Off topic nostalgia

It is funny how some of the smallest things make you sad. After waiting until the last possible moment, tonight I had to do the inevitable and replace my license plate. My old plate was the classic blue background with the white letters and I got it many years ago with my first car.







To me that plate has become a part of my identity like my Social Security number, drivers license number or credit card number. Something I could quickly provide with out even thinking about it and quite frankly I like it. But now it is gone and that got me thinking. That license plate has lasted through the 3 cars I have owned, including surviving my serious car accident 9 years ago – the car did not survive, it was totaled. I think of all the miles it logged, over 250,000. Crisscrossing the state countless times for work, the commutes to Lansing and Southfield and all those counties I covered when in the field. Plus all the fun times, multiple trips to Traverse City, Mackinac, Chicago, Indiana, Cedar Point, Toronto. Not to mentions the times it remained parked as I flew off to other states and countries. I think of all the people who have ridden in those cars and so many crazy times, all the good and bad, the laughter and the tears. That piece of metal has been with me for a long time. I never would have thought I would be the type to keep a license plate, but tonight I just could not bring myself to throw it away.



So this is my new one, hopefully it will last as long as the old one and have as many memories. But it is going to take me a while to get used to it.

Saturday, Special orders and Shopping trip

Things are looking up. Last week I saw a blurb on one of the news websites about a new farmers market opening for the season – it is the Westside Farmers market sponsored by the West Grand Neighborhood Organization and the Stockbridge Business Association, they are in their second year of operation and just added Saturday morning hours. It is located on Bridge Street in the St James Church parking lot (just down the street from Little Mexico restaurant). So I contacted them to get more info and unlike all the others I have tried to contact I not only got a response on my first try, it was within hours. No where in their information does it say anything about a licensed kitchen, I had also noticed that in one other packet of information I received from a Market that is run by a non-profit group as opposed to a municipality. I also noticed on some of the websites I have read about licensing that non-profits are exempt. So I thought this would be a great place to go while I am trying to figure out all the licensing process. So that is where I will be Saturday morning from 8 am – Noon. If you stop by you will be able to see my new purchase – in talking to the market organizer she mentioned that there is not any shade and the sun can be a problem – which is something I learned from my first run. So over the weekend I found several amazing deals on those pop up awning/gazebos/canopies – and I bought one. If anyone is planning an outdoor event and would like to borrow a 10’ by 10’ shelter – just let me know – I am happy to lend (lease? :)) it out.

Special orders – Just wanted to remind everyone that I am happy to do special orders as well. In fact this weekend I had an order for 5 loaves of bread. One of these days I will actually put together a list of things I make, but I am always happy to try something new.

Shopping trips – Tonight I am going to embark on my second baking specific shopping trip. This should come as a surprise to none of you, but I sit down with my list of foods that I am going to make, including the quantities and I go through ingredient by ingredient to figure out the how much I need of everything and then figure out what I need to buy. Now I have always hand plenty of baking supplies on hand, I have an entire cupboard designated as the baking cupboard and I consider most ingredients as staples. So when I sat down to make the list I did not think much of it, until I started looking at the quantities of things. I actually went through two bags, 10 lbs in total, of flour in my first go round. That is a lot of flour. This time I need 27 eggs and 16 sticks of butter. These amounts are just crazy, even to me. I am sure I will get used to it, at some point.

Glitch, Snafu, hiccup, derailment…

In the midst of a successful first sale last week, I learned a bit of discouraging news. I finally got in touch with one of the area farmers markets and they informed me that in order to sell baked good at Farmers markets they must be made in a licensed kitchen. So I proceeded to contact the county Department of Health and then the State Department of Agriculture to learn what constitutes a licensed kitchen. One of the first things I was told that it could not be my home kitchen. The good news is that potentially a church or school could be one, which means my church might be a potential, but I would have to get permission first. Then there is the whole licensing process, including inspections and fees. I can only imagine who much this is going to cost and how long it will take and what if my church does not work out. UGH!!! This whole thing makes me mad – here I am, just trying to be productive, trying to find a way to make some money, trying to be a contributor to the local economy not a burden and now I have to deal with red tape and bureaucracy. Michigan’s economy is so terrible right now, you would think the Government would be doing all it can to encourage and help people wanting to start small business’, but no, they are trying to make up for the deficit on the backs of those trying to improve things!!! That being said – if anyone interested in donating to the cause let me know.

Good Day

Sorry it has taken me so long to post a post sale update. After I left the sale I went to the Habitat for Humanity house I have worked on to paint for a couple hours and when I got home I crashed. Yesterday was a good day, both in terms of making a profit and learning a lot. There was not as much traffic as I had hoped, but for the number of people sales were quite high. The mailman even made a purchase. So in the end I walked away no only covering all my costs, but making a profit. I don’t have an exact total yet as I left some items to sell after my departure and have not heard if there were any additional sales. But more importantly I was able to learn a ton. First of all, I discovered a few problems. The sun and heat are something I am going to have to contend with. This mixture creates condensation in the plastic bags I use for packing and that caused a couple problems. I had but paper labels inside the bags and the moisture smeared the ink. That one can be easily solved by placing the labels outside of the bag. But it also just makes the food look bad. So one thought is to only put out a few items out and keep the rest in coolers. Second, I was able to see what items sold and did not sell. The banana bread and Congo bars went very well. The Amish Bread and Brownies did not. I am not too sad that the brownies did not go, they are expensive to make and the only thing I made with nuts, so with out them I will be nut free. At least until zucchini is in season and I start making my zucchini bread. I also noticed that the mini loaves of bread went much faster then the regular sized one, so next time I will make more of the small loaves. I also had a lot of positive feed back on the food and the packing. Over all it was great day and took a lot of valuable lessons from it, and a bit of money. :)

P.S. I was recently made aware that you were unable to make a comment unless you had a google account. I fixed that problem now, and you can now leave an anonymous message if you don't have an account.

Tomorrow's the Big Day

If any one would like to stop by tomorrow morning and say Hi (and BUY) I will be at 863 Reynard St SE – near 28th Street and Eastern. I will report on how things go afterwards.

Weekend Menu

Just a quick update on this weekend’s menu. This is what I will have for sale;

Banana Bread
Amish Friendship Bread
Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies (picture in March post “cookies”)
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Congo Bars
Turtle Brownies

If anything sounds good – feel free to stop by and purchase. :)

Debut

Erinn’s Edibles is going to be making its big debut this coming weekend. Thanks to one of the generous offers I have received I will be trying things out Saturday during the Alger Heights garage sale melee. I will give you the specific details as the week goes on. I am still figuring out exactly what products I will be bringing. I do know I will have both banana bread and Amish Friendship bread. I put the bread starter together last and have gotten back into the swing of the ten day process. I am hoping that will be a big draw. The bread is so good, but many people do not like to hassle with it. I have never had a problem with it, and there was several times when I was growing up that I would keep the batter going for weeks at a time in order to make several batches and freeze the bread for future use. (It freezes great!!) And I was actually encourage today when a friend of mine told me that she has never made the bread, that the starter always gets thrown away after the first couple days. More later on what else I will be bringing….

Congo Bars ooey gooey goodness

I was pretty busy the end of last week. Around 10 pm Thursday night I finally made it into my kitchen to figure out what I was going to bake for my Friday night plans. I went with my old stand by, Congo Bars. I have no idea where the name comes from, or its significance, and I have heard them referred to as blondies. To me they are a quick crowd pleaser that I have been making for probably 20 years. This all worked out well, because I have not actually made them since I started all my research, and this gave me a chance to time out how long it takes to make and figure out bar size for pricing.

Table Anyone?

As I have been going through the lists of things I need I discovered I need a table or two. I have a old square card table, but that is it. I was thinking that someone might have a folding table that they have acquired along the lines (possibly left from a campaign?) that I might be able to borrow. If have one, and are willing to let me borrow it, please let me know.

Thanks

Pricing, Packaging and Promotion

Over the past week I have been trying to get all my ducks in a row before I make my debut. I have the baking down, but the rest of the stuff – that still needs some work.

Pricing – I have been doing some opposition research. I recently discovered that a grocery store chain has begun to sell chocolate chip cookies from a local establishment. These cookies are the basic size (1 Tsp of dough) and come packaged in a box of 6. Much to my shock they were priced at $4.95. Almost 5 bucks for 6 cookies – that is absurd. Who pays that? And if you are willing to pay .83 cent per cookie for a whole batch, I will come to your house and bake them for you there – you can enjoy the smell for free.

Packaging - Figuring out how to package and display my baked goods has been another avenue I have been checking out. Obviously for cookies, breads, bars and brownies, I can use bags and twist ties or cellophane, but that will not work for my cakes and cup cakes. In the past I have delivered such items in my trusty cake carrier or on a plate, but those have always gone to people who will return them to me. So I have been looking into alternatives. After research I have found the most cost efficient route is the bakery box. Plastic muffin/cup cake containers are just too pricey. The problem with bakery boxes is that they come in cases of 100, 250 or 500. That is a few more then I need initially – what if this doesn’t work out, what am I going to do with all those boxes, and more importantly can I afford them – to say money is tight would be the understatement of the century.

Promotion – The other thing I have been working on is a logo, the first step in the promotional material. I, of course, have the picture of what I want in my mind, but can not seam to recreate it. That is always the case. So I will continue to work on it. Here is what I am thinking for the wording, just looking for the perfect graphic – I haven't been able to clean up the background on this one. But this is the idea
Let me know what you think.