Mark Gregory is a chef who has worked around the world, cooking for royalty, music legends and sporting greats - and has spent decades in top European kitchens.

He’s appeared on TV shows like Ready Steady Cook and the BBC’s Good Food Show and Mark was the first kiwi chef to be awarded both the Master of Culinary Arts by the Royal Academy and France’s  Master Craftsman status.

He joins Francesca Rudkin in studio to talk all things Christmas cooking and his cookbook 'Christmas at the Castle'.

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From NME - “Contrasting with this recollection, there’s a peacefulness to ‘Mahashmashana’, the tone grounded even when its author veers into psych-rock (the pounding ‘She Cleans Up’) and strutting funk (‘I Guess Time Makes Fools of Us All’). Half of its eight tracks spool on for more than six minutes and he’s not minded, these days, to explain them in interviews or on social media. Insteadhe’s bowed out from the spotlight to produce a record that tunes into love, ageing and the search for meaning without the compulsion for a punchline or wry aside.

As a result, the lush ‘Mahashmashana’ doesn’t quite mainline the zeitgeist in the same way that ‘Honeybear’ and ‘Pure Comedy’ did. Then again, there’s something to be said, in 2024, for logging off in favour of self-reflection. On the swooning ‘Mental Health’, Misty rejects the hive mind, concluding that his own particular “insanity” is “indispensable”. Whoever the folk he is underneath that beard, the good Father can’t help but share words of wisdom.”

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Still have a gift or two to pick up? Catherine has a round-up of her top books from the year...

Fiction

The Waiting by Michael Connelly

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Frankie by Graham Norton

Southern Man by Greg Iles

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

Non-Fiction

The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel

Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham & John McCloskey

The Seige by Ben McIntyre

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough

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On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 21 December 2024, kiwi chef extraordinaire Mark Gregory joins Francesca Rudkin to talk Christmas day entertainment, festive cooking, and how local charity DineAid is helping with food insecurity during the holiday season.

Francesca celebrates Liam Lawson winning the Red Bull seat.

The holidays are upon us and Chris Schulz delivers his top cinema picks to catch over the festive season - perfect for escaping the heat for a blast of AC.

Mike Yardley rounds up signature events and exhibitions across the motu this summer.

And, Nici Wickes shares a deliciously easy peach, raspberry & blueberry trifle cake - minimal effort for maximum effect this Christmas!

Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Looking for something to do over the summer? 

Sail GP's long awaited Auckland debut will roar into the city in January 18th and 19th of Wynyard Point. 

Historic exhibit Dinosaurs of Patagonia will also take place in New Zealand. 

Down in Wellington Te Papa will exhibit the premiere of the global tour of Vivian Westwood. 

Mike Yardley discusses all this and more events across the country this summer. 

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Kate Hall's tips for a sustainable Christmas Day:

• + Bring reusable containers with you for food leftovers (pop them in your car/bag)
• + Consider your transport - could you carpool with other family members? Or would biking help to avoid Christmas day hectic traffic?
• + Salvage the wrapping paper to keep for next year! (Kindy parents – use up all those paintings...)
• + If you compost at your home, bring a sealed bucket or jar to take home compost scraps (if they place your visiting doesn't have a compost)
• + Attend events with intent: consider how you're going to connect with the people, what you want out of the event, and remember 'busy' is an attitude - avoid it.

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Yep – I realise this is a weird and busy time – running around with presents and Family and kids that hunt for the elf on the shelf.

Seeing Family members is the moment to re-connect. 

But deep down inside I am looking forward to checking up on my last few babies of the “little Owl”.

A creature introduced from Europe. I remember it well: making a nest in hollow Willow Trees along the rivers of the Netherlands. Often visible during the day, sitting on posts along the farm fences.

They – literally – are little owls; about half the size of ruru.

We created nest boxes for them and they love living in those apartments.

These owls feed on introduced birds, large insects, flies and moths.

All we do is find them in their nesting boxes and tag them with some rings around their legs – each ring has its own number and we can keep track of them when we catch them again.

Gorgeous birds – especially when they make that wonderful “Wheeeew” noise outside my bedroom at night.

They tend to be late breeders, starting mid October or early November, with the young birds fledging just before Christmas.

Look out for them in the South Island – Cute little owls! A real treat.

Pohutukawa and other members of the iron-hearted trees (Metrosideros)

These are best trees in NZ – great for the north (where pohutukawa is naturally distributed from N-Cape to a line east –west from Hawkes Bay to Taranaki).

Yes, they do occur further south (as people took them everywhere) but here we should look for their close relatives the Rata Trees.

In flower – right now – they’ll be attracting the widest variety of pollinators … not just honey-bees.

Bumble bees, a huge number of Native bee species and Houseflies, blowflies, flesh flies and Bibionid flies (Blossom Flies) as well as pollinating beetles (carpet beetles!!).

Carpet beetle on pohutukawa flower stalk – pollinating our native tree.

We usually consider these beetles as domestic pest, but eating our carpets and woollen clothes is merely the job they’ve always done on our planet: recycling the hair and wool of dead animals.

I love going out at night with a torch in the garden. You’ll find stuff you never see!

One step further: get a UV Torch and light up the world around you. The UV light changes all the colours you think you know… Insects see their world through UV light; Now you can see what bugs see!

Flowers change colours with UV and lichens (On tree trunks) can be totally weird!

Here is a segment of a tree trunk with various lichens on the bark:

On the left the original colours you see in ordinary torch light – On the right through UV light

Note the yellow lichens turn Red!

Why?  No Idea; but it fascinates me toobserve and find out about that colour reflection

And while we’re looking around, see if you can spot one of our 13 species of Pseudoscorpions, also known as the “false scorpions".

Kind-of related to the real and venomous scorpions that scare the living daylight out of Humans: they belong to the group of Arachnids: 8 legs etc etc and pincers that stick out and make them impossible to mis-identify.

They catch other invertebrates for food (caterpillars, small critters, larvae and all sorts of tasty critters.

Often seen near compost bins where their prey is numerous.

Tiny things (a few millimetres or so) and using flies as their private Uber taxis to get from one place to another.

They simply grab the legs of house flies and hitch a ride to the next compost bin – the same destination that flies are looking for

Christmas is a fabulous time look around – you might find creatures you never knew we had in our country. Enjoy!

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Sun:

• Great for outdoors - improves mood, gives us vitamin D for bone health.
• Too much sun is our biggest danger: sunburn. We have a harsh sun with lots of UV light.
• Easy to cause sunburn which sets us up for skin cancer later in life. NZ has one of the highest melanoma rates in the world.
• Think protection: sunblock, loose long sleeves, hats, children rash tops at beach. A cloudy daywon’tprotect you.
• Avoid getting burnt!

Water Quality when swimming:

• Rivers, lakes, and beaches are great in summer. However hidden risk we don’t think about: contaminated water.
• This can give us tummy bugs and the dreaded vomiting and diarrhea.
• Key things to watch for:
• Generally, avoid swimming after very heavy rain: contaminated with stormwater, sewage overflow.
• Look out for signs - if it says don’t swim – don’t! – Risk of contamination is high!
• Watch out for strange smells – don’t go in,
• Discoloration sign be sign of run off.
• Avoid pipes and culverts.

Food

• Keep food safe over summer, especially in the heat.
• The four C’s: clean, cook, cover and chill
• Harmful bacteria live in such as salmonella live in food that is not handled properly
• Keep your hands and surfaces clean, rinse fruit and vegetables
• Chicken isa big problem: separate chopping board, separate knife, wash hands after handling, cook right through.
• Keep cooked food chilled between 2 and 4 degrees.
• Keep food covered away from flies and bugs.
• Overall have a good time and stay safe!

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Paul Stenhouse joins the show to talk password security 101.

Use a password manager: A password manager can generate, store, and fill in your passwords for you. This can help you create and remember strong, unique passwords for each account.

  
Use strong passwords: Passwords should be at least 12 characters long and include symbols, numbers and a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. Avoid dictionary words, personal data, sequential numbers, repeated numbers, and keyboard patterns. 
Tip: try a "pass phrase" of multiple words or numbers strung together" 

 
Use different passwords for different accounts: Using the same password for multiple accounts makes your data more vulnerable. If a hacker guesses your password for one account, they can try it on all of your accounts.  

 
Use multi-factor authentication: It's annoying, but multi-factor authentication adds layers of protection so even if someone has your password, they still need that second factor of authentication too. 

Bonus points.. try adding a Pass Key. It's like an advanced password that is super long, and is uniquely tied to the website/app that you created it with. So if you ever ended up on a look-a-like fake website, your credentials wouldn't even be sent.  

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Squid Game - (Netflix, December 26) The global hit dystopian series returns, bringing back the wildly popular — and lethal — competition that puts desperate contestants through a series of children’s games with a massive cash prize at stake (but deadly consequences for the losers). 
 
Missing You - (Netflix, January 1) The latest Harlan Coben book adaptation follows detective Kat Donovan whose world unravels when she finds her estranged fiancé on a dating app. This leads Kat to reopen the unsolved mystery surrounding her father's murder. 
 
Gavin and Stacey - (December 26 TVNZ+/TVNZ2 9.30pm) The Finale: Nearly twenty years since it first hit our screens, and five years on from Nessa and Smithy's cliff-hanger proposal, beloved British comedy Gavin and Stacey is back for its long-awaited final episode. 

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