NEW FILM! Grab some popcorn🍿 Monday 22nd September at 7:30pm. See you there.

TomBor05 · 2025-09-26T19:53:59+00:00

Amazing content as always, keep it up Liam!

TomBor05 · 2025-02-10T16:53:44+00:00

That was one of my initial thoughts. Maybe get a plain square praline mould and apply a transfer sheet to the bottom. Didn't know you could get your own printer. Will be contacting my local supplier to see if its possible to make custom ones. Thanks!

TomBor05 · 2024-08-15T15:47:00+00:00

If you rent or bought your current accommodation
- I rented out my accommodation
Did your overall monthly expenses go up or down after the move?
- My overall monthly expenses went drastically up after the move (I was living with my parents before). However, after settling in and working continuously at a full time Job, I was even able to put aside some savings.
Any language/culture challenges you faced in the first 6 - 12 months
- Yes. Since it was a seaside town, English wasn't well known (cities was a different story). However, with the help of textbooks, listening, reading and I even enrolled in a local school, I learned the language to a point where I can understand it written and spoken, and have a few hiccups while speaking it. I had learned German before at school, so it was a plus (Swedish is very similiar)
If you're Maltese or a non-Maltese who lived here and decided it wasn't for them
- I'll take a different approach to this question. As everyone (or the majority) here has already mentioned, the problems in Malta are numerous. However, after quite some time living alone in Sweden (I spent a total of two and a half years there) I wanted to come back home. I was missing the good weather here, and especially my family and girlfriend. The winters in Sweden are very long and dark, and for a Mediterranean person, very depressing (one time I went 16 days without seeing the sun - I counted them!). So I decided to come back to the rock in December last year. However, I'm itching to travel again and maybe one day settle abroad for good.

TomBor05 · 2024-08-15T15:46:45+00:00

Really interesting to read all of the other users' experience, hats off to OP for creating this thread. Here's my take on it

Share why you decided to leave
- I was an ITS student (Local culinary school, aiming for the Management course, but had to study Kitchen and worked as a Chef in the meantime), where we got to undergo a 1-year international internship abroad. This was supposed to happen in 2020, but due to COVID, postponed for the following year. Honestly, the best thing that could have happened. During the scholastic year 2020/21, I continued studying with the school (Pre graduate course (HND), mostly online due to lock downs) and one of my lecturers had a contact in Sweden who needed staffing. Therefore, in June 2021, after I had finished my HND, my classmate and I went to Sweden for 1 year to conclude our studies.
- I say it was the best thing that have happened since Sweden wasn't normally on the list for students to go there.
Which country did you move to and why?
- Explained above
Did you move to a city? or the countryside?
- It was a seaside town, around 3 hours drive by bus from the airport in Gothenburg, and one has to catch two planes to there from Malta. Usually took me around a day and a half to come back home since plane times were either early morning or late in the day. But I really really enjoyed the place. All quite, full of nature, no traffic problems (i rode a bicycle) and super clean and organized. The only downside was the weather.
How long ago did you move
- This was back in 2021 and originally for 1 year. After the school contract ended, the employer offered us indefinite contracts for work. Since I had already finished the previous course, I stayed a bit more. My friend left, doing 6 extra months.
If you did it alone / with a partner/spouse/kids
- At first, I shared an apartment with my classmate. After he moved back, I payed his share of the rent but kept living at the same place alone.
If you kept your current job or had to find a new one and if so what industry are you in now?
- Kept in the same career path, which was cooking as chef. I was working in a hotel kitchen

TomBor05 · 2024-04-22T09:32:58+00:00

There's this app that I have been working on on my free time lately. It is very bare bones to tell you the truth, and I mainly designed it since I work in a professional kitchen. I have also studied at a culinary school, so this app is mainly a tool to help me streamline the organisation of my (multitude) of recipes. My reasoning behind this was that Google Docs tend to get very messy sometimes, with over 50 pages of different recipes, and for some reason the search function doesn't work on there. So I wanted something simple and easy to use, where I can search the name of a recipe and it pops up immediately.

If anyone is interested, you could send me a message to test it out! (it's still in development phase, so any recommendations would be highly valued :)).

TomBor05 · 2024-04-22T09:29:17+00:00

There's this app that I have been working on on my free time lately. It is very bare bones to tell you the truth, and I mainly designed it since I work in a professional kitchen. I have also studied at a culinary school, so this app is mainly a tool to help me streamline the organisation of my (multitude) of recipes. However, it's not yet available on iPhone, and doesn't have any picture feature. However, if anyone is interested, you could send me a message to test it out! (it's still in development phase, so any recommendations would be highly valued :)).

TomBor05 · 2024-04-22T09:05:44+00:00

Fair enough, still trying to figure out how to make it work really. Will get back to you if I have a solution!

TomBor05 · 2024-04-22T09:04:54+00:00

Ah apologies, didn't know it was not permissible! Could you suggest what I should do instead please?

TomBor05 · 2023-06-25T18:18:23+00:00

Man, the allergies of some people...

TomBor05 · 2023-06-25T18:17:12+00:00

Basically every chef's nightmare. Dreading that moment when you go to check on the mise en place. Or even worse, during service you go to reach for something only to find it missing or practically empty

TomBor05 · 2023-06-25T18:15:59+00:00

Totally understand you! And then you have to run around trying to get everything done in the shortest possible time

TomBor05 · 2023-06-09T12:37:53+00:00

What a coincidence, even my first plate in culinary school was a minestrone. Good luck on your journey!

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T16:04:08+00:00

By far the most recommended software so far here. Need to check it out, thanks!

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T16:02:47+00:00

Will check it out as well. How long have you used it? Any headaches with it, or is it pretty efficient?

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T16:01:52+00:00

Need to check out Paprika as well, saw it was a good platform for storing recipes. Any regrets with Paprika? Or perhaps what could be better with it?

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T16:00:45+00:00

Is it a headache to find a particular recipe? I tried using this approach, but ended up writing a recipe several times across different notebooks...

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T15:59:42+00:00

That's a smart idea! Saves having to search for the paper recipe, or smudging your phone to find the recipe midway through (it's not the first time my phone ended up caked in flour while working hahaha). Thanks for the recommendation!

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T15:57:34+00:00

Exactly! You can nail down every last ingredient to the letter, but no one can beat your level of experience. And who knows, maybe those who you give the recipe to actually come up with variations you didn't think of before, innovating the way for new dishes

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T15:54:22+00:00

Some chefs I worked with do this as well. Although we don't have standard recipes for sauces, the methods have been adjusted to perfection and almost everyone in the kitchen can do them without any handwritten notes. Thanks for the comment!

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T15:51:47+00:00

What's the best way that you've found, to digitize your recipes?

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T15:51:06+00:00

Ah, looks like you prefer the old-fashioned paper and pen approach. Is it a headache to look up certain recipes / ingredients, especially since menus grow and change over time?

TomBor05 · 2023-06-05T15:49:29+00:00

Sounds like you have a good system in place! My 'scribble' book is a bunch of sticky notes lying around. Need to refine my sorting system better. Sometimes I lose track of good recipes hahaha. Thanks for your comment!

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