Tales from the kitchen

Tag: social enterprise

Mother's Day gift home delivery; Rachel Golding, Karen Miles, Tina McKeown

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.

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Baby girl in a floral dress. Blog: Girls prove competence

Boys are born competent. Girls have to prove they are

"Boys are born competent. Girls have to prove they are," someone once said to me. I was horrified. Surely that wasn't true? Last week I attended the junior recipe testers' swimming carnival. I helped with timekeeping, which was both fun and nerve-wracking in equal measure. My juniors swam in their age races, I got to watch and cheer from close quarters, and while neither are currently showing promise as the next Australian champion, they both did well. My daughter did very well in her age group, recording one of the fastest freestyle times for her age, and the fastest for her house. This qualified her for the 4 x 50m relay. My son also qualified, although not as far up the...

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Toilet door hidden in an ivy wall. Blog: turning into my mother

Turning into my mother, fixing a toilet at 3am, and the perils of flexible work

I think I'm turning into my mother.

Now, I should clarify I like my mother. A lot. There are great many characteristics of hers that I should like to emulate. Her sleeping habits are not one of them.

When I was a teenager my mum could never seem to sleep an entire night. She would wake anywhere between 2am and 4am and look at the ceiling for hours. I couldn't understand it. She was tired... nay, she was exhausted. She worked for both love, caring for 4 children, and money, in a job she enjoyed. I considered her sleeping issues ridiculous. And perhaps evidence of a character flaw.

I've changed my mind.

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Sore boobs, the smell of wet sheep and a Happy New Year!

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...

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Sourcing local honey for you

Sourcing local honey for you

Sustainability, and sourcing locally grown produce is important to us.

At Thomas Holt Drive, where our dinner cart is located, our partners, AMP Capital, have bee hives, along with trained staff to maintain them, keep the bees happy, and to collect the honey. They were delighted to give us some of their honey to cook your dinner, or cater for your events in Sydney.

And so this week we're excited to bring you two delicious offerings: our much adored Teriyaki Chicken, and Apple and Cinnamon Muffins made with honey sourced from our second site at Thomas Holt Drive. Local honey indeed, from hives just 15km down the road.

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I am a professional...

Blueberry bagels in the foreground with a child's hand stealing blueberries off the plate

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.

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The over-sharing and the ridiculous...

Legs of a woman in a white skirt, holding a basket of flowers

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....

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We've launched our own #waronwaste

Pumpkin

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...

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Last minute orders are here... for when you're begging for mercy!

Black and white image of children's hands on a table top

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...

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Confident in my capability... Challenged when proving it

Image of a sunset across a paddock

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...

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