If music be the food......

Gemma and I got into a big discussion the other day. Usually I rant on, the girls loose interest after the first "and ANOTHER thing" that I squawk and I end up talking to my soup, but this was different. I asked Gemma what her soup tasted like. The uninformed tend to say things like glue, paint, water or "it's nice, I think" and I have to explain glue, paint and water are more texture than taste. I haven't eaten much glue, or paint in my life, but I know what they mean and it is texture.
Gemma has heard that rant before, so looked puzzled and then said hesitatingly "Tomatoes?" As it was tomato soup she was right, but no cigar. I taught Jodie a scale that I have always used, and was hoping that Gemma would pick it up. Jodie and I wave our hands around- High would be lime, white chocolate. Low would be bitter dark chocolate, rich stew. There are a lot of grades inbetween, and it doesn't always work simply. Certain soups- parsnip and apple for example, should be sweet, and deep at the same time. It is high and low, but the true flavour should be somewhere in the middle- a balance where one thing does not outweigh the other.
There is also a front to back scale. A beginning, middle and end. Mandy, when made to try things, always refers to this. She says things like "There is a lot of beginning, and end, but nothing in the middle." This usually refers to seasoning. Again the balance- Red pepper, chilli and lime soup is a good one for this. The flavour should begin with pepper, then the chilli should make an appearence, finishing with the lime but the pepper should remain all the way through.
Gemma waches with bemusment as Jodie and I wave furiously at each other saying "It's too much up there, add milk to bring it down a bit" She can taste the differences, but cannot vocalise them. Gary was the same until we discovered he had synaesthesia. That is he described flavours in terms of colour. Mushrooms were a dark brown, oak rather than mahogany. Stew was purple. This worked for Gary, and I learnt to describe the mixing of flavours, but I used to find it frustrating as I couldn't explain the subtle shades and blends that salt or sugar would add. When I looked at Gemma I realised I would have to find another way to describe flavours.
I tried various things. Blank looks all round. I would have to think harder. Then I remembered Gemma's boyfriend. He does beatboxing. He is very good, and thus Gemma listens to lots of music, while he tries to make all the sounds using his mouth. Gemma understands that he learns to make one beat, then learns another, and adds to it, to create the tune. "Ha!" says I turning to Gemma triumphantly "it's a band!" Again a blank look but I knew I was on the right track. Her soup was all guitar. No base line, no high hats. We fixed it, various conversations sprang up regarding stew being Wagner, Chowder being trance and rissotto was verging on drum and base.
Conversley Nico Muhly is a composer and has just joined the Chicago Symphony orchestra. When he writes he makes Veal stock, he says you have to go and skim it every 15 minutes, and the more you add the deeper the flavour. This is how he sees his music. He skims bits away, and adds different sounds to make the full ensemble. I love the fact that there is a composer who takes his inspiration from food, and we can take our inspiration from music. Every piece of music has a beginning, a middle and an end. From the solo tune, that relies on volume and strength to make it powerful to the large orchestral works where the smallest ting of a triangle will make a world of difference.
I wonder what the next person I teach will respond to. I am running our of metaphors but I am so happy that with Gemma, it was music.

New year, new paint work

Thank you to all the people that came to visit on Christmas day. Although the ice lay thick on the roads and paths you bravely took your lives into your own hands and came to see us. Who was it that said you should do something everyday that scares you? I thought that as I slid sideways in my car down to the cafe and spun gently to a stop by the bollards.
Jodie had never worked a Christmas, but I think she enjoyed it. Helped by the people who left a bottle of champagne for us, and all the customers who bought us lovely presents. Everyone is in a good mood, either because they are filled with the joy of the season or they are so relieved that they can get a coffee, speak to people other than their inlaws, their parents and siblings and they can view other families with the same issues and realise they are not alone.
We now turn our thoughts to 2010. There is a blue moon ( where a full moon occurs twice in one month) on new years eve, portending a glorious year of change and unexpected events- if you believe in that sort of thing.
Our glorious change will be our decorations in January. We will be closed for 2 weeks from 18th while we have things tiled and painted. I wont call it a refurb as we have been somewhat short changed on this, but tiles and paint are good and the cafe should look a little fresher, which is all I am able to ask. It has taken a year and half to get to this stage, and a lot of arguing and broken dreams, but we are here.
We are hoping it will go like this; Kitchen will be tiled floor to ceiling, toilets will be tiled floor to ceiling, and toilets etc will be replaced where needed. The cafe will be painted- the struts and window frames, under the counter and bar and the metal poles. We are going for coffee and cream type colours- a bit urban chic for the country I know, but it is bright and bland enough for us- the main thing is the view which will not change (I hope).
Jodie and I will be looking at the menus. I think the salads we put on last year have been a good option. Although winter has been a bit wasteful- so we may start two menus. We are also looking at putting on more stews etc for the specials board. We will continue to create new soups and cakes. We are also trialing gluten free and sugar free stuff, and try and get some of it to taste of something!
I hope you all have a good new years eve, and I trust that 2010 will be a glorious, happy and healthy year for us all.

Beginning to look like Christmas

Those of you living within a 10 mile radius of the park will have heard Jodie at full volume declaring we should "Let it Snow"- not that we have much choice- and those that have braved it have seen the cafe in full Christmas sparkle.
We will be open over the holidays- Jodie and I will be working Christmas day. We are not going to cook, but soup and cakes will be available, and if you are really lucky you may be serenaded by Jodie in her Christmas hat!
We opened for Christmas a couple of years ago and it was a really good day. Lots of people don't understand why I like working Christmas. We get to see and talk to our regular customers. The dogs still need walking and it is lovely to meet the extended families of customers that we have known for ages. We also become a peaceful haven for those that just want to get away from the house and the family for an hour or so. The "me" time is always important on busy days and a coffee drunk over looking the lake seems to fit the bill.
We also see the really Christmassy people, who feel pleased we are open, but sad we are working and so sing along and generally come in a festive hullabaloo to brighten up everybody's day. The children all arrive in new gloves, on new bikes, cold and excited and their youthful exuberance spills over to other people, making everyone smile and wish they could be that young again.
There is a certain atmosphere for workers on Christmas day, and it must be the same for all professions that work through all the holidays. It is a necessary thing to work, but everyone you deal with is polite and happy and if you are doing something you love then it cannot be a bad day.
My staff are going to dress up on Christmas Eve and Boxing day, which will be interesting I'm sure. Trying to explain to them that anything that is too round and bulky will get in the way has been difficult, but we will see.
We are well into making the mince pies and pork pies that will ensure the Christmas buffets are well stocked. We have ordered 16lbs of pork just for pies, and I am hoping that is enough. I think this weekend will be pie making and cutting little leaves out of pastry for me, which is fun to start with, then gets dull on about leaf number 140, and then is so lovely when cooked pies come out of the oven all golden and pretty.
So, in the run up to Christmas, and one of the most stressful times in the year, enjoy the snow, come and have a hot chocolate with a sneaky shot of rum in it and marvel at the beauty of the park.

Give us a job, mate

After each summer we always shed staff- it's our annual moult. With the loss, even though it is temporary,of our summer staff and Florian moving on to pastures new we find our selves in the position of being able to hire some full time newbies.
The summer newbies will return, for holidays, and bring their own shall we call it "special"brand of professionalism, but in the mean time we have two new starters, who have blown fresh air through the cafe.
With so many people looking for work at the moment I thought we would be inundated, and as time is generally short we put an advert in the paper that would put off the time wasters. We were brutally honest. We dared to put "hard work, long hours" we didn't make it pretty.There is no point putting all the good stuff on adverts- if they still want to work after reading the advert then good for them. If they think we are lying, then they will find out we don't do that.
It is amazing though how bad some people are at writing even a covering letter. They are miss spelled, have smiley faces or just downright awful.
The ones that start with "Hiya", "Alrite" or "Hey" followed by a smiley face in any form are generally disregarded. I know email etiquette is informal, but you are applying for a job, speaking to your new boss.
The email address is also a good thing to look at. I would, personally, change my address to my name, and a number or something that was adult and "normal". I would not keep the address I created at 14 that I thought was cool, sweet or sexy.
We have had various interesting email addresses. Anything that starts DJ tends to scare me, more so when its followed with words like skunk, gangster or killer. I am aware the name does not reflect the personality generally, but these names have been picked by themselves to show what they would like to be.
Gothy-lucy-babe was another we had. She turned out to be blond and in her 40s. A past revealed unwittingly? Sugarboymassiv is one of my favorites. It conjures up so many images. I-love-sex-and-chocolate was another that I don't think I would have kept. I have smiled at some; mums-email was quite sweet, a lady being dragged into 2009 possibly? I have received emails blatantly sent from the works address. This is surely either very brave or just stupid if the company isn't going belly up.
As an employer cv's are the initial introduction and the covering letter can really help that cv to stand out. Fancy fonts, colours and awful clip art pictures will not generally enhance anything. Clear, concise and enthusiastic is what I am looking for, and unless you are going for a job in computer design type stuff, I would imagine most employers are the same.
If you are in the market for a job then check you cv, and make sure your covering letter is enthusiastic and most of all spelt correctly!

Every Little £1.5 Billion helps.

A rep turned up today to sell me an oven that could cook everything in 7 minutes. I didn't understand it, and why you want everything cooked in such a short time I do not know. It was not a microwave, but he couldn't tell me what it was. I asked what sort of meat it was that would cook so marvellously in that time and he replied "Any you would normally get from Tescos". My hackles rose.
I will not even start on the crap that various companies pump into meat, that now worryingly seem to be a selling point- "pork chops tenderised with glucose" was one I saw. Pork chops should be tender. Why would you put glucose with it? Amazed.
I have done a little research on the supermarkets. This recession we are in does not seem to affect good old Tescos. In fact they have just released the figures for this last 6 months of trading. Pre tax profits of £1.5 billion. In 6 months mark you. I wonder what the pre tax profits of our one remaining Butcher in St Neots is? I could have asked the 4 that we used to have, but they have all closed. Since Tescos arrived strangely.
Supermarkets have 85% of all grocery retail- it goes in this order, Tesco, Asda, Salisbury's, Morrison's and Co-op/Somerfield. And yet 63% of British farms are unable to make a sustainable profit. Supermarkets seem to be unable to buy British produce- yes, they buy some, they buy "local" stuff, but they offer such a low price to the farmers that it is no way profitable to sell to them.
There are certain towns around the country that are Tesco towns. £3 in every £4 spent is given to Tescos. Inverness is one such town. Tesco moved in, and bought up the land around the town. They have "banked" this, so no other retailer can build on it, and as it is a small town, Tescos is the only place to go. They now have the most profitable store per square foot in the whole country.
It's not just Tescos that are making profits from the recession. The small shops that are having to close down are apparently being bought in their dozens by the likes of Waitrose and Sainsburys. They will be made into "express" type stores. Waitrose are planning to put these small stores within Boots stores too. I guess while you get your anti-depressants that you need because you've had to close your family business, you can at least also buy some biscuits and tea bags.
The good news is that the Competition Commission is on the case. They will go slow, as they do, but they have finally realised that somebody needs to do something.
They are trying to stop the Big 4taking over the country and completely decimating our already dwindling high streets. They will stop supermarkets opening a new store if it already has more than 60% of grocery sales in the area, within a 10 minute drive, or where they have more than 3 rival stores.This I think will help, although they won't start for a good year. It will not help the high streets that have already gone, but it will hopefully slow down the process of loosing anymore good little shops.
For those of you that are happy with Supermarkets, and still believe that they provide jobs in the area, and cheap food, let me explain. Butchers can sell better meat at the same price. You need less of it from a butcher, as it isn't full of water and chemicals, and they know exactly where it comes from. Vegetables tend to be fresher from the green grocer. They are cheaper and seasonal, and have not had soil rubbed into them to look authentic, they have soil on them because that's how they should be. Markets and green grocers have limited storage so the veg and fruit won't have been stored for weeks in chilled warehouses.
I will admit that for £10 spent in a supermarket is worth £14 locally in rent, tax and wages, but lets think. Take a box scheme. £10 spent with them is worth about £25 to the community on workers (who are generally better paid then supermarket workers)and the use of local trades people, repairs to vehicles etc etc. We will never get rid of them, but let us take a closer look and make sure their friends in Westminster don't bow down to their demands.

A Toast To Keith Floyd

I am raising a glass to the late Keith Floyd. I was a teenager in the 80s, and grew up on his wood/alcohol voice and chaotic cookery programmes. He was my hero.
My generation had Delia Smith and Patricks Pantry. Both studio based, quite stuffy programmes, and then in the early 80's along came Keith Floyd. Flamboyant and often well on the way to being drunk his programmes consisted of him going to meet chefs or fishermen, farmers or restauranteurs and cook with them. He did a programme from a trawler, steaming the fish as they caught it. This was new and very different.
I loved his voice, and the way he was in control of the kitchen- wherever he was. The only time I can remember when he wasn't was when he was cooking with an Italian lady who appeared to be about 103 who refused to let him go near her oven. He was bemused, and quite scared and brilliant. Anything he questioned she hushed him, so he rattled on about what he thought she'd done.
He told the cameraman-Clive- to focus on this dish, that ingredient and then "back to me, Clive" with such speed he could hardly keep up, regardless of the camera steaming up or getting hot fat splashed upon it. The programme used to do little segments of local history, or rants about how the British don't eat enough fish, used usually to pass the time while a stew was cooking. Clive would have to get up early and "Do the pretties" as they were called- the artistic bits. The segment was introduced thus "Lets have a fruity, passionate piece to camera about the sorry plight of English fish-eating habits". It felt almost dangerous for him to be introducing pieces with the words "The Director says you should see some local landscapes-I'll finish this bottle while I wait for you to come back" or words to that effect! Due to the amount of takes they used to do during filming, Keith's glass of local red was filled over again for continuity-he would be smashed by the time they had finished filming.
He also ran restaurants- three at once at one time, while doing radio and television. Unfortunately due a lack of business acumen, and the need to feed people and be generous he used to "comp" people and give away far too much, he declared bankruptcy. His food was all about local, fresh and simple. It wasn't the new fad- and there were many in the 1980s, it was history, what real people live on, and it was passionate and cared for. He taught a young Jean- Christophe Novelli in one of his restaurants and his passion for food shone through his programmes.
His director-David Pritchard- said of him, on first discovering him;"When I was in his restaurant I would see him talking to customers after a fairly gruelling few hours in the kitchen before, and helping himself to their wine and brandy, and gently taking the piss out of them. I would watch this floor show and I thought he was brilliant. He would apologise to people who were wearing Gucci shoes and faux-fur jackets for not having any scampi on the menu. I thought, this is what cookery programmes could do with. they're all so po-faced and prissy, we want someone who is actually a bit of an anarchist in the kitchen."
He was an anarchist- a big fan of the Stranglers. Peaches was the theme of his show- if you don't know the song youtube have it, and it now always brings a smile to my face.
He taught me that cooking should be fresh, simple and brilliant. You didn't have to abide to recipes, add a glug of good wine to everything and the restaurant business was hell, but fun and there will be many interesting people on the way.
I shall leave you with my favorite quote from his book Floyd in the Soup (my life and other great escapes) "It's best to know high people in low places"
Here's to you.

Pirate update and Celebrations

I am pleased to announce that I have just signed a cheque for £700 to the RNLI. This was from the sponsorship we recieved and a percentage of our takings that weekend.
Thank you to everyone that helped us- the boys that did the pedaloe laps overnight so my staff could get some sleep, the Rangers and "friends of the Cafe" that did some laps too, and the more serious sailors that didn't shout too much when we drifted onto their course! Also all of our customers that sponsored us and supported us, and continue to do so every year

This year is the Parks 21st Birthday. Next weekend- 8th and 9th we have a Family weekend. The Park has invited all of the groups that use the park throughout the year to do displays etc for the weekend. Heart FM are coming with their stage, there will be an '80s Tribute band and Pat Sharpe- he of the Saturday morning shows. There is also kite flyers, face painting,taster courses in sailing and windsurfing, fire and police stands, willow work, Stick making, demonstarions by the Rangers and of course The Collabor8tors will be at the cafe on Sunday lunchtime to serenade you while you eat.

We also have a Hydrosphere in the park now, up on the small lake(Lynch Lake) next to us. For those uninitiated with the concept, and I still don't really understand it, you are in a see-through ball filled with air and the idea is to walk across the water. This is apparently very difficult to do and most end up falling and then crawling around. Very funny to watch, possibly quite annoying while you are in it. It is weather dependant and should be on each day over the summer.

So lots happening and I hope you can come and see what the park is all about on
8th and 9th August.