary divided
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons capers drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
About 4 medium-large carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch slices on a diagonal.
¾ cup pitted Kalamata olives

Directions

Combine garlic salt, onion powder and pepper in a small bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
Cut the beef into chunks about 1½-2 inches in size, trimming off any large areas of fat. Place the meat in a large bowl. Sprinkle the garlic salt mixture over the beef and stir well to coat.
Preheat the oven to 325˚F. In a large heavy-duty pot or Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil until hot and shimmering. Add ½ of the seasoned beef and spread to a single layer. Cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes or until the underside of the beef is well browned. Stir, flipping the meat to the opposite side.
Continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring once to redistribute meat halfway through. Remove meat with a slotted spoon to a large clean plate or bowl. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pot and repeat the searing with the second half of the beef, adding the second batch again to the plate (or bowl).
Lower the heat to medium-low and add the onions, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes until softened. As the onions begin to release their juices, scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, brown sugar and anchovy paste. Cook, stirring frequently until tomato paste is darkened, about 2-3 more minutes.
Add the beef (with any juice that has accumulated in the bowl) back to the pan. Sprinkle with the flour and stir until the flour is dissolved, about 2 minutes.
Add the wine, bring the mixture to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes, until the liquid is reduced to about one half. Add the tomatoes, beef (or chicken) broth, 1 tablespoon of the chopped rosemary, capers and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, cover tightly and transfer to the oven. Cook for 1½ hours.
Remove the pot from the oven and add the carrots. If there’s not much liquid in the pot, add ½-1 cup of additional broth. Return the pot to the oven for another 60 to 90 minutes or until the beef and carrots are nice and tender (check after 60 minutes and every 10 minutes after that).
Stir in the olives and the remaining tablespoon of fresh rosemary, cover and allow the stew to sit on the stovetop for 20 minutes before serving.

Creamy Chicken Curry

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
2 fresh garlic cloves, finely minced
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
250g boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup hot water (optional)

Directions

In a wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, cook for 6-8 minutes or until transparent. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes.
Stir in cumin, turmeric, 1 teaspoon curry powder, red pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon salt- cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste. Mix to combine.
In ziploc bag, toss chicken pieces in remaining curry powder, season with salt and pepper. Add to wok, and cook for about 5-6 minutes until outside is golden brown. Or use a Greek Yogurt Curry Chicken Marinade.
Pour coconut milk into the wok-if coconut milk has separated from the fat, pour the liquid in and add a tablespoon or so of fat until you have the creamy consistency that you desire. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 7 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add hot water if there is not enough liquid, because it has cooked down.
Serve hot with white rice if desired or a quick naan

Greek Yogurt Curry Chicken Marinade

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

500g chicken
1 cup Greek yogurt
3 garlic cloves minced
2 teaspoons
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine Greek yogurt, minced garlic, honey, lime juice, oil, curry powder, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt. Mix to combine.
Add chicken thighs and toss until well-coated.
Cover and marinate for at least 30 minutes. You can also cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.

Pan Fried Chickpeas

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

1 tin (400g) Chickpeas, drained
A Handful of Fresh Parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon Paprika
½ Lemon, juice only
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Garlic Powder

Directions

In a skillet/frying pan, heat the oil. Add cooked and drained chickpeas and roast until it turns brown-ish.
Season with salt, garlic powder, paprika, chopped parsley and drizzle with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Cook for a further minute or two before turning off the heat.
Serve either warm or cold.

Notes

Cooking time can vary depending on how toasted you like your chickpeas. This is a very easy recipe to add things to.

Simple Beef Brisket

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

1818g beef brisket, trimmed w/ a thin layer of fat remaining
1 tbsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tbsp paprika
625 ml beef broth

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 165C. Grab your roasting pan and rack.
Mix salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika together in a small bowl. Rub this on all sides of the brisket.
Place brisket (fat side up) on top of the roasting rack in the pan. Add enough beef broth to cover the bottom of the pan by half an inch.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil (I use two pieces to make sure it’s tight) or a lid and place in oven for 1 hour.
Reduce heat to 130C and cook an additional 3 hours (covered) or until fork tender. Check the liquid level at least once to make sure that it has not burned off if your oven runs hot. Add more broth if needed.
Cool ~ 15 minutes covered and slice thinly (trim any fat off the top if desired)

Notes

You could cook it in the liquid if you are going to shred the brisket.
You shouldn’t roast vegetables at the same time—the temp is too low.
Let the beef brisket sit in the spice mix for up to a day before cooking so the salt can macerate the meat.

Two Ingredient Naan (non-traditional)

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It’s not traditional but it is super fast and tasty. This takes about 15 minutes to make and the yoghurt makes it fluffy and light. Check out this recipe for something more traditional.

Ingredients

Self raising flour
Greek yoghurt
Salt
Butter / oil

Directions

Mix the self-raising flour and yoghurt in a bowl. You want a dough consistency. Add flour if it’s too sticky and yoghurt if it’s too dry. Add a pinch of salt.
Cook on medium-high heat in butter or oil. Feel free to add garlic, herbs, etc.

Butternut Squash Spinach Pasta

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 cups butternut squash , peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ lb sausage , crumbled, without casings
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves minced
a couple handfuls of spinach
1 cup heavy cream
⅓ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
¼ teaspoon salt
8 oz pasta
toasted pine nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 C.
In a large bowl, toss cubed butternut squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes.
Cook sausage about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Cook pasta al dente in boiling water according to package instructions. Drain.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil together with minced garlic and spinach over medium heat. Cook, occasionally stirring, for about 5 or 7 minutes until spinach starts to wilt.
Add heavy cream. Bring to a brief boil, then immediately reduce to simmer. Add grated Parmesan cheese. Keep stirring the sauce with the Parmesan cheese on low to medium simmer until the cheese melts. Remove from heat.
Add drained cooked pasta and cooked sausage to the creamy sauce. Stir. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
Top the pasta with roasted butternut squash. Stir the squash in, or leave it on top. Top with pine nuts.

Notes

I use bowtie pasta, shells, or spirals.
You can air fry the squash for 20 minutes instead.

Broccoli Anchovy Pasta

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

350g dried pasta
350g broccoli
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
6 anchovies, chopped
1 tbsp butter
2 fresh red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water, according to packet instructions.
Cut the broccoli into small florets and put aside. Thinly slice the thick stalks and cook in a pan on low heat with anchovies, butter, chillies, and garlic, for about 8-10 minutes. Cook the florets with the pasta for 4 minutes.
Drain the pasta and broccoli florets, reserving some pasta water, and add to the pan. Stir gently and add 2 tbsp reserved water and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot and with another sprinkling of parmesan.

Marinara Sauce

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

8 medium-large tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
2 large cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, omit if sensitive to spice)
Salt, to taste (if necessary)

Directions

In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the tomatoes (with their juices), halved onion, garlic cloves, olive oil, oregano and red pepper flakes (if using).
Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat, then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of oil float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, and use a sturdy wooden spoon to crush the tomatoes against the side of the pot after about 15 minutes has passed.
Remove the pot from the heat and discard the onion. Smash the garlic cloves against the side of the pot with a fork, then stir the smashed garlic into the sauce. Do the same with any tiny onion pieces you might find. Use the wooden spoon to crush the tomatoes to your liking (you can blend this sauce smooth with an immersion blender or stand blender, if desired).
Add salt, to taste (the tomatoes are already pretty salty, so you might just need a pinch). Serve warm. This sauce keeps well, covered and refrigerated, for up to 4 days. Freeze it for up to 6 months.

The Amazing Trace

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Amazing Trace was developed for the Locals Programme as an O-week event. The goal was to quickly acquaint our first year students with important locations around the university. Each team was given a set of three clues for three random locations. They had to solve the clue, get to the location, and scan the poster. Some locations had challenges lead by team members. Upon completing a challenge the team would be allowed to scan the poster, and in some cases be given the opportunity to help themselves (solve the next three clues automatically) or hinder others (shuffle their clues randomly). The project was a huge hit with great turn out. I hope to run it with other groups.

Molten Chocolate Mug Cake

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

1/4 cup (30 grams) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons (12 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons (43 grams) unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons (45ml) whole milk
1 smallish egg, (weighing around 43 grams out of the shell)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/2 teaspoon if using imitation vanilla flavoring)
A couple of pieces of chocolate of your choice (I use dark chocolate, but anything from chocolate truffles to Nutella are great additions)
1 tablespoon (15ml) water

Directions

In a 2-cup capacity microwave-safe mug or bowl, whisk together with a fork, the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until well combined.
Add in the melted butter, milk, egg and vanilla. Whisk well to combine, making sure to mix in the flour mixture in the bottom.
Place the chocolate pieces in the center of the mug. Do not push down; it will sink as it bakes.
Drizzle the tablespoon of water right on top of the batter.
Cook in microwave on full power for 1 minute and 15 seconds to 1 minute and 30 seconds (1 minute and 15 seconds is my magic number), or until the cake rises to the top, the edges look set but the surface of the center looks slightly wet and shiny, and sticks to the finger when touched. It will set up as it sits. Timing will vary according to your microwave, so you’ll have to experiment until you find your perfect cooking duration. Do NOT overbake to ensure that saucy, molten-y interior. If the center still looks raw then give it another 5 to 10 seconds. The cake will fall after it comes out of the microwave.
Let it cool for about 5 minutes so you don’t burn your tongue, and the waiting will also help thicken the sauce in the bottom.

Ham, mushroom & spinach frittata

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe Makes 2 serves

Ingredients

1 tsp oil
80g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
50g ham, diced
80g bag spinach
4 medium eggs, beaten
1 tbsp grated cheddar

Directions

Heat the grill to its highest setting. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium-high heat. Tip in the mushrooms and fry for 2 mins until mostly softened. Stir in the ham and spinach, and cook for 1 min more until the spinach has wilted. Season well with black pepper and a pinch of salt.
Reduce the heat and pour over the eggs. Cook undisturbed for 3 mins until the eggs are mostly set. Sprinkle over the cheese and put under the grill for 2 mins. Serve hot or cold.

Notes

I add in red onion and whatever other veg I feel like
Goes well with a light drizzle of sriracha or chili oil
Freezes well
Divides and multiplies easily

Marry Me Chicken

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1½ teaspoons salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon chicken stock powder
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 (200g) jar sun-dried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.)
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
¼ cup thinly sliced basil leaves
Cooked pasta or mashed potatoes, for serving (optional)

Directions

Pat the chicken dry. Season all over with 1 teaspoon salt.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Once the oil is glistening, add the chicken and cook about 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
Add the garlic to the same skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in heavy cream, chicken stock, chicken stock powder, ¼ cup of the parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning, pepper, ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, and remaining salt until fully combined.
Return the chicken to the skillet. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low. Cook until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes more.
Top chicken with basil, remaining Parmesan cheese, and remaining red pepper flakes and serve over pasta or mashed potatoes, if desired.

Notes

I haven’t actually made this yet
Serve over mashed potatos, cauliflower rice, rice, garlic noodles, zucchini noodles etc

Beef and Lentil Soup

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

Spice Mix

1 tsp allspice (mixed spice will work too)
2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
1 onion , finely chopped
500g beef mince (ground beef)
1 1/4 cups dried lentils (or 2 cans, drained)
2 carrots, cut into 1cm dice
2 celery stalks, chopped into 1cm pieces
2 zucchinis (small, or 1 large), cut into 1cm dice
100g green beans, trimmed, cut into 1.5cm pieces
800g crushed canned tomato
4 cups / 1 litre beef stock, low sodium
3 cups water

Serving

Lolly Cake

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

Cake

120g butter, melted
½ cup sweetened condensed milk (160g)
1 packet malt biscuits, crushed (250g)
1 packet explorers (150g), chopped
½ cup dessicated coconut

Directions

Melt the butter and condensed milk together in a large microwave safe bowl.
Add crushed biscuits to the butter and condensed milk mixture.
Add the chopped explorers or fruit puffs and mix it all together.
Once it is all combined turn out onto a clean surface and form two logs. Use your hands to tightly pack it together.
Roll logs in coconut and make sure they are covered all over. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.
When ready to serve cut into 2 cm thick slices.

Notes

You can speed up the setting process by putting it in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Store your lolly cake in an airtight container in the fridge.

Kūmara gnocchi with garlic cream

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 4. Prep time 20 mins. Cook time 50 mins.

Ingredients

500g orange kūmara, cleaned
1 cup plain flour
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300ml cream
½ cup finely grated parmesan, plus more to garnish
1 bag (120g) baby spinach

Tip ingredients

2 cups fresh rocket
¼ cup almonds
¼ cup parmesan, grated
¼ cup olive oil

Directions

Place the kūmara in a large pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 30 minutes or until cooked through and tender when tested. Drain, then leave to cool. Once cool, peel the skins off the kumara and put through a ricer or mash in a large bowl.
Sprinkle the flour and a pinch of salt into the kūmara, then mix gently until a soft dough forms. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured benchtop and briefly knead the dough into a smooth ball, adding more flour if necessary. Cut the ball into 8 even-sized pieces and roll each piece into a long rope, around 2cm thick. Cut each rope into even-sized pieces, then lightly dust with flour; placing them onto a floured tray or benchtop.
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the gnocchi in two batches and cook until they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and toss in a light drizzle of olive oil in a bowl to prevent the gnocchi from sticking.
Place a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Pan fry the gnocchi in two batches until golden brown, remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the garlic to the same pan and sauté for 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the cream, parmesan and baby spinach and cook while stirring until the sauce has thickened. Return the gnocchi to the pan, then season to taste and serve.

Mayonnaise Cake

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

¼ cup cocoa
1 cup water
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup caster sugar
¾ cup mayonnaise

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C. Mix the cocoa, hot water and vanilla essence together in a jug. Cool.
Sift the flour, baking soda and sugar in a bowl and make a well in the centre.
Combine the mayonnaise with the cocoa mixture and then pour in the well. Mix together gently.
Pour into a well greased and lined 20cm round cake tin.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is cooked when tested. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack.
When cold, ice with a chocolate ganache, or dust with icing sugar to serve.

Greek Meatballs with Tzatziki Sauce

Fri, 27 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound 85/15 ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
¼ cup finely diced red onion
¼ teaspoon black pepper
4 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Add the ground pork, ground beef, fresh herbs, spices, salt, and pepper to a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix everything until well combined.
Scoop the meat mixture using cookie dough scoop to form the meatballs and then roll them in between the palm of your hands. Place them on a sheet pan that has been drizzled with olive oil.
After all of the meatballs have been rolled and placed on the sheet pan, bake them at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 72 degrees.
While the meatballs are cooking, make the tzatziki sauce. Add the cucumber, garlic, and dill to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the cucumber mixture to the Greek yogurt and still until well combined. Stir in the lemon juice and salt and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
When the meatballs are done, let them cool slightly and then serve with the tzatziki sauce. Enjoy!

Notes:

Serve with a fresh salad of mixed greens, sliced capsicum, tomatoes, and crumbled feta cheese.

Tzatziki Sauce

Sun, 15 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

½ cup diced seedless cucumber
2 cloves fresh garlic
½ cup fresh dill
1 cup Greek yogurt
Juice of one lemon
salt (to taste)

Directions

Add the cucumber, garlic, and dill to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
Add the cucumber mixture to the Greek yogurt and still until well combined.
Stir in the lemon juice and salt and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Anzac Biscuits

Tue, 03 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

½ cup standard grade flour
⅓ cup white sugar
⅔ cup finely desiccated coconut
¾ cup rolled oats
50g butter
1 Tbsp golden syrup
½ tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp boiling water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Mix together flour, sugar, coconut and rolled oats.
Melt butter and golden syrup. Dissolve baking soda in the boiling water and add to butter and golden syrup. Stir butter mixture into the dry ingredients.
Place level tablespoonfuls of mixture onto cold greased trays and flatten with a fork. These don’t spread as they bake so you can place them close together.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool.

Cashew Chicken

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Difficulty: Very easy
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Serving: 4 people
Cost: Low

Ingredients

Chicken breast 1 lb (700 g)
1 Leek (100 g)
Cashews 1 cup (100 g)
Garlic 1 clove
Ginger 1 tbsp (10 g)
Rice flour ⅔ cup (80 g)
Extra virgin olive oil 2 tsp (10 g)
Water 4 tbsp (60 g)
Soy sauce 3 tbsp (50 g)
Fine salt to taste

Directions

Toast the cashews in a pan on high heat, then set the cashews aside.
Rinse the leek then slice thinly, then set aside.
Finely chop the garlic and ginger, then set aside.
Cut the chicken into cubes, mix with the rice flour in a bowl, then shake out the excess flour.
Heat olive oil on a low temp, add the garlic and ginger, then the chicken.
Brown the chicken for a few minutes then add the soy sauce, the leek, and the water.
Simmer until the water has reduced and the leek is soft—about 10 minutes.
Add the cashews and salt to taste (keep in mind the soy sauce is salty!)
Serve hot!

Notes

Does not freeze well
Last in the fridge for a few days
It tastes good but isn’t much to look at

Carrot Cake

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ¼ cups (295 ml) olive oil
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 cup (200 grams) lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3 cups (300 grams) grated peeled carrots (5 to 6 medium carrots)
1 cup (100 grams) coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup (65 grams) raisins

Icing

Guacamole

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Ingredients

3 avocados, ripe
1/2 small onion, finely diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Chili flakes

Directions

Slice the avocados in half, remove the pit, and scoop into a mixing bowl.
Mash the avocado with a fork and make it as chunky or smooth as you’d like.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir together. Give it a taste test and add a pinch more salt or lime juice if needed.

Baguettes

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Makes 2 baguettes

Ingredients

50ml warm water
1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast
450 g bread flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
285 ml cool water (you may not need all of the water
additional flour, for dusting

Directions

Measure the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside and allow the yeast to dissolve and become foamy.
Measure the bread flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and stir in the dissolved yeast.
Add the cool water, a little at a time, while stirring, just until a stiff, shaggy dough (watch the video below to see what this should look like) has formed (you may not need to use all of the water).
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and gently press it into a rectangle and fold into thirds. Turn 90 degrees and repeat.
Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 to 2 hours).
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions, and shape each one into a long loaf (about 15-inches long and 1 1/2-inches in diameter), with pointed ends.
Place the loaves on a floured towel, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk (about 30 to 45 minutes).
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, and place a pan of water on the bottom rack.
Uncover the baguettes and transfer to lightly greased baking sheets.
Sprinkle with flour, and make 4 elongated slashes down each one with a lame, razor, or sharp knife.
Bake the breads until crusty and brown (in my oven this takes around 35 to 40 minutes). The baguettes should give a hollow sound when tapped.

Notes

This is best eaten on the same day
To store, wrap in tinfoil and leave at room temperature

French Onion Soup

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

Parts = Cup or whatever you want to scale the recipe by

6 large red or yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced root to stem
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sugar
salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups beef stock (2L), chicken stock, or a combination of the two (traditionally the soup is made with beef stock)
1/2 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (can also use a few sprigs of fresh thyme) OR 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons brandy (optional)
8 slices (1 inch thick) French bread or baguette
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere
Sprinkling of Parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 230°C.
Caramelise the onions. Add the onions and oil to a large pot. Cook on medium-low heat for about 30 minutes until onions start to turn golden brown. Add sugar to speed up the process.
Add the garlic and cook for a minute more.
Deglaze the pot with a half cup of white wine.
Add the stock, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, slice the baguette and brush with olive oil. Toast in the oven until golden brown (5–7 minutes).
Remove baguette slices from the oven, top with cheese, and toast for another few minute until cheese is bubbling.
To serve, ladle soup into a ramekin or bowl and place the baguette slice on top.

Notes

The soup freezes well.

Crunchy Asian Slaw

Sat, 22 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe. Serves 4

Ingredients

Slaw

¼ purple or green cabbage
1 green apple
1 carrot
⅓ cup roasted peanuts or cashew nuts roughly chopped
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
¼ cup mint and coriander chopped
1 red chilli finely chopped (optional)

Dressing

2 teaspoons sesame oil 2
2½ tablespoons soy sauce or fish sauce
¼ cup lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Finely shred cabbage until you have about 3-4 cups’ worth. Thinly slice apple and then cut into thin matchsticks. Peel carrot, then shred or coarsely grate, or cut into thin matchsticks.
Mix all dressing ingredients together and toss with the shredded cabbage, apple, carrot, nuts, toasted sesame seeds and chilli (if using), just before serving.

Banana Pancakes

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 Banana
1 Egg
Enough almond meal for correct pancake batter consistency (or oat bran, or any sort of flour)
Baking powder (about 1/2 tsp)

To serve

Maple Syrup
Butter

Directions

Mix everything together
Cook on medium high heat
Serve smothered in maple syrup or butter

I also like to put blueberries in my muffins.

Naan

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Makes 4 large naan. Approx 2 hours

For a super quick and tasty version of this recipe check out the two ingredient version.

Ingredients

375 grams all purpose flour (2 + ½ cups)
1 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup plain yogurt
15 grams vegetable oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

For the garlic topping:

2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Dough:

Tomato Coconut Curry

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves
1 small knob of ginger
2 - 3 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 teaspoon of curry powder
2 large tomatoes
1 cup of coconut milk
½ pack of frozen spinach (fresh works well too)

Directions

Rough chop the garlic and ginger. Add the coconut oil to a pan and add in the rough chopped ginger and garlic.
Sprinkle in the curry powder and let everything bloom for 1 - 2 minutes.
Chop up the tomatoes and break it down into a sauce (about 5 minutes).
Pour in the coconut cream and frozen spinach. Let it simmer down and let the flavor get to know each other.
Finally add in some broccoli, salt, and a squeeze of lime. Let it cook down and serve with rice or bread!
Serve with Naan bread

GeoTrace

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Geotrace was built for the Waitaki White Geopark as part of a Centre for Science Communication paper at the University of Otago.

This project combined web development with science communication and audio production. I created a set of four audio stories (you can listen to these in the demo) and a website. The audio stories are all about 90 seconds long and tell the geological history with a rich soundscape. The website serves the audio but also acts as a sort of scavenger hunt, encouraging visitors to explore the more of the area.

Butterscotch Self Saucing Pudding

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

Butterscotch Pudding:

1/4 cup dark brown sugar , packed
1 1/4 cup (185g) plain flour (all purpose flour)
2.5 tsp baking powder
100g unsalted butter , melted
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp golden syrup

Butterscotch Sauce:

3/4 cup (150g) dark brown sugar , packed
2 tbsp cornflour
2 cups boiling water

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
Grease a 6 cup baking dish (1.6L) with butter.

Butterscotch Sauce

Parmesan Peppercorn Bread

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1.5 cups warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
125g Parmesan cheese

Directions

Stir the flour, yeast, salt, water, pepper, and olive oil together in a large bowl until well combined. It should look sort of shaggy smooth. Cover with plastic wrap, or something else if you don’t want to kill the environment, and let it rest for two hours.
Flour your countertop with 1 tbsp flour, turn the dough out, and sprinkle the top with another tbsp of flour. Knead for 2 minutes by hand (after that it will start to get too sticky, and we don’t want to add too much flour to the dough, since it will change the identity of the bread). Place the dough back into the bowl, and let it rest for another hour, again covered with plastic.
Break the Parmesan up into little pieces. Knead the parmesan chunks into the bread, keeping your hands wet at all times so the dough doesn’t stick to you. Let it rest for an hour or two before baking.
Bake for 30 minutes covered, and 10-20 minutes uncovered

Blueberry Muffins

Sun, 30 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Makes 12ish.

Ingredients

Topping

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest, or just a lot of lemon juice
Pinch of salt
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Muffins

2 cups fresh blueberries, divided, plus more to top
1 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Streusel topping

Ocean Acidification

Sat, 01 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Ocean Acidification is an animation I put together for one of the Science Communication classes. I wrote, narrated, illustrated, animated, and mixed the video.

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Here is a link to the video instead.

NuggetNav

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

NuggetNav is an android that points users to the nearest nuggets to them and gives the distance as the crow flies. This communicates with Nugget Watch to fetch the nearest nuggets.

Built with Android Studio, MapBox, Java

Custard

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

As sweet as custard and just as thick

Milk Bread Honey Buns

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

It's milk bread honey buns

Chorizo Pasta

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

30 minutes. Serves 4-ish

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked pasta
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 chorizo sausage cut into small pieces
1/2 small onion chopped finely
3 cloves garlic minced
1 can diced tomatoes with juices
1/2 cup cream
Salt & pepper to taste
Herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc) to taste
Freshly grated parmesan cheese optional

Directions

Boil a large, salted pot of water for the pasta. Cook it until al dente according to package directions.
Prep your chorizo and onion.
Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and chorizo and fry it until it starts to get crispy (around 7 minutes).
Add the onion and cook it until it’s softened (about 5 minutes).
Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, and cream. Let the sauce cook for another 5 minutes or so, or until the sauce is reduced to your liking. Taste and season with salt & pepper as needed.
Toss with the pasta and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 4-ish. Can take hours.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts cut into 1” chunks
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup flour
canola oil for frying
1 cup pineapple chunks
1 red bell pepper cut into 1” chunks
1 green bell pepper cut into 1” chunks
1/2 yellow onion cut into 1” chunks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
4 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce
2 cloves garlic minced

Directions

To make the sauce, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce and garlic into a small bowl.
Pour enough canola oil into a dutch oven or frying pan that is comes up from the bottom about an inch to an inch and a half.
Heat the oil on medium high to high heat, you’re looking for the chicken to cook and brown in about 2-3 minutes.
Add the cornstarch to a large ziplock bag.
Add the chicken pieces to the large ziplock bag and shake until all the pieces are well coated.
Dip the pieces into the egg, then into the flour before adding to the hot oil.
Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes, until cooked through and crispy.
Remove to a cookie sheet (no paper towels!) and continue cooking all the chicken pieces.
When done cooking remove all but a tablespoon of the oil.
Add the bell peppers, onion and pineapple and cook for 1-2 minutes, until crisp-tender.
Add the sauce back in and stir to coat the pieces and cook for 30 seconds to help the garlic warm through.
Add the chicken pieces back in and stir until the sauce has thickened and bubbling.
Serve immediately, with optional garnishes of sesame seeds or green onions.

Notes

Half the batch and you’ll be done in a quarter of the time. Frying the chicken in batches takes ages.

Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup Self Raising Flour (or 1 cup regular + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
½ cup packed Soft Brown Sugar
80g Butter, melted, cooled
½ cup Milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
Vanilla ice cream or cream, to serve

Sauce

¾ cup packed Soft Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
1 ¼ cups boiling water

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C bake (160°C fan-forced). Grease a 6-cup capacity ovenproof baking dish.
Sift Self Raising Flour and cocoa into a large bowl. Stir in the Soft Brown Sugar.
Whisk Butter, Milk and egg in a jug. Slowly add to flour mixture, stirring until well combined and smooth. Spoon into baking dish and smooth the top.

Sauce

Nugget Watch

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Nugget Watch is the Goodreads of New Zealand chicken nuggets.

This was passion project that grew just a little too big. Image uploads. Ratings on reviews. Statistical methods for determining ratings. There’s a map. It can handle about 1,000 people simultaneously (for when it becomes popular). There’s also a phone number - 0800 NUGGET - it’s fully automated based on entered post codes. It has been translated into te reo Māori.

Butter, Onion, and Tomato Pasta

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe

Makes 2 servings (sauce + 2 servings of spaghetti)

Ingredients

1 tin tomatoes
1 medium sized yellow onion
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Directions

Put everything in a pot over medium heat.
When mixture bubbles, lower to a slow but steady simmer. Stir ever 15-20 minutes until sauce has reduced (45 minutes)
Toss together with 2 servings of spaghetti, optionally top with parmesan cheese.

Notes

I added pepper, olive oil, red wine vinegar, thyme, rosemary, and chopped parsley from the garden. This recipe is easy to add to and hard to mess up.

Rough Puff Pastry

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

250g high grade plain flour
1tsp fine sea salt
250g butter, at room temperature, but not soft
About 150ml cold water

Directions

Makes 700g pastry.
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Roughly break the butter in small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. You need to see bits of butter.
Make a well in the bowl and pour in about two-thirds of the cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm. Keep edges straight and even. Don’t overwork, you should have a marbled effect from the butter streaks.
Divide rolled pastry into thirds visually. Fold a third across then fold the remaining third over the top. Cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out as before to three times the length. Fold as before. Depending on time and for best results you should repeat this rolling, folding (laminating) and chilling process 3 times before rolling and cutting pastry for use.

Notes

If using a stand mixer then grate butter into bowl and mix using paddle attachment
Freezes well. Freeze before final fold.
Always mark (finger dents) how many folds your pastry has

Amish Chicken Corn Soup

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
12 cups water
2 cups uncooked egg noodles
2 cans (14-3/4 ounces each) cream-style corn
1/4 cup butter

Directions

Place first 8 ingredients in a Dutch oven; bring slowly to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
Stir in noodles, corn and butter. Cook, uncovered, until noodles are tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Spiced Apricot Jam

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 kg apricots
300 g sugar
1 vanilla pod
10 cardamom pods
1 organic lemon

(Makes 4 small jars)

Directions

Wash the apricots and remove the stones. Collect them in a large pot with the split vanilla bean and the lemon juice. Add also the squeezed lemon to the pot, as it will release pectin, very important to have a thick jam. Crush the cardamom pods and place them in a piece of tighly closed cheese cloth. Add the cardamom, too.
Cook the apricots over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until they begin to collapse. Stir often.
When the apricots are soft, remove the vanilla bean, the cardamom pods and the two half lemons, then mash the apricots.
Add the sugar and stir well until melted.
Put the pot back on the stove and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. If you have a pastry thermometer, the jam will be ready when it reaches 105°C. The jam will be still very liquid, it will thicken up once cooled down.
You can also check empirically whether the jam is ready or not with the saucer test. Pour a drop of jam onto a cold dish from the freezer. If it thickens and does not slip away when you tilt the saucer, the jam is ready to be poured into sterilized jars.
To sterilise the jars, you can boil the jars placed in a large pot and covered with water for about 20 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the jars cool down completely before removing them.
They can be kept in the pantry for more than a year.

Hollandaise Sauce

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

10 tablespoons unsalted butter (if using salted butter, skip the added salt)
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

Makes about 1 cup of sauce

Method

Melt the butter: Melt the butter slowly in a small pot. Try not to let it boil—you want the moisture in the butter to remain there and not steam away.
Blend egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, until lightened in color: Add the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and cayenne (if using) into your blender. Blend the egg yolk mixture at a medium to medium high speed until it lightens in color, about 20-30 seconds. The friction generated by the blender blades will heat the yolks a bit. The blending action will also introduce a little air into them, making your hollandaise a bit lighter.
Lower blender setting, slowly drizzle in melted butter: Once the yolks have lightened in color, turn the blender down to its lowest setting (if you only have one speed on your blender it will still work), and drizzle in the hot melted butter slowly, while the blender is going. Continue to blend for another couple seconds after the butter is all incorporated.
Adjust salt and lemon juice to taste: Turn off the blender and taste the sauce. It should be buttery, lemony and just lightly salty. If it is not salty or lemony enough, you can add a little lemon juice or salt to taste.
If you want a thinner consistency, add a little warm water. Pulse briefly to incorporate the ingredients one more time.
Store until needed in a warm spot, e.g. next to the stovetop. Use within an hour or so.

Notes

If heating to reuse then make sure not the cook eggs in the sauce.

Scones

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Ingredients

3 cups flour
25g butter
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
about 1 cup milk

Method

Preheat oven to 230c
Sift together dry ingredients. Rub in butter. Add milk all at once and mix into a shaggy dough with a bread knife. Knead on lightly floured surface until coherent shaggy ball of dough. Add milk as necessary.
Pat and push into rough square. Cut into 9 pieces.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Serve with cream and jam

Spiced Plum Chutney

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

Vegetable oil
4 shallots
1 kg mixed plums
3 fresh bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
400 g brown sugar
1 orange
cider vinegar

Makes 500ml

Method

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan over a low heat. Peel and slice the shallots, then cook gently, or until softened and golden brown. Meanwhile, stone and chop the plums.
Add the bay leaves and spices to the pan, fry for 1 minute then stir in the plums. Add the sugar and finely grate in the orange zest.
Squeeze the orange juice into a measuring jug and top up to 450ml with cider vinegar. Add to the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer slowly until most of the water has evaporated and the chutney is reduced and thick, stirring now and then as it cooks.
Spoon the chutney into sterilised jars and seal straight away. Leave to cool and store in a cupboard for a few weeks before eating.

Notes

I blended mine into a puree

Avocado Cranberry Chicken Salad

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Ingredients

Dressing

1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/3 tsp salt
1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Salad

450g chicken, grilled
250g baby spinach
2 medium avocados, cored, cubed
3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Add all dressing ingredients excluding poppy seeds to a blender and pulse until well emulsified. Mix in poppy seeds. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Avocado Cranberry Chicken Salad

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Serves 2

Ingredients

Pecans

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup pecans

Dressing

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

Salad

100g rocket lettuce or watercress
2 red pears, cored and sliced
150g blue cheese
1 avocado, sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper

Chicken

4 slices prosciutto (or bacon)
1 chicken breast

Directions

First in a pan add 1/4 cup sugar and pecans. Caramelise pecans until no sugar grains remain. Once coated remove pecans to an oiled tray to cool.

Lemon Flan

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 8-10 - 1.1 hrs

Ingredients

4 medium eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
100 g ground almonds
1 cup desiccated coconut
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup milk
1/2 cup plain flour
Crème frache, yoghurt or whipped cream, to serve

Directions

Preheat oven to 170°C fan bake. Grease a 24cm flan tin.
Place all of the ingredients in your food processor and blitz for 1 minute. Pour into the flan tin and place on a tray (to catch any small leaks) in the oven, baking for 45-60 minutes. Take care that it doesn’t brown too much on top while cooking. If it is, cover loosely with foil.
When cooked and cooled, remove from the tin and serve with crème frache, yoghurt or whipped cream on the side.

Miso Glazed Salmon

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 4 - 35 minutes

Ingredients

2 Tbsp red miso or 3 Tbsp white miso
2 Tbsp sake
2 Tbsp sugar (less or more to taste)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
4 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets

Directions

Mix the miso, sake, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl. Adjust proportions to taste.
Marinate the salmon: Pour half of the mixture into a container large enough to fit the salmon fillets, then pour the rest over the top of the fish. Make sure the fish is coated with the miso sauce. Cover the container and marinate for at least 30 minutes, and up to overnight.

Chicken Chashu

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 kg chicken thighs, boneless, skin-on
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups dark soy sauce (Japanese)
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup sugar

Directions

Roll the chicken thighs, skin-side out, into tight rolls, and secure with cooking twine.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the chicken and brown the meat on all sides.
In a large stockpot, combine the water, soy sauce, white wine, and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar completely, then add the chicken.
Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. To let the flavors soak in evenly, rotate the chicken in the seasoning liquid every 10 minutes or so while it’s cooling. To make this easier, cover the top of the chicken with a heavy-duty paper towel; the paper will help the liquid evenly soak into the meat.
Once the chicken is cooled to room temperature, remove it from the seasoning liquid and discard the paper towels. The chicken can be cut and used immediately, or wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

Notes:

Serves 4

Chicken Chashu

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
250g mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
6 cups low sodium vegetable broth
4 servings soba noodles you can also use whole wheat spaghetti
1 bunch (about 8 leaves) swiss chard, trimmed and washed you can also use a head of bok choy
2 small carrots, shredded, for garnish
4 spring onion, thinly sliced, for garnish
4 hard boiled eggs, halved
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Chicken Chashu

Directions

Heat olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat.
Add sliced mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes.
Stir in garlic and ginger; continue to cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add soy sauce and stir; cook for 3 minutes or until mushrooms are soft.
Stir in vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
Add noodles and greens; cook until the noodles are tender, about 5 to 6 minutes.
Remove from heat and ladle into soup bowls.
Garnish with shredded carrots, scallions, hard boiled eggs, and toasted sesame seeds.
Serve.

Notes

Serves 4

Pasta Aglio e Olio

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

225 g uncooked spaghetti
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano cheese

Directions

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain and transfer to a pasta bowl.
Combine garlic and olive oil in a cold skillet. Cook over medium heat to slowly toast garlic, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low when olive oil begins to bubble. Cook and stir until garlic is golden brown, about another 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt into the pasta. Pour in olive oil and garlic, and sprinkle on Italian parsley and half of the Parmigiano cheese; stir until combined.
Serve pasta topped with the remaining Parmigiano cheese.

Notes

Mix in half a ladle of pasta water to the oil to stop the garlic from over cooking

Tortillas

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Makes 8

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Stir in water and oil. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10-12 times, adding a little flour or water if needed to achieve a smooth dough. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Divide dough into eight portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 7-in. circle.
In a greased cast-iron or other heavy skillet, cook tortillas over medium heat until lightly browned, 1 minute on each side. Keep warm.

Notes

If the dough is hard to roll then let rest for a few minutes

Who's Home

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

My flatmate, Marcus, and I built Who’s Home. It’s a device that shows us who’s at the flat. We’re all introverts so this is the easiest way to check in without checking in. The device sniffs the air for any network traffic associated with our phones respective MAC addresses. It’s only a little bit creepy.

Github Link for code and schematics.

Built with NodeMCU, C, C++

Garlic Butter Steak and Potatoes Skillet

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb (650g) flank steak, sliced against the grain (or rib-eye steak, tenderloin, strip loin, strip steak…)
1 1/2 lb (650g) agria potatoes, cut into wedges
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons butter, divided
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
Salt and fresh cracked pepper
Crushed red chili pepper flakes, optional

The marinade

Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 8 people

Ingredients

1.5 litres milk, (full cream or 2%)
2 cups heavy cream
170 g semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (100 g) white granulated sugar
pinch of coarse salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup marshmallows (optional)

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients into a 6-quart slow cooker bowl.
Whisk vigorously until cocoa powder has dissolved and ingredients are well combined (about 5 minutes).
Cook for 2-3 hours on low setting while whisking occasionally to prevent the chocolate from burning on the bottom.
When hot chocolate is ready, add marshmallows into the hot chocolate and let melt little before serving.

Additional toppings: finely chopped (or flaked) chocolate), chocolate fudge sauce, chocolate chips, smashed candy canes.

Slow Cooker Swiss Steak

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original

Ingredients

6 medium beef blade steaks
8 oz fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tbs fresh thyme, minced
1 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup flour
4 tbs oil
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup cream

Directions

Heat a heavy skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Add 1 tbs of the oil. Add the mushrooms; cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue cooking until mushrooms begin to brown. Remove from pan and place in the slow cooker.
Return the pan to the heat. Season the steaks with salt & pepper. Add 1 tbs of oil and brown the blade steaks nicely. Remove to a plate and set aside
Return the pan to the heat and add 2 tbs of the oil. Add the sliced onions, the thyme and the paprika. Stir and cook for about 1 minute. Add the flour and stir well, cooking for about 1 minute. Whisk in the sherry and chicken stock, scraping up all the browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the entire contents of the pan to the slow cooker.
Place browned steaks on top of the mushroom/onion mixture. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours, HI for 4-5 hours.
Remove steaks to a serving plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep them warm. Stir the cream and parsley into the liquid. Heat for another 10 minutes. Ladle gravy over steaks and serve

Makes either 6 smaller servings or 3 larger servings.

Chicken Corn and Rice Chowder

Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion chopped
2 celery stalks finely chopped
1½ cups good quality chicken stock
1 cup cream
2 cups frozen corn (or ~2 cans)
1⁄2 cup long grain rice
2 cups cooked chicken chopped
salt & pepper to taste
Some bacon is good too

Directions

In a large sauce pan, over medium heat, melt the butter and add the chopped onions and celery. Cook until soft.
Add the stock, cream and corn. Bring to a boil.
Add the rice, stir, lower the heat and simmer 15 - 20 minutes until the rice is cooked and the soup is thickened. Season well with salt and pepper before serving.

Chocolate Cake

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 Tbsp instant coffee granules
3/2 cup
2 cups White Sugar
1 3/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 23-25cm cake tin with baking paper.
Dissolve the coffee granules in water, then place all ingredients into a food processor and process until well combined and smooth.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack and when completely cold, ice with chocolate icing. Optionally cut cake in half and fill with chocolate mouss

Note: This is a very runny mixture - don’t be alarmed the first time you make it.

East Asian Green Sauce

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe by Samin Nosrat

Ingredients:

2-3 TBSP finely diced Shallots (1 small/medium shallot)
2 finely minced, Thai Chilis (adjust for spice preferences)
2 TBSP Lime Juice
2 TBSP finely minced Cilantro
2 TBSP finely diced Scallions
4 TBSP Peanut Oil (or other neutral oil)
Salt to taste

Method:

Finely dice the shallots and chilis. In a small bowl, combine the diced shallots, minced chilis and lime juice to macerate. Macerating will reduce the harshness and bite from the shallots and the spiciness from the chilis. Let stand for 15 minutes.

French Green Sauce

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe by Samin Nosrat

Ingredients:

2-3 TBSP finely diced shallots (1 small/medium shallot)
2 TBSP white wine vinegar
2 TBSP finely minced parsley
1 TBSP finely minced basil
1 TBSP finely minced tarragon
1 TBSP finely minced chives
2 TBSP Olive oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Finely dice the shallots. In a small bowl, combine the diced shallots and white wine vinegar to macerate. Macerating will reduce the harshness and bite from the shallots. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Italian Salsa Verde

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe by Samin Nosrat

Ingredients:

2-3 TBSP finely diced shallots (1 small/medium shallot)
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
3 TBSP finely minced parsley
2 TBSP Olive oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Finely dice the shallots. In a small bowl, combine the diced shallots and red wine vinegar to macerate. Macerating will reduce the harshness and bite from the shallots. Let stand for 15 minutes.

While the shallots macerate, finely mince the parsley. In a separate small bowl, combine the olive oil, parsley, and add salt to taste.

meeting

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Marketing

13 Mar 19

Maya, Dazzy, Aisha, Morgan, Nathan, Mitchell

Posting Schedule

Instagram, facebook page and group

Two weeks to a week

Aisha - Instagram Everyone else - Facebook

Branch out more with posters

Notice boards
Squidies
Don’t want to over saturate, but we do want posters everywhere

Physical Marketing Materials

Coffee cup
Logo
USB
Pens
Badges
Phone pockets

Too long? We don’t think so
This years open rates are above previous years, and 40 percentage points higher than industry standard

Giveaways

Some form of giveaway for a specific event
e.g. makeup pack
Food pack
Maybe a free drink on the night

Follow Up

If you see something pretty, take a photo of it Conversational survey to find out what first years think about our marketing

Training Feedback 2019

Sat, 09 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Leaders Feedback 2019

Attendance: Maya, Claire, Dazzy, Nathan, Mitchell, Morgan, Maegan, Tarren, James, Aisha, Emily, Kacy, Kiran, Rosa, Stephen

Training

Did you feel you obtained enough training to perform your roles over o-week?

Yes - Everyone

I would have appreciated more training on basic interaction. e.g. Introductions. Practice. More practice than theory. - Claire

Some things that were covered on camp were missed by those who couldn’t make it. - Kacy

Social Meeting Minutes

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Emily
Nathan
Dazzy
Maya

Events

Board Games

A dozen first years
James, Phil, Tarren, Kiran where there hosting
Pretty much what you expect from a games night
There was a good mix of first years and leaders playing games together
Terrible job advertising the event

Yogalates

Did not happen

Upcoming Events

Movie Night - 14th March
Locals Botans - 26th March
- Picnic
Scrabble night - 3rd April
Movie night - First of May
Legally Blonde
Fast and Furious
Mean Girls
Shrek

Follow Up

Make the canva for upcoming events
Poll for movie nights using above movies
Get in touch with people that couldn’t show up to assign roles
Create a spreadsheet of events and attendance - organise who is available for what
- Create a field for making the canva

Super Extreme Uno

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

superextreme.uno is a website I made to describe a new set of rules for Uno. The rules were developed in my first year at university where we played at least a thousand games. The rules can be hard to grasp so I figured a website might be a good way for new players to have a quick reference.

Mental Health Training 2019

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

5 things

Eating
Sleeping
Friends
Exercise
Rest

70% of energy goes to the brain.

It’s key to get to know students early to note changes

Stress can be beneficial. It means we study for exams and go to work.

Drinking

Talk about drinking - slow down. Too much too quickly. Try not to promote alcohol abuse.

Drugs

Cannabis is still illegal. Never allowed in the university. Law and Proctor. MDMA use really prevalent. They are going to use it anyway, tell them to be safe. Analog drugs (synthetics) are around and don’t always have the intended effects.

O Week 2019

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Schedule and Event Notes

Friday 15 Feb

Pre-Orientation

This is meant to be the biggest event of the year with an expected ~200 first year students showing up.

Greeters

First year students were greeted at the door and lead into the Main Common Room for name tags. The name tags had symbols on them so that when students needed to be separated into smaller groups for events later we could match them up. This went well as we two people on the door at any time and two people at the desk.

Disclosure Training 2019

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Disclosure Training

13 Feb, 2019

Legal Terms

The law’s classification of the following terms:

Sexual violation: rape, unlawful sexual connection

Unlawful connection: unlawful sexual connection between any genders

Rape: Unlawful sexual intercourse between a man and woman

The maximum sentence for both unlawful connection and rape is 20 years imprisonment.

Consent: agreement to sexual activity. It cannot be given under coercion, power-play, intoxicated by alcohol/drugs, unconscious, under 16 years of age.

o-week2019

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Event Schedule O-Week

Everyone to wear name tags and locals shirt to all events!

Pre-toga tickets sold all week

Friday 15 Feb

Pre-Orientation Welcome

Biggest event of the week. One year we got 250 people

Arrive at 9:00am

Starts at 10:15

Greeters
- Handing out name tags
- Mentor groups not decided on Friday
- Groups for tour
Icebreaker
Tour
Welcome and Greetings
- Stephen
- Maya
- Operational Committee
- Leaders
Icebreaker -Person Bingo
Split into groups (45 Minutes)
- Tour
- Number of groups depends on number of people that show up
- Ask them what they studying and point out places that will be interesting
- Go up metal stairs to Locals
Go over events
Pizza for lunch
- Leaders will help with this
- Fruit available
- Mingle with first years
- If someone is by themselves then go and talk to them

** 12:00 Split into divisions**

Communications

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Communications Training

13 Feb 2019

Remind leaders to get ID photos next year!

Greetings

Hello!

Hi there! How are you today?

Do you have an nickname you prefer to be called by?

Have you met waddles yet?

Hi, I’m ___. One of your leaders this year. Are you from Dunedin? What school did you go to?

Hi, I’m ___. What do you study this year? Are you excited?

What do you want from us?

Events

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Organised Events

O-Week (scavenger/toga/intros/convocation) 2018
Pool Nights 2018
Relay for Life 2018
Board Games 2018
Midwinter Christmas Pot Luck 2018
Sing Star 2018
Intercollege Sports 2018
Friends Nights 2018
Cupcake Fundraising 2018
Intercollege Quiz 2018
Mario Kart 2018
Easter Egg Hunt 2018
Movie Theater 2018
The Ball 2018
Student for a day 2018
Tutorials 2018
Ensemble 2018

Suggestions

The Hunt for Waddles
Trophies Get trophies for events such as pool.

Health and Safety

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

12 Feb 2019

University of Otago Emergency Procedures

General Risks

No cords allowed over thoroughfares. We will have cords around the room so that none have to run across the room - otherwise they will be duct taped to the floor.
Kitchen: Burn and cut risks, hot water is really hot
Balcony: Don’t let students stand on balcony wall or tables / chairs
Interpersonal: First years will sign an agreement to maintain a safe environment. We are able to ask students to stop unsafe behaviour. Students must also adhere to the student code of conduct.

Lessons

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Get Involved! There is no harm in getting to know first years. They will form groups, and those groups will not include the leaders. There is nothing wrong with breaking those boundaries and getting to know students. Get in there, and get involved.
Attend the events! All of the events. Get involved with the academic stuff, the volunteer stuff, the marketing stuff. Get involved with it all. Even the stuff you don’t like.
Log the events! Get feedback afterwards and reflect on what went well and what didn’t. It helps to gauge the over all feel and plan future events. People like to be listened to so get feedback.
Success is different for others. Everyone has different goals - what one person wants probably won’t align with what I want. It’s important to learn what people want in order to best help them achieve it.
Locals doesn’t fit everyone. We start with about 200 members in Locals in the first week, and this rapidly drops off. Locals isn’t for everyone. We have had issues keeping mature students around (given the vast majority are around 18 years old this isn’t surprising). People will come and go - this isn’t a failure on our part. Locals is a constantly developing program with limted resources. Look at this as an aspiration.
Don’t be afraid of failure. Projects will fail and events might not go the way we want them to. Remember what didn’t go well, improve on it next time, and stop worrying about it.
Everything is volatile - things always change year to year. Prepare for things to change

Camp 2019

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

8-10 February 2019 Camp Columba

Events

Star gazing
Werewolf
- Dazzy lead werewolf with everyone involved
Introductions
- Name
- Course of study
Spotlight
Board Games
How to say Hello
- What did and didn’t work when we were freshers
- Appropriate and inappropriate ways to say hello
- Be friendly in HQ after O-Week - Very important
Negotiating Training
Roll playing
- Leaders stood in two circles, inner ring faced outwards, outer ring faces inwards
- Alternate pretending to be first years and talk using prompts

How do I take notes? Where do I got for X? What sort of services are available? Why did you join locals?

Leadership Training 2019

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Leadership Training

Feb 12 2019

Words Associated with leadership

Responsible, Reliable, Resourceful, Consistent
Fair, Patient, Adaptable, Educating
Compassionate, Tolerant, Adaptable, Self-Aware
Committed, Inclusive, Democratic, Integral

What do you Locals to be? What does Locals mean to you?

To be pen pals, or something similar with another locals program

Comforting, facilitating

First year focused

A lively happening space that has a constant flow of first years that are always supported

A chill place for all first years to hang out comfortably

Social Meeting 1

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

11 Feb 12:55 to 1:48

Attendance

Maegan, Morgan, Alfie, Claire, Phil, Sandi, Emily, Nathan, Kiran

Goals

Organise events that appeal to everyone. Include as many people as possible - Alfie

Appeal to diverse groups - Emily

Steady and regular flow of events. Predictable event schedule - Phil

Create a steady and regular flow of events with a calendar available so that people can predict when events will be and can check what’s happening - Phil

The Ball

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Waddles Points

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Aim

Encourage attendance and awesome events

Points

Attending an event
Organizing an event
Missing an event

Marketing Minutes 23/01/19

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Minutes

23/01/19

Present: Maya (Minutes), Dazzy, Nathan, Mitchell, Morgan, Aisha

Maya needs to know what is happening all the time – Deputy Head of Locals – needs to know if good or bad things or happening.
Dazzy – Locals Assistant – helps with running the programme – help the leaders and programme in general but focus on External engagement
Both marketing the first years and letting year 13 students know that they have a choice other than colleges
Stephen is the Head of the Locals programme – responsible for out in the University stuff – Locals is involved in everything that we should be – everyone who should know about locals does
Information flows upwards – we have confidentiality within the team

Role of this committee

Represent and market the brand of the Locals Programme

External Marketing and Communications

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

External Marketing and Communications Committee

Marketing Plan

The Plan

Members

Aisha
Dazzy
Maya
Morgan
Mitchell

First Meeting 23 Jan

Taglines

It’s like being in a college, but not being in a college

Locals is your home away from home

Chimichurri Sauce

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
3-4 cloves garlic , finely chopped or minced
2 small red chilies , or 1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon finely chopped chili)
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 level teaspoon coarse salt
pepper , to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to release all of the flavours into the oil before using. Ideally, let it sit for more than 2 hours, if time allows.
Chimichurri can be prepared earlier than needed, and refrigerated for 24 hours, if needed.
Use to baste meats (chicken or steaks) while grilling or barbecuing. We don’t use it as a marinade, but choose to baste our meats with chimichurri instead. However, you can use it as a marinade if you wish. Also, add a couple of tablespoons over your steak to serve.

Brioche Buns

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

250 ml (1 cup) warm water
60 ml (¼ cup) warm milk
2 tsp instant dried yeast
2½ tbsp caster sugar
450 g (3 cups) strong flour, sifted
50 g (⅓ cup) plain flour, sifted
40 g unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg, whisked
1½ tsp salt

Egg wash

1 large egg, whisked with 1 tsp milk

Directions

Resting time 3 hours or overnight

Combine the warm water, milk, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to stand for 5 minutes or until there are bubbles on the surface.
Combine the flours and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until you have a crumbly mixture (alternatively, use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour). Change to the dough hook attachment, add the egg and the yeast mixture and knead on the lowest setting for 5 minutes, then add the salt. Continue to knead for another 5 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth, sticky and elastic. Knead a few times to form the dough into a ball, then place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm draught-free place until the dough has doubled in size (overnight, if time permits).
Transfer the dough to a floured workbench, then punch down and roll into a sausage shape. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Working in batches, hold 1 dough portion at time in one hand, then use the other hand to pull the edges, tucking them onto the centre, until a round ball has formed. Place the dough seam-side down on a clean workbench, cup the top of the ball with one hand, then roll it gently in a circular motion to shape it further into a ball. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, then repeat with the remaining dough balls, placing them 5 cm apart on the baking tray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave to rise again for another 1 hour or until the dough balls have expanded by another one-third of their original volume.
Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Tip 250 ml (1 cup) of cold water into a roasting pan and place it on the bottom shelf of the oven.
Brush each bun well with the egg wash and bake on the middle shelf for 15–20 minutes or until golden brown, then cool on a wire rack before serving.

Notes

The longer the resting time the more sour and yeasty the bread will taste. When I made these I left them for about 10 hours - in their own they had a sour taste but with fillings I couldn’t taste it.

Thai Chicken Curry

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe created by Sarah’s dad.

Ingredients

2-3 chicken breasts
2-3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 cup of flour
2 Tbsp oil
2 Spring Onion
2-3 Tbsp cloves garlic minced
1 tsp fresh ginger
2-3 tsp green curry paste
400ml coconut cream - one can
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce

Directions

Cut breasts into bite sized pieces and place in bowl
Add 2 Tbsp soy sauce to the chicken and stir through
Sprinkle flour over chicken and stir gently to coat
Sauté in oil until golden and set aside
Add curry paste to pan and cook for 2 minutes - this spits so cover with a lid
Add garlic, ginger, and onions. Saute briefly
Return chicken to the pan and add the coconut cream, sugar, fish sauce, and remaining soy sauce.
Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through
Serve on rice
If you like soap, garnish with chopped coriander

Notes

Red onion can be used instead of spring onion
It’s important to under cook the chicken on the first cook
Don’t use cheap coconut cream. Cheaper creams are more watery and don’t make for a nice sauce

Evidence Matrix

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Evidence	C/Watch	Sandi	Alfie	Kiran	Claire	Maya	Dazzy	Stephen	Devon	Emily
Door Access Logs	✘	✘	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
O-Week	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Pictures				✔	✔			✔	✔
Penguin Place				✔	✔
Ransom Note	✔	✔		✔	✔
Critic Crossword	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘
Notes	✔	✔
Notes							✔	✔
Tilted Words
Phone Calls	✔	✔
SMS	✔	✔
Timetables		✔
Uni Cameras
Fake Door Logs	✔
Posters						✔
Maps	✔
Tilted Words	✔
Website
Emails - Internal						✔	✔	✔
Emails
Blackboard

Marketing Minutes

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

2019 Timeline: All marketing should be timed with events and their lifestyle

Mission Statement

To provide a sage, supportive, and welcoming community of first-year students living locally; living at home, flatting, and boarding.

Developing a sense of belonging for Dunedin Locals Students to their local university.

Topics

Future Students (Year 13, anyone who hasn’t got to university yet)
- Dunedin Locals
  - Flatting/boarding
  - Living at Home
- Wider Otago
- Everyone else
  - International Students
  - OIPHEN to facilitate students joining locals
  - Need to make sure international office knows the criteria for being part of locals – first year of a degree taking first year papers at Otago
Current Students (First year at Otago

Bagels

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons (4 ½ teaspoons) granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups / 300ml warm water (you may need ± ¼ cup /60ml more, I know I did)
3 ½ cups (500g) bread flour or high gluten flour(will need extra for kneading)
1 ½ teaspoons salt

Optional Toppings:

Caraway seeds
Coarse salt
Minced fresh garlic
Minced fresh onion
Poppy seeds
Sesame seeds

Directions

In ½ cup /120ml of the warm water, pour in the sugar and yeast. Do not stir. Let it sit for five minutes, and then stir the yeast and sugar mixture, until it all dissolves in the water.

Broccoli Salad

Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 bunch Broccoli (chopped into small florets)
1/4 cup Red onion (sliced)
1/2 cup Dried cranberries
1/2 cup Walnuts (chopped; or pumpkin seeds for nut-free)
1/2 cup Bacon bits (cooked)
Spoonfuls of Aioli

Directions

Combine the chopped broccoli, red onion, cranberries, walnuts, and bacon bits in a large bowl. Mix through aioli. Easy.

Chimichurri Lamb with Roast Kumara and Beet Salad

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

Salad

400g orange kumara
1 tsp honey
3 small beetroot
1 broccoli
2 Tbsp chimichurri sauce

Lamb

300g lamb leg steaks

Sauce

2 Tbsp chimichurri sacue
1 Tbsp mayonnaise

Spice Mix

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Prep and cook veggies

Preheat oven to 220° celcius. Bring a full kettle to the boil. Cut kumara into 1.5cm wedges. Toss on a lined oven tray with a drizzle of oil, honey, and half of the spice mix. Roast for about 25 minutes until tender and golden.

Internal Marketing and Advertising

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Things to remember:

Give two weeks before events to advertise
The notice board was abandoned too early and din’t show really useful stuff. Too much clutter, not enough commitment.
Leaders need to all be enthusiastic about events
Go above and beyond to promote events - dress up, decorate, etc. Leader buy in correlates to student buy in (hopefully)
Don’t flood facebook too often with event
Make sure everyone contributes at least the bare minimum

Pit falls:

Locals Trophies

Sat, 20 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Trophies

Trophies for each of the events.

Issues

Miss a week then what happens?
Participation

Methods

Leaderboard
Trophies
King of the roost
Round Robin
Teams

Engagement Plan

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Communications and Engagement Plan

Banana Pudding with Butterscotch Sryup

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

Pudding

125g Anchor Original butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
200g Anchor Protein+ Plain Yoghurt
200g flour, sifted
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Butterscotch syrup

2/3 cup Anchor Cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
50g Anchor Original butter, cubed

To serve

Tip Top Vanilla Ice Cream
1/2 cup pecan nuts, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 22cm springform tin.
Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at time beating well after each addition.
Fold in the mashed bananas and yoghurt, then sifted flour, baking powder, and baking soda until just combined.
Spoon mixture into prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Stand for 5-10 minutes then remove cake from the tin and place it on a wire rack while you make the syrup.
To make the butterscotch syrup place the cream, sugar and butter in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until well combined. Boil another 5 minutes at a low heat until thickened slightly.
Serve with icecream. Poke slices a few times with skewers and pour warm syrup over. Top with pecans.

Meatloaf

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

Meatloaf:

1 cup milk
6 bread slices
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt, such as Lawry’s
1/4 to 1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
4 eggs, beaten
8 to 12 thin bacon slices

Tomato Sauce:

1/2 cup ketchup
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Dash or 2 hot sauce (more if you like)
Dash or 2 Worcestershire sauce

Directions

For the meatloaf: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Pour the milk over the bread and allow it to soak in for several minutes. Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, salt, some pepper, seasoned salt and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the eggs. With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined.
Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a foil-lined broiler pan, which will allow the fat from the meat to drain.
Lay the bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf to give the meatloaf some support.
Next, make the tomato sauce: Pour the ketchup into a bowl. Add the brown sugar and dry mustard, and splash in the hot sauce and worcestershire sauce. Stir the mixture until well combined. Pour one-third of the sauce over the top of the meatloaf.
Bake for 45 minutes, and then pour over another one-third of the remaining tomato sauce over the meatloaf. Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes; the meatloaf should be no longer pink in the middle. Allow to sit 10 minutes before serving.
Serve with the remaining tomato sauce on the side as a dipping sauce.
Serve with roast vegetables and salad I guess. I recommend jacket potatoes.

Locals Teams

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

2019

Stephen Scott (Head)
Maya Turner (Deputy Head)
Dazzy (Assistant)

Emily Atkinson
Philip Plant (Mature Students)
Alessandro Pezzuto
Nathan Hollows
Maegan Stedman-Ashford
Alfie Richardson

Academic

Kacy Cosgrove
Isla Benham
~~Andrew Maarten Wierda~~
Claire Hudson

Volunteer

Rebecca Turner
~~Samantha Hayward~~
Holly (George) Peck-Locke
Kiran Skelton
Devon Allen

External Engagement

Dazzy Webb
Aisha Neilson
Nathan Hollows
Morgan Page Brown
Mitchell Green

Health and Well-being

James Strathern
Rosa Flaherty

2018

Maya Turner (Coordinator)
Dazzy Webb (Intern)

Claire Hudson
Nathan Hollows
Alessandro Pezzuto
Naser Tamimi
Grace Auckram

Academic

Josh Meikle
Taine Box
Kacy Cosgrove
Mandy Wang
Vickie Kavanagh

Schools

Matt Campbell
Zoe Hetfield

Volunteer

Rebecca Turner
Shaan Kumar
Billie Gell

Story

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Setup

Objective: First years need to be aware of Waddles.

Waddles is the pride and joy of Locals. He has been around since forever. Maya is super proud that we have such a cool mascot.

Leaders to push Waddles during O-Week
Potentially some Waddles badges or stickers to give out

Act One

Objectives: Set the story, build intrigue, establish suspects, introduce the platform.

Our villain steals waddles and a ransom note is left behind. Maya freaks out and sets out on a quest to discover who stole Waddles. Campus Watch hear about the happenings and pay a little visit to Locals.

Trick or Treat

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Intercollege Trick or Treat

Inter college trick or treat. All colleges get on board to offer treats to students trick or treating.

Steps:

Get in touch with heads of colleges
Advertise event within colleges

Cupcake Fundraising

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

So this wasn’t one of the social events, it was a volunteer committee event run by either Kiran Skelton or Rebecca Turner. The gist of it is that cup cakes were provided and it was a gold coin donation to decorate and eat the cupcakes. It was a huge success with everyone getting involved.

What went well:

It was a very easy to get behind fundraiser
Everyone loves cupcakes
The table was prominent in the room

What didn’t go well:

Easter Egg Hunt

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This event was a whole lot of fun - and something that first years and leaders could get involved with (towards the end, at least). A couple of leaders hid easter eggs around the room that were numbered, and as they were found they could be handed in for a chocolate egg - the number being crossed off to avoid duplicates.

What went well:

Only a few leaders knew where the eggs were hidden
First years loved getting involved with this
Eggs were hidden really well, some easy, some hard

What didn’t go well:

Feedback

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Feedback Evening

Have you enjoyed the social events that we have organized?

Naser is feeling as though we are doing well. More movie nights to help integrate everyone together
First years suggested camps, ski trips, etc. With other colleges maybe
More singstar, sing alongs
Run events on different days of the week
Weekends are good too

Have you enjoyed the volunteering events?

Need to be advertised more
Advertise earlier
Rape awareness week
Relay for life too early
More events
Time commitments may be too much
Raise money for different sorts of illnesses
Beach clean up
Actively encourage recycling

Did you find the Academic support we offered helpful? Was there enough?

Friends Nights

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone gets together for an evening for watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

What goes well:

Everyone loves watching this show for nostalgia
People clap to the theme song

What doesn’t go well:

People get sick of it after a while

What we could do better:

Pace it better
Offer alternative shows
Snacks?

Intercollege Quiz

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The intercollege quiz is an event that was organised by locals for all of the colleges. Locals had a team entered as did every other college.

What went well:

The range of clues was excellent
Everyone came together

What didn’t go well:

The event was incredibly stressful
It was on Maya and Josh to get everything done

What we could have done better:

Delegate jobs out a little bit more
Get everyone on board earlier
Come up with a game plan for the night

Movies

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We went to see a few movies, the main ones being Avengers: Infinity War and Beauty and the Beast. It’s a very simple event that everyone gets behind. There’s not much that doesn’t go well with these events.

What goes well:

We get heaps of people
Movies hype and advertise themselves

What we could do better:

Dress up
Really formal
Marathon before hand

Sing Star

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Everybody loves Singstar. Except me.

What goes well:

Outgoing students love to get involved with this

What doesn’t go well

Need leaders to get involved to some extent
Doesn’t work for shy students

What we can do better

Sing alongs are excellent at getting everyone involved, shy and outgoing alike

8 Ball Pool Nights

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We have had a number of these through the year, and a variety of different students coming out to play. Sometimes it went well, sometimes people didn’t show up at all.

What went well:

Students got together and had a good time
Good alternative activity

What didn’t go well:

Waning interest over time
Few students showed up, those that did didn’t show up again

How we can do better:

Get all leaders of board
Trophy for winner
Make results public
Make it more competitive
Make it easier to get into

Board Games

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What went well:

We have a lot of board games for students to play
Students look getting involved and learning new games
Love competitive games
Love party games
More variety the better

What didn’t go well:

Some more mature students don’t like games like Dixit or CAH because they cannot relate to younger students
Leaders getting too competitive
Some games too big to play
Some students cheating - very hard to deal with

What we can do better:

O Week

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

First Years Welcome 2018

So this was the big get together on Monday, with BBQ, games, quizzes and awkward introductions. It was our job to make the events run smoothly and to get people interacting with each other. It was difficult as some students were chronically shy. There was one students that I couldn’t coerce into talking to others, it’s a huge shame and I wish she would try harder but I understand that the setting wasn’t really the best for her.

Pot Luck

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This was easily the best event that we ran this year (and it was my idea and planning that made it work!) We pulled this off well because of how it was promoted. A week before running the event we snuck into HQ on sunday to decorate the room. Streamers were everywhere, fairy lights and Christmas trees aplenty. People were not excited until this happened.

What went well:

Decorating a week before got everyone excited for the event
Promoting the event all week through decorations and Christmas music
Pot luck was exciting
Christmas tree made everyone happy
Gift exchange between Dazzy and myself
We blocked out the windows so that people couldn’t see in

What didn’t go well:

Relay for Life

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This event was a 24 walk around a 400m track to raise funds and awareness for the cancer society.

What went well:

The setup and theme worked well
Board games to pass the time during the night

What didn’t go well:

Very few students showed up
We didn’t get the second tent - would have been bad if more students showed up

What we could do better:

Advertise better
Publicise how much money is being raised
Publicise how many students are on board
Create a goal to beat

Components | The Hunt for Waddles

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Components

Door Access Logs

Based on the original door access logs that Maya sent me. Must not include any official otago branding.

Campus Watch releases door access logs from the night
Maya later gets original logs - shows Sandi was at the scene

People

Locals team must be briefed about the game
Actors must be briefed about their roles
Campus Watch must know role to play

Website

The Hunt for Waddles

Missing Posters

Poster 1

Mug shots

Mug shots for the poster board.

Failure | The Hunt for Waddles

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Failure

Preparing for Failure

There’s a good chance that this project won’t turn out as expected. We may not get buy in, interest might wane, the game may not be interesting for our cohort.

Wrapping it up

Prizes

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Miniature Waddles during O-week
Book vouchers - $50

Apple Bread

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups apples, diced
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Directions:

Combine and set aside the oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
Sift flour, cinnamon, soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to oil mixture gradually.
Add apples and nuts.
Bake in 2 regular loaf pans or 3 foil loaf pans for 1 1/2 hours at 170 degrees.
Cool 10 minutes in the pan.
Sprinkle with sugar, if desired.

Chilli Con Carne

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/recipes/slow-cooker-chilli-con-carne-2823

Ingredients

1 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1kg beef mince
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
250ml (1 cup) beef stock
1/3 cup tomato paste
800g can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
800g can crushed tomatoes
steamed rice, sour cream, freshly chopped coriander leaves and grated tasty cheese to serve

Directions

Heat oil in a frying pan and saute onion and garlic until soft.
Add mince, cumin and smoked paprika and cook mince, stirring and breaking up, until browned.
Transfer to slow-cooker.
Stir in oregano, chilli flakes, beef stock, tomato paste, kidney beans and tinned tomatoes.
Cook, covered, on low for 8 hours.
Serve with rice, sour cream, freshly chopped coriander leaves and grated tasty cheese.

Mississippi Mud Pie

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

https://goodfood.uktv.co.uk/recipe/mississippi-mud-pie/

Ingredients

For the base and sides

75 g butter
150 g chocolate digestive biscuits
150 g dark chocolate sandwich biscuits, such as Oreos

For the filling

135 g plain dark chocolate, broken into squares
135 g butter, cubed
3 large eggs, beaten
150 g light soft brown sugar
25 g cocoa powder, sifted
150 ml double cream

For the topping

250 ml double cream
1 tbsp light soft brown sugar
25 g plain dark chocolate, grated or chocolate curls

Directions

For the base and sides: Melt the butter in a small pan. Break the biscuits into chunky pieces and put in a food processor. Blitz into crumbs then add the melted butter and with the motor running blend until thoroughly mixed.

Pulled Pork

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/92462/slow-cooker-texas-pulled-pork/

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 (2 kg) pork shoulder roast
1 cup barbeque sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 extra large onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
8 hamburger buns, split

Directions

Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker; pour in the barbecue sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cover and cook on High until the roast shreds easily with a fork, 5 to 6 hours.
Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices.
Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns.

Ropa Vieja

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Ingredients

3 slices bacon
2 pounds flank steak, sliced into 1-2 inch wide strips
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon thyme
1 bay leaf
6 oz can tomato paste
14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups beef stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/3 cup canned pimiento peppers
1/2 cup green olive sliced lengthwise
3 tablespoons capers, drained
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare the steak. Slice your flank steak into strips and roughly chop the bacon. Pop a large french or dutch oven on the stove over medium heat. Throw in the bacon and cook until crisp. Pull it out and put it on a plate while you cook the steak. Salt and pepper the steak liberally and brown in batches in the bacon fat. It will go pretty quick! As it browns, pull it out of the pan and onto the plate with the bacon.

Sun dried Tomato Bread

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.lovethekitchen.co.uk/sun-dried-tomato-bread-with-oregano-and-sea-salt-crust/

Ingredients

500g Strong White Flour
7g fast action yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
275 ml warm water
3 x tbsp tomato purée
3 x tbsp olive oil
50g sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
coarse sea salt
1 x tsp dried oregano (and extra to sprinkle on the crust)

Directions

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, dried oregano and sugar)in a large mixing bowl, and mix thoroughly.

Website

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Requirements

Scoreboard
Signup
Authentication
Emails
Check if Local
Storyboard
Evidence submission

Style

Black and Red
In keeping with Missing Poster

Inspiration

Missing Poster

Data

List of first year students usernames - hashed
Data can be erased

Characters | The Hunt for Waddles

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Characters

Suspects

To keep a secret
Revenge
Frustration/hate
Money/Greed
Jealousy
Property Dispute
Personal Vendetta
Political
Class Conflict
Other Felonies
Urge to Protect
Animal Activism

Dazzy

Dazzy is gunning for Maya’s job
Planning a ku
Frame Maya for incompetence
Getting help from someone else
Forcing someone to help
Swiped in over the weekend

Stephen Scott

Waddles is not anatomically correct
Bullied at build a bear

Maya

Publicity
Pushing the event pretty hard
Often forgotten
Critic
Campus Watch involved
Website is already up - posters are made

Kiran

Working with Claire
Animal Welfare
Picket sign - waddles should be free!

Alfie

Revenge

Claire

Working with Kiran
Animal Welfare

Devon

Surveying needs a mascot

Bad Guys

Villain

The kidnapper of waddles, and the minion of the Architect. Tells the truth about their efforts after being caught. Game will shift from capturing the villain to uncovering the Architect.

Emails | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Emails

Campus Watch

Good afternoon,

Early next year Locals will be running and Alternate Reality Game (ARG) following the disappearance of Waddles, the Locals mascot. First year students will follow clues to uncover who stole Waddles and why, and to bring him back. The game is being designed to get first years mingling with each and the Leaders to solve clues, and to teach first years about the services available to them. We are teaching first years about some of the most important resources and services available to them by weaving them into the narrative.

Experience | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Experience

This is not a game.

It’ very important that Locals leaders know as little about the game as possible. One reason for this is so that when Waddles does go missing it adds an air of realism.

Storytelling / Narrative

The story line will follow Waddles’ disappearance and will be driven by the clues left by the suspects and people involved. Leaders will have to push the game hard in the first week to get the maximum number of students signed up and ready to go. This is the first years mission.

Goals | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Goals, Objectives, and Schedule

Goals

Get first year students bonding with each other, working together as well as competing to solve puzzles.
Get first year students bonding with the Locals team
Introduce first years to services available to them at the university without overwhelming them

Objectives

Build a website for The Hunt that lets players see their progress
Ensure Locals Leaders are able to help first years solve the clues and get one up on each other
Get three services on board, and incorporate at most two core messages from each service into the story line

Preliminary Schedule

Week One - The Rabbit Hole

Ideas and Process | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Ideas and Process

This is a log of what I’ve done, and thought about. Any new ideas are documented here as well as what I’m doing / done / next steps.

August 10

Created the pre-production plans. Current next step is to get in touch with Dazzy, Maya, and Stephen about the services we want to cover. Then get in touch with those services. After that I need to get in touch with those services. I suggest SLD, Campus Watch, and ITS. Maya suggests Unicrew as well, which tells nicely into the volunteer roles as discussed in the feedback evening.

Initiation | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The Idea

The Hunt For Waddles is a game or first year Locals. It covers the story of Waddles, the mascot, being kidnapped and found again by first years. We will tie university services into the game to deliver core messages to students in a way that sticks. The game will also be used to build competition and teamwork between freshers. As leaders will be running the game, and hopefully, also solving the game with first year, it will help them to form bonds with the team.

Teams | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Roles

Puppet Master

Nathan

Story Designers

Claire
Maya
Dazzy
Nathan

Locals Coordinators

Emily
Rebecca - how can we integrate Volunteer?
Kacy - how can we integrate Academic?

Actors

Maya
Dazzy
Alessandro
Claire
Alfie
Campus Watch
Anyone else that wants to

Services

SLD
- Not sure what they can offer
- Excellent resource for first year students
- Hard to plan at the moment
ITS
- Can put clues on blackboard
- Help students with study tools and resources
- Students that work there have done the courses that first years are doing now Clues
- Drops
- Blackboard
- Stats packages, word, excel

Meeting 21-25st Jan

Technologies | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Technologies / Clues

This will be updated as the story progresses, and things are dropped or added. Those in bold are the most important for the rabbit hole and need to be perfect for launch.

Physical

Posters
Notes
Tilted Words
Maps
SMS
Phone Calls
People
Critic
Campus Watch (logs, footage, safety car)
Door Access Logs

Information Encoding

Morse Code
MD5
Barcodes, QR codes Avoid:
Anagrams (too ambiguous)
Arbitrary encoding (too difficult to decipher)
Caesar Shift

Online

Website

Todo | The Hunt for Waddles

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

To do

Decide on services to get in touch with
Write an email to the services
Get in touch with Student IT
Get in touch with Campus Watch

Document core messages, narrative
email Build character list and motivations
Decide on Villain, Insider, Architect

Write start of story
Write middle of story
Write end of story

Decide on prizes

Apple Pie

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Ingredients

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
115 g unsalted butter
25 g all-purpose flour
60 ml water
100 g white sugar
110 g packed brown sugar
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

Original Recipe

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 175 degrees C. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Challah Bread

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

This makes 2 large loaves, and takes a lot of time (an hour or two of active time, two days overall).

Ingredients

5 tsp. active dry yeast
1-3/4 cup warm water
⅔ cup sugar
½ cup olive oil, plus extra to grease a bowl
5 eggs, plus 1 extra for an egg wash before baking (6 eggs total)
1-2 Tbsp. salt, depending on your taste (I use 1-1/2 Tbsp. or so)
8 to 8-1/2 cups flour, plus extra for kneading/dusting

Directions

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes or until yeast begins to foam.
Mix oil, sugar, and salt into yeast.
Add 5 eggs, one at a time.
Add 8 cups of flour in 1-cup increments, mixing the dough a bit between each flour addition. (If you’re using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment here. If you’re working without a mixer, stir in as much flour as you can with a wooden spoon and then knead the rest in by hand).
When you’ve added 8 cups of flour, take a look at your dough. It should be slightly sticky but should still hold together and pull away from the sides of your bowl as you mix. If the dough is too wet, add more flour in ¼-cup increments until dough reaches the right consistency.
If you’re working with a stand mixer, add an additional 1 Tbsp. of flour to the mixer and continue to knead the dough with your dough hook attachment until the dough is smooth and holds together. -If you’re working without a mixer, turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and knead it by hand until it reaches a smooth consistency.
Oil a large bowl and place your dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let it rise in a warm place for 1-1/2 hours or until it has doubled in size.
When dough has doubled, punch it down and turn it over in your bowl. At this point, you can either let it rise again on the counter or let it rise slowly in the fridge overnight. I ALWAYS do one rise overnight in the fridge, no matter what kind of bread I’m baking. It gives the flavors more time to develop and makes for a much richer end product. If you’re in a hurry, though, re-cover the dough and let it rise again for 45 minutes on the counter. If you have the time to wait, re-cover the dough and place it in the fridge for 7-8 hours or overnight. After the dough has risen in the fridge, take it out and allow it to come back to room temperature before you proceed with the next step (about 3-4 hours).
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, punch it down slightly, and cut it into 12 equal pieces. (Each loaf will use 6 of those pieces). Set 6 pieces aside while you form the first loaf.
Roll each piece of dough out into a long rope, about 12-14", and place the ropes parallel to each other on your floured surface. See this video for great instruction on how to braid the pieces. - Braid one loaf, set aside, and repeat the process with your remaining 6 pieces of dough. Transfer the loaves to a large baking sheet.
At this point, you can freeze one or both loaves for baking later or you can let them rise a final time. If you freeze a loaf, remember to let it come back to room temperature and rise before you bake it. If you’re moving straight onto baking, cover each braided loaf and let it rise a final time - in a warm place for 1-1/2 hours or until the loaves have nearly doubled in size (they should be puffed up pretty significantly).
Beat your remaining 1 egg with 1 Tbsp. of water to make an egg wash. Brush it liberally on each loaf. Place loaves into a 375 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes have passed, pull the baking sheet slightly out of your oven and give each loaf another liberal brush of egg wash.
Return loaves to the oven for 10-20 minutes or until loaves have developed a deep golden color. Fully cooked loaves should make a hollow sound when you tap them and will have a sturdy outer crust. (Don’t worry, the inside will be soft!)
Let loaves cool for 15-20 minutes. This bread tastes UN.BE.LIEVEABLE. when you eat it warm, but it’s pretty dang delicious at room temperature, too. Enjoy!

Tuscan Bread

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

Ingredients

3 Cups Bread Flour (with a little extra for dusting)
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast granules
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil

Directions

In a large bowl fold together flour, yeast, salt sugar, oregano, thyme, marjoram, and thyme with a rubber spatula. Fold in warm water and olive oil and stir until mixed thoroughly (bread will be sticky).
Let dough sit in a covered bowl for 1 1/2 hours at room temperature, or until dough doubles in size.
Once dough has doubled in size, generously flour a clean surface, place dough on surface, and knead dough 4-5 times.
Leave dough on the counter and tent foil over dough and left rise another 1 1/2 hours. At the 1 hour mark, preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place dough in a covered Dutch oven or on a pizza stone and bake covered for 30 minutes. Then, remove cover and bake for an additional 10 – 15 minutes, until bread is a light golden brown.
Enjoy it hot or save it for dinner, sandwiches or whatever your heart desires.

Butternut and Carrot Soup

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Ingredients

Parts = Cup or whatever you want to scale the recipe by

3 Parts diced butternut
2 Parts thin sliced carrot
1 Part chopped leek
3 parts chicken stock
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 part cream
Cinnamon
Curry Powder
Cumin Seeds
Paprika
Celery Salt
Pepper
Basil
Parsley

Directions

Cook butternet, carrot and leek in a large pot for around 8 minutes with the butter.
Add chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes.
Take off of the heat to cool before blending with a stick blender.
Let simmer for another 30 minutes after adding herbs and spices.
Mix in cream well, allow to heat then serve.

Golden Syrup Dumplings

Tue, 31 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/golden-syrup-dumplings-5/227e4b2b-0153-4e55-8458-35784847962a

Ingredients

3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) golden syrup
2 cups water
100g butter
1 1/2 cups (225g) flour
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup (185ml) milk

Directions

Combine 2 cups (500ml) water, brown sugar, 1/4 cup (60ml) golden syrup and 50g butter in a large saucepan. Stir over a low heat until melted.
Meanwhile, use your fingertips to rub in 50g butter into flour and baking powder. Combine milk and 1 tablespoon golden syrup. Stir into the flour mixture until well combined.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs (or 1 egg + 2 egg yolks)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped chocolate (a mix of milk/dark/darker)

Directions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C
(Optional) Heat the butter on medium-low heat, stirring occassionally until butter turns brown. Let cool.
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth (10 minutes)
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt.
Stir in flour and chocolate chips.
Chill the dough for 30 minutes minimum and for great flavour, up to 5 days. 3 days is the sweet spot.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto lined pans.
Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Notes

Blend the butter, and sugars together for longer than you think you need to. This will stop the cookies from having that undissolved sugar feeling.
Use 1 egg and 2 egg yolks for better cookies with a deeper flavour.
Swap chocolate for macadamias for good nut cookies. Chocolate and coconut is also good.
Browning the butter changes the texture of the cookies—they will taste better but may be not be as chewy if cooked for the same amount of time.

Onion Bhaji

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe

The List

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

List of things to have playing at the flat

Words Claire mispronounces

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

All pronunciations and accents are equally valid, linguistically. Anyway.

About

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I'm a student at Otago University studying Statistics and Computer Science

Terrible Ways to Hang a Poster

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Ever thought how to hang that poster?

Christmas wishlist

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

These are a few of my favourite things

Ti.mba

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Ti.mba is a fully featured CRM for timber mills, and my very first foray into software development. I was the ‘Logistics and Systems Coordinator’, which was a fancy term to describe booking freight, tracking and processing orders, and generally managing paperwork that moved between the office and the yard. The problem was that my memory was terrible and none of the details would stick. My customers would ask for updates on orders and I wouldn’t have the foggiest clue what they were talking about. So I developed this system to remember things for me.

Access Denied

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hold on there, Jim

Woops, looks like you tried accessing this section without permission

Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I enjoyed Dune Messiah. It wasn’t as good as the first book, but very few books are. Frank Herbert carried on Paul’s story to it’s conclusion — an act that we knew must play out as well as Paul did. Frank Herbert wrote about prescience, about a protagonist with oracular vision without it being boring. Near infinite vision isn’t a gift, it’s a curse. The alternative would have been to spell out the ending for us, but instead Herbert lets us experience Paul’s turmoil.

Error 404

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Error 404

Woops. Looks like this page doesn’t exist.

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Muraki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Spoilers ahead

I enjoy reading anything by Haruki Murakami. The last book of his that I finished before this was A Wild Sheep Chase, and before that, 1Q84. What struck me about this novel was the down to earth nature of the story. Set around Tokyo in the late 1960’s, this book follows Toru Watanabe and his various relationships. This book is a love story at it’s core, without any of the mysticism that Haruki Murakami normally brings to his stories.

The Flying Doctor - Dave Baldwin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dave Baldwin tells the story of his life and the relationships he has formed.

I’m not a big fan of biographies. I prefer books that take an idea and run with them. I also didn’t expect to like this book very much because I never really got along with Dave, who was my aviation doctor. The way he slings a phrase doesn’t do much for me and I struggled to gel with him.

Will Rose be Okay?

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yes.

Updated