Keeley Hawes on cooking and gardening (ivillage interview Aug 2011)

Keeley Hawes has given an interview that has been posted in ivillage which discusses family, cooking, guilty pleasures and growing things.

Keeley Hawes on growing veggies at home and food guilty pleasures
by Steffy Bambova

Keeley Hawes is one of those British actresses that everyone adores. She has been part of some of UK's most loved TV series such as Spookes, Ashes to Ashes, Upstairs, Downstairs to name just a few. Her roles in films like Death at a Funeral and A Cock and Bull Story, have established her as one of the nation's acting gems that is here to stay. But it is not only a successful career that keeps Keeley smiling. Married to her Spooks co-star Matthew Macfadyen and looking after their two sons and daughter, this is one lucky lady who enjoys life without any concerns of people's oppinions. We chatted to Keeley about the food temptations she can't resist, her new-found passion for home-grown vegetables and the reverse roles in their family kitchen...

What are your food guilty pleasures?

Keeley Hawes: Wine, I suppose. I really like scones and jam and cream...things like cream cheese which is very bad! I just don’t know when to stop but that’s one of my favourite things and it’s a very guilty pleasure. I like things with cream which is so wrong but so right. A glass of champagne with it is even better! It’s the kind of thing you have to indulge in, you can’t feel guilty about. You can’t beat yourself up, you just got to go for it.

You grow your own vegetables at home. Can you tell us more about that?

Keeley Hawes: I just kind of throw everything in and hope for the best. But that seems to be working quite well. I had a very urban childhood, I grew up in the centre of London and I have no experience of it, so it’s been really lovely. Especially for the children to see how cucumbers develop. Everyone goes: ‘Whoa!’ It’s really exciting! I really enjoy it and you don’t have to know a lot about it. You don’t need very much space either, it’s for free, gets you outside. It’s nice to stand with a glass of wine and do the watering, it’s good fun.

What kind of food do you get while filming?

Keeley Hawes: You usually have to eat on set because you are always somewhere remote or have a very strict schedule for the day, so people can’t just go somewhere to have lunch. It can range from anything, sometimes the food can be quite heavy, so it’s quite easy to just try and stick to salads, fish and chicken. Because the hours are so long, you need a lot of energy. You have to try to be sensible, not picking sandwiches or grabbing a bar of chocolate. 

You were born and raised in London, what is your favourite British food?

Keeley Hawes: My favourite British meal is fish and chips or a cream tea. 

Is your husband good at cooking?

Keeley Hawes: He’s brilliant at it, he’s cooking as we speak. He makes amazing curry and lamb. And he really enjoys it as well, he loves to cook.

What about you? Do you enjoy cooking?

Keeley Hawes: I don’t mind it but it’s not a hobby. And with my husband it’s more like a hobby, I’ll do it if I have to. I’m not too bad but I’m not great. I quite like baking with the children, making cakes…But the pressure of having a dinner party and me being the chef is not something I want. He (my husband) can do that and I can just make the cocktails. That’s the best part! 

So what kind of cocktails do you like? 

Keeley Hawes: I love a Cosmo. My favourite is a Kir Royale which is just champagne with cassis. I quite like vodka with tonic as well.

What is your favourite place to eat out?

Keeley Hawes: One of my favourite restaurants is this place called HIX. There’s also an Italian called Locanda Locatelli, it’s amazing! I usually have a chocolate soup when I go there, it’s so good. But then I also like going to Pizza Express with the children just as much. There are such great places to eat out in London. 

What is the one thing in your fridge that you can’t live without?

Keeley Hawes: Jam! Strawberry jam.

Did you learn any dieting tips at the time you were modelling?

Keeley Hawes: No, not really.  But as a model you tend to do lots and lots of walking around, you walk to castings, five days a week and that goes quite a long way to keeping you in shape. But I was also only 17 at the time so I didn’t have any weight issues, I was still a teenager…those were the days (laughs). 

Do you have any beauty secrets from the kitchen?

Keeley Hawes: I don’t know many to be honest but one thing that I know and is very good, is to squeeze half a lemon into boiling water and have it as a drink to start off your day. It’s really good to flush out your system.

How do you stay in shape?

Keeley Hawes: It is harder as you get older. I’ve never been a gym bunny but I run after the kids a lot. I don’t train or swim regularly, I wish I had the time to and then I would do it. Other than that I just try not to overeat, try not to eat too much pasta and drink too much. Everything in moderation!

Do you think actresses are scrutinised too much about their weight? Do you feel under pressure to always look good? 

Keeley Hawes: I wouldn’t say I feel under pressure to always stay in shape. If I had to put on weight for a role or I had to not look too good - that’s fine - it’s part of what I do. I’m not comparing myself. When I was younger I did probably worry about it but I’m not going to live my life worrying that I’m not fit enough. It’s not healthy for your children to see that. I’m not one of those people...

As a mother-of-three what would you say is the biggest challenge when it comes to teaching your children the importance of eating healthy?

Keeley Hawes: It’s a difficult thing finding something that all three of them like. You have to keep serving three different dinners every night, so that’s quite a challenge because my son who’s 11 will eat a much more varied diet than my daughter who is six. So that’s the biggest challenge - keeping everybody happy. But they’re all very good with their vegetables. I have a trick, I put cheese or butter on veggies because you have to make them interesting. I wouldn’t want to eat just plain broccoli, it’s boring.

Tell us a bit more about the UK’s Taste Setters campaign you’re running with Kenco? What made you take part in it? 

Keeley Hawes: We started the campaign in spring and we were looking for tastesetters. We were basically looking for real women to tell us about what they love doing, what they are loving right now. It could’ve been to do with anything-it could’ve been to do with cooking, or fashion, or some quirky hobby that they’ve got, or doing zumba classes or anything at all. A lot of the information that we’ve gathered at the end of the campaign is really interesting because it turned out that a lot of people are interested in the same things I am interested in. Quite a lot of crafty things came up - people enjoy knitting and growing their own vegetables and being at home and DYI. And also people are wearing the same clothes more than once, they sort of throw fashion away.

To celebrate the newest trend in instant coffee, Keeley Hawes has partnered with Kenco to launch the Kenco Millicano Trend Report. To find out more about what women are 'loving right now', log onto www.facebook.com/kencomillicano.