"Leave the gun, take the cannoli"

In the early hours of saturday mornings, when all the darling people of Durban are slumbering peacefully in their beds ( Well most of them anyway, apart from the nightclubber, joggers and cyclists), us dear folk that have stalls at the Shongweni Farmer's Market go about merrily setting everything up for our customers. Waking up at three thirty on a saturday morning is still quite a surreal experience. You still go about your morning rituals, but at a far earlier time. Such as checking your facebook and seeing friends statuses posted a mere hour before commenting on their fun night out. I then get my coffee, say hello to the cat, Thomas Tonks 'O Malley aka Shmanky or Winston Churchill and then watch an episode of Barefoot contessa (Love you Ina Garten!)
This morning Ina was making mexican chicken soup and corn bread and even at four in the morning I was jonesing for a square of that golden cornbread.
Leaving the house at five am to get to the maket on time this morning, the sun was rising emitting a radiant glow that can't help but put you in a great mood. I was ready for another great day at the market!

I love the whole ritual of laying everything out at my stall. Setting up the tables, lining the trays with Chelsea Buns, Cannoli's  (Cannoli's are a sicilian pastry filled with sweetened ricotta cheese, lemon zest and mixed peel, hence the title of today's blog), savoury scones, little gingerbread men, cookies and other things.
The delightful lady in this photo is my mama making cake boxes for our dear customers to carry all the yummy pastries home.

Another thing I love about the market is the people watching. Everybody loves to people watch and the people that say they don't haven't discovered the fun of it! There are plenty kids at the market that are rather amusing, begging their parents for some candy & these poor folk attempting to say no but desperate not to cause a scene with a noisy child either. Kids are pretty darn clever that way. But my favourite thing to do is to look at all the dogs that come to the market. All of them are such characters and makes me desperate to have another dog at home ( I don't think Shmanky would approve though)
My latest obession is with Scotty dogs, I adore them! I want to get a male scotty, name him Angus and have his own tartan jersey for the winter. I could also imagine every bark with an inflection of a scottish accent , really think about it and it will also make you chuckle.

This is why I love spotting little guys like this. His tongue darting out of his mouth as if to say " I can do whatever I like, even run Scotland Yard if I wanted to! ( All this in the voice of Sean Connery)

But moving on to the food once again, this blog is called the foodie after all. Selling food at the market is such a joy, especially for customers that come and try their first cannoli. They're not too sure what to expect as it is pretty new on the Durban market, but to see their eyes light up in happy surprise makes waking up before the crack of dawn so worth it.

Well I hope to see you dear readers at the market next week if not to try a cannoli at least to come people and dog watch with me.

Foodie out x