On camera, Nici Wickes is exuberant, noisy even, as she cheerily prepares meals for television or Instagram – so the title of her new cookbook, A Quiet Kitchen, comes as a surprise to many.
“What, Nici quiet?” she laughs. Yet pottering alone in her kitchen is what Wickes loves best. It’s where she finds solace and joy, recharges her batteries and she’s discovered that living in the small seaside rural community of Port Waikato fills her cup to the point that it is now overflowing with contentment.
When lockdown forced Wickes to be in one place, she chose Port Waikato over her rented city apartment.
“I learned quite a lot about myself during that time. People around me were like, ‘Are you okay because you’re on your own?’ And I could not have been more okay.
