KEEPING HOUSE
With Reeta Chakrabarti
Reeta lives in London with her husband, Paul Hamilton, and their three children.
How would you describe your home? It’s a family nest in which comfort has won over style.
It’s crammed full of books (my husband and older son), sheet music (my younger son) and far too many clothes (me and my daughter). But we love it. How tidy is it? A mixture. I am obsessively tidy, and everyone else is more relaxed, so the house is a compromise. The communal areas are fairly tidy, especially the kitchen, which we live in. People’s bedrooms are their own business… What are your kitchen cupboard must-haves? Onions, garlic and all the spices. Plus parsley and lemons. My children get through endless bottles of soy sauce.
What is your signature dish? I make a good bakmi goreng (Indonesian spicy noodles), which reminds us of a holiday we had in Bali. If we want comfort food, then it’s minestrone full of pasta and fresh vegetables. But overall, I’m better at the sweet stuff – cheesecake, steamed puddings and a very tipsy trifle. What do you always have in your fridge?
Cheese, milk and around 30 old jars of pickles that time forgot. What food can’t you live without?
Greek yogurt and grapes with granola for breakfast in the morning. And a small but exquisitely delicious bit of chocolate in the evening. Who are your dream dinner party guests? Family and old friends. Anyone with whom I don’t have to try too hard. I do quite like a good discussion, though, especially if we don’t all agree. What is your best time-saving tip?
Reading the news in the morning while the bath is running; choosing my work clothes the night before. I deal with stuff immediately, that way it just gets done. Are you a saver or a spender? I like to spend, but never more than I have – very Mr Micawber. What is the best bargain you’ve ever
found? I am a great bargain hunter, invariably for clothes, so I have a long list of ‘best’ bargains. A brocade evening coat, a black velvet jacket and a deep red Italian blazer probably top the list. What did your parents teach you?
My father was very ambitious for me. He wanted me to be a doctor, but accepted that it was not to be. He always urged me to aim high. What advice will you hand down?
Relax. Be yourself. Ignore peer pressure. Above all, be happy. Are you a hoarder or a chucker?
A chucker. I feel oppressed by too much clutter, and every so often I’ll pile things into the car and head for the recycling or the dump.
I feel much better afterwards! What is your favourite household task? Strangely enough, it’s sweeping the floor – it must be my inner Cinderella! What is your guilty pleasure?
Browsing websites for clothes that are just a bit too expensive for me. There’s always the hope that my size will be in the sale.
What lifts your mood? Talking to my children, going out with my husband and watching Roger Federer. Not all together though.
What keeps you awake at night? The usual stuff: nightmares, foxes, other people’s faulty fire alarms…
What helps you stay calm? Swimming. It is exercise for the body and therapy for the soul. I do mostly front crawl; it is rhythmic and monotonous, and for 40 minutes, no one can talk to me. Bliss. What simple thing sparks joy for you?
I am always moved by unexpected and unsolicited acts of kindness. What is your favourite home comfort?
In the winter, when I want to hibernate, our gas-lit ‘real’ fire makes the front room very cosy. In the summer, sitting out in the garden and shifting my chair to catch whatever sun there is. What is your health motto? Healthy mind, healthy body; the two are completely linked. Also, if I do my lengths, I can eat more chocolate…
• Reeta presents news bulletins across BBC One and BBC News channels
Our home is a family nest in which comfort has won over style