It’s been a long time between entries: I blame the season, the need to work on the book, the truffle association conference, etc and so on. It’s over a month now since Patricia Wells, the Provence-based American food writer, cookery guru and International Herald Tribune restaurant reviewer visited Limestone Hills. She’d just won a James Beard Award for her Provence Cookbook, and was understandably chuffed.

The sun shone…

She was over here to take some masterclasses at the Savour New Zealand weekend in early May. She expressed an interest (in a radio interview) in finding out about NZ’s truffle business so I was happy to oblige. Patricia was charming and very interested in what we’re up to. I now have an invite to visit her in Provence during the truffle season – one of those offers you can’t refuse. And if you’re interested, her truffle cooking class in January 2006 is US$4,000 for the week (and sold out long ago).