#tgim

i am so sick of this whole tgif thing. fridays can be pretty rough for me.  in fact this is what i looked like last friday:

yikes!

thank god it's monday (#tgim i'm starting a new twitter hashtag).

friday is the busiest day of the week for us weekend vendors followed by a few hours sleep before we arrive at the market to set up at 6am.

last week was slightly psychotic for me & i didn't get around to posting my menu on friday. since today is my weekend (sort of... i went grocery shopping today) i thought i'd take some time to recap what i was up to last week.

i bought a turkey from shani's farm. the thai turkey & rice soup has become one of my most popular & has been in very high demand. i bought a 15 pound turkey & didn't need it all for soup so i decided to make a batch of turkey & dressing pies as well.

i started off by butchering the turkey, roasting the bones & making a delicious, overnight turkey stock. half the stock was set aside for the traditional pies & the other half got a bit of thai-inspired flare from cardamom pods, star anise, 5-spice, ginger & lemongrass. then came the veggies: carrots, celery, red bell peppers, chillies, baby bok choy, bean sprouts & cilantro. i finished it off with jasmine rice, sesame oil, coconut milk & lime. this is the end result:

it's gluten free & dairy free! $7/500ml

then it was on to the turkey & dressing pies. the turkey stock was thickened in to a rich, herby gravy & combined with onions, carrots, turnips, parsnips, celery, brussels sprouts & peas. then it was topped with cranberry & sage dressing with sourdough bread & mashed potatoes. comme ca:

a convenient combination of all your favourite thanksgiving dinner flavours.

small $10  large $20

(there are still lots in the freezer for next week)

then it was on to salad prep. the quinoa had greek flavours:

and the beet had roasted roots & pears & kale:

i also followed up the saturday market with a catering gig. so then it was on to that prep. that's the beauty of dealing with perishable goods, all the work has to be done at the last minute, hence ridiculous fridays.

i was frying buttermilk marinated chicken:

searing beef tenderloin:

baking mini yorkshire puddings:

and decorating cakes:

this one is carrot, maple & walnut with cream cheese frosting for the catering.

and this is a vegan, gluten free special order chocolate cake.

the next morning it was off to the market to sling some cupcakes. every week they're a little bit different, but this happened to be a particularly good one :)

and as soon as the market closed it was a mad dash to get all the catering grub ready.

the menu was really tasty though so it was fun:

chipotle pulled pork sliders on sesame seed milk buns

fried chicken on homemade biscuits with lettuce & ranch

beef tenderloin on yorkshire puddings with blue cheese bechamel

quinoa salad

beet salad

mini cupcakes

carrot cake

then it was home, unpack, make more frosting & get ready for the sunday market.

today i slept in, went shopping, ate chicken wings & relaxed.

#tgim