I’m happy to report that people are coming back to buy more cookie mixes from me. Lovely friends have already done this, but now I’m getting repeat custom from lovely strangers too. For example, this weekend I spent Sunday at Huddersfield in West Yorkshire at their Upmarket Sunday market. During the day three different customers came to my stall to buy mixes, each eager to tell me that they’d come back for more:
The lady that bought more Spiced Cranberry cookie mix said, “They’re fabulous and very easy.” The couple that bought more Ginger cookie mix told me that, “They’re gorgeous!” and “Super!” The grandmother that bought more My Sweet Choc Chip cookie mix said, “I made them with my grand-daughter, she’s five years old, they’re were so simple to do and she loved them.”Enough with the blowing of the trumpet! I’ll be back at Huddersfield’s Upmarket on Sunday 9th June between 10.00am and 4.00pm, or for other venues have a look at the list on the Cookies page of this blog.
Our clocks went forward an hour last night. I woke up at 7.00am, feeling bleary (it was, after all, only 6.00am this time yesterday) I threw some clothes on and staggered out to open the chicken coop. It didn’t feel particularly cold, but a glance at the thermometer as I passed showed -5′C (23′F).
With the chix fed and watered and a check for eggs (none as yet) I headed back inside, stopping just long enough to check on my rhubarb, which has started to grow despite being covered in several inches of snow. That’s when I noticed the Tete-a-Tete narcissus, flowering in snow that has yet to melt. We have had more snow than normal in Yorkshire this year and it’s fallen later too, the weather experts are blaming the Gulf Stream, yet these signs of the seasons still turning as they should bring a smile to my face.
With so much snow still about this Easter, there will be many jokes today about “British Summer Time”, but as I type this the sun is shining brightly and, despite the weather forecast, it really does feel like spring has sprung and summer isn’t far away.
Happy Easter folks.
The title for this post was too obvious by far, but I’m using it regardless. The reason for this will become immediately clear to you if you have ever watched the oft-repeated BBC television comedy series of that name, because Heather’s Cookies is going to Holmfirth.
Holmfirth Farmers’ Market is held on the third Sunday of every month from 9.00 am until 2.00 pm in the Market Hall there. It’s well-known; award-winning; attracts lots of folk – both buying and selling – and I was asked if I’d like to go and join in whilst at Huddersfield’s Upmarket Sunday last weekend. – Flattered!
In case you’ve never heard of The Last of the Summer Wine it is set in Holmfirth. Over the years the scenes of the town and its surrounding countryside have become as familiar to its fans as the streets of New York have become from watching Friends, CSI New York or any of a thousand other films and programmes shot there… Now, there’s a thought… Heather’s Cookies NY, NY!
Heather’s Cookies are going to be appearing in a regular monthly slot: I’m taking my cookie mixes to the Upmarket Sunday market in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. The market starts at 10.00 am and runs until 4.00 pm every second Sunday each month starting this Sunday, 10th March. So, if you’re wondering how the new Rainbow Cookie Mix tastes once baked, you know where to find me ;o)
I hope you can remember how to read and pronounce the Yorkshire dialect (sorry, t’Yorkshire dialect), ‘cos you’re going to need it again here (refer to June 2012′s post if you need a refresher, class):
Reg Turner’s ‘Obby
Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. Take my Oat ‘n’ Raisin cookies, for example: Elder Niece made a batch (with a little help from Daddy) and as she put blobs of the cookie dough on to the baking tray she moulded them into heart shapes with her fingers. The result was delightful, but then I am a biased auntie.
It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, so pinching Elder Niece’s idea, here are my Valentine’s cookies containing jumbo oats, raisins and cinnamon – all organic, of course and free range eggs from my free ranging hens and baked with love.
“Ee, we’ve had some weather recently”, I overheard, as doglet and I made our way through the park this morning. The remark made me smile to myself, it’s just the sort of blindingly obvious statement that one quite often hears living in Yorkshire (being a Yorkshirewoman I probably make them too). You’ll hear them yourself, no doubt, wherever you live in the world. However, it was the tone in which it was said that gave me pause: a sad, glass half-empty, moan.
I agree, we’ve had “some weather”; it’s rained, frozen, snowed, thawed, snowed again, poured down and today… the sun is shining and there’s a chill wind blowing, but the sun is shining and the slushy, icy, snow is disappearing fast and the sun is shining!
During the freeze that we had before the snow I took this picture: 
Doglet and I were out for one of our walks, everywhere was crispy with thick frost – beautiful. The frost didn’t last long, so this natural artwork was lost forever within the space of a day.
The morning after the first heavy snow fell last week I took this picture:
Here the snow outlines the branches of the Flowering Cherry tree that grows in our garden. Again the beauty was lost in the space of a day, when the snow thawed a little and the branches were left winter-bare once more.
What am I trying to say? This: Here in the UK no particular kind of weather ever lasts long. Our country’s so small that the pressure systems that brought us sun today will soon move on and we’ll have rain, or frost, or snow, “some weather” tomorrow. Just remember to look up, to see what temporary beauty we’ve been blessed with.
In the time it’s taken me to write this we’ve had a sudden downpour. The sun’s shining again now. Ee, we’ve had some weather recently.
