I hate winter. It probably is the result of having been a child in
southern Holland and having to bike to school, always against the
wind, pedaling through snowdrifts and sleet. Early on I vowed that
when I grew up I was moving to a warmer climate. So for years I
spent six months of the year on the top floor of a building from
where I could see beautiful old churches in the centre of Rome and
I lived the other half of the year perched above Darlinghurst in
Sydney, looking towards the lights of the city. Some people think
is the perfect life, and in some ways maybe it is. You get the best
of both worlds -baroque and Bondi. And summer twice a year. The one
thing is that you need two of everything -two houses, two studios
and two wardrobes. And of course two fully equipped kitchens. As a
painter, I worked in both places, literally migrating from summer
to summer. Both in Rome and in Sydney, I spent my day in the
studio, taking the occasional walk down the corridor or up the
stairs to the kitchen to stir a cooking pan to retain my sanity.
Sometimes I even invented recipes. I might be a painter but I can't
explain art. However, I can write down recipes for the things I
cook while I paint. Of necessity, the food I eat is quick and easy
to prepare, since I don't have the time to stand patiently next to
the stove for long periods and I do paint a lot. Although many of
these recipes have Mediterranean origins, this is not an Italian
cookbook. Nor are all my ideas entirely original - rather, they
have evolved over the years from the dishes eaten in good
restaurants or in the houses of friends, from dishes my mother made
and from recipes found in cookbooks, all gradually altered over
time to become new favourites. I'm a great believer in the therapy
of cooking. I also strongly believe in making things easy for
myself, buying seasonal vegetables fresh from the local shops
whilst not being averse to using stock cubes or other harmless
shortcuts. Essentially, I cook what looks good in the market on the
day. Having lived in Italy for the past twenty-five years -in rural
Umbria, Florence and since 1983 in Rome- I have come to understand
that the perfect dish relies on just a few basic ingredients. Like
traditional cooking, which uses an onion, some tomatoes, virgin
olive oil, garlic and the odd egg, the best recipes are simple. I
don't even attempt a dish that calls for a kilogram of sliced
onions marinated in brown sugar for three weeks. That is why all
the recipes in this book are either quick 10-minute jobs or slow
cooking dishes which take hours on the stove or in the oven and
don't require my constant presence. I have left out any dish that
I've burned more than twice or that has been ruined when I was
applying a coat of varnish to an oil painting in my studio at the
other end of the house. The same selection process applies to the
way in which I have ended up with certain plants on both my
terraces- certain plants survive and are easy to look after, while
others need too much attention and never last through the winter. I
reckon life should be simple. So from the outset, this has been a
painter's cookbook. I want to paint and cook my favourite dishes.
This is the result. Sydney, December 2003 Since then, I have
exchanged Rome, a city which became too boring for my liking, for
Bangkok, so now I live between Bangkok and Sydney with frequent
visits to Europe where my roots still lie, somewhat worn out, but
they still are there, gnarled or not. I have added some more Asian
recipes to this updated version. Enjoy,
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