Morning campers... father I have sinned.... its been too bloody long since I shared my news!!!
Well I have 2 weeks of London left!! And last week I had a wonderful time staying on a gigantic orange sofa at my friends Anna and Dave's new flat, and this week, I found hotel bingo!! Its a student halls but open for visitors through the summer - massive rooms, telephone, broadband, en suite, lovely breakfast and exactly 24 seconds walk from the office... in fact I can see the lab through the bedroom window... I considered an elongated leap from the window this morning... then reconsidered... splattered Claire down the window of our bosses office on a Tuesday morning would not be acceptable... and lets face it, the likely hood of me getting the right office would be like the pope marrying Madonna.... so it would be splattered Claire down the office of some professor... marvellous I'll stick to walking!!
On a work front we are experiencing a number of adrenaline fueled moments as I see how far this business idea can take us! We now have a range of packaged products in around 10 shops in the County, and will be launching our Internet order service next month. We have a late night opening and all day Saturday opening online for next month also - the late night opening will have wine, cheese and product tasting so lots of change!!
We currently have a wonderful new temp butcher in at the moment as our usual butcher is sunning himself in Tunisia - we heard he refused to ride a camel so will be booking him in for camel lessons on his return... Luckily, the new butcher is also called Alan - maybe in Northumberland all butchers are called Alan??? He was brought up in the village but moved out to Australia and has just returned - his energy and ability has dazzled us all - not to mention cutting quite a dashing figure in the shop! I think having a romeo serving lamb chops could be very good for business!! We don't want to let him go in a week.... and we may try not to.... watch this space!!
The herbs are still alive somehow... god knows how!! I keep spraying them with organic miracle grow and turning them brown, then having to spend hours washing them, but boy do they grow!! Next step... fruit and veg.... oh god.
The train journeys haven't improved - but I have admitted defeat and swapped my small, elegant suitcase for a big one I can hurl piles of stuff into - women are not meant to own small suitcases its wrong! Yes it may stack neatly on the luggage rack above my head on the train, but it fits exactly 1 pair of knickers and half a bottle of shampoo in and the rest ends up stuffed into bags I leave on trains and drop constantly!!! Why is it that the zip fastens on the journey out but coming back it wont go near??? It cant be all the handbags and shoes I purchase surely... well anyway, now I carry around a small house - perfect for shoes, handbags, hair dryer and kitchen sinks... and perfect for smacking commuters and tourists in the legs with outside Kings Cross....
We now have an actual bedroom and an actual bed!!! I can't quite believe I'm lying on a real mattress in a real room designed for sleeping purpose!! We have a posh new floor and paint on the walls - now just need curtains... something my husband could do with remembering... last week as the night drew in I went into the dusk to pick some herbs from our midge infested front garden and take in the evening air.... there I met a guest from our holiday cottage enjoying the night and the view.... mainly the view of my husband hopping around the bedroom in his underpants trying to remove his socks.... not even my phenomenal distraction techniques could divert them away from that one....
A thought consumes me at the moment.... can you put popping candy in a sausage??? Would it work??? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....
The shop is doing well at the moment, despite my mother and I bashing around with the till like we know what we are doing.... weight...non-weigh...susan....cheque.... pardon????? erm... well Ive found if I randomly button press and look worried Alan comes to my rescue so I will keep this up for the immediate future! Having said that my mother is excelling herself in the shop at the moment - cutting a dash in blue hair net and white apron she can now frequently be seen in the shop holding the fort for me, she really is irreplaceable!
I'm looking forward to being there more often and being on call, although I have a feeling the staff will not relish the chance to have me around more...
Right, must be off and do some work... over and out,
Cx
Tuesday 27 July 2010
Tuesday 20 July 2010
Sausage Launch!
Well another few weeks have passed, I'm blog slacking!!! It has been a serious whirlwind of a fortnight, and I'm very pleased and proud to say we are now supplying several village shops, petrol stations and one very large farm shop with our sausages and black pudding!! Our packaging was a nightmare and is still problematic - serves me right for not wanting plastic coated poly trays really! Cardboard is not a great friend of sausage, it tends to want to mush, or leak or do anything other than behave really!!! Up until the night before our supply date, we had film windows full of mist, until my wonderful butcher discovered that putting a moisture removing pad inside the box sorts this!!! And then the labeling, god what a challenge! Who knew it could be so difficult!!
The new burgers are also now in the shop, we have melting middle lamb and beef burgers and new recipe beef burgers which are a good improvement on the previous ones. However, at one point last week, we had Mozzarella spelt 4 different ways in the shop!!! We have also entered into a deal with the cinema in town to advertise in their catalogue, giving us 2 free cinema tickets per week to be won in the shop - it means that once a week, we will advertise a film and time (mainly a Thursday night) and anyone spending over £10 in the shop can enter their name and number into a box to try to win the tickets - we will then pick a name out of the box and they pick their tickets up!
We also have lots of new things going on in the shop - new delicious biscuits, cakes and bread, freshly brewed coffee and salads which are going down a treat! Look out for sausage and bacon rolls in the mornings soon and more local produce, oh and homemade pease pudding, potted meats and soup!!! Phew, as you can imagine, our staff are a little shell shocked by all this change - but coping amazingly well with it all. We have turned sausage making Tuesdays into the day from hell - by Tuesday evening the back of the shop is one large sausage factory, the staff look like they've been to war and there are so many sausages hanging in the cold room we could give Walls a run for their money!!!
I often sit and think about the changes that have happened to me since April, its really quite amazing that 3 months ago I was just a scientist from London and now I'm running around the Northumberland hills flogging sausages to shops and getting excited over coffee and jam!!! I am really enjoying the challenge and have so much more lined up over the next few months, including a shop re-vamp (paint and re-organising furniture to start with).....
Also, look out for our exciting new veg boxes and beautiful range of children and baby meals developed by a local. These will be so new and exciting, we will have every baby and child in Northumbelrand wanting their mum to take them to Wark!!!
Next big thing coming up is our lamb from Roses Bower, the clock is ticking for those bouncy lambs currently enjoying the grass on the farm - this year we hope to get as many as possible into the shop rather than selling at mart.
On a different subject, I came first class to London this week - what a nice journey!! Virgin staff feed and water you and there is space to put things down without pelting an unsuspecting business man with my womanly wares!!! I had lemonade and did some work, I even had a snooze - quite obviously, I am going to need to find a sponsor who will allow me to come first class to London in future in exchange for sausages.... any offers??
Looking forward to the BBQ on the 10th Aug, I will of course be bringing our products to the party, I will work on some crazy recipes to get everyone talking!!
This week we have the seriously popular Stilton and asparagus sausage back on the market - but we have a relief butcher in for the next 2 weeks who is luckily also called Alan (this helps with my terrible name memory recall) who has some amazing recipes up his butchers apron. I am hoping we can do some crazy sausage trials this week and emerge with some flavours to tempt even the fussiest mouths!!
Right, must go in search of lunch, over and out,
Cx
The new burgers are also now in the shop, we have melting middle lamb and beef burgers and new recipe beef burgers which are a good improvement on the previous ones. However, at one point last week, we had Mozzarella spelt 4 different ways in the shop!!! We have also entered into a deal with the cinema in town to advertise in their catalogue, giving us 2 free cinema tickets per week to be won in the shop - it means that once a week, we will advertise a film and time (mainly a Thursday night) and anyone spending over £10 in the shop can enter their name and number into a box to try to win the tickets - we will then pick a name out of the box and they pick their tickets up!
We also have lots of new things going on in the shop - new delicious biscuits, cakes and bread, freshly brewed coffee and salads which are going down a treat! Look out for sausage and bacon rolls in the mornings soon and more local produce, oh and homemade pease pudding, potted meats and soup!!! Phew, as you can imagine, our staff are a little shell shocked by all this change - but coping amazingly well with it all. We have turned sausage making Tuesdays into the day from hell - by Tuesday evening the back of the shop is one large sausage factory, the staff look like they've been to war and there are so many sausages hanging in the cold room we could give Walls a run for their money!!!
I often sit and think about the changes that have happened to me since April, its really quite amazing that 3 months ago I was just a scientist from London and now I'm running around the Northumberland hills flogging sausages to shops and getting excited over coffee and jam!!! I am really enjoying the challenge and have so much more lined up over the next few months, including a shop re-vamp (paint and re-organising furniture to start with).....
Also, look out for our exciting new veg boxes and beautiful range of children and baby meals developed by a local. These will be so new and exciting, we will have every baby and child in Northumbelrand wanting their mum to take them to Wark!!!
Next big thing coming up is our lamb from Roses Bower, the clock is ticking for those bouncy lambs currently enjoying the grass on the farm - this year we hope to get as many as possible into the shop rather than selling at mart.
On a different subject, I came first class to London this week - what a nice journey!! Virgin staff feed and water you and there is space to put things down without pelting an unsuspecting business man with my womanly wares!!! I had lemonade and did some work, I even had a snooze - quite obviously, I am going to need to find a sponsor who will allow me to come first class to London in future in exchange for sausages.... any offers??
Looking forward to the BBQ on the 10th Aug, I will of course be bringing our products to the party, I will work on some crazy recipes to get everyone talking!!
This week we have the seriously popular Stilton and asparagus sausage back on the market - but we have a relief butcher in for the next 2 weeks who is luckily also called Alan (this helps with my terrible name memory recall) who has some amazing recipes up his butchers apron. I am hoping we can do some crazy sausage trials this week and emerge with some flavours to tempt even the fussiest mouths!!
Right, must go in search of lunch, over and out,
Cx
Monday 5 July 2010
It's my birthday!
Well here I am.... 29.... again :-) I count backwards after 30 right? That is until I hit 18 and then I'll count forwards again... I wouldn't want my husband to be sent to jail for indecency.....
Another crazy week at the Bower, but really rather lovely weather to ease the pain! Not sure about the midges though.... why did midges get invented? What possible purpose could a bunch of blood sucking, itch inducing little critters have on the planet.... having said that, I bet they wander round asking each other what the purpose of humans are and I think they probably have a point... watering my herbs and new tomato plants in the midge cloud is not a great task, they seem to think I taste rather amazing and I look like a child with German measles!!!
I delivered the first 2 London orders this week, still lovely and chilled in their boxes and complete with free herb gift! I'm very excited about expanding our client base, sending Northumbrian meat down to London will get our wonderful product on the market and let people see what Northumberland can do! Shopping local is a great tool, but often in built up cities its hard to find good quality produce at decent prices - I'm also saving on carbon footprint by delivering it on my way to work - although if I get more orders I may have to rethink that!!!
Chocolate and chilli sausages make a come back this week in the shop! Get them fast as I already have 3lbs reserved for London!!! We will be pitching to several shops on Thursday with the sausages, bacon and herbs, keep your fingers crossed for us!!!
I am having terrible trouble with the bread at the moment, the baker is struggling to deliver it early and the villagers are stringing me up by my Bridget Jones pants!!! I keep hoping it will sort itself out but I'm not sure how! Last week, I was all ready to scream and shout at the delivery man until I saw the pure panic in his face and then I realised that this wasn't his idea of fun either!! Short from becoming a baker myself I am going to have to get resourceful with this one, please bare with me whilst I kick my grey matter into action!!
I have managed to accumulate 2 birthday cakes today and one yesterday - that's a lot of lovely cake!!! Hopefully, the office will help me consume it later today as I feel if I eat it all myself I will not be fitting into the train seat on my return journey!
Time is running out in London for me now, only 3 weeks left!!! Then I become a full time shop owner/farmers wife... god help Northumberland!
I am determined to party tonight, and fight the urge to turn in as my 31 year old body is instructing... of course I will drink orange juice and behave sensibly.... oh there's that pig again, I wonder if he's had any luck sourcing those stickers....
Adios,
cx
Another crazy week at the Bower, but really rather lovely weather to ease the pain! Not sure about the midges though.... why did midges get invented? What possible purpose could a bunch of blood sucking, itch inducing little critters have on the planet.... having said that, I bet they wander round asking each other what the purpose of humans are and I think they probably have a point... watering my herbs and new tomato plants in the midge cloud is not a great task, they seem to think I taste rather amazing and I look like a child with German measles!!!
I delivered the first 2 London orders this week, still lovely and chilled in their boxes and complete with free herb gift! I'm very excited about expanding our client base, sending Northumbrian meat down to London will get our wonderful product on the market and let people see what Northumberland can do! Shopping local is a great tool, but often in built up cities its hard to find good quality produce at decent prices - I'm also saving on carbon footprint by delivering it on my way to work - although if I get more orders I may have to rethink that!!!
Chocolate and chilli sausages make a come back this week in the shop! Get them fast as I already have 3lbs reserved for London!!! We will be pitching to several shops on Thursday with the sausages, bacon and herbs, keep your fingers crossed for us!!!
I am having terrible trouble with the bread at the moment, the baker is struggling to deliver it early and the villagers are stringing me up by my Bridget Jones pants!!! I keep hoping it will sort itself out but I'm not sure how! Last week, I was all ready to scream and shout at the delivery man until I saw the pure panic in his face and then I realised that this wasn't his idea of fun either!! Short from becoming a baker myself I am going to have to get resourceful with this one, please bare with me whilst I kick my grey matter into action!!
I have managed to accumulate 2 birthday cakes today and one yesterday - that's a lot of lovely cake!!! Hopefully, the office will help me consume it later today as I feel if I eat it all myself I will not be fitting into the train seat on my return journey!
Time is running out in London for me now, only 3 weeks left!!! Then I become a full time shop owner/farmers wife... god help Northumberland!
I am determined to party tonight, and fight the urge to turn in as my 31 year old body is instructing... of course I will drink orange juice and behave sensibly.... oh there's that pig again, I wonder if he's had any luck sourcing those stickers....
Adios,
cx
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