LADY OF THE LAKE

Is it possible to have it all? Probably not, but New Zealand cook and publishing legend Annabel Langbein comes pretty close. As the author of 25 fabulous cookbooks and the star of her own TV show, The Free Range Cook, Annabel believes growing her own fruit and vegies is central to the lifestyle she enjoys in each destination.

“By instinct I don’t go to the fridge to decide what to have for dinner,” she explains. “I go to the garden to see what’s available. Or in the dead of winter, I might go to the pantry to see what I’ve preserved from more fruitful times.”

In doing so, Annabel is preserving a tradition established by her parents as she was growing up in Wellington. Her father, a senior civil servant, unwound by tending a bountiful vegie garden and her mother, a keen cook and consummate entertainer with a degree in home economics, was his willing cohort, turning the produce into