Marieke's Art of Living

Menus will be inspired from being reconnected again with my old cookbook collection, with the Seasons, by the garden, and by contemporary interpretations of grand traditional dishes that are almost impossible to replicate in a restaurant environment, or have been long forgotten or are simply too time consuming to pull off at home.
Dishes such as Bouillabaisse, Cassoulet, le Grand Aioli, Beesteya or Bollito Misto also require a certain gusto and bonhomie to be fully enjoyed.
Having spent three decades masterminding formal tables, I am these days more inspired by the perfectly simple, and the social raison d’être of dining together in intimate settings.

I am also intrigued by the spirited new genre that has been emerging around the world’s metros: variously known as vagabond, guerilla, underground, mystery, secret or club dinners.
Stellar, budding or experimental chefs showcase their talent, passion and inspiration in unconventional environments where the emphasis is on communal tables, beautiful food, breaking with the conventions of a restaurant or domestic dining. These “clandestine” or discreet events can also be initiated by chefs who eschew either the gruelling hours of restaurant preparation or the new penchant for Xantham gum and pacojets, (here I confess that a Thermamix is now very high on my wishlist) though of course our finest chefs seamlessly and effortlessly create from the new high tech as well as respecting the quality and progeny of ingredients.

I am reminded too that the old is often new again. Re reading the redoubtable MFK Fisher I came across this tribute celebrating her 100th that shows she too harboured singular ideas about dining entertaining.
At the beginning of The Gastronomical Me, Fisher explained herself: "People ask me: Why do you write about food, and eating and drinking? Why don't you write about the struggle for power and security, about love, the way others do?. . . The easiest answer is to say that, like most other humans, I am hungry. But there is more than that. It seems to me that our three basic needs for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it. . . There is communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk."
……she wanted her guests to forget "home" and all it stood for during the few hours when they were at her house. She made it a priority to cook meals that would shake diners from their routines, not only of meat-potatoes-gravy, but also of thought and behavior.

Sea Change on the Mornington Peninsula

I am also enjoying the discovery that has come with relocation to the seaside on the Mornington Peninsula.
To bestow a new abode with blessings we have been entertaining….usually a long drawn out Sunday lunch with a multitude of plattered dishes for sharing.
And well one thing leads to another. People begging for special private parties and classes to learn. And having to source that which is abundant and locally available. Without the pretention of haute-barnyard.

We have Rosemary’s organic farm gate for vegetables and eggs, a local mussel man at Flinders, various olive oil, cheese, honey, fruit and berry producers in the nearby hills, a weekly farmers-style market somewhere close by and of course a plethora of swank and notable wineries.
A vegetable garden has been established and is going gangbusters with crimson-flowered broadbeans, broccoli romanesco, French radishes, various arugula, red-leafed amaranth, and other seasonal vegetables.
I have taken up fishing and join the Mediterranean community at dusk on our various jetties when the tides and moon cycles coincide to omen well for squid or whiting.
Jigging fresh calamari has been a revelation. Fresh out of the water they have a pearlescent, completely translucent quality and the most amazing sweetness.