20.4.16

A Day In HER Life - Kerrie Ahern

Hello! I'm Kerrie.

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Photo by Emilie Iggiotti
I live in Hochelaga, Montréal with my fiancé Félix and the most recent addition to our family, a 6 month old brittany spaniel, Phoebe!

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Originally from the UK, I have a background in ceramic arts and education, but have been working more & more with food over the last 5 years. I do recipe testing, some food styling, food events and since moving here from London, I'm now an 'Instagram foodie'! I have slowly built up a following of lovely & loyal people on Instagram & have a blog P'tite Cuisine that is in serious need of an updated makeover (it's happening.. I have a crazy amount of recipes to edit & post!) Part time, I also work at an independent cookbook store, Appetite for Books where I'm literally surrounded by 1000s of recipes and get to meet lots of Montréal's food loving & cooking folk. So ask me anything about food, cooking & recipes and I'll be able to help you out or at least point you in the right direction!

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Anyway.. here's a snapshot of a day in my life! (Well a snapshot of our kitchen actually!)

On an average day, the alarm starts ringing at 7am & I attempt to get myself up, washed and ready. Recently we've actually been waking up closer to 6am as our little lady Phoebe is now turning into a teen pup that thinks everyone should get up & play when she says so.. still some dog training that we need to work on there!

At around 7.45am we go for our first walk of the day. This has become a lot more pleasant in comparison to the freezing winter mornings we've had over the last months. By nature, I'm really more of an evening person, so although the temperature drop can be a shocker, it does lend a hand in waking me up!

After our walk, it's time to feed the pup & then put the kettle on as I grind some coffee beans for my caffeine fix.. This is the point where I have a scan through my Instagram, social media & whatever else is flashing up on my phone that I'm supposed to check. Some days I might post an Instagram picture around this time. On average I post 1 or 2 times a day, though when I have the time or lots of food things are happening I might post more.

Today I'm not working, but if I was then I'd normally be making oatmeal porridge, a fruit smoothie or some toast before heading across town to work in Westmount at the cookbook store. Most mornings I can squeeze in some time to take a quickly styled food shot, either of our breakfast or of something I cooked the day before.

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However as I'm not at the cookbook store today, this Monday morning is more like a Sunday for us.. so I made pancakes! With the extra time I can put a bit more into styling and photographing whatever food I'm making, plus play around with the setup or props. Last week I picked up some bargain 25-50c vintage cutlery at a thrift shop so thought I'd use them with a few of the other bits & bobs in my ever increasing crockery/cutlery/linen/etc collection! On a negative note, Félix often has to patiently wait for me to be done with taking pictures. At least today I haven't got him holding a prop or pouring something so I get the right shot! Joking aside, he's an amazing support & has always encouraged me to do the things I want.. plus he rarely complains about the food sometimes going cold!

After pancakes, Félix works on his client's project & keeps an eye on Phoebe as I get things sorted in the kitchen. Instagram has definitely opened up a few opportunities for me to do styling projects, cookbook recipe testing and also make some nice friends & contacts internationally. This month I have a few different food projects to do & one of my missions is to make a recipe with some ingredients I have been sent.

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With the recipe tested & some pictures taken, I then do some photo editing & transfer images from the ipad & my phone as I need to clear some space. I take way too many photos! At this time I take a moment to post an Instagram picture and reply to any social media comments or emails. I also get a couple of my future posts ready so I can click & pop them up another time.

At around 2.30pm it's time to leave Félix & Phoebe for the afternoon as I gather a few of my linens & props to bring to a photoshoot that I'm doing downtown. I'm working with the FoodLab at SAT for some 'Instagram hosted dinners' over the summer that we need to prep some images for.

We're given some of the ingredients that will be used in the menu to style in our own way & take photos. Here's one of the shots I plated & styled with the ingredients we were given.. no idea if it'll be used for anything, but it's pretty! 

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I speak with a journalist who's doing a write up about the events & then we all stay for a little while to chat and nibble on some of the leftover food. It's already 6pm and time to head home. Felix & I feed Phoebe at about 6.30pm, then head out to walk her and discuss what we need to do for our garden & veggie patch (a lot!). I have a feeling that's what we'll be doing at the weekend!

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Félix & I then have a bite to eat for dinner. Nothing particularly special tonight as there are enough leftovers from recipe tests & my photos that need using up. After eating, tidying up and all that, I take a bit of time to post on Instagram an image from the shoot this afternoon. We then chill out, chat and watch 'Gotham' as Phoebe crashes for the evening. All that's left of the day is a quick tidy & then it's time for us to head to bed.

So that's it! I'm back at work tomorrow, so there'll be less cooking.. but not for very long of course!

Thanks, Kerrie!!

Instagram  @kerrie_ahern  
Twitter  @wouf_woof
Facebook - Ptite Cuisine Blog

1 comment:

  1. Hey Kerrie, love your Instagram, and this peek behind the scenes!

    ReplyDelete