Southern Comfort

My story on Southern food is published in the March/April issue of Taste Magazine (click here to read).

Hawaiian Melting Pot

Taste Magazine runs my Hawaiian food story from the media trip we did to these glorious isles back in September (click here to read).

Le Cordon Bleu Food Camp

About a million years ago (so long, in fact, I can't be arsed trying to find it in the archives), I did a two-day food camp at the only NZ outpost of the posh French culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu for a story for Taste Magazine.

It has finally been published in the October issue. Click here to read.

(Pic credit: Sam Heeney)
   

A weekend in the Wairarapa with Taste Magazine

Back in November, you may recall we left HRH in the capable hands of our sitter Tania and tangled with the Friday night exodus from Wellington for a weekend in the Wairarapa (wine country an hour north of the Capital) for a story for Taste Magazine.

The Jan/Feb issue just out features the piece and glorious pics from the talented Animator. Click here to read.

Prefab

December's Taste Magazine runs my piece on Bridget and Jeff, the talented pair behind Prefab, one of Welly's newest and best cafes (click here to read).

If you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of this place, DO NOT go past the asparagus with grilled haloumi and chunky beetroot relish. It's like a kiss from an angel on a summer's day.

   

A Wairarapa wine and food weekend, and epic splits.

It's not everyday you get to shoehorn those two concepts into the same sentence. So yay for me!

This weekend we are off to fill our bellies with all sorts of food and wine on a media weekend in the Wairarapa, a wine region about an hour north of Welly - and then write about it/photograph it for Taste Magazine. Yeah, sometimes I am a jammy git, eh?

Been frantically bashing out two features today, then had to go meet with my lovely clothes woman, Chrissie, and clean the house for the dog sitter, blah, blah, blah.

So no time for words. Instead you shall have the glorious Jean-Claude Van Damme and his amazing flexibility. And, just quietly, I always knew Enya would one day find her way back from the 80s wilderness...

Have a great weekend wherever you are....        

The one where it ends well

The Grumpy Olympics continued apace today - this time interview subjects and editors were among the competitors.

And the poor bird died. It was chirping this morning when I got up and although I tried to hand-feed it (following the sage advice of yesterday's bird woman) by the time I went to check on it later in the morning, it had gone to a better place - or at least a place without bastard cats. And yes, big old sook that I am, I did have a wee cry.  

But the day got better when the sun came out and my friend Rachel came over - it's her birthday tomorrow so I baked a cake and after a walk with His Highness in the town belt we sat in the glorious sunshine and ate and gossiped.

Other good things that happened today: a commission from Taste Magazine to eat and drink my way though the Wairarapa and another for one of my Seoul stories from a Hong Kong-based magazine. Speaking of Honkers, today I finally got around to contacting the airline and tourism body to organise the famil I won as part of the travel journo of the year thingy. Am hoping to also get to Europe on this trip so let the planning commence.      

And I have just returned from my first - and last - IPL session. There's no need to look it up - it basically means 'painful facial treatment that I should never have let my facialist talk me into'.

Am off to lie down with a glass of wine and a cold compress. I may be a while.

Today's visuals c/o Rachel.

   

Seoul Food

The October issue of Taste Magazine runs my foodie travel piece on Seoul, including the incredibly odd and not terribly pleasant sensation of tasting raw, still-alive and still very much wriggling amputated baby octopus. Even putting aside my objection on the grounds of animal cruelty, it's a practice I shall NEVER be repeating (click here to read).