In search of the perfect mince pie.

I never used to like mince pies. How mad is that? Mince pies are little pieces of Christmas that you can hold in your hand .

My first mince pie of the year tends to mark the moment when I start to get really into the Xmas groove, so to speak, and as such it is something of an occasion.

My 2011 mince pie moment came during the town's annual "Switching on of the Xmas Lights" which this year included a Farmers Market.

My girls were busking so I went along to support them and see what delights the Farmers Market had to offer.

It was a well organised, well attended event that did put me in the Xmas mood. I bought a lovely hand made gift for my in-laws (always good to find something for the difficult to buy for people on my list) and was well and truly ready for my first mince pie of the year.

There were giant meringues and vegan pate but sadly not a mince pie to be seen. As a last resort, I popped into Greggs and bought a packet of their "Award Winning" offerings. The packaging did not specify exactly what Award these pies had won. It would not surprise me if it had been the award for the Hardest Most Tasteless Pastry or the Goopiest Mincemeat. I did not enjoy them at all. Taylor, on the other hand, said she really liked them. All a matter of individual taste I suppose.

On a happier note, a friend promised me a jar of homemade mincemeat which got me very excited. A jar of "Mrs Murray's Marvellous Mincemeat" was delivered this morning and I can't wait to do some Christmas baking.

Another friend has recommended adding a dollop of Philadelphia cream cheese onto the mincemeat before putting the pastry lid on top.  I am not 100% convinced that I am going to like that but I am definitely willing to give it a try.

I am willing to try anything in search of the perfect mince pie.

Do you have any tips or suggestions? I'd love to hear them.

Busking at the Farmers Market

The town I live in holds a quarterly Farmers Market.

It is all fairly low key - a few local producers and craftspeople set up their stalls along the high street and depending on the weather, people turn up to sample something new and buy what takes their fancy.

This quarter, the organisers decided to try and add some live music to the mix. They put out a tweet saying that they were looking for a busker and would anyone be interested. Social media is a powerful tool. My friend @EnglishFolkFan, who has her finger firmly on the Twitter pulse, retweeted to draw my attention to the request. I mentioned it to my musical girls and they were on it like a shot.

Their four piece band was reduced to three because Charis was busy all day with rehearsals for the upcoming play that she has a leading role in. Instrument wise, they were pared back to two acoustic guitars and a tambourine. I wasn't at all sure how well it would work but I went along to see.

The sun was shining and there were lots of people milling around seeing what the Farmers Market had to offer. As I walked closer, I heard the familiar sound of my girls belting out an original song that they had written in collaboration with one of Taylor's friends for a short film raising awareness of the county's Young Carers. It sounded wonderful.

They had been given a gazebo to stand under which somehow bestowed an air of importance and their open guitar case already had a good few coins thrown in.

Lots of people took leaflets that had details of how to contact them through their Not Quite Facebook and Twitter accounts and a local publican threw his business card in, which they took as a very good sign. Their favourite moment of positive feedback was when a little girl toddled by with her parents and said in that honest and heartfelt way that only small children can pull off "I like your music".

They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and as a bonus, they walked away with enough cash to make it worthwhile opening a Not Quite bank account.

Who knows? Perhaps the cost of those music lessons will turn out to be a worthwhile financial investment after all!