Friday 27th June
Apart from their inability to pronounce the names of herbs correctly, my favourite thing about Americans is their tendency to merge two words together to make new ones. Some good examples would be ‘cookout’ (cross between a BBQ and a picnic), ‘boombox’ (stereo) and ‘fannypack’ (bum-bag). Our favourite so far, however, was first experienced by us as we staggered off the plane at JFK after our eight-hour flight. A ‘peoplemover’ is a contraption that connects to the plane, moves very, very s-l-o-w-l-y downwards and then drives to the terminal as a bus would. The name and pace of the vehicle soon had us (very childishly) in stitches before we really went anywhere.
After a long wait for a taxi at the airport, we arrived at our hotel, a quiet haven just round the corner from the manic Times Square. Mum was content as we arrived just in time for happy hour and I was amused by the form we would have needed to fill in had we brought one of our dogs with us. Questions included ‘does your pet have any favourite music selections?’ and ‘what type of water does your pet prefer?’ It didn’t take us long to see that there were many pet loving guests around. In the lift later that evening we met a couple that had their tiny mutt in a pet buggy!
Saturday 28th June
After a truly fabulous American breakfast of blueberry pancakes (with maple syrup and whipped butter), we were off to set up our stand at the show. With over six thousand stands at New York Fancy Food this year, it is unsurprising that we got lost and ended up in the Italian section of the Jacob Javitz Centre.
Artfully arranging our products occupied us for most of the morning and in the early afternoon it was nice to catch up with our friends from Patchwork and our distributor at Chelsea Market Baskets.
After a hotdog and some potato crisps- or chips, we were free for four whole hours of glorious shopping in the largest store in the world (Macy’s). Then we were off to ‘M + M World’, a three-storey shop with an unbelievably high number of e-number sweets and related items on offer.
Dinner was a make-your-own salad washed down with coke.
Sunday 29th June
Despite a lack of breakfast and sleep, the first day of the show was a brilliant success and was the busiest day of the three. We had a lot of enquiries from shops in the New York area in particular and people loved our new products. The celery salt went down particularly well. We were slightly puzzled that people kept on saying it would be great in a ‘Caesar’. Eventually someone explained that this is what Americans call a Bloody Mary. And yes, it is fantastic in a Bloody Mary!
Dinner was in an intriguing Mexican restaurant with an amazing wall sculpture/fountain. The best part of the meal was easily the starter, when the waiter came and made guacamole at our table. It tasted wonderfully fresh and was served in a fabulous stone animal-shaped dish.
Monday 30th June
A quick coffee in place of breakfast and back at the show again. Most exciting visitor to the stand had to be a Product Developer from Disney World theme park where she is hopefully going to use it in the British pavilion.
We also met some lovely people who want to use the spiced salt in their speciality breads, and a gentleman interested in using Halen Mon in his noodle bars.
Other excitement included Mum being interviewed for a culinary radio station. The microphone had a chocolate-coated strawberry on it!
The evening was spent with our friends at Food From Britain followed by a quick picnic dinner from Fairways supermarket (you would be surprised at how many New Yorkers do their weekly shop at 11pm on a Monday night!)
Tuesday 1st July
The final day at the show saw enquiries- amongst others- from a personal chef, an ice cream parlour and a candy maker. We also met a gentleman from Ben and Jerry’s and I got thoroughly over-excited, especially when he offered to swap some free ice cream for some salt!
The evening was spent at a real New York steakhouse, followed by a visit to the Apple store just across the road from the restaurant. It had to be the coolest store in NYC and was full of cool people looking at cool things. Despite not measuring up to them in terms of style we still enjoyed looking round.
The following morning we treated ourselves to a final hotel breakfast, but, getting wise to the portion sizes, managed one between us.
Then we caught the plane to our next N American destination- Canada!
Canada was a mixture of work and play. The work bit was dressed up as play as I was accompanied round some stores that stock Halen Môn in Toronto by our delightful distributor- Steve from Qualifirst.
We managed to fit in 5 stores in all, and a very nice lunchtime meeting with Jocelyne, Qualifirst’s lovely salesperson in Toronto. Apart from talking about how we make Halen Môn and what sets it apart from other sea salts in the world, we discussed detective novels- http://www.elizabethgeorgeonline.com/books.htm- sour dough starters, and recipes for cod cheeks with mashed potato and bacon. Meanwhile we ate a stunningly simple organic green salad presented in a band of cucumber and a series of delicately spiced Indian dishes.
Among the stores I visited was La Salumeria- a small but perfectly formed store stuffed to the gunnels with interesting and normally-hard-to-find speciality foods- pictured here with our Halen Môn in pride of place on the deli counter, and The Spice Trader.
We first met Alison from the Spice Trader (nice name huh) three years ago on our last trip and were delighted to have the chance to see her again. They have one of the most extensive arrays of spices and herbs I have seen and you can taste everything before you buy.
Downstairs is The Olive Pit, a shop specializing in olive oils and vinegars, run by Alison’s parents in law, who, coincidentally, are originally from Wales. Mae’n y byd bach, tydy.
I also had the treat of visiting two Pusateris stores- both stocking Halen Môn amongst a fantastic selection of other high end gourmet foods.
I managed to do a lot of talking, quite a lot of eating, some serious shopping, and, most importantly, learnt a lot from my city tour. Qualifirst are brilliant partners- they understand the importance of building our brand and are not afraid of giving feedback or making suggestions.
The rest of the week was spent with family, although even then I nearly drove my daughter mad by looking out for Welsh products in every shop we visited. I was so pleased to see Llanllyr water, Artisan biscuits (ok, not Welsh, but still friends) and Ty Nant water.
Finally, one of the many foods we enjoyed here were butter tarts.
I spent a happy and very sticky evening on my return trying out variations on the recipe that follows and recommend you to make it for yourselves. Just two pieces of advice: watch out that the mixture doesn’t burn, and you might like to add a little less Halen Môn than is shown in the picture- we eat a lot here as you can tell!
Butter Tarts.
Line muffin tins with shortcrust pastry and do not prick it. This mixture will fill around 12 to 18 shells, depending on their depth.
Soak ½ cup raisins in boiling water or Cointreau until softened, or you can use good quality candied orange peel cut into small pieces.
Drain raisins and arrange in the tart shells.
Mix together ¼ cup butter, ½ cup lightly packed light brown sugar and 1 cup corn or golden syrup.
Add 2 eggs, slightly beaten, and 1 tsp vanilla essence. Combine until just blended.
Spoon into the unbaked shells to 2/3rds full (any fuller and they will overflow) and bake for 15 to 18 minutes at 375f.
Sprinkle the tops with pure Halen Môn or vanilla Halen Môn to taste, and serve slightly warm with a good quality vanilla icecream.