Parenting Australia

Celebrity Interview with Monica Trapaga

J – When I came into the shop, it’s like stepping into another world. How are you enjoying working in retail?

M - This has been a lovely, it just keeps you going, it keeps a little industry happening, it's certainly not a way to make my fortune but at least it keeps me happy and the people I love happy. I've got really beautiful people working here and everyone loves being here, it’s a nice part of the world, a nice place to work, good music, nice things... so I can still do other things which is why I wrote the book. You know I finally had a good team here, and my daughter moved out of home so I thought well I’ll start writing.

J – How old was Lil when she moved out?

M - She was 21, she’s now 24

J – So the book has been three years in the making?

M - Well it took at least two years for me to create, and I delivered it to penguin at the end of last year, and then went off to get married in New York.

J – Alright, because I tried to do some research about you but I couldn’t find much about your family, couldn’t find out if you were partnered, so when did you get married?

M - I got married on my birthday on the 30th of December 2008, so the second last day of last year.

J – And your husband Simon, what does he do?

M - He’s an Intellectual Property Solicitor, a Lawyer.

J – And he’s your second husband?

M - He is my second husband, my first husband was a musician, and I still see him a lot, he’s very much a part of my life, and obviously he’s Atticus’ dad. Lil’s dad I never married, we were very young but we’re still great mates and he’s still a big part of Lil’s life. Lil’s a Trapeze artist (laughs) she did a Science degree and then finished the Science degree and said ‘Well I’m joining the circus!”.
While she was studying, she moved out to a little house I had in Arcadia Rd in Glebe, a beautiful little house which was full of five university students, all girls, and every day she’d ring and say ‘Hey Mum how do you make that fish?” or other recipes, so I started writing this book, and then she started travelling, and while she was travelling, she would write home to me, and these letters were so funny! So I thought these have to go in the book, because we started this great dialogue and then she brought back food from wherever she was. When she did the tour of Europe, it became the cheesecake tour because she tried cheesecakes in like 20 countries. So when I went to penguin with the idea, they loved the idea, and then when I told them Lil was overseas and I want to put in the letters, they said ‘Fantastic’ so it all became a joint effort. And there’s quite a lot in the book from her, letters from Lil. Our life is so much about food and celebration that it’s a natural thing for us to write about. We’re actually hoping to go to New York next year and write the American version, because my grandmother is half American, so I have a strong connection with America. Lil and I have been talking about doing the second version.
Australians embrace food, probably a lot more than many nations. In some ways there are a lot of chefs here compared to the amount of people, there’s a lot of people with a lot of cookery books. But this book’s not really just about cooking, it’s about life, it’s about a relationship and family and history. It talks about how my family came out to Australia and what the migration was like, and it’s quite historical about the time. Now Australia is a big multi-cultural place, it’s all diverse.

J – You look terribly toned and fit, are you a yoga person?

M - Ah no I swim. I love swimming; swimming is my outlet to have a little time on my own. When my husband see’s me become a little ratty he says ‘Off to the pool’. I’ll finish a gig at 2 o’clock in the morning and he’ll say ‘Can I drop you at the pool?’.

J – So I was going though your website last night and I had a look at your bio and I have to say it looks exhausting. I said to my son ‘Monica is exhausting! She’s a singer, a children’s entertainer, she a TV celebrity, she’s got a shop and she’s a mother’…

M - I’m not doing much TV anymore. I did that for so long, for 25 years. Play School I did for 10 years, BHG I did 8-9 years and Disney I did for 7 years. I filmed 350 episodes of Disney, which is a lot for any show to do. I can’t even remember how many Playschools I did, BHG was 40 every year which is a lot! I don’t even think about it anymore… its quite funny I don’t think about television anymore… you have to be in that mind space and I quite enjoy not being in that space now. I really enjoy writing, I love writing and I love creating and this world(her shop Reclaim) is really fun for me because, although exhausting because it’s very physical, it’s actually where I get to celebrate the things I love. Music, beautiful old vintage pieces, just fun pieces, and I love fresh flowers, I love the whole idea of creating a world where people can come in and have an experience. That’s the ultimate for me, that’s what I enjoy the most. It’s like performing, when doing a concert and you can take people to another era and it’s wonderful, it’s such a grand feeling. And I’m very blessed I think that I’ve had a life where I can do that.

J – I was looking at your bio and I thought wow you’ve really done a lot, it’s amazing…

M - When people say, ‘Do you have any regrets?’ about the only regret I’ve ever had is that I didn’t study. I never got to go to university and I would have loved to have done that. But consequently I’ve probably read more that I would have had I been at university. Now I’m at a time in my life when I’m enjoying information and enjoying books, whereas I had Lil at 19 so I was very young to have a baby.

J – With the book, it will be available through all the major retailers?

M - In all of them which is absolutely exciting.

J – It must be a winner for Christmas then?

M - Well I hope so! It’s only been out for 10 days and we’ve sold 100 copies in(just) our shop, so we’re thrilled with the reaction we’ve had. It’s in Borders, it’s in David Jones, we walked around Newtown and it’s in the windows, it’s so lovely!

J – You must be very proud…

M - Yeah I am! I like it because it’s a very different book, it’s unlike all the cookbooks out there, and there are so many cookbooks out there. There are specifically no photographs of food, because I wanted it specifically for young people who are cooking, if they have no idea of how to do it, I want them to really read the text and to listen to the way they cook and to smell and to see, it’s very descriptive. ‘Cook this until its transparent’ ‘Caramelise this until golden’, it’s very comprehensible, layman’s terms, and its how your mum would have taught you. And that’s what I wanted; you know cooking is instinctual, like you know your cookies are ready because you’ll smell them, or you’ll know something’s come to a rollicking boil, bring it down to a shimmer, you know trying to discover words that will really describe the way I want them to pick up on the food. So there’s no photographs, that’s the other thing – I didn’t want the pressure of ‘food porn’ as I call it. Most magazines do that, you look at it and think ‘I could never do that’ and you know it’s been stacked and polished and sprayed within an inch of its life to look like something that’s not real.

J – I think also the methodology you have there gives them the opportunity to actually create something and display it in their own way, so they aren’t trying to achieve the unachievable.

M - Absolutely. I hate ‘food porn’. I love beautiful books, I love the feel of books and I love to get ideas but I rarely ever get a cookbook and actually follow the recipe. I’ll read a recipe, take what I like about it and then, if it’s a cake – baking is a little different, you’ve got to actually measure – but it is about learning the science of food. Learning, you know, if your eggs are room temperature they are going to beat a lot higher, what happens when you add this to that – that’s a chemical reaction and that’s why it happens. What happens when you curdle something? You know those things, and I constantly say get an old egg beater and whip something up by hand because you feel it. You can feel when it changes its consistency; you can feel when it turns to cream, it’s those things.

J – When I have people over, we always have a full table with people dropping by, if I’m cooking a roast or whatever, the whole ritual of buying it, preparing it and serving it for them is actually quite a spiritual experience. If you treat it that way it makes a difference around the table.

M - Absolutely. We’ve always felt that way. I’m very lucky to have had a mother who is a saint. My mother used to wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning, go off to the fish markets, and she’d come home with all these little parcels, and she’d slash them open and out would pour mussels or crabs and she would show us, you know, this is what you do. I’d pick up these urchins and she’d turn them into paella and it was always that thing of celebration and discovery of food and a language of food.

J – Now I was looking on your website, you’ve got the City of Sydney Christmas Concert on the 26th, The Darling Harbour’s Christmas Tree Lighting on the 28th, and another Christmas Concert on the 29th, 3 in 4 days, is that often the way for you?

M - Oh yeah! Well the week I launched the book, I was doing things everywhere, radio-wise and everything. I had 4 gigs with The Ladies of Jazz on the Central Coast and Campbelltown; we did Castle Hill and North Sydney…

J – You must have a huge amount of energy to keep all that going! And you’ve got six kids!

M - But you know, the six kids, the older ones are really independent, one is in America, Lil is here, Phoebe is in her apartment. Georgia is a lot of time but that’s because she’s been doing her major work. The funny thing with kids is they need you more at different times, and its always at different times when you think ‘oh that one’s off’, then all of a sudden something will happen and bam, you’re a primary person in their life or their caregiver. The boys, they’re delightful, they enrich my day. They don’t take my energy, in fact they give me energy, they are extraordinary, they are two very fine human beings who I love being around. So I don’t ever think of that as a chore, in fact I love hearing their voices in the morning, they’re funny kids, they’re generous and they really adore me which I’m lucky about. Every day I think ‘Thank goodness’, you know, because like, when I was writing the book, they were so supportive. There were disasters and I was cooking and trying things and they were so encouraging. And when the book came out, the loveliest thing for me was, I took 2 copies home that afternoon and they sat down and went through every page, page by page, and they were saying ‘Oh mum look at this!’ and ‘Look at that!’, and it was so loving to me. And then they said to me ‘Will you write one for us when we move out?’ and I said ‘Of course darling!’. The funny thing is, both of them, well Atticus in particular, loves cooking, and he’s already putting his one together, he’s got a book with his recipies. As I say, they give me energy. Simon(her husband) requires a lot of time and energy, but he is just so generous in terms of how he wants me to be happy and have everything that I could possibly want, and I think he feels lucky that he’s found a woman that wants – I’m much more about the experience, let’s go travel, lets go and do something. And I think that he’s so excited that he’s found someone that wants to do that with him.


Monica's book 'She's Leaving home' is out now in all good book retailers. To find out more about her vintage shop RECLAIM click here. The fabulous RECLAIM retail stores specialise in all things vintage and reflect Monica's love of anything pre 60's and satisfy her natural flair and love of decorating.

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