Professional Quality Custom Kitchen / Wood Fired Oven Implements and Great Gifts for Your Favourite Cook
OUR NEWS FOR JANUARY 2012:
TIME TO LIGHT UP YOUR OVENS AND GIVE THOSE TOOLS A GOOD WORKOUT! Do you know our favourite time of year? Not Christmas itself - thought that's pretty good - but what's even better are those lovely, lazy days afterwards, where just for a week or so the whole world seems to slow down and actually relax and there's time to have people over and light the oven and just play around...
WHAT SHOVEL SHAPE ARE YOU?
Are you a pizza party person? Do you do loads of loaves of bread? Regularly roast like King Henry VIII is coming to dine?
What you do in your oven effects the kind of shovel/peel you need and no matter what that is, we can cater for you. Likewise, if you have a dome oven with curved walls or a great big rectangular nuclear bunker; a big wide welcoming doorway or a tight tiny entry (not that there's anything wrong with that!), these factors are going to affect what tools you require and their size. To help you get EXACTLY what you require (and to save you from getting what you don't), WE HAVE A NEW SECTION titled (imaginatively!): Which Tools Do I Need.
Make sure you check it out before you order.
Photo Gallery Update
I hate to brag (no really, I do!) but I have just finished a very thorough update of our family album and boy, are there some stunning oven photo's in there! If you haven't had a browse in our Customer Photo Gallery page for awhile, have a look at how we've grown – there's over 200 photo's on there now and it's a real resource if you're dreaming up an oven of your own. There's bound to be a style that would look good at your place. Speaking of which:
Did you see our Tools on TV?
One of the new episodes of SBS's show Who Do You Think You Are is about Paul Mercurio (SBS Episode) star of Strictly Ballroom and host of Mercurio's Menu and apart from being a really interesting story, there he is, in his backyard, with an Alfresco oven from Sydney Heaters and a full set of our Tools! Apparently he made pizzas for everyone the day they were filming. Whilst we think all of our customers are oven stars, we do have some nice stills taken on the day up in our Customer Photo Gallery.
Backyard Ovens Two is out now!
I know a lot of you have the little Earth Garden publication 'Backyard Ovens', well, the response to that was so huge that they've put out another volume. It's available at newsagents across the country right now and also online from the Good Life Bookclub.
If you're thinking of building an oven, it's a another great resource (and at $19.95, really reasonably priced!), full of real people telling their oven building stories. There are also some recipes in the back and I am very proud to have 2 of mine in there – Pete's favourite cake, The Blacksmith's Breakfast Cake and a lovely Whole Roast Cauliflower done Indian style. It's a nice, light, interesting read – buy it for someone you want to inspire.
You might also like to check out all their other oven-centred publications, including Wood Oven Recipes.
I'm SO embarrassed to have to admit this, but I made a mistake in the Blacksmith's Breakfast Cake recipe in the book...
I don't know how it happened. I checked it all so carefully and I so wanted it to be perfect - not just for you guys - but for the lovely Earth Garden people who've been so good to us. Anyway, there should be one cup of sugar in the base and two cups of sugar in the topping (I know it sounds a lot, but it really is an enormous slab of a thing – those Blacksmith's work hard you know!).
Please accept my apologies for this mistake and thanks to the lovely people who noticed it and emailed me – nice to know you wanted to try it!
YouTube / OurTube
Late last year, we finally bit the bullet and put some YouTube clips up on our own Handforged Tools Channel. We concentrated on getting short clips of all the tools 'in action' (as we fillum people say!) first, but this year we're going to try and get up a few 'talkies'.
At the moment, we're attempting our first 'talkie'. We've shot and are editing a version of the Mezzaluna/Tabouleh Making lesson and the daily rushes look good and (so far!) neither of us has filed for divorce...
Also, just recently we persuaded Robyn (our mate who does the bread knives) into letting us film her slicing bread using the Bread Knife with built-in slicing guide. That's worth a look too.
We can take Credit!
Yup, finally, we have gone and got credit card facilities and can process payments immediately over the phone.
IT'S EASY!
And I should know - I actually called my brother up and made him do three small transactions from his card so I would have some hands-on experience before anyone put me to the test!
Which reminds me, haven't paid him for that yet – wonder if he'll take a card?
This facility also makes it much easier to process payments from overseas and it makes them cheaper for both sides of the transaction too – shoulda done this a long time ago!
We're getting good at Gifts...
This Christmas just past we really noticed a big increase in the number of sales that were for gifts. It was clear that a lot of people who got ovens during the year have family and friends who pay attention and come Christmas time, those folk turned to us with great gratitude and relief because they were happy to have somewhere to shop for their 'special Christmas Challenge'. We had something to offer (and got to hear tales about!) Difficult Dad's, Sister's Who Have Everything, Terribly Serious Cousins, Ecologically Sound Neighbours, Aunts Who Are Great Cooks, Gran Dad Gadget Collectors, Bosses Who Are Fans of the Bespoke.
Anyway, the point of all of this is, we're getting a nice supply of gift cards (and even paper) together and we're happy to play (makes US feel good to help you delight someone!), so between our unique products, the engraving and stamping you can use to customise your present with AND a nice card and wrapping, is there anyone in your world who could use a Bread Knife for their birthday or a Mezzaluna for Mother's Day or a Pizza Shovel for a present?
Our Vision
