Joyeux Noël & Meri Kirihimete

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Happy Christmas Gastronomads


I am in residence in Auckland writing and hosting the Supper Club chez moi till I leave for the other half of my life in the South of France at the beginning of May 2024. The exception is the month of March when I will be in India hosting two shopping/textile tours. I know!! Can't wait to be in the land of the best architecture, the best interior decor, the best textiles, the best fashion and the nicest people. The Supper Club happens on Wednesday evenings and Saturday lunchtimes and dishes up an alternative experience to a restaurant, where guests sample recipes from my Uzès cooking school within the warm communal buzz of an intimate, personal setting. You learn about the inspirations and influences behind the dishes I teach, so you not only leave with a full stomach and recipes but lots of stories too. More info and booking enquiries are HERE.

Gastronomic Tours in 2024

Behind every person and every household is a story of local traditions and daily life in villages and towns. Traditional food is about ancestral memories and looking back and holding on to old cultures – it is profoundly about identity.  Come with me and partake in the honesty, grace, generosity and fun of a culinary adventure – eating locally is the best way to access another culture. Suitable for fit and healthy gastronomads!

All the tours next year are full except for Uzès where I live in France and my new tour to Portugal. We await your charming company for the remaining places.

Uzès – 14 – 20 June 2024 – we have 4 places left
Puglia – 1 – 7 September 2024 – due to a cancellation we have ONE place available
Portugal  – 15 – 21 September 2024 – we have 4 places left

Event Speaking

I am available for cooking classes, speaking and MC engagements all over New Zealand. My main topics are food, travel, fashion and ageing fabulously. There's nothing original about ageing – it's how you do it that matters. I am always shocked at how many people find it admirable that I manage to be happy in spite of my obvious failures and faults (no husband, no children, not a lesbian, no face-lifts, little exercise). Readers think writers know something they don’t know – we don’t of course but our job is to reflect back culture and articulate trends. While articulating trends, I sometimes burst into a Piaf song. Contact me directly for event speaking HERE

Peta's Christmas cake recipe

It's definitely not too late to make your Christmas cake. I make this recipe every year and it never fails me.

  • 1 kg mixed fruit (anything you fancy)

  • 6 tbsp sherry, cognac or rum

  • 125g butter

  • 125g suet

  • 250g dark cane sugar

  • 1 tbsp golden syrup or treacle

  • 4 large eggs

  • 250g flour

  • 2 tsp baking soda

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp mixed spice

  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 1 tsp curry powder

  • 200g whole blanched almonds

Soak dried fruit in the alcohol overnight.

  1. The next morning cream the butter, suet, sugar and treacle till soft and light. Beat in the eggs one by one.

  2. Add the sifted flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

  3. Stir in the fruit and almonds.

  4. Preheat oven to 160C. Line a wooden cake tin (22x22x10cm) with baking paper and pour the mixture into it.

  5. Place the cake on a lower rung of the oven and bake at 160C for one hour then lower the heat to 130C and bake for another three hours.

Thank you to my PA Rosie and everyone who participated in the Supper Clubs, rocked through my tours and read my books this year. I wish you a very happy, peaceful, sherry soaked Christmas. If you are all sorted have a look around and see who you can help – City Mission, Salvation Army, next door neighbour... Christmas carol singing is permitted but no karaoke – it's God's way of telling you you've drunk too much. See you next year.

Peta