April showers
Morning Guys,
Oh how times have changed! Last week I was sat in the glorious sunshine thinking I’m writing a Jane Austin novel. Now I’m sat inside contemplating if I should wrap another blanket across me. Although this does mean I get to wear my baggy clothes a little while longer - they cover the multitude of sins that I have indulged in over winter/spring!
I thought I’d give you a little insight into my world of being a single mum and working at MYO. This week has been a little different to normal as its involved 544 miles of nursery journeys, one dog, a demanding two year old and my first solo event.
My week started off with a BANG! Literally a bang….
Victoria and I had gone to IKEA the previous Friday and during our journey home, heard a funny noise - however, for once it wasn't coming from one of the vans... it turned out to be a flat tyre on the Audi. See, it's not just the old cars that have problems!
One of the 'highlights' of working for a catering company is Bookers. On your first few visits, admittedly it is novel and fun, but it does become quite tedious after a your third or fourth. After loading up on supplies, it was off to the butchers to collect a couple of pork shoulders. We like to get as many of our ingredients as fresh as we can and locally sourced where possible.
Now I don’t know about anyone else but I never expected that I’d be picking my younger brother up at the age of 26 and asking him to buy me cider. But unfortunately I’m blessed with looking a lot younger than I am. After a morning of tyre repair and being ID'd, I set to work on food prep and getting our beautiful Arabella ready for our corporate event at Arrow Park in Brackley. First off all, I prepped our pizza bases. This is something I find really therapeutic. After leaving the dough to rise I put the pork in the slow cookers. This is left for 10 hours to tenderise the meat. The smells in the kitchen are amazing and I was seriously contemplating just eating everything!
Tuesday was the big day. Tarka decided that I needed to be up at 5am that morning; so it was an early start for me! As we all know; British summer time means longer days, and in the minds of a two year old and a young dog, this means as soon as there is light, we need to be awake. Unfortunately, this also seems to work the same way at the end of the day. Unless its dark; it is certainly not bedtime. Apparently! I'm seriously contemplating whether afternoon naps are acceptable at the age of 26.
Our beautiful vans are left hand drive. Victoria is wary of anyone else driving the vans, because they're not the most reliable and definitely have their own minds. After my first solo outing, I can see what she means! Note to all - if anyone sees us out and about, I urge you all to help us with slip roads and pulling out at junctions. Our visibility from the left is not the best, which I found whilst driving out of the petrol station. I couldn’t see anything and after 10 minutes of being beeped at I took the plunge. My thought was “I hope they see the big yellow thing and slow down”. After arriving in one piece and my heart rate returning to normally, I set to work on setting the van up. At the event, I was serving pulled pork wraps, pizza and burgers. The event was great and we were fortunate to be inside. I thoroughly enjoyed working today as there is such great satisfaction when people enjoy your food.
I’ve always loved cooking and being able to see people reactions firsthand is truly amazing. After serving for a few hours, we had pretty much sold out of food. The event began to wind down and I set to work on clearing up the van ready for the journey home. After catering my first a event without Victoria; I realised how much preparation goes into it. It’s been really nice being given the reins and knowing I successfully pulled off my first gig. Next week I’m running the show at Blenheim Palace jousting weekend; so I'm already really excited about that.
I don’t think I’ll be working outside this week, but I'll be all cosy in the office. April showers have lived up to its expectations. In between my long journeys to nursery and back, I’ve been dog sitting for Victoria as well. So it’s been a fun juggle of events. My little boy absolutely loves cooking and I think it’s really important to get them involved. So we spend a lot of time at home baking together.
Being a single mum and working full time isn’t a walk in a park. There is little help and support to get you back into work. As most parents will know you’ll end up paying out an “arm and a leg” on childcare. I always wanted my son to grow up and be inspired to work and be the best he can be. Being self-employed has given me the opportunity to further my career and provide a good life for him.
It's not easy as the “Terrible Twos” put a strain on you mentally and physically but having this opportunity to do something I really enjoy makes it worthwhile. I hope you enjoyed the blog - please do comment below if you have anything to say; whether it being on single mum-hood (not a word, I know!) or being self employed...
