The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Do you need to wash your rice before cooking? Science has the answer!   Growing up in a Chinese household, I was always taught that you had to wash rice multiple times until the water ran clear before you cooked it. When I met my husband, he just added water to the rice and cooked it- to my horror!   So who is ‘right?’- should you rinse rice before cooking?   A new study in the journal Food Chemis...

The streaming wars are going strong, with several companies fighting for attention and revenue. Neon, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime - among others - are hiking their prices, causing viewers to make hard choices. Entertainment commentator Chris Schulz reckons one contender manages to offer subscribers the best value for money during these tough times- Apple TV+. "Because of the ongoing writers...

The first televised leaders debate of the election season has been dubbed one of the more forgettable. National's Chris Luxon and Labour's Chris Hipkins went head to head at the TVNZ-hosted forum and jousted over tax, crime, housing and climate change. ZB political editor Jason Walls says the lukewarm reaction to the first debate is a symptom of audiences not paying attention to earlier campaign e...

The weather's warming up and we're headed into spring- meaning conditions are ripe to get a home veggie patch going. With sky-high food prices to contend with, more people are turning to home-grown gardens to get their produce fix. Beginners to experienced gardeners alike will get plenty of useful information out of NZ Gardener editor Jo McCarroll's upcoming release, 'Vege Patch from Scratch'. "Th...

UK comedian Bill Bailey is set to return to New Zealand shores- for the eighth time in his career. His 'Thoughtifier' tour will take him to Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown, Nelson, Whanganui, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Tauranga, Rotorua and Hamilton this November. Bailey claims this performance will explore the flawed and complicated nature of human th...

As political parties lay out their promises ahead of the election, advocates are encouraging candidates to make tacking breast cancer a priority. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women under 65. Kat Sprowell, a survivor of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, is calling on politicians to do better. "I think it is lacking, and I feel really unclear exactly where they stand. It's a growing...

The Warriors' fairy-tale NRL campaign has come to an end after being thumped 42-12 in their preliminary final against the Broncos in Brisbane. The Kiwi side started strongly with a brace to winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak. The visitors were held scoreless in the second half as the Broncos extended their 24-12 halftime, with a constant flow of offloads keeping them on the front foot. Former Warrior...

Aside from the Wahs, who have dominated public discourse for the last few weeks, there are two other matters of some significance going on at the moment - the General Election and the Rugby World Cup.    It dawned on me on Friday morning - after the Newshub Nation’s Powerbrokers Debate, and while we wait patiently for the All Blacks to take to the field again - that these events have quite a bit i...

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. A brilliant 600 page turner about an Irish family in crisis - Dickie has a new car dealership which has been very successful but is tanking; his wife Imogen is desperate to save the family finances and determined never to go back to the destitution she came from. Their daughter Cass is off to Uni in Dublin and when Dickie takes her there to get her settled in, he conf...

Getting anywhere from Aotearoa can be a long journey- and travellers can expect to spend hours in the air. Switching between planes and airports and enduring hours in security, customs, and baggage carousel lines, it's enough to suck the fun out of an anticipated trip. BloggerAtLarge's Megan Singleton recently experienced a stopover in Dubai on her way to Italy- and she shares her tips on taking a...

This week on the Sunday Panel, e ditor and journalist Jo McCarroll and Freebairn and Hehir lawyers partner Liam Hehir joined in on a discussion about the following issues- and more! Luxon’s still refusing to say whether he will or won’t work with Winston Peters – does he need to be upfront? Why doesn’t he say what he plans to do? Could NZ First drag National down? What should we expect from Tuesda...

An 'all-or nothing' mentality can slow down the road to recovery and wellness. Forming healthy habits and sticking to them isn't a simple process, and an 'all or nothing' outlook can encourage people to give up at the first slow-down. Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara says experimenting with different techniques and tailoring your habits to fit your lifestyle can help you avoid the trap....

Super-spiced chicken burgers with pickled slaw   6 chicken thighs, skinless and boneless   1 litre of cold water   100g unionised salt   6 soft burger buns   4T mayonnaise   1t chilli flakes   1 cup chopped coriander   400ml sunflower oil for frying   2 cups milk   Crispy Batter   2 cups cornflour   1T mixed herbs   1t smoked paprika   1T garlic powder   1t salt   1 cup milk     Basic pickling mix...

It’s my favourite time of year again – the annual Ig Noble Awards for improbable science have just been awarded.  Here are my favourite three winners:  This year's engineering prize went to a team from Texas Rice University who pumped the corpses of dead wolf spiders with air to uncurl their legs then use them as a gripper to lift objects. They found that they were able to lift 130 percent of thei...

A new AI-driven visual experience has popped up halfway down Auckland's Queen Street. HyperCinema was co-created by Dr Miles Gregory of the Pop-Up Globe, and Tarver Graham, founder of creative agency Gladeye, and it promises viewers a mix of theatre, film and digital technology. Entertainment commentator Chris Schulz says this event shows how AI can evolve to create visual entertainment. LISTEN AB...

Figures released by the Insurance Council show the year's two biggest weather events have cost insurers over $2 billion. The twin disasters of the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle have generated $3.5 billion across 112,812 claims- according to a recent estimate. Insurance Council spokesperson Christian Judge says progress is being made on settling the claims at a good pace, but there's still...

The divide between the right and the left continues to grow, as Labour keeps declining in the polls. This week's major political polls have seen the current Government dip below 30 percent as National and ACT surge ahead as favourites for the election. ZB political editor Jason Walls says it's unlikely the polls will change in Labour's favour this close to the election. "I wouldn't imagine things...

For seven years, Elise Loehnen was an integral part of wellness brand Goop- until she walked away in 2020 and reset her life. As Chief Content Officer she was instrumental in Goop's success. For intents and purposes, Elise was Goop.   She eventually walked away and evaluated the ways women were raised to behave and questioned society's version of a 'good woman' in her new book ‘On Our Best Behavio...

This year has been full of twists and turns for Kiwi country star Tami Neilson. She kicked off 2023 with a month-long stay in hospital following health complications and scooped up awards and nominations for her duet with Willie Nelson ' Beyond the Stars'. She spent the last 5 months in an RV with her family touring North America, and she's returned to our shores ahead of her Rock 'n' Roll Revue t...

The Warriors may have found the right formula to lead them to a maiden NRL finals premiership. Their 40-10 dismantling of the Knights at Mt Smart has earned the side a preliminary final against the Broncos in Brisbane on Saturday night. Former Warrior Russell Packer saw this victory coming- even following on from the team's loss against the Penrith Panthers. "Just the start to the game- you just c...

On Wednesday morning, after the PREFU release on the Tuesday afternoon, Finance Minister Grant Robertson joined Mike Hosking to talk about the books, the country’s future and his own performance.   As I listened to the conversation, I wondered, has Labour missed a trick here?    Now I know Grant Robertson did not want the job of Prime Minister. He could read the tea leaves and was perhaps also fee...

Labour's reaching out to workers this weekend on the campaign trail. Leader Chris Hipkins pledged to increase the minimum wage annually, improve the pay of educators and healthcare workers, and put an end to lower-paid training and youth wages. Labour's workplace relations and safety spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni says the party intends to lift wages and allow people to keep up with the cost of livi...

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons by Karin Smirnoff: This is the latest book in the Millennium series which was started by Stieg Larsson who wrote the first three books, before he died. The estate then commissioned David Lagercrantz to do three more in the series and now there’s the next one, the first to be done by a woman. It’s more of that very gritty Scandinavian crime. Millennium magazine has fi...

The destructive wildfire that tore through Lahaina in August has been contained, according to an update from the County of Maui. Full containment of the fires in Kula and Olinda has not been achieved, and much of West Maui is closed to tourists. BloggerAtLarge.com contributor Megan Singleton says South Maui, Wailea, Kihei and the surrounding villages are welcoming tourists- and could use the extra...

This week on the Sunday Panel,NZ Herald senior writer Simon Wilson and Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! The National Party says if elected, it will aim to end emergency housing motels within two years. It will do it through building more social housing and implementing tighter eligibility criteria so people h...