Julie Legg has a huge curiosity for learning and rediscovering lost skills (growing, cooking, preserving, fixing, making, doing) and also enjoys throwing herself into DIY, upcycling and recycling. Having grown up in Auckland she escaped to rural Waikato to pursue a road to self reliance, particularly regarding food production. Check her out on www.rediscover.co.nz
I’ve been in an interesting cooking situation recently – catering for a film crew for two days at our place. The challenge? I also happened to have a feature acting role in the music video been shot (for our band, ‘OLDER’) I’m always up for a challenge, and this one was fun.
Prepping has definitely been my key cooking theme: pre-frying haloumi, bacon bites and spinning salad greens ready for a ‘quick toss’ on demand; baking meringues and slices/crumbles from pears dripping from my backyard orchard; freezing bucket-loads of chilli con carne, chicken couscous and savoury muffins to defrost for the next day; culturing yoghurts and toasting crunchy granola for the morning, It’s been delightfully hectic. Pride didn’t allow me to serve up the same main meal twice (it’s a film crew, meals are savoured then demolished on cue). And all done with post apocalyptic make-up!
But that hasn’t been it for recent foodie adventures. There’s been a lot going on in sleepy Ohaupo (or nearby, at least). I couldn’t turn down the invitation to indulge in ‘Feast Waikato’ via Waikato Food Inc, a splendour of colour, flavour and texture in the most incredible progressive dinner for 60. Not only did I sample some of the best of what Waikato food producers had to offer, I met them too. I’m so proud to call Waikato ‘home’. There are a prolific number of artisan producers here, I’ve been gob-smacked. They all have wonderful stories to tell, food to share – and their passion for what they do is hard to disguise.
