Farmer’s Market at Ms Marmite Lover’s

Woke up waaaaaaay too early this morning out of sheer excitement! Especially given just how many pancakes mum and I made last night and how late it was by the time I got to bed! And if you take into consideration that clocks went forward last night – meaning we all lost an hour of sleep – well…. I was genuinely aiming for at least 8 hrs of beauty sleep for the cameras, but I guess that was just wishful thinking.   Was too excited to go back to sleep though, so decided that I might as well get up and get packing.  Make up would just have to do the trick.

The food didn’t fit in the car after we pretty much packed the whole kitchen in there!  Figured out that it would be ok, seeing as I needed to come back and collect my mum anyway (I had to go earlier to set up so decided to let her sleep a little longer) and would just pick up the food then. I’m just lucky that Ms Marmite is only a 5 mins drive from my house!!

The Mama Lan stall

The boyfriend was kind enough to join me for the setting up bit (he even suggested that we take a toaster to heat up the pancakes – he’s sometimes useful that way!) and the two of us got everything together and set out for Ms Marmite Lover’s.

We were one of the first ones there and setting up the stall was fun – decorated the table with nice chopsticks, bamboo steamers, a Chinese table runner, etc.  Our friend Natalé joined us soon after and the three of us had an absolute blast chatting to the other stall holders and preparing for our guests! A trip back to the house later to deposit the boyfriend to his books (he’s studying for his professional exams), pick up Mama Lan Snr and the food, and I got back to Natalé and the stall just in time for us to greet the first guests
through the doors!

The Mama Lan Team - Natalé, mum & I

I have to admit that our food packing was only too original – grease proof paper! – but we seem to have done fairly well! I kept getting distracted by all the beautiful cupcakes from Kitchen on the Common and I *loved* the proper cloth napkins from Lex!  Also Kavey: I love the sauce! Have used for it for chicken marinate and guess what! It’s amazing!  And how can I forget the little cutie focaccia from Ms Marmite? For a foodie like me, this was heaven! Natalé kept having to elbow me to remind me to toast up pancakes for our hungry guests! It was nice to have someone constantly on the ball – thanks Nat!

The day went by ridiculously quickly and before I realised it, it was time for our demonstration!  Mum and I squeezed our way through the crowd. I’ll admit that I got extremely nervous with ALL of those people watching!  Had to resort to using a technique I learnt at the presentation course at work last Friday!

Both Mama Lans at Ms Marmite's aga!

We set up in Ms Marmite’s kitchen and soon enough, were ready to rock and roll!  I think mum and I make a great team presenting – she’s doing all the proper stuff and I’m making people laugh and participate!  High 5 Mama Lan Snr!!

People loved our demonstration and more importantly, they loved the food! Who *wouldn’t* go crazy over fresh made dumplings?!  Absolutely loved the little girl who made a dumpling and then had one when it was too hot! Oopsie! Maybe we should put a label saying ‘Caution!  Hot stuff!’? :-p

The farmer’ market wrapped up around 7pm. There were some leftovers all round, so all the stall holders just exchanged products.  Which meant I went home with no pancakes, but piles of cakes and pickles! – VERY HAPPY!!

Satisfied guests!

Did I have fun? – hell yeah!

Would I do it again? – hell yeah!

Am I tired – hell yeah!

Highlights? Seeing loads of happy customers, delighted with their introduction to authentic Northern Chinese food! Natalé and I took loads of pictures and they should soon be up on our brand new Gallery section – check it out if you saw us at the Farmer’s Market! You may well find yourself in there! And being filmed by the BBC was incredibly cool!! It turns out that they were filming for a show that will be broadcast in July. Mama Lan may or may not feature (they filmed lots of other people too). Thanks again Ben and Imran for making us feel special! (All the other stall holders tried to appear calm and dignified –  Natalé and I knew we didn’t stand a chance, so we mostly just giggled excitedly). Finally, I loved meeting so many other secret supper hosts! It was interesting seeing how they each went about it and it certainly gave me a few ideas to work on.

But that’s for another day. It’s been a crazy weekend and it’s time for bed.

Sweet dreams,

Mama Lan

4 Comments

• 

  By Laura, March 31, 2010 @ 20:44

  Tried your tofu, egg and dill pancakes at the market on Saturday, and they were delicious. So bought 3 of them to take away and ate them later. Now me and my bloke have tickets to some to your next supper club. I am so looking forward to it.

  PS. I’m veggie, he’s not

• 

  By Mama Lan, March 31, 2010 @ 21:34

  Thanks for your comment, Laura! The blog (and website) are brand new, so you’re our first one!
  I’m glad you enjoyed the pancakes. And may I just say – there’s plenty more where that came from!
  We always cater for both veggies and carnivores and for more info on what’s on the menu, have a look at our Upcoming Events section! I look forward to seeing you at our supper club!

• 

  By msmarmitelover, April 5, 2010 @ 14:09

  Reading your post…it looks like all of my goals for the day were achieved. Good food, good networking, fun and strengthening the supperclub community!

• 

  By Mama Lan, April 5, 2010 @ 16:35

  Yea Ms Marmite! Loved it! Let us know when the next one is x

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