I only hosted two gastronomic tours this year but they were both wowzers. I have just returned from picturesque, passionate, proud Puglia in the heel of Italy. It was sentimental for me because I hadn't seen my friends and colleagues for a few years and it ended up being sentimental for the gastronomads as well because they knew nothing about Puglia and fell hopelessly in love with it.

My first Uzès tour in ten years was a wild success – it was hot but you know, we managed with lots of rosé and buckets of ice. We had a wonderful group who were helplessly enchanted by gorgeous Uzès itself, loved Hotel Entraigues in the centre of town and started shopping one minute after they arrived.

I'm very happy to announce the BIG news on the culinary tours front. I am hosting two tours this year – Uzès in July which is full and Puglia at the end of August which has 4 places left. Puglia is right down in the south of Italy in the heel. In late August it will be hot but not overwhelming. It's famous for gorgeous beaches, Baroque cities, white washed villages, organic masserias (farmhouses) and very sweet people.

I hope everyone had a restorative and luminous holiday season as we did in Auckland. The inevitable arrival of omicron has put a slight spanner in the works but my classes, events and travels are still going ahead at this stage. It's been such a pleasure cooking and eating summer food like sweetcorn, Jersey Benne potatoes, artichokes, heritage tomatoes and super fresh fish from the fish market. I've also loved welcoming my Supper Club students in my home, who sometimes come bearing flowers and cakes for me.

Let's forget all about the last few months and plunge straight into the Silly Season. FINALLY we are allowed to get together at my Supper Club, so last weekend we got straight down to business – eating on my floating glass terrace, listening to a little reading and having fun meeting new people. Come as a work group, come as mother and daughter, come as husband and wife, come as you are.

I have an announcement to make... we are going to Uzès next year!! I've put together a new culinary tour based in my French home town – for the first time in ten years. I will be there from June till the end of September 2022 and my 6 night Uzès tour is scheduled for 1 - 7 July 2022. Please don't spill the Syrah on your espadrilles as you read this – you'll need them for walking across the Pont du Gard.

Well everything was going swimmingly there for a while but now we're in the lie-at-home-on-the-floor-with-a gin zone again. This too shall pass and we will be together again. Stay positive! I started up a supper club which turned into a Saturday Dejeuner (lunch) Club. Got three done then the doors slammed shut, so as soon as possible, I'll be back in business. This is how they work – students arrive at my place at 10am, gasp over the view then settle down to my two hour cooking demonstration. Favourites so far include walnut and parmesan pesto;

So.... Western Australia!! This wonderfull land, seemingly hanging off the side of the world, is actually just like New Zealand but it's much warmer, has 20,000 kilometres of pristine coastline and the girls wear shorter skirts and show a lot more flesh. I think these things are related. But I digress. The real reason I was there, apart from making fashion judgments, was to eat, drink and find out what life is like being driven everywhere in a chauffeured BMW. Seriously tho, I was really in WA to write stories about said land for NZ publications and also, to perfect my WA gastronomic tour planned for 2022.

We finally went somewhere! My first overseas culinary adventure in a long time left NZ and danced into Rarotonga, covered in flowers and smiles. The Rarotongans were thrilled to see us and the feeling was mutual. It was just a great big fat love fest. The Covid safety precautions at Rarotonga airport were very strict which was reassuring. After that we could just relax and get on with the business of having fun. My right hand man in Raro was the one and only Jacopo Dozzo – handsome, charming, efficient... basically perfect.

More Big News! Flushed with the success of my Hawkes Bay long weekend in February, I've been plotting another one – this time in Auckland. The city of sails is my home town and where I was brought up. I remember the days when there was only one kind of chicken – it was organic, wandering around the backyard and your father chopped its head off when it came time for dinner.

I'm thrilled to report my Hawkes Bay culinary staycation was a wild success. Staying at Cape Kidnappers lodge was a joy from beginning to end. NZ luxury lodges have a staff tone like nowhere else in the world – polite, friendly, relaxed and competent without being obsequious... it is their greatest secret weapon.

After a rather trying year, I am grateful that we in NZ are able to celebrate Christmas with open hearts, no restrictions and a generous bubbly allowance. With the vaccine rollout underway, we can hopefully look forward to a more positive 2021, full of good health, possibly overseas travel and reunions with loved ones. I still look forward to the frenzy of Christmas – seeing the new babies in the family, going mad with sisters, mothers, nieces and significant others in the festive food department.

Big News!!! The Farm at Cape Kidnappers and I have been plotting a fabulous four day staycation in February 2021 – so get ready for luxury, beauty, haute cuisine, pampering and top Hawke’s Bay wines. When Robertson Lodges approached me with this concept, I was excited and tremulous at the same time because this experience is different from my regular gastronomic tours. We've created this concept together and I love that it is unique for both of us.

I've been having a wonderful time travelling around New Zealand teaching cooking classes and doing events which include reading from my most recent book Eat Your Heart Out, singing of lost love, wearing Shed Couture clothes, talking about beating things till stiff and explaining why food is love. No trapese work so far but you know how it goes – the only thing I don't have in my repertoire is a dancing dog. Here's what's coming up – please feel free to contact me if you'd like me to do an event in your area.

Well – what a difference 6 weeks makes! I hope you're all safe and well and enjoying life in your bubbles. While this is not what we had planned for 2020, it just goes to show you never know what's around the corner and a positive attitude and resilience always come in handy. With that in mind, this newsletter is remarkable in that there is a complete absence of references to pestilence, lockdown or pecuniary ruin. The language is chosen for its escapist, uplifting and joyful qualities. Read on!

I love everything about Christmas. I love the parties, the food, the traffic jams, the presents, the crackers and reaffirming family and friend love. I love cooking something outrageous – so here's my suggestion for this year ... forget the big bird and go for tiny birds. This is my recipe for rose roasted quails – allow one per person. Throw rose petals all over the table. As it happens the recipe's in my latest book 'Eat Your Heart Out'.

PORTUGAL!!! There – I've said it. I am adding a new tour to my offerings in Europe for September 2020. I first visited Portugal in 2001 when I was writing about food and fado (fado is the achingly beautiful singing that is principally performed in Lisbon), both of which are utterly langourous and delicious. I discovered, to my surprise that Portuguese food was the best kept secret in Europe and that the Portuguese people are sweet, serious and kind.

Another fabulous North India culinary tour is over and Diggi and I are weeping into our chapatis because we won't be singing silly songs, walking down to the river and enjoying cooking lessons with our gastronomads. What a perfect group – they just bonded from day one and that was that – 10 days of happiness, dressing up in saris and turbans and 10 days of celebrating my birthday with 10 birthday cakes.

So the Puglia tour. It was a very emotional and enduring experience that only Puglians and their ancient history can give you. It's such an old culture and such a simple one and the people are relaxed, warm (some might even say hot-blooded where the men are concerned) and proud. They don't feel they have to impress anyone, they know their seafood is beyond fresh, their pasta is made right in front of your eyes with fresh wheat and their traditional wild music makes the heart jump.

The gorgeous Basque Country, (half in Spain and half in France) is a perfect ten – as a culinary destination, it just doesn't seem to be able to do anything wrong. In fact, it's like the whole of Europe encapsulated in one little territory with the best of everything – villages, mountains, sea, forests, sparkling cities, pretty fishing ports, the most starred restaurants in the world and music.