About Nicola
My name is Nicola - Nix to friends and family, Nikki to no-one and Neecola to most Americans (Everyone else seems to mind this way more than I do). I was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa and now live in Washington D.C. with my husband Dylan (Double Dragon) and our cat, Camillo (Kits). Like every other food blogger-type I have a passion for cooking and baking. It is one of the only things I do that never feels like a chore.
I’m sharing my cooking and flavor adventures, and taking you all with me on my journey as I learn to bake. Hope to see you here often! Follow me on Instagram, comment and tell your friends, give a girl some love!
Welcome to Sage Against The Tagine
Will Taste Anything once
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About
Working in restaurants from a young age fueled a growing passion for food and business. After studying Consumer science- specializing in hospitality, food science, and business marketing, this uniquely broad qualification led me to take opportunities in restaurant management, then event management, then FMCG marketing, and eventually landing me where I belonged: Technical food and product development in a corporate restaurant chain, with an exciting brand.
I was lucky enough to work at a big brand in South Africa: Nando’s Peri Peri, which gave me insight into working with the “Big guys” there, both the heady competition and the large scale suppliers we had to wrangle. The business was at a stage where we had the freedom and flexibility to innovate and grab opportunities head-on. And I was involved in these roll-outs from the bottom down and ground up- it was priceless exposure and experience.
When the US business really took off and I took the leap to move to Washington D.C, I knew this was the opportunity for me to use my varied skills in a holistic way. Small restaurant chains really need people who can adapt and wear many hats, there are no safe zones or 9-5 routines. From developing food safety systems, to navigating strategic product innovation and the detailed roll-out process, to working with suppliers to develop products and technical specifications, to food safety audits, it all had to be done. This challenge was just what I needed and I flew, ending my time there as Corporate culinary director. With this eclectic background in creative, technical and leading strategy development, I thrive at the intersection of business objectives, creativity, detail and purposeful change.
Sage Against the Tagine specializes in helping small to medium restaurants and chains to set up and monitor processes, adapt their creative product development to align with strategic objectives and to assist in menu roll-out from a marketing and culinary perspective.
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Come One, Come All
FUTURE DINNER PARTIES
Good Memories
PAST DINNER PARTIES
When every element of the salad has had a flavor upgrade, you can’t help but crave this salad. The croutons are rubbed with fresh garlic. The Peaches? Marinated AND grilled. The herbs? 2 types. And do you even need a sauce when you have delicious creamy burrata already? Why the heck not. My little helper was stealing bits off the table as I was photographing this dish, and didn’t seem to mind the spice at all.