Heeeeerrre it is ... the March roundup of delicious recipes for Sweet NZ. I hope you may find some inspiration from this eclectic collection. Click on the pic or link to read more.

First up are fudgy chocolate macaroons by Lesley at Eat, Etc - three words that go so well together. These are those classic macaroons with coconut.
Alessandra Zecchini has made homemade mascarpone with just milk, cream and citric acid - easy peasy!


We have two treats from Libby of Ditch the Carbs. Here are mocha cus...
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The generous folk at Healthy Food Guide have given Bake Club plenty o' prizes for this month's Sweet New Zealand entries. To bag yourself the March issue of HFG, a handy HFG tote bag and zesty citrus zester, just send me a sweet entry from your blog. You must have a New Zealand-based blog or be a Kiwi living overseas. Could be a new recipe or older post. Add this link and the Sweet NZ logo to your post. Please send your name and recipe name, link to the post on your blog, small jpeg of sweet ...
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Calling all food bloggers with a Kiwi connection! I am honoured to host this month’s Sweet NZ, a monthly blogging event created by Alessandra Zecchini. Everything you need to know:

1. This event is open to all bloggers living in New Zealand (even if you’re not a Kiwi), as well as all Kiwi bloggers living and blogging overseas.

2. You can enter anything sweet: cakes, biscuits, slices, desserts, even drinks. You may submit as many entries as you like, including old posts...

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Feijoa with smiley faces - you gotta love it!

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Just thought I'd throw in this cool 'ghost showing his guns' that appeared on top of a delicious latte from Cereal Killa in Dominion Rd, Auckland. Their mochaccinos are also excellent as well as their mushrooms on toast, beetroot, walnut salad, eggs bene...

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My darling husband took me to dinner at Dine in the Grand Hotel, Auckland, for my birthday in March. We had the 6-course degustation menu - what a treat. First time we've been out to dinner since Tui was born 11 months ago. I'm not reviewing the food, it was all excellent and highly recommended. I requested a vegetarian and fish menu and Justin had the meaty plates. Sorry, the snaps don't do the food justice - you'll just have to go and experience it yourself!

Heritage tomato...

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This post is long overdue but I wanted to mention this wonderfully delicious meal my friend Sarah and I had at Wise Cicada health food shop in Newmarket, Auckland on February 15. It was a charity dinner to raise funds for a container load of goods for children in a remote island of Vanuatu. About 20 people attended and there were many volunteer chefs, led by Raw Chef Rene. I forgot to take pics! But found this one of the sushi. Here is what we feasted on:

Sparkling kombucha
Baby bella mushrooms...
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Feast your eyes on this mouth-watering selection! Thank you to all the bloggers who contributed this month. I hope you can have a browse and be inspired.
May's Sweet NZ will be hosted by Jemma from Time for a Little Something so please send her your next entry.
From April we have:

Vegan cape-pops by Alessandra Zecchini. Chocolate dipped Cape gooseberries then rolled in yummy nutty and sweet toppings.


Butterscotch cupcakes by Arfi at HomeMadeS. Gluten free with caramel sauce - now that's what I'm ...
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Step right up foodie bloggers! Bake Club is honoured to host the April 2012 Sweet New Zealand blogging event. Started by Alessandra Zecchini in 2011, this is a monthly gathering of sweet-minded cooks.

1 This blogging event is open to all bloggers living in New Zealand and Kiwis living and/or blogging overseas. This is not a competition and there are no prizes or winners: it is just a way for Kiwi bloggers to connect and share recipes.


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With the influx of Christmas cooking shows on at the moment, it got me thinking: where is the dedicated vegetarian TV chef? A bit of online research shows that about 6% of the world population is vegetarian (more in India, Israel and the UK, less in US and Europe, about 2% in NZ). There must be some excellent chefs out there who don’t eat meat, can pitch an exciting show and have a face for TV! And it doesn’t have to be promoted as a ‘vegetarian cooking show’ as ...

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Really enjoyed making these fondant flowers at a Slow Food Waitakere event hosted by Alessandra Zecchini at her lovely Oratia home on 22 Nov. Only 5 of us altogether but we had a great time chatting away and learning new skills with icing. My first attempts were the big yellow and pink roses, then we fine-tuned our petals till we could make mini versions. Then Alessandra showed us how to make real teeny flower buds and leaves, which look great as a trio.
Yellow and white fondant is available f...
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Congratulations Alessandra and Arantxa on your beautiful new book, Party Food for Girls! I was most delighted to attend the launch on the top floor of Lopdell House in Titirangi on Thursday. What a sight to enter the room and see a central table laden with expertly baked and decorated treats as featured in the book.




There were also tray and trays of delicious and healthy savoury snacks doing the rounds - corn chips and salsa, rice balls with Japanese herbs, crostini with hummus, tomatoes and ...
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The Esplanade Theatre, nicknamed the “durian” as the “scales” look like a durian fruit.

Sticky, stinky, hot and humid. That is Singapore and Hong Kong in a nutshell - but don’t let the weather put you off. Just wear cotton and comfortable shoes, walk slowly, carry a fan and a bottle of water. I was in Singapore performing in Tempest: Without a Body with Mau dance group. We performed at the Arts Festival at the Esplanade Theatre.

Before I get to the food, the archit...

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Our end result: bento lunch boxes
I joined Slow Food Waitakere this month and on Sunday 8 May went to my first event: a Japanese cooking class held at Pine Valley B&B in Silverdale, hosted by Kazuyo Friedlander.

Our hosts, from left: Kazuyo, Eri, Chikako

First, Eri did a soy milk and tofu-making demo.

Eri strains the boiled soy beans through a cloth then puts the mixture in a mould.

Then Chikako showed us how to make several dishes:
Buttercup and bacon croquettes
Daikon radish ume...

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Congratulations to us! There are now more than 100 recipes on Bake Club since our launch in August 2010. Thanks to all the contributors – 19 of us so far! I am very proud of the little website that we created and look forward to posting many more pics and recipes from you, your friends and family, and anyone out there who would like their baking creations archived on the world wide web. The recipe index is looking mighty healthy. Keep ‘em coming and happy baking to all.

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Spring has sprung in NYC - tulips at the Rockefeller Center; view from the Top of the Rock

My final instalment of this trip is about our five holiday days in New York. Accommodation hassles and pounding the pavement tired us out somewhat, so we sought solace in good food, and weren’t disappointed. We arrived at Greenwich Village on a spectacular sunny Sunday and Bleecker St was buzzing. I had a hankering for comforting Italian and we fortuitously came across the original Ra...

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Room with a view of Hanover's town green

What a culture shock to leave hip and happening colourful San Francisco, fly to Boston and bus three hours north to the township of Hanover, New Hampshire, home of ivy league Dartmouth College, founded 1769. The streets were spotless. Everyone was well dressed. There was an air of wealth and wisdom. The town green looked like the set from Back to the Future. It was flanked by grand university buildings that looked like facades (but the...

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Chez Panisse - climb the stairs to food heaven

Now that our US tour has come to an end, I can say without a doubt, that nothing surpassed our dining experience at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, San Francisco.

Owner and organic/slow food guru, Alice Waters, first saw a MAU performance in Venice in 2003 and has been a supporter ever since. Eight years later, we perform in her town and she graciously invited us to lunch at her famous cafe and restaurant, founded in 1971. When the ni...

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Spring blossoms in Union Square

What a joy to spend eight days in SF and NOT have a bad meal! First lunch off the plane was at friends Nick and Sabrina’s place in the Castro for homemade lentils and tortillas with all the trimmings – fresh avo, salsa, rice, chutney. It replenished our stomachs and our souls. Then Nick whipped up a Trader Joe’s brownie batch and even used vegan buttery sticks – moist and chocolatey.

Nick and the ingredients of his bodacious brownies

We...

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Downtown Los Angeles skyline around Pershing Square

Here is my first food report from the US while on tour with the dance group MAU. Nothing fancy, just miscellaneous observations on what I find as I travel across this great state…

In a nutshell, I had a week of very uninspiring food in Downtown LA. Broadway was the place of glamorous stars and movie premieres during the 1920s to the 50s but now it’s a wide treeless street of faded glory. It’s a primarily Hispanic area...

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Damn! Somehow, a ghost in the machine has wiped my whole Melbourne blog! I can't for the life of me remember what I wrote but I do have the pics...
Here are some enjoyable food moments:

Lindt Cafe hot chocolate and salt caramel macaons


Friends of Mine cafe, Richmond


Cacao cafe, GPO centre


Longrain desserts


Yarra Valley Dairy

Also recommended: Bar Lourinha, Little Collins St, for tapas, Cafe Segovia in Block Place, Hellenic Republic in Lygon St, Yering Station vineyard, Stokehouse in St Kilda. For fu...
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Bake Club was very excited to go along to a photo shoot for Alessandra Zecchini's new book. We cannot reveal the name or any recipes but look at some of her colourful creations! What inspirational baking and icing skills. We'll let you know when the book is published.








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Our first official Bake Club tea was held on Sunday 19 Sep 2010 at Frances's house. What a great spread! All the recipes are below. As well as baked goodness Nic also brought her homemade homegrown broad bean dip and Frances made hummus. Can't wait for the next one. Perhaps the guys might like to take up the baking challenge?...

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