I have! I play around with my own marinade of orange juice, pineapple juice, a dash of soy sauce, and orange marmalade. Actually, just Italian salad dressing works :).

Sometimes I make arroz amarillo with chicken. Here is a simple recipe:

Arroz amarillo con achiote

Yes, I think the cream was whipped. It was just so fresh unlike the "fresh" cream in South Korea. When I was a kid, milk came in glass bottles (all the better to have a sneak drink directly from the cold bottle, shhhhh! don't tell my mum) and cream came in a small glass bottle (1/2 pint?).

I looked up NZ ice cream to look for a particular brand, couldn't find it, but did come across this: At 23 litres per capita per annum, New Zealanders are amongst the biggest eaters of ice cream in the world, and most recent figures put us at the very top, ahead of Australia and the USA. Ice cream and edible ices account for about $1 of every $44 spent on food by New Zealand households (Statistics New Zealand). And, ... ice Cream is defined as a sweet frozen food made from cream or milk products or both, and other foods, generally aerated, and consisting of not less than 100g/kg of milk fat, and not less than 168g/litre of food solids. (Standard 2.5.6) I think this is a big reason why NZ ice cream is so good. :hangloose:

Supreme Award for a Boutique Manufacturer this year was awarded to an entry in the Gelato category. The winning entry was Salted Caramel Gelato made by Takapuna Beach Café and Store. The judges were impressed with the ability to balance the sweet flavour of caramel with just enough sea salt to enhance the overall combination of flavours in this gelato. Takapuna Beach Café and Store also won the Supreme Award last year for their Coconut & Lime Curd Gelato.

A well-known NZ ice cream brand, Kapiti ice cream:
http://www.queimada-agency.com/wp-co...-ice-cream.jpg

It depends on what you want - you can have quite simple things like fishball noodle soup that have clear simple broth or you can have something quite fiery. Plenty of curry, plenty of chilli based dishes. I have colleagues who complain about the spiciness of the food here. You can also have sour type dishes as well. :awww:

what truly makes a good chef is the ability to combine ingredients even the most simple. I love exotic flavors- using citrus, leaves, spices, roots and berries. lately I'm on this coconut cream kick. I discovered an organic coconut cream on Amazon while looking for organic coconut milk. Its like the milk, meat and oils all together in a thick pasty cream. It does take a bit of experimenting though.

In a matter of minutes I can whip up the best coconut thai soup ever. I have keffier lime leaves and lemon grass, a bit of curry, mushrooms and veggies. It changes all the time. I might hit it up with a dash of lime juice and BAM!

I put it in oatmeal with cacao beans ground to a fine powder and fresh ground cinnamon. These elements together are not only freaking awesomely good but superfoods.

I like Fried Chicken! Who gots some? :)

Tomorrow night I'm gonna make penne with a spicy sauce and chicken.

I'll take some jalapeno and blend it up and add it to Pregos Garden Sauce. Cook up some penne. Cook chicken breast and dice it up small adding it to the sauce and viola a simple and delish dinner will be served with some cheese bread.

I learned at a young age to make a pot of red gravy (some say sauce, depending on what part of Italy your family was from) from my in laws. It's made with pork neck bones, hot Italian sausage and ground beef. The first night you're only allowed sausage sandwiches because the spices have to get a chance to soak into the gravy overnight even after simmering for hours. The next night you're good to go and can use the gravy for any Italian dish you can concoct.

Being a transplant from Chicago, I miss the food from there. Not only restaurant food because of the diversity, but ethnic food that I can't get here or at least can't get anything I deem decent. I used to make road trips to Chicago once a year just to bring back meats I think suck here. I really miss Chicago pizza, Vienna hotdogs and Italian Beefs, good giardinara, sport peppers on hotdogs when I have them. I miss the Carniceras there even though we have them here, just not the same. I haven't even found a decent Chinese restaurant to eat at here....missing Chinatown in Chicago BIG time.