I remember a time in the 2000’s when there was a ‘dinner club’ movement. Sunday suppers. A character usually prominent in the community or eccentric, or both, invited a group of strangers regularly to their home for a sit down meal. It might’ve involved using all the proper cutlery, lots of wine, some delicious food, and definitely a messy kitchen.
It was a heady time (the early to mid 2000’s), when a group of Wellingtonians got around the dining table, brought their friends along and discussed all the topics of the day. What a joy to have a place to meet new people, enjoy a meal, and go home happy, fulfilled and hopefully inspired at the end of the night.
The way kiwis renovate these days with modern kitchen designs, it’s the perfect setting to entertain and serve a simple meal.
Is the cost of food in NZ encouraging more people to seek the self-reliance movement? Then get all your mates round for a pot luck – share in the cost, and get the benefit of someone else to do the washing up!
If covid taught us to appreciate our home environment, it also reminded us how to cook and how important it is to connect with our friends. Your mental health and well-being should be paramount these days, and maybe one of the best ways to do it is to get into the kitchen and invite your friends round.
In the Frame magazine issue titled ‘Spaces that Matter’, the editors highlight the importance more than ever of meaningful experiences in interior design. Tracey Ingram writes,
“As for the experiencers, they’re often looking for belonging, wellbeing and memorability - happenings that enrich their lives, especially as people are becoming more discerning about how they spend their time and money. Over the past few years, Covid-19 may have erased some events from the calendar, but it has only increased the importance of making meaningful memories with family and friends.”
Tracey Ingram, Editor at Large. Frame, Issue 149, Nov 2022-Jan 2023.
We love kitchens. Good kitchen design changes a house into a home, and transforms cooking into a pleasure.
· Kitchen benchtops that are uncluttered and have enough room to prepare a meal with ease is a must.
· An organised pantry in which you can see all the ingredients you have with a glance.
· A kitchen splashback that’s easy to clean.
· An oven which intuitively knows how to cook something, and knows how to clean itself, woah!
· And a beautiful palette of colour and texture, that has you saying ‘hello home’ every time you walk into it.
These are the things that I aspire to have in my kitchen!
Stick in your mind meals. I’ve got quite a few of them.
A small round of goat’s cheese sizzled under the grill for 3-5mins until golden and bubbling, set on a bed of finely grated cabbage dressed with red wine vinegar, then drizzle the whole lot with honey and sprinkle with black sesame seeds. This I ate at the smallest, simplest restaurant at the bottom of my cousin’s apartment in the old part of Barcelona, when we stayed with her for more than a month one hot August way back when.
The simplest meal is the best meal. Pan-fried saganaki or haloumi cheese covered in lemon juice, served with store bought pita. Tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, salt, olive oil. Tumblers of wine. Corn on the cob charred on the bbq, then slathered in a spicy and creamy chili, garlic, and cheese–spiked sauce, a sprinkling of parmesan or crumbly feta on top. 🤤
I love entertaining, though I feel I’ve lost the lust for it recently. I should take my own advice. 😅
When I do it, I reach for cookbooks for inspiration.
“A few years ago it was predicted that online recipes were about to wipe out the physical cookbook. Suddenly we had access to hundreds of thousands of variations on pot roasts and cup cakes at the click of a mouse.
Why would we fill our homes with sizeable chunks of dead wood instead?”
Micheal Booth, Copenhagen correspondent, Monocle. The Monocle Drinking & Dining Directory, Issue 2018, Spring/Summer.
As Michael Booth discovered after giving away most of his large collection of cookbooks, and cut-out recipes collected over a lifetime, he has massive regrets. There are many reasons to house a collection of cookbooks in your kitchen design, your dining room, your bookshelves: thumbing for inspiration, memory-jogging, the pleasure of sitting down to ‘look at the pictures’, a keepsake of your Nana’s recipes, the mouth-watering effect of looking at the exceptional photographs, and sometimes to follow the instructions.
The tactile nature of the paper page, the simplicity of using an open book vs a screen when your hands are messy is a no brainer. Plus their inspirational qualities – best for your dinner event.
My cookbooks are a mixture of those given to me (cookbooks make good presents too) and those I just had to buy when traveling or perusing a book shop. Collected over 30 years, some were given to me at the age of 11 or 12 when I was asked to cater the local primary school teachers end of year function. Someone clearly had noticed the passion in me.
My friend Gao gave me some of her treasured cookbooks when we lived in Melbourne. Gao was a chef, until she became (hereditarily) blind and she gave all her cookbooks away. One is signed personally to her from Greg Malouf, the Lebanese / Aussie chef who’s recipes are the epitome of middle eastern cooking.
Today I’m sitting in a café writing this, but I was brought here for the ceramics. Yep, I’m also a ceramics lover. And the scone was melt in the mouth, with smooth-as strawberry jam, and just enough cream. I’ll probably leave with too many beautiful mugs and plates, and my husband will roll his eyes at me later 🙄.
A good excuse to invite people over though – serve a cup of tea, or a cocktail in one of those mugs 😉, and remember to connect with people, feed people, reach out and experience a bit of love in your kitchen.