Thirty years ago, the chance of finding Annabel Langbein trudging around her garden in jeans, an old shirt and boots would be unlikely.
In the 1990s, Annabel was the height of sophistication in the cooking world. Looking glamorous and gorgeous, she had regular shows on television and radio, along with columns in newspapers and magazines.
Today, she still has those columns and she’s just as gorgeous, but she also has a down-to-earth presence that proves she’s in touch with nature, as well as being someone who can whip up a five-course meal and still look great at the end of it.
With more than 10,000 recipes behind her, Annabel is immersing herself in the earth with her love of gardening and now ceramics, working clay into art.
“I have a crazy-mad husband who gardens 20 acres here in Wānaka and will be out for 10 hours a day,” says Annabel. “But my garden is the vegetable and flower garden, and working in it helps me understand the rhythm of the seasons,She wrote it because often friends would arrive for dinner and find her in the garden, the house a shambles and with no sign of any meal preparation.
