Happy Valentine's Day

There is still time to pick up a Valentine's gift from Tastes Delicatessen. We've plenty to offer including handmade chocolate hearts, "Love" tea, and chilli jam and chilli oil in beautiful heart shaped jars and bottles. This week's cakes even have a "Love theme"; with hearts on our traditional shortbread, and chocolate brownies topped with strawberry fondant, covered in dark chocolate with edible confetti heart decorations. And they do taste as good as they look!

We'll get that in Waitrose, it'll be cheaper....

Yesterday I overheard a customer telling her partner to put down the vegetables he was about to buy; "we'll get that in Waitrose, it'll be cheaper".

So today I checked her assumption, and am happy to report it was incorrect:

At the moment our broccoli is £2.50 per kilo, Waitrose is £1.69 per 300g head (or £5.64 per kilo, twice the price of ours). Our baby new potatoes are £1.65 per 750g pack (about £2.20 per kilo), Waitrose are £1.49 per pack, but the pack is only 500g (so £2.98 per kilo). Waitrose's cheapest loose potatoes are 86p per kilo, ours are 60p per kilo. Our peppers are £3.50 per kilo, in Waitose they are £4.68. Even the avocados are 99p for small and £1.39 for large compared to our 90p (for what I think is large). In Waitrose the cheapest carrots, onions, lemons and apples cost exactly the same as ours.

There might be plenty of reasons to shop at a supermarket, but thinking the vegetables will be cheaper than the local deli should not be one of them.

"Famous" Cheese Wedding Cake

With all the excitement of Christmas I didn't mention that one of the cheese wedding cakes we created last summer appeared in Martha Stewart Weddings. The American web site is a planning portal for weddings, and includes a section about overseas and destination weddings. Rory and Lisa's Berkshire wedding is recorded beautifully; all the little details which went into the wonderful day (managed by wedding designer/planner Mary Herrington of Forever & Ever Events) and photographed by Chloe Browne of Caught the Light. It's all there, the invitations printed on baloons and vintage hankercheifs, pub-inspired table names, the dress, the shoes, the flowers, the table cloths, the place settings, and there, towards the end, is the cheese wedding cake I made!

The credits:
WEDDING DESIGNER & PLANNER: Mary Lee Herrington of Forever & Ever Events (http://www.foreverandeverevents.com)
PHOTOGRAPHER: Chloé Browne of Caught the Light Photography
CHEESE CAKE TOWER: Tastes Delicatessen
STATIONERY, SIGNAGE & PHOTO BOOTH PROPS: Hello Lucky
VENUE: The Olde Bell
FLORIST: Chantal Flores Design
GOWN: Britta Kjerkegaard of The Couture Gallery
SHOES: Christian Louboutin
FURNITURE HIRE: Theme Traders
HAY BALES: Holdshott Farm Shop
MUSIC: New Hot Cross Band, represented by Sternberg Clarke
CEREMONY SINGER: Sara Al-Qaiwani, bridesmaid
PHOTO BOOTH: Say Fromage
MAKEUP/HAIR: Kaz Fernando
LIGHTING/DJ: Gosh Management

Welcome Back

I will open the deli tomorrow for the first time this year. I love running my own shop, but have to admit I've enjoyed not setting an alarm, and not wearing all my clothes at once and still being cold. I've been hard at work today refilling the shelves with some wonderful produce. And I've been rewarded with the most beautiful sunset over the river. I'm feeling thoroughly pleased to be back and looking forward to 2012.

The Turkeys are here!

It's that time of year when I regret telling the guy at the gym that I wasn't interested in weight training. Here I am again with enormous turkeys to move! Everyone else at the turkey farm seems equipped with forklifts and muscles, I had neither. But I got them loaded and unloaded, and with the help of the lovely Jo and H, they are now all tucked away in a variety of chillers ready for collection. Merry Christmas!

More new toys!

Just a few weeks after receiving a proper stand to display my seasoned pioneers spices, along came a stand for the Quaranta torrone (Italian nougat). Rather than displaying lots of different flavours on one cake stand, now I can spread them over three tiers. Now it looks even more tempting!

The nougat itself (torrone) is a soft sweet mix of sugar, honey, egg whites, hazelnuts and almond into which chocolate, or fruits are swirled. The softer fruits like the berries and the chocolate create a beautiful marble effect in the nougat. The cakes of nougat are cut into slices and individually wrapped in cellophane, so you can see the whole slices in all their glory.

The nougat is a really popular gift throughout the year, but especially so at Christmas. It is a grown-up confection, and perfect for sharing.

Christmas is coming

Don't forget that tonight Eton's Christmas Lights are officially switched on. Our festive window displays are ready, and my tiny white lights will be illuminated from this evening.

A New Toy!

Today I received a new toy! My first piece of "proper" display equipment. Never before have I had a genuine "retail display solution" to present the excellent produce available at Tastes. All the shelves in the shop are made from wood or MDF and started life as my sketches. I felt like a child playing shop as I hooked the arms onto the metal frame and hung the extensive range of hard to find spices from Seasoned Pioneers. It's great to have a display worthy of these fine spices.

Christmas Lights

This year the Christmas Light switch on is Thursday 24th November. Full details can be found on the new Eton web site: www.eton.co.uk.

Is Tastes the Best Small Food Shop?

If you think Tastes Delicatessen is the best small food shop you can vote for us in the Telegraph Best Small Shop Awards . This year's awards aim to recognise the small local shops which make high streets like Eton special. If you place your vote for us before 5th December 2011 you'll be entered into a prize draw and could win a fabulous mini-break!

Vote for Tastes Delicatessen as best food shop and you could win a three-night stay for two at Hacienda de San Rafael, southern Spain, including flights.
Or..
A two-night stay for two at Hotel L’Avenida, Majorca
A two-night stay for two at Château Saint-Martin & Spa in the south of France
A two-night stay for two at Linthwaite Country House Hotel in the Lake District
A four-night stay for a family of four at Polurrian Bay Hotel, Mullion, Cornwall
A case of wine worth £180, courtesy of Bottle Apostle

(Oddly enough I've been to weddings at the Linthwaite and the Polurrian and can vouch for how gorgeous they both are.)

You can tell all your friends and ask them to vote for us as well!
www.telegraph.co.uk/shopawards

Thanks for your support!