So what is this all a·bout?

A new year and a new look seemed to warrant me thinking out loud upon what The Laughing Gastronome is all about :

• I love food : I love to eat food, I love to cook food, I love to plan for food, I love to shop for food, I love to learn about food.
• I want to be in aware of exactly what is within the food I eat and of what I give my family and friends to eat.
• I need to know how make certain foods from scratch so should I wish to prepare them, or to judge a purchased version, I am able.
• I want to know how to grow the foods I can with my limited resources.
• I really care about reusing, recycling and reducing, and I am finding more and more ways to do these things.
• I love cook books ; for inspiration, instruction and just to while away some time.
• I love to eat seasonally ; there is nothing like the last feijoa or the first asparagus.
• I love to learn a new technique, or to practice an old one. Sometimes the more difficult the better and sometimes the wonder is in the simplicity.
• I value the right tool for the job, but have no space for the one time wonders.
• I love finding a brilliant product or ingredient, new or old, that makes me wonder how I could live without it.
• I love the preparation tips and food tricks that are shared among interested friends.

These are some of the areas that are to be explored on The Laughing Gastronome in 2008 - I hope you enjoy visiting.

Happy new year!

Nihowera

A new website all about New Zealand food, products and news.

I have great pleasure in introducing Nihowera - a website dedicated to exploring New Zealand foods : produce, seasonality, products and news.

Nihowera is a collaboration between myself and Bron of Bron Marshall fame, fabulous chef and photographer extraordinaire.

Nihowera is a Maori word meaning :

1. [verb] be extravagant with food.
2. [noun] generous host.
   

Bron and I hope you enjoy Nihowera - go on, dive in!

roast·ed toad·stools

I have been asked why I called this blog The Laughing Gastronome.

In 1967 David Bowie wrote a song called The Laughing Gnome. Now, this song is a bit different than his usual work, but for some reason I find it hilarious! So what better way to pay tribute to something that has amused me than by naming my food blog as a pun on the title of a song that is full of puns itself. I mean, it isn't so strange, he does feed the [gastro]gnome roasted toadstools, dandelion wine, caviar and honey . . .

The Laughing Gnome
David Bowie
1967

I was walking down the high street
When I heard footsteps behind me
And there was a little old man (hello)
In scarlet and grey, shuffling away (laughter)
Well he trotted back to my house
And he sat beside the telly (oaah..)
With his tiny hands on his tummy
Chuckling away, laughing all day (laughter)

Oh, I ought to report you to the gnome office
(gnome office)
Yes
(hahahahaha)

Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
Im a laughing gnome and you dont catch me
Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
I'm a laughing gnome and you cant catch me
Said the laughing gnome

Well I gave him roasted toadstools and a glass of dandelion wine (burp, pardon)
Then I put him on a train to eastbourne
Carried his bag and gave him a fag
(havent you got a light boy? )
Here, where do you come from?
(gnome-mans land, hahihihi)
Oh, really?

In the morning when I woke up
He was sitting on the edge of my bed
With his brother whose name was fred
Hed bought him along to sing me a song

Right, lets hear it
Here, whats that clicking noise?
(thats fred, hes a metrognome, haha)

Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
Im a laughing gnome and you dont catch me
Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
Im a laughing gnome and you cant catch me

(own up, Im a gnome, aint I right, haha)
Havent you got an ome to go to?
(no, were gnomads)
Didnt they teach you to get your hair cut at school? you look like a rolling gnome.
(no, not at the london school of ecognomics)

Now theyre staying up the chimney
And were living on caviar and honey (hooray!)
Cause theyre earning me lots of money
Writing comedy prose for radio shows
Its the-er (what? )
Its the gnome service of course

Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
Im a laughing gnome and you dont catch me
Ha ha ha, oh, dear me

(ha ha ha, hee hee hee
Im a laughing gnome and you cant catch me
Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
Im a laughing gnome and you cant catch me)

(one more time, yeah)