Chicken Adobo

In 1997 one of my sons gave me a cookbook Best Recipes by New Zealand foodie Annabelle White. I was browsing through the pages and came across an illustration that was to live with me for quite a long time. The chapter was headed Supper in the Cook's Library and there was a picture of a comfortable looking couch, some well-thumbed old cookery volumes and a tempting plate of mini pizzas. Behind the couch was a glimpse of bookshelves. The picture had a warm golden glow and I decided "I want one of those."

I already had a study lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves down one side, but it was a long, narrow room with barely enough room for my computer equipment as well. Certainly there was no room for an armchair, let alone a couch.

When we returned to our home after a three-year absence earlier this year, The Spouse suggested taking out the wall between the study and the adjacent guest bedroom and making one large study. As we'd acquired a second computer along the way, it seemed like a good idea. The original bookshelves were never that practical - fine for large books but much wasted space when it came to small volumes which ended up being stacked horizontally.

Our builder said he could make something much better so we bowed to his vision.

After what seems like - in fact is - months, my dream room is complete (right). I now have about 50 metres of bookshelves. That may seem like a lot but believe me, after unpacking 50 or 60 cartons of books, I needed every centimetre. It was a mammoth task, particularly as the cartons had been stored several metres away in the kitchen. A carton of books is very heavy and lugging one from room to room was beyond me so I had to deal with an armful at a time. It wasn't just the carting, there was the sorting, the allocation of shelves, the stacking. Being short, I needed a ladder. I am not one for attending a gym, but after all this carrying, lifting and climbing, I got a good workout.

The builder had made adjustable shelves so I could make best use of the space. I naively thought my cookbook collection would take up about a sixth of the major shelving. In the event, it consumed about half. Still, it had taken me about 35 years to accumulate more than 1200 books on cooking, food history, wine and assorted culinary reference books.

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