Loooooooooooooooooooooong hiatus I know! So sorry! A lot going on, some good, some bad and some down right ugly but life goes on and so does the ol' noggin with a tonne of ideas, stories and dalliances. For now the nutshell version is: Had a busy and successful business year in 2012, flew to NZ with Jan Jan for the beautiful and romantic wedding of SJP, locked ourselves in the back of our camper, realised we could have gotten out all along. . . . after about an hour and 2 phone calls to the van company berating them for their design flaw, celebrated xmas lunch with friends, did more celebrating with other friends for xmas dinner; watched Sebastien enjoy a traditional Aussie Xmas feast of fresh Oysters, King Prawns and various brands of whiskey. Drove Sebastien home for a sleep in. NYE – God's Playground theme. So our team of devils, token angel and priest lived up to the name of the party. The devil himself would have been ashamed to have me play for his team this night, being driven home by Sebastien and tucked up into bed at 11.55pm. Happy New Year! Quiet time and thankful for the break. A quick camping trip down south, a quick visit to friends long forseen up north and some welcomed house guests in the SWAN family for the month of February.

Work is quickly picking up with our regular jaunt at THE VILLAGE MARKETS every second Sunday of the month selling our selection of fresh salads, man skewers, rosti, muffins and next weekend will have a lunch pack so you can take it with you to see the Surf Pro Action right down the road after you've picked up an original piece at a bargain price from any of the awesome stalls!

We're also ready to launch our latest venture – our Candy Bar Caterer! Available for any occasion including weddings, retail openings, baby showers, kids birthday parties, Adults birthday parties, work functions, hens parties......Any celebration always involves candy doesn't it?!!! Currently we are only advertising on Gumtree but see the updated website soon and please contact me directly on

0406 783596 if you've any queries.

Other than that it's business as usual and March is shaping up to be a busy month, a quick culinary treat to Tetsuya's in Sydney for Sebastien's birthday and April and May already shaping up to be busy months also. Yay! Hopefully I'll stay in touch more regularly as soon as we get our new computer! Cannot wait for that! Will be such a treat. My very first computer. . . . . . yes, seriously!

Okay folks. Keep it clean, stay green and eat, laugh and love well. Tam. x

Babysitting, boats and a taste of carny life.

Had a babysitting gig Tuesday, 4 kids, pizza, soft drink, caramel popcorn and chocolate whilst slung across mattresses and lazy boys in the lounge watching Harry Potter 5 projected onto a precariously pinned bedsheet, watched Mr. & Mrs Smith for the first time, enjoyed it in spite of the controversy it started! Made pancakes from a packet for the first time, burnt pancakes, ran out of maple syrup, honey just didn't cut it. Dropped kids to school, dropped mini van back to it's owners, pondered over the political debate between radio presenters on whether or not to drug test receivers of welfare payments, discussed these ponderings over a glass of bubbles with a much loved girlfriend Janet.

Friday already and our Gold Coast Show Food Fantastic Extravaganza begins with a green curry bang and the chef demos keep coming 10am-3pm!  Woody of Thai Thai claimed several new fans, as did The Wine Barrel, Samphire Bites, Glass and Inside Taste!  discovered Mason Wines.  made a new friend in the owner.  looking forward to visiting the Eagle Heights winery soon for a delicious red. 

early arrival of slumber at 5.30pm.  4am to rise and head to Palm Beach markets. First day of spring, not a cloud in the sky. Wished for a happy day. Wish granted babysitting twin 3yr old girls for high school girlfriend. Got duped by the cheeky monkeys who made me believe they were afraid of the dark. Duped again into giving them treats secretly adoring every minute of their antics, let them wrestle with each other and delight in fits of giggles. Let them fall asleep on me and I bathed in our comforting cuddle puddle. Listened to them snore and wondered how long I had to lay there until I could carry them to their beds? Made the move after half an hour. Success!

1Am to bed, followed by the alarm, Snooze only once and burst into action, 7am. Load up the ute with my salvaged, restored, refurbished homewares, head to my partner on the carny circuit's, load her wares along with our jointly purchased marquee. Big day that shopping day, including a forklift 2 free cappucinos and a relaxing chit chat on a gorgeous display 7 piece outdoor bar setting, brushed timber, extremely comfortable and available for just $799 courtesy of Bunnings.   Thanks Steve!  Arrive in Currumbin and set up the markets with fellow creatives and budding entrepeneurs, a la moi.  Giggle with our neighbour under fruitful lemon and orange trees, search for rocks to stablize our display on our sloping position.  success!  admire our stall - so inviting, so colourful. . . . so bias!  taste homewares time to sell.  another happy dance soon follows.  decide happy dance needs some work.  more sales ensue, day's declared a success!  Home to stew on the market in 2 weeks time and  source new wooden pieces for restoration and a lil' tlc.  Work on website, work on advertising, work on marketing our new concept of a floating restaurant!  search for participants to trial tour including 3 hour cruise on an open air boat, 3 course sit down dinner, 9 tables with bar, glass of bubbles and amuse bouche upon arrival, bottles of wine with dinner, live music, for just $65 per person.  Max. capacity of 36 guests.  maiden voyage to take place Thursday 27 September, 6.30pm departure!  Please contact p: 0406 783596 e: tastetours1@gmail.com for further

details and menu!  Looking forward to hosting these with a new menu and cruising location each week!  So excited!  Hope you 'get on board' too! xx

Market or not to Market?

So, been doing a bit of research lately, trolling around the various markets of Broadbeach, Surfers, Miami Marketta, Palm Beach, Burleigh, Nerang and really, here's where I'm after your feedback. . . . ... . . . . . To market or not to market?  I have found there to be a large gap in the food stalls for healthy options.  I know you're at a farmers market, you're surrounded by healthy fruits and vegetables, but nothing put together.  It's all bacon and egg rolls, turkish quesadilla's, deep fried falafel or chicken and cakes, let's not forget all the delicious sugary delights to indulge upon.  I'm all about the healthy eating these days, not just to keep the fat at bay but for cleaner healthier insides, for the positive all over feeling I get, Also, I'm getting older and with disease and terminal illness on the rise instead of diminishing I want to reap the benefits from nutrients, anti-oxidants, vitamins etc., because the earth provided us seeds to sew, grow, eat and repeat!  Plus I now have a business and see potential opportunities available for healthy and delicious salads, wraps, gluten free muffins and muesli bars. . . . . YUM!  Now doesn't that sound more appetising than a hot dog?

For now, we're just doing the investigative and market research to check viability but it seems like there is a niche in 'the market' (pardon the pun) and TASTE  TOURS has every intention of filling it!
If you have a suggestion of what you think would make a great snack or lunch option at the markets, please let me know and we'll see what we can do!!!  Until next time, have a great week and keep smiling! xo

FOOD FANTASTIC @ The Gold Coast Show!

TASTE  TOURS has been given the fantastic opportunity of opening the FOOD  FANTASTIC  tent on the first day of the Gold Coast Show, 31 August!  With approximately over 20,000 visitors expected to attend this year it will be wonderful exposure and a chance to showcase to the Gold Coast locals and visitors just what talented chefs we have at our disposal.

Showcasing their talents in 45min. chef demonstrations will be:

10am-10.15am    Woody of THAI  THAI  cooking a traditional Thai Green Curry with coconut rice
11am-11.15am  Warren of THE  WINE  BARREL cooking pork belly with chilli caramel and prawn & coriander dumplings
12pm-12.15pm  SEBASTIEN of INSIDE  TASTE curing salmon with                                                        fruit sferification
                                                     1pm-1.15pm    James of SAMPHIRE  BITES schucking and                                                                                garnishing Oysters  
Be sure to come on down and show your support, sample the delicious meals cooking in our kitchen and enter the draw to win a TASTE  TOUR of your own!

PAPERWORK. . . . BLAARGH

I always look forward to the end of the financial year.  The chance to start fresh and anew, the intention to keep organised and up to date in all areas of business, car maintenance, personal development and health.  The nice little 'bonus' to that hits my bank account at the beginning of the month, soon to be depleted before the end of the month. . . . . .  and so it goes.  Somehow, I inevitably get off track rather early in the piece and keeping my cash book up to date is the real thorn in my side.

My system is this: throw every and any receipts into a bowl housed next to our fruit bowl.  Once a week, I clean this bowl out, right up any tax deductions and purchases into my cashbook so that I can be ready to submit my monthly and / or quarterly P&L Report to my business mentor at NEIS.  This is a job I procrastinate on quite a bit. . . . . .  this and the whole social media stuff!  So, the picture above is basically a picture of what I have to do today.  Complete all entries, photocopy and then file all receipts for if and when I ever get audited.  I know I could have a computer cashbook, but I do actually enjoy making the entries and I find it quite relaxing, meditative work - like a sudoku; I enjoy numbers, enjoy putting them in all the right columns and making sure each column adds up the way it should.  Nerdy I know but we all have our idiosyncrasies. . . . .  if this is the worst of mine, it aint half bad I reckon!

Quiet Essentials

Staying motivated is hard for everyone at some point in their lives – whether completing school / uni assignments, meeting work deadlines, doing the housework or finishing your knitting or papier mache project! For myself, most important in staying motivated is a tidy and private work area. At the time of opening business my study space had been temporarily occupied by my brother in law for 6 months. Once vacated, I came to realise I did not possess a desk. Rather important oversight. Thanks to my beautiful friend SEWELLE and her mother in-law, I have now inherited a family heirloom and perfect work space for me to spread out, get comfortable and put my head down and bum up. And just in time. It's been a hectic week following the Great South East special we had air Sunday promoting Taste Tours, bookings for a 50^th birthday party, 70^th birthday party, 3 lunches and an end of year Xmas party all in 5 days. Time to put the head down again and get back to it! So happy to be so busy. Have a great week all! T. x

The Great South East!

Approximately 6 weeks ago a motley crew of 8 guests, 1 guide, a TV Host, Cameraman and his assistant spent the day eating, drinking and filming a segment to promote TASTE  TOURS and lastnight it made it's debut on Channel 7's The Great South East!  This was a fantastic opportunity given to me and now I just need to ride the ripple it created and surf it as far as it will carry me!

The feedback myself and the restaurants received has been outstanding and rewarding in itself and the bookings have already been coming in along with more facebook likes and more sign ups for the Supper Club.  It is very exciting times.  Stomach butterflies are fluttering, mind bees are buzzing - I can't wait to get out there tomorrow to do some hotel rounds handing out my brochures and see how many more people caught TASTE  TOURS on the show yesterday.

I will try to put the segment up on facebook or the blog sometime soon, but in the meantime, here are a few photos and a link to the Great South East's website where we are currently featured.

If you happened to catch the segment and have any feedback, PLEASE send it on through.  Negative, Positive, Ideas all welcomed!  Have a great week! T. x


http://www.greatsoutheast.com.au/gsec2cqw/story.asp?weekID=988&storyID=4548