Test Kitchen SA in Adelaide, South Australia | Caterer

Test Kitchen SA

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

Phone: +61 407 617 534

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25.01.2022 My husbands family had a big red farm table in their kitchen. It was never ever just their family at meal time. There were always chairs and stools pulled in f...rom the living room and people sharing half a chair to scarf down bowls of chicken dumpling soup and homemade bread. His Mom never saw a meal she couldnt make bigger. If you were around, you ate, period. There was always room at her table, and there was always food to share (there still is). People passed platters and shouted across the table. Someone was always up out of their chair telling a rowdy story while everyone roared with laughter. Mom was pouring you more to drink before youd finished and the warm loaves with thick slabs of butter kept on coming. The conversations were always so good that no one would move from the table until mom would ritualistically go into the living room and light candles and turn on lamps and tell everyone to move to the living room where it was more comfortable while she pulled apple pies out to the oven and started serving dessert. From the first second I sat at that red table I fell in love. From the first second I sat at that red table, I wanted to one day make my own. Six years later we were married with two kids and we were lonely. We bought an ugly table at a yard sale with forest green legs for 30$. Graham sanded it down and painted it white and the kids immediately did art projects that left scribbles and paint marks all over the surface. I put a candle on it and we started inviting. I was terrified when we started. What if there was nothing to talk about? What if it was awkward? What if people dont want to be at my table? What if I made gross food on accident? What if they look at my cabinet fronts that I never cleaned and realized we were gross and never come back? But we took deep breaths, and we did it anyway. I made bbq pork in the crockpot for sandwiches, I tried my hand at potato soup, and one time I bought frozen pizzas and doctored them with extra cheese. A few times during the winter when we were broke we had potato parties. I baked a 2.99 bag of potatoes and everyone brought toppings. We lit a fire and pulled out board games. Everyone brought beer, and I made box brownies. Soon our table wasnt so quiet anymore. Id be the one to interrupt the conversation and say, You guys want to move to the living room where its more comfortable? Wed put the kids to bed and stay up late telling stories and laughing till our stomachs ached. We didnt have a lot of money, our table was covered with marks, our house was never pristinely clean, but it didnt matter. We found people to do life with. We found people that wanted to gather around our cheap white table. We found people that loved to eat potatoes filled with butter and cheese and who never turned up their nose at Betty Crocker turtle brownies. We learned that the way to make a table like the red table was to just start. It has been eight years since then and many of the same people gather around our table to this day as well as new ones weve met along the way. Now the table is black with a strip missing from the top. I still dont clean my cabinet fronts. We used to be the only ones with kids and now theres about a bazillion between us all. Were Auntie Jess and Uncle Graham to their kids and they are Auntie and Uncle to ours. Weve wiped every butt, held every baby, and hugged every one of them after they got an owie. The kids room is now full when its movie time and only the babies are tucked away in pack n plays while the parents stay up late. We have our red table. Its black and I dont make homemade bread, but weve made it our own. We dont have so many potato parties anymore, but now we have weekly nacho nights. The important part is we gather. If its a bad day, we gather. If its a good day, we gather. If we havent made it out our sweatpants, perfect, we gather. Written by Wonderoak by Jess Johnston Follow Sister, I am with you. for more.

24.01.2022 Sharing a meal with friends; building a social network of hosts and guests #buildingneighbourhoods #Tablehood #friends #food #socialmealtimes

24.01.2022 Helping the community of Living Choice Woodcroft connect and enjoy each others company this Christmas season #weeattogether #tablehood

24.01.2022 Talking about Death Over Dinner: "when you look in the eye of the Dragon, its not as scary as you thought" Thanks to The Sands Lifestyle Village for allowing us the privilege of joining this conversation ... #KnowledgeIsPower #AgeIsCatchingUp #NotScary #Sharing

24.01.2022 Happy St Paddys Day! #tobesure #bitofIrishinallofus #lucky

22.01.2022 What does it take to live for 100 years? These are the surprising predictors of a long, healthy life. Watch the full TED Talk here: http://t.ted.com/nMk9fKb

20.01.2022 What a great afternoon with the neighbours ! Making new friends, catching up with others (And plenty of waves and smiles from people passing by!); a fantastic way to finish a long weekend Until next time.... #buildingbetterneighbourhoods #cheers #longweekends #notlonelyanymore

20.01.2022 Come along and see how fellow Adelaideans are bringing their neighbours together over meals and creating neighbourhoods that look after each other. See what others are doing, and get support to find YOUR way. #Tablehood #tablesettingAdelaide

19.01.2022 What an AMAZING day! Our first visit to Living Choice Woodcroft was a huge success - plenty of smiles and the sound of banter filling the room. We can hardly wait for Melbourne Cup day! The anticipation is going to keep us all awake like kids at Christmas. The Living Choice Woodcroft Residents are sketching ideas for their pre-race millinery session....the bubbles are chillin and we can already taste the roast beef!

19.01.2022 It all started when One Monday morning, I went for a walk in a neigbourhood nearby a retirement village where myself and a friend were running a regular midda...y dinner service. I encountered a 95 year-old lady, Elizabeth, who was waiting at her front gate for someone to pick her up. After having established that I was not from the neighbourhood, and her sharing her story of migration to Australia, the loss of her husband 30 years ago, and her pining away inside her home, she asked what brought me to the area. I told her about the lunch time services we ran to make sure older people who lived on their own had others to eat with on a regular basis. Her face then lit up as she told me about the neighbours down on the corner who had others from the neighbourhood over for dinner every Monday night. Within five minutes, that very neighbour pulled up in his car on the way to the shops, to see if Elizabeth was coming for dinner that night. Well, long story short - an invitation was extended to me too. What came out of this chance encounter was a lot of learning about local initiatives and the first Tablehood videostory. We have since found others, who in their own ways, are doing similar things, we have shared our stories over numerous lunches and together have created Tablehood. Whilst the WHO, WHAT, and HOW of each story is beautifully unique, it is the WHY that unites this Tablehood of human hospitality and love. We eat together to build relationships, to belong, and to support each other in our daily lives. Our vision is for a world where more neighbours eat together to support each other to live and age well. Join us at Tablesetting Adelaide to see and feel more of the stories of neighbourly hospitality and to discover your place in the Tablehood.

19.01.2022 Our newest recruit! Getting ready for our 2019 start next week... #nopapercuts #childlabour #TK2019 #lotsofdeliveries

18.01.2022 The team helping to spread Christmas cheer across Adelaide’s retirement villages this Christmas. Wishing you all a Christmas and festive season of good times with family, friends and neighbours. #weeattogether #tablehood

17.01.2022 A huge "Thanks" to the staff at CBA Firle for nominating TK for an Award. Twas a lovely surprise to hear that wed won!! A $500 Grant will go towards capturing our video stories for the Tablehood project: supporting and promoting sharing a meal with- and getting to know- our neighbours. Thanks to Gabby, Branch Manager, for supporting our efforts.

15.01.2022 Check it out: early connections of community of innovators who practice neighbourhood hospitality with shared purpose of fostering neighbourhood #connection #belonging: co-creating Tablehood #creatingbetterneighbourhoods

15.01.2022 We enjoy supporting people to enjoy social interaction over meals. Our understandings are that isolation (objective) and loneliness (subjective) are linked to reduce food intake (and under-nutrition) in older people. Pair that with evidence from Paquet et al. (2008) that the social interactions experienced when eating with others, is associated with greater food intake..... then throw in the smiles, laughter and expressions of joy ... thats enough to drive us #eatsocial #Tablehood

14.01.2022 Great new friends at our latest Lifestyle Retirement village: Living Choice Woodcroft Such a pleasure to serve a lively group of people! Let the fun begin!

13.01.2022 Too perfect to not repost!

13.01.2022 Helping the community of Living Choice Woodcroft connect and enjoy each other’s company this Christmas season #weeattogether #tablehood

12.01.2022 Merry Christmas from our Family to yours xxx

11.01.2022 My husband’s family had a big red farm table in their kitchen. It was never ever just their family at meal time. There were always chairs and stools pulled in f...rom the living room and people sharing half a chair to scarf down bowls of chicken dumpling soup and homemade bread. His Mom never saw a meal she couldn’t make bigger. If you were around, you ate, period. There was always room at her table, and there was always food to share (there still is). People passed platters and shouted across the table. Someone was always up out of their chair telling a rowdy story while everyone roared with laughter. Mom was pouring you more to drink before you’d finished and the warm loaves with thick slabs of butter kept on coming. The conversations were always so good that no one would move from the table until mom would ritualistically go into the living room and light candles and turn on lamps and tell everyone to move to the living room where it was more comfortable while she pulled apple pies out to the oven and started serving dessert. From the first second I sat at that red table I fell in love. From the first second I sat at that red table, I wanted to one day make my own. Six years later we were married with two kids and we were lonely. We bought an ugly table at a yard sale with forest green legs for 30$. Graham sanded it down and painted it white and the kids immediately did art projects that left scribbles and paint marks all over the surface. I put a candle on it and we started inviting. I was terrified when we started. What if there was nothing to talk about? What if it was awkward? What if people don’t want to be at my table? What if I made gross food on accident? What if they look at my cabinet fronts that I never cleaned and realized we were gross and never come back? But we took deep breaths, and we did it anyway. I made bbq pork in the crockpot for sandwiches, I tried my hand at potato soup, and one time I bought frozen pizzas and doctored them with extra cheese. A few times during the winter when we were broke we had potato parties. I baked a 2.99 bag of potatoes and everyone brought toppings. We lit a fire and pulled out board games. Everyone brought beer, and I made box brownies. Soon our table wasn’t so quiet anymore. I’d be the one to interrupt the conversation and say, You guys want to move to the living room where it’s more comfortable? We’d put the kids to bed and stay up late telling stories and laughing till our stomachs ached. We didn’t have a lot of money, our table was covered with marks, our house was never pristinely clean, but it didn’t matter. We found people to do life with. We found people that wanted to gather around our cheap white table. We found people that loved to eat potatoes filled with butter and cheese and who never turned up their nose at Betty Crocker turtle brownies. We learned that the way to make a table like the red table was to just start. It has been eight years since then and many of the same people gather around our table to this day as well as new ones we’ve met along the way. Now the table is black with a strip missing from the top. I still don’t clean my cabinet fronts. We used to be the only ones with kids and now there’s about a bazillion between us all. We’re Auntie Jess and Uncle Graham to their kids and they are Auntie and Uncle to ours. We’ve wiped every butt, held every baby, and hugged every one of them after they got an owie. The kids room is now full when it’s movie time and only the babies are tucked away in pack n plays while the parents stay up late. We have our red table. It’s black and I don’t make homemade bread, but we’ve made it our own. We don’t have so many potato parties anymore, but now we have weekly nacho nights. The important part is we gather. If it’s a bad day, we gather. If it’s a good day, we gather. If we haven’t made it out our sweatpants, perfect, we gather. Written by Wonderoak by Jess Johnston Follow Sister, I am with you. for more.

11.01.2022 Like a fine wine, its better not to keep it bottled up... and, like a field of corn, were all ears! Join our TK Family. Stay a while.

11.01.2022 The team helping to spread Christmas cheer across Adelaides retirement villages this Christmas. Wishing you all a Christmas and festive season of good times with family, friends and neighbours. #weeattogether #tablehood

11.01.2022 Something special with tonights fish dinner...edible beach sand! Just a little quirky addition to our Dining Experience #moveoverHeston #TKDiningExperiences #ediblesand #sharingwithfriends #donteattheshells

09.01.2022 #togetherisbetter

08.01.2022 #AgeHasNoLimits #ShakeItLikeIts1999 #orroroo2018

08.01.2022 Some news from our friends at The Lifestyle People that may be of interest.... As I think you know, we are not Mortgage Brokers at The Lifestyle People, we are Lifestyle Planners. Of-course, part of thorough Lifestyle Planning is to minimise the cost of loans, insurances, tax, etc. The Adviser magazine of 30/8/18 says: In the wake of Westpacs decision to hike home loan rates, the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) has called on Mortgage Brokers to stay on top... of changes to help clients manage market fluctuations. For example, Westpacs standard variable residential investment property loan rate is about to increase to 6.44% for interest only repayments! A Victorian Mortgage Broker has lashed out in the magazine, saying Its just plain stupid (for people) to miss out on the opportunities that can come and go. However, Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North says 40% of people have recently been refused a refinance to save thousands of dollars every year. If you go back a year only 5% were refused. This is my point - people need the expertise of a good Mortgage Broker ASAP to see what the various major banks, smaller banks and non-bank lenders are doing and possibly make significant savings while they can. The Prime Minister Mr Scott Morrison recently said Australians must be more active in exercising their power as consumers if the banking system is to work as it should. Please talk to someone soon! If youre not sure what to do or who to talk to, please feel free to call me. I can organise a quick and simple review if you wish, provide you with a free spreadsheet to keep that shows any savings possibilities and organise implementation if you want us to. The latest restructure we implemented saved a Mt Gambier couple more than $11,000 per year!

07.01.2022 This is the sort of impact neighbourly hospitality can have on people lives. Currently were working hard to create more social impact through the type of workforce (and personal development mentoring) we can connect in to our service experiences. Ideas welcome about what segments of job seekers our service roles might fit, and how best to mentor these job seekers?

07.01.2022 #weeattogether this Christmas at The Sands Lifestyle Village. We are proud to be helping your community to come together this Christmas. #tablehood

06.01.2022 Kicking off the Festive Season in Orroroo... Merry Christmas to Orroroo District Hospital, Orroroo Community Home and Orroroo Medical Centre #christmasinthebush #friends #testkitchendoesitbest #workparty

05.01.2022 Hear and feel the Community Dinner story this Saturday at Tablesetting Adelaide and meet the people behind it (Steve and Jeanette) for tips on how to start your own version of it.

04.01.2022 Another great story from the Tablehood. Individually, we make a difference to people in our community, collectively as a tablehood we create societal change.

04.01.2022 Couldnt we all be a bit more neighbourly? Get in touch if youd like to be part of our latest movement toward building - or rebuilding - connections close to your home. Lets look out for each other. It takes but a few minutes a day. #betterneighbourhoods #testkitchen #togetherisbetter

03.01.2022 Lets begin with sharing a meal together. We are currently exploring ways of (re)connecting with our neighbours, to come together to share a meal Interested? Get in touch. Everyone is welcome to share ideas and experiences- and wed love to support your next neighbourly catch-up!

03.01.2022 Test Kitchen customers talk about the value they get and the impact it has on their lives.

02.01.2022 Our latest media piece: Belonging at the Table (Click on "News" tab, then "Belonging at the table" on the right)... Please get in touch if it resonates with you! http://www.weekendplus.sa.gov.au/#