Friday, February 4, 2011

End of school holiday tour

We planned a trip to take a cruise on Chris Jolly by boat on fine Sunday morning at Lake Taupo. This plan was supposed to mark the end of the school holiday. Unfortunately, the trip was cancelled as the water in the lake was too high and the boat crew refused to take us on the trip for safety reason.

Because everyone in the group had already made countless trips to the Huka Falls, the Honey Hives, The Prawn Park and did all the usual stuff tourists normally did in Taupo, we decided to do something different.

So we made an ad-hoc plan which covered a trip to Ararapids Dam, the Taupo Bungy Jump, the kids' playground, the Best Kebab and finally Mc donalds.

Here are some shots from our trip.

This is Ararapids Dam. Water is released from this dam into Huka FallsWater from the Waikato River
While enjoying the view, we filled up our starving tummies
The kids with their hot mamas & papas taking a train ride

For lunch, we stopped at the Turkish Kebab store for some yummy lunch
Hot mamas waiting for their orders

This is one great activity, but we just people watched. No one dared to make this one jump.

Our final stopover was the Mc Donalds. While the kids played, the adults had an afternoon snack in the plane.


The packed kebab from the Best Kebab....devoured it at Mc Donalds
Along treated us with Mocha coffee...Thanks son!
The gang making a quick pose for the cameraman, my husband


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Grilled Aubergine and Caramelized Onion Pizza






When I saw this pizza in New World's flyer, I started to drool...okay, I had to google for some recipes & try this one out. This pizza unlike the others which I have tasted was really really yummm...the taste of the caramelized onions was just right for me...

Ok, you can try this at home...

Pizza base (this is not the usual pizza base recipe...as huuby doesnt quite like the usual ones...so I used a bun recipe for my pizza base)
3 cups of flour ( I used 1 cup whole-meal flour, and 2 cups high grade flour)
3 tbspn of margarine
1 tbspn sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 packet of yeast
200ml fresh milk

Dump all the above in your breadmaker. Once it's ready, you can start rolling your base.

Pizza toppings
1 large aubergine (terung lah), peeled and sliced
2 T olive oil
2 sweet onions, thinly sliced
1 c pizza sauce
Cheddar chesse
Feta cheese

Coat the 'terung' with olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 10-12 min or until lightly browned; set aside.

In a large saucepan heat some oil and fry the onions stirring frequently until caramelized; set aside.

Spread pizza sauce over crust. Top evenly with the grilled aubergine,& onions. Sprinkle with cheddar & feta cheese.