Thornton's Budgens

Please vote in our Poet Laureate Competition!

Last weekend we held a public performance and ballot to decide who is to be the Thornton's Budgens Poet Laureate for Crouch End. It was a lot of fun and over 40 of you submitted your choices.

In the interest of fairness we want to open the judging up to those who were unable to attend the reading, so here are videos of the five poets up for consideration.

Please watch each short video then let us know your favourite by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.

We'll be announcing the winner on Tuesday 18th Oct.

Jeff Probst

Alan Wolfson

Joan Michelson

Anne Ballard

Dave Cohen

Click here to vote!

 

JOB VACANCY - HR ADVISOR

Thornton's Budgens operates two supermarkets in North London. We have a strong sustainability agenda and are involved in a number of ground breaking initiatives aimed at inspiring others.  As part of our commitment to focus as much on our 'internal community' as we do externally, we are looking to recruit a HR advisor. It is anticipated this role would be full time for 4-6 months, and then be a three day a week post. The salary will be approx £100 a day.

Experience in retail HR is essential; our preference is for someone local or close to one of our stores which are in Belsize Park and Crouch End.

A full job description is available to download as a word document below.

If you are interested, please send your CV and a paragraph on why you think you are the right person for this role, to al@thorntonsbudgens.com

Wednesday 14th September - The second public meeting in response to the riots

Please join us at Tottenham Chances at 6.30pm this Wednesday 14th September for the second public meeting in response to the riots.

Tottenham Chances Club, 399 High Road, N17 6QN.

There is a danger that the London riots seem distant and have been replaced by the latest news. However, the symptoms and causes still remain. There was an amazing energy at out first meeting; if you are still inspired and care enough and/or couldn't make the last meeting, please come along on Wednesday and make a contribution to our community. This meeting is about generating actions that will make a difference.

Notes from the last meeting and more information is available here: http://bit.ly/rasWTP

"Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has." (Margaret Mead).

Thanks, Andrew Thornton.

 

Our Poet in Residence: Still Life in Seafood

We're rightly proud of our fish counter here at Thornton's Budgens (check out this recent post in which team member Seymour shares some of the sustainable seafood we buy in).

So what better way of celebrating the fact than inviting our Poet in Residence, Dr Robert Ilson, to write a poem all about the creatures of the deep?

Here's his magnificent reading....enjoy.

Our Poet in Residence: a tribute to curry sauce

This is the second newly commissioned piece from our poet, Dr Robert Ilson, in which he introduces us to Mamajaan's gourmet curry sauces, made in small batches here in north-west London (you can tell by their names: Belsize Bhuna and Keats Kashmir are among the sauces).

They are one of our hero products for sure, so watch Dr Ilson reading his tribute....

“a choice between toad-in-the-hole or curried beef” – Barbara Pym

“Why not eat in tonight ? We could prepare
Something that’s really English.” “Like a curry ?”
“That would be too much bother.” “Not to worry!
The work’s the sauce: nowadays everywhere
You can buy curry sauces.” “Not the kind,
Though, that are artificial or too bland !”
“Don’t scowl like that ! I know at least one brand
That pleases both the palate and the mind :
Sauces that taste authentic and are pure.
Think coriander, turmeric, and lime;
Dine like a Rajah – but save cash and time
Where quality and value meet for sure.
Think ginger, mango, coconut. How nice is
A London curry with real Punjab spices !”

Robert Ilson

Our Poet in Residence reads: Pukka Cuppa

As some of you will know, Thornton's Budgens recently appointed a poet in residence, the first for a supermarket, we believe!

In celebration of our Hero Products, we've commissioned Dr Robert Ilson to pen a number of original poems, and better still, to stage some recorded readings.

Love tea? Then watch this homage to the nation's favourite drink...... and then read the poem. We hope you like it.

Cuppa

“Today I had my first taste of something called ‘Tea’. I can’timagine it taking hold.”
-- BBC broadcast of Samuel Pepys’s Diary for 1 August 1660

The Sage sits on the mountain-top
And sips a cup of tea.
His smile, embracing all the world,
Is wonderful to see.

The builders at their manly work
Deserve a moment’s rest.
They know the beverage they require :
A cup of tea is best.

The dinner-party has gone well,
The guests now take their ease
And eagerly look forward to
A choice of Budgens teas.

One hundred ninety-five there are
(Maté and tea-bags, too),
Exotic or familiar : choose
Whichever pleases you.

There’s green, white, Assam, Mandarin,
Mint, chai, and camomile,
Plus many other herbal teas
Your palate to beguile.

See for yourself : here on our shelves,
For breakfast, dinner, supper,
Or solo, you’ll find what it takes
To make a pukka cuppa.

Robert Ilson

House of Earth at Belsize Park

The amazing team from House of Earth took over the community stall at the Belsize Park store today, and went down incredibly well with the community for their organic veg grown in an allotment just a few miles away in Hendon. Rather than us telling you about them.... here's the story from the guys themselves, which is truly inspirational.

 

Look out for more from House of Earth, we have a feeling they'll be back. If they don't make Hero Products, we don't know who does!

Hero Products: Flourish Bakery

We are huge fans of the Tottenham-based Flourish Bakery, who make the most lovely, slow-fermented breads. Giving a little intro to the range is Marco from the Belsize Park store (he looks after the deli range for us). We strongly recommend you give them a go!

Hero Products: Ricotta

Ricotta doesn't generate much excitement compared to other Italian cheeses. Mozzarella and Talleggio are far more interesting, right? Well think again. As of very recently, we've become what may be the only store in North London to stock 4 types of Ricotta. Yes 4.

Here's a vid of Marco explaining the products and how you can use them in your cooking.

As a Naples boy, Marco then shared his tip for Pastiera, an Italian Easter wheat and ricotta cake with candied fruit, which his mum made when he was a child. This recipe on the Telegraph website is a bit of a labour-of-love but seriously worth the results for a special occasion.Who care's that Easter's a few months away?! Just look at it - we're hungry already!

Image used under Creative Commons Licence from Piero_Castellano

Hero Products: Tofu Temple

We have a bit of a thing about tofu at Thornton's Budgens. We hate it when supermarkets only stock the one type, so took it upon ourselves to really go to town with different brands, textures, smoked vs. non smoked, marinated, organic vs non organic.

Where others see blandness, we see opportunity. There’s just something comforting about it, and if anyone says it doesn’t taste of anything, give them a slice of Clearspot's smoked tofu, pictured.

Here is team member Lizzie's favourite tofu recipes (Lizzie likes her steak and roast chicken but is a fan of tofu), which at its heart has an incredible sauce that can work with all sorts of other thing.

It doesn’t have a name yet – maybe you can help me christen it?

Serves 2

Get hold of 1 pack of smoked tofu and slice it lengthways into meaty slabs. Lay out in a single layer in a baking dish, and sprinkle on a teaspoon each of sesame oil, soy sauce or tamari, and mirin, then a squeeze of lemon juice. Bake for 25 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade.

Meanwhile, get some brown rice onto boil in salted water for 25/30 minutes (you decide how hungry you are but about 1 handful per person).

For the sauce, get yourself a handblender or a food processor (if you use a pestle and mortar, you may be some time).

Throw in one peeled garlic clove, the juice of a lemon, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, a good few big shakes of soy sauce, and 2 handfuls of raw sunflower seeds. Blitz until you have a putty coloured, thick sauce. You might need to add some drizzles of water to loosen it up, or some more soy. It should be PUNGENT (think veggie bagna cauda).

Sautee a pack of spinach with some lemon and sesame oil, and if you like you can make some batons of raw veg (red pepper is great).

Add a mound of rice to a plate, place some spinach on top, lay on your tofu slices and then spoon over some of that amazingly pungent sauce. It’s a bit like a vegan bagna cauda in fact.

If you like you can scatter some toasted sunflower seeds over the dish.

This is the best dinner after a few days of gluttony. It will sort you out. There is a bit of a 1970s vegan vibe going on, but I promise you it's tasty.