Did you know that its National Picnic week starting today? [18 June] It’s one of my favourite weeks in the foodie  celebration calendar. Even the word ‘picnic’ still evokes the same rush of excitement in me as it did when I was a child. A picnic is an adventure and conjures up romantic, fantasy images of The Famous Five, gingham napkins, sunshine, sandwiches, fizzy pop, cakes, flasks of tea, picnic blankets and Tupperware. Who else remembers picnics on the beach and the crunch of sandwiches with real sand that had somehow found its way into all of them - eughhh.


The picnic is synonymous with summer, although I’ve enjoyed them even in the depths of winter albeit snuggled up in the car, and sunshine (but who hasn’t had to sprint to the car dragging and dropping plates, cups and food when the heavens have opened!) 

I like to think that afternoon tea is a slightly more genteel, indoor version of a picnic. Again it’s a celebration event with loved ones with refined sandwiches, cakes and tea. All the fun only without rain and wind, swatting wasps and having real sand in the sandwiches!

This weekend the weather is set to sizzle, so get your hamper and blanket and get out and about in the beautiful Cheshire countryside. Sand optional.

​If you would like a picnic style afternoon tea this summer, let us know, we would be happy to cater for it.  Jen, 01925 357940 www.roomforty.co.uk hello@roomforty.co.uk

 
Happy International Women’s Day from Room Forty Afternoon Tea! This year’s focus is on ‘purposeful collaboration to help women advance and unleash the limitless potential offered to economies the world over.’
But how does this translate in Warrington and is it actually possible to collaborate and succeed in the current economic climate, with Brexit and uncertainty looming on the horizon, or is everyone watching their own back?
How much are we prepared to promote others, and risk our customers placing their order with the person we’re working with rather than us, and is it a risk worth taking?
My own experience with Room Forty is that of a fabulous collaborative culture in existence in Warrington. I can’t count the number of people, male and female who have given me advice, support and encouragement for no benefit to themselves, just to help a green shoot grow and flourish.
The generosity of strangers as I took my first nervous steps into networking has been enormously encouraging, and boosted my confidence to explore and begin collaborating with businesses to help them grow too. 
 
It is with this rather gung-ho and positive, ‘let’s share the opportunities’ that I take all my business opportunities, and I’m delighted that in response several businesses have asked me to be involved in their projects, or have recommended Room Forty to their friends and customers, and the snowball effect is incredible.
 
One such business, is Sewing Bee Sanctuary, who approached me following my Artisan Feel Good Fayre in Lymm in December. Rebecca loved the Room Forty concept and is passionate about teaching people to learn to sew. We got together for a cup of tea and, within an hour had planned a fantastic craft-ernoon tea on 2 April (11am, 1pm and 3pm) l, where guests will enjoy a two hour sewing lesson, taking their fully lined home made bag home, followed by afternoon tea with bubbles!
What followed next was an introduction by Rebecca to Barbara at her gorgeous new shop in Lymm, Laurel House Interiors and Gifts.  With three heads now collaborating we were all fired up for how sharing our businesses together could benefit all of us and the village of Lymm, keeping footfall strong. The open evening last week where we all showed our businesses was a great success and we hope to repeat it again in the coming months.
 
And so it goes on, and there’s so many more women that have encouraged me to #beboldforchange; from the friends who call on a Tuesday (the day when I generally feel overwhelmed!) to those that spark new ideas and share their talents.
My next collaboration will be amazing, and really fits with International Women’s Day! Kirsty James from Colony Networking approached me to help launch her first female run, female led network for, you guessed it, women only, Colony Women. It’s not that I don’t think that mixed networking is great – I do, and I have made a lot of new male and female connections and friends through it.  But because this network will focus solely on women, it hosts inspirational speakers who aim to inspire, motivate and propel women in business with great key note speakers such as Jo Howarth from the Happiness Club.  My involvement? Well, Kirsty is planning a creative and interactive twist on each of the events. The first is called tea with a twist, so there’s your hint!
Tea with a Twist will take place on the afternoon of 30 March at The Base, opposite central station. Tickets are available from www.colonynetworking.co.uk
 
 
Having the courage to be bold, open up, share, support and encourage fellow women in business has been empowering. I’ll certainly be continuing to #BeBoldForChange and champion collaboration and the rewards and friendship it brings. 
 
How will you #BeBoldForChange today?
​

​We're not food snobs, if you want a box of perfectly uniform Mr Kiplings that's fine, we've got some fabulous crockery you can hire to serve it on.

​But, for us, afternoon tea is about decadence, luxury and a few elements of surprise. A chance to sit back, forget about shopping and washing up, and allowing someone else to take the strain - knowing that everything has been taken care of, and the food has taken thought, time and love to produce.

​At Room Forty our menu includes sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam and then three further cakes, with nothing taken out of a packet and no preservatives in sight. If you would like fruit skewers to replace one of your three cakes we can do that, it is all about indulging you and treating your guests to a, well a treat!

All our sandwiches and cakes are home-made by me, Jen, with your party in mind. We use great, locally sourced ingredients, supporting other local businesses where we can, such as our lovely butchers (Rowles). With such a personal service we can adapt the menu to suit your tastes. So if you only want brown bread rather than a mixture of brown and white, please ask, or if you would prefer to have the chutney on the side, no problem at all.  

Similarly, if there is an ingredient you don’t like, such as cinnamon, almonds or chocolate we will avoid it - that is the beauty of a bespoke menu, made just for you.
 
All our chutneys are home made in our kitchen and we make several of the jams too, with many of the fruits picked by ourselves or by wonderful friends and customers who are kind enough to bring their surplus to us.

We couldn't get fresher and we cant do enough for you. So if you are planning a treat, make it a decent one and put your feet up!

o

Blimey, is that the time already? Room Forty is seven months old, Christmas is but a jingle bell away and 2017 is knocking on the door.
It’s seven months since I left the cosy nest of my familiar, sensible, relatively safe, reasonably well paid job as a marketing and PR consultant and stepped out into the world of being self-employed and baking for a living. I blanche when I think of myself as a professional baker, but that is what I suppose I now am! 

It’s busy, very. And I’m loving it, and from the feedback I have been receiving our guests do too!

Living the dream is a cliché, but here I am. Room Forty was my dream and it is now real and thankfully very live. ‘Routine’ is a distant memory, every day is a unique adventure, everything (except doing the books of course!) is an opportunity and much of it an adrenaline rush.

Room Forty has developed in so many ways that I had never predicted, but it’s a thrill exploring the avenues which open up. I’ve developed and grown not only as a baker but also as a business woman. Much of the time I’m so engrossed in the task ahead that it’s difficult to reflect back, but, I’m proud and really pleased at where Room Forty is at. Without exception every customer has been delighted and that thrills me. I set out to create a product that was extra-ordinary, exceeded expectations and resonated ‘quality’ and Room Forty is meeting those standards.

The core business of Room Forty will always be providing afternoon tea’s, but, I’m now supplying selected outlets with biscuits, cakes, tea and preserves, hiring out and selling vintage china and also running Room Forty events; I’ve organised baking classes, a successful pop up in July, the Artisan feel-good Fayre in Lymm in November and am running another pop up version of Room Forty at the Croxteth Artisan Fayre over the weekend of 10/11 December (do come along!).

Enquiries are ever increasing and the diary is filling up, with bookings already made for March and July!Other opportunities continue to appear and it is all looking very exciting. 2017 will also see Room Forty’s sister business Forty Communications taking a leap forward, - more about that in a future blog!

I have learned so much in the past seven months, and while I have way to go,  I am pleased with how it has gone. Thanks to everyone for your support and enthusiasm; customers, friends and, especially, my lovely family who I must also thank for their patience as well (weekends are now spent working, as well as most evenings and alas, meal times are often erratic).

My only enemy in this venture has been time, or rather lack of it. There never seems to be enough time to crush everything I have to do into the hours available. So here’s hoping that Santa brings me an eight day week on 25 December!
Jen
​

As a busy working mum I know just how easy it is to find yourself caught in the thick of Christmas mayhem before you have had chance to sit down, put your feet up and mull over your to-do list.  This artisan fayre and pamper day will provide a sense of space to seek inspiration and get ahead of the game, especially for those hard to buy for family members!  I’ve found some amazing and creative new business women (and one man) who put so much love into their products including handmade cards and crafts, amazing vintage gifts, artisan foods, photography and incredibly relaxing pampering treatments, there will be something for everyone!”

Get spoilt rotten with cake, pampering and shopping in the heart of Lymm on Saturday 12 November 2016 11.30am  – 4.30pm Lymm Parish Hall, Pepper Street, Lymm WA13 0JB

As well as our afternoon tea (advance bookings  only please to avoid food waste) I will be serving delicious Cheshire Tea in beautiful fine china, with cakes and cream scones I may even add my rapidly becoming famous brownie to the menu!

To whet your appetite, I have teamed up with Rachel at Kinney holistics to bring you a special offer!  It’s a cream tea (tea plus scone with jam & Cream)  and a holistic treatment of your choice for just £12.00. This offer is limited to the number of bookings our two therapists can fit in, so book in advance if you can rather than wait till the day.

Gift vouchers for pampering treatments and afternoon tea are available.
Contact hello@roomforty.co.uk  01925 357940  www.roomforty.co.uk

​So, who will be there?

Room Forty Afternoon Tea’s I (Jen!) will be running a vintage style tea room with an array of cakes and award winning Cheshire Tea in beautiful china cups and saucers.  For those who love afternoon tea you can book in advance and have sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and several little cakes all for £16.50.

Room Forty will also be selling packets of tea, home-made jams and chutneys and some of their vintage china on the day, perfect quality little gifts for secret Santa’s!
Kinney Holistic Therapy, Rachel and Jacquie will take your stresses away with relaxing treatments in a quiet room next to main hall. You’ll enjoy a choice of reflexology, massage or mini facials for the special discounted rate of £10 for 20 minutes, or put 2 together for a full 40 minute relax!
Cards and Creations   Sandra has been making her beautiful cards, paper art, calendars and magical fairy items for six years as a hobby, but has now taken up crafting full time and is loving it!
Stella and Dot  Mhari will be bringing a range of stunning quality jewellery and accessories, perfect for the party season!
She said ‘I’m passionate about helping other women to feel great in what they wear – and I think that accessories can really transform an outfit, they finish your look and create a wow factor.
The Vintage Bureau  Jane set up the vintage bureau a few years ago. She sells beautiful brooches, vintage linens, hand stitched journals, needlework cases…you will never find anything the same items elsewhere!
The Handmade Corner  Claire is a teaching assistant by day and a crafter by night, She creates stunning homewares and gifts including log tea light holders and decorations, wooden decorations and decoupaged items
The Little Nut Tree  Sam opened the Little Nut Tree in Lymm village (near the wedding shop) just 7 months ago. A family run business, Sam, her mum and brother make and sell beautiful bespoke gifts and homewares.
Buddha Beauty  100% vegan and cruelty free products. The candles are made with natural essential oils and once melted are pure enough to be massaged into the skin. They also offer a full body range including scrubs, butters, oils and hand creams as well as a full range of facial products.
Andrew Collier Photography  Andrew uses his intuition and years of experience to capture your emotions and turn them into images that really get to the heart of who you are.
He told me “I’d never suggest that you pose awkwardly in a harshly lit studio. Instead, I photograph with natural light, because I use the environment around you to convey more about your individual personality”.
Amanda’s Art  Amanda has been studying and exploring art and painting all her life, and doing private commissions for several years. This will be her first exhibition and public sale. I am sure you will love it!
Forever Living  Hannah and Charlotte are both local mums building extraordinary lifestyles for their families and helping likeminded individuals do the same. They are both hard working, passionate and Aloe obsessed!  They will be bringing lots of ideas for the perfect Christmas gift.
Jolly Nice Handmade Amy and Claire will be bringing with them an array of cheerful and unique gifts that can be personalised, including framed handmade fabric collages, and personalised Christmas tree decorations in classic Scandinavian style.
Jigsaw Hampers Minnie specialises in finding the perfect gift for new mums and babies. She creates beautiful parent and baby hampers and bouquets, wooden hearts, towels, cushions that can be personalised for you, great for more unusual spellings of names!

As any of you following my journey will know, Room Forty Afternoon Tea was set up not quite four months ago after a year of planning, scouring charity shops and vintage fairs for crockery and endless baking experimentation. Some say it took guts or madness or both to pack in a steady, reasonably well paid sensible job as a marketing manager and follow my dream, but when the inspiration struck to combine my love of tea, baking, fine bone china and vintage glitz, I knew I had to give it at least a good try, and I’m pleased to say I haven’t looked back even once. The moral of the tale?  seek your goals, take a deep breath and have a go, there's no such thing as failure, just a new direction!

The pop up afternoon tea in Woolston in July was a brilliant success. I was so nervous, but everything went smoothly and our guests gave such lovely feedback. I’ll definitely be using the same venue again in the future, possibly with some more craft stalls at Christmas, but excitingly, the Institution Bar in Palmyra Square have invited Room Forty to host an afternoon tea in their lovely private room on 24 September (tickets available from the Institution).

I Iove this time of year and the wonderful abundance of fresh produce and so have had great fun experimenting with different flavours for my home-made jams and chutneys, the first batch of which, I’m proud to say, went on sale at Snoutwood Trotters, Great Sankey and will soon be available at Tom@101 Stockton Heath and Rowles Butchers. Do let me know what you think – and if you have any gluts of fruit that you don’t want, please give me a call and I’ll happily collect them from you, turn into something yummy and of course give you some.

Bread baking workshops – now taking bookings
I‘m thrilled to be launching the first of Room Forty’s classes. The bread class is designed for those who long to recreate the delicious pizza they had on holiday, or want to create a loaf with no additives, our workshops are suitable for any age or ability.
Each hands-on class will last approximately three and a half hours and will guide bakers and would-be-bakers through all the steps to making a perfect loaf, pizza dough and soda bread. Classes will start with a slice of home-made pizza bread tasting before getting to grips with the dough. Guests will learn about bread and how to make it and leave with the fruits of their labour, recipes, fully equipped to have a go at home and, importantly having had fun.
We’ll be running more classes in the future, so if these dates aren’t great for you, or if you want us to run a class at your venue let us know!
22 September and 13 October £45 each or 2 places for £80

Clandestine Cake Club
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love a bake and a chat, and the Clandestine Cake Club is the perfect way to do it. If you fancy making a cake and bringing it along, the next two dates are set for 8 September and 1 December. All you need to do is log on to www.clandestinecakeclub.co.uk and join the Warrington group to find out more.  There’s no competition involved, so don’t worry that you won’t fit in, or aren’t a baking expert- its just for fun and a bit of baking banter.  All you need to do is bake a whole cake, no brownies or cupcakes, come along and have a cuppa, we’d love to see you!
 
Apologies, this blog has a lots of dates in it, so here’s a summary!
8 September Clandestine Cake Club  - Secret location
22 September bread making workshop JD Kitchens
24 September Pop up afternoon tea at The Institution, Palmyra Square
8 October bread making workshop JD Kitchens
1 December Clandestine Cake Club Secret location


Toffee Squares
​150g pitted soft dates (roughly chopped)
​125ml cold water
​1tsp bicarbonate of soda
​150g butter (softened)
​150g light muscovado sugar
​2 medium eggs (beaten)
​1tsp vanilla extract
175g self-raising flour

Toffee topping
​6tbsp caramel toffee sauce (Dulce de Leche)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180*c
​Lightly grease a 28 x 18cm tin and line the base

• Place the dates in a pan and add the water, bring to the boil and remove from heat, add the bicarb and leave to fizz and cool slightly
• Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, beat till fluffy and then add the eggs and vanilla extract
  
• Fold in the flour, then the date mixture
  
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen
  
• Cool in tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. When cold cut into 24 squares and spread the caramel over each slice with a palatte knife.
• Enjoy!
  

Sorry about that, perhaps I should have just said winter :) It’s just that the abundance of summer fruits means it is time to start washing out jam jars and filling them with the best of the summer bumper crops, traditionally stored for using over the winter months.

Twisting off the lid on jars of jam and chutney and hearing the vacuum ‘pop’ is always a thrill, especially when you know that there’s nothing but natural ingredients, time and love that have been placed in the jar. We even try and grow some fruit at Room Forty HQ, although so far our little garden has a good few years to go before it is producing substantial crops. Nevertheless I was thrilled to top my cake for the last Warrington Clandestine Cake Club with my own raspberries.  On those occasions when I am lucky enough to open my front door and find a box of fruit or veg from the allotment chaps on my doorstep I’m thrilled.  I couldn’t get fresher, no food miles and no pesticides to worry about, they always taste sweeter for the kindness inside too.

I’ll soon be able to take my daughter out to forage for wild blackberries and damsons, rosehips and, seemingly ripening earlier every year, the sloes. Thinking and researching recipes to use them up is always fun, though I do have a tendency to get distracted by Pinterest!

Later in the year I’ll publish our ‘legendary’ sloe gin recipe and tips (we also made a rather delicious and refreshing rhubarb gin this year – rhubarb courtesy of the allotment!)

Preserving and using fresh fruit offers all sorts of exciting possibilities, and to be honest it is much easier than I thought it would be, I think the key, like most things is just find a good recipe and have a go. There’s not much to lose (especially when the fruit is in season) and you will be rewarded for months to come, especially on Christmas Day (sorry again).

We have a number of favourite recipes, some we have made up ourselves, some we have adapted and some we have adopted. A fabulous book which is still in print is Jams Preserves and Chutneys by cookery legend Marguerite Patten. It is failsafe and the tips and hints excellent. No pictures, just fabulous recipes and advice.

Here’s one of our favourite recipes. Make it now, leave it to mature and this will be just fabulous to serve over Christmas. Trust us and impress your friends. Makes a great gift too!

Spicy Plum Chutney

This will make about 2. 75 kg of chutney (about 12 smallish jars)

Make sure that the jars you use are sterile. Wash and rinse them, preferably in a dishwasher then put them on a tray in the oven for about 20 minutes at 150 – 175 degrees. We boil the jar lids for a few minutes.

Ingredients:
900g Plums (weight when stoned)
450g cooking apples (weight peeled and cored)
450g onions
2 x finely chopped or crushed garlic cloves
600ml white malt vinegar
1 x tsp ground mixed spice
1 x tsp curry powder
1 x tsp ground ginger
1 x tsp ground cinnamon
½ x tsp chilli powder
1 x tsp cayenne pepper
1 x tsp nutmeg
350g sultanas (or any mix of dried fruit - currants, raisins, even chopped dates or chopped apricots)
450g light brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste (we rather like the heat of ground black pepper, but season to your liking)
 
Method
Measure out all the spices and place in a bowl.
Halve the plums and remove the stones.
Peel and dice the apples.
Peel the onions  and coarsely chop them, pop them in a food processor and blitz them,
Crush or finely chop the garlic
Then place the fruits (plums and apples) along with the onions and garlic into a pan  with half of the vinegar (300ml) and the spices.
Simmer gently until the fruits are soft then add the sultanas, sugar and remaining 300ml vinegar.
Stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved then boil until the mix has reached a jam like consistency. Taking care not to burn your mouth taste the mix (make sure it’s cool enough on a spoon) and add seasoning; pepper and salt. If it is still too vinegary add more sugar -trust your tastebuds!

There’s no ‘setting point’ here, ideally the mix shouldn’t be too runny – when you the back of a spoon through the mix the channel shouldn’t backfill with liquid too much.
Spoon into hot jars and seal.
Leave for at least three months (if you can bear to) in a cool dark place.

Enjoy (oh, and Happy Christmas!)