Work wise it has been a busy few weeks. The usual pre-vacation rush to tidy up loose ends and pack in as many appointments as possible. As much as I love what I do for a living there is nothing more satisfying than switching on the “out of office†message for any... 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.... 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... 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,... 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... 