Author(s): Babette Hayes & Pat Morley

Food

Cookbooks are best seen through the eyes of close friendships… each one of these recipes  are the results of family and friends remembering moments of sampling, sharing and enjoying the fruits of Pat’s cooking over time. This book is about the sheer joy and accompanying pleasure of re-discovering and remembering the dishes that were the family and friend’s favourites. How often have you cooked a familiar dish and it tastes ‘different’? That difference always fascinated Pat… “What was different?” Leading to frequent discussions in the kitchen as we cooked together, sat around the dining table or on the ground on the picnic blanket.

It was her son, Lewis P, who discovered two long, narrow boxes that held her carefully filed recipes – all small in size, neatly cut out of magazines, newspapers and hand-written on small index cards they were stored in the larder, neatly fitting one on top of the other. Most recipes were illustrated with Pat’s small, witty drawings which have been used throughout the book. We decided we wanted to honour Pat’s commitment to friendship, her caring and cooking; she was very knowledgeable and had a refined palate, a deep understanding of people, an appreciation of fine food and cooking as well as music and the arts, and was an artist herself – hence the use of her artwork and drawings throughout the book.

We were a family team. My youngest daughter Arabella Hayes was in charge of production on every level; graphic designer Hanna Gotlieb (my granddaughter) designed the book; food photographer Rodney Weidland took the food photographs which I prepared and styled. Family and friends contributed their words and artwork illustrating their favourite memory and chosen recipe.

And then let us remember those moments of joy and delight and the pleasure and magic of sharing a new dish with friends at home, on a picnic or at a restaurant? Or you have eaten a combination of ingredients that excites your taste buds and for a brief moment in time you are transported back to the moment you shared it with a friend. We had many such moments with Pat; she loved the meals she prepared for us, was caring and attentive to the needs of her family and friends, her neighbours were always remembered.