Wicked witch of the mill!! With crabs...

What a week it has been again, I dream of having an uneventful stress free week the way my sister dreams of her next holiday or car. It started rather fine when I got a new smoker which I'd been after for a while since I adore fresh smoked food, I had an idea for smoked crabs so of we trotted to Norfolk for their well known cromer crabs!
After battling arctic winds and freezing cold (ok it wasn't that bad but it sure felt like it)OH forgetting his wellingtons and the silly idea of trying to peddle our pushbikes on sand (it really does not work)we came away with the grand total of 'one' crab eek... so we cheated and popped into a fishmonger on the way back to grab some more.. Smoked crab is defiantly nice but we thought the mackeral we smoked was better especially when I was stuffing grapes with it (ok i ran out of bread lol)..

So a nice start to the week, I received a call from an agency I had chef'd for since a client of theirs had asked to have a meeting with me???? I was puzzled but went along.
I was asked to head a restaurant someone is developing and help give its food a wow factor... Oh after last night there was a wow but not a good one.. I was not due to start till next week but went in to see how the current staff run things... I have never had such a bad experience cooking 'ever'..

None of the prep work was done so i was chasing my own backside all night, the present cook had a real problem with me and spend 2 hours on vegetable prepping but when asked where was the vegetables for service she said she hadn't done them she had done her soup for the next day instead with the vegetables...... this was 15mins before service!! 30mins each starter she took and would put food on and promptly forget it. An order for a table of 9 on an anniversary dinner was found screwed up in the bin, I have a routine with orders and since the order was not on the order rack it was not done .... disaster!!!!!! The owner bless him was yelling at the cook until I stepped in and took total responsibility after all if I am to be head chef there the buck stops with me...

Where the wicked witch of the mill comes into it is one of the waitresses was a pure 'bitch' lots of funny comments about only being my first night and not coming back and being extra smarmy nice to the cook she is who we suspect in the missing order fiasco for what reason we cannot fathom. By the end of the night after scrubbing down and discussing it bless the cook comes out with the fact she did resent me turning up she thought she would lose her job (she nearly did) to me, she was shocked about the order and towards the end she did muck in and thanked me for sticking up for her awww.
Frankly I didn't think I would be going back but the owner wants me to still give it a go the poor guy was devastated. All this happening and still doing my regular chef job, making soaps cupcakes and melts, I worked 18hrs yesterday home at 1am and at my next job at 7am opps I thought it was 7am I didn't realize the clocks had changed..
Sadly my housework has suffered from the constant working but that can wait for another day.. my OH is cooking dinner for me and I am sat surfing the net with a bottle of bubbly and I cant believe he just asked me for gravy granules lol I don't use them...
So i'm of for a rest until later but at least i get a few hours sit down... toodle pip x

7 sins sinful cakes

I finally got the draft of the website up and running yeah....
I've also already got 2 orders and it only went up yesterday...
So short post as i have cakes to make .... toodle pip xxx

www.7sinscakes.co.uk

Princess pickled onion from the planet cheese.....

Busy Bust Busy that's all I seem to be but by the end of the week I look back and wonder what I have done!
The last two weeks though I think have had the most impact of this year!
I was at my wits end with everyone moping around and feeling down so I decided to take action!
My darling princess pickled onion from the planet cheese had been really down since losing her apprenticeship last month and the fact she would lose her college place after all her hard work, bless not only that a social butterfly finds it hard to spread her wings with no income! So the queen of planet cheese came up with a plan......
I called in a favor which funny enough cost a favor at the same time darn it my favor maths must be out, I took on a temp second job for a few days which got a recruitment friend out of trouble but meant working almost 18hr days for a few days, the result both my beloved apples of my eye are working temp jobs to get them through till college finishes and that means it lightens my financial load and they pick up references to boot! I hounded the college and my girls ex boss the result she is fast tracking her qualification and fingers crossed qualifies in 13 weeks then she can take her dream job on the Stella cruise line..

I also got to play with new soap this week and the pictures are of my Ayurvedic benzoin, chai and neem soaps. Tonight I have bath melt favors to make and 3 dozen blueberry chardonnay cupcakes to attempt. Mind you thats if I can fit it in with trying to make my website work eek if anyone knows flash pretty please can you give me a few pointers as I have tried everything to link my urls... it at www.7sinscakes.co.uk..

Gotta dash

Toodle pip xxx

Womens thoughts and flying kites

WHY WOMEN CAN'T SLEEP
Have you ever wondered how a woman's brain works?
Well....it's finally explained here in one, easy-to-understand illustration:

Every one of those little blue balls is a thought
about something that needs to be done,
a decision or a problem that needs to be solved.

A man has only 2 balls and they consume all his thoughts.

I feel I've been juggling all of those blue balls at the same time lately so today i'm chilling out.... Well chilling making 3 dozen cupcakes and a whole batch of cherry bath bombs and bath melts.
The plan was to have the 2 websites finished this week and uploaded both the soap and the cupcake sites are almost done, but we have had an incredible week here...

I have had fav reviews with my cupcakes with one person comparing them to The hummingbird bakery in south kensington uk now i must admit it left me a little blank until I opened this months delicious magazine and there in full color was the hummingbird bakery 'cupcakes suppliers to the stars' oh i was jumping up and down with excitement!

My crazy young daughter has decided she wants to work on a cruise ship so is fast tracking her stylist course which means mum's taxi has been running at full pelt, my dear little sister is visiting so we have been doing girlie things like shopping staying up late on the couch watching movies. She had loads of fun at the beach flying kites with me and getting sand in her knickers hehe.. I have a few days not working which is such a relief as yesterday was an 18hr work day...

The new month new me is coming along nicely I spent 2 days having my hair done and it is now dark chocolate and down to my waist, I started my exercises and can proudly say I've done about 5 situps well it's a start I might work on my ankles today! Getting back to exercise is really hard I think about it more than do it and in my mind gym i'm really fit mind you trying to do the housework by mental telepathy just does not seem to work maybe i'm doing it wrong hehe..

I've been reading some friends blogs and i must recommend Daisy May's Purple diva
http://purplediva.wordpress.com/

Well I must get on and do some more work or i'll never get to the amazon.. heres a picture of what I want to do in the amazon umm maybe I am crazy .......


Toodle pip xxx

New Month New Start.... Day two of March and already is a mixed feeling month...
Today was one of those days where everything that could go right for me did, I had a meeting at work and let the boss convince me to go back and on a slight promotion..
I also found all of last years missing data which included all of my insurances and recipes and product information files I had been stressing over for 2 mths. I got a rave review from the cakes that had arrived at the testers places and one food critic loved them, The website is coming along nicely as is the Fairy Alchemy one.... After a busy strange time it was a lovely refreshing change..

Whilst all the things I've been working towards is slowly coming together it is tinged with sadness. a lot of my friends and family have been affected in the job cuts across the country and some are suffering from it really badly. It's affecting everyone differently with some now spending the day in bed crying to the ones who are goggle eyed staring at job advertisements and applying for every single one. Other friends don't talk about promotion or getting a new job as much, even people with what was once a secure job are worried.
I went through similar a few years back when I lost my job, I had invested all I had family, career and money in relocating to a high flying job so when it happened to me I had no reserves and was living in a strange place... It took a long time to turn around from that and i learned what was important and not and it changed my point of view on a lot of things. I went back to basics and i went back to the things I actually really did like doing after all wearing a suit really got on my nerves..
The only advice I can offer is go back to basics and if you cant have what you want then want what you do have. Material goods can always be replaced but people cant. It's said there is light at the end of the tunnel don't concentrate on the light just know its a tunnel..

Toodle Pip ....x

7 Sins

Quick update.... Company boss called me and apologized for the farce at work while she was away.. They want me to go back but I can take a week to think about it paid .. Oh what a bonus.. I will think about it!
Also hopefully next week I can launch 7 Sins my decedent sinful cakes online site, so I possibly will be not blogging this week we shall see .... toodle pip !

Time to get back to business having fun ..

Warning this is really long!!!What a day today has been, I woke with a smile on my face because I am finally getting things organized and we had made a lot of decisions (the brood and I) after a family meeting last night.. I should of known then it was going to be a strange day..
I quit my job this morning. It was not planned or anything and it was very quick and to tell you the truth bloody fun as well.... I have a huge intolerance of vicious gossip, I love a good gossip and natter but I make a point of not being detrimental or cruel. In the work place we all come across certain clicks or groups just like at school that stick together only at work the things that happen are called 'office politics etc'. I have confidence in my work and I know my manager had full confidence in me (ok she told me) I had the stereotypical bully tactics today which I found really funny as it was just not that intelligent or well thought out (mind you she had a list) and she had to go as she stated 'for back up' half way through a farce of a meeting (she is the cook and I'm the chef umm go figure my dear). This 'meeting' soon disintegrated (I think it might of been the giggle heard from the cleaner outside of the door bless her they had done it to her) with both of these people just losing it there was not one real valid reason to have a meeting with me also they did not have the authority (manager was on holiday). I was not rude impolite or totally negative, I was firm and nonplussed just casually sat on a chair arm drinking my lemonade. Honestly was I supposed to be impressed by bullies I had been pre-warned about when the major issues turned out to be as important as incorrect sandwich cutting and the wrong number of leeks being available. The other things were mute points as I did have the authority to make the changes I did which at that point of being informed the cook nearly went purple. I'm not frivilous with jobs but this job was taken on with the understanding it was to be therapeutic work and it was quite destressing being in my own little world with my Ipod and cooking and generally having fun with the majority of the people working there. I pretty much had free reign when it came to cooking as long as I stayed within the basic ingredients and if I wanted anything else they would order it for me. I loved making what I call smile food some of the people were a lot older so they may as have as much enjoyment out of food as I can give them.. Ok cut a long story short the difference of working at home and there would of been so little as to only be doing the job I loved doing it. So I thought sod it I dont need this crap and said bye..
Oh this was just before 9.20 am so they were in at the deep end with the cooking serves them right ..... So much more happened but I need to go make crepes suzzette for pancake day and cup cakes for friends ... toodle pip

Life and cupcakes..

It's been a while since I blogged a case of so much internet so little time..
A combination of starting a new chef job and a torrent of family issues has meant that the elusive sit down and have an hour to myself is just not enough time to keep up with the deluge of internet things to do.
I've had health issues which were new to me, I spent over 2 yrs getting healthy and fit following spending the major portion of my life as disabled only to find something unrelated has decided to go wrong.. So I tried to sit back and take stock of my lifestyle and changes I could make to deal with this new issue.
Well it didn't work I was just as uptight and stressed as ever and now back on 'lifetime' eek medication.
I did discover some things on my little journey!!
Life is what you make it and sometimes no matter how many good things in your life you do and the things you help with, there are some people that you just can't please and they will go out of their way to make it difficult and be downright evil and harassing.. These are not rejected ex's or disgruntled friends or anything like that but family members and they can be the cruelest of them all.
I can only have so much compassion and sympathy for people who are cruel because sometimes they cant help it if they are grieving or upset but when people go out of their way to deliberately cause harm to another then my time would only be wasted on them as I can never condone that behavior.
I am proud of what I have achieved in my life against all odds, I may not be rich in money but I am rich in friends and love, I may not have a flash car or house anymore but what I have is mine and I have worked for it. I have 2 amazing children (young adults) and a great extended family that love me for who I am not what I am...
So to my friends and my family thank you from the bottom of my heart and bribery cupcakes are in the mail xx
Oh speaking of cupcakes that is one of my new stress reliefs since my workshop was flooded again and I cant work out there and play soap fairy until the foundations are redone, I stopped making soapy goodies inside due to chef'ing and not wanting to cross contaminate.. Oh yeuk soap tasting cupcakes would not be nice and I have a teeny kitchen..
Si the latest update pictures are my valentines cupcakes made especially for my dad's birthday and for my dear friend who just had my new guardian child... love you sweetie xxx


So back to normal life and blogging I hope.... Toodle Pip xx