Apples didn’t feature in my Christmas/New Year menus. Why would they? It’s summer and apples are an autumn fruit. But there they were – languishing at the bottom of my fridge and desperately in need of using up. It was too late to simply slice and eat them. These middle-aged wrinklies needed a serious makeover. I found this recipe in my favourite French cookbook – ‘At home in Provence’ by Patricia Wells – and adapted it to the ingredients

When I think of Christmas in New Zealand, I always think of berry picking. It’s perfect entertainment for kids – running wild through the vines, gobbling berries and if you’re lucky, picking a few to take home. It’s healthy too – eating fruit, exercise and having fun. My favourite Christmas dessert would have to be meringue topped with loads of strawberries or mixed berries and a dollop of cream or Greek yoghurt. It looks so pretty. A dish full of fresh berries looks great as a centrepiece for the table. Isn’t it good to know that something so delicious and so pretty is also incredibly healthy. Not too many of the other traditional Christmas foods can claim this. So go berry picking and make it one of your Christmas traditions.

“Don’t give me any dinner this week,” my husband said to me. “I’ll just have your fruit drink.” What delightful words for any busy mum to hear: No cooking real meals for a week! Well actually I did still cook a little something extra for myself and my son. But fruit drink every night was a great way to start off November – the month set aside in New Zealand to promote eating ‘Five-a-day’. Five-a-day means eating five serves of fruit and vegetables each day. It’s not that much. A serve is one average sized piece of fruit, half a cup of vegetables or a cup of salad. For children, a serve is the amount they can hold in one cupped hand.

I’ve worked out that my fruit drink has about 11 or 12 serves and 22-24 grams of fibre. Split between three of us, we just about hit our daily 5-a-day with one large glass! And no wonder my husband doesn’t feel like dinner:

Relax, relax. Isn’t that what we are meant to be trying to do in this hectic world we live in? I was doing exactly that a few weekends ago at the NZ Food Writers conference. After a hard morning of visiting food and wine producers, and having to choose between blue cheese wontons with pear and rocket salad or grilled mackerel on toast with harissa at Clearview Estate Winery, we were now at Millar Road – seriously stylish accommodation – tasting yet more wine and food. Oh well, someone has to do it!

Relaxing by the pool in the afternoon sun, lapping up the Hawkes Bay countryside and Pacific Ocean spread out below us, I summoned up just enough energy to ask antioxidant expert, Dr Carolyn Lister, “Do organic vegetables have any more antioxidants than others?” She replied, “It depends how stressed they are. The more stress, the more antioxidants.”