Butter, Butter High Tea

Saturday 13 April, 2pm

Ongaonga Hall, Bridge Street, Ongaonga

Join us for high tea with Petra Galler and sample some delicious cakes from her beautiful book “Butter, Butter”. Interviewer Doug Hales will be speaking to Petra about her decadent recipes inspired by her Jewish heritage.

 

"I started baking at 7 years old and have been totally food obsessed my whole life; dinner was always the main event in my family!

 

I spent two years studying psychology at Auckland University before making the decision to drop out and give cooking a go. I had zero experience and grovelled my way into a kitchen. I remember feeling absolutely terrified for the first few months; kitchens are very strange places and total hot houses of stress and pressure. 

 

I have been working as a chef for the last 12 years, here in Auckland and in Melbourne, with the last 5 years being full time in the pastry section. The sweet side of things is definitely where I belong!

 

When I returned from Melbourne in 2018 I started working with Peter Gordon at Homeland as head pastry chef. One year later, I was lucky enough to secure a book deal with Allen & Unwin. Butter Butter was released in Apri 2023; a dream come true really; I have wanted to write a cookbook for most of my career. I am recently self employed, a “freelance baker” I like to say, making cakes to order and holding pop-ups. This has proved to be an extremely liberating, albeit stressful, move and I am loving the adventure". 

​

Doug Hales says: "I love my days in the garden, the season, using all of the old but looking forward to the new. Retirement is a treasure. I worked in schools for over forty years, thirty seven as a Principal including Fendalton in Christchurch and a nine hundred pupil International School in Papua New Guinea. I loved teaching. Sharron and I worked in International Schools for ten years, it allowed us to travel and eat our way around the world. I love cooking, we owned Nola in Waipawa. I am looking forward to talking with Petra, about how the food she cooks enriches her life and those around her, about the different things that influence her food, about flavour!"

​

Cake and culture in an wonderful small venue, buy your tickets now!

​

​