Signs and labels...

Some signs and labels we saw on a trip to Copenhagen to attend MAD3

 Bi Rite Mission San Francisco

 Billy Bragg and his other job

  Golden Gate Park

 In case you've ever wondered about Schrader valves

Brooklyn NY

Blue Bottle Coffee Williamsburg

Roberta's Brooklyn

 Ronald Mc

 Big Tree Bottle liquor store

Mikkeller beer for MAD3

 and more

Bastard from Malmo

MAD

Brakes

Brooklyn Grange x2

Reuben Sandwich

If asked, most would volunteer New York as the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich. To be sure the Reuben is a New York deli staple, but its story may begin elsewhere.

There are several legends of the origins of the Rueben, and all of them are the true story of the original Reuben. My favourite tells of the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska in the late 1920s. Every Sunday night the hotel owner and some friends would play poker, collecting change through the night to pay for a midnight snack. One evening, one of the players- Reuben Kulakofsky, ordered a corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich. The chef, son of the hotel owner and recently returned from a year at the Ecole Hôtelière in Switzerland, drained the sauerkraut and tossed it with Russsian dressing. This was layered with the corned beef and Swiss cheese on rye bread and toasted. The poker boys loved it and the sandwich soon made its way onto the hotel menu. The Schimmel Reuben Sandwich was born.
At Nikau, we’ve been able to get some nice Savoy cabbages recently, and Kelda has taken advantage of this and put down some batches of delicious sauerkraut. Painstakingly chopped cabbage is salted and after vigourous kneading is left in jars for some friendly lacto-bacillus to work it’s bacterial magic.

So we salute those card sharks from the Blackstone, all those years ago with our version of the Reuben. Because, once you have a chiller full of sauerkraut, and have access to corned beef and some very good gruyere, well, it would be rude not to …

Bikes in our rack...

 We love our Candywhistle designed bike racks and there is a lotta bike envy from everyone here for some of the bikes that park up.

Here's a few of them.

 

Neon (just) right

Just in case you hadn't quite worked out what we do around here we've lit it up in neon.
In Auckland recently we came across this beautiful piece of neon at Cam's great store flotsam+jetsam on Ponsonby Rd.

With a little help from all sorts we got it down here, plugged it in and lit up our corner of the Civic Square.

A dinner served last night

We have been hosting a small group for dinner once a month.
It is a working group who's needs are nourishment and relaxation.

It's proving to be a really nice opportunity to create some little menus (three courses) and to have a play with combinations.

Last night we served the following,

Cured salmon, lightly pickled beetroots, a herbed puy lentil salad, Zany Zeus creme fraiche, a little olive oil and a sprinkling of fennel pollen.

 Next came cannelloni filled with ricotta and winter greens - rocket, spinach and some chard from our garden on the rooftop.
A little cream, some gorgonzola and some grated pecorino and into the oven to be served with some lightly toasted walnuts.

Dessert was all comfy and nursery school-like.
Warmed gingerbread, seville orange marmalade ice cream and some warm chocolate sauce.

Nikau class of 2012

good honest books

One of the many satisfying elements of running a business like Nikau is discovering the talents and creative outlets that exist within your staff.
Georgia is one of those staff members who over the past few months has been producing these beautiful hand crafted and bound notebooks.
I have become a frequent user of my smaller notebook and have delighted friends and family with presents of the larger books.
They are for sale at the cafe.