Tales from the kitchen
Tag: dinner delivered
Special home delivery: A different Mother's Day
We're three mums coming together to help you care for your mum. And we're changing the daily lives of mums with intellectual disability at the same time.
Sore boobs, the smell of wet sheep and a Happy New Year!
It's 2019. Already. We're so excited to be back in the kitchen for 2019, cooking for you. I love the Christmas and New Year period. But on reflection through January, I do feel that there are some things I will do differently this year... Seems every year, on Christmas EveThat all good sense just ups and leavesAlthough I swore we never wouldWe joined that martyred parent-hood Of those who stay up far too lateConstructing toys with long debateWhy do we always feel the squeezeTo get things done by Christmas Eve?I meant to get the carpets cleanDuring the year, but time was leanOn eve of Christmas. Hip hooray!"Last chance," I thought, "Today's the day!" A man arrived, a friendly chapTook out his hose, hooked up the tapAnd in a jiffy he...
I am a professional...
I generally consider myself to be a professional. It's true, that reasonably often this means I need to take a junior recipe tester assistant with me to business meetings. But I always try to maintain a professional, um... air. I brush my hair and my teeth. I dress appropriately.
I don't go to meetings in my pyjamas.
Well, hardly ever.
The over-sharing and the ridiculous...
I assume it's not just me, others too, find themselves in this situation. But there are times in life when you are forced into the most ridiculous conversations. Living with one or more junior recipe testers under the age of five will mean this is a daily occurrence. But it is made even more problematic when you are forced to have a ridiculous conversation in a very public place.
Now, I realise, I am at high risk of over-sharing here. So if you are prone to embarrassment, please do avert your eyes.
I recently had need to visit the GP....
School holidays and climbing the roof (but not the walls!)
School holidays are, for me, a break in routine and a chance just to hang out. They're also a time to climb on the roof. I should point out that I didn't include that on my original school holiday plan...
We've launched our own #waronwaste
We buy veggies for your dinners from a local vegetable farm. When I first went to the farm to talk to the farmer about this arrangement we gazed out across his fields. "Well," he said to me, "You'll have to give me a couple of days notice of your order."
"Ok," I replied.
"So I can pick 'em."
When the veggies get to our kitchen they have often just been plucked from the ground. We need to wash them, then we trim them, before we chop them up for you. They don't come in plastic bags, they're rarely neatly cubed, and they never have a 'washed and ready for use' sticker on the pack...
Last minute orders are here... for when you're begging for mercy!
Recently, I had one of those days. Not the good one. I had a bit to get through, so I made a list. Lists are good. They keep you on track. And there's that sense of great personal fulfillment when you tick something off.
My big problem is, I lose little pieces of paper on which I write lists. But I will not be deterred. I now write them on my phone. And then they do not get lost. Very often...
Confident in my capability... Challenged when proving it
I blame it on the time. Actually, I blame it on the time of day. And the lack of sleep. And the fact that I felt a little fraught at the time.
I am not generally inept at public transport. I do not usually have difficulty discerning sign boards and timetables. A very long time ago I lived in East Africa, and managed to negotiate the public transport system there. On one notable occasion I shared my seat with a live chicken, while a panic stricken goat was hoisted past my window and onto the roof of the bus. When it comes to transportation, I have runs on the board.
I was, on those occasions, travelling alone...
Finite energy points - the daily life juggle and the energy overdraft
Most days, I work on the proviso that we start every day with a certain number of energy points. These are there for the picking, spent as the situation requires. Some tasks, of course, require a greater number of energy points than others. Occasionally I find I can achieve two tasks using a single energy point, and in those rare moments, I feel supremely smug.
Over the years I have learned three things:
- Getting an overdraft is difficult.
- Sometimes I am over-expended by 8.32am.
- My application for an overdraft, logged by 8.43am, is usually denied by 9.03am.
Here's how the tally went today:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
We had a special day today in the kitchen, as we were joined by two clients of Northwest Disability Services who came to volunteer their time in the kitchen. They helped us package your dinners, wash up a myriad of pots and pans (you should see the mountain of washing-up we create each day) and they also found time to make you some choc chip muffins.
These muffins don't look like our ordinary muffins. And that's because they aren't ordinary...