a place to experiment, grow, and discover new things.

"I love to go into the kitchen, be in the mood for something, and create it,'' he said.

Cookbooks -- most of them gifts -- generally gather dust because Mr. Hill prefers to devise his own dishes using a combination of general knowledge, intuition and what he calls "educated taste buds''.

"If I look at a cookbook it is only for reference to see what they suggest,'' he said. "Then I put my own touches to a recipe.'' When it comes weights and measures, Mr. Hill applies an equally original hand.

"I am a great believer in tasting,'' he said. "I have almost every spice I know of and I've tasted each one so that I know what each will bring to a dish. If I am looking for a certain taste I know which one to choose. That helps a lot.'' So much so, in fact, that Mr. Hill used to bet friends he could duplicate any dish they ate in a restaurant without benefit of a recipe.

"It's all in having an educated palate to know which spices and condiments were used in the dish,'' Mr. Hill explained. "I might not duplicate the exact recipe chemically but as far as the taste buds are concerned it tastes very close. It's fun to be able to do that.'' With the same analytical approach Mr. Hill has finally perfected his own sourdough bread recipe -- after three years of patient experimentation and plenty of failures.

"Sourdough bread is very difficult to make and a lot of work,'' he related.

"It takes about three days from start to finish. There are three basic elements: the starter (a yeast, flour and water mixture), the sponge (the starter plus more water and flour), and finally the dough (the sponge plus flour, sugar, salt, honey, milk, shortening or oil, and any other preferred ingredients).'' Part of the problem was his preference for whole wheat sourdough, and it was a matter of getting the combination of ingredients just right -- absolutely fresh yeast, the right blend of whole wheat and white flours and so forth.

"I wanted bread that not only looked like bread, but had the flavour I was looking for.'' But the struggle has been worth it, for today his sourdough bread has become such a cherished favourite among friends and relatives that he jokes about opening a bakery some day.

Equally popular is his pizza dough recipe, which has also taken him some years to perfect.

"I was looking for something with flavour, body and lightness all at the same time. Since pizza dough requires a starter I began to experiment and finally came up with what I wanted,'' he related.

In fact, he still devotes Monday nights to chasing pizza perfection, experimenting with different toppings. Sometimes he only tastes one slice of the finished product and either gives the rest away or stacks it in his refrigerator to meet the constant demand from friends who know they're stored there.

Vital to a perfect pizza is the what Mr. Hill calls his pizza stone -- a 12-inch circle of metal surrounded by terra cotta, which he pre-heats in the oven and on which he ultimately bakes the pizza.

"It's the heat reacting with the dough that gives the pizza a light, bubbly texture,'' he explained.

When it comes to toppings, the sky's the limit where Mr. Hill is concerned. He always uses a blend of five cheeses (Parmesan, mozzarella, provolone, white English cheddar, and romano), and makes his tomato sauce from scratch, preferably using over-ripe Bermuda tomatoes because of the sweetness and flavour. Vegetables, such as celery, onions, green pepper, and black olives are ground to the desired consistency in a mini-food processor.

"I make a basic sauce in big batches, using whatever I need for pizza or spaghetti. I think you have to take time with your sauces, and I am not a believer in using tomato sauces out of a can. You should take as much care with pizza sauce as you do with spaghetti sauce,'' he said. "I think that is very much overlooked in restaurants.'' In addition to sourdough bread and pizzas, Chinese cuisine is another speciality in the Hill repertoire. Here again, it is the challenge of creativity that appeals.

Although Mr. Hill's interest in cooking began with obligatory lessons in primary school, it was actually the inability to obtain locally the same fine Chinese cuisine he had grown to love in the United States which drove him back to the kitchen.

"After graduate school in the US I went on the road for four years as an entertainer with a group,'' he recalled. "During that time we were based in San Francisco, where I developed a great love of Chinese food and had at least one Chinese meal a day. It was the same when I moved to New York, where they have great Chinese restaurants also.

"When I finally came home in 1967 the only Chinese restaurant I could find at the time was on Court Street, and the food was nothing like I had had in the United States, where I had experienced the best.'' So the frustrated Mr. Hill bought himself a Chinese cookbook and has never looked back.

"The more I cooked the more familiar I became with the way sauces were put together, and in the end I abandoned the cookbook,'' he related.

Like his breads and pizzas, Chinese cuisine has become another popular favourite with Mr. Hill's guests, including he calls Sizzling Worbaar -- "a sort of Chinese hodge-podge containing lobster, beef, shrimp and chicken, which takes a long time to make''.

A man of many talents ("singer, musician, songwriter, actor, certified SCUBA diver, equestrian, carpenter, mason, plumber, boat builder, mechanic, civic worker, graphic designer''), Buddy Hill's life is jam-packed with activity, but he always has time for cooking.

"I really love to cook, it relaxes me,'' he said. "I cook every night, even if I am alone. It's something I look forward to, and I enjoy the challenge of creating something to break up my evening. And I'm also happy to clean up!'' For the past 18 months, Mr. Hill has been adding on to his home. He's doing all of the work himself, including the interior decorating and sewing of the drapes.

"My mother tells her friends she brought me up to be totally independent so I could accomplish whatever I wanted, married or not,'' he explained. But what he's looking forward to most of all is being able to get down to business in his new kitchen.

"Then I can entertain again, which I haven't been able to do for some time,'' he smiled.

SUCCESS! -- Mr. Buddy Hill proudly shows off one of his time-consuming specialities -- sourdough bread.