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 “What do you do Clive?”

A first hand account of cooking at the Men’s Kitchen.

"I was a mining engineer before covid struck and it occurred to me as a convenient time to hang up my boots and retire. I was asked to join the Men’s Kitchen by a friend at Probus.

So, I thought: Why not? The timing was right. And I suppose you could say that a couple of my friends had shamed me into learning to cook!

Increasingly I found that I was going to social gatherings at friends’ houses and ‘the man of the house’ would disappear into the kitchen and come back having cooked everyone dinner.

“What do you do Clive?” they started saying to me, tongue in cheek. The more our male friends were doing the cooking, the more it got me thinking. I realised I could no longer sit on my bum whilst my wife made me dinner! 

It wasn’t that I was completely kitchen clueless. I was a guy who could cook for my family. I could boil an egg and maybe cook a chop.

I needed to up my game.

I thought to myself: What the hell, my wife’s cooked for 52 years. We lived in America with our children during my career. She studied nursing there and looked after our kids and still did the cooking, so I really figured it was my turn. (And yes, we’re still married!) 

So in the last six months, I had been trying to break out of the meat and three veg mould. I joined the Men's Kitchen in July.

I’m not frightened by any recipe now. This is where Men’s Kitchen has been very helpful. You learn to cook dishes that are interesting and different.

I am currently going to Men’s Kitchen once a month but am keen to go twice a month when additional sessions open in Turramurra. The first dish I cooked at the Men's Kitchen was Chicken with Bacon and Mushrooms. We served it with mashed potatoes and garlic bread. It was a great dish and absolutely delicious.

I was impressed no end with the assistance we got from our instructors. I was working with Ben. I could really relate to him so easily. He taught us all sorts of things, and some things that may sound obvious but can be overlooked when you’re new to cooking; like don’t walk around the kitchen waving your sharp knife in the air.  In that first session, for dessert we had Smashed Lemon Vanilla Cheesecake served in a glass. It was impressive. For our next session, we did Moussaka for main course. For dessert we made Apple Galette served with ice cream. It was extremely tasty and very classy.

I use the Men’s Kitchen recipe book at home. This week, I made a Chicken Braise. I went out and bought the listed ingredients. It was a variation on the first dish I did at Men’s Kitchen. I followed the simple instructions and it was really good.  I’m not yet at the point in my cooking career where I can put my own spin on dishes, but with about 100 recipes in the Men’s Kitchen recipe book, I figure that if I can work my way through that, I’m doing OK.

I keep myself reasonably busy with family, friends and other commitments, but it’s not difficult to find half a day a month, or half a day twice a month to learn how to cook.

My wife is happy as Larry that I am taking over the kitchen, leaving her to cook the cakes and biscuits that she’s expert at. This is a very different sort of Clive. I said to my wife the other day: Soon I want to get six or so of our good friends around for dinner and I want to do all of the cooking.

Then I can impress them no end when they say: “What do you Clive?”

I can say: I do the cooking!

New Director Appointed

The Men’s Kitchen Association is very pleased to announce the appointment of Arran Curll as our newest director.  With Arran’s appointment the board now comprises: David Brettell, John Fraser-Hills, Michael Norsa, Arran Curll and Peter Watson as directors with Samantha Silver as our company secretary.

Arran brings a wealth of both financial and Lifeline experience to our organisation. He is an authentic and engaging leader with more than 25 years’ experience across the financial and not for profit sectors and has experienced of the joys and challenges of being a small business owner over many years. He has a track record of success in strategic, financial, and operational management, business development, governance, and mental health services.

Arran has hands on experience supporting people in difficult financial circumstances. He says his proudest career achievements to date have been overseeing Lifeline Canberra supporting the community through the Black Summer and Covid pandemic, and prior to his recent business sale, leading the growth and cultural development of his financial advice business Much More Than Money.  He is now looking to devote his time and energy to the not for profit sector and helping people experiencing distress.