Is it too soon to mention Christmas?

Would you believe it, we're almost ready for Christmas? That's what happens when you start planning in July! It's all quite exciting, but now the ordering is complete, we can sit back and wait a couple of months before the stock room fills up with tinsel covered stock. This year we are expanding our Christmas range quite dramatically and trying to stock everything we are legally allowed to (so sadly no fine wines*). We’ll have fresh, locally reared, free-range Turkeys available to order, all the vegetables to roast including stalks of brussel sprouts, chestnuts, cranberry sauce, Christmas puddings, brandy butter, mince meat and mince pies, sides of smoked salmon, whole cheeses such as Baby Stilton and Mont D'Or, alongside an extended selection from our usual range of artisan cheese, whole hams (Serrano and British honey roast), pickled onions, crackers, Italian panettone, handmade fruit cakes, brandy snaps, mulled wine syrup, and more.

And then we also have some great gifts, from sugar mice, candy canes and gingerbread men, to gift bags and boxes of chocolates and confectionery, and of course our usual range of fabulous preserves, oils, vinegars, biscuits, teas, coffee... We'll also be offering our popular hampers and gift boxes, along with gift baskets.

But I don't want to wish the autumn away, so now the orders have been placed with our suppliers, that's the last time I am going to think about Christmas for at least a month.

*But the Eton Bridge Wine Company has moved even closer to us so you can always order your wine from Mark and pick it up when you collect the turkey.

Summer is for Weddings

I love a good wedding, and I really enjoy making unique wedding "cakes" from beautiful artisan cheeses. I like the giant logic puzzle that the task involves, finding a cheese that is "just right", not to big, not too small, not to mild, not too strong, not too yellow, not too grey, not too soft, not too hard, but "just right". I like combining all those "just right" cheeses to create a balanced cheese board and I like meeting the couples that love cheese so much, they are making it a feature at their celebrations.

It feels as though the big wedding/civil partnership season is drawing to a close. We've had a good "season" with plenty of orders for a variety of differently themed weddings. Far more than in previous years. I can't deduce that the fashion for cheese wedding cakes is growing. We have done a lot more (i.e. some!) marketing this year, we're now selling cheese wedding cakes online and we've also built on our reputation, providing cheese towers for couples who attended weddings where we had provided the cheese in the past. Now I just need to get photographs of the cheese towers we made this summer online, in time for next summer's orders.

There must be another family gathering in the winter months? Cheese Christmas Cake anyone? New Year's Eve Cheese Tower?

County Delicacies Closed

Just heard that another of the independent delis in Berkshire has closed. Sadly County Delicacies in Reading shut its doors for the last time last Thursday. If anyone East of Reading is looking for their fix of Barkham Blue, or Wigmore or something else delicious, do pop into Tastes in Eton (or give us a call). If you are missing something we don't currently stock we'll do our best to source it for you.

Getting Smarter!

I'm trying very hard to keep abreast of modern technology. We do have a facebook page, and an online shop. We don't twitter (yet) and haven't quite managed to get the GPS stamp part of facebook to work (apparently "they" need to do something).

Each time I think I'm getting there, something new comes along! Pleasingly the new google GPS type thing available on smartphones seems to work automatically without any effort from me. That is the sort of technological advance I like.

Thanks to Graham for showing me what Tastes looks like on a smartphone.

Britains favourite topic of conversation

Can you believe it is the middle of August? It is incredibly dark and wet in Eton today. And people running with umbrellas aren't all that likely to pop into the deli for a delicious morsel. I've had to resort to paperwork and photographing the rain!

Update

This week I've been working on the Tastes Delicatessen web site. I've resisted the urge to redesign it (although I was tempted) and have forced myself to concentrate on adding new stock to the online shop. There is so much still to describe, it is a daunting task, and it is easy to get side tracked by one particular product. But I remained focussed and now have more than 150 products listed (which isn't even 10% of what is available in store, but is progress in the right direction). If you’ve been buying things from the real or online shop, do pop by the web site and leave your product feedback.

Go local with The Times

The "Go local" campaign is coming to an end next Friday (13th). So anyone who has been collecting the tokens to save £5 at Tastes Delicatessen, should pop along or place their order online within the next week.

I do

Usually I limited my ramblings to posts about fine foods or the deli. But today I am making an exception and posting a photograph from our recent wedding. We were blown away by the messages of encouragement and best wishes from the community here. So as a thank you to the best customers in the world, here is a photograph of our wonderful day!

Cucumber & Pepper Relish

We have another special offer this week. 100g jars of Tracklements' Cucumber and Pepper Relish for 50p. Sweet and sour and perfect with barbecued burgers. We've only 24 jars, so the offer will expire once they have all gone. Those who know this relish will probably want the full-sized jars anyway. But for anyone new to Cucumber and Pepper relish, this is an ideal opportunity to give it a try.

The Times

Today Tastes Delicatessen are mentioned in The Times! We are taking part in their "Go local" campaign. Readers of The Times can collect three tokens printed in the paper and use them for discounts at selected retailers. So in today’s Weekend supplement, right near the start of the list of "Go local" retailers you will find "Tastes Delicatessen, Eton". I think that is worthy of an update to our press clippings page.