(Last month, my customers Joel & Bec took the photograph above. Then came back last week to give me the print-out! How sweet of you guys! You’ve made me happy. Thank you!)

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This week, I want to tell you about some of the nice customers that I often encounter at my stall. I thought it important to let you know that the ‘not-so-wonderful customer’ I told you about from last week really was a rare case!

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These lovely customers & many others are the very reason why I don’t get a part-timer to man my stall - ‘market-life’ is too fun to miss! ;-) I love meeting them, & when a regular face doesn’t show up, I would be thinking of them.

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In no particular order;

• There is the charming lady pensioner who every week pops-by around mid-morning to buy a slice of ‘flourless chocolate cake’ (her husband is always standing 2 steps away from the table). She is the very cause of why I have kept the price of it still at £1.80-a-slice, when all the other cake slices have gone up by 20 pence to £2.00… because I’m scared the change might dishearten her & put her off.
• Then there’s a man who also visits every week, similar to my Dad’s age, who buys a ‘fruit-heart-tart’ for himself. If I don’t have any customers waiting to be served, we chat all sorts across the table. ‘What’s your favourite fruit?’ ‘How was your week?’ to even ‘Do you believe in spirits?’ He says ‘toodle-pips for now!’ when saying bye. I think we have introduced our names before, but I’m the crappiest when it comes to remembering names, so for me he is called ‘The Toodle Pip Man’. - On that note about introducing - I’ve had loads of customers who’ve told me their names. I must start a little book to note them down…
• A while ago, there was a young vegan man who can not buy anything from my stall (as everything I make has butter). He pleasantly suggested I make vegan stuff to sell (it should be popular because it is untapped market), & came back the following week with a print-out of a vegan cake recipe for me (with some notes scribbled on the side explaining some of the unusual ingredients that it were listing)! So sweet of him…
• ‘Fruit-heart-tart’ is also popular with the fabulously dressed young lady. When I see her, I smile & say: ‘the usual right?’ & it’s a quick 1-2-3 step process. Although, last week, she surprised me a bit by ordering the ‘lemon-heart-tart’ instead!
• Every other week, I get a visit from the French jewellery stylist (who always has a natural & happy smile on her). Her choice is always the medium chocolate tart. The other week, I used more milk chocolate than dark (as I didn’t have much dark chocolate left) - the following week she told me she had noticed. Goes to show I mustn’t tamper around with the regular items…!
• Old man who I think looks like a thin version of Einstein, likes my lemon tart - & buys the large one almost every week for his family.
• Once, another regular-face bought the ‘fruit-heart-tart’ to take all the way to his friend in Brussels!
• Last two Winters, my stall always had a visit from a guy who bought a dozen or so of the truffles & mendiants. He is a silent type, never ever chats or smile. Such a comparison to the others who visit the market, that are ultra-sociable. The guy is mysterious to me (I wonder what he does for living?), but I like him - his presence is definitely part of my market-life. I wonder if he’ll be back this Winter? I hope so.
• I have been doing special-orders now & again for people looking for wedding cakes. I think they are all locals who know my stuff well. What’s charming is that these people are super-super-appreciative that I make them, I mean, they’re paying proper fees but nevertheless! I’m so happy my cake is part of someone’s special day.
• There is an elderly lady who visits every week that buys just one item for herself. We comment on how we look each week & we share lots of personal news - happy & sad. Some time ago she was so sad that her friend died (of old age). Anything I said to comfort her was probably going from one ear to the other… but maybe she wanted someone totally unrelated like me to just tell, as part of healing process. - It reminds me of a girl who I barely knew who asked me to accompany her to the abortion clinic (I did), & another who told me about her husband’s affair. You realize people just need someone to dump their pain on a bit.

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Other’s I want to quickly mention before this list gets any longer are those who come back to the stall just to say ‘Hi’, & those others who come to give me a nice feedback: ‘The tart last week was great!’, & those who bring their visitors to me & say ‘This is the stall & the lady I was telling you about!’
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Last week at the market:

Hooray, it’s that time of the year again - as I finally started making chocolates! The weather is unmistakably cool enough for me to start selling without risk of them melting. What with not making them for
a while, I totally got the quantity of cream & chocolate wrong, & made 70 classic vanilla truffles instead of making 30 that I’d planned… Damn… But I had friends around the next day, so I thought I could just stuff these girls with the left-overs. - To my delight, I still managed to sell out on them! Yay! I’m gonna try make more varieties for next time…

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So, after my two week absence from the market (been away because of the house-move), I’m officially back as “business-as-usual” with lots of happy baking.

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I’ve been back at the market for two weeks since then, & almost selling out on both, so I’m chirpy enough. The new kitchen is actually not-so-bad as I’d nightmared about either. The electric hob manages to make great Tarte Tatins, & the oven doesn’t have heat-spots. I don’t even mind crouching for that oven that’s underneath the hob. - Although…, I guess the only qualm is that the new oven is 1/3 smaller (I can only make 4 cakes at one time, whereas before I could bung in 6), hence I can only produce 2/3 the amount normally, despite that it’s still the same amount of stirring & whisking involved. And crucially, I have noticed this difference when I count my sales at the end of the day…
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But that doesn’t faze me too much - I can tell myself that it’s “okay” y’know, it could’ve been a lot worse, & I just have to devise a better working plan. However, what did faze me last week was when a lady customer said a small but rather unnecessary bitter comment upon purchasing a medium pear tarte that she felt was too expensive (it was £5.50). She surely could have then not bought the damn tarte right?, but instead buys it & says: “I should remember never to buy cakes from you.” It shocked me & I immediately apologized. All I could do was put on a slight weary smile & wait for response. The customer then just left (with the cake). - I don’t know how I let it, but it was a real ‘pull-me-down’. I guess it was because it was the end of the day, I was tired. I knew I hadn’t made as much sales that day & I was weak. What could have been just an insignificant comment turned significant in my heart, & at that point, for a moment or two, I toyed with the idea of quitting. - I certainly didn’t handle this well…
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Sure, I could have said something bitter back to her I guess, like “You do HAVE the option of NOT buying, woman! Go buy cheapo factory-made ones with God-knows-what’s-in-it from the supermarket!” but I’m never the type to come up with clever lines quickly enough. I’m always the type that goes over what to say ‘after’ the event. Like, I should’ve said this & that…, looping the scenario over in my head. Besides, I try to stick to my belief system that talking back is not considered good customer service, however unjustified it may have been. Maybe that’s the Japanese in me - ‘the customer is always right’.
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Later, this incident reminded me of Marco Pierre White, the 3 Michelin starred English chef & restaurateur, on ITV’s Hell’s Kitchen television show. The first show was on the 4th of September, the day I moved, & I pleaded my brother to set-up our TV straight away so as not to miss the show. I had never been rich enough to go to his restaurant, but having heard his reputation as a great chef, I wanted to see the show & be inspired.
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But, instead of admirative ‘ooh-ing’ & ‘aah-ing’, I finished watching the show with disgust, & vowed never to watch the rest of the series. What I saw was a man with too much ego for his own good. - A customer had complained, & the chef took it bad, & told his staff to tell the customer to leave…!! When the gentleman-ly customer decided to go up to the chef to talk direct (in my opinion, it should’ve been the chef going to the table instead), the chef then seethes “You have two choices – apologize or leave” & shouted after the man leaving: “It will be the longest walk in history, boy. But you are taking it, aren’t you? Nice shirt by the way. Good evening.” O.m.g., this kind of customer treatment is really uncalled for. I tell you, even if somebody payed me, I wouldn’t go eat that man’s food. For me, dining out should be an experience of good vibes. That’s what makes a good night out. Not sitting in a stuck-up establishment, too scared to disagree. - I wouldn’t want to eat any food that’s been cooked with heartless & bad chi, in-case it rubs off!
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On the other hand, I came across a good example of customer service just last weekend, when my family dined out at Matsuri restaurant to celebrate my mother’s birthday. The mini-cab they had organized for us for the journey home ripped us off - big time - & when my brother called up the restaurant to complain, Matsuri immediately phoned the cab-firm, & then phoned us back straight away, acknowledged the fault, apologized & would be sending us a cheque to pay for the difference of what should have been the right fare. - Now THAT gets gold for customer service!

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To sum up, I think the key points that scored high was:

• The restaurant had listened carefully to my brother’s complaint
• Graciously accepted the criticism
• Apologized & expressed regrets - did not try to make excuses
• Resolved the situation immediately - offered satisfactory amends

Their response was proper & text-book worthy. We felt we were taken seriously, & our custom is not lost - we will go back to that restaurant again!

… & I promise I will be back with a vengeance.

My absence from blogging has been far too long, so I thought in the meantime, I’d just like to let you guys know that I AM getting my bottom in gear & am currently writing a proper post - it should be up by the end of the weekend - if not, well…,please don’t blame me…, I probably had a cake too many & decided to be a couch-potato instead, zapping through the whole series of my recent TV fascination: HEROES…

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ps: the move went well!

Hi… Just a quickie to say that I won’t be doing the market this week & the next because of the house-move.

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Also, I won’t be posting much on this blog & reply to your comments/ emails for a wee while, atleast until the internet connection gets sorted at the new house. But then again…, I can imagine myself going to those WiFi cafés to fuel my ‘blog-fix’, so guys, don’t be too surprised to see another blog-entry here in a much nearer future actually…!

(Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs - Beautifully painted folk art to decorate your home. These are symbols to bring good luck to your home. Each colour & shapes used have it’s meaning. For example, hearts mean love, birds for luck & happiness. Tulips for faith, & stars also for good luck. Blue colour conveys protection, white purity, green abundance & red strong emotion.)

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The other day, my dear blog reader/ customer told me of her Indian custom -

“when one moves into a new house - one heats a pan of milk and allows it to boil over, thus ensuring the house will always have abundance.”

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I’ve no attachment to any particular religion but, I love the notion of making a point out of celebrating Life’s important moments. And now that this ritual has been mentioned to me, I’m thinking of doing it once I settle down.

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Quite often you hear the phrase: ‘you are what you eat’, which, I’m sure many of you will agree, is very true indeed. The food you eat has bearing on what your state of mind & health is. -
In a similar sense, I think ‘you are how & where you live’ also, as your habitat reveals the facets of your true being. And so, it is in that respect, that I feel with certainty that starting life in the new house with a food related ritual befits my character!

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Upon researching a bit more about the ‘boiling-over milk’ ritual, I found out that:

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“It is said to be better if the milk falls out to the east of the house. If you know which side of the house is east, then you can direct the froth of the milk towards that side. You have to let only a little milk fall out.”

& that:

you serve that milk to your housewarming guests, either as is, sweetened with a bit of sugar, or you can cook with it to make a proper meal. I’m thinking, maybe I’ll make mine a hot chocolate…

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Upon this research, I noticed there’s many ways of housewarming/ blessing using food. For example, in Russia, there’s the tradition of sweeping the new home with rock salt, which is believed to release negative energy.

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In fact SALT is used symbolically in many cultures it seems. For example, in Feng Shui, to prevent & avoid diseases to come into your house & your life, few grains of salt is sprinkled in rooms, especially in corners & at all openings such as windows, doors & fireplace openings. And then there is the ‘bread & salt’ to be given as housewarming gift signifying that the new family would always have the necessities of life. (tradition comes from an old Russian folk custom).

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Bread & Salt crops up again as a housewarming gift idea - this time from Germanic origin:
Bread so you’ll never go hungry
Salt so you’ll have good luck
Wine so you’ll never be thirsty
Something interesting to remember when choosing a housewarming gift, I think.

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Other noteworthy traditional gifts that one can give are:

- a broom to sweep away the evil

- sugar or honey representing sweetness in their lives

- coin to bring good fortune to them

- plants signifying prosperous life

- candles for light in their lives

- wood for harmony & peace in the house

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In my home country Japan, there is the beautiful custom of giving out soba (buckwheat noodle) still in it’s packet to the neighbours on both sides, & to the house in front of you (and if you’re moving in to a block of flats, it’s apparently advisable to give soba to the directly above & below you too!).

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Why soba? Well, its a playful meaning, as ‘soba’ sounds just like another Japanese word which means “next to/ close to”. Hence, you’re signalling that you’d like to start amicable relationship with them.

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Naturally, I knew of this custom, but, in my case, when time comes, I’m not sure I’d give out soba noodles… - it’ll feel too strange for them, I’m sure! Possibly too intrusive?? So maybe a quick knock on the door or a card through the door??

(Pendant Jelly Lights - Made from vintage jelly moulds, with jelly mould roses and silk covered flex.)

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As faithful readers will know, I am moving to my new house this September. I’ve been extensively looking for sofas, coffee & dining tables. So far I’ve not come across ones that I like (that’s within our budget), but during my search, I did come across many great designs, that’s related to food/ kitchen (+etc), so here’s a snippet of them that caught my attention!

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(Beech Ten Drawer Apple Rack - Made from solid beech, this traditional & useful piece is ideal not just for storing fruit & veg, but makes a lovely storage unit for blankets etc)

(Duncan Mug - Three coffee mugs featuring embossed molds of Custard Cream, Jammie Dodger or Shortbread that reveal themselves as you finish your drink. By Wai-Lian Scannell, London.)

(Oak Roller Towel Holder - Traditional oak roller towel holder made in England.)

(Chop2Pot Folding Chopping Board)

(Bespoke Shaker Wheeled Table)

(Original Rainbow Maker - Fill your room with a dazzling swirl of rainbow with clever solar powered device that sticks to the window by suction cap. Direct sunlight turns the motor, and, in turn, the Swarovski crystal rotates, creating beautiful rainbows that dance around the room.)

(Two Tops Table - Marcel Wanders 2005. Solid oak frame, mdf with oak veneer top. with hidden compartment)

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Finally, a bit of inspirational link to a House & Garden feature on actress, Chloë Sevigny’s house. She’s got such amazing sense of style… love her…!

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PS:

Last week at the market was superb. What with the weather forecast telling me it’s gonna be hot, I gambled on making extra, & bingo, it paid off. There were tons of people out, enjoying the hot weather that we’ve been sorely missing the whole of last month, & these people were hungry for cakes! I presume most of them were taking it to a picnic or to a BBQ party.
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- AND, guess what guys, after my rambling of poor sales the week before, this time I managed to sell out in record-breaking time of 2.40pm. ;-) Not so bad afterall ei?
The whole day was just wonderful - friends drop by to see me, & then my ex-flatmate girlfriends come by at the end to meet up, & we sit outside the pub basking the gorgeous sun drinkin’ n’ chatting, looking at the market packing up after a buzzing day. D & our son join us after they’ve been to a birthday party, then an old college friend drops by out-of-the-blue too! - I managed to get very drunk after that…

My brother came back from Paris again, & as per usual, brought home 2 huge boxes full of cakes from Sadaharu Aoki! One of which caught my eye was this dinky fruit tart, with a petite pink macaron sitting pretty in the middle. The picture on the right is the cake card with nutty chocolate cream smeared in the middle, which I realized that it was acting as a ‘glue’ to stop the pastry from slipping on the card. Technique to be noted!

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Taste verdict? Delicious. A big tick all round.
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Recently, at the market, something delightful happens. For two weeks in a row, I have had several Coco&Me blog readers come to visit my stall - one was all the way from Kent!
We had a bit of a chat - found out she found my blog after googling for a recipe for brownies. The cute lady then bought the said brownies plus some of the other cakes too. Dear lady, a small message to you - thank you for coming by, it made my day, & I really hope those brownies are up to your expectations…

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On a down note, the market itself has been so so lately - the weather’s been rainy, tinkering on between cloudy or downright pouring, & what with outdoor venue’s dependant on the outcome of weather, I’m not making fantastic sales.

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It’s such a down-er, that. Some weeks, I make a mistake of making too much - even if I had kept closely with the BBC weather site all week, trying to guess how much foot-count the market expects that Saturday…

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For two weeks in a row, I had some cakes left - say another 50 pounds or so worth. That’s when I debate wether to start shouting “cakes sale!!!” & “end-of-day discount on cakes!!!” But last week, when I did this, I felt embarrassed as I felt the attention of the people sitting at the cafe (directly looking on to my stall), & could clearly feel that they were amusing themselves on account of me. The more I shouted discount, & when no successful transaction was made, I felt under pressure…

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Therefore, soon as I sold my last cake with a stupid price tag, I fled the scene, a little disheartened. - It’s so difficult to gage how many cakes to make… Sometimes I have market days when I sell out before 3pm, but then there are days when things aren’t rosey. On a positive side, good days feel fantastic instead I guess, & my partner D’s happy when he finally gets his mitts on the left overs at home!

(Am I wrong or are these book covers pretty bad??)

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(Note: this post would only interest Harry Potter fans.)

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A bit of light-entertainment this week:

In the run up to the highly anticipated last-ever Harry Potter novel coming out, there sure is a H.Potter fever in the air. I’m getting my copy sent to me via amazon - so come the morning of July 21st (release date), no doubt I’ll be waking up early to run downstairs, in my PJ’s, to see if the parcel has arrived, maybe a bit like a little kid on Xmas day. Oh! Can’t wait!

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I found a hilarious online discussion on the UK amazon site, titled ‘Would Voldemort prefer rich tea or custard creams?‘. The very idea of Voldy relaxing with milky tea & biscuits (is he a dunker?) had me in stitches. Anyway, the discussion goes on for 11 pages, so I just copy & paste the first page of it, to give you a taster. Get ya self tea & several biccies & enjoy reading!
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Mr. Derri P. H. Stephens says:
I think Voldemort would be the kind of gut who eats custard creams, and he is deffinately a dunker.
And believe there is some evidence in CoS that proves he would rather a Maryland cookie to a Jammy dodger.
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John Goddard says:Rich Tea biscuits are a creation of pure evil. They hold out the expectation of a biscuit, but deliver a dry and shrivelled result. Surely Voldermort would therefore keep the custard creams for himself and provide Rich Tea biscuits for the death eaters…
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Daniel Roach says:

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Anna Leeming says:
I agree with this. Rich Tea are not the kind of biscuit a Dark Lord would eat - after all, they are very bad for dipping (see Peter Kay at the MEN) - and he would be more likely to provide them for the less worthy of his followers while indulging in something which involves far more chocolate.

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Mary -Ann says:
You`re all way out. It`s got to be a Jacobs cracker, a nice piece of stilton , & a glass of unicorns blood !!!

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Harry C. Young says:
I would think he liked ginger newts because he disasscociates himself with anything muggle.

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D. Halliwell says:That is so funny John… i have had to pick myself off the floor i was laughing so much…nice one

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Alice says:
This is a really crummy thread, it takes the biscuit in my opinion!
Maybe Voldy would like cockroach clusters!
Hmmmm, we never see Voldy eat, except snake venom from Nagini milked by the fair hand of Wormtail!

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Weasley Fan says:
I don’t think Voldemort would like any biscuit with a soft centre! He seems more of a Hobnob guy to me. I can just see him sitting there with a steaming mug of Unicorn’s blood, wearing his fluffy Dementor slippers! :o )

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P. M. Fernandez says:
Nobody in their right mind could possibly prefer Rich Tea to anything!
Voldemort is not in his right mind.
Therefore he prefers Rich Tea.

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Amber R. Wahidi says:
What if he doesn’t see the point in eating. Senses all not in tack. Taste not being there.

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Ms. V. Lovatt says:
Voldemort seems like a luxury biscuit nibbler to me. The sort of twisted evil person that dunks ‘n’ munches his way through an entire packet of Cadburys Double Chocolate Cookies without offering you a single one, leaving you to lick your fingers and hoover up the crumbs when he’s not looking. I should imagine the biscuits are accompanied by a lovely cup of milky Camp coffee to dunk the biccies in. He probably has Pettigrew go fetch him some from the local Happy Shopper, lest he intergrate with the lowly Muggles. “Wanna biccie, wanna wanna wanna biccie NOW!!!!” (oh, hold on, thats Terry Pratchett)

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Mevance says:
lol @ biscuits I like a wee rich tea biscuit does this make me a death eater/slytherin?

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Emily says:
Oh Mr Derri P.H. Stephens..how you mock me! I stated I believe Voldermort would prefer rich teas to custard creams because:
1. I believe he is a ‘man’ (if indeed a man can be a man with a broken soul) with traditional tastes.
2. He does not have a lot of time to eat (his days are full of killing people, cursing people, planning evil things, etc) and anything other than a rich tea is likely to stick in his teeth and cause him to have to use a large amount of energy picking bits out of his teeth (the oats from hobnobs, the jam from the dodgers).
3. He is a man who ‘the whole’ is very important too (other than with regards to his soul)and a custard cream has a tendency to break in two.
4. He has long straggely fingers with very long nails that I feel would find it difficult to pick up and handle a custard cream - a rich tea is a easier biscuit to pick up for those with floppy fingers.
5. There are many varieties of custard cream (e.g. tesco, tesco value, asda, sainsbury’s, morrisons, happy shopper, etc) and so you never know quite what you’re going to get… whereas a rich tea is just a rich tea…Voldermort would hate to not know what was coming and what to expect…he is a man who likes to be ready…he likes to always be one step ahead.
6. Voldermort would sound like a pansy if he asked for a ‘custard cream’ whereas a ‘Rich tea’ is quite a masculine choice I feel.
And finally….
7. Voldermort has a new body now which he needs to take care of…as far as I’m aware custard creams are not sold in 25% less fat versions whereas Rich teas are…Voldermort needs to remember his new figure when he is making his biscuit choices. It would be no good if in the middle of the final duel with Harry, he died just because he couldn’t run away fast enough due to the consumption of two too many full fat custard creams!!So there we have it…Voldermort would prefer a rich tea to a custard cream.

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Googleplex says:
No….He’ll find all those special, vintage or relegiously special buiscuit, then eat them quickly, not favouring the taste by purpose- in front of whoever they are most important to…

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Emily says:
Yes but other biscuits have a tendency to ‘crumb’ whereas the grain of a rich tea is as such that it only causes a light powdering when first bitten in to….Voldermort would not look so ‘frightening’ and intimidating with a big bit of hobnob oat, digestive crumb, smudged custard, etc, on his lip!!.

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Mevance says:
In reply to J. Vaidya I agree it would be a religious biscuit for voldermort. The only thing however I can think of is a bun a hot cross one.

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Ms. V. Lovatt says:
What about a Cow biscuit? Not too bad on the crumb front, just that weird biscuit sludge you get at the bottom of your cup of tea. But he could vanish that with a flick of his wand, I’m sure. They are also pretty old skool, a way for Voldemort to sit and relax, reminiscing about zee good old days. Although the cup of milky tea could spoil his image. (but the mug could have an evil slogan printed on it- something like “I enjoy killing people” or “This mug belongs to a violent wizard with psychotic tendencies” that sort of thing to balance it out.)

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Mevance says:
A cow biscuit..? I don’t remember them…I hav however consumed a fair few NICE biscuits in my time… mmmmm coconutty. I think Voldy would have a mug with ‘muggle free zone’ written on it

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Emily says:

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Googleplex says:
he probably has some sort of weak side, so he might like those soft gingerbread biscuits you get in m&s with the thick icing- but he would change it so it looked like his sign- so that he can explain it away if any death eater (or JKR) walks in…

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Emily says:
And perhaps whilst sat by the light of his wand and the flickering of the fire in the hearth, with his mug of tea and evening biscuit, his ’slippered’ feet would be those big gorilla feet slippers or perhaps Homer Simpson slippers?

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Emily says:
And perhaps he would appear to be reading ‘101 ways to kill someone with your eyes closed’ but inside the book he would have the latest copy of the Daily ‘Wizard’ Star hidden…checking out the hot witches on page 3 or ‘Woman’s Weekly’ which he has a subscription to for the knitting patterns???

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(Wanna read more? Read the rest at this link!) Credit to all these witty comment writers!!

(Last Summer I was asked by my good friends N + C to make a birthday cake for their children! I jumped at the chance as it was the perfect opportunity to make this elaborate cake I’d been wanting to try!)

(stencil planning how the sponge sheet should be cut)

(ps: Next time, I’ll make all the letter white! Dark choc is not that visible against the colourful fruit… By the way, can you see that the letter Y’s broken? I had to make it from X & N because I didn’t have any more Y’s… And, have you noticed that the A from ALICE is a bit wierd? Yes, it’s V upside down…)

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For this week’s blog post, blast from the past, I’ve uploaded some piccies from almost a year ago. It’s a wopping A2 size genoise sponge cake with fresh fruit topping! I took the idea from a recipe book called ‘Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes: Unwrapped - From the Cacao Pod to Muffins, Mousses and Moles

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The book suggests making chocolate sponge with cocoa powder, & honeyed greek yogurt for a health-concious spread, but I decided I prefer the simplicity of a classic genoise with light chantilly cream (whipped double cream), just like the strawberry cake I loved as a child in Japan (苺のショートケーキ).

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From this week I’ve taken on another job title - ‘english teacher’. Yep, me. English teacher. Can you believe it? Laughable right? I’m far from perfect in English (as you can tell from my awful writing on this blog), yet, I’ll be teaching to a Japanese lady every Monday from now on (that is, until she decides to run away)! Today was the first lesson, an hour & a half long, while my boy is at nursery. Went well I think, a big relief. So handy too - making a bit of extra dough (£10 per hour) that could go toward that evening’s dinner!
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I’ve been taking on other extra curriculum activities these days too. Last week I squeezed in baking another wedding cake, & I have promised another customer to provide serious amounts of cakes for a large scale party this August. Talking of things to do, this reminds me, I mustn’t forget that I’ve also been meaning to take process photographs of Pâte sucrée for the blog post from a couple of weeks ago…

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