${ hoverItem.details }
Treat your pup to a free tester of My Furbaby's Luxe Lamb dog food! In celebration of our big doggy giveaway on Instagram.
Learn More
The holidays for many of us is a time to get out in nature, and to share casual get togethers with friends and family.
Relaxing walks are a great way to unwind, explore your own back yard and to soak up the summer sun. Combine a stroll with a picnic with pals and you have the perfect occasion to enjoy everything the holiday season has to offer.
For a dose of inspiration, we reached out to some of our favourite partners in hospitality and retail to find out where they like to wander, and what food and drinks they like to share during festive social occasions.
Enjoy your social summer wanderings this season!
Ebb Café
Alison runs the bustling and beautiful Ebb Café in Dunedin. Modern and lush with green, the beautiful atrium at Ebb has become a community hub, with the cafés seasonal food nourishing locals with healthy meals that are full of flavour. Alison loves to use produce that’s grown in the region, and in summer she picks elderflowers from her hedgerow to make this sensational seasonal drink, a much-loved a family tradition. Coupled with a wholesome sammie, this is picnic perfection! Over the holidays, you’ll find Alison with her whānau relaxing on the shoreline (or scouring for cockles) at beautiful Blueskin Bay, Waitati.
“At this time of the year, I like to take some of my homemade elderflower champagne (abundant at the moment), and this beetroot flatbread (a sandwich). It’s fantastic as it’s light, flavoursome and packed with goodness”.
ELDERFLOWER CHAMPAGNE
This has been a tradition within our family and one that we eagerly love to share on Christmas day. Some years the batch is more heady and floral than others but we all rejoice nevertheless as it has been made simply from our hedgerow elderflowers.
Ingredients Makes 8 litres
20 sprigs fresh elderflowers, remove any dead flowers and insects 2 Lt boiling water 6 Lt water 1kg sugar 3 lemons, peel sliced off in strips 1 orange, peel sliced off in strips 5g of yeast, (buy champagne yeast from homebrewing shops or websites)
Muslin cloth 10 litre container Funnel 4 x 2 Lt plastic bottles with lids
Method Dissolve sugar in 2 litres of boiling water, set aside until cool Once the sugar syrup has cooled to room temperature, pour it into a large, clean 10 litre container. Add the rest of the water, citrus peel, the juice from 1 of the lemons, the elderflowers and the champagne yeast. Give the mixture a good stir, cover with a muslin cloth and leave to ferment at room temperature for 3–4 days. Give it a little stir every day, you will notice a beautiful fragrance and it will start to bubble as the fermentation process begins.
For this next stage, ensure your plastic screw top bottles are clean. It is important to use plastic bottles, as the fermentation process produces carbon dioxide, which is what makes your ‘champagne’ sparkling but can also make bottles explode. The plastic bottles (as opposed to glass ones) have a little give so can expand a little, and the screw-top lid isn’t as airtight as a cork.
Pass the champagne through a muslin cloth, then decant into bottles using a funnel. Tightly screw on the lids. The second stage of fermentation occurs in the sealed bottles and is what gives your champagne its fizz.
Leave the bottles for another few days, checking each day and carefully opening each lid to let some of the gas escape if needed. After a couple of days the second fermentation should be taking place.
We have successfully stored ours for a vintage brew, enjoyed later on the following year.
BEETROOT FLATBREAD
This is a nutritious take on bread I suppose as you use it as you would slices of bread. I like to add cottage cheese or hummus and sprouts etc to fill mine. I added ground almonds to give it a bit more stability but you could use gluten-free flour.
Preparation - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 20-25 minutes
Skill - easy
Vegetarian
GF / DF
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 small head of raw cauliflower, including the stem
2 medium raw beetroots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tbsp fresh dill (optional)
1 cup ground almonds
4 eggs
½ tsp salt and black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C
Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Using a food processor with the blade. Add the cauliflower and blend until it resembles rice (may have to do this in batches). Remove and add to a large mixing bowl.
Add the beetroot and blend until it resembles rice. Add to the cauliflower along with the dill if using.
Add the eggs and mix to combine.
Season with salt and pepper and fold in the ground almonds.
Spread evenly onto a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden and firm.
Remove and cool completely before turning it upside-down onto a board and carefully remove the baking paper.
Cut into even sizes then fill with your favourite combinations.
The bread will store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Austin Club
Matt is the Venue Manager at Christchurch’s hidden gem, Austin Club. Established in a disused underground station, the interior is super stylish and atmospheric, yet purposefully comfortable with the intention of being a ‘home away from home’.
Known for dazzling cocktails and toe-tapping music – ‘where the spirits run high and drinks never run dry’ – Matt and his team know how to mix the perfect drink for any occasion. Here he shares his favourite tipple the season, which happens to be the National drink of Trinidad.
“ Perfect for a social Summer. If it doesn't look like an adult traffic light you're doing it wrong!”
QUEEN'S PARK SWIZZLE
Serve in a Highball Glass.
Ingredients:
60ml Rum (preference is lightly aged column styled rum, Havana Club 3, Angostura 5, Bacardi 8)
25ml Fresh Lime Juice
15ml *Demerara Sugar Syrup (2:1 Sugar to water)
8-10 Mint Leaves
Angostura Bitters
Crushed Ice
*To make sugar syrup, measure out 2 cups of (ideally) Demerara sugar, add it into a saucepan with 1 cup of water. Lightly warm and stir the sugar until the contents are dissolved. Keep refrigerated (it will keep for up to a couple of months).
How to Make: Add mint leaves to the glass with the rum and lightly muddle, releasing the oils from the mint leaves.
Next add sugar syrup and lime juice into the glass and fill the glass 2/3rds with crushed ice.
Swizzle ingredients using a bar spoon until glass becomes frosted.
Add a couple dashes of bitters on top of the crushed ice, add a metal straw, top glass with more crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig next to the straw.
Gifted Design Store
Caz launched Gifted Design Store in Wanaka back in 2005 and its since become a favourite retail destination for both locals and visitors alike. Gifted is proud to carry an amazing range of New Zealand made gifts, celebrating our unique design style. Being based in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the country, it’s little wonder that Caz loves to make the most of the many walks available. Here she shares her favourite, which happens to be the perfect spot to picnic and take in the views.
Hedgerow
Sarah has owned and operated Hedgerow for over 15 years. Now a neighbourhood institution in Remuera, Auckland, the store is a true expression of Sarah’s sense of style and a fantastic place to pick up something for home or the perfect gift. Sarah and her family love to stroll from home down the leafy streets that descend towards the beautiful Hobson Bay. When you hit the shoreline, you can keep going in any direction along the picturesque Tamaki Drive, or simply plonk on the warm sand and watch life pass you by.
“This walk is beautiful rain or shine. What I love most about this walk - and any walk - is the great chats I have with my family”.