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Latest News

The Men’s Kitchen is about to kick off in Canberra, can you assist? 

 

With the Assistance of Woden Community Service, we are about to cook up a storm in Canberra and are calling for volunteers to help teach men to cook. (We help men who are around 60-95.)

We are seeking women and men who are competent home cooks, cooking teachers and professionals to volunteer in the kitchen in Canberra. 

We are also looking for volunteers with skills in accounting, bookkeeping, admin, funding and management.

If you would like to assist us to bring this fantastic program to Canberra, please complete this form to let us know a bit more about you.

I would like to help in Canberra

We will be formally launching our program in Woden on March 27th. To join us for a cuppa and nibbles and find out more, please register with Sam Silver at info.cn@menskitchen.org.au

Tell me more about the Canberra Kitchen.

 

The Men's Kitchen Ku-ring-gai is awarded community group of the year

Our Ku-ring-gai team were very proud to have received in their first year of operation -The Mayor’s Award for an Outstanding Contribution by a Community Group - at the Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony at Knox Grammar yesterday. 

We sincerely thank all our volunteers and sponsors supporting our initiatives and thank the Community for its support.

Council details of the awards at the Australia Day celebration

Attending to receive the award (L-R): Michel, Dawn, Ian, Brian and Jim 

Great work team.

 “What do you do Clive?”

A first hand account of cooking at the Men’s Kitchen.

"I was a mining engineer before covid struck and it occurred to me as a convenient time to hang up my boots and retire. I was asked to join the Men’s Kitchen by a friend at Probus.

So, I thought: Why not? The timing was right. And I suppose you could say that a couple of my friends had shamed me into learning to cook!

Increasingly I found that I was going to social gatherings at friends’ houses and ‘the man of the house’ would disappear into the kitchen and come back having cooked everyone dinner.

“What do you do Clive?” they started saying to me, tongue in cheek. The more our male friends were doing the cooking, the more it got me thinking. I realised I could no longer sit on my bum whilst my wife made me dinner! 

It wasn’t that I was completely kitchen clueless. I was a guy who could cook for my family. I could boil an egg and maybe cook a chop.

I needed to up my game.

I thought to myself: What the hell, my wife’s cooked for 52 years. We lived in America with our children during my career. She studied nursing there and looked after our kids and still did the cooking, so I really figured it was my turn. (And yes, we’re still married!) 

So in the last six months, I had been trying to break out of the meat and three veg mould. I joined the Men's Kitchen in July.

I’m not frightened by any recipe now. This is where Men’s Kitchen has been very helpful. You learn to cook dishes that are interesting and different.

I am currently going to Men’s Kitchen once a month but am keen to go twice a month when additional sessions open in Turramurra. The first dish I cooked at the Men's Kitchen was Chicken with Bacon and Mushrooms. We served it with mashed potatoes and garlic bread. It was a great dish and absolutely delicious.

I was impressed no end with the assistance we got from our instructors. I was working with Ben. I could really relate to him so easily. He taught us all sorts of things, and some things that may sound obvious but can be overlooked when you’re new to cooking; like don’t walk around the kitchen waving your sharp knife in the air.  In that first session, for dessert we had Smashed Lemon Vanilla Cheesecake served in a glass. It was impressive. For our next session, we did Moussaka for main course. For dessert we made Apple Galette served with ice cream. It was extremely tasty and very classy.

I use the Men’s Kitchen recipe book at home. This week, I made a Chicken Braise. I went out and bought the listed ingredients. It was a variation on the first dish I did at Men’s Kitchen. I followed the simple instructions and it was really good.  I’m not yet at the point in my cooking career where I can put my own spin on dishes, but with about 100 recipes in the Men’s Kitchen recipe book, I figure that if I can work my way through that, I’m doing OK.

I keep myself reasonably busy with family, friends and other commitments, but it’s not difficult to find half a day a month, or half a day twice a month to learn how to cook.

My wife is happy as Larry that I am taking over the kitchen, leaving her to cook the cakes and biscuits that she’s expert at. This is a very different sort of Clive. I said to my wife the other day: Soon I want to get six or so of our good friends around for dinner and I want to do all of the cooking.

Then I can impress them no end when they say: “What do you Clive?”

I can say: I do the cooking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second Kitchen is now open in Ku-ring-gai

When we opened our first Kitchen in Lindfleld in 2022 we had a significant waiting list even after we launched three monthly cooking sessions there.  Now almost 12 months later, having had time to let our operations in Lindfield stabilise, and with a big thank you to the Ku-ring-gai Council and to the Federal member for Bradfield, Paul Fletcher for financially supporting this expansion and to Sheldon & Hammond for donating many high quality kitchen utensils, we have now opened a second Kitchen further north in Ku-ring-gai in the Turramurra Uniting Church Hall.

Our initial monthly cooking session is fully subscribed, but we have plenty of room in our second and third monthly cooking sessions which will become available later in the year once we have recruited and trained further instructors.

Interested in being an instructor or a member? Call Ian on 0421 511 733 or email to info.kg@menskitchen.org.au.

New Director Appointed

The Men’s Kitchen Association is very pleased to announce the appointment of Arran Curll as our newest director.  With Arran’s appointment the board now comprises: David Brettell, John Fraser-Hills, Michael Norsa, Arran Curll and Peter Watson as directors with Samantha Silver as our company secretary.

Arran brings a wealth of both financial and Lifeline experience to our organisation. He is an authentic and engaging leader with more than 25 years’ experience across the financial and not for profit sectors and has experienced of the joys and challenges of being a small business owner over many years. He has a track record of success in strategic, financial, and operational management, business development, governance, and mental health services.

Arran has hands on experience supporting people in difficult financial circumstances. He says his proudest career achievements to date have been overseeing Lifeline Canberra supporting the community through the Black Summer and Covid pandemic, and prior to his recent business sale, leading the growth and cultural development of his financial advice business Much More Than Money.  He is now looking to devote his time and energy to the not for profit sector and helping people experiencing distress.

 

 

Northern Beaches enjoys a fantastic Christmas Lunch

Christmas at the Northern Beaches Men's Kitchen was again a grand event on the Men's Kitchen calendar for 2022. This year around 110 people gathered in Warriewood to celebrate the end of the 2022 and to meet new and old friends.

One man said that he met several blokes he had not seen for some 40+ years as they were all in TAFE together all those years earlier. Ron said "The Xmas Lunch was tops - all at our table renewed acquaintances (after some decades) and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion."

The fantastic meal was again prepared by our Head Chef Chris C. and many of our cooking instructors.  We are very grateful of the effort Chris and her team put in to make it a fantastic day.  

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the donation of food donations from Woolworths at Warriewood, Glenrose and Forestway shopping centres and fruit and vegetables from FruitEzy at Chatswood Chase.  Thank you for your generosity.

For your copy of the Reflections of the day click here.

Ku-ring-gai District Launched

On Wednesday the 31st August 2022 the Men's Kitchen launched our newest District in Ku-ring-gai.  The event was a public demonstration of how we run a cooking session plus some information presented about who we are.

At this event, attended by around 50 people interested in becoming a part of the Men's Kitchen, the group was presented with a brief outline while five of our current members prepared Lamb Biryani and Lemon Curd Cheesecake to be sampled at the end.

The Ku-ring-gai mayor Cr Jeff Pettett welcomed the Men's Kitchen to Ku-ring-gai saying how much he thought the area needed the services we provide.

Jemena financially supports the launch of the Men's Kitchen in Ku-ring-gai

Jemena, the company that delivers natural gas to the entire Sydney basin has recognised the contribution to the people of Ku-ring-gai that the Men's Kitchen will make.  To assist us with our initial set up and launch costs Jemena has granted us $5,400 which will go a long way to buying all the utensils, appliances and other bits needed to conduct our first cooking session.

Usman Sadaat, Jemena's General Manager, Customer & Commercial presented Peter Watson with a cheque on the day.