Month: December 2018

Categories
Uncategorised

Recipe: Butterflied Leg of Lamb Barbecued

I really enjoy cooking on the barbecue during the summer months. One of my favourite recipes to feed 4-6 people is a butterflied leg of lamb. Below is a recipe I use to marinade the meat beforehand.

Ingredients:

  • 2-3 kg leg of New Zealand lamb, boned and butterflied
  • 1 large brown onion
  • 2 teaspoons of rosemary (preferably fresh)
  • 2 teaspoons of thyme (preferably fresh)
  • 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
  • 1 tablespoon of honey (or brown sugar)
  • 1 tablespoon of crushed garlic
  • 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Method:

  • Place the lamb in a plastic bag.
  • Then mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl. Ensure that the honey is totally dissolved.
  • Then pour all the ingredients into the bag with the lamb and ensure that they evenly cover the lamb.
  • Tie the bag off with a twist-tie and place in the refrigerator overnight.
  • Occasionally turn the bag over to ensure that the marinade has a chance to completely cover all the meat.
  • Remove the meat from the refrigerator and ensure it has reached room temperature before cooking.
  • Remove the meat from the plastic bag and scrape off the onion and other loose ingredients. You want to do this as burnt onion does not have a good taste.
  • Cook on a charcoal barbecue on a medium heat turning every 10 minutes. A small leg needs around 30 to 35 minutes, a large leg may need around 40 to 45 minutes.

Categories
Uncategorised

Christmas Puddings: The end result

I left the fruit to steep for around 4 days. Last night I decided to finish making the Christmas puddings.

Mixing the pudding

It is currently steaming in the pudding basin at the moment. When it is finished I will post a photo of the end result.

UPDATE:

Finished pudding

This is the end result. On the Christmas day this will require 3 hours of steaming before serving.

Categories
Accounting

Kiwis in Australia: Tax Considerations

Kiwis who live in Australia should now be aware that they do not get permanent residency when they arrive at the border.  Instead they get a special category visa (SCV) that allows them to reside and work in Australia.  Depending on certain factors, including whether or not you are married to an Australian, applied and were granted residency, or arrived after 26 February 2011.  This SCV could be a non-protected special category visa.  Given the enormous amount of media attention recently in New Zealand around New Zealanders not being entitled to social welfare/assistance packages in Australia there also seems to be a lot of ignorance around a particular benefit of having this type of visa.

A SCV is essentially is a temporary visa.  This means that most SCV holders are treated as temporary residents for tax purposes.  The benefit of this treatment is that most forms of foreign income earned are deemed “non-assessable non-exempt income” for income tax assessment purposes.  This means that Kiwis resident in Australia generally don’t have to include certain types of foreign income in their Australian tax return.  Most Australian accountants provide incorrect advice to New Zealanders resident in Australian regarding the taxation of their foreign sourced income. It is important that you receive proper advice from an accountant or tax specialist prior to departing for Australia.

As an Accountant in East Auckland I frequently provide tax advice to Kiwis who are leaving for Australia so they can structure their affairs in the best possible way before leaving.  However, if you have already arrived in Australia it may not be too late to get appropriate advice for moving forward.  You can contact my office using this link.