Homemade Peach Sorbet

Simon gave me a Sunbeam Snowy Ice Cream maker for Christmas - a great suprise!

I spent much of Monday preparing the various bits and pieces required for both a Peach Sorbet and a Strawberry Ice Cream, after noting the glut of cream and strawberries in mum's fridge. However I didn't quite get around to doing the strawberry puree for the ice cream - I'd already done sugar syrup, peach puree and vanilla custard by that stage, so had really had enough. Consequently, Peach Sorbet was the first up!

Here's Snowy in action, churning the peach, sugar syrup, lemon juice up into sorbet....

And here's the absolutely delicious end result - the best peach sorbet I've ever tasted! Very impressed!

The Biggest Ice Cream You Ever Did See

It was a glorious day today, absolutely perfect for heading further up the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula and wandering over to New Chum's Beach.

Personally I didn't quite make it all the way to New Chum's, but Simon did, and picked up a few pics along the way, while I took some contemplative pics from the rocks at Whangapoua.

On the way back we turned in towards Opiti and O-something-else-I-can't-remember, but first came to Kuaotunu where we hoped to find a much needed ice cream. And my goodness did we find more than we had hoped for! I spotted a couple of people walking towards us with ice-creams and followed the path they had come from, and spotted people sitting outside with what I thought was 2 icecreams each, but no, they were ploughing through the 'Kuaotunu Killer' - a veritable behemoth of a 4-scoop ice cream! And the price? $5. Yep, a modest five bucks. ASTOUNDING I tell you! This is my $2.50 2 scoop ice-cream, and the store from whence it came.

Pegasus Bay Merlot Cabernet 2004 Review

I am currently sitting in beautiful Whitianga enjoying a Pegasus Bay Merlot Cabernet 2004. Pegasus Bay is home to some lovely wines and this wine is no exception.

I think we got this wine as a present from one of Jane's friends who appreciates a good wine.

This wine is a beautiful dark ruby red colour. To the nose, I don't think it's anything wonderful; if anything the alcohol overtones may be a little too strong. To start with, I thought it was a little dry and a bit tannic but then it opened up with a bit of airing (and maybe the consumption of a glass helped too) and I would now class it in the medium-dry territory with light tannins. It is packed with fruit-filled flavour, with plum and berry flavours shining through. It has a long tail and is a whole-of-mouth experience that has sufficient complexity to beg you to have another drop. This is accompanied by a nice thin-medium thickness in terms of mouth feel.

This is drinking well now and I expect would cellar well for a few more years at least. This is great to drink on its own, but its light tannins would also lend itself well to accompanying a light-medium fatty meal such as a Scotch Fillet or Rib Eye Steak.

Yet another wine we would drink again.

Antipasta Dinner (DELICIOUS!)

As Simon mentioned in his last post, I did indeed put together a decidedly decadent antipasta platter for dinner on Friday. We'd both had slightly sub-optimal days at work and I concluded we needed a little indulgence to put us in the right frame of mind to enjoy our weekend.

So I wandered down to Sabato (who fortunately are open for an additional half hour at present) and foraged through their delicatessen, gathering tasty looking morsels aplenty. (Ok, so this was a hell of lot easier than the foraging of yesteryear, no brambles to be seen, but it FELT like I was foraging.)

Wandered home, pruned our prolific bougainvillea bushes (not that you'd notice) to add a splash of colour to the table, chilled the 2002 Chandon ZD (as per Simon's tasting notes) and assembled the below platter of divine deliciousness. Splendid!

Chandon ZD Vintage Brut 2002 Review

It was a lovely sunny and warm day today, and Jane decided to put together a marvellous Antipasto platter with lots of delights from Sabato. To accompany this we (or more accurately Jane) decided that some bubbles would be great so we chose to have a Chandon ZD Vintage Brut 2002.

Jane received this sparkling wine as a Christmas gift from her work a year or two back and we had decided to wait until we had a suitable meal to accompany it. Between totally forgetting about it and just not feeling like bubbles it has taken us a while to get around to opening it.

This is a beautifully balanced sparkling wine which is crisp, fresh and dry with a light sweetness predominantly comprised of a Honeysuckle and Green Apple flavour. There is a light Apple and Honeysuckle aroma to the nose and this is complemented with a lovely light golden hue. In terms of mouth feel, it is nice and light with fine bubbles that accompany it well. It is very easy to drink, and in terms of age is drinking perfectly and there is no sign of any deterioration. The Crown Seal would also aid this in terms of longer cellaring.

We would both definitely drink this again.

Seifried Pinot Noir 2004 Review

I am sitting at home on a rainy day and decided that a Pinot Noir was required to accompany the duck we are having this evening for dinner. I orginally was looking for a Central Otago Pinot, but decided to go with a Nelson Pinot Noir instead.

The 2004 Seifried Pinot Noir is a very smooth wine, drinking well now. It is a very pale red colour, with sweet cherry to the nose. Light tannins, but not overpowering. Nice and warming for a dull rainy day and the flavour is not as sweet as the smell. A little empty at the front of the palette, very thin, with not a very long mouth feel. A hint of green capisicum to taste.

I think it is a nice drop I could easily drink, but the short thin pallete is not screaming out to me that I should have this again in a hurry. Jane doesn't think much of it at all and said that if it was a pricier Pinot Noir she would be disappointed (she was tasting it blind and formed this opinion). She feels that it's filmy coating will leave a flavour in her mouth she doesn't like from some Pinot Noir's .

Glorious Spring Day, Brick Bay

It was the most splendid day today, glorious blue skys and soft looking fluffy white clouds! We took the opportunity to visit Brick Bay vineyard and Sculpture Trail. What a fabulous place! For starters, it is always a pleasure driving up North, getting away from Auckland and into the midst of lush green fields and kiwi bush.

Brick Bay itself is a beautiful, peaceful destination and beats nature trails in that you're not just walking for the sake of it and with a single goal of getting to the end.

Rather, you have little spots of interest all along the way and the need to keep you wits about you to spot (or in one instance, hear) the various installments. We enjoyed their Vineyard Platter for a very late lunch at about 3pm. How unlike us!