Hot Buttered Rum and Croissants in Brazil

Annabel Langbein at the Featherston Booktown launch of her book, Bella

Well here I am gurning away, but I had genuinely had the best of afternoons listening to Annabel in conversation with David Cohen about Bella, her new memoir. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend as an ambassador for Featherston Booktown. I’d spent the first half of the day book browsing and then the second-half in the food fair that proceeded the literary event, trying coffee and buying Schoc chocolate from just up the road in Greytown. Their ‘Taste Wellington’, a milk chocolate with coffee and sea salt, is absolutely addictive.

An author, publisher and cook, Annabel is a hugely accomplished woman and the afternoon gave her audience an insight into her first entrepreneurial forays. She has helped to build boats and sail them along the New Zealand coast (always make sure the portholes of your catamaran are closed before setting off). She then lived off the land and trapped possums to make some money before heading to Brazil where she started a business selling croissants that sold like hotcakes! Full of anecdotes and cooking tips (like making hot buttered rum in the microwave) the afternoon flew by. Annabel’s very first TV series, The Free Range Cook, still remains one of my favourites with views of New Zealand’s South Island and workable recipes that she often made in her outdoor oven. Her ultimate banana cake is still a staple in our house!