< Update cookies preferences /head> Cook with Toucan - About
Go to content Go to menu
 


About

Hi,

my name is Denisa, but all my friends call me Toucan (it is my nickname from teens). I come and live in the heart of Europe – in the Czech Republic.

Although my education had nothing to do with my job, several years I operated small burger shop (until May 2018).

I loved my job...and taking care of my customers, I looked forward, when I talk with them by tasty burger again.

But...

I am action, talkative and impetuous person. I felt that I needed more latitude, than just constantly make and serve burgers. I felt I needed to squeeze change into my life and start to do something that will fill me.

I have always been person, who has loved food. Not only as a consumer (because I am an unbelievable glutton), but also as an enthusiastic cook, who likes cooking (I am very pleased, when I see person, who enjoys my dish).

So I created this food blog in January 2018.

During April 2018, many things changed. Many roads around my burger shop were closed by the city officers (due to reconstructions that will take whole season). From day to day my shop had very few customers, so I had to end my business (it is not possible to fight with closures). From 1st May 2018 I have new job.

But the creation of food blog wasn’t immediately...

I thought for a long time, how I could change my monotonous life (during 2015 and 2016) and how I could adjust it to my crazy nature. The most important thing was thinking about, what I love to do most of all...which was simple – to cook well and eat with taste! So I started to think about food blog.

But it’s me, the eternal procrastinator, so the plans stayed several months only by thinking. My parents could no longer look at it and forced me (they wanted to drive somewhere and the way went “unplanned” around bookshop) to buy book The End of Procrastination (about the end of chronic postponing of duties). At the time I bravely postponed purchase of this book too, although I personally came with information that this book exists. This book taught me, to my amazement, to organize my life.

Suddenly I started to manage all my duties and I was less stressed. But on the other hand, one thing stayed constantly the same. I felt that I still live my monotonous life. I was like a mouse running on a tread wheel.

And then came big reversal – in December 2016 I met my current boyfriend...

…who still tasted my dishes and listened stories, how it will be smashing to make my own food blog one time.

He started to appeal to me that it’s nice I observe points from book and I draw clouds with duties I need to do for my current job...but that he sees no clouds that devotes a new project – food blog. So I started to add them, every week minimal one or two. Yes, maybe it was not much, but for chronic procrastinator it was really too much.

Then I bought new handy, which enabled taking pictures of my dishes. Into this step prodded me my younger brother several months, until I understood, that he thought good to me. During each cooking I took paper and started to note all ingredients and their amount I used by dish preparation. In the next days, if I had several free minutes, I rewrote recipe into usable form.

But in this time I had another problem. My English is not good as it was, as I studied. So I contacted my friend Alexandra, who lives in California, if she could make at least partial English correction of my recipes. At the start I was afraid of her reaction and that she will not want to spend too much time with reading recipes. But reality was different – she was willing to help me, for which I would like to thank her so much.

At last I created folder with several tested, compiled and translated recipes in my notebook. So then nothing kept me from creation food blog, which you are reading.

I live in Czech Republic and speak Czech. Why am I writing my food blog in English? Because I don’t love cooking and tasting of good dishes only, but communication with people too. So I don’t want to be limited with Czech. And although I’m not professional cook, writer, stylist, photographer or translator...but rather enthusiast, crazy person and eternal dreamer...I hope I could maybe somebody inspire or motivate.

Motivate to what? To cook, experiment, taste, create...because cooking is not bore!  Hopefully impress you this food blog little...

So cook, experiment, taste, but mainly enjoy life! Good dishes and people you love belong undoubtedly to it.

Enjoy your meal and good luck during the cooking!

Toucan wink

PS. Everybody has dreams. My dream is to write cookbook one time...

 

About blog

All my recipes have the same structure: photography, list of ingredients, preparation and tips.

In List of ingredients you can find not only the amount you should use, but the preparation of ingredients too (to peel, cut, chop, size of cubes etc.).

Part Preparation shows the main preparation of dish. If you are more experienced cook, this part will probably sufficient for you (so you don’t have to lose time with reading about culinary techniques and advices during cooking).

If you are beginner or less experienced cook, maybe you welcome advices that are included in Tips. There are many culinary techniques in this part, about them you could think during cooking (how to peel tomato, what other ingredients you can use instead of ingredients that are used in my recipes).

Although I usually cook in European kitchen units (kg, g, l, ml, °C), I added American and British kitchen units (lb., oz., pt. UK, cups, °F) to my recipes. So you have not to lose time with conversion.