When I first visited Thailand in 1989 there were no fast food chains – and no overweight Thai people. Twenty years later there are loads of fast food chains and many overweight Thais. It’s a tragedy that the worst of our western food habits has infiltrated this amazing culture.

I just had to take a photo of the delicious scallops I cooked on the weekend. I heated some olive oil in a small fry-pan and dumped them in along with finely chopped garlic, ginger and coriander root. “One minute each side, turn them over only once and don’t over-cook them,” the helpful man at my local fish shop ordered me. I obeyed the orders and they turned out perfectly. For NZ$15 we had a smoked kahawai and 12 scallops – more than enough for three of us to eat.

“When I was a kid, scallops just washed up on the beach,” my father-in-law reminisced. They don’t do that now so we headed off to what I think is the best fish shop in Auckland – Marsic Brothers in Glen Innes.

The last day of 2009 – New Year’s Eve and the inevitable new year’s resolutions. In anticipation that some of us will wake up tomorrow resolving to eat less, drink less, grouch less, exercise more, give more, chill out more – at least for a couple of days – here’s a muesli recipe to start you off on your new resolutely healthy day!

It’s so easy to make: just chuck it all in a big oven tray and bake for 20 minutes, then toss in some dried fruit. I like to use cranberries and dried apricots because they look pretty, plus my nephew and niece don’t like raisins and I usually give them a container full to eat while it’s fresh. You can use any ingredients you like but I like to use health-foodie stuff that my family wouldn’t normally touch such as linseeds, wheat germ and oat bran. The batch I made this week uses whole linseeds but you will likely absorb more nutrients from ground linseeds.