Now living in the United States, Anna Kelly McLeod travelled over 64,000km to take photographs for the book which retraces her mother Pauline’s journey growing up in New Zealand and heading off on her big "OE" with her new husband in the 1970s.
The book follows their adventures travelling across New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands, working and travelling in the United States and then deciding to return home and build a house and family.
Kelly McLeod, who graduated with an art history degree from the University of Otago, was inspired to write the book after her mother’s sudden death.
The book The Kitchen of Somewhere is named after the home and is dedicated "to the outdoor table and delicious food that fuels adventure".
"I follow a very personal story of love and food. With strong ties to Dunedin, the university and the epic landscape of the South Island, this is a story that hopes to both remember the past, inspire the future and help the present."
The region features in the opening of the The Kitchen of Somewhere, as the reader is introduced to her mother and her graduation from Otago University in physiotherapy.
It also showcases the great produce of the region, including the "crisp sweetness of Central Otago apples baked into a comforting South Island Apple Cake recipe".
The recipe was acquired in the early 1970s from a Dutch woman who lived in Dunedin called Mrs. Mol, who served students pies, cakes and pastries from her little cafe.
• McLeod wants the book to inspire great food adventures but also give meaningfully to the community. Five dollars from every book purchased in New Zealand ($2 donation from e-book) will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.
THE BOOK
The Kitchen to Somewhere, Carswell & Bain, RRP $49.99 and e-book RRP $27.
Q&A
Rebecca Fox asks Kelly McLeod more about her life and work.
Q. What are some of your favourite memories as a student in Dunedin?
Socially, student life in Dunedin is something I will treasure forever. It is a beautiful city of hills, history, art and easily accessible outdoor adventure on the peninsula. I recall dropping my kayak into the water and meeting a protective seal who decided to tailgate me. Usually cute, this seal was growling and ready for active combat. It was very clear who was the boss and I can tell you, I have never paddled faster.
But most of all it is the friendships you make, as you gather around care packages from home, pull all-nighters, accidentally blow up the microwave, or shiver around a shared bar heater as ice formed around the edges of the flat. These are the friendships that last a lifetime.
Academically, I continue to draw inspiration from my professors in both the geography and art history departments, who set my young mind alight with the stories, maps, images and explorers of the world and how to interpret this information with an open and questioning mind.
Q. What do you do now?
I am a managing and creative director in a strategic communications company. I am also a qualified professional outdoor guide.
Q. Why did you go from art history to marketing and business?
Art history offers a foundation in understanding how royalty, religion, political rulers and everyday citizens have used symbols to achieve and communicate their objectives, whether it is for the purposes of power, high culture or commerce.
If you can combine this historical understanding of image making with the ever-evolving technical tools available and an understanding of the audience, you will find great success in the creative industries of advertising, marketing, media and communications.
Q. Where did your passion for food come from?
My love of fresh ingredients and flavours that transports is inherited from my parents, who inspired a deep understanding that good food fuels great adventures, communicates love and promotes an understanding of the world and its people through flavour.
Q. What was the toughest challenge in producing the book?
It was a joy to write this book and step back into history. However, it did also include numerous 4am starts for photography, many miles travelled, carrying dining tables deep into the forest, swatting 10,000 mosquitoes off dishes and I also learnt how hard it is to get a roast chicken to look delicious in a photograph. Tastes incredible, but the bird is certainly camera shy!
Q. What did you learn about yourself on the journey?
I can compare the journey of writing this book to my experiences climbing mountains. Both required thorough planning, discipline and attention to detail, but some days to get it done, you just have to grit your teeth and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
South Island Apple Cake
Serves 8Prep time overnightCook time 1½ hours
1kg apple
115g butter
1 lemon
340g flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup caster sugar for cake batter
½ cup sugar for the filling
3tsp baking powder
2 handful of sultanas
2 eggs
Method:
Preheat oven to 160degC.
Peel apples and cut into 1cm pieces of whatever shape you prefer, place sliced apple in saucepan and add sultanas. Cover fruit and sultanas with water and simmer in saucepan for 10-15 minutes, until fruit is just soft. You still want the fruit to hold its form.
When the fruit is soft and plump, remove from heat and drain as much water as you can. Once all water is drained, place fruit into a bowl and add sugar, cinnamon and grated lemon zest. Cover the bowl, place in refrigerator.
Then, in a medium sized bowl, cream the butter, with the 170g sugar and eggs. Add sifted flour and baking powder. Create a round of cake batter, place in bowl, cover and place in refrigerator.
Let the cake batter and apple filling rest overnight. The next day, roll out mixture about 6mm thick, keeping one cup of batter to the side, for the top.
Grease a 24cm tin with butter and light dusting of flour, line the tin with pastry. Cover the whole bottom and one inch up the sides all around.
Spoon apple and cinnamon mixture on pastry and spread evenly.
With the remaining pastry, design the top of the cake. For a lattice, roll into lengths of half inch-thick pastry strips placed in lattice design, over the apple mixture, or roll the batter smooth to cover the fruit Then lightly brush the pastry with the raw egg that had been put to one side earlier.
Place in oven and cook for 1½ hours, or until it is golden and the edges are coming away from the cake tin.
To serve:
Serve with vanilla bean ice cream or fresh clotted cream.
Wild Greens with Lavender Vinaigrette
Serves 4Prep time: 10 min
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp lime juice
½ tsp sunrise lime
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp grain mustard
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp dried lavender blossoms
Blend all ingredients together in a blender.
To serve, scatter mixed green leaves, including frisee, arugula, baby kale, dandelion green and little gems, on a medium plate and drizzle lavender vinaigrette over.
Garnish with fresh lavender blooms.
Apple & Southern Sea Salt Muesli
Makes 12 cupsPrep time 10 minCooking time 20 min
¾ cup rapadura sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
¼ cup apple juice
½ cup light olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon aspen
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried apples cut into pieces
1 tsp sea salt flakes
Method:
Preheat oven to 180degC. Place the rapadura sugar and juice in a large bowl and mix until the sugar has dissolved. Add the olive oil, lemon aspen and vanilla. Mix to combine.
Add the oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, coconut and apple, and mix until the ingredients are combined.
Spread the mixture on to 2 large baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 10 minutes.
Carefully stir the muesli on the trays and then bake for a further 10 minutes or until tightly golden.
Cool on trays.
To serve:
Yoghurt
Honey with vanilla bean added
Additional fruit
Note: To store, place the muesli in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
