(I couldn’t find an appropiate image for this post – so instead, I’ll upload a picture I took back in the good ol’ days of 2005. It’s of my attempt at making alphabet shortbread cookies with soft chocolate ganache filling!)

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At the market:

When a customer shows interest in a particular item, but remains indecisive, I explain to them the details of it (using delicious words such as ‘gooey’ helps), & also find a subtle way of telling them it’s handmade, & that it’s handmade by me.
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You’d be amazed…, a whopping 9 out of 10 of them would feel assured by this, & pleasantly purchase the said item, with a smile… (which is the ‘proud’ moment of this experience for me)!
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I believe the reason why those words lead to a successful purchase is because, in a world of big supermarkets governing our food-shopping habits, the act of buying direct from the producer had become less & less. Hence, when they do come across someone like me, who does make it themselves, it’s such an unusual experience nowadays that it grabs their imagination, with amusement! They’d then want to buy in to it – to buy the food itself, & also buy into the ‘experience’ of buying it ‘direct’ from the person who made it.

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I mean, answer these questions:

When was the last time you bought food direct from the producer?

How often does that happen in your modern daily lives?

Unless you’re my dearest regular customers, or you frequent Farmer’s markets, I can easily predict that it’s probably not so many times. (Mind you, in writing this, I realise that this includes myself – I too rarely buy ‘direct’, & rely heavily on giant supermarkets for all food shopping needs… I should atleast support my local fish monger ‘n’ butcher more with my customs… *mental note*)
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For me, the beauty of selling ‘direct’ is that I can give the customers a good summary (lengthy version if they wish) of what it is & what it tastes like. As the maker of the product, I would be able to tell them very precise things about it – like how much sugar went into it, any other queries about the ingredients (is it wheat-free), when it was made, how long it’ll last, etc etc. I’d like to believe that, since many of the other stalls are manned by part-timers, some doing it as a weekend job, they are less aware of what it is that they are actually selling, I’ve got the upper hand. Surely, at the end of the day, despite the fact that these part-timers can be enthusiastic & lively, they certainly don’t feel the weight of the ‘Resposibility’ to make sure that there’s best quality of service, & the pure passion towards what is being sold. It’s just not the same!
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This week:

A kid finger picks a raspberry from my cake. Since you never know where the kid’s fingers been, I can not sell it on. I ask the parents if they could purchase this cake, explaining that it has been rendered unsalable. – They give me a dirty look, a “we don’t want to”, & walk off. – The way they didn’t show much apology… left a bad taste in my mouth.

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Last Thursday D & I had an argument. Oh no no, don’t worry, it was nothing serious atall, but, the next evening, he came home from work with an apple ipod shuffle as an apology gift, bless. – For some time, I’d been telling him I was considering purchasing one, to listen to it for times like when I walk to the nursery (20 minutes) to fetch our son, so I was happy to accept it indeed.
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So far, I.am.lovin’.it! The dinky thing (mine’s orange) is clipped on to my top all the time & I walk around with it at home. I casually listen to it on & off, hooked just on one ear (so that I can listen out for my son), while washing up dishes & rather unelegantly, even while on the bog…

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And what was my first choice of content I imported? An audiobook – for once, ever since our kiddo’s born, I have a way to ‘read’ a book.

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The audiobook I have downloaded via itunes store is titled ‘The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success‘ written by Martha Stewart & read by herself. Martha Stewart has been a bit of a heroine for me for sometime. Okay okay, she maybe a convicted felon…, but I admire her for managing to turn her personal passion into an undeniably successful business empire. (All the more because she started just as a home based caterer, just like me!) In that respect, I can see that there’s something that I can learn from her & her business. Her omnimedia style is inspirational, & her sense of style is beautiful throughout, focusing on pretty much everything domestic (food, kitchen, bodycare, everything home interior, wedding, home-crafts, pets, flowers & gardening…). I can understand that they are all interconnected – if you’re interested in food, you’d want a better kitchen & equipment, & a nice interior to serve that food, etc.
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The chapter on ‘what’s passion got to do with it’, really struck a chord. It’s true, ‘when work is based in passion, it does not feel like work’, & that ‘passion is the first and most essential ingredient’. And what she says: be frugal, trust yourself, know your customers, pay attention to the details, make it beautiful; boosts what I also believe in.

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Her website is a treasure trove of ideas for domestic style. It’s a huge website, which is a bit too overwhelming, but when ever I have time, I will browse through it, with the keenness of a kid in a candy store.
My current haunt is the video library section of ‘The Martha Stewart Show’. Notable clip was when Martha invited Jacques Torres (Chocolatier) to make molded chocolate turkey, rabbit & easter eggs on her show. I was so impressed & happy to see that she invited a true proffessional like Torres to showcase ‘good’ chocolate work – something I rarely see on easy-going UK food shows.

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Now, my fascination of Martha recently got me ordering a year subscription of her Martha Stewart Living Magazine. My first issue should arrive end of this month. Can’t wait.

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I think I rather love Martha.

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This Saturday:

The weather was good. The people came out in droves. My large cakes went in no time & my chocolate truffles were bought up quickly too. I feel as though I made ‘just’ the right amount of items, which is unusual for me – I often make too much & have to stay extra longer to finish selling them.
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This week, I experimented with making some ‘baked cheese tarts’. It’s basically a cheese cake encased in a tart case. It is absolutely delicious, I love baked cheese cake, rather than ‘rare’. BUT, it ‘looks’ real boring & savoury like a quiche. I scribbled the word ‘cheese’ on it in white chocolate to somehow make it look better, but am just not 100% satisfied. While having a chat with a chef called Roger who drops by regularly, we thought that maybe baking some raspberries in the cake may help – the red blobs scattered against the cream/ brown colour of the cake may look good… although I think it is a 50/50 chance that it might instead look sickly. I’ll have a go anyway…

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Post Update 07.05.07:

I’ve just read through my 3rd issue, & I can gladly say I am happy that I’ve subscribed to it. The articles are interesting & informative. And the pictures are stylish & inspirational. BUT… sorry Martha, there’s too many advertisement pages in it, pretty much inbetween each article, & even on the side columns on article pages! It’s hard to tell which page is real content, especially as advertisers nowadays try to design their adverts like it is part of magazine content…! And also dear Martha, the quality of the paper stock is cheap. My butter fingers can’t catch the pages! I think it is a shame when the magazine format does not match the quality content…

(Thursday 8th of February – London woke up to a blanket of deep snow)

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For this week’s blog entry, I’ve decided to spend the time writing ‘About Me’. It’s something I ought to have done right from the beginning of the blog-life & it’s been bugging me… If you like, please follow this link, or use the link from the lefthand column to read it. Thanks!
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And remember dearest readers, next Wednesday is Valentine’s Day!! Remember to take this opportunity to treat the special people around you to thank them… Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.
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This Saturday’s trade:

As for me, Valentine’s Day is one of the most important events on the calendar as a Chocolatier (together with Easter & Christmas). I’ve been extra busy with making chocolate hearts, heart shaped tarts, & generally more truffles than usual. It was meant to be ‘My’ day. I looked forward to selling out quickly & with extra profit…
BUT, there were two factors working against me;

firstly, Valentine’s Day being another 5 days away, people were not buying my heart shaped tarts as gifts because it won’t last til then. As for the chocolate hearts (with assorted chocolate buttons inside), I did sell out on those, but it felt like it was a struggle too. I blame the second factor that worked against me for this; that there were heavy rain from the morning til 11ish which put people off coming to the outdoor market. – So I had a rather difficult time selling – in the end, I must have stayed on til after 5pm to sell…

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So far in previous posts I have written facts & tips on how to use the essential baking ingredients: flour, eggs & sugar. This week is about Butter. Just like the others, knowing how best to work with butter is vital for successful happy baking!
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What is butter?
Butter is essentially the concentrated fat of the milk with some water. It is made from milk, cream or both of these ingredients. Commercial butter may even be made from whey which is taken during the cheese making process. The colour of the butter varies from dark yellow to creamy white – this is due to what the animal’s are fed on, or is sometimes manipulated with food colourings. The basics of butter making is simple – they produce it by churning the milk/ cream until the fats separate from the liquid (buttermilk).
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What is the best way to store butter?

• Storage of unsalted butter: up to 2 weeks refrigerated & up to 5 months frozen from day of purchase.
• Storage of salted butter: Salt gives better shelf life; up to 2 months refrigerated & up to 6-9 months frozen from day of purchase.

Make sure it is properly sealed in its foil packaging to avoid it turning rancid from exposure to air, & away from smelly foods as it readily picks up odour. The best way to defrost is to place the required amount in the fridge for 6 hours – never leave it in room temperature as it’ll end up with water droplets sweating out of it.
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How soft is room temperature butter? How do I achieve it?
You can tell wether you’ve achieved ‘Room temperature butter’ when the softness allows you to ‘easily’ depress the surface with your finger, at the same time not melting.
To obtain it, all you have to do is to leave the quantity of butter your recipe requires (still in its packaging) out in the room for 30 minutes. – I never have the time nor patience to do that (or indeed remember to take it out in advance), so I just cube my block of butter straight from the fridge & zap it in the microwave at 10 second intervals at first & then careful 5 second gaps until the right consistency is reached. Easy peasy.
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How do I cream butter? And Why?
To cream butter, first start off with cubed butter that has been softened to room temperature. Place in a deep mixing bowl (so that it doesn’t spit everywhere) & using the mixer, beat it till it is ‘creamy’, soft, smooth & light from incorporating the air. Use immediately.
Typically, many sponge recipes require you to whip the butter to a cream texture before you add the sugar. Once sugar is added to correctly creamed butter, it has incorporated the air in to it which would then cause a foaming action in sponge cakes. (when the cake batter is in the oven, the incorporated air is like a bubble, trapped, & it eventually ‘sets’, leaving tiny holes in your soft sponge).
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Why do baking recipes call for ”unsalted’ butter’?
Salted butter is tasty for spreading on your morning toast, & its shelf-life is a lot longer than unsalted. But for baking, the taste of salt gets in the way, & besides, salted butter browns faster. So even if a baking recipe such as madelaines, pies, and buttercakes call for salt, you’d use unsalted butter and then sprinkle in the salt separately to control its saltness.

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How do I make home-made butter?
Please follow this link for an online recipe I found.

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Health facts:
One tablespoon of butter (14 grams) contains 100 calories, of which 7 grams are saturated fat, and 30 milligrams of cholesterol. In other words, butter consists mostly of saturated fat and is a significant source of dietary cholesterol. For these reasons, butter has been generally considered to be a contributor to health problems, especially heart disease.

Also, people with milk allergy need to watch out.

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Can I substitute butter with margarine?
In principle yes – they are both fats. But if you are doing it for health-conscious reasons, you’d have to be aware that there are loop-holes. Some margarine contain trans fats (the main dietary culprit in raising blood cholesterol) so please read the back carefully. The water content is slightly different between the two, & because of this, the careful balance of the recipe will be mucked about & the result will not be perfect. Also the melt point is different (butter melts at body temperature, while margarine melts at higher than 98.6 degrees) which can only get you further away from what the recipe had originally been planned to do.
I personally never will substitute my butter. Margarine lacks flavour & is greasy on the palate. Butter is a natural ingredient, & is in these baking recipes for a purpose, for such examples as giving a rich buttery flavour & to enhance the other ingredients.

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This week:

After last Saturday’s successful return to the market after my 1 month break, I’ve cranked up my energy & work-volume to Max & am buzier than ever with making n’ baking!