Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching Mank, Ava and Amundsen.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Turkey with kumara & sage stuffing & roasted cherries Turkey sometimes gets a bad rap and I can’t fathom why. Cooked and rested properly it’s a wonderful centrepiece for the festive table and feeds a crowd beautifully.  Serves 10-12  Size 3.5-4.5 turkey  1/4 cup olive oil  2 tsp sea salt 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped roughly ½ cup red or white wine or water 2 cups fresh cherries   Stuffing 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs  350g kumara, steamed and mashed  1 onion, diced fine  50g melted butter (can use olive oil)  6-8 sage leaves, shredded Handful Italian parsley, chopped roughly 1 tsp salt + ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper Gravy 1/3 cup plain flour ¼ cup red or white wine  Water Salt and pepper to taste   Heat oven to 200 C.  Make the stuffing by mixing all the stuffing together.  Prepare the turkey by patting dry cavity and skin with paper towel. Stuff cavity with half the stuffing. Roll remaining stuffing into balls and set aside. Rub oil all over turkey and sprinkle with sea salt. For even cooking

I’m going to start the show this morning by crossing my fingers and very publicly knocking on wood. I’m not trying to stress you out. I’m not trying to spook anyone. But. Have you imagined what would happen if there was an unexpected outbreak of Covid-19 some time in the next week or two?  EEEEE... ! I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s a prospect so hideous I hate to even mention it. But it’s a possibility, right? We know our border control measures aren’t 100% fail-proof. And just imagine if the government was forced to decide on another lockdown a few days before Christmas. Something tells me that scenario might test the public faith in the NZ elimination strategy. So for goodness sake, please, don’t get sloppy now... use the Covid app! I understand with Christmas this close why the powers-that-be want to continue our conservative approach when it comes to Covid-19.  Kiwis are going to be travelling a lot internally over the next week or two. And I don’t sense that many of us have a big appetite for risk.But after C

Kiwi singer-songwriter Anna Coddington has just released her fourth studio album, Beams, and our music reviewer Estele Clifford has been taking a listen.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Book reviewer Catherine Raynes has been reading The Searcher by Tania French and Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Yardley has been travelling the Road to Milford, Fiordland.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Green Gift Guide  Studies have shown that 25% of gifts and thrown out between Christmas and New Years’ Day, so lets give things that people can treasure and find useful.  Most people already have keep cups and reusable bags in their cars, so here are some new sustainable gift ideas:   * Beautiful container with lid that can sit on the kitchen countertop and you put your compost scraps straight into. * Reusable covers for bowls. Often now made with bees wax  * Solar powered phone charger * Natural based lip balms, hand creams or other beauty products.  * Collection of eco-cleaners. Ecostore does a gift bucket full. Start at the batch and end up using them everywhere .. people need to try to be convinced that they work as well. * Really beautiful shopping produce bags, preferably ones that can fold down and live in your bag or car.* Cookbook looking at no waste, reusing leftovers etc.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How to avoid mozzies this summerGet rid of stagnant water in gutters and drains, saucers under plant pots, plastic kid’s pools, tarpaulins, dingies, canoes, drill holes in the bottom of tyre swings, and make sure weed mats don’t have ‘ponding’ happening.   If you have a swimming pool, keep chlorine up-to-date. Use goldfish in your pond – they eat the mosquitoes’ wrigglers, but don't introduce gambusia (mosquito fish) - they're a terrible exotic pest. Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) granules can kill the wrigglers in ponding sites you cannot manage: use the correct quantity for the size of the water body.But mozzies aren't all badAdult males are ace pollinators. All mosquitoes are great food for: Insectivorous birds like fantails, grey warblers, and swallows; insectivorous insects like dragonflies, robber flies, water boatmen, backswimmers; and food for larval fish species and adult small fishes like frogs and lizards. The “wrigglers” also do a great job eating bacterial slime and other micro-organism

Master of Wine Bob Campbell's Best Buy for the week is the Momo 2020 Organic Rose, Marlborough $19.99.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your car's license plate could be the next thing to go digital  This has been a work in progress since 2009, but now California and Arizona are starting to adopt them. Why head down this road? + They can display messages to other cars to say "I'm stolen". + In the USA, your license plate follows you if you buy a new car, so you could very easily change it to your new one. + It could also broadcast "Amber Alerts" to alert motorists that there is a missing child. They could even broadcast other statewide important messages too, like "wear a mask" as is currently displayed on many electronic road signs today. If this catches on, you might even be able to buy your next car with built in digital plates. No more ugly add ons, they could be sleek and part of the design.   Apple's self-designed processor is blazing fast  This really is the next chapter of Apple's computers. The iPhone and iPad have been made possible thanks to Apple's self-made chips, and now they're coming to their computer lineup.  It's impressing

Being a God in Florida: Kirsten Dunst stars in this dark comedy drama about a minimum-wage water park employee who lies, schemes, and cons her way up the ranks of the cultish, multibillion-dollar pyramid scheme that drove her family to ruin (TVNZ OnDemand).  The Wilds - Amazon Prime Video’s new drama which was filmed in and around Auckland and drops on Friday.  Coronation Street diamond jubilee:  TVNZ celebrate 60 glorious years of Coronation Street with a special week of Coro programming, including a variety of daytime and primetime special episodes for fans of the beloved British drama to enjoy (from Sunday 6 December, TVNZ1) LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time to accept that Christmas is well and truly on the way. What better way to embrace the spirit of the season, than with a heart-warming sequel to 'A Street Cat Named Bob' - 'A Christmas Gift From Bob'. It's the story about a world-famous street cat and his owner, James Bowen. For those unaware of their story, James was fighting a drug addiction and surviving as a busker. Then, a video of him playing with Bob on his shoulders went viral. He was approached to write a book, which sold 8 million copies.   He's been speaking to Jack Tame about the journey from homeless man to best-selling books, and two movies. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Festive Wreath This dessert is always a standout at Christmas and it’s actually very easy to make! Dress it up with whatever gorgeous fruit and berries you fancy to suit your menu.   Serves 10-12  7 egg whites 340g caster sugar (about 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons) 1 ½ teaspoons vinegar (can use lemon juice but I find vinegar more reliable)  Topping 400mls cream, whipped 100g mascarpone 2 teaspoons vanilla extract  Fruit – I used strawberries and thinly sliced mango  ¼ cup almond flakes or anything else you like (I added pieces of pistachio cranberry nougat)  Preheat oven to 130 C. Line a flat tray with baking paper. Draw a 28cm circle on the baking paper.  Make the meringue: Beat egg whites until soft peak stage. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating for about 20 seconds between each addition. It’s important to not rush this phase and to keep beating after all the sugar has been incorporated until it is stiff, glossy and the sugar has dissolved. At this point add the vinegar and beat for 1 minute more.  A

Movie reviewer Francescsa Rudkin has been watching Christmas movie Happiest Season, and Miss World comedy-drama Misbehavoiur.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne's worried about the damage done with 'Crate Day' every year - a day when young people get together to drink an entire crate of beer to mark the beginning of sumer. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’ll take the vaccine. I’ll do it live on telly or live on the radio, if you like. I don’t care if I’m first or last in line. If the health authorities here deem it safe, I will gladly be vaccinated against Covid-19 at the first available opportunity.And you know what? I think most Kiwis will, too.I get it – there is a sense of anxiety in some quarters and in some countries about the safety of the vaccine. Not just with the usual anti-vaxxing crowds, either, but people who are all good with MMR but feel a little nervous about just how quickly the Covid-19 vaccines have been developed. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci managed to contribute to some of the anxieties around the vaccine by undermining the British health regulators who have approved it for distribution.But I feel comfortable. I feel confident. I trust that the incredibly speedy process of development and approval for the Pfizer vaccine in the UK is a product of the unprecedented urgent global demand, rather than shortcuts in the process. I might not be quite

Neem Oil Neem oil has become a popular insecticide and fungicide that is used by many gardeners. It is natural, organic, and relatively safe. It can be used to control or kill a wide range of pests, and it’s available on the NZ market.  There are a few different types of Neem Oil and - surprise surprise! – they have different modes of activity and control different organisms in different ways.  Neem comes from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica), (India, Sri Lanka, Burma, etc). The tree produces nuts which are ground and cold-pressed to extract their oil. The active ingredient in neem that harms insects is called azadirachtin and the cold press process ensures that it does not degrade. Further processing removes the azadirachtin from the rest of the oil. The remaining oil is called “clarified hydrophobic neem oil”.  How does Neem Oil work when sprayed on a plant? Well it may disappoint you, but when the leaves are coated, insects are not killed by the deposit, but it makes the leaves taste bad, so the damage i

Relationship expert Steven Dromgool has some tips on managing pre-Christmas stress. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to Sam Smith's new album, LoveGoes. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Raynes has been reading Stephen Fry's new book Troy, and David Baldacci's Daylight. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.