The Things We Do…

1 year ago 178

Welcome to the 2nd variation of a caller bid called The Things We Do, wherever I stock tales of what my squad and I get up to extracurricular the kitchen! Team offsites, debut unrecorded cooking show, a caller starter astatine RecipeTin Meals, a peculiar scholar dinner….and MOVING.

Life has been full!

We don’t conscionable navigator anymore!

9 years ago, I started this small website with conscionable Dozer arsenic my right-hand man, sharing recipes I created successful my single-bench Ikea kitchen.

Today, RecipeTin is simply a squad of 10, including an existent nonrecreational existent Chef who works alongside maine each time (JB!). I person a foodbank, RecipeTin Meals, wherever we marque implicit 100,000 homemade meals annually which we donate to the little fortunate. I made a cookbook. And it seems these days, I’m a weekly columnist for a nutrient work and we besides bash nutrient amusement events. 😳

So I thought it mightiness beryllium bully to stock immoderate down the scenes of what my squad and I get up to extracurricular the kitchen. Here’s immoderate things we’ve done since the last edition of The Things We Do!

We had a squad off-site

With the accelerated gait of the concern and assortment of caller things we’ve been doing implicit the past twelvemonth (book tours! events! charity!), I felt it was important to bring my full squad unneurotic and bash a presumption connected goals and imaginativeness for RecipeTin, and the important portion they would play successful it.

It was a uncommon juncture to bring some the RTE and RTM broadside of my concern unneurotic for much than conscionable a squad lunch. So to marque the astir of it, I held the league successful the Hunter Valley, a vino portion 2 hours thrust from Sydney.

This was a conference, the RecipeTin Way! We tried the authoritative radical photo. Just….awkward….

This is much similar it!

As overmuch amusive arsenic the squad bonding / play portion was, the presumption portion was serious. It took maine galore hours to enactment it unneurotic and it was worthy each minute. We near the league a stronger squad than ever.

But connected the taxable of the amusive – here’s a small location movie of the RecipeTin Conference 2023!

We did a photoshoot astatine RTM

I hired a professional photographer to bash a photoshoot astatine RTM to seizure “official” photos for the RTM website that we’re building. We got immoderate large shots – adjacent fractional decent ones of me!

But past Barl, our Fijian care-bear, resigned to prosecute different career, truthful we person to bash it each implicit again. The boys are going to beryllium thrilled erstwhile they work that! 😂

There was different photograph shoot

Oh yes, and successful the mediate of the RTM shoot, I had to duck retired to get a photograph taken for a quality nonfiction announcing that I’m touring Australia with the Good Food & Wine Show! It was a unusual day. More connected the amusement below….

Then the Better Homes & Gardens TV unit took implicit my house!

The Better Homes & Gardens TV amusement came to my house! They spent a time filming a “day successful the beingness of” successful my location past visited RTM the adjacent time to bash filming determination arsenic well. It was surreal!! You tin ticker the occurrence here. I’m astatine the beginning, mediate and end.

Also – everyone successful my squad is present officially successful emotion with Johanna Griggs, the host. She’s arsenic bully arsenic she comes crossed connected TV and 10 times much hilarious!!

There was much TV…..

Then…2 days aft that, we (Chef JB and I) were backmost successful a TV workplace doing a unrecorded conception to announce our caller play look column successful Good Food Australia. Here we are connected the Channel 9 Today Show. I can’t adjacent retrieve what we made that day!!!

Just connected that play column….

So, connected the taxable of my play Good Food column! It’s called “SOS” and volition diagnostic a look that tin provender 4 radical for little than $20, oregon tin beryllium made successful little than 30 minutes with less than 12 ingredients.

These recipes are exclusive to Good Food and successful the Good Food assistance retired successful Tuesday’s Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s The Age newspapers. So they won’t beryllium connected my website – ever (sadly).

My anticipation is that it volition promote much radical to ditch overpriced heat-and-eat benignant dinners, prevention money, and devour much delicious food! Here’s a preview of immoderate of the recipes I’ve shared:

Oh and look! They adjacent enactment maine connected the screen of the Sydney Morning Herald connected the time they made the announcement. It was a BIG DEAL!!! (Please Dozer, could you amusement immoderate support).

Then determination was that fancy dinner!

If you told maine 12 months agone that a hatted edifice successful Sydney would make a one-night-only paper inspired by recipes from my cookbook, I astir apt would’ve snorted past choked connected my java (being the elegant lass that I am).

But it did happen, and we adjacent made a small location movie astir it truthful you tin spot that I really wore a frock. This was for an exclusive Good Food subscriber dinner to observe the motorboat of the new-look Good Food!

And here’s JB and I with the incredibly talented enforcement Chef astatine The Gantry, Rhys Connell – the posed changeable and the collaborating shot!

Oh, determination was besides the small substance that I was sitting adjacent to immoderate of the astir almighty and influential media and food journalists successful Australia. Damn, I privation I knew the big-big brag was going to beryllium there, I would’ve brushed up connected my existent affairs. 😭

Cookbook motorboat successful the UK and US!

My cookbook was released overseas successful the US, UK, Canada and Ireland!! Never imagined successful a cardinal years that specified a happening would happen. Somebody pinch me!!

Nagi and Dozer - American cookbook variation

Launching the publication successful the US was fun, with a 1 hr unrecorded watercourse hosted by Premiere Collectibles who merchantability autographed books. It was expected to beryllium a unrecorded watercourse for maine to motion books – truthful radical could spot they were authentic signatures – but I got alternatively sidetracked answering questions and taking viewers connected a circuit of my location and forgot to motion them connected camera. Oops!

The unrecorded watercourse was recorded truthful you tin ticker it here.

Thank you again to each the readers overseas who sent done photos of my publication overseas!! Loved seeing them successful bookstores connected the different broadside of the world.

Oh, determination was besides that small substance of my cookbook making the New York Times champion seller list. Spoiler: determination were tears.

Debut unrecorded navigator amusement successful Melbourne!

I arrived location astatine midnight past nighttime aft 5 days successful Melbourne doing my debut unrecorded cooking amusement astatine the Good Food & Wine Show with RecipeTin’s precise ain Chef JB Alexandre!! We did a 45 infinitesimal amusement cooking 3 dishes arsenic a objection of however you tin marque a big-impact dispersed with speed!

WOW what an experience. More than 25,000 radical came to the Good Food & Wine Show implicit 3 days and we were doing our amusement connected the main stage, followed by a publication signing / conscionable & greet.

I tin honestly accidental I’ve ne'er been truthful tense earlier successful my life! I virtually could not speech successful the minutes starring up to going connected signifier and I deliberation I went to the toilet 5 times successful 20 minutes. 😂

But the infinitesimal we went connected signifier the nerves wholly disappeared. It was similar chatting to friends portion I cooked – I was conscionable missing a solid of wine. (Or, was I….?? 😈).

JB – what a champ. Not 1 for nationalist speaking and having not done thing similar this before, yet helium perfectly nailed it. So arrogant to person done my archetypal unrecorded cooking amusement with him by my side!

And successful fact, JB was doing publication signings with maine passim the full show. By the extremity of the 3rd day, we had to get him his ain array due to the fact that his queue was banked up!!

And if you’re wondering astir my OTHER sidekick – helium was determination successful spirit. In 2D form!

Here’s a small location movie we made:

What we made for our amusement – “Cooking up a storm, the RecipeTin Way”: Vietnamese Shaking Beef (cookbook exclusive), Singapore Chilli Prawns/Shrimp (created particularly for the show!), Coconut Rice and Smashed Cucumber Salad.

Click here for amusement dates successful Sydney, Brisbane and Perth!

And finally…why I moved.

In amongst each of the above, I sold my imagination location and moved!

Until 3 weeks ago, I lived successful Sydney’s beauteous Northern Beaches and person present moved backmost to the Ryde country of Sydney wherever I lived for 10 years. I’m present overmuch person to the metropolis (50 minutes vs 15 minutes), overmuch person to abundant (good!) Asian food, but overmuch further from the beach.

My erstwhile location was intent built for my business. It had 3 kitchens: 2 for enactment and 1 successful my backstage surviving quarters, my imagination room purpose-built to my weird specifications I ne'er imagined I’d ever have.

Selling it and leaving the Northern Beaches country was a bittersweet and pugnacious decision. So wherefore did I bash it?

Here’s wherefore I near my imagination home

I sold my imagination location because:

I request to abstracted enactment from life.
I request and privation to beryllium person to my nutrient bank.
I program to determination my nutrient slope to a (much) larger room successful the Ryde area.
I request to merchandise superior to physique my nutrient slope and my office.

I can’t beryllium trusted with my bureau beneath my surviving room….

If I chopped to the chase, the determination is driven by my tendency to determination RTM from the existent tiny room we person connected the fringe of Sydney CBD to a larger kitchen, and I privation that room to beryllium successful the Ryde area. It’s an fantabulous determination to work the full of Sydney and for existent property outgo reasons.

It’s besides a “rip the bandaid off” attack to effort to amended my work-life balance. I’ve been precise unfastened astir however I’ve been struggling with handling my workload arsenic my concern has grown. And however the cookbook, portion I observe successful each its successes, was the hardest happening I’ve ever worked connected successful my life. It didn’t interruption me, but I damn good worked myself into the crushed to the constituent of being unhealthy.

It’s conscionable a plain information that I americium not the benignant of idiosyncratic who tin beryllium trusted with my bureau beneath my surviving room. Too casual to entree and enactment excessively much!

But, I’ve been faffing around. I didn’t privation to permission the bluish beaches oregon my home. I was half-heartedly looking for determination to rent adjacent Ryde – but not really.

It took a large footwear up my bum by my concern manager to get cracking! So I took the “rip the bandaid-off” attack and sold my location without knowing wherever I was moving.

That surely got maine going to find a caller house!!!

So present we are connected determination time – feeding radical close up to the past minute.

And present were are, unpacking successful the caller place. And – feeding people, earlier we’ve unpacked!

Removalist proposal (Sydney) – Double J Removals 1800 830 506. Fast. Professional. Entertaining. Friendly. Helpful.

So what now?

I drastically downsized. I’m presently successful a rental successful the Ryde country with 1 alternatively than 3 kitchens (#FirstWorldProblems!). There volition beryllium an accommodation period. I request to fig retired my caller workflow. I consciousness much than ever similar I’m surviving astatine enactment due to the fact that determination is nary separation betwixt my idiosyncratic abstraction and work.

Things volition get a small harder earlier they get better, I cognize that.

But I’m successful the country I request to be. Boots connected the ground, arsenic I say, to lb the pavement to find a caller room for RTM. To find a determination for my work-kitchen which volition beryllium exclusively for work, and lone for work.

And to find a location that is work-free. No photography oregon video studio!

I’m truthful excited astir the twelvemonth to come. Building a caller room for RTM – bigger space! Better equipment! Donating much meals!! 🙌🏻

Building a purpose-built “house-office” for this unsocial no-other-business-like-it happening we telephone RecipeTin! A originative hub wherever I tin make and experimentation with caller recipes, wherever I tin photograph, constitute and movie look videos. A spot ample capable to big lunches and dinners, a spot I tin invitation readers to dine with america – hopefully!

And, uncovering a location I tin flight to connected evenings and weekends. Work free.

2023 is THE year! – Nagi x

Life of Dozer

Final sunset locomotion astatine Bayview canine parkland the evening earlier we moved out.

But honestly, determination was zero accommodation play for Mr Dozer. As agelong arsenic helium gets treats and is with me, helium is arsenic blessed arsenic tin be. Dogs are the BEST! ❤️

The station The Things We Do… appeared archetypal connected RecipeTin Eats.

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