Herbs n pavs n chillies n things

Our holidays are fast coming to an end but the week at home has been super productive. The aquaponics is up and running, no fish have died, gardening has been done, pavlova has been baked and consumed (yes, it was consumable) and there has been much drinking, dart playing, barbecuing and The Bachelor watching (ok, not so productive, but sometimes it's just too hot to do anything else).

My wheelbarrow herb garden has been replanted as the chives had died, thyme had gone to flower, coriander had all been used and the rosemary was the last herb standing. 

I saw the idea for a wheelbarrow herb garden in a gardening magazine at work one day and was lucky to find a wheelbarrow on Trademe on the North Shore for $2. I set this up a few months ago and it has worked well - all it needed was a few holes drilled in the bottom. The coriander has been a bit disappointing but I think it needed a deeper pot as they have long roots so have now planted these in pots. In the wheelbarrow I replanted the rosemary, added some oregano, some new thyme and some dill.

New chives went in a separate pot and all components have gone out the back door. I think the key to a successful herb garden, and vege garden actually, is using what you grow. It is easy to plant loads of different veges but you have to use them. And I think the key to using herbs is having them easily accessible to the kitchen. It is dead easy for me to pop out the back door and snip exactly what I need (especially true in winter when it is just that bit harder going out into the cold and dark when you're cooking dinner).

We also cut back the tomato plants quite a bit as the suckers and dead leaves had got a tad out of control. One plant was fully pulled and the others are looking a lot barer but much healthier. There was also a ton of ripe toms I will look to do something with tomorrow. The strawberries have also gone as weren't producing fruit any more and some new lettuces and basil has been planted.

The chilli plants look amazing! There are tons of Jalapenos, Thai chillies,  Habaneros, Fataliis and Bhut Jolokias and I am thinking of many ways of how I will use them.

Jalapeno

Bhut Jolokia

Fatalii

There was a tiny Habanero ripe today so Elliot and I decided to try some.

It did not go well. I had a quarter of this tiny devil and it was painful. 500 ml of chocolate milk later (milk or yoghurt is meant to help and seeing as plain milk is disgusting, chocolate milk it has to be) and I was still in pain. I had tried some Jalapeno earlier and it wasn't too bad but this Habanero was mental. It is so tiny in comparison to what else is growing and not a patch on the heat of the Bhut Jolokia, so there are going to be some crazy hot times ahead...

The Jalapeno and miniature but evil Habanero

In other food-related news, Elliot and I had lunch at Mexico in Takapuna on Thursday (we had been to the zoo and surprisingly decided to forego the sad looking $5 pies and chicken nuggets they had on offer). Mexico is a newish chain of Mexican restaurants in Auckland and this is the first one I have been to. It is not traditional Mexican fare but is cheap, has an awesome, funky atmosphere and decor and more importantly is yummy!

Elliot had the Achitoe chicken, citrus cured red onion, mint with salsa borracha quesadilla and I had the braised beef brisket in coconut and ancho with green onion, chilli and papaya soft taco and we shared crispy potaotes in celery lime salt with spicy tomatillo dressing. It was all so good. The quesadilla was cheesy and chickeny and the accompanying salsa was spicy and delicious; the beef was tender, the chilli perfectly balanced with the cocnut and papaya and the potatoes were a crispy and limey-salty delight. The food came in about five minutes, the beer was cold and at $42 for us both including two beers, it was a bargain. I will definitely be back to try the other menu items. They also had a good range of hot sauces on the table to try.

The beer was goooooood - especially when it's 27° outside 

Chicken quesadilla and beef taco

Good range of hot sauces 

Other foodie bits this week included using more of my chipotle sauce mixed with mayo in a potato salad that we had with barbecued chicken, zucchinis and mushroooms done on the barbie. The potatoes were out of our garden and I mixed them with red capsicum, red onion and chives (all from our garden as well) with the chipotle mayo (to the mayo mix I also added a little bit of cream to make it a bit runnier to go through the potatoes a bit better and some lemon juice). Yummo - and rather tasty with a cold glass of rosé.

Chipotle potato salad with capsicum, red onion and chives

And now, the pavlova... after a few helpful hints from my friend Jennie, I did everything I was told. The egg whites were at room temperature and the sugar was added painfully slowly, the mixture looked good - fluffy, shiny and I was stoked when it went in the oven. 45 minutes later and it had sunk a bit in the middle and cracked a tiny bit but I was pretty pleased with it for my first attempt (and the sinking and cracks was nothing some whipped cream and berries couldn't hide).

The first cut into it was the real teller and I was pleasantly surprised. Marshmallowie and soft in the middle and crunchy on the outside. It tasted good and all who ate it enjoyed it... especially my favourite little monkey...