Miriam Gonzalez Durantez: 'I have a MacBook Air, an iPhone and an iPad. That's my office. If I don't have them, I feel a bit naked'
The partner at international law firm Dechert also writes the cookery blog Mum and Sons, and is the founder of the Inspiring Women Campaign, which sends women of different roles and backgrounds into state schools to talk to young women. She lives in Putney with her three sons and husband Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat MP for Sheffield Hallam and former Deputy Prime Minister.
FOOD
If I want to make something special, I do one of my grandmother’s Spanish stews — either chicken and apple, or lamb. For a celebration, I love the River Café. We went there for my birthday last month and I had excellent turbot.
DRINK
If coffee really is bad for you, I’m going to be in trouble. I wake at 6am and by the time I get to the office I’ve normally had three cups. I might have six or seven cups a day — usually black Americano.
FASHION
I like wearing fun shapes and warm colours. I mainly shop on the high street at stores such as Zara and Massimo Dutti. They have the waist in the right place for me.
TRAVEL
For our holidays we visit my family village, Olmedo, in Spain. We also go to Asturias in the north, where you get mountains and the seaside. There’s an endless amount of sport you can do, which is great for my three very boisterous sons.
INTERIORS
The kitchen is the soul of the home. Everything happens there. I have a very Mediterranean, emotional attitude to food — if we like somebody, we cook for them. Our kitchen table has been around forever. I think Nick had it when he was single.
GADGETS
I love technology. For my birthday, Nick and the boys gave me a 3Doodler pen. You put bits of plastic in and it allows you to draw in 3D. I’m an Apple woman — I have a MacBook Air, an iPhone and an iPad. That’s my office. If I don’t have them, I feel a bit naked.
TELEVISION
I mainly watch TV on my iPad. I like Homeland and The Good Wife, but my favourite series ever was The Killing. It was superbly acted and very original.
BOOKS
I always have an English and a Spanish book on the go. At the moment I’m reading An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel. A book that affected me a lot was The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion — it gives the best account of the feeling of bereavement.
MUSIC
I recently saw Rita Ora at Capital FM’s Summertime Ball at Wembley. She was amazing and had an incredible presence. Generally, I’m terrible with names of singers, and my kids and Nick always laugh at me. Once we were going for dinner and my friend said Mick Jagger was going to be there. I had to Google him.
FITNESS
I like dancing because you don’t feel like you are doing exercise. I run two or three times a week and recently tried E-Fit, a kind of electronic training. You have to get into a suit to connect to the machine. My kids think it’s totally cool because I look like Lara Croft.
Find Miriam’s recipes at mumandsons.com. To be part of the Inspiring Women Campaign, visit inspiringthefuture.org/inspiring-women
