Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Remember 42 Below Vodka? It was one of New Zealand’s most successful alcohol brands that was sold to global giant Bacardi in 2006 for hundreds of millions. It’s founders, Geoff and Justine Ross, have since grown powerhouse brands such as Ecoya and Trilogy. But their latest venture is perhaps the most challenging yet. The pair swapped the boardroom for gumboots and bought Lake Hawea Station near Wanaka in 2018. The pair speak to Jack Tame about life on the farm.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New season strawberries have hit the shelves and they’re at last priced sensibly. Make this gorgeous slice and serve it warm with vanilla ice cream for a dessert that tastes of summer. Makes 12-16 squares 1 cup whole almonds 415g (about 3 ¼ cups) plain flour Decent pinch salt 250g cold butter 3-5 tablespoons cold water ¾ cup raw sugar 500g fresh strawberries (or use 250g each strawbs and chopped rhubarb)  Grease and line a Swiss roll tin (23x33cm), leaving some of the baking paper hanging over the long sides. Rub/grate chilled butter into the flour and salt (or do it in a food processor). Toss the butter in the flour. Divide this mixture equally into two bowls. Into one, pour 3-5 tablespoons ofice coldwater, stirring first with a knife to a scraggy mess then add a bit more water before turning out to knead briefly so it comes together. Flatten to a disc, wrap and chill for 20 minutes.  Blitz almonds in a food processor until it’s a coarse crumb. Add this crumb and the sugar to the other half of the flour/butt

Our movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching The Green Knight, Juniper and I'm Your Man. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne speaks to Jack Tame about how lucky we are to be born in a country with so much land and open spaces but it might not be long before we have to share it.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Honestly, I did not expect Nanaia Mahuta to pull the trigger.Opposition to the Three Waters reforms has exploded in the last few months. That bit isn’t a major surprise. Anything that involves the future of water assets and the belief in some circles that Māori are getting a special deal is always going to stir people up. Upon reflection, the Government’s multimillion-dollar TV advertising campaign might have done more to galvanise opposition than to offset it.Facing widespread scorn and criticism, and pushback from mayors around Aotearoa (including those of Christchurch and Auckland, who just happen to be former Labour Ministers), I thought it most likely Nanaia Mahuta would gently back down from pursuing her agenda.But she didn’t. The Minister is planning to mandate. Can you think of any other time in the last four years that Jacinda Ardern’s Government has forged ahead with such an unpopular policy?At the end of the last term, the Government was criticised by its supporters as not having pursued a bold age

Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to Elton John's new album - The Lockdown Sessions.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our book reviewer Catherine Raynes has been reading Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (author of All The Light We Cannot See) and The Lincoln Towers by Amor Towles. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our resident relationship expert Steven Dromgool speaks to Jack Tame about strategies to deal with the vaccine sceptic in your life. He says to approach the vaccine-sceptics in your life with an open mind. "You don't have to lose your relationship with them."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just looking at how nature operates, we can find quite a few ‘do-s’ and ‘don’ts' when it comes to designing a garden or operating such a space. Here are my top tips – some of which are also reflecting my personal loves and hates: Go with the Flow - curved lines in landscapes! In nature there are very few straight lines (if any!). The old French and Dutch Gardens (17th century etc) look spectacular but remember, they were designed to show off the wealth of the landowners, especially those that were driving the economy…economists have never been able to work with nature. Minimise the amount of hard surfaces on the ground. Water that falls from the sky habitually has a tendency to soak into the soil where it benefits invertebrates, fungi, plants, trees and shrubs, as well as algae, bacteria and soil critters. The moment you create hard surfaces, you’ll create flooding down the line somewhere...which is why I think we need to de-seal our roads in suburbs where we can. Create wildflower areas. I have never underst

Google's Pixel 6 will debut the Google made chipJust like Apple, Google's flagship phone will now have a chip made to blend the software and hardware in a full Google experience. They say it's designed to be 80% faster than the Google Pixel 5, offers more accurate speech to text, and better image processing. They've got a three camera array on the back of the device in a horizontal strip, offering a 4x optical zoom.But to me, the coolest thing about the release is their features for calling customer service lines.They'll be able to tell you how long a call to the bank, or an airline is going to take before you even dial. They're using data from others users, like on Google Maps, to help provide these insights. Didn't quite catch what option you're meant to press for a new account? They'll display the options on your screen.Facebook to change its nameThe corporate company will be named something different to Facebook, which will still be the name of the 'big blue' app. Google did something similar when they cr

Here are Tara Ward's picks for the week:RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service:  The beloved Australian drama from the 1980s is back for 2021. Based on remarkable real-life stories, RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service is a gripping new Australian action-drama that portrays the modern-day heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starring Stephen Peacocke (Home and Away) (TVNZ1 and TVNZ OnDemand, from Monday). Invasion: Earth is visited by an alien species that threatens humanity's existence. Events unfold in real time through the eyes of five ordinary people across the globe as they struggle to make sense of the chaos around them. (Apple TV+) Good with Wood: It’s like the Great British Bake Off, but for…woodworkers? Sure, why not. (TVNZ1 Fridays, and OnDemand). LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching Icelandic film Lamb and the documentary A Glitch in the Matrix. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne recently won a competition for the Dominion Post to be delivered to the door for a month. He speaks to Jack Tame about how it's reminded him and his wife of the joys of a daily newspaper. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is providing up to $940 million per fortnight to support businesses through the challenging Delta outbreak, particularly those in Auckland.Enable Me's Hannah McQueen told Jack Tame the Government's announcement yesterday was a dogs breakfast."There is a misunderstanding around what small businesses need at the moment."She said the business support package is "too little too late".Hannah McQueen is available at www.enable.me  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Dawson is the definition of an adrenaline junkie. Not only is he a former Olympian and New Zealand's best in the canoe slalom, he's also an extreme kayaker.He speaks to Jack Tame about his award-winning documentary of his treacherous trip down Africa's Kwanza River - facing crocodiles, landmines and stand-offs with police. Watch Mike’s award winning documentary Kwanza - The Drowning Diamond of Angola.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the long weekend and you feel like pizza but you really can’t be bothered with the whole rise the dough phase or making a tomato base sauce. No problem – this easy mushroom pizza is an absolute doddle to whip up in under 30 minutes. Get to it! Makes one large pizza Base dough 150g self-raising flour 80mls water ½ teaspoon sea salt Topping 2 cups sliced mushrooms 1 tablespoon butter or oil 1 tablespoon each fresh thyme & rosemary ½ cup creme fraiche ¼ cup grated parmesan Pinch salt and decent grind black pepper Heat oven to 240 C fan bake. Mix all the dough ingredients together in a bowl until it forms a soft dough ball. Turn out and knead for 2 minutes only, then leave it to relax. Fry the mushrooms butter or oil and herbs for 5 minutes or so. Mix creme fraiche, cheese, salt and pepper together. Roll dough out to about 20-25cm circle and transfer to a lightly oiled tray. Spoon over creme fraiche mixture and spread evenly. Tumble over mushrooms. Drizzle over some oil. Place on the very bottom of your

Vaccine certificates are about to become a big part of our lives. In much the same way we use the Covid-19 Tracer App to scan-in at different premises, we’ll be scanning the QR codes on our vaccine certificates almost everywhere we go. Under the government’s new traffic light plan, hospitality and retail businesses have massive incentives to demand proof of vaccination from all of their customers. Personally, the certificates make a lot of sense. They’ll make it safer for people to gather in groups and they’ll incentivise some vaccine hesitant people to go and get the jab. But when will they actually be ready? A month ago, when Grant Robertson first confirmed the government was planning to use certificates, he said they’d aim to introduce them at the start of November. Two weeks later, Dr Ashley Bloomfield had a different date in mind. The vaccine certificates, he said, should be ready in ‘late November.’ Yesterday, the timeline appeared to change again. ‘From mid-December, everyone in New Zealand should be a

Tara Ward joins Jack Tame to discuss the latest in television and streaming series'.Here are her picks for this week:Succession: At last, season three of the award-winning drama about an American global-media family comes to Neon. The Roy children rich, they’re powerful and they’re powerfully dysfunctional, and they’re all fighting for control of their father’s media empire amid his declining health (Neon, from 18 October).  Angela Black: Joanne Froggatt stars in this dark British thriller about a woman - who on the outside appears to have it all - but is hiding a life of domestic abuse and decides to fight back (TVNZ OnDemand).  Bad Sport: True crime and sports intersect in this Netflix docu-series that examines global sporting controversies and scandals with firsthand accounts from those involved.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to rocker's Shihad and their new album.She joins Jack Tame to discuss the Kiwi band's latest work.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin speaks to Jack Tame about a pair of films, one in the cinemas in The Alpinist, and one available on streaming services in The Donut King.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.