So excited that my first online course is now available

I have spent the last few months creating a course on Kitchen Basics, it covers knives, food hygiene, cooking methods and many more things.

If you would have a look at the course, then you can see some previews.

I am already on to my next course, Baking Basics. Love sharing these techniques, I am aiming at all of you who can not cook, new to cooking, need a refresher or suddenly having to cook due to a change in circumstances. I hope you enjoy .

Kitchen basics

Please give me feed back, or let me know of any other courses you would like me to create. If I can, I will.

Living life to the full.

My first TV show, lots of fun.

I had a lot of fun doing this show, it was per-recorded and listening to it bought back memories of my mums visit.

I hope you have time to watch this, fun fun fun..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Kdz63Wdyc

What am I up to

Life is so busy but fun at the moment. As I grow my Kitchen Coach business, I am having a blast.

I thought I would let you all know a course will be available soon on the Udemy platform, on Kitchen Basics, all about cooking styles, food safety, health and safety, equipment. I will let you know as soon as that goes live. I am anticipating it will happen in September, then I can get back to my first cook book, for new or young chefs. That will be coming out and available through Amazon, I expect that to be live by the end of November.

I have been asked by a number of people if I could do an App for weekly recipes, using ingredients off of a shopping list I provide, so all ingredients are used up. Apparently that would be useful, some of you are fed up with throwing food away or having food go stale, as you only need part of it for a recipe. I had a great suggestion from a friend today, that I should trail this on my blog, to see if it is really something you would all like, before I go to trouble of creating an App!! What a brilliant suggestion. So from mid September, I will be posting a shopping list and a recipe, and if you want more then you can just sign up for free and get the weeks recipes, and I will throw in a list of Kitchen essential foods for your store cupboard.

In case you did not see my YouTube video on filling a Butter crock pot, I am including it here.
Butter Crock pot video

 I would appreciate each one of you subscribing to my YouTube channel, Kitchen Coach.  You can do that here .That would help me a lot, and you can comment and let me know what other videos you would like there on my Facebook page here.

Wishing you all a Fabulous day.

Freggies and Kitchen Coach meet again at Orange COworking

Discovering I still have a love/hate relationship with technology

I am busy putting lots of videos up on YouTube, trying to master Instagram, am Periscoping frequently( depends on your definition of frequently) and of course lets not forget facebook with three pages to manage and twitter. What have I left out.

Oh my goodness.

I really mean that, there are days when I wonder if I have time to cook. When I become rich and famous- because I know famous does not always mean rich!- I will be letting someone who loves technology deal with all this 'stuff'. my head wants to explode.

Then I add to my techno waterfall and start making videos, editing and publishing them. I mean really did I think this through!

The good news is I am getting better, you can not always see my chopping board, but most of the time you can, I no longer quickly make video's in a tankini- what was I thinking, apart from heading to the pool with the family as soon as I had finished.

The good news is, I do love to cook, and that had been my saving grace. I get to put lots of recipes down on paper, and publish them. My children, and any grandchildren that follow will always be able to see me cooking and have family recipes. I think that is really amazing. it actually gives me goosebumps knowing I am using technology to leave a reminder of me for family to come. Of course I now and again wonder if YouTube will be around or useable, the way technology is advancing and changing. But lets all pretend it will be here, and then all my swearing and crying over a keyboard and computer screen will not be in vain.

So feel free to check out the videos, feel free to subscribe to my channel, Kitchen Coach, and please leave me messages and suggested recipes. I will enjoying adding them into my repertoire and getting them out there for the world to also enjoy and create in their own kitchen.

Here i am doing a live cooking show at Orange COworking, in Austin TX, we periscope these now, it has been fun for sure. No escaping.

have a Fabulous day folks

getting all excited about cooking today

I have spent a lot of time rushing around this week, but today I will be in my kitchen actually making video's, which will be fun. I aim to upload a video a day next week, so my YouTube channel starts to have real content for me.

I am meeting with a friend today as well to get my apron embroidered with my name and company name. I love setting up businesses. So many aspects and angels, but always fun.

I have had some specific requests this week for recipes, so I am going to be putting those on my web site also this weekend. If you have any requests, please just comment.

I learned this week that a pinny means nothing in America, I have to keep explaining it is an apron, so watch this space, a new name is happening today. All decided and I will be excited to announce it later. No point in me doing all this work setting up a business and nobody understands what it is all about from my name, but looks confused and needs a lengthy explication.

I have a series of workshops coming up soon, The Wise Woman's  series, which I will be holding with a talent friend, Teresa Zapp, a Yoga teacher for a long time, who's heart is all about being calm and centered.
The first one is Wise Woman make the most of every minute.
Teresa will be giving tips on breathing and other ways to stay calm and get through our very hectic days, I will showing cooking tips, scheduling tips and tricks, discussing ways to help busy woman get through there day/week with out feeling so exhausted but achieving so much. This will be on Wednesday August 5th, 2015, 10-3pm, in Austin TX, please message me if you would like more details. the normal price is $79, but we are doing an early bird special of $69 until July 20th. All drinks, snack and lunch is included. A Workbook with everything we are teaching you will be provided so you can make notes, although we will have put our tips and tricks in to the book already.

If you live in Austin, I am also hosting some Lunch and learns at Orange COworking, so if you are a member there, come along on Wednesday at noon, and see quick  recipes for a healthier life.

photo's of the recent decorating

It was fun while it lasted, Allan and I had fun decorating. We do what we can do, and bring in the experts for the rest. Although Allan has sanded and re-stained wooden floors for us before, we have such a huge area of wooden floors, this time we are going to get help!! I will admit to be very grateful for that.

Our recent projects are coming along, painting all done, and here are a few photo's for you.

The family room, nearly all put back together, no more paint samples on the wall.

So close, you can see the kitchen nook as well from this angel

about to be painted.

I LOVE this area now, so fresh and inviting. The colour is called Reviving green.

and another angel, to help you see the colour.

We have actually done Ben;s room as well, and the back hallway, so I will make sure to post pictures once they are tidy ( Ben's room) or finished- the hallway. I am on mission to keep the house looking great, with a clan of children running a muck and visitors galore, I sometimes if we will ever be finished. My kitchen needs a major overhaul, but i want a permanent outside one before I do the inside one. although this year with all the rain, my back yard is not such a great place.

A talk at a local networking group SWING

Yesterday I did a talk to a local networking group I go to. It was a lot of fun. Of course I took some freshly made food and let them all eat while listening to me. A good plan for sure, as I got a good respomse to the food. I took some freshly made Rosemary bread(the rosemary was from my own garden), some fresh scones and home made lemon curd, and for any one with a gluten intolerance I took some meringue nests filled with some lime mascarpone cheese.

I am enjoying spreading the word on healthy eating, eating in moderation, nutrition  and cooking at home. I am so passionate about cooking, it is such fun for me, and I just want to spread that fun.

Do you have any favourite recipes? any memories from childhood of eating a set dish at set events? For me food has been a big part of my life, i learned to cook so young, it is a natural thing for me to do. I can cook in any mood. I recommend bread making if you are angry, muffins if it is the middle of the night, no mixer needed. I like to cook complete meals if I am in a thoughtful mood and need to mull over things.

Anyway, i thought I needed to get some photo's on here for you all. I know I am not so good at writing this blog, but believe me I am trying!!

Have a super weekend everyone.

Cooking each day makes me thoughtful

I keep cooking, and I enjoy it, but some days I do wonder if my kids will ever stop growing. I mean, they eat and eat, they have opinions on my cooking, they are happy some days to create in the kitchen ( something I must put on the schedule for them actually!) but they never seem to be full.

I am sure it is an age thing, but honestly some days it wears me out!! a loaf of bread just gone, snacks made and demolished, dinner cooked and plates clean. I wonder if I can keep up.

It is lucky I love cooking and do so daily, I am reminded that it is an activity that the boys will always know, and they will also know that anything is possible to make. maybe not in the shape that is is created in a store, but it can be made. They can ask for anything and it will be out on the weekly menu, if they really like it, then I teach them how to make it.

I am pondering if I should hold a summer camp for cooking for kids, I think it would be a lot of fun, and many children do not get to make dishes like my children do, and I should not take that for granted.

With all my years of training experience and my catering qualifications, this is an idea I should explore. I have thought of it before, but never been in the place in my life to make it happen, but now I am.

Food for thought for me..I will ponder this and see if I can pull it together this summer.

DIY and family life

I do not like painting, I love designing what rooms will look like, but actually doing the painting, not so much. I am happy to clean, empty rooms, and put everything back, hang curtains, and choose furniture, don't even mind washing walls. Painting not so much.

So this morning I find myself alone painting as they have all gone to soccer. My music is on, the AC is low and I am finding the peace in the process. I am really trying. As I am obviously writing this during this time, I have lost focus, but will be back. I decided I had done three doors ( one side) and needed a break, so decided to blog instead.

What i love about decorating is normally loss by the lack of enthusiasm for my kids for the disruption to the house. We are doing our youngest bedroom, first time this room has been decorated, been Cara room, Alex's room and now it is Ben's. It needs a face lift and changing around for sure. This was all planned, new items purchased, but the kids are not enjoying the focus of decorating and nothing else this week.

Trying to get them involved without a fight is difficult, but involved they will be, even on a small level, they need to understand running a home involves decorating. Decorating involves lots of planning and preparation.

Anyway, they are out exercising which is also very good in my eye's, and i am cooking poached salmon tonight with roasted small potatoes, and lots of veg, a meal they love, so I am hoping we will get them involved later, just because they will be in a good mood and the final parts of decorating are the easiest. Painting the main walls, is the last phase and satisfaction comes quickly for them, as huge swathes of wall get covered. So i am going back to my woodwork and will now go and carry on with skirting boards ( baseboards) so when Allan gets home that is all finished.

Happy DIY folks. This is the time of year to have indoor projects, the temperature will be around 93f today, and being inside will be better than sun burnt.

Home from an amazing trip back to UK

I have just been over to UK for a trip to celebrate Alison's 50th birthday and Alex's 14th birthday. I took him as his birthday present, and he planned part of the trip, and I made it all happen.

The fun thing about this trip is that we had so much time to talk and laugh, experience new places and mix and mingle with so many friends and family members.

I will always remember this trip. I am already looking forward to taking Ben for his 14th next year. I have no idea what he will want to do, but just the one on one time was so special. It is rare to have that time when you have four children.

Of course I ate too much, it was just too tempting to eat the foods I miss from home while I was there. So sausages, ham, going to the chippie, cornish pasties, egg and cress sandwiches, crisps- the list goes on, my savoury tooth was in seventh heave. So I am glad to be home and back to eating more healthily, as it did not take long to feel sluggish and bloated. I am happy to be back eating sensibly and healthily. I find it interesting that I could not control my desire for these foods. I have decided to look at it as perfectly alright. eating while on holiday is holiday!!

Now I am home I am back to my garden, and about to plant my tomatoes, peppers, and try onions this year as well. Allan has planted my new citrus trees, so they are all look great, my perennial herbs are all doing splendidly, and I need to plant my annual ones now as well. Going to be a busy week in my garden for sure.

I am also excited to re-pot my Star of Texas hibiscus plants that I have grown from seeds I harvested. A first for me, so  very excited.

The last year the boys are together in Middle school

 The phrase time flies, is so true.

Of course I am hoping that the the phrase 'as you get older time goes more quickly' is not connected with the first one.

anyway....

I can't believe how quickly time has flown, this year for school is nearly over, and that means that Alex will have two years at Bowie with out his brother, and I am sure in many ways he will love it, but for me, it always seems harder when they are not together, they have been together so often on this journey of childhood. Being only 18 months apart, they have been very close, although the gap between them seems bigger in the last year, 6th graders and 8th graders have very different outlooks on life in this house!!

I am enjoying my time as a parent, it has some very tough moments for sure, but the variety and the laughs, the emotions good and bad, the unconditional love that we as a family have is so wonderful.

Not every moment is blissful for sure,  but every moment is real, and we still all come together for a meal each day and laugh, discuss and debate. I miss my older two not always being around, but when they are, meal times are a riot. I love that they do come home and chill here. I am know I have been far from perfect as a mother, but somehow we have all managed to survive being a family. I am sure it is eating together every day that makes a big difference.

One of my latest projects.

Good evening all,

As I type this I am thinking about the cookery book I am writing and how I need more hours in the day. My ideas are flowing and I am not keeping up with them. I have notes everywhere and am now trying to keep notes on my computer, as well as mastering Pages and using it efficiently. Does anyone else find computers hard work when you go outside your comfort zone of what you know and try and expand your horizons.

I have been on a mission to write this cook book for a long time, and I am now telling the world, because that is accountability for me. Difficult to pretend I am not doing it when it is out their on the web.

I really hope you all have a dream that you can turn in to a goal and then a reality. It is very powerful for self esteem and inner peace. Those in this house are all helping me, and have roles in this process. I am loving that this is a project they all have an input with, in different ways and that changes as we go, but the support from my boys to see this to fruition is inspiration and motivation all by itself.

I am on Twitter

I have decided on  a few ways to use social media, and I know myself, so it is not all of them!! but I am on twitter. My Twitter feed generally pulls from my FB page but not everything is on my FB.

Why do I do that, because if you are a Twitter lover, then you want to see regular posts and that means I do not have to worry about always posting, I know that my post from my FB go to Twitter. and those that Tweet and follow will still get daily messages. I like to put up extra tweets every now and again, so you get some special feed. If you have taken the time to follow @tamzinloveslife then you should get some special information as well. It is only fair in my eyes, and thank you for following me.

I am enjoying using social media, but have found I need to limit the platforms I use. I do not have enough hours in the day to do justice to all of them, and I struggle to see how to use some of them, that must be the dinosaur in me. You never know one day I might 'Snapchat'!! I have an Instagram, but know I have not mastered it, and I am not worried about that, but there are so many other social forums out there as well. For now I am just using Facebook, blogging, Twitter and LinkedIn. Plenty for me to get my head around.

So if you would like to follow me then please do, I am enjoying watching my followers increase, slowly but surely. For reasons i can not explain it gives me a buzz to see people following me. A middle aged woman, still out there running, cooking,with a entrepreneurial  look on life, and living life with pizazz. I intend to grow old disgracefully!!  So much more fun.

Pain and Gain tasks.

Another race day approaches

As my next race day approaches I wonder why I always feel ill prepared for it. Strange really as I do train and have been doing a lot of cross training as well. Life always seem to me to throw these feelings when you least want to feel like this.

I was listening today to an interesting podcast, by Steve McClatchy, about the brain and how it has a flight reaction or a fight reaction, and it was discussed more as a gain or pain , very interesting and has made me wish to buy the book he has written. I really related to the whole principle of the how the brain likes to be in one mode or the other, but can not move easily between them. The article was looking at how we prioritize, which I am a big fan off, and how we can put off somethings for the mundane but needed, e.g.: putting the rubbish out, ironing, washing up etc, these things have to happen but they are not a gain for us at all, where as when we set goals, like loosing weight, achieving a MBA, learning the piano, a language it has a gain for us, we have to really focus and put time aside to do these things. The essence of the podcast was that when you are 75 would you remember you had worked hard to get a MBA or write a book, of course, but would you remember putting the rubbish out, highly unlikely. So the prioritizing of time really is worth it, the feel good of achieving on the to do list( or honey do list) is not actually a lasting feeling. . You can be productive but not achieve. A great article. The effect on your life is a 90% gain/10 % pain for actual benefit to you as a person and growing and succeeding. Frequently we put the to do list first. Time to stop or delegate the to do list. You can not delegate a Gain. Why I love my diary.

All that waffle was really me saying the time fitted in for the training is SO worth it for me, even with my doubts about finishing right now.

The right nutrition is in my body, I have a great support system, on the day my daughter Cara will be cheering me on and a fabulous friend will also be doing the 13.1 miles as well. Of course being around a Texas vineyard is a bonus, we get a commemorative glass and to taste wine afterward. I must say I have never really thought about drinking wine after running, we will see how I feel on the day!! But the views will be fantastic.

Sending a hug to all you achieving your dream and goals. Life is for living. I firmly believe that. Never settle for less.
#tamzinloveslife