Book of the day: Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories
New Zealand is, as Lee Child says, 'the world capital of Reacher madness'. Per capita we buy more Jack Reacher novels than anywhere else.
As Child said in one TV interview, New Zealanders probably like his giant vigilante hero because he's a bit like the archetypal Kiwi: 'quiet, undemonstrative, not
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NZ Herald
9 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Budget eats: Discover culinary gems on the French and Italian Rivieras
Old roads lead to classic delights. Photo / Stephen Emms Marseille France's second-largest city will never win awards for cuteness. Yet its cosmopolitan urban feel is unique on the Riviera, its sometimes frenetic neighbourhoods alive with international markets and street food. Start at the Marche Des Capucins in Noailles, the web of streets lined with tempting multicultural stalls, all spices, wet fish and exotic pastries. It feels more north African than southern French (tip: try the mahjouba, a type of savoury Algerian crepe for a couple of euros, or the Tunisian 'brik', a tuna, egg and potato pastry). For something more sit-down, most restaurants in the smarter Vieux Port area serve a plat du jour for €16. Often, it's a beef daube (slow-cooked aromatic stew) and at the tiny hole-in-the-wall Pain A L'Ail, it's just €9.90 ($19.30). Your unmissable stop in this port city should, however, be La Boite a Sardine, its quirky interior furnished with fishing memorabilia, from life jackets to buoys, shelves piled with tinned fish cans. Here, the owner talks you through the daily changing chalkboard menu (in English if you prefer): super fresh plates of marinated anchovies in golden olive oil and stuffed butterflied sardines with fresh sourdough are just €7 a pop. The manager at La Boite a Sardine discussing the menu. Photo / Stephen Emms When evening rolls in, hit relaxed craft beer bar Les Berthom, which serves local pilsner for €4 and oozing croque-monsieur for €9. A final tip: swap Michelin-recommended Sepia (although its €57 three-course menu is worth it if you have the cash) for its adjoining bar Julis, a guinguette offering cheaper tapas alongside phenomenal sea and city views. Don't miss the specialty sardines in La Boite a Sardine. Photo / Stephen Emms Nice If you're as penny-pinching in this famed southern French resort as we were, head straight to the outdoor market at Cours Saleya in Vieux Nice, open every day except Monday, and renowned for local products like olive oils and pistou. Two must-try specialities, cooked over a wood fire, are pissaladière, a delicious flatbread stuffed with olives, onions and anchovy, and socca, flat chickpea pancakes. Both can be bought at the legendary Chez Theresa, a stall trading since 1925, for about €3 (it also does a signature chard pie). Warning: the queue moves slowly at weekends. Enjoy a day out at Cours Saleya. Photo / Stephen Emms Grab the freshest snacks at the market. Photo / Stephen Emms For a vibrant dinner, try Berco in the winding cobbled streets of the old town where, if you can bag a table, small plates hover at about €6. If it has to be the palm tree-lined promenade, hip hangout Babel Babel serves iconic local specialty, panisse (chickpea fritters) at €6. Dine at Berco for a cheap, but filling dinner. Photo / Stephen Emms Take your food for a picnic by the beach. Photo / Stephen Emms Sanremo One train journey along the cerulean sea later, and Sanremo is just over the border into Italy, its steep old town known as the 'pinecone' and topped with a highly photogenic 18th-century church. Food-wise, the best bargains are to be had at city institution La Tavernetta, which dates back to 1950 and serves sardenaira (the Ligurian version of pissaladière with anchovies, local olives, garlic cloves and capers), or focaccia formaggio for €1.20, while coffee is a humble euro and, during aperitivo hour, an ice-cold glass of wine or frizzante is just €1.50. La Tavernetta is a city institution, one you should not skip. Photo / Stephen Emms Try a variety of breads for cheap at La Tavernetta. Photo / Stephen Emms For more carby steals, Buon Apetito is another long-running bakery, its slices of focaccia al formaggio, pizzas, and torta slightly pricier at €2.50-€4. Roam the daily market, Mercato Annonario, for the tasty torta di verdura di zucca (courgette pastry); cheaper still, here are sardenaira slices around one euro. Don't forget that during aperitivo hour, ordering a spritz or a negroni at most bars often comes with a plate of enticing snacks, including pizzas, meats and cheeses, for the price of the drink; this alone keeps costs down. Sanremo's infamous Mercato Annonario. Photo / Stephen Emms Genoa This port city is seemingly unfathomable at first, its dense network of old town alleyways breaking out into vast piazzas, its harbour, the Porto Antico, an unlikely mishmash of architectural styles. But stay focused, and just off Piazza Corvetto in the theatre district is historic bakery, La Farinata dei Teatri. Supposedly unchanged since 1861, it's known purely for its eponymous crispy chickpea pancake, fresh from the oven and served in a wide pan for a few euros. Genoa's historic bakery, La Farinata dei Teatri. Photo / Stephen Emms The classic crispy chickpea pancake fresh from the oven. Photo / Stephen Emms Meanwhile, a 15-minute walk away is the Mercato Orientale. This food market, in a former 17th-century convent cloister, makes a fascinating wander, with fritto misto or pesto lasagne around €6 at Bar del Mercato (tip: ask for a local wine to match it). Upstairs is a contemporary streetfood market, home to a mouthwatering range of outlets (300g of tagliata at La Carne is €18), while an enoteca allows you to try different wines at lowish prices. Shop for fresh produce at Mercato Orientale. Photo / Stephen Emms A tasty plate of pesto lasagne for €6. Photo / Stephen Emms Finally, off central Piazza Raffaele de Ferrai, end your coastal rail trip with a melt-in-the-mouth lasagne (€12.50) at Trattoria Rosmarino, served Genoese style using white beef and pork ragu.
NZ Herald
10 hours ago
- NZ Herald
A love letter to Aotearoa — in marimba
Luca Manghi, David Kelly and Steven Logan will tour as a trio with a new spiritual take on anatomy. Photo / Thomas Hamill Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Luca Manghi, David Kelly and Steven Logan will tour as a trio with a new spiritual take on anatomy. Photo / Thomas Hamill 'I've had this idea,'' Steven Logan says, recalling a conversation with composer Claire Scholes. ''I really want to write you a xylophone arrangement of Dem Bones.'' Scholes's music is frequently playful – see, for example her Drag Concerto, which premiered last year with trumpeter Nick Hall dressed as his alter ego, Anita Wigl'it. Scholes's new arrangement of the old spiritual contains some theatricality, too. 'I get to shout and whoop and it's so much fun,' Logan says. Dem Bones is among the pieces Logan is taking on a brief northern tour with flautist Luca Manghi and pianist David Kelly. Orchestral concertgoers will know Logan as principal timpanist for the Auckland Philharmonia (Manghi is associate principal flute). However, as well as playing the full gamut of percussion – and other – instruments, he acts and sings, and he and a few of his orchestral colleagues have an R&B band, which may or may not reflect a childhood growing up in the US southeast: Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky. He didn't grow up in New Jersey but he loves Bruce Springsteen, and has a tattoo of the piano part to The Boss's Thunder Road to prove it. There is no Springsteen on the tour the trio are calling Masterworks for Marimba, Flute, & Piano, but people can expect other musical greats, including Fauré, Bernstein and Mozart, none of whom were noted for their marimba, flute and piano music. '[Mozart's] Fantasia [k.608] was written for organ, and we arranged it to work for the three of us,' Logan says. 'I opened it up in [composition software] Sibelius and I was like, this makes sense. That's obviously a flute line and this is obviously a piano line. That's obviously a marimba line. So, we are playing the notes as they are, but we found cool ways to use our combination of colours to rearrange the piece.' There's a selection of works by local composers, too, this time written to glove-fit the ensemble. Logan is especially excited by Cloud Piercer, a marimba solo written for him by Hannah Kagawa. A student at the University of Canterbury, Kagawa has been learning percussion with Justin DeHart, and is a young composer to keep an eye on. 'Yesterday, I was practising it and I'd got to the point where, okay, I've done the work I need to do. But then for another 45 minutes I kept playing the piece, just because it's beautiful.' The cloud piercer of the title is Aoraki Mt Cook. 'It feels like a love letter to the landscape,' says Logan, who recently became a New Zealand citizen. 'What's more Kiwi than having a Kiwi composer write about the landscape?' Masterworks for Marimba, Flute, & Piano, Christ Church Parish Hall, Russell, Aug 20; St Heliers Church & Community Hall, Auckland, Aug 31; Gallagher Academy Concert Chamber, Hamilton, Sept 10.
NZ Herald
12 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Moa revival: Let's bring back some other gems from the past
Even the ones where genetically modified raptors develop emotional intelligence and Chris Pratt calms them down with a hand gesture like he's telling off a Labrador. And the lesson is always the same: It starts with wonder: 'We've brought back the moa!' Then it's, 'The moa have breached the perimeter fence!' And by sundown, you're standing on a KFC picnic table, fending off a 6ft prehistoric chicken trying to find its dad's DNA in your Zinger Burger. Sir Peter, if you're set on bringing back a mower, maybe start with the mighty Masport Iron Horse. But Sir Peter's passion for resurrection did get me thinking. If we're rummaging around in the fossil files, why stop at birds? There's a whole lineup of extinct Kiwi treasures that deserve a comeback. Let's kick off with a classic: A Dog's Show. I'm talking the proper one (sorry, Mark Leishman). And not a movie either (shout out to last week's musings). Sheep (usually as belligerent as a teenager). A dog (usually called Jess or Boss). And a paddock just outside Te Kūiti. The formula was simple and magic: all the above and then add in a host in a Swanndri and that glorious theme music. And now greyhound racing is on the chopping block, I say we get the TAB on the bandwagon. 'Ten bucks on Jess in the third trial at Te Rapa.' That's a winner right there! Then there was the Friday night video shop run. That sacred, fluorescent-lit pilgrimage. You walked in full of hope and walked out with Home Alone 3 because Die Hard was already gone. Life lesson one: disappointment builds character. The Rolling Stones were right: you can't always get what you want. (And yes, before you ask, Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie.) Video shops also taught us never to judge a movie by its cover. That slick action-thriller cover turned out to be a Danish romance about a lonely locksmith named Søren. Lesson two right there. And lesson three: laziness has consequences. If you left your tape un-rewound, that was a $5 fine - a fine that had to be cleared before your VHS privileges were restored. Or worse, a zealous video clerk cut your card up in front of you. A real power move. Also, nothing quite says childhood confusion like standing in line as your parents returned Basic Instinct while you clutched The Brave Little Toaster. And let's bring back Velcro. Invented by Nasa. Literally space tech. It was tomorrow, today. But somehow we consigned it to yesterday. Velcro wallets were peak security, especially when a chain was added. That rippp let everyone know when your wallet's perimeter had been breached. Far superior to any alarm system. Velcro shoes? Pure genius. Stick, press, run. The footwear of champions under 10. No stopping to retie a shoelace. And don't forget Velcro pants. Practical. Efficient. Tear 'em off after warm-up, and boom - game time. But alas, the adult entertainment industry got its mitts on them, and suddenly you're being judged by PTA mums. Maybe it was their guilt? But here's where we really need Sir Peter to put up his hobbit hand: snacks. Snifters. Tangy Fruits. Zap. Whittaker's Toffee Milks. Gone. Ghosted. Vanished like, well … a snack that wasn't properly hidden behind the 'healthy treats' in the pantry. You'd pick up a box of Tangy Fruits before the movie started, only to find they'd fused into a single citrus sugar brick. But you loved them anyway. Snifters were minty hand grenades. They gave you a sugar high and gum trauma in equal measure. And then we had spaceman cigarettes. In the current climate, they are now spaceman candy sticks, and the orange tip has been extinguished. While we're rebooting things, how about the Commodore 64? That beautiful beige beast. It took 40 minutes to load a game, and then you waited to find out if the wait had been in vain when the message 'Syntax Error' appeared. But it taught us patience. Grit. The kind of skills you just don't get from an iPad. So maybe Sir Peter's moa mission isn't as mad as it sounds. Maybe it's a reminder - not to recreate the past, but to revive the best bits of it. The things that made us smile. The things that shaped us. The stuff that made growing up a little more fun - and a little more dangerous.
