Say Cheese

I have added to my box collection – or, to be more precise, to my ‘sub-collection’ of “Boxes with Writing On.” It came from the new Petrini Restaurant, Wine Bar and Delicatessen at Ferrymead, here in Christchurch. It’s a French cheese box from their fabulous cheese room, which any greedy cheese lover ought to make a bee-line for. And now to the question I keep asking myself - Is it wrong, weird even, to be so excited by a cheese box? www.petrini.co.nz

Petrini Bites

Lunch @ Petrini, Christchurch. May 2008. Ajr

This was yesterday's lunch - a selection of divine bites at the very classy Petrini at Ferrymead, Christchurch - a restaurant, delicatessen and wine bar that pays homage to Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food Movement, a man who, when McDonald's planned to open near the Piazza di Spagna in Rome in 1986, organised a demonstration where he and his supporters brandished bowls of penne as weapons of protest. Things are a bit quieter at Ferrymead and that's just the way it should be - gorgeous spot, knowledgeable staff and fabulous deli and cheese room. I'll be returning with an empty basket. Oh and lunch? Salt cod mousse, soft shell crab, Italian confit of rabbit and onion pie and mushroom tortellini. www.petrini.co.nz