Huka Prawn Park Restaurant

In search for fresh, juicy prawns, we arrived at Huka Prawn Park where you can dine and enjoy lots of other activities like prawn fishing, jet-boating etc. This is a place where you can get full education on prawns, from breeding, catching and eating one, at a fee of course.

Alfresco dining by the Waikato River on a perfect day! Table 43, thats our leftover.

Delicious but rather disappointed with the portion.

Fish & Chips 

   Reckon this can make a good soup base? haha.

An ideal place for family with kids. Food was tasty but I wouldn’t recommend this to peeps who just need a dining location or were on budget. My eye balls almost fell out when I looked at the menu. Fyi, the prawn platter cost us NZD62 which immediately a second voice in my head was screaming…ripped off.

Add: Huka Falls Road, Wairakei Park, Taupo, New Zealand

And since you are here in Taupo, don’t forget to check out Taupo Bungy for a quick fix on your adrenaline rush.

Fish is one of my Favourite Food

Besides fishes full of prickly bones and little meat, I love most kinds of fish. I love them cooked in many ways; my choice of fish is over meat most of the time. As you can tell, I don’t really think much of eating fish, I order what is interesting on the menu and if it’s sushi, it’s salmon for me.

It will be a different story starting today. I refer to Nadya Hutagalung’s Green Kampong website. She has a great site going about being environmentally conscious and responsible. I read about conscious eating at her website and why we have to do so.

I remember sometime back, someone told me not to consume too much salmon because they were overfished and they are not ‘environmentally friendly to eat’ because “it takes many fishes to grow a salmon fish”. Okay, maybe it is not a 100% accurate statement but you get the drift.

Image taken from WWF Website

WWF is not suggesting we do not eat fish anymore (how can we ever do that?) but to eat with consideration. So they came up with a brochure to help us identify which fishes are farmed with sustainable practices; for everyone’s convenience, it is a printable and foldable piece that fits nicely in our wallets or pockets.

Remember nature’s food chain? It’s time for us to think about what we do and all the consequences that come with it. I’m sure all of us know what kind of world situation we are in, if you are not sure – just tune in to the news and hear about earthquakes, tsunamis, heat-waves and what not. One thing leads to another so let’s keep the earth together – TOGETHER.


Warm love,
Starningblue

Slurp it like the Japanese

Kel has a thing about "a lady has to EAT like a lady". I break his rule often by simply slurping noodles.

And then, we went to Japan where EVERYONE was slurping - ladies, kids, men... To prove my point, check out the papermat I found at Men-ichi, they even include cupping the bowl and bring it to your mouth.

So now I have the license to slurp and convert him into a slurper as well! The idea is not to be a messy slurper; it is to be an elegant slurper.

Try it, slurp it!

Spiku

Box with name of cake "Spiku"

Linda was in town last week and we had a blast hanging out and doing girly things like visit Browhaus and sharing cake together at PS Cafe.

Knowing I love anything sweet and indulgent (but no cheesecake please…), Linda brought me Spiku all the way from Surabaya. Some bakeries do have this here and call it Surabaya Cake. I still prefer the original version from Indonesia as they make it less oily, less cream in between the layers; which makes it easier to have the second slice!


Warm Love,
Starningblue

Chill out

New found place in town to chill out, a great chilling place to rest those tired legs from shopping. But for me, its to find a nice place indoor to get away from the wintery cold.

I had it too.

I’ve never heard of 盆菜 until my parents preorder them for our family get together dinner when I was back earlier in the year. Then suddenly I kept seeing them on restaurants’ CNY menus. Flavourful is the word. Have you tried one too?

Ah…hate it when Starningblue blog about festive seasons. Don’t get me wrong…its just cos I’m jealous that I can’t feast on any of the goodies that are easily available to her. 7th no CNY to me but hope all had a great one.

Year of the Tiger, Let's Eat!

I’ve been really good this year! I can easily count the number of pineapple tarts that I chowed down, but didn’t have much of my favourite “white, powdery cookie” (this is how I name Kueh Bangkit since young) because it is no longer baked by my old neighbour auntie.

Unfortunately, 4 out of 5 of us in the family was unwell to varying sickness throughout the holidays. Mum was down with fever on day 1 and I cooked porridge dinner for the family – this is the first time :)

So the most memorable part of Chinese New Year was on the continuous losing end to my sister in Mahjong and reunion dinner at Grandma’s. As life progresses on, I find that I cherish such family get-togethers more, recognizing the fact that with every passing year the group gets smaller and more relatives choose to opt out of celebrating the season together.

All that said; now let’s allow the pictures speak for its own.

Traditional sweets

Wok-Cooked Pumpkin

Hakka 炸肉 ("Fried Pork"), pronounced as zha nyuk in Hakka

Hakka 酿豆腐 (Braised Stuffed beancurd)

Sweet Soup of Beancurd skin with Barley

Doing the Lou Hei

盆菜

How was your Chinese New Year holiday? Hope it was blessed with lots of good food.

Warm love,
Starningblue