(Don’t forget! It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow!)

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Saturday 9th of February:

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To be honest, I nearly didn’t do it.

I waddle-walk like a penguin, can’t bend over to pick things up, & I’m very S.L.O.W. at everything I do. All the typical pregnancy discomforts present, staying comfortable becoming a challenge. I really worried if I could ‘do it’, standing in the kitchen for 2 whole days & then standing/ selling outside on a winters day…

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But, my pal A (who’s the girl that started this business with me initially) offered to help me out at the stall on Saturday. If this was anybody-else, maybe I would’ve been weary, but we’re talking about Ms.A, who’s done it before, & I trust her completely. And I also looked forward to spending time with her – so much girly catch-up to do!
She’s a good woman, that A. She was even there waiting at the stall before we arrived, & helped with the setting-up, which I feared would’ve been the most strenuous task for me. (THANK YOU A!)
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The day itself turned out superbly so – I realized once again that the market-life gives me so much pleasure. There were countless “You’re back!!”‘s & “I missed your cakes/ chocolates!!”. So heart-warming. Plenty of “How have you been?”‘s which develops to lengthy chats, exchanging new news. It was exceptionally sweet when the two girls (sisters) who have been regularly spending their pocket money on me the past 2 years, came up & excited said: “We didn’t know you’re pregnant! Really really REALLY happy for you! Wow! Congratulations!! Soooo happy!!!”. They showed true happiness & radiated smiles so natural that only children can do. – it was positively infective.
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Perfect blue sky brought outside many many people & the market was totally buzzing. Thermometer reached 16.6c apparently, & it was the warmest day for this time of year in over a century. The cakes & the chocolates went quickly, & I sold out except for half a dozen raspberry truffles, which got munched to non-existence on the way home.

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Two blog readers came to visit my stall too (seperately). I was so happy to see them! Thank you for coming by guys.

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– Ms.J came to buy a tart for her neighbour (how nice are you!?) & then came back to the stall again later on to buy a brownie! (It was great chatting to you, & I hope to see you again for another chat!) – Ms. J has just excellently written a report on her visit to Broadway Market. Check it out on her blog!
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– And then there was Ms.R in the afternoon, who kindly gave the baby on it’s way it’s FIRST EVER PRESENT!! It’s a very very sweet Miffy book about dreams. It was so pleasantly unexpected & I was lost for words (for once)! THANK YOU! – I made Ms.R sign & date it. It’s gonna be a family treasure!
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(With so much going on, I didn’t get to photograph the market & it’s beautiful weather, so here is a picture that D took on our way home, just before 5pm, near where we live. – As some of you know, we moved to a new area recently, & as you can tell from the picture, it is on a hill with amazing views across London. (Although our house does not have a wonderful view like this, instead look on to a block of flats…). We are in love with our new area, we often talk about how it’s like KIKI’s town, what with a church at the end of the road just like the film!)

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i’m scheduling to work for another 3 weeks at the market, so I hope to see you there! t xxx

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Hello! You got any plans lined up for this coming Saturday?

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Just a quick reminder to everyone that I’ll be trading at the market this Saturday. It’s going to be one of the few times that I’ll be there (for this half of the year atleast…), so can I tempt you to hop along?

Tamami xxx

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Some traders count their earnings as they go along the day, or, if you’re like me & don’t wanna be seen with wads of cash outside, you count in the safety of your home. Most times, I can’t wait to find out how well (or sometimes, how little) I did, so I count on the night. My toddler boy being at an age where he wants to ‘help’ with everything, sits down with me & straightens the bent notes flat. He also ‘tries’ to separate the coins in to groups, & if asked, he’ll count them in 10’s so that it’s easier for me to count them. I have pondered if I am making a future bank-clerk out of him (yawn), or indeed the opposite: a bank-robber (unlawful & dangerous), but his nursery teacher said sometime ago how he was good at counting with their plastic coins, so I guess it’s good to let him help me for now.
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Last Saturday night’s conversation with him is gonna be a household classic:

me: “Can you pass me that note please?”

boy: “With the gal?” (note: he can’t say ‘girl’.)
me: (laugh) “Gal…! Yes, with the picture of The Queen of this Country!”

boy: “This one? With that Gal of the Country??”
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It was sweetly delivered with a slight cockney (London) accent (think Audrey Hepburn’s My Fair Lady). I hope Ma’am won’t mind. ;-)

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When counting the day’s earnings, now & again, I come across Euro-cents that look like the £1 coin. Soooooo annoying…. This week was a Canadian coin that was the same size as 10 pence coin. Though, I’ve never ever had fake/ counterfeit notes as yet, so I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. A stall near me have just been ‘had’
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Last Saturday at the market, the weather turned out well (phew…), & it was absolutely great with the chocolates – I managed to sell out on ALL the truffles – selling all the boxes I had with me (the boxes have 12 truffles inside), while also selling them individually in bags. Although, as per usual with my ever-optimistic (a.k.a. greedy) sales-forecast, I made too many large cakes, over-ly anticipating that people would be kicking-off with the Christmas dinner parties with friends before going off out-of-town to see their folks for the actual Christmas days.

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So… I had quite a bit of cakes left… What with the day getting shorter & getting darker quicker, the market started to look on the emptier side. The passers-bys were just literally ‘passing-by’, not even glancing at the table.

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While I still had items on the table, my D arrives with our boy at 4.30pm (as promised) to pick me up. But our boy is asleep in his arms. Although it was a terrible thing to do, I made them wait in the French cafe opposite, & I announced “DIS—count….!! End-of-the-day-S.A.L.E—!” until I made another few pounds or so, & gave the left-overs to my stall neighbours & friends, & packed-up asap.
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~Still, despite all those left-overs, I managed to make the best earning of this year, so I ain’t complaining. ;-)
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This coming Saturday is hopefully as good, if not better, what with it gonna be on the 22nd, so close to Christmas. I have several orders too. Although…, looking at the weather forecast, it has two rain-drop sign that I dread with hate hate hate, so it’s gonna be a gamble on how many to bake & make. But, I’m again gonna be forecasting optimistically, so am gonna make more, especially the truffles… Call me mad, D does…

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PS: If you’re in Ldn, come & give me support this 22nd! I need it on a rainy day & plus… I’m not quite sure yet, as I haven’t made my decision, but it may be one of the last few times I do the market before taking a long maternity-break!

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Last Saturday at the market was one of those days when you curse The Great British Weather (anagram= harsh bitter wet heritage) & question why-oh-why we put up with bad weather over here. Throughout the day, it was pretty much raining cats & dogs, the subject of conversation always about how rainy & ‘orrible it is. You can imagine the sales wasn’t great either for any of us – there just wasn’t that many people out there – & to be fair, spending time at an outdoor market in heavy rain wouldn’t be my first choice destination either, if I had the choice that is.
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What’s worse was when the gusty wind kicked off from lunchtime onwards – and together with the merciless downpour, you can just imagine how miserable it was to stand out there.

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My neighbouring stall had a hole in his plastic sheeting that is used for the roof, & despite it being mended by the market boys with some gaffa tape, rain droplets were still seeping from it. And then he had a customer leaning right in to the stall with her umbrella dripping rain water on to the food, possibly sogging it! (I was watching this thinking why does the lady not realize? or maybe she doesn’t care?!) – If it was my stall she did this to, I’d be pointing that out to her pronto. And oh, that plastic sheeting… – it sags & collects the rain water. When the strong wind blows, the big pool of collected water gets swept & deposits on the unsuspecting passersbys, drenching them. You hear shuddering screams throughout the day – poor people… I try to poke the sagged bit of roofing with my cake cooking rack to deposit as much water from it, so at least from my section of the market they are safe.
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Despite this awful weather, a pretty blog reader came-by at the end of the day. It was such a nice surprise! She came from out of London! Thank you! – Funny thing is, I had also received a visit from another pretty blog reader just last week too! Very rare that I get bloggy visits two weeks in a row. It was very nice to meet both of you, it’s great to see who reads my stuff!

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The left-overs from the market were served the following day to the guests at my son’s 4th birthday party, so rest-assured, none of it was left at the end!
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So, two more Saturdays til Xmas! I’m now taking PRE-ORDERS for cakes & chocolates, & will be making & baking super-woman-stylee.. If it’s anything like last year, I’ll be baking several dozens of ‘Flour-less Chocolate Cakes’ & putting together many boxes of chocolate truffles.
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Please Note:

the market is not in operation on 29th. (22nd will be my last work day of the year!)

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This year, what with our son old enough to notice the Halloween mood in the air, I bought a medium size pumpkin at my new local grocery shop, & we carved a Jack O’ Lantern for our very first time!

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It was totally great fun, easier to cut than what we’d imagined. We love our ikkle Jack so much, … watching the warm coloured candle flame & the whole pumpkin glowing, it’s rather soulful. – – It’s shame to think he’s gonna rot away eventually… But then again, that’s the way nature intended, innit… Just expect about 10 Jack O’ Lanterns next year. Coz I’m totally hooked!