I’ve found a whole new way to make pizza – on the BBQ! All you need is one of those hooded BBQ's and a loaf of Turkish pide, ciabatta, or another flatbread, and you’re away.

Fungi pizza bread

Ingredients

• 1 large loaf store-bought ciabatta, focaccia, Turkish pide, or similar 
• ½ cup crème fraiche
• ½ cup grated cheese - I used parmesan
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• Sprigs of rosemary or thyme
• Drizzle of olive oil 
• 50g blue cheese, crumbled
• Fresh herbs to serve - I used parsley

Method

1. Heat BBQ or oven to 200 C. 
2. Use a serrated knife to remove the top crust off your bread. 
3. In a bowl mix the crème fraiche and half the grated cheese and spread over the cut side of the bread. Scatter over remaining grated cheese, mushrooms and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Finish with a decent drizzle of oil and bake on the top rack of the BBQ (or upper level in the oven) for 10-15 minutes until bubbling and golden.
5. Add the crumbled blue cheese as soon as it comes off the heat and scatter with parsley.
6. Slice, eat and enjoy!  

Other toppings in place of the mushrooms:

• Prawns, dill, chilli sauce & squeeze of lemon
• Grapes, honey and flaked almonds
• Chopped bacon or ham & pineapple
• Pork & fennel sausage pieces & olives

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Who’s gonna win?

How I wish I could tell you. But from here in the heart of Washington DC I’m happy to be humble. I think anyone who says with supreme confidence or with certainty that they know who the next President of the United States is gonna be, is just blagging.

I’ve spent the week on the road. I’ve been through parts of Arizona, Georgia, New York, and DC. From a Donald Trump rally in Atlanta to Kamala Harris’ Closing Argument in front of the White House.

I’ve spoken with African American voters backing Donald Trump, new migrants voting for the first time, abortion rights advocates, business owners, a cryptocurrency organiser, and a professor of constitutional law.

One of the consistent qualities is how exhausted people are by the whole thing. They’re so ready for this race to be over. Here’s what I think could be the qualities that ultimately define the race:

1) The gender divide. There is a 16-17 point difference between male and female preferences in this election. More than 60 million votes have already been cast and, given we still have a weekend before election day, it seems highly likely that more than half of voters will cast ballots before Wednesday.

Here’s why that’s notable: of the votes cast so far, women are voting at much high levels than men. It’s about 55% vs 45%.

A married couple who are really good friends of mine experience this first hand. He loves Trump. She loathes him. They just agree to mostly avoid talking politics at home. Something similar must be playing out in tens of thousands of American households.

Donald Trump’s strategy relies on turning out a lot of young men – hence the bro podcasts, the UFC, the embracing of crypto and Elon Musk. This is risky, in that young men belong to the demographic most likely not to vote. But I’ve been doing this long enough to know that Donald Trump has made a real habit of bucking conventional wisdom in politics.

2) The economy always factors in people’s choices, but aside from that and aside from Donald Trump’s character... there are two highly motivating issues in this election. One is the border security and immigration, the other is abortion access. If you go to the rallies or hear the candidates speak, Trump absolutely hammers the border issue and Kamala Harris hammers reproductive rights.

3) The polls. I told myself in 2016 I wouldn’t trust the polls again. I told myself in 2020 I wouldn’t trust the polls again. The problem is the pollsters don’t release their modelling. How do they account for Donald Trump’s support among young men if young men don’t usually vote in the same numbers as other demographics? If people misled pollsters by telling them they were supporting Hillary when they were really supporting Trump, will they do that again? Or has Trump shame passed as a notable phenomenon? Right now, Kamala Harris is doing worse in the polls than Hillary Clinton and worse than Joe Biden, but is there a chance the pollsters have overcorrected?

The election is Wednesday. I think it’s pretty unlikely we’ll have a result that day and it’ll take time before either Harris or Trump is officially the President-elect. Regardless of who wins, I think, sadly, the American electorate is going to remain bitterly divided.

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The Wiggles have been going strong for over three decades, and their lineup has changed a bit along the way.

Going from four to eight, the current lineup includes the original Blue Wiggle, Anthony Field, alongside a cast of newer faces: Tsehay Hawkins, Lachy Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Evie Ferris, John Pearce, Caterina Mete, and Lucia Field.

Tsehay Hawkins joined the Wiggles at age 15, taking over from Emma Watkins as the Yellow Wiggle in 2021.

"That was a pretty, pretty surreal moment,” she told Jack Tame.

The Wiggles team is a pretty close-knit group, Hawkins revealed.

“Everyone’s friends, we’re all actually mates, so that makes it so much easier.”

“It doesn’t feel like work.”

The Wiggles are coming to New Zealand this summer, bringing their Sound System Dance Party to Christchurch and Mount Maunganui.

It’s our first-ever dedicated dance festival for toddlers, featuring reimagined dance versions of the classic hits, and Dorothy the Dinosaur on the turntables.

“She’s levelled up,” Hawkins said.

“She still does all the Wiggle stuff, but now we've got remixes of the OG Wiggles songs, but we've made it like, club vibes. We’ve got full house, techno, and that’s what we’re doing in January next year.”

“We're so stoked to be coming back.”

For more information, visit kyaevents.co.nz.

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Jack Tame isn’t the only one with fond memories of New York.

Kevin Milne visited the city back in 1996, spending a week there filming a video for TVNZ’s travel programme.

He joined Jack to reminisce about the experience and his memories of the city.

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Buying property is an expensive and often difficult task, so how do you get the best deal?

Ed McKnight of Opes Partners joined Jack Tame to offer up some tips and tricks to get the best deal when dealing with the property market.

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"If you’re heading to the West Coast via Lewis Pass, make a date with the starring town of Reefton. From Springs Junction, the highway threads through the verdant beech forest finery of Victoria Forest Park, New Zealand’s largest conservation park of its type, spanning 180,000 hectares. There are gold mining and quartz mining relics in the area, with a variety of sublime hikes, from short strolls to epic, multi day tramps. But the hospitality beacon is Reefton, the Town of Light, where the glint of gold gave birth to its name courtesy of the vast quartz reef that spawned the 1870 gold rush."

Read Mike's full article here.

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Just over a week after its release, Kylie Minogue’s Tension II has netted her a landmark 10th Official Number 1 album in the UK.

The 13 track album also debuted at Number 1 on the ARIA Chart, and in Minogue’s words, it’s a continuation of an era she’s delighted to explore.

“I can’t possibly let it be over just yet! Welcome to Tension II.”

Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the new release.

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