A passion for food
TOUCH OF TOOWOOMBA: Passiontree Velvet, 9.30am, Wednesday
We live here ‘cos we love it!
Portia Gesch-Timms
SO I have pretty much lived in Toowoomba my whole life, I just kept moving around.
I moved here fully at the start of December after finishing school.
I went to school in Maleny on the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
I just have always loved Toowoomba because I always used to come back here on holidays to visit my dad and I love it.
It’s become a really cool little town, it’s becoming more of a city.
I’ve worked here (at Passiontree Velvet) for two months.
I work two jobs – I work at La Pizzaiola at night times.
I plan to study but I don’t know when, probably nutrition and health.
Why do I like this job? The cakes. And the food. And because it’s in the middle of Grand Central and it’s my favourite shopping centre.
The salted caramel is my favourite cake. It’s amazing. And all the macarons. They’re delicious.
Emily Boyle
I MOVED from Chinchilla to Toowoomba recently – (Chinchilla) was just a bit small, really.
I suppose I had my time in Chinchilla, there are just bigger opportunities here.
I moved here for work. This job opened up in December, and I really enjoy it. And I like the cakes. I need to stop eating the cakes.
Compared to Chinchilla, there’s heaps more to do in Toowoomba, more places to go out for dinner... the cinema is better, and there’s more shopping as well.
What’s something I like about Toowoomba? Just the diversity.
Natalie Carey
I’M THE Queensland area manager for Passiontree Velvet so I look after corporate stores, of which we’ve got three – Carindale, Indooroopilly and Toowoomba.
I’ve lived between Toowoomba and Brisbane forever, pretty much.
My family is all out here so working out here is not too much of a hassle with the kids – I can just drop them off at Mum and Dad’s.
I’ve worked opening stores for chocolate companies before, and I’ve just been in store set-ups mostly, with a number of different companies.
I’ve opened two or three stores with Passiontree Velvet now, and been with them for two and a half years.
My background is teaching. I used to teach out in Toowoomba. And I made the switch around 2012, that was the last year I taught out here.
Why’d I change? It just wasn’t the right fit for certain things in my life at the time. I wanted to spend more time with my kids instead of marking all night. It’s not a 9-3 job.
What’s one thing I love about Toowoomba? The weather – I’m actually a winter girl so I like the cooler months for longer periods of time. I miss living out here and having my fireplace. I’m not a summer person.
Katie Benfield
I MOVED here in November. I was originally going to go to university but my attention span is like that of a child so I was like, I’d prefer to just get a full time job so I’m on my feet all the time.
I just moved to Toowoomba because I have a friend who lives here and I’d always come visit her and it’s just a really pretty town.
I’m from Inverell, NSW, near Tamworth. I like it (in Toowoomba) because it’s colder than Inverell and I hate the heat.
And I moved here with my best friend so we’ve just been going on all the bush walks and nature walks and stuff, so we love it here.
As for study plans, I think that’ll have to wait for a few years, when I’m mature enough to sit down in a classroom. I’d like to study either educational and behavioural psychology for high school students or occupational therapy and speech pathology for kids born with cleft palates, ADHD, cerebral palsy, or downs syndrome.
My mum was a teacher and then went into daycare so I’ve always been around kids and I’ve gotten good at picking up on speech patterns and stuff. So I like was googling about it and was like, ‘oh speech pathology sounds fun’.