Happy 2011!  January is supposed to be the quietest month of the cafe year, isn't it?  Not so at Peppercorn.  Jenni buggered off ski-ing for a week in the belief that Amy would have a gentle introduction to the new year.  However, much to our surprise and delight trade has been very brisk and our staff have more than earned their stripes.  We feel privileged to have such a wonderful group of people working with us.

Our regular menu continues to work well and we have been thrilled at customers' response to our Specials Board.  Puddings have really taken off; Jenni is making piles of meringues to keep up with demand and Amy can't bake enough scones with her new recipe for extra sweetness and light (thank you Chef Robert for sharing!).   We hate waste, hence the popular introduction of fresh lemon curd cake and creme brulees made witht the hundreds of egg yolks left over from the meringues.  On the subject of cake, Di's deliciously moist chocolate beetroot cake with chocolate ganache and sweet geranium flowers sells almost before it is put out on the counter.  Equally, her orange and poppyseed cake is a welcome and juicy addition to our cake repertoire - particularly yummy with a generous dollop of Cornish clotted cream!  For those of you nostalgic for those childhood winter warmers, try Lisa's creamy vanilla rice pudding infused with star anise.

Here are some photos of our village open afternoon.  How many familiar faces can you spot amongst our customers?

December Snow!

We've been open now for almost a month!

There have been lots of teething problems - most of which are now resolved, and Peppercorn Kitchen Cafe is truly beautiful. We are loving working here- lighting the logburner every morning is a delight and customers are really appreciative of the cosy warmth and crackle as they eat their lunch!

Lisa has been off on maternity leave for a couple of weeks now, and she and Ben were expecting their baby on December 8th. However - in true Lisa style - she simply couldn't wait, and Lila was born on November 29th at 6-45pm She weighed in at a sprightly 6.5lbs and the whole family returned home to Marazion the same evening!!

Whilst Lisa is off - our fabulous manager- Amy- is sharing the responsibilty of running the cafe with me; and Lisa is dealing with all the admin. from home. We also have a wonderfully efficient, hardworking and understanding staff for whom we are very, very grateful. Happy days!!

Today, however we have a slight hitch. I am completely snowed in at home in Towednack!
We have had about 8 inches of snow now. It looks extraordinarily beautiful and I love it - but I am truly stuck! Amy, Lisa and I chatted this morning and decided that since the snow has hit most of West Penwith- it seems foolhardy for Amy to open the cafe. No one will be out and about today, so I'm staying warm at home and making a vat of vegetable and split pea broth with dumplings. That should fill a few hungry tummies tomorrow- if we can open.....

Meanwhile - I may just have to go and play awhile in the snow.....









see how snowy it is in my garden!


At work, Amy and I have been busy making meringues for Eton Mess - and we reckon that a delicious variation for Christmas would be Brandied Apricot Eton Mess - mmmmmm! The problem with meringues is the amount of left over egg yolks; however, we decided to make lemon curd to flavour the Eton Mess (Lemon amd Almond ) and to offer with our freshly made scones with clotted cream, as an alternative to strawberry jam. We have also made some Ricciarelli biscuits to offer with coffee or hot chocolate over the festive season.
Speaking of the festive season- our winter opening hours from Monday December 6th will be 10am to 4pm.
We will be opening on Christmas Eve and  Boxing Day from noon until 4pm and the remaining bank holidays and New Year etc will be 10am 'til 4pm as usual.

We shall be offering our regular menu alongside our specials, which will include warming stews and broths (venison stew being a perennial favourite) as well as our local bangers and mash, fish cakes on a minted pea puree and sweet potato cakes with parmesan mash and salad to mention but a few. You can always 'phone us on our landline 01736 719584 or the mobile 07907 691 639 to find out what the specials of the day will be.

Hope to see you soon- maybe for carols around the tree in Perranuthnoe on Friday December 17th? Check the Perranuthnoe Vilage website for details.

Peppercorn Kitchen Cafe is Open!

The new premises are complete!  Jenni and I have been moving in and cooking all week with lots of help from the team and from the villagers.  We have loved every visit; Barbara and Mary coming to hang pictures, Rob and his tool bag arriving to hang blinds and plumb in the washing machine as well as many visitors coming to wish us well in our new venture.

Tomorrow (Friday 5th November), there will be an open afternoon from 2pm - 5pm and we'll be offering drinks and cake on the house to anyone who wants to drop in to take a look and have a chat.  We look forward to seeing you!

Time to prepare for the off!

We have now spent 4 months in the Summer Cafe at Lynfield Yard and now we need to concentrate on preparing to move in to our beautiful new Peppercorn Kitchen Cafe. We have therefore decided to close for the meantime, to give ourselve the time (and energy) to deal with all the administration, research, budgeting, purchasing, design, furnishing and staffing issues involved in the final push.
The last few weeks have been busy- particularly for Lisa - because she and Ben have moved house and got married, all within a fortnight; and of course their baby is due at the beginning of December. Why do things gradually when you can do it all at once!?



So, whilst we are busy planning, spending and sweating, here are the latest photos of the cafe development. The builders have always been key to the success of this project, but we really cannot praise these guys enough. The speed and quality of their work is something that neither of us has seen before, and they have been such fun and so supportive and protective of us both. We shall really miss them.
Amongst the pictures are several of the lovely Scott - he felt he'd been neglected in previous posts!

September progress

the window representing the old tractor shed door



Ben attending t the block work.



The terrace



The main entrance



Ian - doing some work!



Ray from St Day



The kitchen



The front door



fire door from the kitchen



looking out....



our very own office.

                            The door to our current kitchen          and Emily inside  - note NO COOKER!            

Another month!

I can't believe that a whole month has gone by and we haven't managed to update the blog once!

So much has been happening:-

• The build of Peppercorn Kitchen Cafe is nearing completion. It is going to be beautiful - thanks to the energy and skill of Ian, Scott, Ben and the rest of Ian's lovely crew at Property Care Services. Of course the design itself is stunning; and for this we must thank Andrew Dart, the talented architect to whom we are eternally grateful.
• We have had so much support from locals in the village as well as regulars from further afield - we have been asked to cater for art courses, anniversaries, birthdays, dinner parties, staff barbeques, three weddings (and NOT a funeral!), a music festival, an Arts Conference, a charity event and goodness knows what else. The work has been coming out of our ears - it's been fantastic!
• It has been a real challenge working without a kitchen! The laborious process of buying ingredients, carting them back to my house, cooking there (whilst paying staff to run the cafe for us) and then transporting the food back to the cafe and/or the catering event- it's taken it's toll on us and we've both been feeling pretty shattered and stressed at times. It will be so WONDERFUL to be in our new, commercial kitchen; cooking delicious food and able to chat to our lovely customers at the same time. We've really missed seeing everyone.
• Lisa and Ben get married on Sunday 26th Sepetmber - we are all very excited about it. We've decided to close the cafe for the day because we're all going to the wedding, 'photos to follow shortly!

Our website

Okay, we'll make it easy for everyone - we announced our new website but failed to supply the address.  You can find us at http://www.peppercornkitchen.co.uk/ and if you click on the 'news' button it takes you straight to this blog.  Isn't t'internet amazing!