Potential Spice Almighty Inspiration...

It was actually my birthday last month and apart from the usual girly gifts ( smellies/ Cath Kidston) my in-laws gave me something rather good. Its the newly published 'Masterchef everyday' cookbook. It has a great section featuring past contestants and whats they've been up to since. The 130 recipes are all the contestants own - including Celebrity Masterchef like Phil Vickery. And I think one of the best features is Gregg & John's reworking of 20 recipes for everyday folks who can't get hold of monkfish liver.

Linda Lusardi's Malaysian Beef and Potato curry sounds lush- and rather close to the new spice kit 'Magnificent Malaysian Rendang' with star anise and cinnamon. Might have to give her recipe a go...see how it compares.

Spice Almighty NEW flavours NEW packs

I have finally got round to developing the next FAB FOUR 'flavours' in the Spice Almighty spice kit  range.

There was much deliberation as they had to fit within the 'whole and ground spice in lil packs' format. Quite a feat if you know what goes into SE Asian currie. It was a bit of a conundru, and I wasted several little trees worth of paper in the process of writing out methods and recipes.

They will be called

MAGNIFICENT MALAYSIAN RENDANG
BETTER THAN A BIRYANI
TANTALISING THAI MASSAMAN
LOVELY SINGAPORE LAKSA

From the beginning I always imagined a broad mix of curries from all over Asia, not just the Indian continent. And I feel these are much closer to the beloved Burmese curries I grew up with.

Just got to make sure the other half has time to design them.

One week on from Dickensian Evening

Dickensian Evening was a great event, I can't remember not going since i moved to Ware. I was lucky that my mum was at hand to help since there were a lot of people trying out the sauce samples. Most were very impressed. I think the tikka was the winner that night. Next year I shall be investing in an electric hot plate as the sauces did solidify in the low temperatures, and thus does not give off wafts of curry flavours. Theres some photos of that eventful evening.

...the run up to Dickensian Evening

I did discuss Dickensian Evening with the ladies from Magika's Kitchen. The main advice was wrap up as warm as possible and have a money belt for security.

AND I rather underestimated the amount of packs I would have to make perhaps 80-100 rather than 50. So I'm burning the midnight oil once again in the effort to make the sales.

Lets hope the weather holds up and most of the expected 6,000 -10,000 people walk pass my stall!!

Selling Spice Almighty on Ware High Street

It was not a promising start, a rather overcast and blustery 9.30am start. Thank goodness the ladies from Magika's Kitchen where there to lend a helping hand. They are veterans of this 'selling to the public' business. They were able to give me loads of tips and had some very funny stories.

Its been a while since I've had to sell anything ( it used to be a portfolio of illustrations many moons ago) but I was soon getting into the swing of things. And before I knew it I had my first sale, and many more soon followed. I was thoroughly enjoyed myself. Many people were keen to try the sauces and most seemed to go away being pleasantly surprised.

And just as I'd almost finished packing up at the end I had one of my biggest sales- so they are making a small impact in Ware.

Getting Ready for the Tap Bar

Yesterday evening and this morning I put together another set of Spice Kits for my Tap Bar courtyard pitch. (Saturday 26th 10 -1 pm) The house is smelling wonderful. I'm cooking the 'coconutty KERALAN' tonight - as my son requested it specially.

Another pitch in WARE

I'm going to be keeping all of you updated on what & where Spice Almighty is up to :

SATURDAY 26th-TAP BAR Ware High St 10-1pm. I'll be in the courtyard with lots of tasty curry sauce to try out. Including the most popular so far 'not just a Jalfrezi'