Virgil Evetts As a small boy I felt oddly powerful eating rock cakes. I fancied them as a man’s sort of cake – big, rugged and rocky. This was a rare, and rather convoluted, expression of masculinity I suppose. Fact … Read more
Virgil Evetts Following on from last week’s cake-fuelled dawdle down memory lane… I do like a Chelsea bun. Soft, sweet, spice- flecked bread studded with sticky raisins and crudely stuccoed with icing. As a small boy with an obscenely sweet … Read more
Virgil Evetts When I was very small, I couldn’t be reasoned with about Sally Lunn. To my mother’s vexation I refused to allow so much as a sliver to pass my lips, but greedily wolfed down other very similar breads. Eventually she learned … Read more
Virgil Evetts I’m going through a bit of internal conflict just now. Fish. I enjoy eating it or them very much, and considering some of the other things I eat, the nutritional benefits can’t hurt either. No I don’t enjoy … Read more
Virgil Evetts As tempting as it can be to sneak a wedge unadorned from the fridge, it’s worth going the extra mile to make an occasion out of good cheese. Most cheeses are improved beyond measure with the right little … Read more
Virgil Evetts To most New Zealanders, a guava is a small red fruit, used almost exclusively for making jellies and jams. With the exception of a few morbidly obese and pathologically indiscriminate Kereru, nobody really eats them because they’re gritty, sharp … Read more
Virgil Evetts There is always room on my palate and plate for a smidgeon of relish, sambal, sauce or chutney. I’ve never been one to settle for default settings, so I like to customise every mouthful. It’s theses final flourishes and accessories to a … Read more
Virgil Evetts This week, while reorganising the sizeable portion of my pantry set aside for spices, it occurred to me that a number of the things that I use everyday are probably all but unknown to many. And I feel it’s … Read more
Virgil Evetts I’ve said it before I’m sure, but I don’t like substitutions. Not in cooking or in any other aspect of my life. When I was a child back in the now distant 80s, dietary substitutions were all the rage, from … Read more
Virgil Evetts Dear very nice people at Fresh As freeze dried foods. I’m really sorry I haven’t delivered on the article I promised when I asked for some sample product. You were so very generous and, despite my best efforts, … Read more
Virgil Evetts I always liked cardamom well enough. I’d throw a few pods in a pot of rice or add them ground to an unctuously cashew-rich korma, but mostly because that’s what I was taught to do. I didn’t dwell … Read more
Virgil Evetts Today the variety of Italian cheese available in New Zealand is broad and exciting, but to many consumers they remain a pricey mystery. So, being quite the Italio-phile and a prodigious consumer of the nation’s cheeses, I … Read more
Virgil Evetts A few years ago I wrote an article about my favourite kitchen gadgets and appliances .And while my ‘best of’ list remains pretty much unchanged, its counterpart of useless items and ill- conceived follies grows ever longer.
Virgil Evetts My daughter Olive (nine months) has now decided that Madre and Padre’s food is vastly more appealing than her own. If she’s up and about at meals times she quickly crawls over to the table and installs herself at our feet … Read more
