Awn Kitchen

“It must be nice to only work 6-9:30.” “Being your own boss… Nice.” “So, how many days a week do you do this? Once or twice?” “Is this all you do?” “Is this your full-time job?” “Is this place all yours?”
I get these comments a lot. There are, of course lots of positive ones too, that come more often than the negative ones, and those are the ones I focus on. Over time, the negative ones do grind on me a bit. And while I’m calling them negative here, I know even in the moment they aren’t meant to be. When it’s not your job, how would you know?
To answer those questions – an average workday for me is 10+ hours. There is admin - emails, invoicing, bookkeeping, scheduling, social media, planning. There is a lot of shopping each week – multiple stores. I pick up a wine order weekly. Classes require testing, writing, development and reflection. There is laundry, bathroom cleaning, garbage runs, dusting, dishes, table setting, and general cleaning / organizing to do. I have two employees that combined work about 20 hours / week helping with dishes in class and other miscellaneous tasks. I teach an average of six classes / week, and a day “off” still includes work in some capacity.
Being your own boss has its perks, but it also means that the weight of everything is on your shoulders. Yes, it’s all I do! And yes, it’s my more than fulltime job. Yes, it’s my space, but not without the support of family, friends and my small team.
Something I have really been focused on over the last six months is balance in the busyness, truly finding moments of calm and checking out from technology, knowing I don’t have to be available 24/7. Having solid routines and systems helps too.
On the flip – I have a regular client base always encouraging me to continue to find the balance, reminding me to take time away, rallying for me and supporting Awn. When I’m teaching, I feel like I’m hosting a dinner party, meeting so many new people and getting to have wonderful conversations while sharing the values of Awn – it’s the best.
I genuinely love what I do. Small business isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s the most rewarding job out there.

A mission of mine is to share and teach as many people as I can the value of a roast chicken. Roast chicken dinner is one of my favourite meals – simple, comforting, delicious, nutritious and easy to make. I grew up in a house where we had a roast dinner most Sundays – and it’s a fond childhood memory.

Buying chicken pieces costs more than buying a whole chicken for the same amount, the processor has had to do more work, it makes sense. But here’s the thing, with a roast chicken you can please those who love white meat (without drying it out), and those who love dark meat, you get the bonus of a carcass to make stock out of, and you have drippings which once you deglaze are liquid gold. And the chef’s perk, two perfectly delicious roasted wings – which can obviously also be served, but it’s my favourite part of a roast chicken and they rarely make it to the table. At Awn, I’m sure to share the wealth of those perfect wings.

I’ve said it before – I don’t love talking about food being expensive, because I truly believe it shouldn’t be cheap, cheap food has an impact that ripples into many areas. I do think food should be fair – for the farmer, the environment and for the consumer in all the areas it ripples to. With our costs going up – surely, we can understand that farmers are also experiencing the same things within their business meaning yes, they may have to charge more to be profitable.

I love seeing how far I can push one chicken (at home). Last week I roasted a chicken at Awn for class, we used half of it in a chicken pie that if it was a main course would have served six people generously with a salad on the side. I took the rest home and made chicken stew and used some for chicken sandwiches the next day. And there is a carcass in the freezer to make stock with that will be the base of a soup down the road. Eat less meat, better quality – and make the ripple positive.

A roast chicken, it’s easy to chuck into the oven, set a timer and walk away – but it doesn’t have to be used for a roast chicken dinner. It can be sliced or shredded with endless opportunity. I shared a few tips, tricks and recipes about roast chicken over on the blog.