Pylewell Park Food and Drink Festival

The late afternoon sun was drifting hazily between the lazy July clouds as the pizza boys, Jesse wedged between like a rose between two thorns, chugged their way to the New Forest and the Pylewell Park Food Festival. Ed back at the helm as you will have notice from the exquisite prose and excellent metaphor, not to mention the witty quips yet to come.   


We followed the sat nav which did an excellent job in delivering us to the post code, a large country house and hustle and bustle of a festival rising from the estate paddocks nowhere to be seen. Wrong postcode. Ryan's handwriting parallels the oldest and most uninterested General Practitioner in the land. With the only tools to hand, namely a smart phone, Jesse had us pointing in the general direction and soon we picked up the scent, a clearly marked AA road sign guiding us home. This was an encouraging start, the event being a first timer and we were once again unsure of how busy we would be, but the warm familiar burnt orange of the AA sign calmed us.  We thundered up the tradesman's entrance with the enthusiasm of a teenager in his first Renault 5 (showing my age - not sure what the kids drive these day!?) This was going to be a good one!

Setting up - dominating other stands!

Set up was good. We looked professional, felt professional and were gearing up for a big day, when fellow traders got wind of a visit from the Environment Officers. The rumor was true and we watched the Officer work his way round the other stalls like a 1950's bad ass headmaster, glancing nervously as we prepped. we had nowt to worry about.  We're ligit- he was impressed with our up to date records, hygiene certificates produced on demand and Ryan's belligerent use of our HACCAP's and safe systems of work. I didn't even know we had that stuff - nice one bruv!

Dough making into the night

Trading went well, sold out both days which was actually a bit frustrating. Good to get the kudos of selling out, word spreads fast, but annoying that we let some customers down and more importantly missed the chance of making some money at last! We ran out of mushrooms and basil and had to buy some more from other traders at the event; always good to put trade past the traders I suppose! 

                                           

The festival from behind!

The weekend ended with a cracking pint of somerset cider at the Crown and Anchor in Dell Quay. http://www.crownandanchorchichester.com/history.html We watched the sun go down and talked through the highs and lows of the weekend. You should too if you are ever down this way. Lovely little spot.

Sorry about the quality of the photos - dodgy blackberry camera as I forgot my good one. 


We are looking for bookings in October now if you fancy hosting a cheeky autumnal wedding, party or bar mitzvah!? 


Much love


Ed x

Slick Runnings

Hi All,

   Ed wrote half a blog about a week ago then got distracted (turning in to your parents?)- so here we go. We are finally getting the hang of this pizza malarkey; not one pizza was binned due to mistakes in any department on Saturday; as is often the case. Pizza making was fairly slick and by the end of the night we were in the VIP area drinking champagne with the other celebrities due to our all round performance.
   On to more practical matters. We want to build a metal structure for our pizza ovens so that we no longer have to move it every time we set up. Anyone have any amazing welding and fabrication skills they want to lend us? We should probably have done this before the biggest couple of weekends we are doing are coming up; a true test for us which we are hoping will take us beyond hobbyists and in to big time players.
   A short blog today as I have to get off to work on blinging up the stand. Reflective things and general bedazzlement are the order of the day as the wood fire just isn't enough!
   Any ideas on how we should present the pizza better are welcome!
   Also any ideas on what we should bolg about are also. Pizzas are getting old hat.
   Oh someone asked if we were mobile the other day; just thought I should mention that.

Word to all your mothers,

Ry

xxx

Private Parties and Jims' Retirement

Hi All,

   It's the fantastic me writing the blog this time so expect a better standard than that heathen Edward who seems to think he is some sort of Thomas Hardy. Our little gig on Wednesday came about after a late decision to call in caterers to feed forty farmers talking shop and comparing the sizes of their tractors in a field near Stone Henge. Once there we nearly lost Jessie to a hippy drum circle at the Henge, fortunately the smell of our pizzas lured her back thereby conquering and assimilating Piu Pizza with alternative types- adding another string to our bow and banishing prejudices.

   The organizers late decision and a good word from a Piu Pizza convert swung the deal; there is always a slight skeptical air about our pizzas until we serve a few and that tends to silence people. If we didn't have to shrug off the bad image of all the other imitators on the high street every time we sold ourselves we would definitely be cruising our way to our first million pizzas by now. People acting so surprised when they taste our awesomeo pizzas is definitely starting to become a custom for us- one which we still love; although the farmers were generally just very quiet which is much the same thing. Organizer was more than happy.
 
   As we took a few days off we took our time heading on wards to Norfolk and the various delights to be had there. We recommend Cookies Crab shop on the Norfolk coast for fresh honest and cheap sea food chiming bells with the Piu Pizza philosophy. Although they haven't sold out after 3 generations of trading and jacked the prices for tourists and Londoners which we most probably would have; not really we are in it for good food for everyone philosophy. After some laying around we realized we were there for Jims retirement party. It is Piu Pizzas belief that retirement should begin at 40- that is the plan; poor old Jim had to work until 60 what with being a teacher and all. A few decades of public service celebrated a good Saturday night was had by all with the Pizzas topping the bill.

   Unfortunately there are no pictures to be shown as Edward has left his camera and shoes behind. Generally a sad state of affairs all round with that boy.

   A big thanks to Ed's parents for putting up with Edward for 28 odd years and for hosting us for a few nights.

   All in all a great success proving that we can do the glitz and the glam, the poor and the plush: but we don't hang around we want any money in a rush.