Pop Dining - Chilli Dilly's Yo!

Chilli Dilly's is the brainchild of Allanah Tatana a.k.a The Girl with the Rhyming Name. She's a Kiwi born, London bred foodie who likes it HOT.

Inspired by the awesome pop-up dining scene in London, and the lack of a damn good chilli in NZ (correct me if you know of a good one, please) she decided to team up with Pop Dining, and give us Kiwi's a chilli wake up call.

Chilli Dilly's last event took over Verona on K'Road on a chilly (mind the pun) Wednesday night. Feeling a bit sniffly and sore throaty and sorry for myself, I figured a dose of chilli was probably what the doctor would order. Not entirely sure if the doctor would have ordered the margaritas, but you never know.

We got there almost bang on start time at 6pm and the place was already packed, the Mariachi band was in full swing, and the chilli was flowing. In respect for the un-carnivorous among us, the menu had vegan options all the way through, and they sounded so good that I uncharacteristically ordered a vegan entree (also ordered the pulled pork entree obviously. Overkill? I think not).

The food came quickly and it was amazing- I'm not just being nice here, Allanah's cool but I dunno if I would lie about food for her. The hero of the night was aptly named 'The Bum Burner'; hot, tender and rich chilli with a pang of freshness. Despite the name though, there was more than just chilli on offer. I also tried the vegan pumpkin mole, the succulent pulled pork and the chilli chocolate mousse, all of which packed a punch and gave the chilli a run for it's money.

Chilli Dilly's have a pretty snazzy website here so you can keep an eye on when their next event will be, and while you're at it check out Pop Dining here for the latest, hippest makeshift restaurants around Auckland.

NB: If you're a 'mild butter chicken' kind of person then maybe sneak a milk carton into the restaurant. You've been warned...

Queenies

Tucked away in a little side street of Freeman's bay is a building covered in vines and full of character- welcome to Queenies.

Queenies was recommended to me by Suzie who works just around the corner from it, although, I don't know whether the staff knowing her by name is a good thing or an indication of her excessive coffee consumption. Nevertheless, when I needed to pick a spot for brunch with a friend, Queenies sprung to mind.

To be honest I don't go out for breakfast that often, usually by the time I've dragged myself out of bed on the weekend it's more like afternoon tea time. However, on this particular Saturday I was feeling unusually sprightly and met up with Julia for breakfast and tea.

Although I was sitting by myself (creepily people watching) for a bit while Julia negotiated the confusing one way streets, we finally found each other and spent about half an hour chatting over tea before even opening the menu. But we got there in the end and after another half an hour of indecision finally made our orders.

I chose the Turkish poached eggs with babaghanoush, yoghurt and hot chilli, while Julia went with tried and true scrambled eggs with a side of lemon butter mushrooms. Julia said her breakfast was good (high praise coming from someone who used to work at a cafe), but we both agreed my breakfast was outstanding. Eggs and yoghurt, who woulda thought? 

I have a real soft spot for small cafes, so on the odd occasions that I do get up in time for breakfast I try to pick a charming little place I've never been before, and Queenies was exactly that.

Hallertau Chilli and Hop Festival

On Saturday the girls and I loaded into the car to head west for the Hallertau Chilli and Hop Festival. It was a beautiful crisp winters day, perfect for a little adventure and a taste of chilli.

Hallertau Restaurant and Brewbar have a reputation for some pretty damn good beer, if you keep an eye out you'll start noticing it stocked in all sorts of quirky bars, cafes and restaurants.

For Saturday's festival they teamed up with a crew of artisan chilli, food and drink stalls to create what ended up being a small but very fun festival.

We were pretty excited to see resident Ponsonby food truck The Lucky Taco there and all quickly grabbed a taco to kick off the day. The Lucky Taco are one of Auckland's best food trucks- they know their shit. Allie and I went for the steak tacos (I couldn't resist comparing them to my ones), while Sarah went with the chipotle prawn and Alice chose the slow cooked pork. They had a serious line up of some of my favourite hot sauces along with a few ones I hadn't met, but it was the bowl of Habanero pulp with a handwritten 'caution' label that caught my eye. Uh oh.

I'm not sure whether it was the couple of beers I'd had, or if I was trying to prove to Alice how much chilli I could handle, but either way I think it's fair to say I overshot the mark. I spent the next 10 minutes with watery eyes and a burning mouth wishing there was a yoghurt and icecream stall in place of one of the chilli stalls.

Unfortunately when I chose to take my first bite Alice had her hands on the camera and relished the opportunity to capture the pain. A true friend.

Sadly, I was too preoccupied with my head exploding to actually taste the taco, but the girls tell me they were delicious.

In need of some serious cooling off we decided to try the famous Hallertau beer tasting paddle to find our brew of choice. While the 'Luxe' Number 1 was a nice one to start off on, my favourite in the end was the 'Copper Tart' Number 3; a 'substantial, satisfying, malty, caramel, chocolate, rich' red ale. All of the beers were completely different, so if you fancy giving your taste buds a workout then I seriously recommend getting the paddle.

A few beers later I had finally recovered, and we met up with Allanah and Dane to watch some other people burn their taste buds off in the chilli eating finals. We didn't stick around to see the end, but by the time we left there were only a handful of red faced, watery eyed contestants left in the game. Respect.

The next festival isn't for another year, but I can only imagine it will get bigger and better so keep an ear out for it. In the meantime head out to Hallertau, grab a paddle and let me know what your favourite brew is.

Pretty Good Poached Eggs

I was going to call this post 'Perfect Poached Eggs', but perfect is a very scary word. So, these are the Pretty Good Poached Eggs, as taught to me by our family friend Julie. Not only are they pretty good, they are pretty good every time and there's a sneaky trick in there to get your timing right so you can focus on your bacon, which we all know is the important bit.

Before I crack into the eggs though (so sorry, couldn't resist), I'll tell you about the rest of my morning. Suzie and I drove out to Julie and Pip's house in the country to meet everyone for breakfast, never mind that I wasn't paying attention to the motorway exits and drove about 10km too far in the wrong direction, we got there in the end.

They have a gorgeous section with chickens, sheep, dogs, ducks and a constant stream of visitors coming to escape the city, myself included. I think one of the best things about heading out of the city is the produce; sometimes we get so accustomed to the average quality at the supermarkets that it's easy to forget how amazing food can really be. C'mon get down to a farmers market or your local butcher and surprise yourself.

Anyway, as promised here are the poached eggs a la Julie.  The key here is to have the freshest eggs, have you ever noticed how older eggs are runny and don't hold their shape? If you're going to dig out 3 week old eggs from the back of the pantry then give up on your poached egg dreams now.

Here we go:

1. Fill a pot with recently boiled water and bring to a temperature where it is still calm, but almost bubbling. 
2. Crack your eggs onto a plate
3. Whisk a teaspoon of white vinegar into the water
4. Continue whisking the water, but in a circular motion to create a mini whirlpool in the pot
5. Now take your plate and ease the eggs into the swirling water in the direction of the flow
6. Cook the eggs for about 3 minutes until the white is cooked, but they are still soft to touch
7. Using a slotted spoon remove the eggs

Now, if you're ready to serve then drain them on a paper towel and plate up, but if you want to prep your eggs in advance here is the trick. Take the eggs out of the pot and place them in a bowl of cold water, this stops the cooking process and puts your poached eggs on pause. You can leave the eggs in the cold water for as long as you like- say you were serving poached eggs as part of a dinner dish then you could cook them in advance and whip them out when you were ready to plate up.

But, even if you're just doing breakfast now is the perfect time to sort out your toast, bacon, mushrooms and a trip to the herb garden.

If you have chosen to pause the eggs in water, then when you're ready to serve just dip them in the hot water again for a few seconds to warm through. You might wonder what the point is, but when you're trying to serve poached eggs for 7 people you'll thank me!

Like I said if you want a good poach you need fresh eggs, even if it means chasing chickens around your garden like Julie (much to our amusement).

Well if that isn't love I don't know what is.