Give Nigella Lawson a stage and she’ll dominate it. Returning to the Sydney Opera House two years on from her original appearance, the domestic goddess once again captivated audiences last night during a conversation with Maeve O’Meara.

From her signature turn of phrases to her unapologetic views on food, family and life, here are another 27 reasons why it’s so damn hard not to love Nigella.

1. The queen of the kitchen is a firm believer in social media, regarding it as one of the great “things” of our age.
2. To much public disbelief, she announced she actually checks her own Instagram and Twitter accounts, responding to as many questions and posts as she can, admitting she gets “shirty” when people accuse her of not doing her own social media.
3. The cover of her latest book, At My Table, is inspired by plates and pottery developed in the Ukraine, in turn inspired by friend and fellow author Olia Hercules’ own collection. She also made some of the pottery featured in the new book, after taking lessons with Yotam Ottolenghi.
4. Her absolute favourite food is spinach; even as a child she loved it.
5. She admits her taste hasn’t really changed over the years, but she still dislikes raw onion (unless it’s been dressed in lemon juice or vinegar).
6. Though we know her for her desserts, she actually prefers savoury, sour and spicy foods.
7. She justifies her love of salt as a necessity due to her low blood pressure.
8. She may be British by nationality, but she’s Australian by taste, preferring Vegemite over Marmite, and is a fan of Carla Zampatti’s fashion line.
9. One of her favourite pastimes is “fridge foraging”, which is often a source of many of her recipes.
10. Nigella’s New Year’s resolution is to declutter, beginning with her wardrobe and pantry.
11. She describes food shopping as one of life’s great pleasures and still doesn’t understand people who have no leftovers in their fridge at any given time.
12. Staple items in the Lawson family fridge include harissa (perfect with black beans) and preserved lemons (she makes no apology for using store-bought).
13. She admits the slow cooker is the kitchen appliance that has changed her life.
14. She has no time for food snobbery, disliking those who look down on others, citing it as one of her most hated things in the food world.
15. She says her handwriting leaves much to be desired, admitting she often can’t read her own notes (we’ll forgive her, of course).
16. The ingredient she’s obsessed with right now is turmeric, using it wherever she can in her cooking.
17. She believes strongly that everything should stop for lunch, no matter what.
18. Nigella doesn’t believe in food trends, but revealed veganism is something that influences her (over half the recipes in her new book are unintentionally vegetarian and a third are vegan), and she is excited by the bold and creative flavours coming out of the movement.
19. While she admits she’s hands-on and controlling, Nigella revealed she’s not a planner and prefers to live in the moment.
20. However, she’s more than happy to describe herself as a “fester-er” – someone who stews over nothing and does so often.
21. She’s always thinking about food. Before her Opera House talk, while in the middle of a hot-stone massage, she was thinking about a new way to baste a roast chicken with porcini mushroom, butter and salt.
22. Another mundane activity she dislikes more than anything else is filling in forms.
23. Yes, she really does eat from the fridge late at night, with her favourite snack foods including blue cheese, bread and butter, and dark chocolate (it’s full of magnesium, according to Nigella).
24. You’ll want to add green capsicum to the foods she also dislikes.
25. True to form, she never feels bad about what she eats and admits she’s a poor drinker.
26. Her life’s ambition is to become a slower eater, but she believes it’s not as pleasurable as eating fast.
27. If she had to be a food, she’d be a loaf of bread (but seriously, who wouldn’t?)

Want more? See here for 14 things we bet you didn’t know about Nigella Lawson.