Hello all,
Again it has been an age since I was updated the blog, but so much has happened I'll have to use some bulletpoints to fit it all in.
So, 2015 has been a manic year for Oscar's Kitchen with Food Festivals. I've been up and down the country, east to west with a boot full of jars and bottles, selling all over Wales. My first was in May, starting off with the Bank Holiday Food Fest down in Cardiff Bay, and since then I have attended the following:
Merthyr Food Festival
Lampeter Food Festival
Brecon Country Show
Swansea Food Festival
Bank Holiday Weekend Food Fest - Lands Square, Cardiff Bay
Carmarthen Food Festival
Neath Food Festival
Newport Food Festival
I've been busier than ever, but it has been such a rewarding year with hundreds, if not thousands of new customers who have tried my products and fallen completely and utterly in love. That definitely makes the 16 hour days worthwhile. I've also started stocking a Farm Shop in North Wales called Bodnant Welsh Foods (www.bodnant-welshfood.co.uk) which has been a huge step for Oscar's Kitchen in both production, and publicity. Plus, our own little shop in the heart of Pontarddulais is thriving as more and more crafters and artisans are joining (have a look here - https://www.facebook.com/crefftauybont).
As business has been going so well, and Food Festivals are happening weekly and Oscar's Kitchen is getting bigger and better, I figured it was time to take the next step - by getting an e-commerce website! Copper Bay Creative (http://www.copperbaycreative.co.uk) have been busy building a website for me as a new outlet to sell my jars and bottles; they've also done a huge rebranding by updating and modernising Oscar's Kitchen logo and labels. From October onwards (fingers crossed) I'll have stunning printed labels and tags for all my jars, along with helpful new leaflets, professional business cards and eye-catching banners for my events. I cannot wait! So keep an eye on www.oscars-kitchen.co.uk :)
My next event is the Conwy Feast (www.conwyfeast.co.uk) which is in North Wales on October 24-25th. I've never done this one before, and since my recent stocking with Bodnant Welsh Food, I'm even more excited to go up North to a food event and establish a customer base up there. It will also be my first event with my new Christmas stock!
This year I'm currently doing 4 Christmas markets:
Cardiff Christmas Market (http://www.cardiffchristmasmarket.com) - November 29th - December 12th
Llandeilo Edwardian Christmas Fair - November 28-29th
Bury St. Edmunds Christmas Fair (http://www.burystedmundschristmasfayre.co.uk) - November 26-29th
Merthyr Tydfil Christmas Market (http://www.welovemerthyr.co.uk/public/event/winter-market-and-skating-rink) - December 5th
On a personal note, Ben and I have bought our first house! We moved in in August, and although we're still living out of some boxes, its already our wonderful little home. And it has a beautiful (or will be beautiful when I've finished) garden; there's an upper patio which I'm going to turn in to a herb garden with seats and tables and a trellis roof with clematis growing over; there's another patio outside the french doors which is perfect for BBQ's; there's a rockery and a garden patch with a long border perfect for shrubs and small trees; and a garage which Ben instantly turned into a gym. After moving (which we managed to do in-between two food festivals and a delivery to North Wales) we managed to get a few days holidays in the French Alps where we played cards, drank lots of beers and got engaged! So now I'm going to be Mrs. Davies the Chutney Maker. And to top it all off, we've bought a lovely new Springador puppy called Odell to really make our house a home. Oh, and Ben and I are going to be Aunty and Uncle as my brother and sister-in-law are having a baby!
2015 has been seriously amazing. Business has been excellent, and family life is perfect.
Hope that you are all well and are all suitably excited for Christmas!
Love,
Ruth and Oscar (Ben and Odell)
Don't forget that Oscar's Kitchen is on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - there are far more updates there, along with pictures, news, events and free giveaways. Follow, like and share!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oscarskitchens
Twitter: https://twitter.com/oscarskitchen
Instagram: https://instagram.com/oscarskitchen/
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
Recipes for Marmalade
I love marmalade. But sometimes marmalade on toast just doesn't cut it. Here are a few recipes to help you finish off those jars!
Warm Marmalade Cake
Warm Marmalade Cake
200g butter
200g caster
sugar
200g
self-raising flour
4 large eggs,
beaten
6 heaped
tablespoons of marmalade
½ tsp baking
powder
Preheat the oven
to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Line and grease a loaf tin.
Cream the butter
and the sugar together. When light and fluffy, add half of the marmalade and
then the eggs. Whisk together until combined into a smooth consistency. Next, fold
in the flour and the baking powder. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake
in the oven for 45 minutes.
Once cooked,
allow to cool in the tin. Once cool, prick the cake several times with a
skewer. Mix the remaining marmalade with a little water (aim for a honey
consistency) and pour this all over the cake.
Marmalade Bread and Butter Pudding
This is one of those simple-but-oh-so-amazing recipes, where something so simple as adding marmalade to the bread just changes the whole dessert. For the best. We are huge bread and butter pudding lovers (I'm not sure whether this is a Welsh thing?!); maybe it's the vast amount of cream and butter and fatty goodness that we enjoy. My mother used Oscar's Kitchen Lemon and Lime marmalade in this recipe (it was something SO special), but any flavour marmalade would work. I imagine the Whisky marmalade would be a dream!
Every family has their own bread and butter pudding recipe; we use Delia Smith's. Whatever recipe you follow, stick to it. If it's anything like ours, there are alterations and amendments pencilled in all over the margins, and little notes of extra additions.
All you need to do for this little recipe is this; after you've buttered your bread slices, spread on a generous layer of marmalade. Everything else is exactly the same, except the outcome at the end.
Marmalade and Ginger Salmon Fillets
2 balls of stem ginger
2 tablespoons of thick-cut marmalade
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 fat garlic cloves
4 salmon fillets
Crush the garlic and finely chop. Add to a medium bowl with the soy sauce and give it a good mix. Next, finely dice the stem ginger and add that to the bowl, along with the thick-cut marmalade. Give it all a good stir so all the ingredients are combined. Marinade the salmon in the sauce for a few hours before steaming.
Do not throw away the marinade.
Put this into another pan and bring to the boil. Boil the noodles (according to packet instructions), and once the noodles have cooked, drain them and add the sauce to the noodles. Steam or stir-fry some greens, and enjoy.
This is a huge favourite in our house, although Ben doesn't like salmon so I marinade a chicken breast for him and that's also delicious. I suppose beef would work well, although I've never tried it. Next time!
If you have any recipes that use marmalade that you'd like to share, then post them in the comments section!
Ruth & Oscar
Marmalade Bread and Butter Pudding
This is one of those simple-but-oh-so-amazing recipes, where something so simple as adding marmalade to the bread just changes the whole dessert. For the best. We are huge bread and butter pudding lovers (I'm not sure whether this is a Welsh thing?!); maybe it's the vast amount of cream and butter and fatty goodness that we enjoy. My mother used Oscar's Kitchen Lemon and Lime marmalade in this recipe (it was something SO special), but any flavour marmalade would work. I imagine the Whisky marmalade would be a dream!
Every family has their own bread and butter pudding recipe; we use Delia Smith's. Whatever recipe you follow, stick to it. If it's anything like ours, there are alterations and amendments pencilled in all over the margins, and little notes of extra additions.
All you need to do for this little recipe is this; after you've buttered your bread slices, spread on a generous layer of marmalade. Everything else is exactly the same, except the outcome at the end.
Marmalade and Ginger Salmon Fillets
2 balls of stem ginger
2 tablespoons of thick-cut marmalade
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 fat garlic cloves
4 salmon fillets
Crush the garlic and finely chop. Add to a medium bowl with the soy sauce and give it a good mix. Next, finely dice the stem ginger and add that to the bowl, along with the thick-cut marmalade. Give it all a good stir so all the ingredients are combined. Marinade the salmon in the sauce for a few hours before steaming.
Do not throw away the marinade.
Put this into another pan and bring to the boil. Boil the noodles (according to packet instructions), and once the noodles have cooked, drain them and add the sauce to the noodles. Steam or stir-fry some greens, and enjoy.
This is a huge favourite in our house, although Ben doesn't like salmon so I marinade a chicken breast for him and that's also delicious. I suppose beef would work well, although I've never tried it. Next time!
If you have any recipes that use marmalade that you'd like to share, then post them in the comments section!
Ruth & Oscar
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
May: Cardiff Spring Festival and Gower Good Food Festival 2015
Evening all,
May is almost finished and I've managed to survive a very busy month. Between juggling the shop duties, chutney cooking, jar labelling and car-packing, I've managed to spend 9 days selling Cardiff City Centre and a manic 2 days in the Gower Heritage Centre in Parkmill.
Cardiff was fun; a pretty slow 9 days with regards to sales but it's so much fun having time to spend interacting with customers and actually being able to talk about my business and all that it entails. Usually in these food fest it's a smash-and-grab whirlwind of chaos so having a slow, laid back event was a blessing. Especially as I'd spend the previous 3 weeks cooking like a madman and filling almost 1000 bottles and jars with various chutneys, marmalades, jams and sauces. I was staying up with a friend on mine (Becky) so I didn't have 2 hours of commuting every day which was really nice, which meant I was able to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in AGES and have some well deserved ciders.
On the 24th and 25th I was down Gower for their food festival: that was a whirlwind smash-and-grab event. I took enough jars and bottles with me and unpacked them all on the first day thinking they would last 2 days... Nope, sold out of almost everything on the first day and needed an emergency restock for the second day. Now, Cardiff market was still going on at this point (my parents were doing the final 2 days for me), and all my surplus marmalade stock was up there; unfortunately Gower has no signal whatsoever but through a miracle I had managed to get one bar and sent a marmalade SOS to my mother before the signal disappeared again. By the time I got home the Cardiff market had long shut down for the night, so I had worked myself in to a right state thinking I'd have no more marmalade for the following day (it's amazing that these are my life problems...!) Anyway, my superhero father and brilliant boyfriend has spoken during the day and arranged to meet halfway between Swansea and Cardiff and hand over a few boxes of marmalade. Phew! Panic over.
The second day at Gower was equally as busy, which is absolutely fantastic!
Going to these markets and food festivals is by far my favourite part of the job (although I do love the gardening side, and cooking is pretty fun too). To watch people's (positive) reactions when they try my preserves is amazing, and it's such a confidence boost! It's hard spending all day, every day in the kitchen and alone just cooking all the time. It's long and lonely and there's only so many times you can listen to the same songs over and over on the radio. But to be able to pack the car with boxes of jars, and go out and meet all the people who love to eat the preserves I spend hours and hours making is well worth all the labour in the kitchen. I love my job more and more every day, and I suppose that's a pretty incredible thing to be able to say.
So, now that my store room is pathetically empty, I need to start cooking again. I've made a few contacts through these food festivals and markets and have some wholesale orders that I need to make, and potentially a new outlet in mid-Wales which is also exciting. Oscar's Kitchen is getting busier and busier, which is amazing.
Hope everyone is well,
Ruth & Oscar
p.s. I'm spending a day this week experimenting; I'm going to try and make some homemade fruit gummy sweets. Will be taking pictures through the whole process and will let you all know how well/bad/disastrous it goes!
May is almost finished and I've managed to survive a very busy month. Between juggling the shop duties, chutney cooking, jar labelling and car-packing, I've managed to spend 9 days selling Cardiff City Centre and a manic 2 days in the Gower Heritage Centre in Parkmill.
Cardiff was fun; a pretty slow 9 days with regards to sales but it's so much fun having time to spend interacting with customers and actually being able to talk about my business and all that it entails. Usually in these food fest it's a smash-and-grab whirlwind of chaos so having a slow, laid back event was a blessing. Especially as I'd spend the previous 3 weeks cooking like a madman and filling almost 1000 bottles and jars with various chutneys, marmalades, jams and sauces. I was staying up with a friend on mine (Becky) so I didn't have 2 hours of commuting every day which was really nice, which meant I was able to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in AGES and have some well deserved ciders.
On the 24th and 25th I was down Gower for their food festival: that was a whirlwind smash-and-grab event. I took enough jars and bottles with me and unpacked them all on the first day thinking they would last 2 days... Nope, sold out of almost everything on the first day and needed an emergency restock for the second day. Now, Cardiff market was still going on at this point (my parents were doing the final 2 days for me), and all my surplus marmalade stock was up there; unfortunately Gower has no signal whatsoever but through a miracle I had managed to get one bar and sent a marmalade SOS to my mother before the signal disappeared again. By the time I got home the Cardiff market had long shut down for the night, so I had worked myself in to a right state thinking I'd have no more marmalade for the following day (it's amazing that these are my life problems...!) Anyway, my superhero father and brilliant boyfriend has spoken during the day and arranged to meet halfway between Swansea and Cardiff and hand over a few boxes of marmalade. Phew! Panic over.
The second day at Gower was equally as busy, which is absolutely fantastic!
Going to these markets and food festivals is by far my favourite part of the job (although I do love the gardening side, and cooking is pretty fun too). To watch people's (positive) reactions when they try my preserves is amazing, and it's such a confidence boost! It's hard spending all day, every day in the kitchen and alone just cooking all the time. It's long and lonely and there's only so many times you can listen to the same songs over and over on the radio. But to be able to pack the car with boxes of jars, and go out and meet all the people who love to eat the preserves I spend hours and hours making is well worth all the labour in the kitchen. I love my job more and more every day, and I suppose that's a pretty incredible thing to be able to say.
So, now that my store room is pathetically empty, I need to start cooking again. I've made a few contacts through these food festivals and markets and have some wholesale orders that I need to make, and potentially a new outlet in mid-Wales which is also exciting. Oscar's Kitchen is getting busier and busier, which is amazing.
Hope everyone is well,
Ruth & Oscar
p.s. I'm spending a day this week experimenting; I'm going to try and make some homemade fruit gummy sweets. Will be taking pictures through the whole process and will let you all know how well/bad/disastrous it goes!
Thursday, 14 May 2015
2015 Events
Here is a list of all the events I'll be at for the rest of the year; I'll be sure to keep the list updated as I'm forever stretching my time even thinner and signing up for new Food Festivals and markets. Because where's the fun in having a day off right?!
May 17-25th: The Hayes, Cardiff - food and craft stall in Cardiff City centre.
May 24-25th: Gower Good Food Festival, Gower Heritage Centre, Gower, South Wales
June 28th: Pontardulais Carnival, Coedbach Park - reppin' the local carnival.
July 18th: Merthyr Food Festival
July 25th: Lampeter Food Festival
August 1st: Brecon Country Show
August 22-23rd: The Big Swansea Food Festival, Brangwyn Hall
August 28-31st: Mermaid Quay, Cardiff - Bank Holiday fair
August 31st: Pontarddulais Agricultural Show
September 13th: Cottage Fair, LC2 Swansea
September 19th: Carmarthen Food Festival
September 26-27th: Narberth Food Festival, West Wales
October 2-4th: Neath Food Festival
October 3rd: Newport Food Festival
November 26-29th: Bury St. Edmunds Christmas Fayre, Suffolk
November 28-29th: Llandeilo Edwardian Christmas Fayre, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire
November 29th-December 12th: Cardiff Christmas Fair
May 17-25th: The Hayes, Cardiff - food and craft stall in Cardiff City centre.
May 24-25th: Gower Good Food Festival, Gower Heritage Centre, Gower, South Wales
June 28th: Pontardulais Carnival, Coedbach Park - reppin' the local carnival.
July 18th: Merthyr Food Festival
July 25th: Lampeter Food Festival
August 1st: Brecon Country Show
August 22-23rd: The Big Swansea Food Festival, Brangwyn Hall
August 28-31st: Mermaid Quay, Cardiff - Bank Holiday fair
August 31st: Pontarddulais Agricultural Show
September 13th: Cottage Fair, LC2 Swansea
September 19th: Carmarthen Food Festival
September 26-27th: Narberth Food Festival, West Wales
October 2-4th: Neath Food Festival
October 3rd: Newport Food Festival
November 26-29th: Bury St. Edmunds Christmas Fayre, Suffolk
November 28-29th: Llandeilo Edwardian Christmas Fayre, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire
November 29th-December 12th: Cardiff Christmas Fair
Marmalade Dreams
Hello all,
It has been quite some time since I last nestled down with my laptop and a cuppa and wrote about chutneys and jams and the garden. The past few months have been busy, both with the business and with home life. Oscar's Kitchen and some other local artists and artisans have opened a delightful little shop in the heart of the village, called Crefftau y Bont (same as the old shop, just a new and better address.) I spent a wonderful week in Cardiff Christmas Market, had a weekend in Llandeilo and broke sales records, and sold umpteen hampers and gift boxes.
Also, Ben and I have started house-hunting, and he's had a new job, so personal life is getting very settled and enjoyable. Oscar (the cat) has come out of his terrible two's and has embraced what I've titled The Hellish Third Year of Life.
And then January came with it's Seville oranges and Blood Oranges and it was time to make marmalade. I have come to realise that I enjoy making marmalade more than I enjoy eating it (and by jove do I LOVE eating marmalade!) There's something unnaturally soothing about slicing 40kgs of oranges and watching the bubbling of thickening marmalade and the drastic change of colours of orange to amber to honey-gold. It's like edible-therapy.
It has been quite some time since I last nestled down with my laptop and a cuppa and wrote about chutneys and jams and the garden. The past few months have been busy, both with the business and with home life. Oscar's Kitchen and some other local artists and artisans have opened a delightful little shop in the heart of the village, called Crefftau y Bont (same as the old shop, just a new and better address.) I spent a wonderful week in Cardiff Christmas Market, had a weekend in Llandeilo and broke sales records, and sold umpteen hampers and gift boxes.
Also, Ben and I have started house-hunting, and he's had a new job, so personal life is getting very settled and enjoyable. Oscar (the cat) has come out of his terrible two's and has embraced what I've titled The Hellish Third Year of Life.
And then January came with it's Seville oranges and Blood Oranges and it was time to make marmalade. I have come to realise that I enjoy making marmalade more than I enjoy eating it (and by jove do I LOVE eating marmalade!) There's something unnaturally soothing about slicing 40kgs of oranges and watching the bubbling of thickening marmalade and the drastic change of colours of orange to amber to honey-gold. It's like edible-therapy.
Pink Grapefruit - have also made a Pink Grapefruit and Dark Rum marmalade which has proven to be a best seller
Lemon and Lime - again, made a variation on this one by adding some freshly grated ginger
Blood Orange - such a delicious marmalade, but far my favourite
The classic Seville Orange - a bittersweet delight, used these oranges as the base for my Whisky marmalade and my Orange and Coriander marmalade
As Seville's and Blood oranges are only around for a very short time, I bought huge amounts and prepared them all in alb bags and put them in my freezer. And my parents' freezer. And my grandmother's. There were so many oranges, all I did for about a month was slice, bag and freeze. But, it's paid off as I literally just defrost and cook and bottle, which makes things happen so much quicker in the kitchen and doubles what I can get done in a day. And with the way my marmalade is selling this year, being prepared has been a blessing.
Hope you're all well out there,
Ruth and Oscar x
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