#BLOG4NZ SEDUCTION OF THE SOUTH 4 - IT IS PEOPLE

We have a saying in New Zealand and its about what is most important to us as a nation - its a Maori proverb and its this.. "what is the most important thing?" It is people , it is people , it is people.

He aha te mea nui? He tangata. He tangata. He tangata.

So we need you to come to New Zealand – its already full of good people. People who are open, friendly, keen to tell a yarn, have a laugh, find out about your world, find out what you do.

And we have our share of characters. Crazy mayors like Tim Shadbolt down in Invercargill. Amazing chefs like Fleur Sullivan who created a restaurant on the end of a wharf in Moeraki to guarantee the fish she serves at Fleurs place is as fresh as you can get.

Or head to Te Anau and take a flight with legendary Richard “Hannibal” Hayes.

Meet interesting wine makers and characters like Alan Brady, in Gibbston valley,

Dlont forget the young helicopter pilots who will take you skiing and sightseeing, and the pilots who fly the Stewart Island Air service.

The drovers on the Central Otago Cavalcade - a horse lovers dream ride.

Young Jack Topi who has a flash big boat called the Awesome who takes fishing and hunting charters out of Bluff and around Stewart Island.

The skippers of the Bluff Oyster fleet . Follow the Bluff residents around to the “point” to watch the boats come up the harbour. Follow them back round to the Bluff wharf and watch them unload.

They are all our people, all different and they will all welcome you to our place. Because they know that more than ever, in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake - the answer to the question what is the most important thing?

It is people, its is people , it is people.

A GRANDE FEAST

The Sydney Morning Herald has asked a few notable foodies what they would prepare if they had $1000 to spend.

For us it would be an intimate dinner for 4.

There would be Cloudy Bay Pelorous bubbles to start

Bluff oysters with Paulownia Rose

Sauted baby paua with a grassy Olssens Gewurztraminer

Lobster Thermadore with Wooing tree Blondie

And for dessert poached pluots with creme fraiche with schoc chilli chocolate shavings and a nice Forrests The Doctors Nobile Chenin Blanc

For a Wild Food alternative

A starter of Pan Fried Blue cod livers on Vogels 12 grain. Trinity Hill Viognier

Wild fallow deer back steaks with Huakararo Maori potatoes and sauteed puha -Te Motu Dunleavy 2005 Cab blend

And for dessert freshly picked blackberry shortcake with titoki infused icecream with a Seresin late harvest riesling

Nothing too fussy..

A SLIPPERY SLURPY PIECE OF GOURMET GOOD NEWS

Its the start of the BLUFF OYSTER SEASON!

Bliss. Yum! Gobble!

And as we have fallen in love with the Wooing Trees Blondie - we are going to buy 5 doz and have an oyster - have a sip, have another oyster, have another sip.

Perfick.. and for the record we like our oysters like our men - big - full of juice, and naked.

Apparently there is a chair at a table at Dockside tomorrow with our name on it.

However we have also heard that they haven't got the balls to serve them up on a naked young buck..

NOT NEW JUST TRIED AND TRUE - BEST WELLINGTON DISHES

The Sydney Morning Herald has done an article on the city's eateries that survived for decades by serving up simple favourites to regular customers.

Its often not the new or innovative we look for in choosing a place to dine. Sometimes its the comfort of the familiar that we seek.

There are restaurants around Wellington and even some further afield that we frequent where we cannot go past what they do best.

Its food that welcomes you. You know it well. It evokes good memories and it is done with pride and passion by the chef who understands it is the dish that embodies their cooking style.

The same goes for wine, Lake Chalice Merlot, Spy Valley Sauvignon, Palliser Sav, Seresin Pinot Gris, are among the wines we love to drink over and over again no matter where we eat.

So here are some of our favourite restaurants and the dishes we are happy to have time and again.

Tulsi - the butter chicken - kiwi hot. Its dominates "best curry lists"

Zicos - Franco does the best calamari in town. His duck pie ( on request )is heaven.

Green Parrot - the Mixed Grill - includes liver and all dishes come with the thin white buttered bread with sprinkles (DIY) of black sauce. It echoes memories of big meals eaten after a days hard labour.

Boulcott St Bistro - the Lamb Shanks with mashed spuds and peas - nowhere does it better. Its so simple yet cooked to perfection. It tastes like there is a little old lady in the kitchen who makes nothing else - its so dam homey.

Arbitrageur - The Snapper Pie in Winter. Rich, luxurious, you swim the pureed potato in the sauce , thickening it to the just right consistency. The pastry flakes into confetti at the mere whisper of a breeze from the fork.

The Wellesley - The Steak - its now one of the best in town.  Its a big, proud and tender -  bite me cut. The surroundings take you back to early last centuryas it is arguably the city's grandest dining room.

Osteria Del Toro - the meatballs - soft and melty. They fall apart in your mouth. and this  establishment introduced Wellington to Churros - petite donuts dipped in chocolate sauce.. Almost better than sex they are.

The French Onion Soup at Le Metropolitian in Cuba St. The onions are never ending ribbons of sweetness.

Mussels in Blue cheese cream at the Leuven, Plump shellfish bathed in a creme sauce with a layer of blue cheese that gives them a depth that no other sauce does.

And we will go to Dockside for the first of the Bluff Oyster Season March 2. They serve them simply. Raw on ice. They will charge us a fortune but they know that bringing together oysterphiles and fresh Bluff oysters is a recipe for success. We will wash them down with nothing but NZ bubbles, probably some Cloudy Bay Pelorus.

However, we would prefer that they serve them just like the picture above. On the flat abs of some delicious yummy man. Please... Do it and we will guarantee a table of powerful princesses

.

Those are some of our favourites - the restaurants, the food and wine we return for time and time again. They are the signature dishes, of wonderful chefs, that ooze passion and refuse to bow to fickle food fashions.

NZ'S FINEST BACK TO THEIR BEST

It appears that Bluff oysters are going to be both plentiful and fat next season. A recent NIWA study shows the Foveaux Strait beds are in good nick.

We have written about oysters a lot.

So how to have them? Fresh shucked with a sprinkle of ponzu and some fresh cracked black pepper. Naked is best.

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And the best wine??? Its a no contest for us - Seresin Sauvignon Blanc.

The only other wine that is worthy of the worlds famous bivalves is bubbles.

Bloody hell we just dribbled on our keyboard and we have 6 more months to wait....

COTTONWOOL BRAIN

Must have been the dozen oysters we enhaled for dinner......

Cant think of anything else. Just more oysters.

STILL MORE OYSTERS

Apparently a table of ten of my mates and guests at Dockside yesterday devoured 50 doz oysters between them. $47 a doz they were. The platinum cards melted under the pressure - by all accounts. The Dining prawn did his best but was overshadowed by the Greek prawn.

A little bit of conspicuous consumption every now and then is good for the economy....

Yeah baby!

And an update - TV3 has admitted via Throng that the oysters pictured behind the newsreader on the TV3 item were not Bluffies. Well done Phil Corkery for setting the matter straight.

Phil is a good bugger from down home. and still one of the best newsmen in the business.

I bet he ripped the philistine in charge of graphics another butt bit.

GUTS

We have it on good authority that Cactus is having a man drought. So why would you waste 5 dozen lust inducing oysters in one sitting????

While she is worried about her digestive system we are worried about hot blokes in Auckland.

The sex enhancing properties of oysters are well known to linger for a few days - so if someone can get past the cloud of ethanol that Cactus will be exuding after two weeks on the piss then our bet is she will be up for a bit of the noisey oyster dicky do dance with just about anyone with a coozer.

WRONG OYSTERS!

We want to line up the picture editor at TV3 and chuck kinas at him ! The 6pm bulletin had a story on todays Bluff oyster harvest but they had file footage of PACIFIC oysters.. very bad. And to top it all off Dave Gooseneck got the name of one of the oyster boat skippers Stephen Hawke wrong - He called him Hawkins...

The Hawke will get you..... he is a legend - well is old man is and Stephen is the son of a legend...

As for the best oyster recipe - Easy - just naked - no prissy wee dribbles of lemon .. just naked with maybe a half turn of black pepper.. And they should be so fresh that they shiver....

These are the real Bluff oysters.... there are no substitutes..... apart from Southern Glory oysters which are really just Bluff oysters from a private school....

pescatorial orgasms

This is a tweet pic from Kent Baddeley one of NZ's great food artists.... Now resident here at Parehua in Martinborough...

Dam fine food..... click on the image to get the recipe ...

and we are with Baddeley on this - drop oysters in after you have cooked the soup. Real fresh ones will quiver ever so slightly as they hit the hot liquid....

SAD DAY, BAD DAY AND OYSTERS

On the way to the Dockside we discovered that Rex Morgans lovely restaurant Citron is going to eventually be based in the new WaterMark building at the wharf end of Taranaki St.

The good news today was that the Bluff oysters served up by "Norm the oyster shucker" at Dockside were superb. Interestingly we were expecting them to be around the $55 a dozen. They were plated at $40 a doz any way you liked. We had a doz natural and a doz tempura.

The bad news was that Dockside was only half full. Now we have been at most "Start of the oyster season" days at the Dockside and we have in the past had to settle for being on the waiting list. So times are getting tough. Even tough for us, as it will be our last visit to Dockside for some time but with the sun shining good company and the chance to eat one of the finest seafoods of the world, it was a nice day to reminisce of better times.


The sad news is that Sealords is laying off about 160 staff. We were a bit shocked when we heard this earlier today but are confident that rationalisation will put the company in a stronger position to weather the economic storm on the horizon.

TIOTIO ANYONE?

Bubbles and Bivalves today - And where? Dockside of course..... We are the guest of one of their VIP customers .... Anyone else cumming???


Now i would give a sizable proportion of my weekly fees to a charity if someone would serve them like this...........

That would definitely be an orgasmic experience....