Early summer garden and chicken casserole

The garden seems to thrive in spite of our lack of green fingers. What can be more satisfying than eating fresh salad made with the fruits of your own efforts. We have half a dozen different types of lettuce flourishing and I will pick the leaves and toss them with coriander, mint and parsley, dress them with a lemon vinaigrette and crumble a bit of blue cheese over the top. It will make a nice accompaniment to the chicken casserole bubbling in the oven. One of the nicest things about running our B & B is meeting guests from all over the world. Provided they arrange with us in advance we will provide them with a hot dinner in the evening. Overseas guests enjoy sitting down with a New Zealand family and seeing how the locals live, something they wouldn't get if they stay in a hotel. Business folk often want a meal taken down to their room where they can eat eat in solitude. Either way we like to offer a taste of NZ and good NZ produce. This is my chicken casserole recipe:

Chicken in Red Wine:

12 chicken pieces

4 rashers bacon, chopped

1 onion
1 clove chopped garlic
12 prunes
1 diced carrot 
1 cup red wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 tspn paprika
chopped coriander (or 1 tspn dried)
chopped rosemary (or 1 tspn dried)
salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onion, garlic and bacon in a little olive oil .Dredge chicken in flour and brown both sides. Add the carrot, paprika, coriander and rosemary. Add the wine and allow to bubble for a minute then add the chicken stock. Season to taste then simmer either on the stove top or in a moderate oven for another 45 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes before serving. This is lovely served with buttered noodles or new potatoes and a nice fresh salad, straight from the garden.

Beautiful sunset over Wellington Harbour

Its such a relief to us when the weather plays ball! Living in Wellington, New Zealand, exposes us to all sorts of weather conditions, from beautiful calm sunshine to raging winds coming in from the Antarctic that funnel through Cook Strait. Its a real bonus for us when our guests get to see Wellington as beautiful as this. We get many of these beautiful sunsets each year, this is the latest! We love to see the faces of our guests when they see the view from the deck. Many a glass of wine has been consumed in the evenings watching the sun go down....

Harbourlights B&B - A Year Gone By

Wow! Sixteen months have passed since we started our new venture. After staying in Bed & Breakfasts in many countries, we knew that we had something unique in our beautiful part of Wellington, New Zealand.  The downstairs part of our home had been a studio and workroom for the family soft furnishing business for many years. When customers came in they would often say, "How do you get any work done with a view like that?" On retiring from the business we thought long and hard and then said, "Let's do it".
Three months of hard work setting up and all was ready..........