BACKCHAT

/ Recognition, absolute inspiration “Make me!”...

WINNING FEEDBACK

PAGE 8 OF ISSUE 190, top left photo. Tall handsome bearded ‘him’, good looking ‘her’ and gorgeous junior who obviously takes after ‘her’. (I do hope they’re a family and not actors.)

Now what my bumbling message is all about is that I fervently hope that the dad is aware of what his daughter is doing in the picture. It is so emotionally wondrous for me to observe a child exhibiting such love and tenderness to her father that it penetrated my dead, cold heart and brought on tears. So,

Cuisine, what do you think of that?

Francis Blandford, Christchurch

(Kelli: Not actors, Francis, but our friends from Ode Conscious Dining in Wanaka.)

Tom Robb Yellow scares so many people. I just love this very brave and wonderfully eye-catching cover. Kudos to the designer.

Posted September 14.

Big week, hereʾs what I think. Themainingredientwithkellibrett

ASHER BOOTE Kelli, what Cuisine brings to the table is the ability to take what we do outside of the restaurants. We work so hard inside our walls and focus so much on our guests that so often the outside world gets forgotten. Nothing can replicate the feeling of pride that our non-hospo families and friends feel in seeing the restaurant of their loved one make a list like the Cuisine Top 100. For a moment those family or special occasions we’ve missed due to the nature of our industry make sense, our striving for excellence has a tangible result. As with any awards, list or recognition there will be those disappointed – that’s just the nature of it. Having been both in the position of not making the cut and doing so, I for one can say what Cuisine provides to the industry means a lot. We don’t cook on a daily basis wanting to impress you, we focus on our guests, but gaining this recognition means a great deal to us, our families, our customers and our suppliers. Thank you!

YOU SPEAK OF ingredients one might not have tried. What of combinations that people might not have tried and are welcomed in your home.

My favourite combo is fried bacon and just when it is nearly cooked, add sliced tamarillos. Sadly the psyllid bug killed my tamarillo tree, so at $1.80 for one piece of fruit this combo has become a luxury. What are combinations enjoyed by other readers?

Ann Kidd, by email MY PARTNER AND I recently returned from eight years living in Berlin where we ran a café called, Antipodes. In 2013, our tiny business was audited by the German tax department and if it hadn’t been for the generosity of two customers – who happened to be tax consultants – this could well have spelled the demise of our fledgling enterprise. We gave Anke and Thomas a Cuisine subscription, which they adored. Earlier this year, they travelled for six weeks throughout New Zealand: Cuisine was the absolute inspiration for their holiday.

Paul Milne, by email

kiwiharvest Just got our hands on this amazing issue full of goodness, food and people. Love it all. Thanks for telling the stories so beautifully.

I’VE BEEN A LOYAL subscriber ever since I first encountered Cuisine during a holiday in South Africa (of all places) in 2009. Having just been away from NZ for more than two months I have had the pleasure of finding two new issues in the pile of mail awaiting my return, and I have to say I’ve never dog-eared so many pages in an issue as I have in #190. Never before have I seen so many recipes that scream “Make me!” in any culinary magazine! Now that I’m about to become a New Zealand citizen in just a week’s time, I look forward to many many more years of reading and cooking from Cuisine in my new country! James Glucksman, by email

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