Fermentation is having a moment, and it’s not all scobys and sauerkraut. Claire Adamson on the joys of embarking on a journey of discovery with her microbial mates. Connal Finlay is not content with waiting until the weekend to share his enthusiasm with me. Excitedly, he tells me about how cheese, pizza and coffee are … Read more
Expand your horizons by giving these less popular white varietals some love. A nice glass of white wine is one of life’s great pleasures, but if you’re restricting yourself to the iconic trio of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot gris, perhaps occasionally branching out into a cheeky riesling, you’re really missing out. It’s understandable: if … Read more
You may be far from civilisation, but there’s no need to resort to the depressing or the dehydrated while getting amongst the wilderness. There is very little room for fanciness when you have to carry your whole kitchen on your back. When you take to New Zealand’s great wilderness, trekking from DOC hut to DOC … Read more
From beach outings to barbecues to battling feelings of festive stress, December is jam-packed with moments made for popping the cork on something sparkling. The first glass of Champagne in our house on Christmas day is a bit of a ritual. The anticipation builds all day from the moment we finish our breakfast serving of … Read more
This Thursday is Beaujolais Nouveau Day, and you don’t have to buy into a quaint-French-custom-turned-grotesque-celebration-of-capitalism — or drink something that tastes like raspberry vinegar — to get involved. A dilemma presents itself to me every year as the third Thursday of November approaches. I’m not one to deliberately forego an excuse to drink wine, but … Read more
Think aeroplane food is bleak, cliched and kind of awful? You’re wrong, and here’s why. It’s the mid 90s. You’re in a smoky comedy club in New York City, a single spotlight illuminating the exposed brickwork, with a single mic on a stand rising up from the darkness. A thin man with big hair, a … Read more
These days, chards are far more complex than the buttery, oaky monsters of yore, so dive on in. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they don’t like chardonnay, I’d be making a shitload more money than I currently am as a freelance wine writer in a small country. Chardonnay occupies … Read more
A bottle of the (former) PM’s Pinot All Noir came into our correspondent’s possession via a shady route of backdoor deals and dirty politics… but no ponytails were harmed. This weekend, I sat in my rented Grey Lynn villa as the wind blew literal puddles of rain through the huge gap under the front door, … Read more
ER might be one of the biggest television shows of all time, but it’s rarely thought of as the subject of teen obsession. Claire Adamson was the exception that proves the rule. Obsession is a rite of passage for a teenage girl. From the Beatles to Bieber, the teen girl has long buoyed the print … Read more
While battling a bout of bronchitis, Claire Adamson rediscovers the ’90s magic of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In honour of its twentieth trip around the sun, I recently sat down (read: reclined on my bed with my laptop on my chest) to watch Space Jam, that much reminisced-about Michael Jordan vehicle from 1996. I had … Read more
The ’90s and early 2000s brought with them an influx of young TV idols. But who has stood the test of time? Claire Adamson investigates. I’m not sure if the late 90s truly was a golden age for teen drama, or if it just seems that way because that’s when I was a teen. At … Read more
For Throwback Thursday this week, Claire Adamson arms herself with a bottle of wine and revisits the worst comedy series that New Zealand has ever made. In the early ’90s, a young and misguided television station called TV3 made a show so terrible that its name has become a byword for bad TV in this … Read more
Claire Adamson is undoubtedly New Zealand’s premiere expert on the 90s What Now series This is Serial Stuff. This week she hit the jackpot after being sent over an hour of kiwi childhood nostalgia on Youtube. The Reddit envelope of doom blinked angrily from the corner of the page. “Read me!” it screamed, a tiny, triangle-filled precursor of terrible, hate-filled, … Read more
In the wake of the X Factor NZ finale, Claire Adamson rewatches Popstars – and discovered much more compelling insights into the world of manufactured superstardom. The weird thing about rewatching Popstars – the Kiwi show that started it all – is the fact that it’s not a reality tv show as we know them today. It’s … Read more
Claire Adamson shares her arduous journey to watch a few precious episodes of the part Barbie, part human after-school series This is Serial Stuff, and celebrates the smart technicolour antics of the iconic kiwi kids show. I want you to cast your mind back to a time before you were cool – catching the bus home, eating all … Read more
You don’t really see ads on TV anymore. What with the mute function, DVRs and streaming, this once proud tradition is not necessarily dead – but definitely not as great as it once was. I’m not saying there aren’t still great ads – the drug driving ads in the dairy and takeaway stores are comic … Read more