Good Food - Sibella Court

Good Food - Sibella Court

The interior stylist, product designer, author and globetrotter shows us her home kitchen.

After living and working in New York for a decade, styling for magazine titles including Gourmet, Town & Country and Departures and for clients including Bergdorf Goodman and Jo Malone, Sibella Court returned home to Sydney in 2008. She has recently created interiors for restaurants including Palings and Mr Wong for Merivale. Court opened her shop, Society Inc., in Paddington in 2008, stocking it with treasures found during her travels. Court is a self-confessed ''bowerbird'', which is also the title of her fourth book,Bowerbird: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Collect, a follow-up to Etcetera Etc: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Love. Her fifth book, Gypsy (ABC Books/Harper Collins), will be released in September.

My kitchen

Despite its appearance, it is brand new. The kitchen was designed around the sink, which I bought at The Great Gatsby props sale. My friend Saul Tomkins of Coloforge is a blacksmith, he hand-forged the shelves, the brackets, even the ''S'' hooks for hanging my utensils, and he designed and made the lighting. We lined the walls with recycled unpolished zinc and I had another friend build the benches and the stand for the sink from recycled timber from Ironwood Australia in Rozelle.

I'm drinking

I'm mad about tea. Bellocq in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, is one of the most beautiful places in the world; they are my favourite tea purveyors. They have wonderful evocative names for their blends such as The White Wolf - an organic white tea with cedar, vanilla, star anise and mint.  For a drink at the end of the day, or to celebrate, my bar is stocked with Veuve Clicquot rose´. I hate drinking from champagne glasses, so I always serve wine and champagne in short-stemmed French vintage wine glasses, which I collect. St-Germain elderflower liqueur, Hendrick's gin and an empty glass skull that once held Patron tequila are also on the shelf.

My tool kit

Favourites: I have a huge ''tool kit'' ranging from utensils that I have collected in my travels - a beautiful brass ladle from India, slotted spoons from Ibiza to traditional Japanese knives, bamboo-handled cutlery that I collect in my travels and eat with every day, Indian linen napkins, Le Creuset cookware, enamel plates from Best Made Co. in New York, and my favourite bowls from French company Tse Tse.

Inspiration

My travels are my greatest inspiration; sights, sounds, and particularly smells.

Most memorable meal

My favourite meals are simple. Some memorable meals that come to mind include salt-crusted whole fish with a glass of light rosé at Juan y Andrea, Formentera, Spain; whole grilled Eden Brook trout with thyme, lemon and garlic at Freemans, New York; and rotisserie chicken and chips at Brasserie Lipp, Saint-Germain, Paris.

I cook

Less than I did when I lived in New York, where I had a huge kitchen. In this kitchen, I am much more limited. I cook Thai food on my single Kookaburra gas burner, or I make salads and, in winter, soup.

The staples

Berries, coconut water, mint from the garden and almonds for morning smoothies, which we make with lots of ice in the KitchenAid blender. Tea all day long, salad leaves and more herbs from the garden for lunch.

Last meal

A roast. I love roast chicken, cooked simply with Mediterranean flavours - sage, lemon and garlic.

Wish I had

A matt-black Smeg fridge - it was a limited edition. I'd love one. There is also a cabinet by Truck Furniture in Japan that would complete the kitchen.

Original Article: GoodFood.com.au