 Hello, hello. Actually, I did my hair today, so I probably shouldn't put it up. How do I get these amazing curls? Well, I look like I'm straight out of Little House on the Prairie at night. It's one of those, sorry, I just had some cashews and stuck in my tooth, okay. So I just had, I wear one of those heatless curlers like I take a shower and I blow a dry like halfway and then you just like roll it in the thing and you, and I literally use it. I look like, I don't know, somebody from a long time ago, but then you just take it out. I mean, it's not uncomfortable to sit on but it's not like amazingly comfortable. Why can't I see the chat, live chat? Oh, here we go. Hi. So yeah, then it just comes out like that and it's just nice and it's good for you. It's healthy because they're not putting heat on it, so welcome everyone. It is Wednesday, December 19th at 1230 in New Zealand. Where's everybody joining me from? Where is everyone? I am not baking today, sorry. I am exhausted. That's it. Why is this year so, why is Christmas always so busy? Every year I think it's not gonna be this way. I'm not gonna let it get crazy and then here I am. You got all your presents sorted Z and then there's people like that. Okay. Good for you. I'm not trying to be a downer but let me tell you it is, I don't even have a lot of presents. I only have two kids at home. The other two just want money and I don't have any other family here. So I literally have nothing to complain about but yet I still, I always try to do too much or I think like, you wanna do all these special things this time of year and then I do and then I get overwhelmed and then I'm like that. So we're not baking today. So if you didn't know, I'm going live all of December to raise money for my local food bank. My goal was to raise a thousand and we're at 6%. So not great. I have been buying all of the food, making the goods. Then I buy more food and hello, hello, okay. I buy more food and then we drop it off at the food bank and it's good. So I mean, we've raised some money. So thank you for anybody that's risen. If you ever watch these lives in December, all of the money is going to the food bank when you watch the ads. So any ad money that I make. So you just win if you're just watching the video. So that works. But the link in the descriptions, if you wanna give or anytime that you wanna give in the, give a super chat or a super thanks, you know, as little as $2, we'll all go directly to the food pantry. No processing fees from me, nothing. I will literally just give it to them. I'm just making it easy for you. Anyway, so let's see. Oh, I see you're having Christmas on the 16th. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I have so much to talk to you about. Like I just, like I don't even know where to start. Oh, also, if you want my cookbook, if you're in New Zealand and you want this by Christmas, I can, I just have to ship it this week. So let me know if you want one. I think the link is in the description. It is. I can get it to you for Christmas. This is a great Christmas gift for anybody that has an American friend or, you know, yeah, just, I mean, these childhood chip cookies. I wanna talk about this a little bit because I've been going to Christmas Market selling this book and I have a lot to say about that. But yeah, so if you want it in New Zealand, I can ship it worldwide. I just can't get it to you by Christmas. If you want it, also just click the link and I can send it to you. So I'm enjoying it. I've actually put this book into like the biggest publisher distributor, that's the word, to all like the bookstores and they go to the bookstores and libraries around the whole world. And I don't know, I found it, I put it in there. It's done, you know. I feel like it's something only Australia, New Zealand would be interested because it's American food like adapted for ingredients here. But who knows, people have friends everywhere. I got somebody ordered six from Germany last week. I'm like, Germany, okay. I sold one in Alaska, one in California and a couple in the UK. So I feel like this is supposed to be for libraries. They don't tell you who bought it. They'll just tell you what country it was from. I don't know why they keep telling me who bought it because now I'm dying. I love analytics. Do you love analytics? So yeah, so get that in New Zealand. Oh, oh, and let me say something about this. Mm, see I told you I knew I had a lot to talk about. If you, for example, this is exciting guys. If you wanna make the pumpkin pie, for example, this is like how you would make it in America. So you need the American canned pumpkin because pumpkin in the US will taste different than pumpkin in New Zealand, right? Different, everything. So I have established an agreement with the US TU American store in New Zealand. And so if you wanna order any American food from them online so you can live anywhere in New Zealand or if you wanna go to the store, use my code K-A-M, here, let me put it in the chat, K-A-M-10. And they'll give you 10% off everything that you order. And so that's cool because a lot of the recipes in here, it's nice if you wanna get like the sprayed cheese or a lot of the things that you can only kind of get at the American store and now you can. And you get a discount and you just, I put the, it's the, here, let me, it's the US, it's the US TU, don't I have them? Yeah, here, let me get this for you. Boom, there's their, if you wanna order online. Just use that code or if you go in the store, just tell them the code, that one's fine as well. Yay, cheaper stuff. So it's cool, it's the owner there, we're doing some work together and so that's fun. So he's giving a discount to my community, so nice. Anyway, how's it going? What are you guys, are you guys like so busy? I've bought some presents, but I don't even know where I put them. Anybody else have that problem? Where you buy things, you have no idea where you put it. Am I the only one? And then I stumble it on a year later. Oh, that's right. Luckily there's birthdays and random other holidays that you can give things at. So yeah, so I'm not baking today. I haven't been getting tons of views. I think everybody's just busy, you know? And I don't blame you, of course not. Okay, we'll just talk a moment about kids. So like, I've been taking my book to these Christmas markets, because I thought it'd be fun, I'll be around Christmas, because I feel like I have all this time and when I'm thinking about it in November, and then I got to yesterday like, oh my gosh, I got so much to do and now I got to sit at this market for hours. Yeah, do you like my glasses? I don't actually really need them, but I have them just for the looks. Not true. So I got to deal with Oscar wife and they wanted to give me all these free glasses, but I really just wanted, I really just wanted the sunglasses. And they were like, oh, but you know, you get regular glasses. And I was like, so I had to go get my eyes checked. And they're like, well really, you have a little bit of weakness here and a little bit of weakness, but they balance each other out. So you basically have perfect vision. And I'm like, but I need glasses because they're giving it to me for free. So, because I really wanted the sunglasses. Cause I got these and the sunglasses. And so I'm like, give me something that will just help my eyes cause I'm on the computer all day. And so that's what these are. They have a little bit in them. And then they have like that blue light. Ooh, do you see the blue light? Oh, there you go. I protect them. So, so yeah, okay. I'm glad I'm not the only person that loses presence. Thank you, QE Glenn. Okay. Christmas markets. Where do I start? I have so much to say about this. Let's just talk about marketing at Christmas markets. So, or craft markets, or like I like to term crap markets. I'm sorry. Like I just, what are these people doing? Sitting around for hours in 2023? Like, first of all, get on the internet. Like, what are you doing? So I went around talking to these businesses yesterday cause there's nobody there. So it was these people that make you pay for these booths should at least provide people to the event. Like that's what you're paying for, right? There's nobody there. Anyway, so I'm going around talking to each other. It doesn't matter to me. Like I sell online. I'm just there for the situation. But these people are trying to make a living. So this is my concern. I'm starting to get stressed out for them. Cause like, how are you making any money? Because I, because it's so slow, I could pay attention to like who's buying what? So I'm paying attention at like just buyer behavior. What's actually selling? You know, I love all this kind of stuff. And so I was like, okay, they're buying the gibbets. They're buying the little scrunchies, you know, cheap things. I know they're not, you know, they're not covering the $50 to sit there. They're not. There's no, but there's not enough people. Okay, so everybody's sitting here losing money. Sitting here. It's not funny. But I was talking to these other, and I was like, some of them are saying that they go to like four or five a week of these little fairs. And I'm thinking, this is a complete waste of time. Like, are you kidding me right now? Like, get online. Like, even if you just did ads, but really like get a website and start writing blogs. Have you spent all day writing blogs and start ranking on Google for your website? Like, what? Ah, like, what are you doing? And so I got stressed out. I just went around and I was like, are you guys online? Like, do you have at least a website? Cause like, I have an Amazon business and let's see, yesterday I sold, I don't know, 800 US dollars worth of stuff, but I didn't do anything. I didn't need to sit at a booth. I didn't need to do anything. What are you guys doing? Like, I can understand doing it for fun. Like I was doing it and just Christmas spirit and getting some Christmas gifts. And because the intent is to buy gifts. So like people are intending to buy. And so to me, that seems like might be a good use of my time. And it would be if people were there. I'm going to the Esport Market here in Wellington on Sunday, if you want to see me and I can sign a book for you. I don't know, maybe I won't. But anyway, I've been thinking about strategies for this. I've already paid for it. So I probably will, but I'm like, so the two big sellers are gibbets and here's scrunchies. So here's my marketing ideas for you. I've actually reached out to a lady who sells gibbets in town on Facebook last night. I got home like, who sells gibbets? You know, and they were showing me, I see some people in the area and I was like, here's the deal. I'm like, you don't know me, but I'm happy to meet you. I'm a marketing professional and can I sell your gibbets at this market that I'm going to? Because it would get people to my booth and then I could sell that. If I can talk to somebody, I could sell them on my book. You know, if they want it, of course, but like, give me the gibbets because everybody's going to the booth with the gibbets. And so like, I'll sell it and we'll split the profit and you don't have to go and you don't have to pay for the booth and you win like triple time. So we'll see what she says. Another idea would be combine efforts. Like have one table, one or two tables and then have everybody's stuff and have only one person sitting there. And so like, then you only have to go to like one a month but you're getting yourself situated. So we're talking about Christmas markets, craft markets and how to be successful. These are new marketing strategies. Do not just bring your stuff and just sit there. That is not a good use of your time. Get online. Number one, get online. Number two, share the booth. Number three, sell stuff at your booth that everybody's buying. I pay attention to buyer behavior, okay? And use it to your advantage. You're welcome. That was free marketing advice for today. Okay, moving on. I have some questions that I'm going to answer and then I have other things to talk about. Okay, advice for international students who are about to arrive in New Zealand. What would you say? Ooh, exciting. Where are you going? Are you going to Auckland? Are you going to Wellington? Okay, international students. Now I'm a professor by trade and have worked with a lot of international students here and like fresh off of the plane. Like I've never been to the country, never been away from mom and dad, never been outside of their culture. And you know, people depending on where you're coming from culture can be quite different, okay? My advice to you as an international student would be completely open to new ways of doing things. Go and do activities that you love doing because then you will find your people there, okay? And then it's okay to find people that are from your country or similar culture because you kind of need that when everything else is new. Okay, so that's my advice. Everybody's saying they're stressed. How's it, Wendy? Oh my gosh, from, oh yeah, the wind. There was a tornado apparently touched down in lower huts yesterday, broke. I was like, I thought we didn't have tornadoes in this country, apparently we do. Probably not a good idea for me to eat while I'm trying to talk. Okay, you're in Queenstown, okay. Oh, international student in Queenstown. What are you in that culinary school there? What school are you at? I'm just curious. Gosh, Queenstown. Queenstown is the place to be, whether it's summer, winter, whatever, I love Queenstown. If I didn't live in Wellington, I would be in Queenstown. If I didn't have kids sorted at school, I'd be in Queenstown. Get involved in things that you like doing. You will find your friends there. You will find people that love to do the same things you do and that's what you need. How long are you gonna be here? Are you here for just like a year or like multiple years? Happy Wednesday. So stressful at Christmas, working through the house. Oh, you are. I have some time off, but it's actually not working because now I gotta do all of the stuff that I would do for the two weeks that I have off like next week. Yeah, probably no comparison to US tornadoes. That's probably true. I've been in a lot of situations. I haven't had like been around a tornado that's actually like struck buildings, but I've been out on big lakes and tornadoes come in and we're trying to get the boat in and the waves are like this. It was bad. And then you have to like hide under the table in the basement of wherever you are for hours. Yeah, tornadoes. I've seen them. But I was in Wellington at this Christmas market and I missed it yesterday. So, okay, cool. We've talked about that. There's so many things I wanna talk to you on now. My head is like, what was I talking about? What are you guys doing for Christmas? Anything fun? I'm having a real kiwi Christmas. We're going to the beach, bringing the grill, bringing the cooler. Gonna have a barbecue on the beach because we've never done that. We've always kind of done it like our tradition, but this year going to the beach as long as it's not raining. What is on for the next cooking show? I know, I don't know. Hopefully I can do one next week. Tell me what to make. I am just tired. I'm just tired. And I have to cook when I go to these markets because I gotta give samples of the stuff in my book. And so I'm just done. And I haven't done any of the Christmas baking yet. So maybe I'll just do, I'll be doing lots of Christmas baking next week. And so maybe I'll just go live doing that. Ooh, cheesecake. Okay, let's just make my life easy. Thanks. Yeah, otherwise, you know, I'm just gonna buy streets and bring them over there. Ooh, we going to Taupo. Nice. It's hard to not have family here. It's hard to not have two of my kids here, but they're both doing well and doing fun things. So that's fine. Yeah, what else is going on? Okay, so I told you about the deal with USTO, so definitely check that out if you want to order some stuff there. And like I'm good friends with him. So like, if you want him to get something when he goes and buys at the States, let me know and I can tell him. A very disturbing thing happened when I was there actually, you know, he has all these big, how do I say, cremers, coffee cremers, like the cremers, and I was walking through the store with him and I'm like, do you sell these? He was like, yeah, I sell those. And I'm like, cause there's no way I'm buying that. Because in the States, the coffee cremers in refrigerator and I'm like, this stresses me out but this is just sitting on the shelf and there's no way I'm buying that. And he's like, yeah, I know. And that's what the people that produce it do as well. They put it in the refrigerator because nobody was buying it on the shelf because they didn't trust it to be real. So they put it in the refrigerator and now sell 50% more. And I'm like, yeah, like mentally I can't do that. Even if I know it's fake, still can't do it. I knew it was fake. I didn't know it was so completely fake that it could be on the shelf. But yeah, so why do we refrigerate eggs in the US? That's a question someone just asked and that's a good question. So there's a process that eggs go through in the US and some sort of like, it's like, it's not bleaching but it's, I don't know, it's the process that they go through and then they are put in the refrigerator at that point. And so once eggs are refrigerated you can't not refrigerate them. And so it's because of an extra process that the eggs go through there that they then get put in the refrigerator and then you can't move them to the shelf. So that's what's happening. I remember when I first moved here walking all over looking for the eggs in the refrigerator, I couldn't find them. I'm like, do they not sell eggs at a regular grocery store? So yeah, isn't that funny? So yeah, so now I'm perfectly comfortable with eggs not being in the refrigerator but man that huge creamer, I'm still not buying it even if I can logically understand. Okay, so you are arriving in January and studying for four months. Oh, okay, cool. Well, then my recommendation for you is to do everything that you possibly can. Do as many great walks as you can. Go do, I mean, as long as you like that sort of thing. I mean, most people that come to New Zealand like that sort of thing, you know or whether it's mountain biking or whatever it is that you like, like do it because if you're here for a short amount of time go and do it, do some traveling, go and see things. You know, you might have to pick. I can help you if you are like, well I have limited time and limited money and what should I do can help with that as well. So, so is anybody else done with their Christmas shopping? Cause I have never been early. I mean, in the US sometimes they're done by November because they like crazy people and they start buying in July because they start putting out the Christmas stuff in July. Well, I'm eating cashews. Honey, roasted and salted. Got it as a gift. So this is like my, my solar manure Christmas party. Cheers. I don't have Christmas party, it's just me. Oh gosh. Queensland. There's a cyclone coming. I haven't been paying attention. Oh my gosh, I only so good, I gotta stop eating them. Okay. What else do I need to tell you? Sorry, my brain is like, yeah, so donate if you can to the food bank. You can give money at any point even if you're watching this later. Yep, no problem. And get your cookbook. And if you see it in stores somewhere in the world let me know because I don't know who's actually buying this. This is very cool. The link is in the description and then also you can buy things at the American store at a discount. So because my brain is not working I guess I gotta be done. So hope you guys have a wonderful holiday. Hopefully I should be on next week. So making something. But until then, toodles.