MY way to relax after a hard and tiring day at the studio or workshop, is to come home, pour myself a glass of wine, and go into the kitchen to cook a meal. I take my glass in. I love wine, something dry and white, like a nice Chablis. A light fruity wine is also fine. I don�t mind some of these youngish Australian wines. Or even a glass of champagne, maybe even vodka. What I drink is not so important, but what I cook certainly is.

I cook every day... well, almost. But in season, if I�m working late, everybody has eaten and gone to sleep by the time I get home. By everybody I mean my son Chetan, his wife Roohi and their children Aaman and Jehan; and, my other son Yogesh, his wife Priya and their children Vivan and Iman. Oh, they all love my food! They think I�m a damn good cook! They have no favourite foods, they enjoy everything I cook, though I sometimes do cupcakes and waffles for the grandkids. I like to try my hand at everything.

The funny thing is that I�m a vegetarian. And I cook non-vegetarian food all the time not knowing how it will turn out. I do this by instinct and smell, not knowing what the food tastes like, what it lacks, it�s a real challenge.

I am a vegetarian by choice. Of course, I�ve tasted non-vegetarian food, but it just won�t go down. It�s like something rubbery in the mouth! I�ve tasted mutton, chicken, fish, prawns. It�s not that I switched off non-vegetarian food, I used to taste it just to please my husband. I then thought, why am I forcing myself to eat this, I know what it tastes like, and I don�t enjoy it. Since then, I�ve been a vegetarian.

My husband Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal, the music composer of Shanker-Jaikishan fame, encouraged me to try out everything. He used to love non-vegetarian food. He liked entertaining. I remember him calling me at 6 o�clock one evening and telling me Shammi Kapoor had got married. �A hundred people are coming over for dinner,� he said, giving me just three hours to prepare. That�s the kind of entertainment we used to do. I had to be prepared all the time for him. I began cooking when I was in school. All these creative processes start young. Either you are creative or you are not. I used to love doing things like laying the table, dressing up the room. I also started designing when I was in school. There were no designers then. Only one tailor who came home with his peti and an old design book. You had to choose from that. My schoolfriends used to always ask me to guide their tailor.

Cooking was that way too. Nobody had to force me. I just went into the kitchen and tried my hand at something I read in a magazine. I can�t remember what was the first dish I cooked, but yes, it had cornflakes, apple slices, caramel syrup, cream and things like that. Everybody loved it.

I am an impromptu and adventurous cook. Say I come across a recipe, I discover something at somebody�s house for dinner, I like a dish at a restaurant... then I try to recreate it at home from tastebud memory! I picked up Japanese cooking after eating at Nobu�s in London. And sushi from New York.

I can cook all kinds of cuisines. Indian especially, everything from Hyderabadi to Gujarati food and Bengali to South Indian. I can cook Mediterranean food, and Italian, Thai, Chinese and Japanese. I enjoy eating out at restaurants. Thai Pavilion and India Jones in Bombay, Nobu�s, Sofra and Mosimann�s in London.

I still do all the cooking at home when we entertain. My chef Sunil likes to think he�s important, but I enjoy doing it. People say I�m crazy when I cook for 100. But it�s a passion with me. I can easily order the food, but why, I enjoy cooking.

I also mix the cocktails when we have small parties. I mix great Martinis! My bar is well stocked. There�s everything there. A fine selection of wines. Either I pick them up when travelling or the children do. And when I see a wine that I like, I just buy a crate of it. At home, nobody has favourite foods, but everybody has a choice. My daughter-in-law Priya, who�s from Hyderabad, likes her food tikha and spicy. Whereas Roohi is always into diets, she likes sophisticated food, low-cal and low-carb stuff. My son Yogesh is not a foodie. But Chetan is. He�s in the food business. He makes the Express Food breakfast cereals, Domino cookies and Napolean chocolates.

None of the kids cook, however. Or design clothes, for that matter! And people are always asking me, �Pallavi, do you enjoy eating your own food and do you wear the clothes you design?� What do you think, I tell them. Of course, I do, all the time!