Hello. I’d just like to mention that I’ll be back trading tomorrow! I know it’ll be FREEEZING, quite probably covered in snow… – I hope that the weather doesn’t put people off coming out, because I (as usual) have made more than I can sell… (do I ever learn??)

(truffles on display)

(my stall with two handsome chaps that work the French cheese stall behind me.)

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Howdy. Happy New Year.

Are you enjoying your holiday? Me? Well…, I WAS thinking;
“yay! no more work & no more Xmas dinner mayhem! Tis the time to slow pace & rest!” … But instead…, my body decided to go in to ‘rest’ literally & got me bedridden with the most drowsy flu for three days. It was the “achy-everywhere with heavy-head” kinda flu, & not the fun “stay in bed & catch up with a spot of reading while partner-brings-hot-milk” type.

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Well, if I tell you that I made twice as much as usual on the last Saturday (20th) at the market, maybe you’ll realize that I put in twice the workload for it. Hence it is maybe not much of a surprise that my body thought it best to stick me in a bed to re-energize before the New Year’s Eve wake-up-athon (which this year’s lasted til 3.30am, hick!).

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I sold:

32 boxes of assorted chocolate truffles, 16 flourless chocolate cakes, 3 lemon drizzle cakes, 14 eight-inch tarts, 12 five-inch tarts, as well as the individual heart-shaped ones & the usual tower of brownies.
That is, in ingredients terms, I used about 12 kilograms of chocolate, roughly 8 kilograms of sugar & 6 kilograms of butter.

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It truly was the record mega make-athon ever. When I list the things I’ve made like this, even I must say, it’s unbelievable. When some customers ask where I make it, & I say at home, with a standard home-oven, they’re surprised that I can produce so much, & as D puts it, at this rate, one-day, the oven is gonna go caput…, quite possibly soon.

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I piped, rolled & coated over 500 chocolate truffles. Remembering my lesson from previous years’ Christmas market day, I pre-packed 20 boxes on Friday night. I think I finished around 2.30am.

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Come Saturday, I asked D to drive me & the goods to the market earlier than usual to set-up. THIS day is THE best sales day of the year for a cakes & chocolate stall like mine. As I’m going to take all of January off, tis the time to do as much as I can.
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The chocolate boxes went one by one. But hang on? Isn’t the pace a bit slow? My sleep-deprived head spun thoughts of “Oh no…!?”‘s… The cake sales were slow on the up-take too. Afterall, it was a gappy 5 days more to go til Christmas, & then there is the purse tightening credit-crunch… It felt as though there were less visitors this year.
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Nevertheless, eventually I sold out on the truffles. The last 4 boxes went to my dear regular customer E who also bought 4 boxes last Christmas. She tells me that it was so popular with her folks last year that she’s back for the same! Bless…
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I glance at the wall-clock in the burger shop situated opposite my stall. Truffle sell-out time this year was 1:30pm. In Year 2006, I finished selling truffles at 11:30am, then Year 2007 was at 12:40pm. It’s taking longer to sell every year it seems, but then again I’m making more & more every year so maybe these numbers don’t really mean a thing.

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I should somehow make like 700 truffles next Christmas market… (Although, the Saturday will fall on the 19th – 6 long days til Christmas Day… hm…)
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Eventually, with a bit of struggle (shouting “saaale…!”), the cakes went too. Huuuge relief, that, especially when I think back to what happened on:
The previous Saturday (the 13th), it was the complete opposite. It wasn’t my worst-ever sales day to date, but it certainly belonged to that end of the spectrum.
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Double rain drop sign was a permanent show on the weather forecast that week, & no surprises, that Saturday started with pouring rain. The tarpaulin roof cover had holes & some of my chocolates & cakes were rained on. I was furious & frustrated. I urged the market-boys double up my roof cover. They eventually did a good job.
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Half the market stalls decided to not show up (or went home in the morning), & the customers certainly had better things to do than do shopping in such a horrible rain. Only the hard-core locals were there & I stayed til 5pm, but I still had loads left. Me & my damaged goods went back home pretty sorry for oneself…

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So anyways, I was one ultra-happy-woman to do so well on the 20th. I took in record sales too. Well, only a £2.90 more than the previous years’ actually! But hey, a record is a record right? ;-)
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Like I mentioned earlier, I’m taking all of January off. My first work-date of the year will be February 7th, in time for selling chocolates for Valentines Day. Hope to see you romantics then! t xxx

(Santa’s presents set up in the fireplace as if he shot it down our chimney… yeah right, how imaginative mum… And notice the unsightly Christmas tree which got mangled by our 5 year old boy… The decoration swapped around, the bead strings yanked… It used to have 10 beautifully iced heart-shaped ginger cookies, of which there is now 1 left… Sigh, how I wish for my beautiful Christmas…!!)
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Merry Christmas everybody!!!!!!

Are you having a good time? Or if you’re reading this post-Christmas, did you have a good time? What did you get up to? Enjoying the holidays?
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Here I am, writing this at 5am, after getting up from bed to set up Santa’s Christmas presents for the children to find when they wake up. I’m still stuffed from last night’s party food. I also ate too much of the truly wicked Sticky Toffee Pudding that our neighbour brought around. It was sooo delicious, I had seconds & thirds. As the proof, my body weighs heavier I’m sure of it… They do say “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips”… but I don’t have the ears to listen to that.
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Mind you, the good thing that came from this belt-loosening experience is that I have found the next item that I would want to sell at the market. Yes! Sticky Toffee Pudding! Yum! I’ve already got the recipe from our neighbour. It’s a recipe by Simon Hopkinson, the acclaimed head chef of Bibendum in London. I’m gonna try it out, maybe change it here or there, & look in to how it is shaped, ie: is it baked individually in a pot? or shall I slice portions from a big cake, & so on.
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Anyway, right, off to bed again now!
I’ll write about how my last two markets went next time alright?

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Sweet dreams…

t xxx

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Hello〜!

Quickie note to remind you that there are only two more Saturdays (13th & 20th) this year before the Christmas break! The market itself will be closed on the 27th, & then back to usual trading on the 3rd of January 2009.

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Although…, I’m thinking of not working throughout January, so if you wanna sample Coco&Me goods, make sure to visit me this side of the year!!

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Last Saturday, the Christmas season had finally begun (yay!) & the chocolate sales was marvelous (woo-hoo!) & the big 8-inch cakes sold pretty fast too (yesss)! – With that as the indication, I’ll be making loads & loads more the next two weeks. I’m hoping that it’ll be just as mad as last year’s Christmas rush (read about it by clicking here) when all the chocolates sold by mid-day!

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I’m sure to post more on this blog when I have more time after the 20th, so in the meantime, here’s a sneak preview of the picture of a Coco&Me wedding cake I’m hoping to write about. ‘Til then, ciao!
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(All of the lemon tarts sold in no time despite the bad weather. Lemon & rain… People must subconsciously connect the two!?)

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It was the school holiday week & there was Halloween landing on the Friday. My friend A (with beautiful Martha Stewart-esque house) had organized a proper Halloween party for our children. There was to be fun dressing-up session, then the “trick-or-treating” tour at night, Halloween-themed foods & home-made pumpkin soup for dinner, then the grand finale with fireworks…

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I was dying to go. My four-year-old son would love it & I wouldn’t miss it for the world to see his first-ever “trick-or-treating”. – Y’see, a four-year-old is so much fun to be around, it is lovely! They understand reason compared to a three-year-old, but yet still genuinely pure at heart. Some of the stuff they come up with gets me smiling from ear to ear. For example, the costumed children all thought they were Draculas, Mummies, & Ghosts. As they were walking the “trick-or-treating”, they said “Don’t act Human! Otherwise people will find out!!” Cuuuute…
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I decided to do the market & also attend the Halloween party. To do so, I pretty much made the usual amount in just a day & a half instead of two, which is a silly attempt because I’m already at my limits, pushing myself hard to create as much as I can in the usual two full days. Y’see, every extra bit of chocolate & cake I can make & sell reflects on to my earnings. I have it in my head that, if I am to justify the time spent away from my children (at a time when they are the cutest & need me most), I want to earn as maximum as possible to make it worthwhile.
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I really felt more than tired… squishing my schedule like that, but…, my friend A’s party was superb (it really was Martha-esque!) – I’m glad we went.
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But… the stupid weather forecast who told me to expect interval drizzles that Saturday disappointed me again. It was a downright pour from lunchtime onwards. Come on weather-man, how wrong can you get every flipping time?! The chocolates & cakes didn’t sell well. Actually, to tell you the truth, I had to take home so much unsold stuff… I’d never-ever taken so much home, EVER. I felt so tired, so annoyed.

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And you know what, this Credit-crunch thing is spooking people out from buying. Especially the chocolates which they consider as “luxury” = something to cut back on in these hard times. I’m not sure what kind of sales to expect anymore… hopefully I’ll be alright when the Christmas season kicks in & people start throwing dinner parties, & give chocolates as presents. As for this coming weekend, people might be doing Bonfire parties…
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So, if you ever want somewhere to go on a rainy Saturday, please come to the market & help me get these cakes a home to go to!!

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ps: Oh flipping ‘eck… the weather forecast is rain AGAIN this coming Saturday…