Baked with Love

As I have reported here before, my better half is using a low carb diet to loose weight. And while she is loosing it, it really is the exercise that is helping her to shed the pounds. That said, I am still being fully supportive of her efforts and as well as looking better she says she feels better too. Although, as a direct result of the diet she has had moments when she has become giddy. This will be a result of the lack of carbohydrates.

So this weekend, we decided to try and bake some Low Carb Cookies. It was a recipe from a book, and one that I had not tried before. There were aspects of the recipe that I could understand, but with it using unusual ingredients, there were aspects that to my mind made less sense. But the author claimed they were good. We carefully followed the recipe, and as I am helping to teach my better half how to cook, it was really good fun to.

However, this book as I had discovered from previous experience, is not written by a cook. It lacks some details that you really need to know when trying to cook. But we followed the recipe carefully, but the cooking times were just wrong. They took twice as long to bake. But as with any cooking or baking, it really is the taste that matters.

Well, I will not be eating them, nor will my better half as they were not good tasting. I could see ways of improving the taste, but no way would they be low carbohydrate cookies if that was done.

I am just glad that I am not on this diet as it would be torture having to eat rubbish like that.

Well we had fun baking them, and my better half cooked dinner afterwards and that was a good recipe, from another book I should add.

Slaley Show

About four weeks ago, my better half spotted signs for the village fair at Slaley. After making enquires about exhibiting there, I was informed it was full. However, last weekend while at the market I had mentioned in previous posts, a message had been left that some folks had dropped out and space was available. While it was short notice, I decided that it was worth taking the opportunity and attending.

While the village is in a much more affluent location than my village, as I don’t believe it is ever wise to stereotype, there was a good chance that I could do reasonably well there. The main reason for my thinking was simply that there were likely to be more people than at the markets I had attend thus far. This assumption proved to be correct.

However, before going there, I had several days of preparation to make, blending and bagging up the herbs and spices. All this went well, and while it can be slow at times, as I have to be very careful about hygiene, I actually got all the preparation done and still have time to relax the night before. Now relax does not mean going out and getting drunk, but a relaxing bath and nice cooked meal knowing that everything is prepared.

Come the morning, I am up just before the alarm goes off, and the bus was on time, making the connection all in good time. So what could go wrong. Well overnight there had been heavy rain, but even that was not a real problem, as the ground was still firm and I was undercover. My only problem was that my better half had offered to print off my price lists. This she did, but had failed to actually bring them.

This is where some quick thinking and being flexible pays off. As while folks will buy on the day especially if they see something they know they want to try or just need, most people are overwhelmed by the array of spices and need time to think about what they want to buy. So I offered to email them a copy of the list. Now while I can not know until or if people order, I seemed to be getting a very positive reaction from most of the people I spoke to. While there are some people who will not give out their email address, and I can fully understand why, as so many of the items I sell are not easy to obtain, I actually found some folks that were saying please don’t forget to mail them the copy.

Therefore while it was something that went a little bit array, engaging with people made for something that was more positive. In terms of cash taken on the day, I failed to sell as much as I would have liked, it is possible that I will have won some loyal customers. While I was beginning to loose my voice by the end, it was a lot of fun too. After all, apart from eating it, talking with other people who are passionate about food too is always good fun.

Also by the end of the day, the sun had come out too. I had intended to take my camera, but my better half said she would be bringing hers. Well that was with the price lists. I still love her.

Farmers Markets

Following on from my previous posting a bit and the comments made by Tonya, got me thinking about the way that some folks react to competition. In my Village there is an Independent store and when I first moved to the village, it was very good. It was then sold and the new owner seemed to lack the understanding of what made it work. Dropping many of the lines and services that drew customers in. So now it is just like any corner shop that you can find anywhere.

But the one action that really perplexed me was when the newsagent was taken under new ownership too and started selling a few grocery items. The owner of the village store took the silly action of starting to sell newspapers. Now both are likely to fail as businesses as all they have done is split the trade.

At markets, craft fairs and farmers markets (over here), I so often see this “me too” attitude where traders see someone doing well and starting to do the same things. Why? I personally think it would be better to do a few things well, than trying to copy what everyone else is doing.

Equally, I do not fear competition, even if others came along selling herbs and spices, it is the service and quality that helps me win customers. Additionally as I mix my own blends, even if someone were to copy me, I doubt that they would match what I am doing. Often though I have seen folks at fairs and markets just complaining about competition.

Now it may well be that the reason their stuff is not selling is that it is not appealing to the customer. Often at craft fairs in particular, crafter's produce items that they seem to think will earn money because they have seen similar items in shops that are made cheaply in China. An example is door number plaques. I see them so often that there must be two for every house in Britain.

Equally, at Farmers markets I see organic vegetables that are over priced and not the best quality. The sellers often fall back on the old mantra of “Its Organic”. Well organic they may be, but poor quality vegetables are still poor quality, organic or not. And I say this as a fan of organic produce, and good organic Vegetables are better than chemically grown ones. Put simply they do taste better, and I am not talking about appearance either. As a sometimes gardener, I can see what is good quality and what should have gone for compost.

However, at the best markets, there is not these problems as the quality is good, there is diversity and specialists crate great items. I love good farmers markets for discovering something different and some great food. If I had the money, I would love to buy my furniture from the great makers that you can find.

I think often with markets it is the attitude of the sellers that makes folks want to return and buy. If the sellers have a good positive attitude the potential customers pick up on that feeling.

I know that markets, of any type, are hard work. I also know that if a seller is not making sales it can be dispiriting, but personally I often see the lack of sales as a way of understanding what people don’t want as much what customers do want. So I wish good luck to Tonya and anyone else trying to sell at farmers markets or any other market.

Craft Markets

As my long suffering reader will know, Last year I met my better half. Well on Saturday it was our first anniversary of being together. However, while this post is not about that, it is relevant as on Saturday night Sunday morning I did not get to get to bed until three in the morning.

Therefore, on the Sunday when I had to get up at seven in the morning, it may be a revelation to some that seven O’Clock occurs twice in a day, I think I must have left my brain in bed. I was doing another market with my herbs and spices. Fortunately, it is a down hill walk and as there are no buses at that time on a Sunday, they are still asleep like any sensible folks, I was grateful when one of the other regulars spotted me and gave me a lift for the last half mile. Carrying forty kilos of spices is still 40 kilos even when divided between many packets.

In the hall the tables are set out with the names of the folks who are allocated the spaces, mine was marked with the legend “The Ever so Fragrant Wood Mouse” It was a reference to the incident where some less than enlightened person was offended by the smell of the spices. And even on Sunday, I had someone tell me that they heard I was going to be there with the spices and they were expecting an “Indian gentleman”. It seems that folks will always want to stereotype. At least this time it was not done in an offensive manner.

I had been placed in the entrance area, of the hall. Initially I had wondered if it was to avoid the aroma causing offence to others, but actually I think I was really being rewarded with a prime position. Not least because I am so positive about the way I conduct myself at these sorts of events. I know that the footfall at this venue is not great, and Sunday was the last there, but I see no point in just sitting there being miserable nor standing around moaning as that puts people off. Additionally, I don't go in for the hard sell.

An example of this was while talking to a young woman who had cycled to the venue, was accosted by one stallholders who threatened to let down her tyres unless she bought something. It was meant as a joke, but not well taken or given. With my best diplomacy (not something I am always good at) I was able to calm the situation and ensure the stall holder was aware of my disapproval.

While I understand that the fairs have not been that well attended with customers, the main difficulty is that there are just to many folks selling (or trying to sell) cards, or jewellery. Equally, if folks just sit there frowning rather than smiling at people, folks will not want to stop and browse. I do understand that it is difficult to be positive when you have not sold anything, but equally if the stall holders were to think about the image they project, they may start to think and project something more positive. Anyway, a new venue has been found that should be a better location with more people about, so who knows more folks may sell.

I know that what I am doing is rather unique and I do attract a lot of attention and a reasonable number of sales, but it is one of the things that I have never understood about people that do many crafts, is why they seem to copy what everyone else does? Why not try and do something a bit different? The standard of the work at the markets has on the whole been rather better than most fairs, yet so many of the stalls are doing the same things.

I do wish the folks well, and there are some very talented people there, but cheap jewellery and cards have a limited market. And if people were actually carrying out there craft in some form of demonstration way, I am sure it would have attracted more people too. While not everyone likes the aroma of my spices, on Sunday I actually saw one woman stop, sniff and turn around to come in because of the fragrance of them, and yes she did buy too.

I know the organisers were worried about the footfall at the old venue, and that is why a new one has been found. Yet there is a limit to how much folks will spend on items that have limited use and value. If only more people actually made items that have use like cushions, or children’s clothes, or something that people might actually need, I personally have never needed a fridge magnet, then the crafter too would benefit.

Even in my somnambulism state on Sunday, I managed to do well, and I even have been doing my homework set by a customer who wants a particular blend of spices. But on the whole while I really enjoy doing the markets, I will try and avoid doing them when I have been out celebrating the night before.