The stars of Matariki continue with Tupuānuku and Tupuārangi - which are aligned with the earth and the trees.

Tupuānuku is the star associated with everything that grows within the soil to be harvested or gathered for food. What a great star! Certainly one for our vege friends. You should always have a few vegetable based cookbooks in your collection - not only because vegetables are good for you (honest) but you never know when you may have to whip up a vegetarian dish for someone. I have quite a few which range from the simple 'what to do with vegetables' kind, 'quick vegetarian suppers' kind through to a few at the top end of the cookbook scale from the likes of Yotam Ottolenghi . My absolute favourite though is the 1977 Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. Based on the recipes from the famous Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca New York, its a quirky retro (well hip in 1977!) paper back cookbook in hand writing text, hand drawn pictures and black and white photographs. A 'real' cookbook squashed full of recipes with just a little bit of the story. It even has pages at the back where you can write your own notes! For a Matariki celebration I'm picking the Carrot Soup on page 28. Carrots, potato, onions, garlic - perfect for feeding a crowd as you gather to watch Matariki rise on a midwinter morning.

Tupuārangi is the star associated with everything that grows up in the trees, so think fruits, berries and birds. My instant thought, of course, was to head for the baking and dessert books - who doesn't love an apple crumble, a poached pear or a pavlova piled high with all sorts of berries! For a go-to fail safe pav recipe go to Annabel Langbien's Fantasy Pavlova (from The Best of Annabel Langbein - Great Food for Busy Lives) and for a slightly different poached pear try the Star Anise Poached Pears from Luke Mangan's book Salt Grill. But fruit and berry laden desserts seem just a bit obvious of a suggestion so I've finally opted for something a little different - as I sit in my office looking out at the trees - Pine Nut Tart! It's a traditional dish found just about everywhere in Italy, super yummy, surprisingly easy to make and a great unusual dessert for a party. Ursula Ferrigno has a perfect recipe for one in her book La Dolce Vita which I can highly recommend.