Underground!!

The first Toronto Underground Market

Crisps in the process of being cut up (We sliced 25 kilos of potatoes!)

Crisps on the stall

Well the first TUM has come and gone. The event was a success, we sold out of all our potato crisps and brownies were down to the last few crumbs by the end of the night.

Thanks to Hassel and Carley from the TUM, who did a great job organizing everything. And of course the volunteers, without whom I would never have made it out of the kitchen and to the stall for the 6pm start time! In particular I want to thank Eshwar (my rockstar for the day), Emma, Daria & Dana who swept in at the last minute to help complete packing and ribbon tying!

The day began nicely, I arrived at 8am thinking that I would have plenty of time to deal with everything, and even get home to shower and change...little did I know I would be frying chips from 10am until 6pm when the kitchen lights were turned off (Jessica Brooks, my kitchen mate from Tartina also had the same thought...how wrong we were). Thank goodness those wonderful volunteers swept in, as I really couldn't have finished with out them. Not to mention the fact that I was surviving on a coffee and an oatmeal cookie, my only sustenance it would tun out for the entire day!

The kitchens were a hive of activity, creativity, and fantastic energy. I can't say enough about all the people who were cramped in to the kitchens at the Brickworks. I don't know how 30 people managed to chop, simmer, bake, blend, fry and whip in such a small area, but we all did and there were no fights, tantrums, or problems it was wonderful! Had great laughs with Wes & Chris the Spice Cadets, Jessica, and Eshwar my trusty volunteer, who came to help supervise the kitchen, little did he know he would be roped in to bagging 150 bags of crisps (but I really could not have done it without him)!

When I finally made it out to the floor, the event was fab. Thank you to Tory (the event Media Relation's contact) & Steve my husband for all their help at the stall. Such a great vibe of people coming in, eager to taste and discuss food. We didn't have much time to leave the booth, and sadly there was no time to get any food, except for 2 beef sammy's from the very amazing Kurt & Ryan at Westside Beef. Steve and Tory devoured them within seconds! Steve also stocked up on his favourite snack, scotch eggs, which the lovely Karen & her husband, of Hackney Fine Foods slaved over for days to bring to TUM (and to which Steve says they are egg-cellent!).

All in all a fab event, really happy we took part. Looking forward to getting in to the test kitchen to see what I can cook up for next time...thoughts are on a bacon and cheddar crisp (just a thought right now, but I' m going to try to make it happen!). Thanks to everyone who came out and tried our stuff!

Cheers!

Deirdre
p.s. Check us out in The National Post

Gluten Free

Well, again we have been asked, so we will deliver. We have spoken to our local Flour Mill and Matt at Stone Ground Flour has been happy to come up with some Gluten Free flour for us to use in our baked goods.

We will be testing out our first batches of Gluten Free Brownies and cupcakes at this weeks farmer's market!

5 Star Brownies

Well, today we had our first visit from the local food safety officer. We spent some time discussing the logistics of running the kitchen. Then came the nerve racking part, I was making up the orders for the day with an audience (the food safety officer and a student)!

Great news is that the inspection went well. We received 5 stars, the highest rating. The food inspector was very impressed with our general awareness and the steps that are taken in our kitchen to ensure great food safety.

Unfortunately for her, she was unable to taste test any of the brownies, something she looked very sad not to be able to do!

For more information: http://www.iwight.com/scoresonthedoors/

Isle of Wight County Press

For those of you who don't live on the Island, we have just received our first local press. The Isle of Wight County Press published a story about the business.

Check it out:

http://www.iwcp.co.uk/News/Business/LIFE_IS_SWEET_FOR_DEIRDRE.aspx

Garlic Farm

So some of you might have been wondering why I was tinkering with the idea of putting Garlic in to brownies...I'm not just a crazy experimentalist! We have now started distributing our brownies at the Islands very popular Garlic Farm Shop. Set in a beautiful location this sweet farm shop offers all sorts of food goodies, mainly involving their star product, you guessed it, garlic! They also carry many Island based companies, now including ours!

If you're ever in the area, I recommend you come check them out.

www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk

Weddings & Brownie Cupcakes

Well, after many requests at the Real Food Festival- Do you do wedding cakes, favours, etc, I decided it was time to put the thinking cap on and come up with a neat idea for the wedding brownie! We've done them before (small picture), but I got to thinking they could be even better.

After thinking it out for a while I decided to go the cup cake route, as they are pretty and well we can keep the recipe as a brownie on the inside, but dress it up as a cupcake on the outside. We whipped up a nice buttercream icing and I'm pretty pleased with the effect. I think they would make a lovely addition to any wedding. Not to mention we taste tested some (as you must when you bake brownies for a living!) and they are pretty darn good! Let us know what you think.

Real Food Festival

Well, Just got back from the Real Food Festival. Was a great event. We met lots of people, ate lots of yummy food from all the lovely food producers and handed out 2560 brownie samples! Let's just say that today we are recovering!

Getting up to the show was interesting, as we stocked the car with as much stuff as we could pack in it. Two of us actually had to take the train, as we wouldn't fit in the car. Coming home was equally as challenging, we did manage to get the people in the car, underneath everything, but we were all in!