We’ve packed away the Christmas tree and finally finished off the last of the festive season Champagne. Our fridges are stocked with the necessary ingredients for good intentions and even better dinner parties. It’s the season of long, hot days and balmy nights, where summer barbecues start at noon and end long after the sun has set; the season for peaches and mangos and perfectly ripe avocados; the season for reconnecting, reinvigorating, reinventing – for a fresh start.

Our February issue begins with a Lunar New Year feast, courtesy of hospitality veteran Kym Machin of Brisbane’s Bare Bones Society. The Year of the Pig calls for auspicious salads, roasted pork belly and soy noodles – all made with pointedly symbolic, in-season ingredients.

MasterChef’s Sashi Cheliah concocts the ultimate summer crowd pleaser with salmon skewers and mango salad; the Chef and the Butcher follow suit with their own Thai-inspired kangaroo and saltbush salad.

A summer salad show off its wild side in a guest column from Peter Hardwick, expert forager and wild food researcher, who talks us through the complexity and intrigue of using Australian succulents, while Matt Preston celebrates miso magic in his corn cake recipe – our cover star this month.

Our entertaining feature drops us right by the beach in Bondi, where Jesse McTavish, head chef at North Bondi Fish, has crafted a menu that’s dripping with everything quintessential about summer Down Under. Tuna tartare, kingfish ceviche and salmon wings with mango chutney share the stage with a sweet Bondi mess, all enjoyed while waves roll over the iconic beach.

Speaking of entertaining, we’re sure that dining tables will be groaning with our refreshed pasta salad recipes, Matt Moran’s perfect marinades, and summery Mexican favourites from Chupacabra’s Evan White (pass us a frozen passion-pine margarita, please).

We’ve left room to be little virtuous, too. Food director Phoebe Wood will help clear the pantry with savoury muffins that make for an enviable work-lunch, and Shannon Martinez from Melbourne’s Smith and Daughters serves up vegan Italian wonders – think chamomile, saffron and squash spaghettini, a vegan bolognese, and limoncello and basil meringue pie.

There’s no need to deprive yourself of dessert, either, thanks to Darren Robertson’s simple no-churn semifreddos, sorbets, granitas, popsicles and ice cream. The ultimate finish to any (and all) summer meals.

If an escape from the heat sounds appealing, national reviewer Anthony Huckstep has the answer: a trip underground and a seat at the bar of Employees Only, the New York upstart now making waves in Sydney.

New year wanderlust is ignited with delicious. travel-editor-at-large George Calombaris’ Barcelona highlights, while editor-in-chief Kerrie McCallum shows us around a picture-perfect Krabi resort. Breathtaking Hamilton Island hosts Firedoor chef Lennox Hastie, plus we we travel through the oldest wine region in the US, Sonoma, and take to the road in magical Cornwall.