Clark - Lisa Clark Everyday

LISA CLARK EverydayDedicated to my Mom and my Dad.(My mom passed away when I was 12 years old, the same age as my twins are now, and I never get the opportunity to write or say my Mom and my Dad in one sentence, so this book is dedicated to the Mom and Dad team who made me.) LISA CLARK Everyday PHOTOGRAPHY BY NIGEL DEARY STYLING BY LISA CLARK Acknowledgements If you know me, then you know that I really enjoy what I do for a living. It is my thing and, along with my children, it is what drives me and gets me up in the morning. I love my job and over the last 20 years I can proudly say that I have managed, through all the ups and downs, to create an awesome career perfectly suited to my personality. But without all the photographers, clients, creatives and assistants with whom I have had the honour of working and from whom I have learnt so much, none of this would have been possible I thank each and every one of you. Most importantly, I want to thank my family who makes it possible for me to work in the crazy creative freelance industry. There are days when I leave before the sun is up and often only get home when its down, but I have a team thats on my side, that is there to help me and make sure my girls are happy and safe and that my house doesnt fall apart.

Thank you Dad, Barbara, Gabriella, Joyce, Amy, Fay, Anthony, Robyn, Nigel, my amazing girls, Aerin and Maia, and lastly Phil, my charm. Published in 2018 by Struik Lifestyle (an imprint of Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd) Company Reg. No. 1953/000441/07 The Estuaries, 4 Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City, 7441 P O Box 1144, Cape Town 8000, South Africa Copyright in published edition: Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd 2018 Copyright in text: Lisa Clark 2018 Copyright in photographs: Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd/Nigel Deary 2018 ISBN 978 1 43230 863 6 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders. Contents As a working mom I am constantly on the clock and trying to find ways to cheat time. Contents As a working mom I am constantly on the clock and trying to find ways to cheat time.

There are days where I literally mother my twin tweens remotely from my phone, making sure they have arrived home safely, that they have changed out of their school clothes, that they are doing their homework or are on their way to horse-riding. And when my day gets busy, the last decision I want to make is what I am going to cook my family for dinner. After working a full day, I often found myself buying expensive prepared meals or the lazy, crumbed chicken and chips option, banged into the oven, for a quick fix. Being a qualified chef, this was not good enough! I have worked in the food industry for over 20 years, from the early days as a chef, followed by a stint as a product developer at a large retailer, and then private chef, recipe developer and food stylist. I really had no excuse to be feeding my family fast food from a store. The assumption was always that feeding my family would be an easy task.

The truth is, it wasnt! I am a proud mom of gorgeous 12-year-old twins who, along with an exercise crazy partner, all love eating well. When the girls were young they were fussy eaters and this completely threw my strategy on how I would feed them. Tie this in with growing up in a family where food is celebrated and discussed at every opportunity, it has always been a priority to find solutions to ensure my family eats healthy, hearty, tasty meals. We live in a fast-food culture and, despite me saying that figuratively, it really does sum up how we consume everything. This new age puts pressure on our money-cant-buy commodity, time. Lisa Clark Everyday is my attempt to share some insights into how to provide healthy, balanced, quick recipes for the mom (or dad) on the move.