The New Local Normal

At last things seem to be getting back to something that resembles the normal life we had before the beginning of the pandemic. For me that is the reopening of the craft markets..

With the loosen of restriction the organisers managed to get the craft market at St Peter's Church in Sandwich, Kent up and running. Unfortunately the great British weather decided not to play ball and after the brilliant hot sunshine of the week, Saturday brought rain showers - typical! So we had to move inside.

On the hottest week of the year I was to be found in the kitchen making sure I had enough jam, chutney and cupcakes to fill the stall. The last of the strawberries from the garden were picked to make the ever popular Strawberry & Champagne Jam and our new crop of raspberries provided the backdrop to the new addition to the jam family, Raspberry & Vodka Jam and of course the abundance of rhubarb gave us our Rhubarb & Gin Jam.

This year I thought that I would add cupcakes to the stall and me being me I couldn't just make your usual bog standard ones, I needed to make them extra special so I added oozing centres to them. The chocolate ones had a Nutella filling with a chocolate buttercream icing with crispy, chocolate balls decorating them, a true chocoholic's delight.

Then the vanilla cupcakes were packed full with our own Strawberry & Champagne Jam finished off with vanilla icing and sprinkles. The world is better with sprinkles!

And finally the lemon cupcakes were filled with homemade lemon curd, I always make extra curd because half of it ends up in my mouth. I LOVE lemon curd. And as if that wasn't enough of a taste of summer they were topped with elderflower buttercream. The smell every time I lifted the lid was mouth-watering.

Back to the market and the new normal. The number of stalls had to be restricted thanks to the 2 metre rule and there was antibacterial hand wash EVERYWHERE! The market had a one way walking system, which whilst it stopped meandering it certainly meant every stall would be passed by and admired. The biggest difference was seen amongst the customers, so many were wearing masks and clearly this is going to be the new normal. Whilst the government and health officials might not be able to say for sure if masks will keep us extra safe, people have decided for themselves that it might be better to be safe than sorry.

There was a tentative start to the first day of opening, footfall was lower than before lockdown but people of all ages did come and other than the obvious delight in seeing all the lovely, inventive craft stalls the thing most people were saying was how lovely it was to be able to get out and about again. More and more people have been shopping locally and supporting the local craft markets is a great way to help those people in your area and for you to buy something you won't get elsewhere.

I for one like this new normal, Eat Local, Enjoy Local, Shop Local.

Have a great week - I'll be back at the market on Thursday and I'm very much looking forward to see more of you there.

Stay Safe.... Kylie