Nothing wrong with a good hearty salad on a sunny winters day! Slow roasted Mutton, dried autumn fruit, pinenuts, spinach, red pepper corns and a chopped cucumber thank you very much!

Hello everyone, hope the first half of 2014 has been good to you all. Some serious food research has been hap'n in this neck of the woods. Cooking, eating, tasting, drinking. Redesigning a new look for Finc as we enter the next decade.......yes you heard right! Ten years coming up in July Folks. Keep an eye out from here on in. It's all go!

Yemenese pancakes and bottled summer fruit to titillate your taste buds this winter

Happiness is Christmas in a bag! Nutmeg, pecan and fig cookies to munch over the holidays.

Brandy snap orders.....Yes please!!!! Ginger & cinnamon cream with a dash of rum and strawberries thank you!

Last minute madness, but the feasting continues with only five more days until Christmas.

Potato, chilli & asparagus salad

Sticky BBQ pork ribs

Strawberries, cream, meringues and vodka lime jelly

Glazed fruit cake .....served with soft whipped cream and rum soaked prunes and cherries....ding dong merrily we go!!

Kapiti Kikorangi, meaning sky blue in maori. Seems like a good ingredient for a warm weather salad don't you think. In season now and super cheap if it's in your garden already.....Mint, red cabbage, walnuts, spinach, coriander, celery and we added a few apricots from last years bottled lot. Bit of lemon, honey and olive oil dressing and it's delish!

Summer is so close, we can feel it on our skin. Pockets of sunshine like this weekend just gone, brings out the fun stuff at Finc. Here's just a few for the Ladies!!

Mint and gingerbeer spider with a Hardieboys GB sorbet

Peach bellini with Vynfields sparkling riesling

Our very own Real deal Lemonade 100% organic of course

Classic Quina fina with a dash of Ginny gin gin.

Some nail biting stuff has happened over the past 48 hours with Emirates Team NZ and their America's cup challenge; so we decided to bite into one of these puppies instead today. The classic Kiwi Dagwood.....here's to you Team NZ. Bring it home boys!

A new exhibition starting this coming Monday by Stephanie Woodman. Come and check it out. Oh so beautiful, you'll most definitely want one of these sweet tweets on you wall.

A fab Saturday morning where we ate coffee for breakfast.....thanks to all who came. We had fun.

Chippies and dip platter....yeah why not. Kind of good with a glass of Murdoch James Pinot Noir. Classy!

Figgy pudding with candied prunes, caramel sauce and coffee snaps.....boom! An explosion in one bite! Come and get em folks before we eat them all.

Is there such a thing as a green burger.....too right there is. The challenge is on! Come and get em!

Yes the Momo plates are back. Yum new winter morsels. Perfect little tasters packed with flavor that will make you salivate.

Smoked Brinza dip and herb crustini

Sticky pork and coconut rice

Hoki and butterbeans with free range eggs for brekkie

Yes it's out...2013 Wellington on a plate festival for all foodies. This year Finc & Coffee Supreme get to have some fun in a joint event... 'We eat coffee for breakfast'. Check it out online or come in and get a programme.

http://www.wellingtononaplate.com/events/we-eat-coffee-for-breakfast/

Cape gooseberries...coming soon to our menus. These little berries survive really well in frosty conditions, so we have plenty growing wild around our organic garden. When we include them in our diets, they help with inflammation and act as natural blood thinners. Yay for chilly sunny days Wellington.

 

Wild mushroom foraging for a good hearty winter soup. We took a long walk over the weekend and found lots of goodies around Wilton. Grab a good pocket mushroom book from Unity books and hit the bush.....

Yet again another month has flown by with wonderful events around us like graduation, the NZSO's stella start to its classical season, new exhibitions at Finc, ending with 'Handmade'....Wellingtons own crafty weekend festival. All this, while we've been beavering away with our foodie projects. So keep an out over June and July for some fab recipe sharing and food experiences. In the meantime, we sit and have a cuppa tea on this fine day being Queens birthday Monday. Thanks for the day off Liz!

Quina Fina, we can't stop drinking it. A dash of Gin, a dash of organic peach cordial. Tastiness!

Book your Mothers day High Tea this weekend. Divine treats; take the time to sit, chat and sip bubbles and Sweet Sunday Tea

For some the prospect of Winter looming, flu jabs, sunless days.....etc; kills all feelings of joy and happiness. For us however, it brings in a whole new season of grazing and feeding on all things tasty. And lets not forget all the tasty things we've bottled throughout the Summer and Autumn months. What better way to start our journey of tastings with these fine figs of our Dad's tree!

Manuka smoked fresh water Twizel salmon with a delicious soba noodle salad. Beautiful, plump and full of good fatty oils and a fab gluten free option.

All is peachy in the organic garden. We've been picking away and the last lonely peach was picked today. Come in and sip on a peach, gin and quina fina tonic over Easter or caramelised peaches on buttermilk hotcakes.

The best thing about working in a hot, humid, grumpy kitchen in the Summer is the knowledge that you will always have a heavenly batch of dough brewing somewhere.

Where did January go? In the garden that's where. Pumpkins, courgettes, garlic, artichokes, beans, potatoes, apples, tomatoes, poppy seeds, peaches, apricots......keeping us busy at home and the restaurant. The weather's been so fantastic, we are overwhelmed by the fruits of our labour!!!! Watch out for fresh figs, feijoa, tamarillos on the menu soon.

Fancy doing something on Wellington Anniversary day....pick some blackcurrants from Wilton bush or Belmont reserve and go home make this exceptionally delicious cake and invite your pals around to eat it! Easy pezzy!

Blueberry and fennel cake

3 eggs

150mls of extra virgin olive oil or melted butter

½ cup of raw sugar

½ cup of honey

1 ½ cups of flour

1 cup of whole meal flour

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

1 cup of yoghurt

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of crushed fennel seeds

1 full cup of blueberries or blackcurrants

How to make it!

Put all ingredients into a bowl except the blueberries

Gently fold together to form the cake batter

Put into a greased tin and place the berries on top

Bake in a pre-heated oven @ 150 c for 40 minutes

Test the centre with a skewer to check whether it’s ready

Dust with icing sugar.

Getting back to the work groove? Juice up your brain power, boost your energy, slow skin ageing & prevent sun damage… What more could you ask for. Easy as…. 6 Spinach leaves 3 Carrots 1 Apple 1 Beetroot Combine all together in a juicer or blender and Voilà! Best taken at the start of the day