When Life Gets In The Way
So, after Xmas I decided to take a break for January.....December was pretty gruelling, and sales are always low anyway.....I threw myself into my grownup job of teaching and HOWL went on the back burner. Shops ran out. I didn't book any markets. I kept just enough online in case anyone wanted to buy some HOWL. I stopped posting on social media. Ticking over.
And then, I never quite got round to starting up properly again. Couldn't get my mojo back, cooking-wise.
My grownup job is TEFL, teaching English to foreign students, I've been doing that for about 20 years or so. The school I worked at went under during the COVID pandemic, but I'd got some sessional work with a local University. So from January until now I was really focused on that. Unfortunately, their numbers are down, and I'm at a loose end again.
My DJ work has been fairly constant, including sharing the bill with 3 other comrades in wax at Halton beer festival. 23 hours of DJ action over 3 days in a castle in Halton, fantastic. I love those guys.
I spent June, July and August cooking a lot,weekends at a local taproom. Mega thanks to Chapter Brewing Taproom for giving me that opportunity. It was great to be able to make my own menus every week, incorporate some HOWL into the menu and I met some really lovely people. Pics of my summer's cooking are on my Facebook page. I also got a booking to cook for a huge Brazilian samba band playing at the Philharmonic, Gilberto Gil...he used to be minister of culture. So these were all great, new challenges.
My final cooking adventure was volunteering for Supernormal festival, cooking for 200 people at a time. In a tent. In the baking sun. It was a fantastic and inspiring experience, and again I met some wonderful people.
Anyway, I'm back.
I've spent the last two weeks cooking with a good friend, who is also going through a shit time, workwise. I can't understate the value of friends that become your family, we all need to carry each other a little bit, sometimes.
We've been chopping, cooking, bottling and labelling, listening to vinyl, radios 6 and 4 and drinking tiny beers in the afternoon from Lidl, icy cold from the fridge.
So now HOWL is in the shops again (Liverpool, Runcorn, Manchester) and we've got Black Label, Picalilli, Nagalilli and all the main sauces back in stock online. I've even got the Halloween sauce made already (online from Oct 1st)
And today I even booked my first Xmas market! (Pettypool College, Cheshire, 2nd December).
So. That's what I've been up to.
How about you?
Sorry I couldn't make vinyl night, we were in town celebrating our anniversary and Nathan's birthday...but I bought 3 bottles of breakfast sauce from Monks delicatessen ️ . Cheers Joe
Yay! Monks is boss, hope you had a good time in Liddypool. There's always next month for vinyl night...Halloween extravaganza on the 29th!