A life in French Food, from Martinborough to Montjaux

My Two Heavens

 By Jo Crabb

Publication  17 April 2014

Random House NZ - RRP: $39.99

"So, one day, during one of our many visits to France, we were cycling along a green country lane and we saw a half-tumbled down house. Stephen braked and put his foot down. He nodded at the house as I stopped beside him.

‘Someone should buy that and do it up,’ Stephen said.

‘Hey,’ I said, struck by the thought. ‘We should buy it!’ Stephen frowned at me as if to gauge how serious I was.

‘Well, not right now,’ I mumbled. ‘But why not? You know sometime later on...?’

Stephen didn’t laugh incredulously, or tell me I was mad. If anything, his frown deepened as his mind began ticking over. That’s  how the seed was sown".

New Zealand has always been a nation of great travellers and many of us dream of having the kind of life where we spend half the year in NZ and the other half in some exotic locale, but most of us never do anything to make that dream a reality.

Chef Jo Crabb and her partner, artist Stephen Allwood do just that. They spend most of the year in Martinborough, Jo running her cooking classes from Palliser Estate vineyard and Stephen painting. Then around June each year they head to their home in France for a few months at a time. They own a quintessentially French stone house in the small Southern village of Montjaux from which they can explore the rest of the country and immerse themselves in all things French.

Jo and Stephen moved to Martinborough in 1995, right at the beginning of the wine and food culture boom, after having run a restaurant in Auckland. They ran the famous Café Medici in Martinborough for 11 years before setting up Carême in 2009, and it’s fast becoming an institution amongst the Wellington dinner party set. Jo runs beginner cooking courses from ‘easy’ right up to ‘master’, mostly focusing on her love for French cooking techniques. It’s an enviable lifestyle. But despite their unwavering courage to take the plunge, and some serendipitous timing, it hasn’t always been plain- sailing.

  

My Two Heavens is the story of Jo’s life in food, her love affair with France, and her experience as a chef, businesswoman and traveller. It’s filled with stories of her adventures from her time in the Middle East as a child, her decision to make food her career, meeting Stephen and forging a life with him, and of course her experiences in France.

Jo’s favourite recipes can be found throughout the book, reflecting special times and places in Jo’s life, and as you can imagine many of these delicious recipes are French. Of course My Two Heavens wouldn’t be complete without Stephen’s input, and his gorgeous illustrations can be found on nearly every page.

My Two Heavens, (a beautifully designed and most appealing book), is the story of a remarkable woman, who proves that with a strong sense of self-belief you can live the life of your dreams.

Born in Christchurch, for much of her early life Jo Crabb lived between New Zealand and her father’s postings as a military observer for the United Nations, including in the Middle East, India and Pakistan. She met her partner, artist Stephen Allwood, at university in Christchurch. Ever since, they’ve shared a love of food, art and travel.