Morning Gastronomy

Gastronomically speaking, Wellington is a world leader. We have more cafés, bars and restaurants per head than even New York. Staying abreast of the new openings in town is like chasing your culinary tail. It is fair to say Wellingtonians are spoilt for choice....

Meteorological Meditations

At the risk of sounding like a whingeing pom, Wellingtonians must develop SAS-style resilience and Buddhist-like optimism to deal with Wellington’s schizophrenic weather. They prepare themselves for the worst and embrace those “great days” that seduce us to...

Publishing interruptus and the beauty of false accounting.

I’d forgive you for thinking I’d flunked my writing challenge so I’d better get my excuses in early. Since “busy-busy” is my middle name with a trip on the horizon, a temporary publishing interruption of my jottings online was inevitable. I have,...

Writing for pleasure and meaning

For the last month I’ve been studying food writing on a Saturday with David Burton who writes restaurant reviews for the Dominion Post, Cuisine Magazine and has a wealth of food books under his belt. He also has a library of about 1,500 food and cookbooks, a tiny...

Putting the awe into awesome

Wellington is turning all sultry and subtle this weekend with the now annual jazz festival in town. Jazz greats are visiting and local jazz artists are strutting their stuff in full concerts and short recitals. We had third row seats to see Joshua Redman and his...