Hello.
First things first, housekeeping.
Quick reminder that we are now open on Wednesdays from 9am. We usually have Walden Whites and Rugbrøds available on a Wednesday, as well as some cookies if you're lucky. And then 9am opening on Thursday and Friday and 10am on Saturday.
We've got a fresh delivery of our deli items coming this week including more of the Fennel Salami that I know many of you go mad for (arriving Wednesday), more Kabanos (the pepperoni style sausages) and some new, cured saucisson style meats from our new supplier Crown & Queue. Some of you may have seen me sampling these on Instagram (it's a hard job but someone's got to do it). They are really good. Very different to the Cobble Lane Cured meats we supply. Their recipes are all based on ancient, English recipes so expect lots of beer-y, fruit-y, herb-y flavours mixed with lovingly raised, British pork. I will talk about them more in a future blog as I want to blab on about how brilliant Crown & Queue are as a product, a business, a brand and an inspiration. But not now otherwise I'll never get anything else done and I'm enjoying my newfound productivity since the girls have gone back to school!
We also have a new batch of cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy arriving on Thursday. It includes a Caerphilly from Wales and a Pevensy Blue from East Sussex, which is relatively new to NYD and has only just become available to stockists like us. I've been eyeing it up for weeks so I'm really excited to have finally got our hands on it. It's a Gorgonzola style of cheese; sweet, nutty, squidgy. Yummy. Two other new-to-MMB cheese also arriving are a Hay on Wye Goat's Cheese and an Isle of Mull Cheddar. I love cheese.
Buns update. The plan this week is to have Cinnamon Buns coming out of the ovens on Thursday and Friday as close to 10am as we can. And then on Saturday, alongside the Cinnamon Buns, our Easter Buns will be back from 10am. If you're yet to try one of these imagine one of our light and fluffy Cinnamon Buns mixed with hot cross bun flavours; orange, sultanas, nutmeg. They're really rather delicious and a nice alternative to the hot cross bun. Next week in the run up to Easter we will have our Easter buns on Thursday, Friday & Saturday.
Sourdough. In addition to Walden Whites, Heritage Grains, Super Sours and Rugbrøds, this is the last week of our Cheese & Jalapeño Sourdough special which you can grab on Friday and Saturday. Then there's a new special from next week onwards. Watch this space, it's a good'un.
What else on the provisions front? More of the rhubarb jam is being made as I write, arriving on Wednesday, we have packs of mini Pump Street easter eggs in stock. Oh and a fresh batch of Bungay Butter, Baron Bigod Cheese and Skyr Yoghurt arriving from Fen Farm Dairy on Thursday.
So much deliciousness all under one roof. It makes me very happy. Oh and you know what else will be under that roof on Saturday for the first time in months and months? ME! I can't wait. I can finally give Jeff a hand with the madness that is 10am at MMB on a Saturday morning, and I can't wait to see you all.
Lockdown One Year On
I quickly wanted to note that today is one year on since we went into lockdown, and I don't know about you but it's bringing up all sorts of emotions in me.
Like many of us, I've been through every form of up, down, round and in-between over this last year. Some real highs, some real lows. I've definitely learnt a lot about myself and about how to continue running the business without collapsing into a heap of exhaustion at the end of every week, and we've adapted MMB in order that we can keep going as much as possible to the benefit to as many of you as possible.
I am incredibly grateful to those of you that have continued to support us over the last year. Whether it be pledging for our Soil to Sourdough crowdfunder, buying a bag of flour to try your hand at sourdough or banana bread at home, still queueing (safely) to buy MMB produce from the doorstep and being open to the introduction of new produce to enable us to keep moving forward during a pretty tough time, we continue to feel very proud and honoured to have such a supportive customer base.
I hope 2021 is the light at the end of the tunnel that we are all keeping our fingers very tightly crossed for. I'm certainly feeling very positive about plans for MMB and, without wanting to ever take it for granted, I feel hopeful that the MMB tribe will continue to support us as we continue to do what we love to do for our community, whilst taking on board the lessons we've learnt during lockdown.
We hope, as the vaccination timetable progresses, we will get back to seeing those of you that we feel we haven't seen for a very long time and we can start to put this hideous experience behind us all.
Onwards and upwards. It's spring outside today and summer is coming. Here's to 2021.
Megan x