A mesmerising mouthful

Assistant governor Philip Wilson congratulates a runner up in the best dressed pinnies competition who is hot stuff!  The overall winner was assistant governor Pam Deal.

-        Words and photos: Farida Master, News Editor, Times Newspapers Ltd, of the Rotary Club of Somerville, NZ

 

She’s hilarious and a selfconfessed nomad at heart. “Most of my travels were triggered either by running away from a man or running towards him,” said the feisty food author Peta Mathias as she brought the house down at the Women in Rotary, Pinnies and Pearls High Tea hosted at Novotel Hotel Ellerslie in Auckland , New Zealand on Sunday March 13.

The culinary tour host spoke about her book Hot Pink Spice Saga: An Indian Culinary Travelogue with Recipes and her romance with cuisines of India, France Vietnam and Morocco.

“If someone invites you and says come home to my mother’s place for dinner, you must say `yes’, even if it is the tuk tuk driver.

 

“Indians are very hospitable and it should be like a dance of exchange,” she told over 150 women at the Women in Rotary fundraiser as they feasted on their salmon and dill sandwiches, orange and poppy seed cake, macaroons and mini date scones with cream and berry jam.

The event was organised by assistant governor Sue Fairburn with the help of other Rotarians, their partners and Rotary International Youth Exchange students.

 

“Restaurants are for visitors. If you want to know the culture of a country you must experience its cuisine. “Don’t have continental breakfast at the hotel and act like a tourist,” the culinary queen said. The red-haired food adventurer regaled the audience with a hilarious account of her 11-hour train journey in India, where she spent all her time thinking of how she could kill her friend for suggesting train travel in a second class sleeper coach. Among the guests were Rotary district 9920 governor nominee Malini Raghwan, who travelled from Suva to support the International Women’s Day celebration, as well as Leanne Jaggs, the outspoken past district governor, also master of ceremonies for the gathering. The only three men in pinnies and pearls who were clearly outnumbered and spent all their time sportingly serving the women bubbly and high tea were past district governor Alan Eyes and assistant governors Philip Wilson and Bart Signal.