Goodbye, Provedore

Provedore, the neatest little restaurant and bar here in Napier, not to mention being my workplace for almost three years, closed its doors yesterday. I like to think of the place as being a bit like a Gucci shirt, hanging in a wardrobe full of rugby jerseys; out amongst the provinces, where steak and fush liberally dusted with chopped parsley is considered de rigeur, "P" dared to be a little bit flash. It's the place where I learnt my trade, under the auspices of two magnificent chefs, Zana Price and Stacey Worsnop. It's the place where I've experienced emotions running the gamut from profound shittiness, right up to moments of unfeasible happiness; it's also the place where I've worked with a wide range of people, most who've proven to be good, decent folk.

All the very best to my old bosses, Simon Kerr and Jen Cho (bless your hearts), and good luck to new owner, Brian Casey, who will doubtlessly take the restaurant to new heights.

Woohoo!

Look what turned up in the mail - a copy of revered Australian chef Tetsuya Wakuda's self-titled cookbook, courtesy of Barb at Winos & Foodies! Recently, Barb ran a competition in conjunction with Electrolux where the major prize was a place at a Tetsuya masterclass at his Sydney restaurant. I was lucky enough to win a copy of "Tetsuya" - not bad, eh! It's a beautiful book, full of recipes and photographs of the most elegant food. I'd show you some pictures but the light's not that flash today because of the dire weather, so pop along to Amazon to see them, or just visit Tetsuya's site.

A monumentally large thank you (complete with fireworks) to Barb :)

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hello! April was absolutely mad, with most of my time spent doing little else but work, at either the restaurant or the orchard. Consequently, the poor old blog has suffered, but I'm spending the weekend playing catch up so you can expect to see at least a couple of posts by the end of tomorrow. In the mean time, here's a picture of some lads looking decidedly riled (by the way, the cactus is a clue to my next post...).

Picture from cracked.com

Ooh, Shiny! Contest Coming Soon, Too...

Hello! Welcome to the new look Curious Kai. It's been a long time coming and now it's finally here - isn't it brilliant! The person responsible for the design is
Josh Morgan, a brand spanking new web designer based in Wellington. I had a few ideas in mind I've been carrying for a while - the look of the header and the logo is based on some old flour sacks I came across at a garage sale - and Josh turned them into the gem you see before you. There's still a bit of tinkering to do, so don't be alarmed if you see things come and go before your very eyes, but give it a few days and you'll see the resolved final product. My thanks to Josh for all his hard work; I still can't believe my luck at coming across such talent. Big love too, to my sister Heidi and her husband Rob for making this all happen - bless your little hearts :)

Woohoo! I feel like a proper blogger now! To celebrate the new look of t' blog, I've decided to run a little competition but more on that during the week - stay tuned! In the meantime, here's a little food related comedy: