The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Whole roasted pumpkin soup 1 pumpkin 2 medium-sized onions 4 cloves garlic 1 ltr vegetable Stock 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp curry powder 1 tsp ginger powder 1 cup white wine 1 cup cream 50 gm butter seasalt grapeseed oil   Pre-heat oven to 180*c Take the whole pumpkin and rub with a little oil and season with some sea salt and place onto an oven tray and then into the oven. Roast for 1 hour or until a kn...

New research out this week finds that redheads have a higher pain threshold than blondes or brunettes because of their skin's pigment! The research published in science advances looked at how redheads have a genetic mutation which means their melanocytes have a faulty version of a key receptor which is why they can't make the dark pigment needed to get a tan. Now scientists have discovered a knock...

One New Zealander is reflecting on the time she spent with Prince Philip and the Queen.  Clare de Lore told Francesca Rudkin about the time she and her husband, former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Don McKinnon, hosted the Queen and Prince Philip for lunch a few years back. Lady McKinnon said it was the first time the pair had visited a private home in London for many years. "...

Charlotte Grimshaw is an award-winning author of novels, short stories and essays, mother of three, wife of a high profile lawyer and daughter of literary legend, CK Stead. A few years ago, Grimshaw was sent into deep examination of her life, triggered when she discovered her husband was having an affair. With the help of a psychologist, she began to question her childhood and her family. The resu...

British authorities have implored people to stay away from royal palaces as they mourn the death of Prince Philip in this time of COVID-19, but they keep coming. Not just to honour him, but to support Queen Elizabeth II, who lost her husband of 73 years. The mix included children, seniors, Sikhs and the children of African immigrants. A cross-section of British society and admirers from abroad des...

New Netflix documentary Seaspiracy has caused a stir, and now scientists are weighing in on its accuracy.  Made by British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi, the documentary takes a look at the impact the commercial fishing industry has on marine life. And while it has been consumed by viewers around the world, it has become somewhat divisive, sparking both praise and backlash and a number of fact-checking st...

A two-week ban on all travellers arriving from India starts today. The temporary ban means travellers who have been in India in the past two weeks cannot enter the country. It was announced by the Prime Minister on Thursday and came after a surge in Covid-19 cases being reported at the New Zealand border, from people who had been in India. This was despite pre-flight testing showing the travellers...

Calls for city councils to follow suit when it comes to trading rules today. Despite Easter Sunday not being a public holiday, current legislation stops shops from operating, unless their local Council's given permission for them to open. Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Palmerston North and Hamilton all have restrictions on businesses. Retail NZ Chief Executive Greg Harford says the r...

Despite new cases of COVID appearing locally, Australians are flocking to book accommodation in New Zealand - before a quarantine free trans-Tasman bubble is confirmed next week.  New data shows the pending bubble announcement has seen Australian bookings of holiday homes jump 117% in New Zealand over the past month. Surprisingly, bookings around ski areas are lower than expected with Australian’s...

Win by Harlan Coben. I believe this is the first book in a new series which is a spinoff from the Myron Bolitar novels he’s famous for. Windsor “Win” Horne Lockwood III (a billionaire, if you couldn’t tell by the name) has been a sidekick to Myron in many of the previous books but takes centre stage in this one. He’s a most unlikeable character, but gets caught up in a murder in which he somehow s...

Cherie Metcalfe is the founder and owner of popular foodie brand Pepper & Me. Starting out when her daughter Pepper was a baby, Cherie was selling her salt blends at the local markets. Pepper & Me is now a flourishing brand with over 30 different products stocked nationwide, there’s also a subscriber based recipe service and a huge following on Instagram where you’ll likely see her sharing how she...

The compulsion to look up symptoms and seek out health-related information using google, before heading to your doctor to ask for rounds of medical tests, is called cyberchondria. The pandemic has made it worse, where every sniffle or cough feels frightening and a sure sign that you have caught the virus. It's basically hypochondria made worse by the internet. Most doctors advise against turning t...

At the end of summer when that first nip is in the air, it marks the start of cold and flu season. Anytime the season's change brings on cold and flu symptoms - your body must acclimate to new temperatures, weather conditions, and spending more time inside. On average, each of us will get around 200 colds in a lifetime. Adults average about 2 to 4 colds a year. Children have about 6 to 10 colds a...

Steve is the editor of Flicks.co.nz. Listen to the audio above as he joins Francesca Rudkin to talk about the latest in entertainment news, including the release of Oscar-nominated film, The Father. Below, read a review of The Father by Wenlei Ma from news.com.au The Father is not flashy. It doesn't have gunfights, a rousing monologue or an epic historical moment to memorialise. But it is an incre...

Yeah to the long weekend!  Hopefully we all have a little more time to reconnect with our food and get back into the kitchen. On the farm we host many classes, one which is one of my favourites it is called PIG.SMOKE.FIRE. how can that not sound any better? It evokes everything thats getting us back to the roots of our cooking, smoke and fire. Which is so popular and in flavour now. We are so comf...

Over the past week, Francesca Rudkin has been reading the new book by Wendyl Nissen, and it’s been a compelling and utterly gripping read from the first page for her. The book stems from Wendyl’s decision in 2018, to take her parents in, to live with her and husband Paul in their Hokianga home. At the time, her mother Elis, had early stage Alzheimer’s. While caring for her mother, Wendyl learned o...

Food rescue charity KiwiHarvest has official opened its fourth warehouse, this one on Auckland’s North Shore. KiwiHarvest salvages goods from businesses who are getting rid of food, and donates it to local community organisations. The new warehouse has been set up to meet a need in a community that would normally be considered a high socioeconomic area. CEO of KiwiHarvest, Gavin Findlay joins Fran...

French hospitals brought in extra staff for the Easter holiday weekend to cope with growing numbers of virus patients, while travelers converged on train stations and highways to flee big cities before new nationwide restrictions take hold. With a new virus variant spreading fast and French intensive care units as full as they were last April, the government closed all schools and imposed stricter...

Over the last week, I’ve been put in my place a couple of times. Just gently – and yet powerfully enough to shift my perspective. Last week I spoke to Helen O’Hara, the UK based editor-at-large of film magazine Empire. At the end of the interview I announced that her new book was in stores now. Once off air, Helen immediately said to me “In stores? Imagine going to a store” “Oh yes we are very luc...

Could you live in a world without email? Cal Newport thinks you can. Cal is a professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University and an expert on living well and productively in a high tech world. We first spoke to Cal a couple of years ago when he released his book ‘Digital Minimalism’, which took a look at the impact of our digital lives and how to reduce it. Now, Cal has tackled our inboxes...

Headlines over the last few days have highlighted the challenges hospital emergency departments are facing across the country. Not a new headline, we hear it all too often. It was only November last year when the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, a senior doctor’s union, said the high cost of GP visits and long wait times are pushing many hospital emergency departments to breaking point...

The Government has unveiled its plan to try to fix New Zealand's housing crisis with specific assistance for first-home buyers. The package, revealed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, also includes $3.8 billion to boost the number of houses being built and other measures to make life harder for property speculators. It comes as New Zealand property prices continue to hit record highs, outstripping...

In the early days of cinema in Hollywood, women were pioneers who forged ahead in many areas of film making. In fact, in 1917 Universal studios released seven films directed by a woman. However, somewhere along the way, things changed. So much so that in 2017, the comparative number was just one. That fact is from a new book that explores the history of women in cinema, as well as the new generati...

Sparks like Stars by Nadia Hashimi A young girl orphaned after the 1978 coup at Afghanistan’s Presidential palace is taken to America where she eventually becomes a successful surgeon. Years later a patient arrives who she recognises from that night, which brings memories of what happened to the surface and forces her to return to Kabul to confront them. Other People’s Houses by Kelli Hawkins Kate...

Travel blogger Megan Singleton is out on the road this week, heading to Kinloch and Taupo where she'll be trying out Wairakei Terraces for a hot swim. She joined Francesca Rudkin to share what else she is up to.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.