Ascot Picnics

I'm not sure what happened to the original Ascot picnic blog post, but there were no words here until I wrote these and I'm sure there used to be. I think I said something about Ascot being the first "picnic event" in our calendar for 2007. I made up lots of lovely picnic baskets for customers to take to the races and the weather held for most of the day. Looking forward to next year!

A School Outing

On Thursday I was visited by a class of infant school children who are studying where food comes from. They were all well behaved and polite! Quite a few told me they didn’t like cheese but it was important to try things they didn’t think they liked. They all tried at least one of the cheeses they were offered. And those who didn’t like the first cheese, did try another type. I was very impressed with them and at the end of it there were only two children who still didn’t like cheese.

Where have I been?

The blog was meant to be about all the new things going on in the delicatessen, but everything is new and I don’t know where to start. So I haven’t written anything for ages.

But the shop is open, getting busier every week and more and more crammed with stock by the day. I’m almost on top of the paperwork, the stock control database is controlling at least half of the stock and I’m just about organised. I will have to start somewhere with entries about products. Maybe tomorrow...

Great Taste Awards

A few weeks ago I was invited to be a judge at this year’s Great Taste Awards and on Friday I left the shop for the first time and travelled down to London for the tasting. I was very pleased to be allocated ice cream with nuts, fruit cake with alcohol and plain chocolate, a little dubious about bacon and hot chutney and not terribly keen on meat based pies. But it was the pies, which really surprised me. One was amazing! Not like any pie I had seen or eaten before and totally delicious. I now need to track it down, maybe not to stock in the shop, but certainly to eat myself.

Official Opening

On 27th April we had an "Official Opening" with lots of tasters available. It was a lovely day. We even had people coming in to say they had seen posters advertising the event in various places (none of which I made or put up - that was one of the customers!). The tasting even featured in a local primary school's trip out. 35 seven year olds appeared in groups of 5 to try cheeses from different countries. Only one found the taste so unpleasant he cried!

I'm not sure where the blog entry or photos from the day went, but have posted again today - better late than never.

Celebrity Visit

Yesterday I had a surprise visit from Adrian Smith, of the Mortimer Chocolate Company, and Steve Wallace who founded the co-operative in Ghana that produces the cocoa beans used in Mortimer’s Ghanaian chocolate powder. Rather than creating a blend of cocoa of different origins, to produce a consistent chocolate, each of the Mortimer Chocolate Company’s powders has a different origin and different taste. I currently stock some from Venezuela and some from Ghana so it was great to meet the man who set up the co-operative in Ghana. And he seemed to get a buzz from seeing his product in sale. In fact, he took so many photographs; my neighbours came in afterwards to ask if I’d had the press in!

Looking Back

Prompted by all the positive feedback customers have given me about the refit, I've been looking back at the old photos and put together some before and after comparisons.

Open For Business

Things continued to conspire against us, including a whole herd of cows who blocked the road on Saturday. I was beginning to think it wasn't meant to be. But we made it in, had the pump replaced, moved the stock around to fill the gaps that were meant to hold the pasta and eventually managed to open!

Have had a constant stream of customers ever since and almost all have commented on how lovely the shop looks and how excited they are that I'm open. Feeling quite proud of how it has all turned out and relieved to eventually be open. Still so much to do, but we're open!

Friday the Thirteenth

It certainly felt like an unlucky day to me. The pump turned out to be beyond repair and not covered by the warranty. The meat slice turned out to be bent in such a way the blade won't turn. The shopping basket delivery man turned up and then found he didn't actually have my baskets on board the truck. The cheese delivery man turned up with another shop's order which leaked all over his trousers and my Italian pasta delivery didn't arrive at all.

Water, Water, Everywhere

We now have hot water, thanks to the new water heater installed on Tuesday, but the waste pump (the one that wouldn't switch off a week ago) now won't switch on! Had three sinks full of water that I've been bailing out with buckets. The plumber came out again but couldn't fix it this time and has referred it back to the manufacturer. An engineer is due at 7am tomorrow and should be able to simply replace the pump. Then we might be able to open the shop in the afternoon! But looking at how things have been going recently, I'm not sure opening on Friday the thirteenth is something I should be excited about!