Kai Chronicles

Eating, exploring and enjoying life

Category Archives: Food


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Would you pay for a private cook?

personal cook for hire

Meal packages and food delivery services are all the rage but what if you could have meals cooked in your home by a hired help?

My BFF in Canada loves to cook. For 10 years, she owned a quaint seaside restaurant. She sold it in 2016. Now, she’s toying with another food related career move: private cook.

And ever since she mentioned it to me, my ears have be perked up and my brain has been spinning. I love food and I love to cook too.

I used to be a house cleaner and although it’s a physically demanding job, the money is good. It’s quite common for a household to have a professional cleaner come in weekly or fortnightly.

But would working families, couples and singles also hire a weekly or daily cook? Imagine arriving home to glorious food smells and a hot meal waiting on the stove or in the oven. If I asked for a show of hands right now, I think there would be many jazz hands in the air.

Here’s why I think hiring a private cook to prep and cook meals in your home could be the next big household “norm”.

Time Poor

This is the problem with so many people these days. We are all busy. Too busy to make healthy food choices even. How many professional men and women pick up dinner from the drive-thru because they are too tired to cook once they get home? Wouldn’t it be nice to arrive home to a home-cooked meal 5 nights a week?

Can’t Cook

Not everyone is on their way to being the next Masterchef. I’m not either but I can cook yummy food, just ask my son (and he’s a fussy bugger).

I’m often shocked when I read posts on social media from people saying they can’t cook. Maybe I take this skill for granted because I grew up in a household with a mother who cooked from scratch most of the time. But not everyone is able in the kitchen. It’s a good reason to hire someone to cook your meals.

Hate Being in the Kitchen

Some people know how to cook but they hate it. I’ll admit it, I don’t always love having to cook after working all day and I certainly use some shortcuts sometimes but generally, I like being in the kitchen. Especially with the music cranked up and a glass of wine in hand.

The Same Meals All. The. Time

It is so easy to prefect a few recipes and stick to them. The problem is, you and your family will get bored. Hiring a personal food prepper will give you variety and ideas for the times you do cook for yourself and your family.

Can Afford a Private Cook and Cleaner

Hey, if you have a disposable income, why the heck not? You may think a service like this is reserved for the rich and famous or executives but it’s working families who need it the most (in my opinion).

How much would you spend on a private cook? 

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How to make apple pie

kaichronicles-make apple pie

It’s Sunday. And Sunday is my regular baking day. I’ve always loved to bake and now that it’s winter, I find myself in the kitchen a lot.

Growing up in Canada, dessert was a constant. Especially fruit pies. I really miss seeing fruit pies on menus in Australia. It’s rare so I make them at home. Expect to see a flow of dessert pie recipes here on Kai Chronicles. It’s my way of helping the world. One pie at a time.

Let’s start with a classic: apple.

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Recipe for Apple and Date Lunchbox Treats

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When I was a kid, my mother used to make date squares a lot. They weren’t my favourite but I still held fond memories of eating them.

I’ve always loved to bake and I’ve always baked homemade treats for my boy’s lunchbox. I was excited when I got my hands on my mum’s date square recipe and I used to follow it to a tee. My son has always loved them, even when I only put dates in them (as my mum did).

Recently, I’ve been experimenting with the recipe and this is what I’ve come up with (it tastes like Apple Crumble/Crisp…yum).

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The best chocolate cake ever…

If Jo says this is the best chocolate cake, it must be. She doesn’t even like cake!! I have THE BEST chocolate cake recipe in my collection, passed down from a sister. I think I may have to have a ‘cake off’ in my kitchen. Watch this space. And leave room for cake.

And Anyways...

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Yes, really. No exaggeration. In fact this cake is so good that it’s almost a community service announcement to share the recipe with you.

It takes literally 5 minutes to put together. I timed it. The longest part of the preparation is boiling the water for the coffee- which, incidentally, you don’t really taste…a good thing.

The recipe is here. You’re welcome.

I topped it with the best chocolate ganache slash sauce you’ll ever make too. This one takes some trust. You bring the cream to a near boil, drop the chocolate in, let it stand for a couple of minutes and then whisk the living daylights out of it. Although you might doubt, persist, which through it…the result is a glossy creamy chocolate sauce that you’ll want to eat by the spoonful.

Don’t worry, the recipe for that is here too.

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I made this as a birthday cake…

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In search of health and happiness: A Manifesto

Well hello there. Yes, I know it’s been a long time since I’ve said good day to you all. You know when life gets messy and you just can’t fit another thing on your plate? That’s what’s been going down in my world.  I hope you’ve been eating well, things are looking a little thin around here.

I’ve had a major life re-vamp during my hiatus but I assure you, all is well – slowly but surely. I’m eating less junk, more healthy foods; drinking less beer, exercising a little (need to up that) and wrestling my health issues to the ground this week with a few appointments. All this around several deadlines. It’s been busy busy busy.

But I am back! All with a little kick up the bum from blogging freak (and I say that with love, affection and jealousy), Jeff Goins. I’m taking part in his 7-day blogging challenge. Day 1 (today) was all above setting the theme of your blog and publicly announcing your intentions and goals.  I wrote my manifesto à la Kelly Exeter style (her’s kicks mine straight to the curb but I’m still a little proud of my efforts) using Canva. I heart Canva.

Tell me what you think. And don’t hold back. My skin is getting thicker by the minute! Sometimes it’s hard to walk, it’s so leathery.

Manifesto for health and happiness

Do you have a manifesto for your life/blog/career/health? Share it in the comments.


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Are all chocolates good?

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Credit: CcCreatr

Forrest Gump’s Mamma said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

I haven’t been sharing much on here lately because my chocolate box has been a bit rotten. The past 6 months have been brown and gooey, not in the yummy chocolate kind of way but in the shitty kind.

I know everyone’s life gets messy from time to time and I’m not trying to do the poor me thing here. It’s not like that.

I’ve realised that even the crappiest days can offer insight, growth and reflection.

My favourite quote of all time, which I’m sure I’ve shared before, is:

Every crisis represents not only danger but opportunity ~ Eckhart Tolle

Although I am still prone to anxiety and pessimism, I am opening up to uncovering the chocolate-lining in every dark cloud that passes over me. I mean, can there really ever be a bad chocolate?

I think all chocolates can offer something delicious and satisfying.  You just have to allow your taste buds to mull it over instead of gulping it down then screaming YUCK. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

I have big changes happening in my life and although I relish change, it can also be terrifying. I have a real fear of the unknown and if I cannot plan and control a situation, I feel lost and uncertain. This is when more chocolate is needed.

Yup, I’m eating a lot of chocolate in search of my sweet spot. I know I’ll find it soon. Probably in a box of Favourites.

How’s your box of chocolates been lately? 

 

 

 

 


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Summer is near. Time to get freaky with it.

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It’s nearly summertime in the Southern Hemisphere and you know what that means: an abundance of fresh food.

It’s only November but I’m already inundated with tomatoes, chillies and the capsicums are really taking off. Don’t get me wrong, the garden continued to grow during winter. Winter was good for sweet potato,  silver-beet and the rosemary plant.

Fresh, homegrown food had been highlighted in the media recently.

Many health conscious Australians have already seen fitness guru Michelle Bridges’s marketing flop go viral. If you don’t know what I’m on about, take a look at it here.

What do you think?

Well, judging by the reaction to it here in Australia, Woolies and Michelle have made an massive error.

Imagine calling people who grow their own food freaks.  How can frozen, microwaved food be healthier than your own garden*?

Naturopath Jules Galloway posted a brilliant open letter to Michelle on her blog today. I certainly could not say it better than Jules did. Have a read of Jules’s open letter here.

I don’t really care if Michelle Bridges thinks I’m a freak. I’m happy to wear the FREAK label if it means I’m doing what I can to better my health and the health of my family. But I think it’s wrong for the message to be that frozen, microwaved, low in protein, high in sugar food is better for you because it’s more convenient than taking the time to grow and cook your own.

I just came in from the garden. I didn’t eat any dirt and I didn’t feel like a freak. And I will have delicious, juicy, sweet tomatoes for lunch today. I wonder what Michelle is having? Her foot?

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Do you grow your own fruits, veggies or herbs? 

*for the record, I don’t use any pesticides or chemicals on my gardens. They may not look perfect but at least my produce is free from poison.


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Would you give up chocolate, booze and coffee for your health?

“She turned to the sunlight    And shook

Okay, so I’m back on a restricted diet. Not by choice but by extreme necessity.

My sinuses and I assume, my nasal polyps have been quite bad for months now; 18 or so actually. I was  getting on with life but the past couple months, my health has declined to a point where I am having sinus headaches, my ears are blocking up and aching and I’m not sleeping well. And I need sleep.

So, as of July 23 I stopped eating sugar, wheat, dairy, most fruits, booze, coffee and most processed foods (when you give up sugar, wheat and dairy that cancels out processed foods anyway). Now, I will admit to having a couple beer and 2 cookies since but those were my only slips.

Although a miracle hasn’t happened (yet), I do feel better. I actually slept through the night once since *fist pump*

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3 soups you can easily make at home

blog oct 4 spicy lentil soup

Spicy Lentil Soup

Ahhhh, soup. It’s a nourishing, easy winter meal. I’ve been working at the local supermarket, stocking shelves, for the past 3 months and “my” aisle is the one with all the soups: packaged, powdered, tinned, boxed, microwavable – all the convenient types. And I guess there’s nothing wrong with them, if you like to consume additives and preservatives. Hey, I ate Campbell’s Tomato and Cream of Mushroom at least weekly for the first 30 years of my life. They are actually really tasty! But, here’s the thing. Soup is incredibly easy to make from scratch. I don’t even use a recipe. I get inspired from recipes but I usually just toss stuff in a pot and boil it together. So, ditch the tins this week and try a home-made, from scratch soup. Enjoy!

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