Hello beautiful Bunting's supporters! Here we are, fresh from yet another successful market day at the West Norwood Feast. It might have rained, it might have poured, but our spirits were not dampened and our victory rolls remained steadfastly intact. Along with the Feast, it was also the day of The Big Lunch, an Eden Project initiative aimed at bringing communities and neighbourhoods together through a communal scoffing of food. Here's a cupcake purchased by a Big Luncher for that very purpose...
Clare Bunting and I have got preparation down to an art, so we spent the week prior to the Feast mixing the mince and vegetarian fillings, grating butter into flour for our signature flaky pastry, and generally chilling out in the kitchen, listening to The Hits. Once again, we made some delicious fresh lemonade to accompany our sausage rolls. It takes 30 lemons and 24 hours to prepare. Here I am, giving the zesty mixture a good stir.
With the rolls fully prepped and ready for the oven, Clare and I spent Saturday lounging in the garden and slowly baking each batch to perfection. By 11pm, we'd finished and were ready to embark.
With a start time of 10am, Clare and I arrived at 8.30am to set up the stall. This included sticking every flighty piece of stall equipment to the table with gaffa tape, as evidenced below...
You can also see the fabulous new banner we have had made. Lucy's design looks even better magnified and it really added a professional something to our stall. This time round, we were next to the
Salad Club, so we had the tantilising aroma of chorizo wafting over to us throughout the morning. We can safely vouch for the Salad Girls' chorizo wraps; we simply had to try one after smelling them all day!
We were lucky enough to have some of Lucy Bunting's badges and cards to once more liven up our stall, as well as newcomer Susan Lowe, who provided some dainty yet ever so fetching buttons with designs of tea pots and cupcakes moulded onto them.
Despite the rain, we had a lovely day and even had a possible offer to supply our vegetarian rolls to a local shop! Exciting times at Bunting's HQ. It is obvious from this picture that I was just happy to be there...
...while Clare maintained, as ever, a sense of poise and decorum, looking radiant in her classy blue frock.
Finally, I would like to give a personal shout out to the MC of the Food Hub, Oli Evans. He took on the role of Hub leader with panache and enthusiasm, even though he was up at 6am setting up stalls. Thanks Oli, we declare you an honorary Bunting!
That's all for now, folks. We'll keep you updated on all things Bunting, including trials of wholemeal flaky pastry and a new veggie filling. Watch this space...
Helen and Clare Bunting x x
