First few weeks in the kiosk

My mini Mexican lunch

my mini Greek Lunch

Roast peppers with amazing thyme from the post office garden

my mini Italian lunch

Some ones real life Middle Eastern Lunch only £3.50! what a bleeding bargain!!!

It’s been a few weeks since I have posted, sorry I’ve got a business to run now!!!!! Any way I’ve popped some pulled pork in the oven and I have got a few hours to kill so I thought I would post a few words about my first few weeks! What a few weeks it has been. Quiet to start then mad and selling out.

I wish I had enough room for my SLR in my tiny kiosk so I could take some photos of what I have been doing and most importantly the people I have been meeting.I've included some photos of my lunch, one so my mum knows that I am actually eating!!! and 2 so that you can see what I'm doing but remember they are mini portions the real portions are much bigger!

I think the biggest shock for me is how unlike a popup restaurant running a cafe is. At least with a pop up you can work yourself raggid and then stay in bed the next day and sleep it off and eat loads and more or less be back to normal the next day. However having a venue means you have to be on the ball each day with stock to for fill every ones needs, to impress and interest customers. You also have to be able to present yourself to people, be polite engage people even though you’re totally shattered or gutted that no one has been in that day.

Being your own boss is sooo much harder than working for someone, at least when you work for someone you can make yourself feel better by offsetting the blame a bit to your boss. But when you forget the cake with a coffee or give someone who has asked not to have coriander, coriander you only have yourself to blame! Also the thought of having a hangover at work well quite frankly it’s not going to happen ( ow how time have changed !). and when you have finished a shift you have only just started  then comes the paper work planning and pre cooking.

So it has been a shock to the system but what I have loved is getting to know new people, it’s been great. I’ve started to get a really nice routine: I get there early start prepping and have an early morning cuppa with my good mate Trev and set the world to rights, then along comes the Prince of Sherwood and we chat about food and trade recipes (he should defo do his own food blog because he has some amazing recipes with great stories attached to them). Then lunch brings the Sherwood crafters which is great to chatter about crafty stuff and of course food. Each day the lunch time rush brings new people and you start to chat and network and work out who is friends with who (I’m sure everyone is only one degree of separation in Nottingham). Then at the tail end of the lunch rush I have a coffee with the Prince and asses service.

So all in all it’s been hard work not just for me but my friends and family especially Mum, Si and Liz who have helped me relentlessly. And really I just have to say thanks to Lyne for hunting out suppliers for the material for my wedding dress (note to any new want to be business owners who may be getting married soon ,make sure you sort your dress out before you open because having dress measuring sessions whilst making coffee and lunch is hard!).

Hope to see you soon

xbx

Mexican Mondays at Kiosk

I have had a simply lovely day today, even though I’ve been cleaning up my house it’s nice to be out from the counter and I manage to grab some time to experiment in my kitchen. So tomorrow is Mexican Monday so my experimenting has been distinctly Mexican themed. I’ve just cooked up an amazing sweet corn salad ( thanks to Thomasina Miers) it’s so simple yet totally packed with flavour. I’ve also cooked up a batch of chipotles en adobo which I promised Adrian I would do months ago and have not got round to it. Chipotles en adobo is a rich, smoky, sweet and tangy puree which forms the base of a lot of Mexican cooking and gives dishes a great smoky kick. It’s great for veggies too as it adds that smoky kick that chorizo does but without the pork! Any way come and sample the Mexican delights tomorrow for lunch ONLY £3.50!

Re fried beans (V)

Steak chilli wrap

Quesadilla (V)

Smokey asparagus salad

Spicy sweet corn salad

And citrusy chick pea salad

(I can’t wait )

See you tomorrow

The opening of the kiosk

Ok so it’s been an amazing and tiring week! And I am now feeling incredibly shattered! And just caught up from Sunday’s big opening and re stocked the shop! So the kiosk is my new venture and will act as a base for my Underground restaurant and..... I will be serving lunch and maybe even have a take away service early evening.  I’m going to be serving interesting food something that you can’t get in your average cafe in Nottingham, for those of you who have been to the Mollyqueen markets I will be making tapas and salads like that as well as having and interesting selection of sandwiches including pulled pork and slaw, scrummy homemade pate and I will be making wheat free bread for those of you who suffer from wheat intolerance.

My Menus will rotate every day and will look something like this:

Persian potato cakes

Middle Eastern turkey meat balls

Grapefruit and blue cheese tarts

Served with

Turkish spoon salad

Slaw

Roast veg and lentil salad

Sandwiches:

Pulled pork and slaw

Roast chicken and salad

Horizon and chicken and salsa

Vegan roast carrot and lentil pate

Cider Poached hallumi

Herbed Feta and zucchini toasty

I will also be trying to make some of my own cakes, today I made some cinnamon buns , and banana flapjacks.

I would also just like to say thanks for all the support from my friends and family you have all been so great and I hope I can return the help you have given me (you know who you are) 

xbx