OH MY GOODNESS....what a beautiful summer we are having in Tauranga, New Zealand. Sun, blue skies, fit and healthy people, beach, sand, waves, sandy dog, beach hair and brown skin. My garden is a riot of colour both with vegetables and flowers. A glut.. a glut of tomatoes, so wonderful to pick tomatoes in the morning for lunch at work and then again in the evening for salad. I just love! Lots of beans, constant supply daily, lovely raw or blanched quickly, cooled and added to any salads. Parsley, rocket (rocket by nature), fancy lettuces to pick different leaves and make a colourful salad. Courgettes, just love these lads...perfect with tomatoes. The rhubarb is standing tall also, hmmm some rhubard chutney coming on. Sage, oregano, chives, chillis (perfect weather for these hot honeys) and capsicums, so blessed this year with a bountiful food garden. Flowers: well you name it...the garden is a riot of colour - petunias, coreopsis, roses (always deheaded and bloom again, red white and yellow, blue berries, gladiolis (orange) viscaria, statice, hydrangeas, and lots lots more. Family arrived from the UK, now I have no beetroot chutney left, oh well another batch coming up, off to the Farmers Market at 5th Avenue in Tauranga for some of these red delights. Between the Farmers Market and the Little Big Markets I seem to come away with some amazing food items...breads, cheeses, fantastic garlic/rosemary/sage infused olive oil from local Katikati olive grower - wonderful oil, fresh smoked garlic, beautiful smoked fish - just adore the markets. Bought a wonderful old mirror that I will de-stress, think it will look fantastic on a wall. Oh and yes Nosh have opened a store (well taken over the Good Food Trading Company) at McDonald St at Mt Maunganui, was a delight fossicking through the shop and finding wonderful foods and such a great range of products, spent far too long in there, also bought a very tasty (already made) diced steak and noodle salad, with a range of simple vegetables added, it was divine, might have a trial run to see if I can perfect it myself. I will be busy for the coming weeks, need to stock up on some chutney's, relishes, blanch some corn and shave off the kernels for freezing, tomato sauce and some new try outs.. Well folks off to enjoy what the summer has promised, oh and watering the garden is fun, thirsty plants with all these hot days and nights. Enjoy and back soon. xx