As one of Australia’s most loved cooks, there’s no doubt Maggie enjoys her cooking up a storm in the kitchen and the devout food-lover is right at home at the table feasting on delicious food with the people she loves.
But it’s what comes afterwards that brings Maggie the most joy.
For years at parties and dinners at friends’ places, after the of a meal and of course a few drinks, Maggie and her friends always found themselves gravitating towards the kitchen and singing together for hours.
“After you’ve had a lovely meal and a few drinks, everyone’s a singer and it just brings so much joy,” she tells The Weekly.
“We would have so much fun together, singing and laughing, and I decided I wanted to do it more regularly.”
That was nine years ago, and since then every Wednesday night has been singing night at Maggie’s Barossa Valley home.
The four founding choir members, Maggie’s close friends, have grown to a group of up to 17 women, spending one and a half to two hours each week, with a professional teacher.
“We sing for joy but we also really like to learn,” Maggie says.
“I just love it so much. I love the community of it and we have such a time.”
Maggie is a busy woman, but she makes time for her choir because it’s “so important” to her.
“I can be totally and absolutely exhausted and I sing from one and a half to two hours and I’m as high as a kite.”
Though the choir was never performance driven, they do go public about three or four times a year and are currently preparing for their annual Christmas performances at the local church and in Adelaide with a number of other choirs.
“We don’t do it for performance, but we love to perform,” Maggie says.
Maggie Beer serves up a sumptuous spread of festive dishes in the December issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Buy the magazine for Maggie’s Christmas buffet recipes.
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