Dickenson drafts 'Blueprints for Creative Entertaining'

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): Entertaining guests is really not an easy job. It needs accurate planning.

Margaret H. Dickenson has all the entertaining answers. After accompanying her diplomat husband, Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia Lawrence T. Dickenson, in 28 years of foreign service, she has accumulated a lot of important know-how in entertaining guests.

"I am eager to share my little knowledge and experience with other people, so I put together my ideas in this book," said Mrs. Dickenson pointing at her first and newly-released book titled From the Ambassador's Table, Blueprints for Creative Entertaining.

The idea to compile a book occurred to her in l993, the year her husband celebrated 25 years of foreign service, she recalled.

"Congratulations and how do you feel?" she asked her husband. "Very happy. Maybe I'll get a a plaque from the government, I have a lot of friends around the world, beautiful art collections. They are our treasures," replied the ambassador.

What else? Her husband was happy when she told him of her idea to write a book. As a nutritionist, she chose food and food preparation as the main subjects for her book.

The process of writing a book actually took only about a year, she explained. "I woke up at 4:30 every morning to write the book. During the process I received so much advice from my husband, friends and editors from my publisher," she recollected.

The book should have been launched in September l995, but at that time they were involved in many tasks, she added.

However, it was only last February that she was ready to contact her publisher, Times Editions in Singapore. A team of editors from Times immediately came to Jakarta to take pictures of the food and for the cover of the book at the ambassador's residence.

"It was a very quick operation and I gave my credits to the editor team from Times Editions. The book was ready two months ago," said the ambassador's wife.

In her maiden book, she reveals her recipe for a successful occasion. "I prefer to call it blueprints because it contains strategies on planning, organizing and orchestrating an entire occasion," explained Mrs. Dickenson who celebrated her 51th birthday last Wednesday, a day before the launching of her book at The Grand Hyatt Hotel.

The 240-page book is divided into four sections: introduction, blueprints, menus, and recipes. Each section explains steps on organizing an event from invitations to menu planning, table settings, working schedules, etiquette, etc.

The book also contains 170 recipes for hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, soups and salads, main courses and a number of basic recipes.

"Over these 28 years, our focus on personalized entertaining and my love for developing unique recipes have flourished with exposure to different peoples and cultures," she explained.

Citing an example, she mentioned her Pancake Sachets recipe, a combination of French crepes and Russian caviar which she presents in a Korean dim sum style.

Many recipes and menus represent creative fusions of international cultures and tastes, she said.

"In addition to a knowledge of food, its qualities, and how it behaves, I understand the value of sound culinary techniques and standards," said Mrs. Dickenson, who is a food and beverage adviser to managers and personnel of five-star hotels in Indonesia and other countries.

She is also a gastronomic counselor for Indonesia's National committee of La Chaine des Rottiseurs (an international gourmet club).

"Both professionals and ordinary wives could use the book. I don't want to make the book look so complicated. This is really not a complicated one," she explained.

Although virtually all the recipes could be classified as gourmet, most allow for great flexibility in culinary skills and interpretation, she explained.

Her recipes allow much of the food preparation to be done in advance, or in stages.

The book, she said, is meant to encourage readers to be more well-organized when they hold an event.

Guests generally recognize that a sense of communication is being established through the food as well, she continued. Successful entertaining is the skill of establishing effective communication between host/hostess and guests, among guests and also between guests, the food and surroundings, she added.

"Don't try to impress people with what you cannot afford. You don't have to hold a big event. The most important thing is the love you put into it," she said.

Food talks to people if it is presented originally and with personal touches, she maintained.

Rural Background

The recipes and style of presentation contained in the book also reflect her rural background.

"I grew up on a farm in Northern Ontario, Canada. From a very young age, my responsibilities ranged from milking cows and working in vegetable gardens to doing household tasks," she remembered.

Her Ukrainian father died when she was five years old. "It was my mother who taught me how to work hard. Work is our ethic," she recalled.

Cabbage rolls, pirozhki, homemade bread, and warm hospitality were always abundant in her home. "Food is highly valued, religiously respected, and certainly never wasted, " she said. She began to cook at the age of six. Her fascination for creative cooking was stimulated by easy access to a variety of fresh farm produce.

Her interest in food continued at University of Guelph where she received a degree in nutrition. She also met Lawrence T. Dickenson, her husband-to-be, on her first morning on campus. They married three years later. Now the couple has two adult daughters, both senior executives in Canadian companies in Ottawa.

The couple's first foreign posting was in Vienna, Austria, with accreditation to Hungary and Rumania, followed by a temporary assignment in Belgrade in former Yugoslavia. Other assignments included Moscow in the former USSR; the European Union for which they were stationed in Belgium; Cairo in Egypt; Seoul in South Korea; Kuwait with accreditation to Oman in Unite Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar; and now Jakarta.

"Whenever we to go to a foreign country, we try to flourish into the fiber of the local society. We are enthusiastic to learn about local social and political life as well as its culture," she said.

She also joined various professional and charity organizations in every country her and her husband have been posted.

In Indonesia she belongs to the Canadian Women's Association, the Women's International Club of Indonesia and the Canadian Business Association. She is also an active member of Indonesia's Center for Corporate Leadership.

She has been on the panel of judges at several design competitions, including the 1995 Asia Fashion Design Competition and the l996 World Gold Council's competition in Indonesia and was one of the judges for the 1996 Great Chefs of Asia.

The combination of having a good husband, daughters, friends and strong religiosity has shaped her personality, she added.

"I do a lot of things because of the support of others. Without their contributions, God's determination and my persistence, I believe I could not do my jobs including writing this book," she smiled.