We thought it is sometimes nice for our customers to know a little more about 'us'- who we are as people and our passion for the food, plants or craft that we bring along to the market each week. Every couple of weeks we will endeavour to spotlight a different person and their products. We hope you find our 'interviews' a fun and insightful read.
Who better to kick off with than Cecile- our market manager!
Cecile has been coming, with her husband Charlye, to the Country Market in Bentley Heath as a producer for nearly 9 years now! She is an excellent cook and the chances are that if you regularly buy food from us on a Friday that you have sampled some of her work.
When asked what she makes for the market, the list was endless, and I'm sure that she left things off too: homemade bread, cakes, cookies, delicious home-cooked savouries (pizza, quiches, fish pie, Pastel de Papas) and preserves (jams, marmalade and chutney).
Cecile's best sellers are her breads, which are, incidentally, her favourite 'make'. She enjoys the process of bread making and experimenting with different kinds or adding different flavours. Alongside the regular weekly staples of seeded wholemeal, olive and white breads we often have seasonal loaves at the market - Sicilian Orange and Lemon at Easter and Panetonne at Christmas, to name just two.
A typical Thursday (the day before market) kicks off at 8:30 am with bread making. Apart from a quick break for coffee at 10 am, Cecile continues with the breads until lunch time. During dough proving and baking time she tends to fit in making soups and Pastel de Papas (a Peruvian cheese and potato pie dish).
Lunch in Cecile's household is around 12:30 to 1:45. Cecile does the first lot of washing up (by hand and dishwasher full) after lunch; the rest is left until the end of the day and is done by Charlye- her husband.
It is a busy afternoon with all the rest of her savoury dishes (fish pies, quiches and pizzas) being made between 1:45 and 6:00 pm. No wonder they opt for some light entertainment (usually a TV comedy show) while eating supper 6-6:30.
You may have thought that, with cooking done, the day was nearly over, but NO! Cecile and Charlye rarely get to bed on a Thursday night until 11:30-midnight. After supper the most important job is packaging and labeling. As a Country Market's producer this is a very important task. Allergens, prices, descriptions have to be accurate and containers need to be sealed (no one wants soup leaking in their shopping bag on the way home!)
Cecile is an avid fan of TV box sets and uses some of the five or so hours she spends labeling on a Thursday night to catch up with series online. Last night (13/09/18) she watched Keeping Faith (BBC1) and Black Earth Rising (BBC2).
So if you spot the odd tired face on a Friday morning, you know why!
A big thankyou to Cecile for her time and giving us a snapshot of her 'market' life. You can find a selection of her products to order online in our Open Food Network shop or they can be ordered in advance by phone ( 07514 060548 ).
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