November 24, 2024 • 22 mins
Annabelle White is a New Zealand food writer and author of eleven cookbooks, known for her approachable and fun approach to cooking. She was a long-time food columnist and also wrote the Food Detective column for the Sunday Star-Times. Annabelle served as the food editor for NZ House & Garden and joined New Zealand Woman's Weekly as Food Editor in 2011. In addition to her writing career, she runs cooking classes and regularly speaks at public events, sharing her passion for simple, delicious food that brings people together.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Annabelle spent a year as an AFS Intercultural Programs scholar in Dover, Delaware at age 17. She later earned a Master’s degree with first-class honours from the University of Waikato in 1983 and received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009. Annabelle's TV career began in 1989 when she joined TV3's Nightline as a food reporter. She went on to appear regularly on 5.30 With Jude and 5.00 With Jude before hosting her own prime-time shows, including World on a Plate, which featured segments filmed in New York City and Tonga.
Annabelle continued to expand her TV presence with work on Breakfast TV, filming food and travel pieces in Shanghai, Santa Monica, and Ireland. She has also been a regular voice on New Zealand radio since 1990. Throughout her career, Annabelle has become known for her warm, engaging style and her belief in keeping food simple, confidence-building, and enjoyable.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
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Real Conversation, Real Connection, It's Real Life with John Cowan
on News Talk sed B.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Gooda welcome to real life. And I smiled hugely this
week when I was told my guest tonight would be
star cook Annabelle White. Welcome annabel on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It's a total pleasure to be in the studio with you,
it really is. I mean you, you are the man
who asks all the right questions and you get good
things out of people because you listen.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, it's much much easier when the person's interesting. And
just before we came in, you told me that you
were a gun runner, that you were an illegal immigrant
in the United States, and there's all these things that
people wouldn't gather when they're watching your cooking shows or
reading your cooking books.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, that's true, But I do believe that it's important
to be very lead of a variety of a variety
of things. You've just got to be interesting. There's no
excuse to be boring.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And even this week's going to be interesting for You're
off to La again.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yes, yes, I'm going and I'm just going away for
a couple of days to see my brother and his
family for Thanksgiving, because that's just a lovely I love Thanksgiving,
you know, the turkey and the whole thing, and there's
no gifts, so it's actually it's a lovely sort of
family celebration, that sort of Norman Rockwell painting on Speed,
which is great.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We think of you as Kiwi to the core. Yes,
I mean, you're always going on about a hope in places.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Looks that because you've done your research, John.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But there's a big wide American streak through you was out.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
There well when I was seventeen.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
When I was about sixteen, I decided I want to
go to the United States on an AFS scholarship, and
my parents said, it's quite interesting. They said, look, we'll
pay for your scholarship, but you've got to earn your
own spending money. So a week before school certificate, would
you believe, I started working in a restaurant. And that's
where my real love of hospitality and food came from,
from working in restaurants, not in the kitchen, out the front.
So I went to live with an Italian American family
(02:01):
in Dover, Delaware. You've got to feel sorry this poor family.
They agreed to have a student for one year.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
And been to get rid of you.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
No, the guy at the post office said to me,
he said, did you ever leave? Because seriously, I keep
on going back, except for the COVID years, because I
love it. It's Dover, Delaware. I mean, I met President
Biden in the kitchen in Dover.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
One you do as you do.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I mean, these things happen in Dover.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
They happened to you. They happened to you. I mean
you bumped into Tom Hanks.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yes, now that was interesting. Believe it or not. I
know this sounds like, this is a fabulous story. I
am literally walking through Central Park. This was three weeks ago.
It was a beautiful day, and there's Tom Hanks sitting
there with a hat, little black hat on black t shirt,
black shirt, and he's talking away on the phone.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And I thought, it's like a terrorist dress like that.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
He did look like an extra from Mission Impossible to
be honest, but anyway, I looked. I looked at him,
and I looked and I did a double take. I
thought this had Tom Hanks, and I felt like yelling out,
you know, where's Meg Ryan? Or you should be running
for forrest gun you should be running.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
But you know I didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
But here's the other thing. I didn't actually go off
and ask for a self for your takers photograph. I
just did the very cool thing.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I see the All Blacks. They do this.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
You get your clue from these guys, the All Blacks.
Whenever they see anyone, they just give you the I
mean it's hard on radio to thee she is giving.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
A very good eyebrows salute and a little little click.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Of the hand, a little click of the hand meaning
I know you, and you know I'm smiling. And you
know what someone said to me when I told them
about They said, it's clearly he's not a New Yorker.
And I said, why is that? There's always such a
nice guy. Must be from California. And I said, why
do you say that from that little encounter in the park.
They said, because if it was a New Yorker, he'd
just give you the finger and tell you to get lost.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
But he actually did.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
He's very handsome and he gave me a lovely big
smile and it made my day because he was I
think relieved that I wasn't going to come over and
pester him.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
It was mutual professional respect because he knows how what
a celebrity you are. I mean Tom and I.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
No, but it's fun.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Little old New Zealand. Anyway. You you you have entered
that rank of celebrity status, you probably don't have to
do another thing to a coast on that people must
come up to you all the time.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
People do come up. A man came up to the
other day at the supermarket and he said, I remember
you used to be on TV and I said, yes,
New Zealand's Next Top Model. He goes, nah, nah, nah,
not that, and he would have been in He would
have been in a seventy sor. He said, I don't
tell me. It was something to do with cooking, and
he was like this. He was scratching his bum and
scratching his forehead and he was like no, no, and
he was trying to and I wasn't being very helpful
because I know he was trying to remember cuddly cook,
(04:33):
which I used to have on my apron because I
believe if you're plump or you know, curvaceous, you have
every right to call yourself cudly cook.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
If you want to anyway, because I don't tell me.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Don't I know who you are.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You're the hefty chef. O oh no, that takes you.
Terrible thing is And I said, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
No, I just said yes, that's right because my attitude.
Look at Christmas is coming, so you can be quite
relaxed about these types of things. You've got to have
the spirit of the festive season and you have to
be good to people.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
And Christmas is going to be special for you at all.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, it's going to be really special because I've got
to tell you the very exciting thing. I'm quite heavily
involved with us this year. A friend of mine, Mark Gregory,
is one of our top chefs in New Zealand. God
bless him. Can you believe what he's done. He has
written this cockbook which has got Christmas gifts, it's got
Christmas food, it's got Christmas games. He's done all the photography,
and it's the most extraordinary recipes. I mean, just to
(05:24):
give an example, he's got a recipe in there for
the pastry that you use for Christmas mince pies, which
is absolutely idiot proof and completely fabulous. If you get
fostered in the kitchen. And he's also got the most
delicious recipe for chutney, but he's put it on YouTube.
We've videos stuff and we made strawbag jam and I
brought you some here. I've got here we I look,
(05:45):
I've got this little thing here of strawberry jam. Put
that in the fridge at home. It's absolutely delicious and
if you want to make more of it, you can
see Mark and I making it on the YouTube. It's
called Christmas at the Castle.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
That's very sweet. Okay, thank you so much, and thank
Mark breen so.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
But that's the thing, Christmas at the Castle. Check it out.
There's fantastic little videos there and it's really helpful.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And it's fascinating to see that. You know, you've done
TV series, you're on all sorts of things, and you
were the food editor for Women's Weekly and everything like that,
and you're not slowing down at all. You're still doing
all these videos and things. And you did a scone
one which is taken off fer Fair viral viral viral.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Sorry, oh sorry, well I know it's I'm now you're
looking across the studio from the lady who believe it
or not, and I'm not getting a scent for this.
I gave it away. I gave it away because someone asked.
I said, we've got to film it.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It doesn't surprise me at all when you're giving away
world class like this or not. You'd give away with
YouTube videos as well. Well.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The thing is, it's in the top ten in the world.
I'm in the top ten in the world.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
For button buttermolk scan video. I'm nearly up to a million.
So if you're SCons, okay, So if the listeners, if
your scones are looking a bit tragic, and I'm not
looking at you when I say this, I don't want
you to get upset now, John, But if you're making
scones and they're tragic, I want you to go to Google.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I can do wonderful brickwork by scones.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, Annabelle White buttermilk scones. And here's a little tip
since I made the scones. The secret is ice cold butter.
The secret is handle them, keep your hot hands well
away from them, and buttermilk. But you can see the video.
I'm not going to tell you now. You can watch
the video in the privacy of your own kitchen. Do
you know it's been so successful. I've even had marriage
proposals from strange men in the Midwest of.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
The on the basis of your scones.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
One man wrote to me and he said.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
They don't say scone properly there do.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
They say biscuits? They said.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
But lady, they said, lady, if you're that frisky in
the kitchen, can you imagine being married to you? So
I wrote, I wrote back to I said, that's not
going to happen. We're not in Kansas, so you have
to you have to laugh. I mean, this stuff is crazy,
but there.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Is the strength of not working up the gluten in
the scone next exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
But the thing is, here's a little tip. If you
love to make date SCons, chop up.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Your date dates are of the devil. Carry on anyway,
I'll hold my peace.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Think New Zealand is listening to you right now, and
I'm going to help you with something. Guys, if you
want to make delicious date SCons, chop up your dates
and pour some orange juice and put some orange zest
into the dates and leave them overnight, or you can
put them in the microwave for a couple of seconds
to plump them up and then make the scones with
the orange juice and the soaked up into the dates.
Oh delicious.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Now you mentioned Mark Gregory and he's got this lovely book.
He's got a copy of it there, and you're doing
these programs with him, Yes, and he's sort of doing
this as a sort of a Christmas gift type thing.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Extraordinary.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
He is just the most giving person. I just wish
everyone who's listening that you could meet him because he well,
maybe if you come along to some of the events
you have a chance to because he's the most incredible man,
considering he has done all this in terms of the
accolades that he's received New Zealand Chef of the Year,
British Chef of the Year, and the only chef in
New Zealand who's been celebrated by the French government. Where
(08:53):
he's a master uvier and he can wear the red,
white and blue on a chef jacket. So he's really
high up there.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
John, not like me.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I'm just a humble cook.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
This guy is serious.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
But the thing is he is so lovely that he
actually genuinely loves Christmas. And I say to him, no
more gifts. This here he insists on giving me presents,
which is ridiculous. I say, John, please, because honestly, my
place my place. If you are a minimist, you need
medication to come into my house. Seriously, it is so
jammed full of stuff. I say, I'm going through a
(09:22):
collecting spree because I like books and I like stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, I can see the busyness and activity of your mind.
I've got no doubt that you need an environment that
is equally the stimulated.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Which of things I think you bring up the best
in people, though, John, oh oh, look.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I'm stammering with you at your praise. But if you've
just tuned in, you've had no difficulty placing who I'm
speaking to. Annabelle White is my guest tonight, and we'll
be talking more about about her life, the things she's
up to, her travels, her adventures, and also what she
believes in and what makes her tech. This is real
life on news Talk said be back with you in
(10:01):
just a.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Minute, intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
Newstalk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John Cown and that's
my great privilege and pleasure to be talking to Annabel,
Why to pecked that l Jero song? What are we
listening to?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yes, Trouble in Paris. This is the most extraordinary song.
I just I said to Alexa in the kitchen, I said,
play some al jio because I love his voice and
know the thing about it that I love. And the
reason why I asked them to play this tonight is
that it keeps you listening to that you feel upbeat.
You can't feel anything I listen when I'm on the bike,
at the gym or something. I listened to it. It
motivates you. And I mean many years ago, this is
(10:37):
quite funny, but many many years ago, I spend quite
a time talking to Frank Bunce. Not so much these days,
but Frank and I been got friends for years. He
loves my sour cream lemon cake with the lemon juice
and sugar. That's another story, but anyway, and I remember
him giving me some very good advice and he says,
don't worry about what people think, or what he said,
I worry about what Lorimains thinks, and I worry about
(10:58):
what the team thinks, but I don't worry about other
people think. Because he said, you can never you can
never change what people think about what, so don't worry
about that. And the other thing is he always said
surround yourself with positive people. Al jero in that song
sounds so upbeat and positive, and I think it's true,
and I think it's important that if you, yeah, sometimes
and you are surrounded by people who are not positive,
but try and try and discipline yourself to see through
(11:23):
that and try and understand where they're coming from and
maybe listen to some upbeat music.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Well, I think your next business venture, Annabelle, should be
to hire yourself out to people to cheer them up,
because you are an amazing antidote in a world that's
a bit glum at times. And I think you take
that on board as a mission, don't you.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Well, I do, I do a little bit. John.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I think my concern is that I know this is
going to sound really silly, but you and I just
chatting over the last half hour when you laughed, I
just I can't tell you what joy that brings me.
I just, I absolutely, I mean I remember when I
was growing up, I went to a convent and the
nuns used to say that if you had a skill,
it was a sin if you didn't actually use it.
So if you were good with the guitar and you'd say, oh, no, sister,
(12:04):
I don't want to play the guitar, they'd say, now
listen here, John, You've got a gift to play the
guitar now. And they used to I used to have
a wonderful time with the nuns because they would encourage
us to always be very positive about everything. And they
used to say it was in Tarangre and I'd look
out the convent window around the toy toys out towards
the estuary and the nuns. Was during the sixties. The
(12:24):
nuns were absolutely convinced that the Communists were coming. So
I'd say, Annabelle, what are you doing looking out the window.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
I say, I'm looking for the communist system. And then
this is a true story.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
This is a true story.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Look, I've no doubt in the truthful.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
So they were.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Absolutely convinced that there was going to be this insurgence
of Chinese and we were all going to become a
communist state and a Catholicism was going to be out
the window.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
And this is a true story. The convent was at the.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Bottom of thirteenth Avenue, and for people who know Taranga,
the church was way up on Cameron Road.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
It was quite a.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Hike from the convent to the church. Would take you
a good twenty thirty minutes to get there. If you
were walking five minutes maybe in the car, and the
nuns would turn around.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
This is a true story.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
The nuns stood there. Now, listen, children, you're to listen
to me. When the Communists come, You're to run to
the church to pro straighter, sells down on the altar,
and you to die for God. And I put my
hand up, and they said, what do you want about?
I said, listen, sister, it's quite a long way and
it's uphill.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Could I leave now with a picnic lunch? And off
I went. I said, could I leave.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Now, because it's going to take me a lot longer
than these other skinny people who are fast and furious.
And that is a true story. I'll never forget that.
I never questioned that I was to prostrate myself and
die for God. But I was to run to the
I was to run up to the church.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, I'm so glad that hasn't come to pass.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
And I know, I know, I know, but I think I.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Think anything else that the nuns tell you stick I mean,
I mean, as did they put anythink of God in
your head and heart?
Speaker 4 (13:48):
I think they did.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I think in the sense that they were very I know,
talking to people who have also been to convents, who
had pleasant experiences, and you know, in terms of their
convent education, it does. There is a pastoral sense. And
I used to be a religion education teacher in a
Catholic co ed school and that the emphasis was very
much on that, the idea being that you should think
of others. You are the big picture, it's not just
(14:11):
about you.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
And I think in a.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
World where people obsessed with social media and cell phones
and there's a lot of vanity, which I think vanity
is a very serious issue, to be honest. Use people
who go and get botox and go and get their
eyebrows done and their face is done and their boob lifts.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Oh gosh, And I think to myself.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Look as you are.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
You're just lovely as you are. But no, I think that.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Past as it comes back to that thing of what
people are being scared of, what people think if.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
You like, I know, I think, look, if you're listening
and you've got a grandchild, or you've got a child
who's twelve or thirteen. I know it's hard with social media,
and I'm not saying it's stiff. Please encourage them not
to worry, to encourage them not to worry about what
people think or say, and try and isolate themselves from
that because it's so toxic and it's so destructive and
it's so unnecessary. Embrace Embrace yourself with all faults. And
(15:00):
if you're with someone, say, for example, John, you came
round now from behind the desk and started, you know,
altering my hair or fixing this.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
But do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
You're making the person feel terrible because you've got to
think I think it was it. Oprah Winfrey says, it's
not what people say, it's not what people do, it's
the way they make you feel. And I think that that's.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Really at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I'll go back to what I was trying to say before.
I love to see you laughing the greatest joy for me.
And that's why I do food with humor.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
I do this.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I call it fumor. I do food. I do stand
up comedy and food together because I love to see
people laughing. And it almost brings me to tears to
see them laughing.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Is this why? I mean? You've done a lot of journalism,
you're on TV, a lot of radio. But the thing
that you've persisted doing right through and currently are these
live gigs that the food shows that you seem to
enjoy doing is because of the interaction. You see the
people laughing.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
The interaction.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And the thing is the New Zealand audiences are fantastic.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Everywhere you go. The people are wonderful.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's because they're watching a good show.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And well, no, I think it's I think what it is.
It's I believe in the socratic thing of asking lots
of questions, form a teacher and ask and making it interactive,
like I'll get people up from the audience, I'll get
people I give a lot of spot prizes, and I
just love to see people smiling.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You want to make them laugh and you want to
make them joyful and happy.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Yes, But I.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Also feel quite strongly about something else to John. When
they leave and they've given you the graciousness of being
in your audience for half an hour, forty five minutes,
did they learn anything?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Now?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
That's really important to me. I'm sorry they say you
can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you
can never take the teacher out of the person. I'm
not saying them up there, lecturing them on, you know,
the finer points of how to make a timbal or
a mussoline. But if I tell them things like make
sure you stir your baking powder because all the good
stuff goes to the bottom, and if you don't stir it,
your muffins aren't going to come out.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And the moths come out. Get new baking powder, exactly.
I read that in one of your things too.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
But do you know what I mean, John, Like, for example,
it's just simple, simple things like I just wish someone
had told me at eighteen when I first started out
about the joys of lemon juice, Like if you go
and make my lovely.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
If you know that's a book title, surely I.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Know the joys of lemon juice. If you add lemon
juice to nearly everything, it improves it. It's their sidity,
the freshness, the vibrancy. So if you make my salad
dressing for Christmas this year, and you're going to put
it over the new potatoes, the lovely mint and parsley
salad dressing if you add a squeeze of lemon juice
two weeks after you've made it.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Because the audience tonight have already got their money, so
we have out of you tonight. I think they've got
those things sticking in their head. I'm just interested in
this journey from being a religious education teacher to a
celebrity cook. I mean, what could you bring from that,
apart from perhaps tips on loaves and fishes. How did
you transition from ari to good good to cooking good question?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
The tough thing. The tough thing is essentially teaching religious
education is not easy, okay, And anyone who's listening who
is a regius educational teacher will appreciate this. So I
decided the best thing to do, it's back to the
absolute core of what I believe in, which is information
and fun. So we did so. I decided we would
re enact reenact the Bible. So for forty days and
(18:10):
forty nights we were out walking around the you know,
the playground.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
And just before, just before they.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Asked me to leave the school, I was working on
the parting of the Red Sea, but I only had
a hose, and we also used to we used to
reenact the parables and so the burning of the mustard,
you know, the burning of the burning of the bush,
the casting of the mustard seeds. But the one that
was the most popular. The boys loved it was Stone
the Prostitute.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Oh they love that.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So I see why you had to give up that career.
They as they.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Asked me to leave.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
But the thing is, I'm okay with that. I still
have I still have students coming up to me today.
It's so funny because they're in their forties now and
they still called me miss, and they still pull up
their socks and put out their cigarettes when they see me.
It's so funny. But no, I believe that if you're
given something to do, which can be a little bit
i'm not going to say super hard, but not easy,
(19:03):
teaching religious education and keeping students engaged, bring it, bring
a sense of fun into it. I'm not being frivolous, pleased.
I'm being very respectful.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
It's not shallow, it's not frivolous. It's not actually a
communication technique.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Yeah, or I would say to the students, look, we're
going to have the less and last sixty minutes. We
can have fifty five minutes of serious stuff and then
five minutes we can have a few jokes and laughter.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
But I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
One of my colleagues complained to the principle, there was
too much laughter coming out of my classroom, can you
believe it?
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Which was sad, Yes, but we did.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
They wanted a bit more lemon juice. This, How are
things down of it?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I think that what you probably put in their heads
and hearts was an idea of life to be lived
and things to be grasped and stuff to get you
through life. I think life can be tough.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
A No, life can be tough. And I think the
biggest thing they were very interested because I would say
to them, listen you because they gave us the briefest
to what we were. We had to really instill with
the students and our ulious education. But what I said
to them, what I said to the students, you've got
no idea. This was okay, give you an idea. This
was nineteen ninety And I said, if you only knew that,
what I'm going to say to you is so different
(20:16):
to what I had when I got married in eighty
eighty one, it's I mean we're talking about there's not
a huge amount of time there say in a period
of ten years, the transition from what was believed or
followed in eighty through to ninety was huge, absolutely huge.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Men stopped, they no.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
And I mean they found that quite interesting because I
would say, they would listen to that. I have to
say I loved teaching and the day I left teaching
because I had to give it up because it was
just getting so hard to try and do teaching and
the food writing, and I knew that there was other
things that.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
I could do.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I mean I cried the day I left because I
was really I love those kids and those students they bring.
Anyone who is a teacher will know what I'm talking about.
You get so much joy, in so much laughter. And
it's like, that's what I get with the cooking classes
because you if you were actually you've.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Just got a bigger class. Now you've gotta you're still
basically doing that. You're still giving people tips on yeah,
important parts of life, but you've got a really big
audience a million people watching you making your scones for.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Instance, and the banana cakes good.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
But now I watched the banana cake video. It's very good.
I even went to the fridge. I was going to
make your banana cake to night when there's no bananas
in the deep freeze. There's nearly always bananas and the
deep freeze.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So but let me explain something to you, John. If
you spend more than five minutes making that cake, it's
all on my Annabel White dot com. If you spend
more than five minutes, you've got a motor coordination problem.
Because seriously, it is designed to be simple, and like
my cookbook is designed for eight year olds.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
The thing that freaked me out was bringing the eggs
up to up the room temperatures. There're a quick way
to do that. Because you say it's got to be
room temperature and I'm thinking it'll take three hours.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
You could just sit there in your chair and put
the eggs between your legs and just sit there, remain
calm and have nice thoughts and they'd warm up.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
See she's full of practical tips ladies.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Again, you could put them into some warm water.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
You could put them into some warm water on the beach.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Okay, I'll do that. Annabel has been no doubt it
would be. But it's been an absolute delight. And the
music that we're going to go out on is playing
in my ears already. So what's this last song.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
That you've pat called Sissus Cut? I love it because
everyone knows Simon and Garfuncle, but they don't realize it.
He's actually quite a wonderful musician. And I think this
song is just beautifully poignant and delightful, and I give it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
To you, Annabel. Thank you so much for your time,
thank you for your one. Thank you Jam. People should
look out for that cookbook in the and in the
bookshops Christmas at the Castle by Mark Gregory that you're
having a lot to do with and all the best
for your travels over the next couple of days. This
is real life on News Talk seed B. Back with
you next Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
For more from News Talk said B listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
Real Conversation, Real Connection, It's Real Life with John Cowan
on News Talk sed B.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Gooda welcome to real life. And I smiled hugely this
week when I was told my guest tonight would be
star cook Annabelle White. Welcome annabel on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It's a total pleasure to be in the studio with you,
it really is. I mean you, you are the man
who asks all the right questions and you get good
things out of people because you listen.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, it's much much easier when the person's interesting. And
just before we came in, you told me that you
were a gun runner, that you were an illegal immigrant
in the United States, and there's all these things that
people wouldn't gather when they're watching your cooking shows or
reading your cooking books.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, that's true, But I do believe that it's important
to be very lead of a variety of a variety
of things. You've just got to be interesting. There's no
excuse to be boring.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And even this week's going to be interesting for You're
off to La again.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yes, yes, I'm going and I'm just going away for
a couple of days to see my brother and his
family for Thanksgiving, because that's just a lovely I love Thanksgiving,
you know, the turkey and the whole thing, and there's
no gifts, so it's actually it's a lovely sort of
family celebration, that sort of Norman Rockwell painting on Speed,
which is great.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We think of you as Kiwi to the core. Yes,
I mean, you're always going on about a hope in places.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Looks that because you've done your research, John.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But there's a big wide American streak through you was out.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
There well when I was seventeen.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
When I was about sixteen, I decided I want to
go to the United States on an AFS scholarship, and
my parents said, it's quite interesting. They said, look, we'll
pay for your scholarship, but you've got to earn your
own spending money. So a week before school certificate, would
you believe, I started working in a restaurant. And that's
where my real love of hospitality and food came from,
from working in restaurants, not in the kitchen, out the front.
So I went to live with an Italian American family
(02:01):
in Dover, Delaware. You've got to feel sorry this poor family.
They agreed to have a student for one year.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
And been to get rid of you.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
No, the guy at the post office said to me,
he said, did you ever leave? Because seriously, I keep
on going back, except for the COVID years, because I
love it. It's Dover, Delaware. I mean, I met President
Biden in the kitchen in Dover.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
One you do as you do.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I mean, these things happen in Dover.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
They happened to you. They happened to you. I mean
you bumped into Tom Hanks.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yes, now that was interesting. Believe it or not. I
know this sounds like, this is a fabulous story. I
am literally walking through Central Park. This was three weeks ago.
It was a beautiful day, and there's Tom Hanks sitting
there with a hat, little black hat on black t shirt,
black shirt, and he's talking away on the phone.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And I thought, it's like a terrorist dress like that.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
He did look like an extra from Mission Impossible to
be honest, but anyway, I looked. I looked at him,
and I looked and I did a double take. I
thought this had Tom Hanks, and I felt like yelling out,
you know, where's Meg Ryan? Or you should be running
for forrest gun you should be running.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
But you know I didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
But here's the other thing. I didn't actually go off
and ask for a self for your takers photograph. I
just did the very cool thing.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I see the All Blacks. They do this.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
You get your clue from these guys, the All Blacks.
Whenever they see anyone, they just give you the I
mean it's hard on radio to thee she is giving.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
A very good eyebrows salute and a little little click.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Of the hand, a little click of the hand meaning
I know you, and you know I'm smiling. And you
know what someone said to me when I told them
about They said, it's clearly he's not a New Yorker.
And I said, why is that? There's always such a
nice guy. Must be from California. And I said, why
do you say that from that little encounter in the park.
They said, because if it was a New Yorker, he'd
just give you the finger and tell you to get lost.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
But he actually did.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
He's very handsome and he gave me a lovely big
smile and it made my day because he was I
think relieved that I wasn't going to come over and
pester him.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
It was mutual professional respect because he knows how what
a celebrity you are. I mean Tom and I.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
No, but it's fun.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Little old New Zealand. Anyway. You you you have entered
that rank of celebrity status, you probably don't have to
do another thing to a coast on that people must
come up to you all the time.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
People do come up. A man came up to the
other day at the supermarket and he said, I remember
you used to be on TV and I said, yes,
New Zealand's Next Top Model. He goes, nah, nah, nah,
not that, and he would have been in He would
have been in a seventy sor. He said, I don't
tell me. It was something to do with cooking, and
he was like this. He was scratching his bum and
scratching his forehead and he was like no, no, and
he was trying to and I wasn't being very helpful
because I know he was trying to remember cuddly cook,
(04:33):
which I used to have on my apron because I
believe if you're plump or you know, curvaceous, you have
every right to call yourself cudly cook.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
If you want to anyway, because I don't tell me.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Don't I know who you are.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You're the hefty chef. O oh no, that takes you.
Terrible thing is And I said, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
No, I just said yes, that's right because my attitude.
Look at Christmas is coming, so you can be quite
relaxed about these types of things. You've got to have
the spirit of the festive season and you have to
be good to people.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
And Christmas is going to be special for you at all.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, it's going to be really special because I've got
to tell you the very exciting thing. I'm quite heavily
involved with us this year. A friend of mine, Mark Gregory,
is one of our top chefs in New Zealand. God
bless him. Can you believe what he's done. He has
written this cockbook which has got Christmas gifts, it's got
Christmas food, it's got Christmas games. He's done all the photography,
and it's the most extraordinary recipes. I mean, just to
(05:24):
give an example, he's got a recipe in there for
the pastry that you use for Christmas mince pies, which
is absolutely idiot proof and completely fabulous. If you get
fostered in the kitchen. And he's also got the most
delicious recipe for chutney, but he's put it on YouTube.
We've videos stuff and we made strawbag jam and I
brought you some here. I've got here we I look,
(05:45):
I've got this little thing here of strawberry jam. Put
that in the fridge at home. It's absolutely delicious and
if you want to make more of it, you can
see Mark and I making it on the YouTube. It's
called Christmas at the Castle.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
That's very sweet. Okay, thank you so much, and thank
Mark breen so.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
But that's the thing, Christmas at the Castle. Check it out.
There's fantastic little videos there and it's really helpful.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And it's fascinating to see that. You know, you've done
TV series, you're on all sorts of things, and you
were the food editor for Women's Weekly and everything like that,
and you're not slowing down at all. You're still doing
all these videos and things. And you did a scone
one which is taken off fer Fair viral viral viral.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Sorry, oh sorry, well I know it's I'm now you're
looking across the studio from the lady who believe it
or not, and I'm not getting a scent for this.
I gave it away. I gave it away because someone asked.
I said, we've got to film it.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It doesn't surprise me at all when you're giving away
world class like this or not. You'd give away with
YouTube videos as well. Well.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The thing is, it's in the top ten in the world.
I'm in the top ten in the world.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
For button buttermolk scan video. I'm nearly up to a million.
So if you're SCons, okay, So if the listeners, if
your scones are looking a bit tragic, and I'm not
looking at you when I say this, I don't want
you to get upset now, John, But if you're making
scones and they're tragic, I want you to go to Google.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I can do wonderful brickwork by scones.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, Annabelle White buttermilk scones. And here's a little tip
since I made the scones. The secret is ice cold butter.
The secret is handle them, keep your hot hands well
away from them, and buttermilk. But you can see the video.
I'm not going to tell you now. You can watch
the video in the privacy of your own kitchen. Do
you know it's been so successful. I've even had marriage
proposals from strange men in the Midwest of.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
The on the basis of your scones.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
One man wrote to me and he said.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
They don't say scone properly there do.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
They say biscuits? They said.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
But lady, they said, lady, if you're that frisky in
the kitchen, can you imagine being married to you? So
I wrote, I wrote back to I said, that's not
going to happen. We're not in Kansas, so you have
to you have to laugh. I mean, this stuff is crazy,
but there.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Is the strength of not working up the gluten in
the scone next exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
But the thing is, here's a little tip. If you
love to make date SCons, chop up.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Your date dates are of the devil. Carry on anyway,
I'll hold my peace.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Think New Zealand is listening to you right now, and
I'm going to help you with something. Guys, if you
want to make delicious date SCons, chop up your dates
and pour some orange juice and put some orange zest
into the dates and leave them overnight, or you can
put them in the microwave for a couple of seconds
to plump them up and then make the scones with
the orange juice and the soaked up into the dates.
Oh delicious.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Now you mentioned Mark Gregory and he's got this lovely book.
He's got a copy of it there, and you're doing
these programs with him, Yes, and he's sort of doing
this as a sort of a Christmas gift type thing.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Extraordinary.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
He is just the most giving person. I just wish
everyone who's listening that you could meet him because he well,
maybe if you come along to some of the events
you have a chance to because he's the most incredible man,
considering he has done all this in terms of the
accolades that he's received New Zealand Chef of the Year,
British Chef of the Year, and the only chef in
New Zealand who's been celebrated by the French government. Where
(08:53):
he's a master uvier and he can wear the red,
white and blue on a chef jacket. So he's really
high up there.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
John, not like me.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I'm just a humble cook.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
This guy is serious.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
But the thing is he is so lovely that he
actually genuinely loves Christmas. And I say to him, no
more gifts. This here he insists on giving me presents,
which is ridiculous. I say, John, please, because honestly, my
place my place. If you are a minimist, you need
medication to come into my house. Seriously, it is so
jammed full of stuff. I say, I'm going through a
(09:22):
collecting spree because I like books and I like stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, I can see the busyness and activity of your mind.
I've got no doubt that you need an environment that
is equally the stimulated.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Which of things I think you bring up the best
in people, though, John, oh oh, look.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I'm stammering with you at your praise. But if you've
just tuned in, you've had no difficulty placing who I'm
speaking to. Annabelle White is my guest tonight, and we'll
be talking more about about her life, the things she's
up to, her travels, her adventures, and also what she
believes in and what makes her tech. This is real
life on news Talk said be back with you in
(10:01):
just a.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Minute, intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
Newstalk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John Cown and that's
my great privilege and pleasure to be talking to Annabel,
Why to pecked that l Jero song? What are we
listening to?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yes, Trouble in Paris. This is the most extraordinary song.
I just I said to Alexa in the kitchen, I said,
play some al jio because I love his voice and
know the thing about it that I love. And the
reason why I asked them to play this tonight is
that it keeps you listening to that you feel upbeat.
You can't feel anything I listen when I'm on the bike,
at the gym or something. I listened to it. It
motivates you. And I mean many years ago, this is
(10:37):
quite funny, but many many years ago, I spend quite
a time talking to Frank Bunce. Not so much these days,
but Frank and I been got friends for years. He
loves my sour cream lemon cake with the lemon juice
and sugar. That's another story, but anyway, and I remember
him giving me some very good advice and he says,
don't worry about what people think, or what he said,
I worry about what Lorimains thinks, and I worry about
(10:58):
what the team thinks, but I don't worry about other
people think. Because he said, you can never you can
never change what people think about what, so don't worry
about that. And the other thing is he always said
surround yourself with positive people. Al jero in that song
sounds so upbeat and positive, and I think it's true,
and I think it's important that if you, yeah, sometimes
and you are surrounded by people who are not positive,
but try and try and discipline yourself to see through
(11:23):
that and try and understand where they're coming from and
maybe listen to some upbeat music.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Well, I think your next business venture, Annabelle, should be
to hire yourself out to people to cheer them up,
because you are an amazing antidote in a world that's
a bit glum at times. And I think you take
that on board as a mission, don't you.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Well, I do, I do a little bit. John.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I think my concern is that I know this is
going to sound really silly, but you and I just
chatting over the last half hour when you laughed, I
just I can't tell you what joy that brings me.
I just, I absolutely, I mean I remember when I
was growing up, I went to a convent and the
nuns used to say that if you had a skill,
it was a sin if you didn't actually use it.
So if you were good with the guitar and you'd say, oh, no, sister,
(12:04):
I don't want to play the guitar, they'd say, now
listen here, John, You've got a gift to play the
guitar now. And they used to I used to have
a wonderful time with the nuns because they would encourage
us to always be very positive about everything. And they
used to say it was in Tarangre and I'd look
out the convent window around the toy toys out towards
the estuary and the nuns. Was during the sixties. The
(12:24):
nuns were absolutely convinced that the Communists were coming. So
I'd say, Annabelle, what are you doing looking out the window.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
I say, I'm looking for the communist system. And then
this is a true story.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
This is a true story.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Look, I've no doubt in the truthful.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
So they were.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Absolutely convinced that there was going to be this insurgence
of Chinese and we were all going to become a
communist state and a Catholicism was going to be out
the window.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
And this is a true story. The convent was at the.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Bottom of thirteenth Avenue, and for people who know Taranga,
the church was way up on Cameron Road.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
It was quite a.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Hike from the convent to the church. Would take you
a good twenty thirty minutes to get there. If you
were walking five minutes maybe in the car, and the
nuns would turn around.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
This is a true story.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
The nuns stood there. Now, listen, children, you're to listen
to me. When the Communists come, You're to run to
the church to pro straighter, sells down on the altar,
and you to die for God. And I put my
hand up, and they said, what do you want about?
I said, listen, sister, it's quite a long way and
it's uphill.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Could I leave now with a picnic lunch? And off
I went. I said, could I leave.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Now, because it's going to take me a lot longer
than these other skinny people who are fast and furious.
And that is a true story. I'll never forget that.
I never questioned that I was to prostrate myself and
die for God. But I was to run to the
I was to run up to the church.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, I'm so glad that hasn't come to pass.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
And I know, I know, I know, but I think I.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Think anything else that the nuns tell you stick I mean,
I mean, as did they put anythink of God in
your head and heart?
Speaker 4 (13:48):
I think they did.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I think in the sense that they were very I know,
talking to people who have also been to convents, who
had pleasant experiences, and you know, in terms of their
convent education, it does. There is a pastoral sense. And
I used to be a religion education teacher in a
Catholic co ed school and that the emphasis was very
much on that, the idea being that you should think
of others. You are the big picture, it's not just
(14:11):
about you.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
And I think in a.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
World where people obsessed with social media and cell phones
and there's a lot of vanity, which I think vanity
is a very serious issue, to be honest. Use people
who go and get botox and go and get their
eyebrows done and their face is done and their boob lifts.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Oh gosh, And I think to myself.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Look as you are.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
You're just lovely as you are. But no, I think that.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Past as it comes back to that thing of what
people are being scared of, what people think if.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
You like, I know, I think, look, if you're listening
and you've got a grandchild, or you've got a child
who's twelve or thirteen. I know it's hard with social media,
and I'm not saying it's stiff. Please encourage them not
to worry, to encourage them not to worry about what
people think or say, and try and isolate themselves from
that because it's so toxic and it's so destructive and
it's so unnecessary. Embrace Embrace yourself with all faults. And
(15:00):
if you're with someone, say, for example, John, you came
round now from behind the desk and started, you know,
altering my hair or fixing this.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
But do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
You're making the person feel terrible because you've got to
think I think it was it. Oprah Winfrey says, it's
not what people say, it's not what people do, it's
the way they make you feel. And I think that that's.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Really at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I'll go back to what I was trying to say before.
I love to see you laughing the greatest joy for me.
And that's why I do food with humor.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
I do this.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I call it fumor. I do food. I do stand
up comedy and food together because I love to see
people laughing. And it almost brings me to tears to
see them laughing.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Is this why? I mean? You've done a lot of journalism,
you're on TV, a lot of radio. But the thing
that you've persisted doing right through and currently are these
live gigs that the food shows that you seem to
enjoy doing is because of the interaction. You see the
people laughing.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
The interaction.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And the thing is the New Zealand audiences are fantastic.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Everywhere you go. The people are wonderful.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's because they're watching a good show.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And well, no, I think it's I think what it is.
It's I believe in the socratic thing of asking lots
of questions, form a teacher and ask and making it interactive,
like I'll get people up from the audience, I'll get
people I give a lot of spot prizes, and I
just love to see people smiling.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You want to make them laugh and you want to
make them joyful and happy.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Yes, But I.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Also feel quite strongly about something else to John. When
they leave and they've given you the graciousness of being
in your audience for half an hour, forty five minutes,
did they learn anything?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Now?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
That's really important to me. I'm sorry they say you
can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you
can never take the teacher out of the person. I'm
not saying them up there, lecturing them on, you know,
the finer points of how to make a timbal or
a mussoline. But if I tell them things like make
sure you stir your baking powder because all the good
stuff goes to the bottom, and if you don't stir it,
your muffins aren't going to come out.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And the moths come out. Get new baking powder, exactly.
I read that in one of your things too.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
But do you know what I mean, John, Like, for example,
it's just simple, simple things like I just wish someone
had told me at eighteen when I first started out
about the joys of lemon juice, Like if you go
and make my lovely.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
If you know that's a book title, surely I.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Know the joys of lemon juice. If you add lemon
juice to nearly everything, it improves it. It's their sidity,
the freshness, the vibrancy. So if you make my salad
dressing for Christmas this year, and you're going to put
it over the new potatoes, the lovely mint and parsley
salad dressing if you add a squeeze of lemon juice
two weeks after you've made it.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Because the audience tonight have already got their money, so
we have out of you tonight. I think they've got
those things sticking in their head. I'm just interested in
this journey from being a religious education teacher to a
celebrity cook. I mean, what could you bring from that,
apart from perhaps tips on loaves and fishes. How did
you transition from ari to good good to cooking good question?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
The tough thing. The tough thing is essentially teaching religious
education is not easy, okay, And anyone who's listening who
is a regius educational teacher will appreciate this. So I
decided the best thing to do, it's back to the
absolute core of what I believe in, which is information
and fun. So we did so. I decided we would
re enact reenact the Bible. So for forty days and
(18:10):
forty nights we were out walking around the you know,
the playground.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
And just before, just before they.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Asked me to leave the school, I was working on
the parting of the Red Sea, but I only had
a hose, and we also used to we used to
reenact the parables and so the burning of the mustard,
you know, the burning of the burning of the bush,
the casting of the mustard seeds. But the one that
was the most popular. The boys loved it was Stone
the Prostitute.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Oh they love that.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So I see why you had to give up that career.
They as they.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Asked me to leave.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
But the thing is, I'm okay with that. I still
have I still have students coming up to me today.
It's so funny because they're in their forties now and
they still called me miss, and they still pull up
their socks and put out their cigarettes when they see me.
It's so funny. But no, I believe that if you're
given something to do, which can be a little bit
i'm not going to say super hard, but not easy,
(19:03):
teaching religious education and keeping students engaged, bring it, bring
a sense of fun into it. I'm not being frivolous, pleased.
I'm being very respectful.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
It's not shallow, it's not frivolous. It's not actually a
communication technique.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Yeah, or I would say to the students, look, we're
going to have the less and last sixty minutes. We
can have fifty five minutes of serious stuff and then
five minutes we can have a few jokes and laughter.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
But I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
One of my colleagues complained to the principle, there was
too much laughter coming out of my classroom, can you
believe it?
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Which was sad, Yes, but we did.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
They wanted a bit more lemon juice. This, How are
things down of it?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I think that what you probably put in their heads
and hearts was an idea of life to be lived
and things to be grasped and stuff to get you
through life. I think life can be tough.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
A No, life can be tough. And I think the
biggest thing they were very interested because I would say
to them, listen you because they gave us the briefest
to what we were. We had to really instill with
the students and our ulious education. But what I said
to them, what I said to the students, you've got
no idea. This was okay, give you an idea. This
was nineteen ninety And I said, if you only knew that,
what I'm going to say to you is so different
(20:16):
to what I had when I got married in eighty
eighty one, it's I mean we're talking about there's not
a huge amount of time there say in a period
of ten years, the transition from what was believed or
followed in eighty through to ninety was huge, absolutely huge.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Men stopped, they no.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
And I mean they found that quite interesting because I
would say, they would listen to that. I have to
say I loved teaching and the day I left teaching
because I had to give it up because it was
just getting so hard to try and do teaching and
the food writing, and I knew that there was other
things that.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
I could do.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I mean I cried the day I left because I
was really I love those kids and those students they bring.
Anyone who is a teacher will know what I'm talking about.
You get so much joy, in so much laughter. And
it's like, that's what I get with the cooking classes
because you if you were actually you've.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Just got a bigger class. Now you've gotta you're still
basically doing that. You're still giving people tips on yeah,
important parts of life, but you've got a really big
audience a million people watching you making your scones for.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Instance, and the banana cakes good.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
But now I watched the banana cake video. It's very good.
I even went to the fridge. I was going to
make your banana cake to night when there's no bananas
in the deep freeze. There's nearly always bananas and the
deep freeze.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So but let me explain something to you, John. If
you spend more than five minutes making that cake, it's
all on my Annabel White dot com. If you spend
more than five minutes, you've got a motor coordination problem.
Because seriously, it is designed to be simple, and like
my cookbook is designed for eight year olds.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
The thing that freaked me out was bringing the eggs
up to up the room temperatures. There're a quick way
to do that. Because you say it's got to be
room temperature and I'm thinking it'll take three hours.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
You could just sit there in your chair and put
the eggs between your legs and just sit there, remain
calm and have nice thoughts and they'd warm up.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
See she's full of practical tips ladies.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Again, you could put them into some warm water.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
You could put them into some warm water on the beach.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Okay, I'll do that. Annabel has been no doubt it
would be. But it's been an absolute delight. And the
music that we're going to go out on is playing
in my ears already. So what's this last song.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
That you've pat called Sissus Cut? I love it because
everyone knows Simon and Garfuncle, but they don't realize it.
He's actually quite a wonderful musician. And I think this
song is just beautifully poignant and delightful, and I give it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
To you, Annabel. Thank you so much for your time,
thank you for your one. Thank you Jam. People should
look out for that cookbook in the and in the
bookshops Christmas at the Castle by Mark Gregory that you're
having a lot to do with and all the best
for your travels over the next couple of days. This
is real life on News Talk seed B. Back with
you next Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
For more from News Talk said B listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
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