We Solve Murders by Richard Osman - more brilliant, gentle crime from the author who gave us The Thursday Murder Club. He’s taking a break from that series and has started a new one, centred around a family - Amy, who’s a bodyguard, her father in law Steve – a quiet, eccentric homebody ex cop - and his son Adam. There’s a charming wit and interplay between the characters – and a globe-hopping plot - which makes this a real pleasure to read.

Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell - Pamela Churchill Harriman was a fascinating figure – she married Winston Churchill’s son Randolph – it was not a success – but was recruited as a courtesan to secure useful information for the British government during WW2. She eventually moved to America and married twice more , eventually being appointed as the US ambassador to France. Her story is remarkable, she was a singular figure.

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Over in Hawaii, tourism officials are looking to encourage Kiwi tourists to check out their island community for the summer.

Hawaiian Airlines has brought back their direct seasonal service to New Zealand and they're encouraging travellers to support local communities through their latest global campaign.

BloggerAtLarge writer Megan Singleton says the new 'The People, The Place, The Hawaiian Islands' is designed to showcase the region's food, music, culture and local events.

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In this week's edition of the Sunday Panel, 818 director Chris Henry and Capital director Ben Thomas joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the week - and more!

Daylight saving has officially kicked in - how do we feel? Are we excited for the warmer weather?

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has unveiled some new changes to speed limits, with all blanket reductions on local streets, arterial roads, and state highways set to be reversed by July next year. Do we agree with these changes?

Over 35,000 people took to the streets in Dunedin to protest the Government pushing pause on the city's new hospital project. What do we make of this?

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The winter blues are over for good, daylight saving has officially kicked in and spring is here.

People are more likely to feel unmotivated in the winter, so experts consider spring the best time to work in new healthy habits.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains why drinking water, eating better, and getting more exercise feel easier to do in the warmer weather and longer days.

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250gm haloumi

2 bunches asparagus

1/2 cup roasted whole almonds

2 tbsp honey

Flour for haloumi

Extra sunflower oil for frying

Flaky salt

Lemon dressing

Juice of 2 lemons

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 cup sunflower oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp honey

Preheat the oven to 180*C. Smash the almonds roughly into large chunks. Place these in a baking tray and drizzle with honey.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the honey begins to caramelize.

Squeeze the juice from thelemons into a bowl. Then whisk in the Dijon mustard, honeyand finally slowly whisk in the oil. Season the dressing with a pinch of salt..

Blanch the asparagus in some salted boiling water, then refresh in iced water. Drain and toss through a little sunflower oil, season with saltand chargrill either on your BBQ or in a grill in a hot cast-iron pan. Set aside and clean the pan.

Slice the haloumi into ½ cm wide strips, toss in some flour, then fry in sunflower oil over a medium heat. Turn and fry the otherside.

Arrange all the asparagus onto a platter along with the grilled haloumi, toasted almonds and finish with the lemon dressing.

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On the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 29 September 2024, winner of Alone Australia, Gina Chick, joins Francesca to discuss surviving 67 days in the Tasmanian wilderness in winter and her new book We Are The Stars.

New Zealand-born director Christine Jeffs is back with her first feature film in 16 years - an adaptation of the acclaimed novel A Mistake.

Former Chief Science Advisor to the Minister of Transport Simon Kingham considers how effective the speed limit rule changes will be. And, Francesca looks at the fine line between examining facts and preying on a victim's tragedy.

Plus, the world's oldest known cheese has been identified from the neck of a 3,600 year old mummy.

Get the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast every Sunday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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A mysterious white substance found on the heads and necks of 3,600-year-old mummies in north-western China has just been identified as the world’s oldest known cheese. Published in the journal Cell, this discovery offers a rare glimpse into the dietary practices of ancient civilisations.

The mummies were actually unearthed two decades ago in the Tarim Basin desert and thanks to the regions dry, desert environment they were remarkably well-preserved. Along with their boots and hats, a structure that looked like a necklace was laid along the neck of one young woman. While it looked like a piece of jewellery, recent DNA tests revealed that the substance was in fact kefir cheese.

Kefir cheese is a probiotic soft cheese made from cow and goat milk. The kefir contained bacterial and fungal species, including Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens and Pichia kudriavzevii, both of which are still found in modern kefir grains.

This discovery marks the oldest known cheese sample ever found and provides a valuable opportunity for researchers to understand more about the diets and cultures of our ancestors. The research not only reveals insights into early food production methods, but also helps track the evolution of probiotic bacteria over the last 3,600 years.

Further analysis revealed that the L. kefiranofaciens grains found in the cheese were closely related to similar grains from Tibet. By sequencing the bacterial genes, researchers could trace how dairy products and animal husbandry practices evolved across East Asia, shedding light on the interactions between ancient humans and their environment.

The Xiaohe people, from what is now Xinjiang, buried items of significance alongside their dead, and the inclusion of kefir cheese indicates the importance of this food in their daily lives.

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1980's hitmakers The Cure seem like they're aiming for a musical comeback.

The band recently released Alone, their first new single in over sixteen years, and they have a new album due out on November 1st.

Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall says this seems to be an era of older acts returning to the music world, as this follows the announcement of next year's Oasis reunion tour.

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