Cooking

I've been told I have a unique approach to cooking. LOL! I've had wonderful compliments and a few confused looks. A cousin from Canada once remarked that he'd never eaten a meal consisting of so many vegetables. I still wonder if that was a good thing to him or not! People often ask me for my recipes which I usually don't have because I've just experimented and never written anything down. As the kids get older, *they've* asked me to write things down, so I'm trying to do that a little more.

I've enjoyed cooking since I learned how to do it 'on the job' as a cook in a little vegetarian bistro-style restaurant in Colchester in the 1970's. It was a part-time job when I was a university student and I have so many happy memories of working there. The lady who managed the restaurant was like an older sister and mentored us younger girl-cooks by working along side us, asking our opinions and being enthusiastic about our efforts.

Once, I over-ordered cherries by mistake. She took it all in her stride and we spent the day baking many wonderful cherry dishes, some of which she just made up. She had a chef's instinct of what foods go together!

First thing in the morning, as we all sat gathered on the long benches at one of the great wooden tables in the dining room drinking coffee and chatting about our lives, she'd phone her supplier to see what was fresh and good that day. He'd say something like, 'Purple sprouting broccoli's good today!' and we were off, creating dishes which sprang from that news.

She listened, giving everyone's opinion equal weight, even the shy teenage mum who came in to do the washing up for us. The menu was settled on, someone with good handwriting, not me, wrote it up on the blackboard and we'd cook like crazy people until 11.00 when we opened up. We all took turns cooking and serving behind the self-service counter in the dining room. We served hungry people until early evening when we closed.

There were jugs of tap water on every table. Fruit juice was not common back in the 70's. It was expensive and came in bottles! Also a pot of sea salt and a pepper mill (also not common back then) adorned each table. The plates were hand-thrown by a local potter and each was slightly different to the others. The restaurant was a converted wooden barn and ancient beams hung overhead. The place felt rustic and wholseome, though it was in the middle of the town.

We always had coffee and tea to sell. We had at least 5 different salads, a variety of main dishes which always included quiche, at least 3 home-made soups, a dessert or two and plenty of fresh made bread, chutneys we'd also made ourselves and good strong cheddar cheese. Those last three constituted a wonderful 'Ploughman's Lunch' which was always popular.

This is where I learned to cook. Where I learned about delightful food combinations, the creativity of cookery, about NOT following recipes and doing things the way you are supposed to. {g} I also learned to work in a team, had an excellent tutorial in management strategy from our wonderful head chef and about the bottom line, from the restaurant's owner. Most of all, I learned that when people are treated well and are happy in their work, they make a business profitable.

Sadly, my academic studies, and desire to teach, eventually led me away from this lovely job, but I retained the learning I'd done there.

Though I don't use recipes much, there are 3 books I've really enjoyed over the years and still cook from a lot. I've made my own adaptations to many of them now, so the books are creased, crumpled, annotated and have my own little opinions scrawled underneath many: Good, Very Good and EXCELLENT!{g}

I first was given this book (under a different cover) by a friend in a NY cab in 1987. She and I were in the city because Jamie's band was playing at Madison Square Gardens. They played two nights, I saw the first but went out to eat in Little Italy with my friend, an A&R rep with EMI, on the second evening. She's been to stay with us in London, so she knew I loved to cook. The recipes introduced me to American regional cookery. I've used many of these creative vegetarian recipes over and over again.
I bought this book at about the same time in the restaurant from which it takes its name. Stones is a wonderful place just next to the neolithic stone circle at Avebury in the West Country. Their recipes resemble the types of things we did at The Barn back in the 70's. The restaurant looked similar too.

I've had a version of this book since 1982, I think. It is THE bible on Indian cooking, but also has dishes from all over the Orient. Follow her advice and you can't go wrong! In the 1980's I had to really hunt down some of the ingredients, but they are in every supermarket now. Times really have changed.