A New Venture

Hi there DL fans,

I wanted to share with you a new venture that I am - hopefully - embarking on. While my lovely partner Margaret has some exciting ventures of her own bubbling away (see what I did there?!), I have been out of work since then end of 2010.

Now, at the time, redundancy seemed like a great idea, but if you'd told be then that I'd still be out of work nearly 2 whole years later, I'd have probably laughed. I suppose, when you are working, it's easy to ignore how bad the recession is as it is not really affecting you that badly...

Anyhow, 2 years on and it's biting HARD. The cleaning lady went pretty much straight away, but have since been followed by all sorts of things that I used to consider necessities - Estée Lauder make up (Rimmel is quite good, actually!), expensive highlights in my hair - all the usuals.

My usual field of work is customer service, but as I working in quite a niche area (somewhere between customer service, training, support and sales, but yet none of those things, exactly) I thought I had loads of experience and would be snapped up. Instead I find that employers today are so spoiled for choice with candidates that they can pick and choose a candidate with almost spot on experience, and unfortunately that's never me.

I have also loved being at home with the mini DinnerLadies, bringing my eldest daughter to school everyday is a luxury, really.

So I've been trying to think laterally - if I can help it, I don't really want to go back to the grind of 9 to 5, 5 days a week (before I left, I was doing three days, it's very hard to back to full time when you have small children and I guess that probably came across in interviews too).

As you know by now, I LOVE food and cooking and baking. I also have a strong background in training, and I do love helping people - as you can see from some of my "step by step" posts on here.

So, after a disappointment with the HSE and their food training programme, I decided that maybe I'd branch out on my own. I started by investigating children's parties and classes, and while I am still pursuing that option, it is going to take a long time - the Garda vetting process alone will take a long time (even though I've already been through it to join the school Parent's Association... You need to re-submit for each venture, who knew?!)

So, after listening to the Ray D'Arcy show on TodayFM last week and hearing all the tales of people who left home unable to cook (as I did, myself - I was interested, and tried and had a bit of a notion from watching my Mum, but I never did "domestic science" and didn't even know how to boil an egg, really), I thought that maybe ADULTS might like a cookery class.

Young people starting out, leaving home for the first time (maybe starting college and away from home for the first time) and unsure of the basics - give me a call! Nutritious, budget-savvy meals are at your fingertips.

Ladies - are you fed up cooking every night and do you long for your other half to surprise you with an even halfway edible meal some night, for your birthday or just a Saturday night "date night" at home? Send him along!

Unsure where to start with baking? I could tailor a lesson to cakes, or sponges, or pastry, or buns, or simple desserts, or whatever you like.

Flummoxed by what to plan when having friends over for dinner? Again, a "dinner party" themed lesson might suit.

Classes would be small - a couple of hours, 2 or 4 people max (my kitchen is small!) here in my house, or alternatively I could do a lesson in your own kitchen... It's up to you.

While away a winter's evening, or squeeze something super-productive into that couple of hours while the little ones are at school - I really am open to what suits the client and my diary, at this stage, is completely empty.

I have my insurance quotes in and I am now good to go - if people are interested! So please email to sarah.hassell@hotmail.com or just give me a call on 086 9795054.

Many thanks,
Sarah xx