It was fantastic to see so many of you last week at our largest event ever. Having sold-out at all of our previous events we thought using the Penthouse would hold everyone yet we still sold-out in just over a week with another waiting list.

Greeted with Murray's Road Savingon brought to you by Debbie Pepler and nibbles by Anna Hansen and the Modern Pantry we settled in to hear from Peta Mathias, http://www.petamathias.com. Did she tell you she lives half the year in Southern France? Many of you have asked for Peta's notes which are attached. Thanks Peta for a wonderful talk and for being with us on the night. As it was Peta's birthday the next day flowers were donated by the Dental Surgery and thank you to AUT for gifting Peta with a beautiful birthday present, a blessed whale greenstone necklace.Peta was delighted as she had never received Ponnamu before in her life time.

After hearing Peta we moved onto some speed networking which unfortunately the acoustics in the Penthouse could not really handle however in true Kiwi spirit we managed to meet some new people and learn a little more about others in the Network. As many of you know at our events we try to incorporate a bit of inspiration and also ensure we go home having met some new people.

Our evening closed with door prizes and numerous raffle prizes to help support the Canterbury Earthquake appeal where we raised over £300. In total across both events (September 6th at Bleeding Heart and October 11th NZ House) we're raised over £500 which has been transferred to the NZ Society. Michelle Marsh, President of the NZ Society will be presenting the funds to Bob Parker, Mayor of Christchurch on November 15th.

We'd like to thank a huge range of people who came together to make the evening a success donating their time, products, and or services for the door prizes and raffles. I hope you all enjoyed the yummy treats in the goodie bags and on the way home eating my hokey pokey I couldn't help but chuckle to myself that the goodie bags were put together by the team at the Dental Surgery which included Moros and Minties from Kiwifruits and Hokey Pokey made by Anna Hansen and the Modern Pantry Team and toothbrushes, toothpaste etc from the Dental Surgery- do you think they were in on it?!?

As mentioned on the night after preparing our nibbles Anna Hansen stole away to attend an awards dinner where the Modern Pantry was awarded the rather amazing title of 53rd best restaurant in the Nation. Given there are over 7,000 restaurants/cafes in London alone this is fantastic.

A massive thank you to all the helpers and please support the following businesses:

The Dental Surgery - http://www.thedentalsurgery.co.uk
NZ News UK - http://www.nznewsuk.co.uk
Murray’s Road Wines, www.murraysroadwines.co.nz UK orders please contact Debbie via email
Hair styling by Christa Loisel of Ena Salon www.enasalon.com
Designer Jewellery by Kohtu and Petros http://www.kohatuandpetros.com
Rollup banners from Strictly Marketing www.strictlymarketing.co.uk and www.strictlybanners.co.uk
Beauty and Honey products from Comvita Store Portobello Rd http://www.comvita.co.uk/
Speak in Public with Confidence, Maggie Eyre http://www.maggieeyre.com/
Janet Frame Book set - donated by the Janet Frame Society. Book sets can be purchased from Kiwifruits.

For those of you who missed out purchasing Peta's books:

Culinary Adventures in Marrakech - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Culinary-Adventures-Marrakech-Peta-Mathias/dp/0143204599
Fabulous - Thoughts of Being A Woman - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fabulous-Thoughts-Being-Peta-Mathias/dp/1845965140/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1287614120&sr=8-2

We will try to have Peta's DVDs at our next event as they'll make great Christmas gifts £15, Peta Unplugged in Marrakech http://www.petamathias.com

As it was nearly double our usual size event we had a huge number of volunteers who worked hard to bring you all an amazing evening.

Thanks to Peta for rearranging her birthday plans to be with us and for also providing her notes. I'll be digging out my old school reports to see what my teachers thought I should be doing.

Today we were featured as one of NZNewsUK's main articles and founder Bronwen Horton spoke about the rise of the network in the flying kiwi section.

NZNewsUK is the UK's premier onine news source for Kiwis with a distinct London/UK flavour.

If you'd like to read more visit NZNewsUK

NZNewsUK also has a fantastic weekly KiwiLink newsletter featuring NZ News/Events and sports which we highy recommend to keep abreast of whats going on here in the UK.

Finally, if you haven't yet, now is a good time to follow us on twitter, we release everything about events and upcoming tidbits here first www.twitter.com/nzwomen

UPDATE: This event has now sold out! Please email info@nzwomen.co.uk if you wish to be added to the waiting list (incase someone pulls out)

The NZ Business Women’s Network invites you to a very special event. The evening will include a new venue for the group, a very special guest speaker and a twist on our regular networking system.  As always the event is a platform to connect with other New Zealand Business Women based in London from a wide variety of industries and professions.

When: 6.30pm – 9.30pm Monday, 11^th October 2010
Where: The Penthouse (17th Floor), New Zealand House, 80 Haymarket, London SW1Y4TQ
Pricing: The ticket price is £16 per person and includes a welcome glass of Murrays Road Sauvignon Blanc, and nibbles by Anna Hansen (NZer of the Year 2010) of the Modern Pantry, There will be a cash bar on the night (as always)

Peta Mathias understands the importance of building relationships as a secret ingredient to business success. Along with Peta Mathias we have invited over 15 other Kiwi associations, clubs and groups to join us on the night.

After being inspired by Peta we will run a speed networking exercise to help us all meet other women from the network and other NZ clubs and associations. For a list of those groups invitited please see the NZ High Commission's website http://www.nzembassy.com/united-kingdom/nzers-overseas/living-in-the-united-kingdom/nz-clubs-and-associations-in-the-uk-and-i

Introducing our Speaker Peta Mathias www.petamathias.com

Peta Mathias is a respected and prolific New Zealand chef, author and broadcaster, who now builds on the culinary travel experience with her gastronomic tours in the South of France, Morocco and India. Having started off her culinary love affair in Paris with her restaurant 'Rose Blues' in the 5th arrondissement, she returned to New Zealand ten years later to teach, cook and write. 'Fête Accomplie', the first book about life in Paris with recipes, is also the first of her eight award winning gastronomic travel books written about North Africa, France, New Zealand, Ireland and Vietnam. 'Can We Help It If We're Fabulous?' a book about women, came out in August 2008. It was an instant bestseller, is still being reprinted and has now been published in Great Britain, the USA, Canada and Germany. Then came 'A Matter of Taste' - a book of photographs of women's accessories made of food taken by Italian photographer Fulvio Bonavia, with text by Peta. This was followed by 'Just In Time To Be Too Late - why men are like buses' in 2009 and 'Culinary Adventures in Marrakech' in 2010.

For twelve years Peta presented the prime time travel/food shows 'Taste New Zealand', 'Taste Takes off' and 'A Taste of Home'. In 2006 she presented the food segment on TV One's 'House & Garden'. The NZ Guild of Writers voted Peta as the Supreme Award winner at the New Zealand Guild of Food Writers Culinary Quill Awards held on Oct 17, 2003. The Supreme Award is a new category in the Culinary Quills biennial awards, which recognises the most outstanding entry of the fourteen category winners. Mavis Airey, President of the Guild said the judges found it difficult selecting an overall winner and it was Peta's passion for the craft of food communications that made the final decision.

Peta was born and bred in Auckland, a stunningly sparkling port city where she still lives but travels extensively researching books, filming her series and hosting her culinary tours. She is a member and judge of Slow Food and is proud of the fact that she lives in one of the cleanest, most beautiful countries in the world. Peta has recently set up her own production company to make cooking DVDs and food/travel series called 'Peta Unplugged'. 'Ten Recipes For Fabulous Summer Entertaining' DVD is on sale in stores and can be bought on line. 'Peta Unplugged in Marrakech' a six part series is now screening on Prime TV Tuesdays 7.30pm. (see promo video below)

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Booking: Click here to book through our website

Don't delay in booking your ticket as every event of ours has sold-out and the last event at Bleeding Heart sold-out in little over a week.
Please pass this invitation on to any other Kiwi women or groups who may like to have women representatives there on the night.
We hope you can join us for our biggest event yet.