NADIA'S ITALIAN ESCAPE

I’ve got my mojo back!

- Kelly Bertrand

LIFE IS BUSY BUT SWEET FOR THE POPULAR CELEBRITY CHEF

Nadia Lim has been a woman in demand ever since she claimed the coveted MasterChef winner’s trophy in 2011.

But on the day the Weekly calls to catch up, even she has to admit that things may have got away on her just a little.

“Sorry, hang on a minute,” she yells down the phone as she tries to distract sons Bodhi (3) and River (1) for a few minutes so we can chat.

“It’s just me and the kids here, and Bodhi’s got hold of the vacuum cleaner – I mean, great, he wants to vacuum – and five minutes before you called they broke the child security gate at the top of the stairs.

“Bodhi,” she calls out, “can you go and vacuum the bedroom? Thanks, man!

“Okay,” she says, returning to the call. “We’re good!”

It’s actually a wonder we’ve managed to fit in this interview at all. Between Nadia’s nationwide tour to promote her new vege cookbook Vegful, Christmas preparations for her always-busy My Food Bag meal-kit delivery service, adopting two orphaned lambs, and looking after the kids, we’ve had to reschedule a couple of times. But far from being exhausted, Nadia is revitalised, re-energised and raring to go after a much-needed change of scenery – a trip to central Italy.

“I’ve got my mojo back,” she declares. “We packed up the kids and spent seven weeks in a little village in Umbria, the heart of Italy. I wouldn’t call it a holiday, really. [My husband] Carlos and I were still working throughout – we’d do a few hours in the morning to catch the end of the New Zealand workday, and then again at night.