A week in the life of Lucy
It’s Friday morning, I am about to enjoy my first coffee of the day but first I must check today’s diary! Tomorrow 7th May, is Tideswell Food Festival. Let’s begin the market prep! the weather is looking good and quite sunny, so I thought some flavoured cookies and my blondies dessert in the shape of lemon blondies and Bakewell blondies would feature well, especially as we are so close to Bakewell. Also the Terry's chocolate orange brownies and Malteser brownies are always a hit at markets, and for the children, no market is complete without Rocky Road.
I began baking brownies yesterday, I have 20 slabs of freshly baked brownies and blondies to cut and pack and another 20 to bake and prep for tomorrow. On top of this I have my usual brownie delivery boxes to pack and send the brownies by post and DPD courier for next day delivery.
But before the baking begins what else is there on todays to do list:
1. Reply and check to any emails
2. Pack daily orders
3. Await a last-minute Asda delivery
order and unpack
4. Social Media post/story content
5. Market prep
Jobs 1-4 are complete thanks to the aid of my Mum.
It is now early afternoon, the 20 slabs have been cut, the further 20 slabs have been baked and are cooling ready to cut for the market tomorrow. It’s time to grab some lunch before the real market prep begins.
As I have discussed on a previous blog, preparation for each market differs in our actual set up, whether it’s a full gazebo set up, where we must take the kitchen sink, or my dream set up where I have a cart provided and I just turn up with my scrummy bakes!
Tideswell is the full shebang, so I best get too it! Thankfully I have my husband Tom on hand to load the car and assist with the school pick up. It is now 5pm, market prep is well underway, but Harry has arrived home from nursery slightly under the weather. Please send help! It is now 10pm, miraculously I have survived a Friday evening of 2 very tired boys after a long week of school and nursery and am sat enjoying a cup of tea before bed. Market prep is complete. It is time for bed, Goodnight.
It is 6am Saturday morning; Tom is on the stall at Tideswell Food Festival today with the in laws as I have a corporate order to get out, and some daily orders alongside looking after the boys!
Tideswell is an attractive village in the heart of the Peak district. The food festival was a sell out so I apologise for those people who missed out on trying some scrumptious treats! Saturday is drawing to a close, 6.30pm all the market attire is unloaded and packed away ready for our next pop up at Sheffield Train Station on Thursday.
Sunday is here, I am enjoying a lazy morning before an afternoon of baking. Today’s bakes are the vegan brownies and gluten free brownies range, ready for a wholesale drop tomorrow. The boys are with Nana.
It is Monday morning, George is ready for school, Harry has had me up at all hours and now I am on my third coffee and it’s only 8am! Thankfully I am heading out to Dinnington for a refresher in my barista training!! at the Heavenly Coffee Company
I love coffee, and pre-Covid we used to serve coffee alongside our scrummy treats 😊 Whilst the coffee machine gets a good service, I thought, why not update my training on how to make the perfect coffee!
All I can say is it is an art in itself! Achieving the perfect grind is so satisfying, yet I am not quite there with the foam art, but there is time! After a caffeine hit, I manage to squeeze in a catch up with some of my lovely friends for a late lunch. This was much needed 😊 Back home I relieve Mum of her Nana duties and catch up on admin whilst Harry takes a danger nap!
Tuesday is here and there is the usual daily tasks along with 20 slabs of baking and Harry! Nana arrives to do the school run and then gets back to her Nana duties looking after Harry, whilst I get my bake on!
Hello Wednesday, today I must prep for tomorrow’s market at the train station. Add some social media content and get the daily orders complete early so I can get the rocky road baked so it has time to set. I do love a wedge of rocky road 😊 If you haven’t tried it, you MUST! The crunchy biscuit against the marshmallow and rich chocolate is delicious! Plus, the staff at the station adore it 😊
Thursday 6am is here and it is an early set up at the station leaving at 7am. Commuters are rushing around and grabbing a scummy treat for their journey!
The rocky road is a hit and the new cookie bars are almost sold out and it is only 10am, the rest of the day was great, I love people watching, and what better place then South Yorkshire busiest train station!
It’s 6pm, it has been a long but amazing day! We sold out and met some amazing people. Today was a great day! Now where is my bed!
It is 6am on Friday, tomorrow is one of our busiest markets of the year, Peaty’s Steel City downhill
mountain bike race in Grenoside Woods, Sheffield, This is one of the most scenic markets we hold but also one of the most labour intensives in terms of setting up. I must begin market prep straight away as I have 40 slabs to bake, cut and decorate.
I best get the coffee machine warmed up for a final practice at perfecting your favourite coffees.
It is midday I am halfway through the brownie cutting and I am packing today’s orders. Harry is content with Singing, and I am happy as I am enjoying 5 minutes of calm before the storm of cutting the next 20 slabs. By this point I have a few blisters appearing, but I must carry on.
6pm arrives, the brownies are all cut and decorated, my sister has arrived to trial some of my perfected coffees and she is very happy with her mocha, as her partner Will with his Americano. If you hadn’t guessed, it by now I am a perfectionist!
It is 10pm, the cars are packed to the brim, time for bed as its an early start tomorrow.
It’s 6am, I have Tom, Mum and Father-in-law in tow. Today is going to be a great day! The sun is shining, and we are all set for a great day in the beautiful Grenoside Woods.
Mum and I get a little lost in the woods as we hike to our pitch, ok actually we end up walking 3000 steps, but we laugh!
It is 8:40 and it is finally our turn to pitch up! We are all set for you guys to enjoy by 10am. Tom is polishing off a bacon sandwich from Whirlow Farm, he is in heaven!
I grind, bless, and steam all morning, making the perfect coffee to enjoy in the glorious sun! however, I am shivering in the shade, why did I not wear my fleece lined trousers, first bad judgement of the day! The brownies are flying out, the first to sell out is the cookie bars and then the rocky road!
It is lunch time I have spied Samosa Chaat, off I go! These are the most amazing samosas served with curried chickpeas and pearls of pomegranate! Yum!! Thank you, Raheel Mirza
Its 2pm, the sunshine has brought out the crowd! The steel city downhill is a mini downhill race annually in Greno Woods. It is an event with thousands of spectators, the woods are transformed into an event with an electric atmosphere. There is no other event like it!
We are busier than ever as we approach late afternoon with only a few brownies to go. It is going to be another sell out, thank you everyone!
6.45pm Home time! We set off on our hike to find Mum’s mini 😊 2 miles later we are on our way home.
It is 7:30, a Chinese has been ordered and we pack away all the shebang ready for our next pop up! The bell rings, the Chinese has arrived. Yum! Now it is time for bed.
It is 6am, hello Monday, what do you have in store for me today……
To be continued……