Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Mike Yardley has a tip or two about Westport. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Good SonWhat do you do when the person you love best becomes unrecognisable to you? For Thea, the answer is simple and agonising: you keep loving him somehow. Stefan was just seventeen when he went to prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Belinda, a crime he has no memory of committing. Three years later, he’s released to a world that refuses to let him move on. RenegadesRENEGADES: Born in the USA chronicles the conversation Obama and Springsteen began in their popular Spotify podcast of the same name, adding exclusive stories and ruminations about life, music, and their enduring love of America.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our relationship expert Steven Dromgool shares his tips on how to have a happy Valentine's Day.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re used to specific sounds in the garden; Don’t know what it’s like at your place, but we’ve heard ONE cicada so far in our garden on the Port Hills; Reasons: 3-, 5- or 7-year lifecycles determine the numbers of cicadas out – it you keep a diary you’ll find out that “good years” return 5 years later, when it comes to chorus cicada or “clapping cicada Three years ago, it was bedlam here and on Banks Peninsula, so expect another good year in 2024. Dry soils make it difficult for cicadas to emerge from the soil; after a good shower of rain those waiting might still make it. Each district has its own peaks and troughs in population numbers What you will hear all over the Northern part of NZ (roughly from CHC north) is the Katydid Caedicia simplex. This is a species we share with Australia Males make noise (not by rubbing their legs!!) by scraping one wing cover over the other – a bit like a file (or comb) rubbed by a sharp object. “Dzzzitsss” is the sound in the afternoon and evening Two slits on the front legs can “listen” to these sounds – they pick up exactly where their mate is. Stereo listening! Ironically, we can’t really do that as well, as the sound of a katydid appears to come from a different place every time: they are ventriloquists (so predators can’t easily find them) LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple's Christmas quarter was quite the gift$124 billion in revenue - that's up 11% on the past year; $35 billion in profit.They've been hit by chip shortages, and have been forced to prioritize giving chips to iPhones over iPads.They also revealed there are 1.8 billion active Apple devices in the world. For comparison, Google says there are over 3 billion Android devices in its Google Play Store ecosystem. Twitter shuts down a Wordle spoilerWordle - the puzzle game where users are given six tries to guess a five letter word - has taken the world by storm. it was made by Josh Wardle for his friends and family but it's taken off since it was made public in October. People are taking to social media to post how they're getting on with their puzzle which has annoyed some - so much so that one person has taken it upon themselves to build a bot to find those who are sharing their progress and ruin tomorrow's word for them."People don't care about your mediocre linguistic escapades." Twitter has decided it's in breach of their 'unsolicited mentions' rule, and so have blocked it. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trigger Point: Jed Mercuio's new crime thriller that might just fill the Line of Duty hole in your lives. It follows Lana Washington, an experienced bomb disposal officer working for the Metropolitan Police, as she deals with a series of terrorist attacks across London. (TVNZ OnDemand) The Gilded Age: Calling all Downton Abbey fans! Julian Fellows’s new historic drama is set in 1882 America and follows a young woman who moves to New York City to live with her aunts. Exposed to an exciting new world on the brink of the modern age, will Marian follow the established rules of society or forge her own path? (Neon). The Sinner: Detective Harry Ambrose investigates various atrocious murder cases and tries to analyse the reasons behind ordinary people committing heinous crimes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Niva and Yotam Kay run Pakaraka Permaculture in Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula. Their mission... Accelerating the transition to a regenerative, organic and just food system. But what exactly is permaculture and how do this pair grow over 10-thousand kgs of food a season on just one-third of an acre of land? Niva and Yotam chat to Jack Tame about getting their hands dirty for future generations.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re a gardener you’ll know that once courgettes start fruiting, they don’t know when to stop and lovely little courgettes can turn into clumsy marrows over lunchtime! So, to use up surplus I urge you to bake this cake – it’s divine.Makes 20cm cake2 tablespoon fine ground polenta (can use ground almonds)130g butter, softened100g sugar2 eggs130g flour1 tsp baking powder½ tsp baking soda1 cup grated courgette (about 2-3 courgettes, squeeze some of juice out½ cup raisins½ cup ripe peach or nectarine slices to serve1. Heat oven to 180C fan. Grease and line 20cm round cake and dust with polenta.2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time beating thoroughly in between. Fold in flour, baking powder, baking soda, courgette and raisins and mix to combine. Scrape into tin and bake for 30-40 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool.3. Ice (or not) and serve with sliced fresh peaches or nectarines.Drizzly cream cheese icing1 cup cream cheese1 cup icing sugar1 tsp vanillaBeat together until combined.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Chris Schulz give his hot takes on Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart and American biographical film, Through the Eyes of Tammy Faye. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne tells Jack Tame that he's found his new favourite collective noun.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was a summer holiday on borrowed time.You’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty remarkable we made it this far without Omicron sweeping through. New Zealand enjoyed Christmas without widespread community transmission. Despite DJ Dimension, we made it through the New Year and most of January. But I think we can all see the end is nigh. It’s quite feasible that by this time next week, our Omicron daily case numbers will be in the thousands.Timing is everything in the Covid-19 response. In December, opposition MPs wanted the borders opened to people travelling from so-called low-risk countries, including Australia, so long as they’d had two vaccinations, tested negative before travelling, and were prepared to isolate at home. You can only imagine how much faster the new variant would have been circling here.All up, the hesitance to relax border restrictions probably bought us six weeks. Time for summer holidays, sure, but time also for a lot of Kiwis to receive their booster jabs.Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. Because I was in Group 4, even though I got my first and second vaccines as soon as I possibly could, I don’t qualify for a booster until after Waitangi Day. That means I won’t benefit from the full effect of the booster shot until the last week of February. Again, timing is everything! If the original vaccine rollout had come just a little bit sooner, me, and hundreds of thousands of other New Zealanders would have the chance to be much more protected against this variant before we hit thousands of daily cases.I think the government deserves a serve for the Rapid Antigen Test debacle. I understand the theory behind wanting to control the limited stocks. They want to make sure everyone has access regardless of where they are in the country. Theoretically they can control the supply to different regions depending on where the outbreak is flaring up. All that stuff makes sense.But a more prudent approach would have meant we could do both. We’d have enough public tests available for everyone who needed one, and businesses that wanted to be extra cautious could use their own private supplies for maintenance testing their staff. The government is effectively pushing in the queue and bullying out private orders. What’d I say? Timing. It wouldn’t have been necessary if the Ministry of Health had acquired more tests, earlier.In the long run though these are probably not the things that will stick in our minds, or the things by which we will judge the Omicron response. In all likelihood, tens or hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are about to contract the virus. It’ll be our biggest infection since start of the pandemic. Maybe our biggest ever. The most important measure will be how New Zealand manages the surge of cases. Can we keep the pot on a gentle simmer, protecting our healthcare services? Or will it boil and bubble and overflow?There’s reason to be optimistic. We’re a highly-vaccinated society. The New York Times reported this week that people who’ve been double-vaccinated and boosted face a greaterrisk by getting in a car than they do from Omicron. That doesn’t mean everyone is protected. But if we’re able to manage Omicron, provided there are no new strains... there can be few sensible arguments from stopping New Zealanders abroad from finally coming home. Dare we cross our fingers and hope this might be the beginning of the end?LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Yardley has got your road trip stops sorted for Selwyn's Great Alpine Highway - the route between Canterbury and the West Coast.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been having fun listening to Aussie band Lime Cordiale and British actor Idris Elba's collaborative mini-album, Cordi Elba. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Exit 45 – Ben Sanders Marshall Grade returns in an action-packed thrill ride through the New York underworld. When a former NYPD colleague is shot dead in front of him, private investigator Marshall Grade discovers there's far more to the killing than meets the eye. Vanderbilt’s - Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe New York Times bestselling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times bestselling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chronicle the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty—his mother’s family, the Vanderbilts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since we started summer (solstice on the longest day of 21st of December, last year) we’ve basically “turned the corner”. The “longest day” was not really the longest day here in Christchurch (but a few days later), but the point is that from now on our days are getting shorter – very slowly. Once we get to mid-to-late February the shortening will speed up and reach its fastest downhill trend of the year… This website shows that in nice little, interactive graphs – I love that stuff! Why bring this topic up on this radio segment? Well…nature responds quite rapidly and accurately to these changes in daylight length and especially gardeners see the effects every year. Plants are pretty good at “working” with their day-length conditions: In spring, when days get longer and soil warms up (the sun gets higher in the sky too, warming up the soil more efficiently due to the higher angle of solar radiation) most plants “wake up” from winter. Roughly: plants start to notice that around late August, early September Growth commences and new leaves are formed…followed by flower buds. Later in Sept and in October a lot of flowers appear (synchronised with the arrival of pollinators, bumblebees, native bees, flies, beetles, moths etc). It’s the time for pollination and spectacular flowers everywhere This continues till solstice. Then it’s the time for consolidating the fertilised flower’s journey into seed-setting. Generally speaking, late summer and autumn are the periods of the year when plant stop forming flower buds and concentrate on producing seed and fruit and nuts and helicopter-winged botanical toys. The thistles on the paddocks outside out house produce huge numbers of fluffy flying seeds; the barley grass produces the barley-like “ears” that stick into your socks … and skin This answers a lot of questions about plants not growing well or not making flowers or setting seeds and fruits; there is a time for these productive cycles and once you’re past that there is little you can do to make the plant grow flowers… generally speaking. Ha! What about artificially lengthening the day-light to trick plants to believe it’s spring? That’s exactly what flower growers do in glass houses and tunnel houses. Controlled climate and controlled lighting systemsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our eco-man Malcolm Rands has been thinking about New Year resolutions you can actually keep that will help our planet:Each New Year many of us make grand resolutions for the coming year. What if these resolutions were actually climate friendly actions that were easy to keep?It’s not all about sacrificeSometimes we look at the activists that are doing extreme and energy draining activities and although these people need to be applauded, we don’t have to go there. Focus on the impact of your actions rather than the efforts. Some are actually very easy. change your power company or KiwiSaver , boycott an climate destroying brand and let them know why, email your MP. it’s all about the impact of these actions rather than the effortHave funThe climate emergency can keep you up at night with worrying. But we have to find friendship, love, pleasure, and laughter not just alongside our efforts on climate, but ideally as an integral part of them. The good news is that whether it’s riding a bike or attending a protest, there are so many sources of joy to be had that it’s hard to know where to start.You are not aloneWe are lucky in NZ to have quite a communal culture. Don’t think of your actions as an individual taking on the big powers but rather a boycott by you and your friends and family. If you want more partners there are many organisations you can join and be part of a team. Maybe one day you and your best friend may end up, handcuffed to the gates of a agrochemical plant togetherBe kind to yourself and even the so-called othersGuilt is a terrible emotion and can drive many peoples actions. The other side of this is shame, and shaming others. This can cause you to loose your power and just alienate people. Be careful to identify who is really responsible for the climate emergency, for example just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions, so let’s not point the finger at each other. We can however boycott those companies and get them to change.Systems thinkingIt’s not all about your individual actions, or what government and industry are doing. It’s a combination of all. But you can look at the systems in your life to make things easier to do the right thing. Yes still pressure for that bike lane and also look at the barriers that are stopping you. Have you got all weather clothes, is the bike easy to access at your home or is it even the best bike for the task.The same is true of almost any climate-friendly behaviour we might want to adopt. Stop berating yourself for not doing it. Instead, examine what holds you back, and then change it.With all New Years resolutions, it is often the small and numerous ones that happen whilst the big challenging change of life stuff, often doesn’t even last to the end of JanuaryLISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance expert Hannah McQueen says to strap in as inflation is going to be a big issue this year. It’s currently sitting at almost five percent and the signs are indicating it’s going to go higher still when the next lot of figures are released next week.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ordering free COVID tests was a breezeThe US Government is offering four free at-home COVID tests to each residence and ordering them was super simple - I'd probably describe it as one of the best interactions I've ever had with a government service. To make it happen they tapped the resources of the US Postal Service. The page was effectively a checkout page, with the product already selected, the price very clearly shown as free. You just needed to add your name and address and press submit. It was really that easy. If only every service was that good! Netflix is having a rough 2022First it's annoyed customers in the US and Canada by raising prices around 11% making the basic plan $15.50 a month - which is the third time they've increased prices since 2019. They're now one of the most expensive streaming services in the market.Now the value of the company has fallen by almost a quarter in just a week. Massive content spend, increased competition and lower than expected subscriber growth is thought to be behind it.Netflix is expected to spend $230 billion on content in 2022 - that's only behind Disney and Comcast (who owns NBCUniversal and Sky in the UK). Their spending is probably only outpacing Netflix because they're spending big money on sports rights to things like the NFL, NBA and Olympics.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Under the Vines: a charming new romantic drama about a Sydney socialite (Rebecca Gibney) and London lawyer (The Crown’s Charles Edwards) who mutually inherit a run-down vineyard in New Zealand (Wednesdays on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ OnDemand).Bloom: An Australian fantasy drama starring Bryan Brown and Jacki Weaver. A year after a devastating country flood kills five people, a new plant is discovered with the power to restore youth. This is a miracle for locals but some are prepared to kill for it (both seasons on TVNZ OnDemand).Stay Close: This British thriller is the latest Netflix adaptation of one of Harlan Coben’s bestselling novels. When Carlton Flynn vanishes 17 years to the night after Stewart Green did, it sets off a chain reaction in the lives of people connected to both men. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matthew Vaughn is a renowned Hollywood director and producer with a portfolio chocka full of cracker films such as Rocketman, Kick-Ass and the comedy classic, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He’s also directed and written the King’s Men series, which stars Ralph Fiennes and Colin Firth. A third installment has just been released called The King’s Man. Matthew Vaughn speaks to Francesca Rudkin about his love of being involved in the King's Men series. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Chris Schulz speaks to Francesca Rudkin about the House of Gucci film and another Scream installment. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The weather has been wonderfully settled for months – I’ll remember it as cloudless blue skies and 27 every day, regardless of what weather forecasters predicted, and even when it wasn’t.Traveling around the North Island over the Christmas and New Year, I noticed a relaxed Kiwi summer vibe. Maybe it was the exhilaration of being able to leave home towns and visit family and friends, maybe it was the relief another difficult year had ended – but there was a distinct feeling people were enjoying the here and now.Not even the mention of an international DJ’s walkabout with Omicron was going to dampen the mood. Nothing was going to ruin the holiday vibe. We covered our ears and sang lalalalala. There would be plenty of time to return to life, and the reality of the challenges that lie ahead, a little later on.A friend recently said to me that this summer reminded her of the Kiwi summers of her childhood – constant long hot days and balmy evenings. Were our summers always sunny and hot? I suspect it’s nostalgic and the selective memory of a childhood at play.When I look at our faded family photos from the 70s and 80s, of summers spent at the beach, it clear not much has changed. OK, so maybe bikinis have become a little more revealing and sun umbrellas have turned into tents, but a swim in the sea is still an invigorating experience, there are still those annoying patches of sunburn from badly applied sunscreen, boogie board rashes, and sea lice.So after two years of craziness, this summer has fulfilled a craving for normality, a return to the simple and familiar.A respite from reality which was abruptly interrupted this week.“Think about what you need at home if you are required to isolate. Think about contingency planning should parts of your workforce need to stay at home", was the Prime Minister’s advice on Thursday.Trevor Mallard followed up the Prime Minister’s press conference with a tweet saying “Omicron is coming and when it arrives it will spread quickly. If you can afford it it will pay to stock up a bit. There will be thousands of close contacts a day.” Have we not been lectured against panic buying for two years now? At least the Speaker then offered to do a grocery or medicine run for anyone in need in Wainuiomata. Bless him.And then the Finance Minister suggested there were no funds for a forth vaccine jab. Hasn’t our whole approach been based around the importance of getting the jab?If the government hadn’t shut down the MIQ lottery for March and April this week, you’d almost think they were handing over responsibility to the individual to deal with Covid from here on in.But back to summer.The joy of this summer has been knowing that each day will be the same. As New Zealanders we sometimes feel we must get out and do something – especially on a fabulous day.I tend to be guilty of that. But once I realised this endless summer wasn’t going anywhere, and there would be many more days ahead, I happily spent down time after work and on days’ off lying in the shade with a book in hand.Enjoying the calm before the next storm.I hope you’ve had a chance to do that too.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne speaks to Francesca Rudkin about the hot weather over the summer break - and why that's not necessarily a good thing. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Music reviewer Estelle Clifford reminisces on her top albums of the year. Want to listen? Click the link below to a Spotify playlist of all the songs on each album.Estelle Clifford's top albums of the yearLISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine’s top picks for summer Fiction: Never – Ken Follet The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reed Wish You Were Here – Jodi Picoult Non-fiction The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins – Peter Fitzsimons Windswept and Interesting – Billy Connelly This Much I Know To Be True – Miriam Margolyes Story teller – Dave Grohl LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Yardley gives his top tips on western Southland - places like Riverton and Gemstone Beach.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Year is a common trigger for relationships to end. Three things to consider:1. We tend to be attracted to similar people, people who break up tend to change the person not the problems. 2. Where there are communication problems we often misinterpret our partners intentions. 3. If we have kids we have a relationship with our partner for the rest of our life, how we separate matters. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Looking forward to Christmas? Why not dive into the garden with a glass of Campari/Soda, grab a hammock and through squinted eye-lids observe the typical summer features in the bug department Close your eyes slightly and look in the direction of the sun. Especially when the late afternoon sun is lower in the sky and temps are up. Millions of tiny insects fly around. Migrating winged aphids – looking for new host plants Winged thrips (even smaller than aphids) also looking for somewhere to land and feed and… a good, sturdy mate to enjoy the Christmas season with Microscopic parasitic wasps – looking for new (insect!) hosts to lay their eggs in Ballooning two-spotted spider mites – yes, these wingless mites will create a strand of silk to migrate with on quiet days with little wind. After all they’re related to spiders! Baby spider often do exactly the same thing: float on their strand of silk and move long distances; we even get those large Orb-weaving spiders from Australia, here in NZ… they move here at this time of the year and grow to become huge adult spiders – sooo cooool. Very small flies (things like Drosophila – vinegar flies) – the creatures that buzz around your fruit bowl, following the smell of over-ripe fruit; going from house to house to compost bin Minute midges, wanting to lay their eggs in damp soil or even the edge of your pond Dancing flies, that create clouds of constantly-moving swarms of insects in a mating frenzy If you get a butterfly net (with really fine mesh) sweep overe the lawn in summer and see what you catch – that is a serious lot of tiny invertebrates – Biodiversity!! Our biodiversity starts with the smallest of creatures. They all have a job to do.They all form the basis of the food chain And…they all travel in a particular way… effortlessly. Merry Christmas everyone!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mumm Marlborough NV Brut Prestige $35Why I chose it:- Thought I’d go out with a bang on my last pick for 2021- A collaboration between Mumm Champagne and Pernod Ricard NZ. A blend of 46% Pinot Noir, 45% Chardonnay and 9% Pinot Meunier.- Think of it as a Kiwi wine with a slight French accent- Open carefully by covering the cork with a napkin as you loosen the wire. Best to hold the bottle at 45 degrees.What does it taste like?- Delicately aromatic sparkler with lemon curd, citrus blossom, and baguette crust flavours. Seamless wine with a seductively ethereal texture and delicious mouth-tingling acidity.Why it’s a bargain:- Champagne prices start at around $50 while good NZ Methode (bottle-fermented sparkling wine made using the champagne process) starts at around $30. It is champagne quality at a local Methode price.Where you can buy it?- Glengarry, Super Liquor, New World and Liquorland all have it at $29.99. That’s a very good price but shop around and don’t forget to ask for a bulk discount if you plan to buy six or more bottles.Food match?- Freshly shucked oysters garnished with a squeeze of lime is my favourite, but it is a versatile food match.Will it keep?- Not in my house. It is probably as good as it is going to be but no rushLISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What you should know about the worst computer vulnerability security researchers have ever seen.It's called Log4j. It's a tiny logging application which records actions taken by users or systems that lives deep inside the software. Basically any application running on Java includes it.. which is a staggeringly large list. Hackers can use a vulnerability in Log4j to install ransomware or malicious code onto the server/system running the software.Java is used as a programming language by some of the biggest corporations and government departments so change won't happen quickly.. which means these vulnerabilities are going to be open for some time. Security researchers are expecting 2022 to be a rough year.Apple is delaying its return to the officeCompanies are basically giving up on dates now. Omicron is destroying any and all plans.My favorite thing to do when you've got a moment..Change those passwords! Clean them up! Give the gift of a password manager this Christmas!LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our very own Gin Wigmore is returning home for a five-date tour next year. She’s currently based in L.A with her family where she’s writing a new album and running a hotel called The Good House. She cathces up with Jack Tame on music, her life overseas and what she's looking forward to about coming home. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

XMAS RECIPES & TIPS TURKEY The trick to cooking the perfect turkey is this; stuff, truss and flip, by which I mean that I stuff it with a buttery stuffing, including under the breast skin, before trussing it to keep the legs and wings tucked into the body so that it cooks evenly and then, once cooked, flip it to rest on its breast so that all the lovely juices run in to moisten the breast meat. Perfect! Orange maple glazed ham, sourdough and mustard sauce There’s nothing quite like warm ham at Christmas and glazing it yourself is easy to do. Serves 10+ ½ or whole cooked ham, try and select one with a decent fat layer under the skin 3 fresh oranges 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 heaped tablespoon flour 2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard Sourdough to serve Heat oven to 120 C and place ham in to warm for 30 minutes. Take out and remove top layer of skin, leaving the layer of fat intact. Warming the ham first makes it much easier to ease the skin away from the fatty layer. Use a sharp knife to score the fat layer in whatever pattern you like. Slice one orange into very thin rounds. Make the glaze by mixing together juice from the remaining two oranges, maple syrup, flour and mustard to a smooth paste. Rub this into the fat then arrange orange slices in top to cover the top. Brush the oranges with the remaining glaze. Bake for 1 hour, basting after 30 minutes. Serve thick slices of warm ham with warmed sourdough and mustard sauce.Mustard sauce 2 tablespoons hot mustard ¼ cup mayo, crème fraiche or sour cream Salt and pepper Mix together to form a smooth sauceLISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching the new Spiderman movie, Ghostbusters & The King's Man. She's also got a review of Westside Story and The Matrix: Resurrection. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne chats to Jack Tame about the ups and downs of 2021. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In July of this year, my Dad almost carked it.He went tramping alone in the bush in winter. He got lost. He fell.He smashed up his body and fractured a vertabrae. He was hallucinating, hypothermic, severely-dehydrated, suffering serious muscle wastage and close to kidney failure, when the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter answered his emergency locator beacon and winched him out of the bush, alive. A few days later, his new granddaughter was born.When the two of them sit down at Christmas lunch next week, there will be plenty of reasons for the Tame family to feel grateful.I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude, this week. I’ve been reflecting on all the stresses and challenges we’ve faced. 2021, maybe even more than 2020, has been dominated by the pandemic. For our last show together this year, I’ve been trying to put our experience in context.The truth is, despite everything, I’m still grateful to have spent the majority of the last two years in New Zealand. Of course, there have been significant errors in our Covid response. I think we were woefully unprepared for Delta in New Zealand, despite all the warning signs. Sir John Key said ‘Smug hermit kingdom.’ I’d say complacent, or naive. We didn’t properly plan for a scenario where lockdowns weren’t enough to knock out the virus. It took community spread for us to inject urgency into the response. It took community spread for us to go to the secondary vaccine market, to introduce vaccine certificates and mandates.I think, at times, we’ve treated New Zealanders overseas like second-class citizens. History will show, despite all the warnings from public health experts, we stuffed up elements of the response for Māori. We weren’t ready for at-home isolation monitoring. We didn’t increase ICU capacity. It took forever for saliva and Rapid Antigen tests to become available.And yet... and yet... and YET. I still think, if you had to pick any major country in which to have spent the last two years, New Zealand would have to be near the top of the list. Sure, at certain moments it would have been nicer to be living in New York or the U.K or Spain or wherever else. When Auckland was locked down and the Northern Hemisphere was living large? Sure. I felt envious, too. But compare us, now. The U.S just passed 800,000 recorded deaths. New Zealand is still in double figures. We have a 90% eligible vaccination rate. Any way you look at it, that’s an extraordinary achievement.I appreciate this view might put me in the minority amongst my Newstalk ZB colleagues. But you know, we are capable of a little bit of complexity in our thinking. We can hold two seemingly contradictory thoughts in our heads. We can acknowledge our leaders and bureacracy have made significant errors - errors which deserve hard critiques and political consequences – but that the totality of our response has still made New Zealand a much better place to be for the last two years than most other places in the World. I’m grateful for that.I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to escape the pandemic, this summer. Omicron probably has its own plans, but at the very least, I’m going to try.On Monday I’ll fly to Nelson. I’ll drive home to Golden Bay. And if the weather’s clear next week, I’ll head out on the overnight tramp on which my Dad almost died six months ago. My brother, my sister, and my old man will climb up to Boulder Lake. The plan is to start early, and go slowly. If all goes well, we’ll reach the hut hours before sunset. We’ll make a brew. We’ll have a feed. We’ll bunk down for another family Christmas, bruised, weary, and grateful.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Estelle Clifford gives us the lowdown on Kiwi country singer Kaylee Bell and her new album Silver Linings. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Theroux the Keyhole – Louis Theroux Step inside Louis' life like never before as he turns his critical eye on himself, his home, and family and tries to make sense of our weird and sometimes scary world. His new autobiography is the perfect book for our uncertain times by the hilarious and relatable Louis Theroux. For Your Own Good – Samantha Downing USA Today bestselling author Samantha Downing is back with her latest sneaky thriller set at a prestigious private school—complete with interfering parents, overeager students, and one teacher who just wants to teach them all a lesson LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Yardley chats to Jack Tame about Queenstown - what to do, where's new to eat and drink and whether they're ready for the influx of Aucklanders once they're allowed out.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of us have now come across Secret Santa either with our extended family or workmates. This is actually a very eco activity, swapping out lots of small presents, that often are never used, to one well thought out gift, mainly within a price range. This can be given out randomly, this was the job of the youngest member of our family, or someone takes on, secretly letting everyone know who they are buying a present for.My families have now moved on the a more competitive version. Sometimes called Pirate Santa. Everyone is given a specific number, equal to the number of family present. The gifts are all put in the middle of the room.Number one chooses from this pile and opens it for everyone to see then places this present in front of themselves.Number 2 now can choose another present or take the present off number 1. If this happens number one has to choose another present.By number 3 they can take the present from 1 or 2 or choose a new present. If say number 2 has their present taken they can choose a new present or take the present from number 1.By the time you get to say number 11, there can be multiple instances of presents being taken. The only thing is you can’t take a present that has already been taken in that round.I have had my favourite present taken and then got it back up to six times during one of these sessions.It’s a lot of fun and quite revealing of the characters of your group.Secret Santa gifts can also be played around with.You can choose themes - the idea that an experience is more valuable than an object can be used.Make the gifts all experiences. A visit to the movies, a home cooked meal, an offer to do chores at the persons house. Let your imagination go wild. This secret Santa can still be played in any of the versions we have talked about . Probably works better with family than work matesMake the gift ridiculously cheap, say $2, but at the same time magical . This works best if it is the version that you know who you are buying the present for. Time to let those creative juices flowThe gift can be a food item that you have made yourself although if it’s open to all, you may have to make it vegan and gluten-free. You can present this in a beautiful container which is part of the giftMake everything second hand - junk shop treasures.I guess Xmas gifting is a great time to be true to your values. Let your friends and family see you can walk the talk.I read something recently that said normalise fruit trees, sourdough starter and favourite recipes as gifts. Give something that can keep giving for generations.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gardening in a dry, hot timeAlways tricky; evaporation and transpiration really take it out of the ground and the plant’s system.Water when it gets cooler (late evening or better still: really early morning).Try not water all over the plants – it needs to end up in the root zone, so aim for that.Water on leaves causes burning and that hurts the plants.Droplets can act as a microscopic lens that magnifies the sun rays.Imagine an upside-down plastic bottle buried into the root-zone of a shrub… with its bottom cut off.Now fill the bottle with water and that water slowly leaks out of the neck under the soil surface right into the zone where the roots are.Easy to re-fill and therefore delivering the water exactly where it’s needed(not on the leaves, but on the roots)Instead of just water: put some very diluted liquid fertiliser in; water and minerals at the same time!Sprinklers are quite dodgy: the small droplets will largely disappear (evaporation) before they hit the ground;Also: you can’t really control where these droplets (or the remains there-of) will fall.Mulch is a covering material that literally protects the soil from direct sunlight. It cools that soil and the root zone and will significantly reduce evaporation from the soilBecause mulch consists of large particles (and not the fine clay or loam and sand particles) it breaks the hygroscopic movement of water in the soil; it’s all to do with interrupting the capillary action and that stops water moving from cooler, wetter areas down below to the hotter, drier areas of soil near the surfaceDESIGNWith the disruption of climate, some areas will get drier (East Coast) others get wetter (West Coast) or windier.Adapt planting to these conditions.Succulents and Mediterranean plants will deal better with drier conditions; as do Salvia, Hosta, Corokia, thyme – do a google search there’s plenty of great plants!Some of our native wetland species can cope with occasional flooding – some trees (kahikatea and plants (flax) are ideally suited to wetlands, as are puketea, swamp maire, ribbonwood, putaputaweta…Shelter from wind can be useful too.There are also plants that don’t care too much about salt-laden winds (Griselinia, Tecomanthe, bougainvillea, Pyrostegia, Pittosporums, Echiums etc etc).LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our resident doctor Bryan Betty chats to Jack Tame about the year of Covid and how successful we have been with the vaccination program. He also talks about why there's the issue with Māori vaccination rates, Covid in the community and the emergence of Omicron.Bryan Betty is a GP and medical director for the College of GPs. He’s also on the Covid-19 advisory committee. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amazon showed just how big it is againNot only are they so big they can get around the global supply chain crunch by building their own containers and putting them on their own planes, but they also take down thousands of web services when their cloud hits a grey patch.Their 'US-East' region of Amazon Web Services went out for hours this week crippling a wide range of apps likes Tinder, Coinbase and Disney+ but also smart home services like self-cleaning cat litter boxes and roomba vacuums! Amazon's own operations were also halted when their internal apps went down too.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tara Ward joined Jack Tame and shared her picks for this week:And Just Like That: It’s the Sex in the City revival that follows Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda once again as they navigate friendship, love and relationships through their 50s, with New York City as the backdrop (Neon)The Investigation: a six-part documentary series that follows the investigation into the death of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, which made headlines around the world as “the submarine case” (TVNZ OnDemand)The Teacher: Sheridan Smith stars in this British thriller about a teacher with a chaotic private life who is accused of having a drunken sexual encounter with a student. But with no memory of the night and hoping for redemption, she sets out to uncover the truth (TVNZ OnDemand).LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Erik Weihenmayer is one of the most accomplished mountaineers and adventurers in the world. He’s climbed Mount Everest, reached the top of the tallest peaks on each of the seven continents and paddled the entire 445 kilometres of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. But what makes Erik’s achievements so unique is that he’s blind. Jack Tame chats to Erik about his expeditions and his latest adventure - in front of the camera with actor Will Smith as part of Disney’s Welcome to Earth series. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘Tis the season to be jolly and this dessert is jolly good! A choux pastry wreath is a stunning dessert for the festive table and it is absolutely delicious.Serves 8-12Choux130g chilled butter, chopped250mls water145g plain flour4 large eggs (about 230g in the shell), lightly whisked½ teaspoon sea salt3 teaspoons sugar (optional)150g white chocolate¼ cup cream4 tablespoon fruit compote, I used Barker’s cherry and vanillaFilling300ml cream200g mascarpone2 teaspoons vanilla extract2 tablespoons icing sugar + extra to dust2 cups fresh mixed berries to serve1. Preheat oven to 170C fan and line a baking tray with baking paper. Drawn a 25cm circle on it to use as a guide.2. Heat the butter and water in a saucepan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until the butter melts and the mixture comes to the boil. Add the flour and use a wooden spoon to beat for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture comes away from side of pan. Transfer to the bowl of a standing mixer or to another bowl that you can use an electric beater in. Allow it to cool for 4-5 minutes.3. Begin to beat and add an egg with the beaters still running. Once incorporated, add the next and so on. I beat the final egg with a fork first before drizzling it in bit by bit as you may not need all of it to get a choux pastry mixture that is thick and glossy.4. Use a tablespoon to spoon 12 even spoonfuls within the drawn circle on your tray. I start with one at 12 o-clock, then six, then 3 and 9 and then I fill in the gaps. Using a finger moistened with water, smooth out any peaks on top of the choux mounds.5. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until puffed and golden. Reduce the heat to 100 C fan and bake for a further 10 minutes. Turn the oven off. Leave the puffs in the oven for at least 1 hour to dry and crisp up. Cool.6. Carefully cut the profiterole ring in half horizontally. Discard any pieces of uncooked dough from the profiterole centres. It can now be stored in an airtight container for a few days. Crisp it in a 100 C oven before filling and decorating.7. Melt white chocolate over a gentle heat, whisking in enough cream to form a thick smooth sauce. Cool to warm. Spread each profiterole with white chocolate sauce. Chill briefly to set.8. To fill; Dab fruit compote into each profiterole, add some fresh berries too. Beat together cream, mascarpone and icing sugar until stiff peaks form – watch you don’tover beat it. Spoon this mixture into the ring base and gently place the top ring. Dust with icing sugar.9. To serve, pull apart each profiterole and serve with fresh berries.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Francesca Rudkin gives us the lowdown on Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and a sobering documentary about Covid called The First Wave."The French Dispatch" is inspired by New York magazine and is set in France. Rudkin says it's an incredible lineup with stars, a lot of them familiar with Wes Anderson fans."The First Wave" is a National Geographic documentary that looks at the first wave of Covid-19 cases in New York. Rudkin says the tone is quite right to watch the film as we have moved on in the world with Covid.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne is celebrating the 23rd birthday of an icon of the entertainment industry but it's not quite who you think! He told Jack Tame the Big Mouth Billy Bass is set to tragically spend its birthday on Thursday once again high and dry and out of battery in some dark places in garages."I urge all our listeners who have a Big Mouth Billy Bass in their shed or loft release him like you would any unwanted fish."The Big Mouth Billy Bass made an estimated US $100 million in nine months.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let’s get one thing straight: It would be fantastic if New Zealanders didn’t smoke.Our Smokefree 2025 aspirations, although perhaps a smidgen optimistic, are excellent. The steps we’ve taken over the last few decades, from advertising restrictions to plain packaging laws, excise tax hikes to the recent ban on smoking in cars, have made a massive difference to the number of New Zealanders who smoke cigarettes. I look back to the childhood evenings I spent in rugby clubrooms, heavy with a fog of cigarette smoke, and it feels like a different life.But I do have some reservations about the phased-in ban on cigarette sales. Restricting drug access can have unintended consequences. Would we have seen the surge in dairies being robbed in violent robberies if we hadn’t massively increased excise taxes? Of course not. And more broadly, does banning drug use ever work? In my experience, human-beings will always find a way to get an illicit fix. If you ban anything, you automatically create illegal demand. And the black market for cigarettes might not end up being too big, you can be sure it will exist. It already does!The thing that tilts me in favour of the proposal is that the drug which makes cigarettes so addicitive – nicotine – isn’t actually being banned at all. I’ve got heaps of mates who have moved off the lungas’ and onto vaping instead. I’m almost 35, I’ve never smoked a cigarette and I’m confident I never will. But I have had a hoon on a few vape pens in my time. With watermelon or mango or cool mint flavours, I can see why the kids like them so much. Banning cigarettes simply wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have something like vaping as an alternative. But that has its own issues. There will be many young New Zealanders – tens or hundreds of thousands, even – who might never have smoked a cigarette, but become addicted to vaping instead. I suppose this is a cost of progress.I have to say though, I prickle when I compare our politicians’ proactive work with tobacco to that of other drugs. If we were to step back and consider what drug harm needed priorisiting in New Zealand, cigarettes and tobacco wouldn’t be top of the list.It’d be booze. Booze is the number one cause of death for young New Zealanders aged between 15 and 49. Booze kills almost three times as many New Zealanders every year as smoking. And that’s not to mention all of the crime, violence, and societal problems it causes.For tobacco, we’ve gone hard. We’ve banned advertising and sponsorship. We’ve cranked up excise taxes. We’ve introduced plain packaging laws and banned smoking indoors. We’ve heavily subsidised programmes to help Kiwis quit.With booze? ... Nothing.I’m not suggesting we ban alcohol. Of course not. But it looks increasingly likely New Zealand will move to ban the sale of cigarettes before it gets anywhere near introducing the simplest advertising or marketing restrictions for our most harmful drug.I’m open to the phased-in ban on cigarettes. I hope it’ll work. The Cancer Society reckons it’s courageous. But if you want real courage, find me a government that’ll do something meaningful about alcohol.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Estelle Clifford has been listening to US indie singer-songwriter Julien Baker and her new album, Little Oblivions. She told Jack Tame this album can be confronting at times. "What I loved about this album is it's so well produced and in-control-sounding and it's about a whole lot of stuff when you're not in control...It's quite clever."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Book expert Catherine Raynes has been enjoying Jodi Picoult's new novel Wish You Were Here and acting legend Stanley Tucci's memoir Taste: My Life Through Food. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.