When Sandy mentioned their rental house in Tignall I was somewhat taken off guard. She told us it had a kitchen in it that had been approved once for commercial use when Ben had his catering business,but it didn't really register with me. I mean, the possibility of renting a little house complete with a commercial kitchen that was also great for entertaining in the next little town over was not in the hundreds of possibilities Reid and I had considered for where to expand our little business. I mentioned it to Reid when he came home and we both just kind of shrugged and said it was something to think about. It wasn't even until a few days later I decided I might as well look at it just in case. I really didn't get my hopes up too much. At the very least I'd get to see this house and maybe pick up a tip or two about arranging our basement kitchen better until we found our space.
I was picking up some vegetables from Lazy Willow Farm that week so I just jumped in the car with Sandy and we headed down toward Tignall to pick up some Tink's beef and then to see the house. (She was probably just trying to butter me up first by showing me how close I could be to a Tink burger at any given moment.) Once in the booming metropolis of Tignall, GA we went through a little neighborhood and onto a dirt road. All of a sudden we came up on this little house, with a tin roof, a nice front porch and a roundabout drive. Even though we had just gone through a bunch of houses, it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere except for a bunch of trees and a little house.
I kind of started to get excited and then we went inside. I wish I had some kind of noisemaker for when you just feel like the floodgates of heaven open and angels are trumpeting. That is how I felt when I walked inside the house. It was perfect. The most important thing that we needed (commercial kitchen) it had including an additional room that was certified as well so we could use it for dry storage or more fridge/freezer space down the road. The main kitchen itself was fantastic-all the sinks were there (3 compartment for dishwashing, 2 compartment for prep and 1 bay handwashing sink); an oven (which will eventually be replaced with our baby from downstairs); and a great big work table.
So even if the house just had the kitchen areas it would be well worth renting it. For the market and the weekday meals we didn't need any kind of retail space anyway. But incredibly, the house had way more than just the kitchen to offer. Two rooms (painted that "pool" color of our labels), two full bathrooms (painted the pink color of our labels), great closet space, a huge living area (painted that sage green color of our labels) with this really great wood burning stove/brickwork on one end and for the grand finale a timber frame screened in back porch with big ceiling fans and another oven for outside parties. Oh, and a fenced in acre pasture as well as plenty of outdoors space to landscape just waiting to be landscaped all cute.
I could have a real grown up office, a bathroom for customers to use if they are over planning a catering event, and a little place for Reid and I to stay when we're baking for the market all hours of the night or have a big order. (Or use it as our "guest house" when company comes!) Since the living area was completely separate from the kitchen, we had a ton of possibilities. So not only could it solve our kitchen problem, it also could solve our house problem.
Well, I called Reid when I got back in my own car and told him how perfect the house was for Southern Scratch. He warned "You didn't act this excited in front of Sandy did you?" I replied, "Umm no...kind of...yes, Reid, of course you know I did!" (I have never known how to "barter" and prefer to live in naiive bliss that everyone sets a fair price on what they sell based on the quality of the product and what they need to make a living. So in my feeble mind bartering could be forcing someone to take less than what they really need to get by just so they could have some cash flow and stay afloat. But I guess it is the whole perceived value angle that is a main determinant in deciding prices? I wasn't really worried that Sandy was waiting on my response to give me a lease amount so of course I told Sandy immediately about feeling like the angels were singing because the house was so perfect! Later on anyway we let the men play hard ball with each other while Sandy and I were still jumping up and down excited!)
Like most things, my mind had already raced to planning how we could offer a really nice, cozy Valentine's dinner at The Tignall House (that's what I had started calling it...) rather than think of all the logistics and paperwork that may be involved. So while I was ready to uncork a bottle of champagne and celebrate finding a kitchen, Reid of course wanted to see the house first for himself and you know, discuss, what all it would entail.
Reid and I went and looked at the house together and he kept trying to keep me on track saying "Remember, only take the kitchen into consideration." (Then he even scared me saying things like "this back porch is big enough for us to live in," causing horrible flashes of us living in what would probably be Reid's dream home of a little one room timber frame shack down by the pond with nothing but love, a gun and fishing poles to our name). Reid admitted he liked the house but told me we just needed to be careful and figure out all the steps it would take first.
So against my nature, I sat down and tried to really work it out on paper. How would moving from our home (where the business didn't pay it's own electric bills, etc.) to an outside location (where the business would have to start paying for everything) work out? Although I love spreadsheets (and can put some algebraic formulas to calculate estimated daily calorie needs with the best of them) I didn't have a great idea of how to merge all the variables that would go into having a real business. So like any smart idiot, I took my scribblings (which I think I would have brought the work I had done on Quickbooks but this was around the time my laptop decided to go on the fritz for a few weeks) over to Bambi and asked her to look over them. I laid it all out on the line and she helped me make it all make sense. Along with great advice, she gave me encouragement that we could actually take this next step (without sacrificing our grits & coffee of course!).
Just a few minutes after leaving Bambi's office, I called my older brother to ask what it would take to turn Southern Scratch into an LLC. He had just gone through the process starting Deals for Schools (like Groupon but with proceeds going to the school of your choice, in any city you want including Washington!). That night I recounted my meeting with Bambi to Reid and we decided we should at least go ahead and file as an LLC. So that night Reid and I filed everything online. (We felt like such grown-ups!). When we got confirmation of our "Southern Scratch, LLC" status we headed to the bank to open up a dedicated business account. (Well after having to go print out our forms at the library due to our computer issues...so professional. But at least now I have my library card!)
With our now legit business name, account & a call about our business insurance we were ready to take the next step. We had let Charles & Sandy know we definitely wanted to rent the house and while they started doing some work to get it move in ready we started to get ready to move everything out. Our goal was to move everything in the kitchen the weekend after Thanksgiving and try to get it inspected that week.
So in true Bussey woman fashion, I tried to pack in making Thanksgiving food deliveries, family time in Decatur, AL for turkey day, cook for the market Friday night, do the market Saturday morning and pick up the keys and start moving in all in a 4 day span. Surpringly we got most of it done but still had a long way to go. Sunday evening Opie came over with his truck and we moved the major items like the two refrigerators and some furniture. (Have I said often enough how awesome our next door neighbors are????)
That week, Carissa came and helped me set up all the racks that we had to tear down to move and put back up as well as get ready for a big festival we had planned on attending. (You know you've asked the right woman to help when she shows up with breakfast, a pocket knife, a truck and tools.) She also "initiated" me into Tignall with lunch at the KumBack Cafe.
Also going on that week was trying to get our website up and running, order forms for Christmas ready and baking for the festival. When we first started out, my brother helped me register the domain name http://www.southernscratch.com/ but we hadn't done anything with it. I told him at the very least we just needed a page with our name/contact info on it for the upcoming weekend. That way we could go ahead and start printing the address on our labels. Well Ben is kind of awesome too and designed our site so that I could go in and edit the words pretty easily from my end. So rather than have the site "go live" only half finished we both worked hard getting it finalized before the weekend.
My original plan was to ask the Health Department inspector to come out as soon as we got the equipment moved in but then decided it would be better if we had everything set up first. I may have mentioned this before but I really appreciate and kind of enjoy all the certification visits like The Joint Commission, CARF, Health Department, etc. Although it can be nerveracking for some to get ready for an inspection, the inspectors and you are all wanting the same thing. It doesn't benefit your hospital or restaurant to have an unclean work environment. It's not good for your customers, your patients, your employees or for you. So seeing these agencies as a source of information and accountability to help you acheive your goal of a safe and sanitary work environment is good for everyone.
So I thought if I had everything set up how I planned to use the kitchen the inspector could better pinpoint any problem areas he saw. I would also be able to play around and see areas where I could be more efficient and how I wanted to use the workspace. Then when January came we would be completely ready to go for Weekday Gourmet meals. My ServSafe certification along with my experience in both retail and hospital kitchens had helped tremendously from day one. It was so exciting then to put what has amounted to about 8 years total of "foodservice" experience (not counting all the time I got to spend going to work with my mom at the Susan Mott Webb Nutrition Sciences building at UAB growing up) into my own real commercial kitchen!
Maybe that is why last week I joyously scrubbed the kitchen down and spent hours going through food prep scenarios in my head to make sure there weren't any chances for cross contamination. So when the Health Department inspector showed up last Thursday afternoon I felt I had everything ready to go but was of course ready to make any changes. He was a great help in offering some suggestions and would approve the facility pending some more paperwork for the permit.
I was so elated but still wanted to obviously wait until we had the permit in hand before making any kind of official announcement. I had started these "Kitchen Evolution" posts about the time we started to move into the kitchen and have been spacing them out in anticipation of our final granting of that super imporant piece of paper. I got a call Wednesday to bring by my menu, etc. to the Health Department and after a little review was given our permit and initial inspection score, which was a 100!
I got in my car and just tried to concentrate on driving I was so excited. We had done it!!! After so much prayer, so much work, so much celebration paired with plenty of times of doubt, we were now officially a real business! I was more grateful than ever at that point for Reid's "not yet." He persevered through my eagerness to do everything at once and and helped me wait on God's plan for our little business. I would never have imagined we could have taken our little earnings from our yard sale and be able to grow that into being into a fully licensed commercial kitchen with equipment! I also love how God has shown us time after time that it takes Reid and I working together, not apart, to build this.
Also I can't believe all the people God put in our life to help us and encourage us along the way. I tried just now to start writing it all out but realized it would be ten pages long. Even though we have had some crazy setbacks and at times have thought we were in the middle of a disastrous romantic comedy with all the car & house parts that have broken in our less than a year of marriage, God has always provided a solution.
We have no idea how our business will look in a year from now but even with this step have faith that we can still enjoy our grits & coffee on Sunday morning without worrying about Monday!
Once I get my pictures organized we will do a before & after! Hope to see everyone tomorrow for our last Farmer's Market of 2010!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Our Kitchen Evolution: Part 4 (Don't worry there are only 5 parts total)
Once we had finally gotten everything hooked up, cleaned up and set up in the basement I couldn't wait to start cooking down there. The space was three to four times as big as the little kitchen space upstairs (or the same size if you take into account we used the whole living/dining area as well during full market prep mode).
I definitely realize the easiest way to keep something clean is the whole "a place for everything and everything in it's place" approach. We had more space on racks to put hot pans to cool, a dedicated stainless table for the mixer & food processor and another dedicated prep table. Plus we had a rack for storage of the paper goods like treat bags and compostable take out boxes,an ingredient rack and a rack for baking pans, cake pans, etc. The organization made baking more fun and the kitchen easier to take care of.
Which was good because we had houseguests coming. This was in August and we had just started using the basement. A couple who used to be my next door neighbors in Warm Springs were planning a road trip to the lake and then to see Washington, Madison and a couple places in between. We were so thrilled about their visit. I missed my friends from my old "cute little historical town" and couldn't wait to show them my new "cute little historical town." The plan was that they would meet us at the market Saturday and then spend the night with us before leaving early to see Madison on their way home.
So even though our new kitchen was easier to clean, we cooked late into the night (sometimes all night) and then early in the morning so there were always dishes to finish when we got home. Unless Reid stayed behind and did all the dishes while I was at the market, we would be bringing our houseguests into a less than company ready home. I had already been secretly dreaming of hiring someone to do dishes so we discussed finding someone to go ahead and clean the whole house while we were at the market that Saturday. That way we could focus more on getting everything arranged better to have company and then someone could come behind us and do a good scrub on the house.
Well that Friday I was making Better Than's and noticed that my dough was really sticky, almost wet. It didn't make any sense because there isn't any water in them. I added some more flour and finally got it to a consistency where I could roll them up to slice. Well they baked up really funny looking so we tossed them. Then I tried making pound cake and had a similar result. Instead of crust forming the top looked almost wet even when it was fully baked. I finally had an "ah-ha!" moment and figured out it was the humidity. Rather than have everything I baked turn out off, I moved my mixer back upstairs. (I definitely got a great workout running up and down the stairs every time I forgot to bring up the baking powder, etc.)
At this point, I was soooo grateful we had already called Bertie Mae. She had assured me she and her sister would take care of everything Saturday morning and the house would be spotless when we came back home. So Saturday morning while we were loading up the car with treats, the two most wonderful ladies who I hadn't even met yet in the world drove up. They could have been riding a white horse. They walked in, gave me a great big hug and told me not to worry at all. I felt like a little girl who had gotten herself in way too deep and they were swooping in to rescue me.
Reid came to the market with me for a couple of hours and then went back home to put any final touches (I say final but I mean interim touches...I'm not sure our house will have final touches on it for a while!) on the house. He called me and said "Oh Sugar Britches, let's see if they will come every week. You won't believe this. Our house looks awesome." Those might have been the sexiest words he's ever spoken to me. Of course I wanted them to come every week! The thought of our house getting a fresh start every Saturday, especially while we were in the middle of trying to still move in and run a little business was beyond awesome.
When I was single the best thing I did for myself was have someone come and clean on a regular basis and before any dinner parties. I learned that even though I could "technically" (i.e. stay up all night) do it all myself, I enjoyed having company over a lot more when I just focused on the parts I was really good at and let someone else do what they were really good at. It also helped me keep my house in order because clutter never looks clean no matter how much you dust it. When we got married and I moved, I missed Ms. Betty dearly but I didn't want to seem like a high maintence wife so I tried doing it all myself again. (I loved Martha, one of the Green Overalls Club members, for reminding me at the market to know what you do best and let others do what they do best!) So when Reid called to say how great it was, I was beyond thrilled he was just as enthusiastic as I was about having some help!
The weekend with my neighbors ended up being so much fun, not the least part of which was coming home to a transformed house. They had brought a convertible so Reid showed them all of our gorgeous Washington homes riding around with the top down. We called some of our new neighbors over to eat dinner with us (which is when Ricky taught me how to fry onion rings-drop them in at 350 and take them out when the temp gets back up to 350) and had a great time catching up. (And a couple week's later Katy sent me the cutest apron monogrammed with "Southern Scratch" on it along with a list of bible verses that related to the "entrepenuer!" It was so sweet!)
That next week I went to Poss hardware and bought a hygrometer to measure the humidty. With that little tool and our dehumidifier we were able to bake a lot more wisely with better Better Than's and crusty pound cakes. A couple times we still had to run upstairs but for the most part we were able to do all the cooking in our "new" dedicated kitchen. We could keep the upstairs a "Southern Scratch Free Zone" which lent a lot more peace and order to the house even though we still felt some of the strain of having a business inside our home.
One issue with having the kitchen in the basement was that we still actually needed our basement. There was a wood burning stove which we would have loved to have a little den around, Reid would want to start working out again (and maybe drag his wife along with him!) and also give us a place to work on other household projects like the furniture I wanted to paint or the doghouse Reid wanted to build. There was already a built in work bench ready to go but of course we didn't want to risk doing any kind of non-food related work down there. So even though the space we used took up half the basement, it really took up all the basement.
The other issue with having the kitchen in the basement was that it would still need some renovations which a plumber & electrician would have to handle to be a fully certified kitchen. We just weren't sure if doing any kind of commercial overhaul on our house was wise. We had talked to one of my uncles who had recommended if we wanted the kitchen on our property to just build a new building (like one of those steel ones) that could be moved which made a lot of sense. (But didn't really want a steel building you could see from the road.) Then we went back to maybe building a little house for us closer to our pond and making the entire house the business (hey, it already had those gorgeous drop ceilings right?). But then we would be taking on a huge project and being in even more uproar than we already were. Or what about renting a cute place on the square? Well we didn't really need a "storefront" or full service restaurant so that would be kind of unneccessary and also force our little business straight into a "make it or break it" mode.
Another thing we had to consider was that Reid and I were in reality incredibly blessed. Like I mentioned earlier we had our "good car" as well as Reid's "red baron" (oh what a disaster...but a paid for disaster. If you see him at the gas station, yes he is using a claw hammer to get the fuel door to open since the lever broke off. And yes, it kind of makes you laugh and cry all at once if you are riding shotgun). We inherited this gorgeous farm and comfortable house and didn't want to make any risky business decisions that could compromise that or fall into what Reid calls the "I'd trade it all for just a little more" syndrome. So even when I would lie awake at night trying to convince myself (and sometimes waking Reid up to try to convince him) that if we just "went for it" and built our dream kitchen our business would grow, Reid would be the voice of reason and tell me "not yet." At times I thought he was just being too frugal or couldn't see the "big picture" but come to find out, his nearly decade more of life experience comes with some more wisdom too.
We wanted to try to be responsible in growing our business so that we didn't give up the peace we had when we went to bed at night. Our view of "financial security" meant being able to sip coffee & make grits and eggs on Sundays before church without worrying about Monday. Starting the business from our yard sale profits and putting everything back into it had meant nine months of me not bringing in a paycheck but we had everything we really needed with Reid's job (but you better believe I sometimes mentally translate how nine months of me having a "real" job could have translated into painted walls and custom drapes!). Luckily Bambi held my hand and helped me with the numbers I'm not so great at and showed me what to do to keep us, our business, God and the government all happy. (She also informed me that enjoying coffee & grits on Sunday morning was not inherently exclusive to growing our business!)
We had been praying every night for our marriage and business and that we would make wise decisions regarding both. (I know our families were doing the same, probably in overdrive!) In the last months I felt like I was finally learning that "waiting on God" didn't mean "sitting around doing nothing" and that surprisingly, God didn't need me to "just help him out a little." (Oh if I had only learned this years ago...but then I wouldn't have half the stories totell hide from my children one day.)
Anyway, back to the basement kitchen and us scratching our heads trying to figure out if/where/when we needed to move to a fully bonafied kitchen. A little over a month or so ago I happened to be at the LeGette's house one evening picking up vegetables from Lazy Willow Farm and mentioned to Sandy I would be glad when we got a more permanent kitchen figured out, so for one we could then focus a little more on getting our house ready to be able to entertain. I told her Reid and I decided we had given up for the moment to figure out our next "move" but thought we may know after Christmas and would just be patient until God led us in the right direction.
Well, the next time I was over there, Sandy said to me: "Hey, I'm not sure if you would even be interested in this but we have this house out in Tignall that is great for entertaining..."
Next and final (I promise) post on this kitchen stuff: Three compartment sinks and a very important little piece of paper...
I definitely realize the easiest way to keep something clean is the whole "a place for everything and everything in it's place" approach. We had more space on racks to put hot pans to cool, a dedicated stainless table for the mixer & food processor and another dedicated prep table. Plus we had a rack for storage of the paper goods like treat bags and compostable take out boxes,an ingredient rack and a rack for baking pans, cake pans, etc. The organization made baking more fun and the kitchen easier to take care of.
Which was good because we had houseguests coming. This was in August and we had just started using the basement. A couple who used to be my next door neighbors in Warm Springs were planning a road trip to the lake and then to see Washington, Madison and a couple places in between. We were so thrilled about their visit. I missed my friends from my old "cute little historical town" and couldn't wait to show them my new "cute little historical town." The plan was that they would meet us at the market Saturday and then spend the night with us before leaving early to see Madison on their way home.
So even though our new kitchen was easier to clean, we cooked late into the night (sometimes all night) and then early in the morning so there were always dishes to finish when we got home. Unless Reid stayed behind and did all the dishes while I was at the market, we would be bringing our houseguests into a less than company ready home. I had already been secretly dreaming of hiring someone to do dishes so we discussed finding someone to go ahead and clean the whole house while we were at the market that Saturday. That way we could focus more on getting everything arranged better to have company and then someone could come behind us and do a good scrub on the house.
Well that Friday I was making Better Than's and noticed that my dough was really sticky, almost wet. It didn't make any sense because there isn't any water in them. I added some more flour and finally got it to a consistency where I could roll them up to slice. Well they baked up really funny looking so we tossed them. Then I tried making pound cake and had a similar result. Instead of crust forming the top looked almost wet even when it was fully baked. I finally had an "ah-ha!" moment and figured out it was the humidity. Rather than have everything I baked turn out off, I moved my mixer back upstairs. (I definitely got a great workout running up and down the stairs every time I forgot to bring up the baking powder, etc.)
At this point, I was soooo grateful we had already called Bertie Mae. She had assured me she and her sister would take care of everything Saturday morning and the house would be spotless when we came back home. So Saturday morning while we were loading up the car with treats, the two most wonderful ladies who I hadn't even met yet in the world drove up. They could have been riding a white horse. They walked in, gave me a great big hug and told me not to worry at all. I felt like a little girl who had gotten herself in way too deep and they were swooping in to rescue me.
Reid came to the market with me for a couple of hours and then went back home to put any final touches (I say final but I mean interim touches...I'm not sure our house will have final touches on it for a while!) on the house. He called me and said "Oh Sugar Britches, let's see if they will come every week. You won't believe this. Our house looks awesome." Those might have been the sexiest words he's ever spoken to me. Of course I wanted them to come every week! The thought of our house getting a fresh start every Saturday, especially while we were in the middle of trying to still move in and run a little business was beyond awesome.
When I was single the best thing I did for myself was have someone come and clean on a regular basis and before any dinner parties. I learned that even though I could "technically" (i.e. stay up all night) do it all myself, I enjoyed having company over a lot more when I just focused on the parts I was really good at and let someone else do what they were really good at. It also helped me keep my house in order because clutter never looks clean no matter how much you dust it. When we got married and I moved, I missed Ms. Betty dearly but I didn't want to seem like a high maintence wife so I tried doing it all myself again. (I loved Martha, one of the Green Overalls Club members, for reminding me at the market to know what you do best and let others do what they do best!) So when Reid called to say how great it was, I was beyond thrilled he was just as enthusiastic as I was about having some help!
The weekend with my neighbors ended up being so much fun, not the least part of which was coming home to a transformed house. They had brought a convertible so Reid showed them all of our gorgeous Washington homes riding around with the top down. We called some of our new neighbors over to eat dinner with us (which is when Ricky taught me how to fry onion rings-drop them in at 350 and take them out when the temp gets back up to 350) and had a great time catching up. (And a couple week's later Katy sent me the cutest apron monogrammed with "Southern Scratch" on it along with a list of bible verses that related to the "entrepenuer!" It was so sweet!)
That next week I went to Poss hardware and bought a hygrometer to measure the humidty. With that little tool and our dehumidifier we were able to bake a lot more wisely with better Better Than's and crusty pound cakes. A couple times we still had to run upstairs but for the most part we were able to do all the cooking in our "new" dedicated kitchen. We could keep the upstairs a "Southern Scratch Free Zone" which lent a lot more peace and order to the house even though we still felt some of the strain of having a business inside our home.
One issue with having the kitchen in the basement was that we still actually needed our basement. There was a wood burning stove which we would have loved to have a little den around, Reid would want to start working out again (and maybe drag his wife along with him!) and also give us a place to work on other household projects like the furniture I wanted to paint or the doghouse Reid wanted to build. There was already a built in work bench ready to go but of course we didn't want to risk doing any kind of non-food related work down there. So even though the space we used took up half the basement, it really took up all the basement.
The other issue with having the kitchen in the basement was that it would still need some renovations which a plumber & electrician would have to handle to be a fully certified kitchen. We just weren't sure if doing any kind of commercial overhaul on our house was wise. We had talked to one of my uncles who had recommended if we wanted the kitchen on our property to just build a new building (like one of those steel ones) that could be moved which made a lot of sense. (But didn't really want a steel building you could see from the road.) Then we went back to maybe building a little house for us closer to our pond and making the entire house the business (hey, it already had those gorgeous drop ceilings right?). But then we would be taking on a huge project and being in even more uproar than we already were. Or what about renting a cute place on the square? Well we didn't really need a "storefront" or full service restaurant so that would be kind of unneccessary and also force our little business straight into a "make it or break it" mode.
Another thing we had to consider was that Reid and I were in reality incredibly blessed. Like I mentioned earlier we had our "good car" as well as Reid's "red baron" (oh what a disaster...but a paid for disaster. If you see him at the gas station, yes he is using a claw hammer to get the fuel door to open since the lever broke off. And yes, it kind of makes you laugh and cry all at once if you are riding shotgun). We inherited this gorgeous farm and comfortable house and didn't want to make any risky business decisions that could compromise that or fall into what Reid calls the "I'd trade it all for just a little more" syndrome. So even when I would lie awake at night trying to convince myself (and sometimes waking Reid up to try to convince him) that if we just "went for it" and built our dream kitchen our business would grow, Reid would be the voice of reason and tell me "not yet." At times I thought he was just being too frugal or couldn't see the "big picture" but come to find out, his nearly decade more of life experience comes with some more wisdom too.
We wanted to try to be responsible in growing our business so that we didn't give up the peace we had when we went to bed at night. Our view of "financial security" meant being able to sip coffee & make grits and eggs on Sundays before church without worrying about Monday. Starting the business from our yard sale profits and putting everything back into it had meant nine months of me not bringing in a paycheck but we had everything we really needed with Reid's job (but you better believe I sometimes mentally translate how nine months of me having a "real" job could have translated into painted walls and custom drapes!). Luckily Bambi held my hand and helped me with the numbers I'm not so great at and showed me what to do to keep us, our business, God and the government all happy. (She also informed me that enjoying coffee & grits on Sunday morning was not inherently exclusive to growing our business!)
We had been praying every night for our marriage and business and that we would make wise decisions regarding both. (I know our families were doing the same, probably in overdrive!) In the last months I felt like I was finally learning that "waiting on God" didn't mean "sitting around doing nothing" and that surprisingly, God didn't need me to "just help him out a little." (Oh if I had only learned this years ago...but then I wouldn't have half the stories to
Anyway, back to the basement kitchen and us scratching our heads trying to figure out if/where/when we needed to move to a fully bonafied kitchen. A little over a month or so ago I happened to be at the LeGette's house one evening picking up vegetables from Lazy Willow Farm and mentioned to Sandy I would be glad when we got a more permanent kitchen figured out, so for one we could then focus a little more on getting our house ready to be able to entertain. I told her Reid and I decided we had given up for the moment to figure out our next "move" but thought we may know after Christmas and would just be patient until God led us in the right direction.
Well, the next time I was over there, Sandy said to me: "Hey, I'm not sure if you would even be interested in this but we have this house out in Tignall that is great for entertaining..."
Next and final (I promise) post on this kitchen stuff: Three compartment sinks and a very important little piece of paper...
Monday, December 13, 2010
Locally Grown & Easy to Cook Beets!
Reid and I bargain with beets in our house. When we were dating I roasted beets for him and he has been hooked on them ever since. So if I really want something I'll say "Well how about if I make some beets this week for you...?" (I know, who else on earth would that persuade?)
Made right, beets can be beyond delicious. Some sugar comes from beets so they've got to be good, right? (But plopped out of the can they are not so delicious). A month or so ago when the LeGette's at Lazy Willow Farm told me they were growing beets I got so excited. I couldn't wait to surprise Reid with them and was already trying to figure out what I could bargain for them. I was lucky enough to get some of the second batch of beets they pulled. (The first batch they thinned out went to their lucky goats). The beets were still small but the leaves are just as good which I added to some soup.
I usually roast them (recipe follows) but last week with our beets from the market I tried something new. We had thawed out some of Tink's ground beef to make burgers and there was some beef fat left in the pan. I decided to make "scalloped beets" so I peeled and thinly sliced them. I added those along with some arugula to the pan and let them cook down. Then a little flour, grass fed milk and blue cheese. Although it looked pretty horrible (blue cheese + pink creamy sauce=not appetizing), it tasted pretty awesome. (I sent the leftovers with Reid to work the next day and he said he got a lot of questions about what the heck he was eating). So although I would probably never make this recipe for a meal night, it does show you they can be a versatile vegetable.
But this is how I usually cook beets which is super easy and always turns out:
Ingredients:
Fresh beets (preferably with leaves on)
Walnut oil (or olive oil but walnut really adds more flavor)
Fresh thyme (or any fresh or dried herb-but stick with just one)
Coarsely ground sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice beet root away from leaves. Peel and cut into quarters or eighths depending on the size of the beet. Arrange on baking tray and drizzle with oil, add a tiny bit of sea salt and black pepper to taste. Top with fresh thyme. Toss together and put in oven for 20-30 minutes until they can be easily pierced with a fork.
For the beet leaves, you can chop these up and cook them as well. Add about 2 Tbsp walnut or olive oil along with the zest of an orange and a minced garlic clove in a skillet. Heat slightly to crisp the zest a little then add the beet leaves. Meanwhile, peel and chop the orange and add the fruit to the skillet as well. When the leaves are cooked down slightly (but not totally dead), remove from heat.
Enjoy!
Made right, beets can be beyond delicious. Some sugar comes from beets so they've got to be good, right? (But plopped out of the can they are not so delicious). A month or so ago when the LeGette's at Lazy Willow Farm told me they were growing beets I got so excited. I couldn't wait to surprise Reid with them and was already trying to figure out what I could bargain for them. I was lucky enough to get some of the second batch of beets they pulled. (The first batch they thinned out went to their lucky goats). The beets were still small but the leaves are just as good which I added to some soup.
I usually roast them (recipe follows) but last week with our beets from the market I tried something new. We had thawed out some of Tink's ground beef to make burgers and there was some beef fat left in the pan. I decided to make "scalloped beets" so I peeled and thinly sliced them. I added those along with some arugula to the pan and let them cook down. Then a little flour, grass fed milk and blue cheese. Although it looked pretty horrible (blue cheese + pink creamy sauce=not appetizing), it tasted pretty awesome. (I sent the leftovers with Reid to work the next day and he said he got a lot of questions about what the heck he was eating). So although I would probably never make this recipe for a meal night, it does show you they can be a versatile vegetable.
But this is how I usually cook beets which is super easy and always turns out:
Ingredients:
Fresh beets (preferably with leaves on)
Walnut oil (or olive oil but walnut really adds more flavor)
Fresh thyme (or any fresh or dried herb-but stick with just one)
Coarsely ground sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice beet root away from leaves. Peel and cut into quarters or eighths depending on the size of the beet. Arrange on baking tray and drizzle with oil, add a tiny bit of sea salt and black pepper to taste. Top with fresh thyme. Toss together and put in oven for 20-30 minutes until they can be easily pierced with a fork.
For the beet leaves, you can chop these up and cook them as well. Add about 2 Tbsp walnut or olive oil along with the zest of an orange and a minced garlic clove in a skillet. Heat slightly to crisp the zest a little then add the beet leaves. Meanwhile, peel and chop the orange and add the fruit to the skillet as well. When the leaves are cooked down slightly (but not totally dead), remove from heat.
Enjoy!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Our Kitchen Evolution: Part 3
To begin with, there was already a small kitchen in the basement. Reid's granddad had some twin beds and a little game/fish kitchen for his hunting buddies. On one wall there was an old oven (which didn't work), and a 2 bay sink and stovetop area with built in shelves that had curtains for doors on top and the bottom. So it wasn't a huge stretch to think of putting our Southern Scratch kitchen in the basement. And, our original "dented" oven (which worked great besides it's cosmetic defect) was already down there just waiting for a chance to get an LP line connected to it.
We were downstairs a couple nights after the "lasagna week" and were just kind of staring at everything and thinking of where we should start. Reid's workout equipment was down there as well as his motorcycles, some tables, and still a ton of my moving boxes. We decided the shelves above the stovetop/sink area needed to go. I think they were made of particle board to begin with and weren't very strong. So we thought we'd tear down about 3 feet of them so there was just a little area above the sink left.
Well...it kind of turned out to be what happens when you try to cut your own hair. Just a little bit more to make things even ends up with no top shelves at all. We just kept saying "Well, it will be better to have hooks there and hang things instead."
The next night or so the stovetop came out along with a few more feet of built in countertop. The wiring was shot underneath and even if we got it fixed we knew it wouldn't pass muster that close to the sink in a commercial kitchen. Once we finished tearing everything out, only the sink and a little counterspace around it remained with the storage space underneath for cleaning supplies.
For a few days after that I started to make a pile of things that could safely be stored in the barn until we had room for them/cleaned out the barn. (Who knows what kind of treasures I'm going to find in five years...) Opie & Reid hauled everything out to the barn one night and we finally looked like we were getting somewhere.
The next project was Reid's "weight room" It took up a quarter of the basement and was in the half we planned to use as part of kitchen storage/Southern Scratch office area. Before we (actually just Reid-no way I can lift 80 pound dumbells. Oh how I love his country boy biceps...) could move all that we had to find a place for the two twin beds I brought to our union. In Warm Springs I had a dormer room which fit my grandmother's two white twin beds just perfectly. Here though we really didn't have a great place for them. The guest bedroom had my queen bed already in it along with a desk/printer for Southern Scratch (and still more boxes).
Somehow I made space for them in the guest bedroom and with the help of a ton of underbed storage boxes managed tohide store everything in the boxes out of sight. I also made space in our bedroom for Reid's antique armoire and my other grandmother's Lawson (which at the beginning turned our bedroom into our "den" once we propped the laptop up with DVD's of The Beverly Hillbillies and Clint Eastwood movies. I think for about three weeks we made no progress on the basement at which point we realized definitely could not get cable or we would never get anywhere).
Finally we had everything we could moved out, moved over and cleaned up. I bleached the concrete floors and shop-vac'd everything, multiple times. Then we started painting.
It started out as kind of a fun job. The change from cinderblocks to white changed the whole look. It could see it being transformed from a dark basement to a white washed Grecian island abode (a la the set in Mama Mia!). After about an hour of painting, and going over the blocks several time since the paint seemed to just soak in and disappear, I stepped back and looked at my job. And realized I had painted maybe 3 square feet in all. I couldn't believe how slowly it was going but I guess since the cinderblocks had never been painted before they just soaked up the paint like a sponge.
Meanwhile my mom asked about the twin beds and possibly using them in her house. They were also redecorating and thought they would be perfect for a grandchild room. She knew we were struggling with where to put all the furniture and I gladly told her she could come up and haul everything except our toothbrushes away if she wanted! I was so sick of not having living SPACE. (At one time i think I even contemplated just moving everything out to the barn and slowly allowing things back in one at a time. I think I didn't because I was afraid we would love having nothing in the house too much and end up being uber crazy minimalists with no TV and no couch). They also had the fridge from my Warm Springs house in the warehouse to bring to us. I told my mom to just pretend she was doing missionary work and come on up.
So I did what every sneaky little daughter does and bought a couple 5 gallons of Kilz white primer and extra paintbrushes/rollers for their visit. I made sure there was plenty of food on hand and by the end of the weekend Reid and my dad had finished the walls of the future kitchen. They left the fridge with us and disappointingly only brought the rug back with them which was not the big furniture purge we had hoped for. (But looking back probably good we didn't just up and give away everything we had to sit on or eat off of in our house).
The following week the guys from South Star came out and ran the LP line. With a sink, an oven and a fridge all ready to go we were almost ready to start baking. We moved my desk back downstairs (this mammoth white thing I built in college when I got my first power drill) as well as a china cabinet (repurposed as a ribbon & gift packaging storage area) and shelves (that I built from old cabinets also repurposed as a cookbook/display containers storage area).
After another oh-so-romantic trip to Sam's, we had a couple more stainless rolling work tables and some storage & stainless baking racks. It was finally beginning to look like a real working kitchen! Luckily it was just in time for our first non-family houseguests...
In part 4: Housekeepers, humidity & hygrometers....
We were downstairs a couple nights after the "lasagna week" and were just kind of staring at everything and thinking of where we should start. Reid's workout equipment was down there as well as his motorcycles, some tables, and still a ton of my moving boxes. We decided the shelves above the stovetop/sink area needed to go. I think they were made of particle board to begin with and weren't very strong. So we thought we'd tear down about 3 feet of them so there was just a little area above the sink left.
Well...it kind of turned out to be what happens when you try to cut your own hair. Just a little bit more to make things even ends up with no top shelves at all. We just kept saying "Well, it will be better to have hooks there and hang things instead."
The next night or so the stovetop came out along with a few more feet of built in countertop. The wiring was shot underneath and even if we got it fixed we knew it wouldn't pass muster that close to the sink in a commercial kitchen. Once we finished tearing everything out, only the sink and a little counterspace around it remained with the storage space underneath for cleaning supplies.
For a few days after that I started to make a pile of things that could safely be stored in the barn until we had room for them/cleaned out the barn. (Who knows what kind of treasures I'm going to find in five years...) Opie & Reid hauled everything out to the barn one night and we finally looked like we were getting somewhere.
The next project was Reid's "weight room" It took up a quarter of the basement and was in the half we planned to use as part of kitchen storage/Southern Scratch office area. Before we (actually just Reid-no way I can lift 80 pound dumbells. Oh how I love his country boy biceps...) could move all that we had to find a place for the two twin beds I brought to our union. In Warm Springs I had a dormer room which fit my grandmother's two white twin beds just perfectly. Here though we really didn't have a great place for them. The guest bedroom had my queen bed already in it along with a desk/printer for Southern Scratch (and still more boxes).
Somehow I made space for them in the guest bedroom and with the help of a ton of underbed storage boxes managed to
Finally we had everything we could moved out, moved over and cleaned up. I bleached the concrete floors and shop-vac'd everything, multiple times. Then we started painting.
It started out as kind of a fun job. The change from cinderblocks to white changed the whole look. It could see it being transformed from a dark basement to a white washed Grecian island abode (a la the set in Mama Mia!). After about an hour of painting, and going over the blocks several time since the paint seemed to just soak in and disappear, I stepped back and looked at my job. And realized I had painted maybe 3 square feet in all. I couldn't believe how slowly it was going but I guess since the cinderblocks had never been painted before they just soaked up the paint like a sponge.
Meanwhile my mom asked about the twin beds and possibly using them in her house. They were also redecorating and thought they would be perfect for a grandchild room. She knew we were struggling with where to put all the furniture and I gladly told her she could come up and haul everything except our toothbrushes away if she wanted! I was so sick of not having living SPACE. (At one time i think I even contemplated just moving everything out to the barn and slowly allowing things back in one at a time. I think I didn't because I was afraid we would love having nothing in the house too much and end up being uber crazy minimalists with no TV and no couch). They also had the fridge from my Warm Springs house in the warehouse to bring to us. I told my mom to just pretend she was doing missionary work and come on up.
So I did what every sneaky little daughter does and bought a couple 5 gallons of Kilz white primer and extra paintbrushes/rollers for their visit. I made sure there was plenty of food on hand and by the end of the weekend Reid and my dad had finished the walls of the future kitchen. They left the fridge with us and disappointingly only brought the rug back with them which was not the big furniture purge we had hoped for. (But looking back probably good we didn't just up and give away everything we had to sit on or eat off of in our house).
The following week the guys from South Star came out and ran the LP line. With a sink, an oven and a fridge all ready to go we were almost ready to start baking. We moved my desk back downstairs (this mammoth white thing I built in college when I got my first power drill) as well as a china cabinet (repurposed as a ribbon & gift packaging storage area) and shelves (that I built from old cabinets also repurposed as a cookbook/display containers storage area).
After another oh-so-romantic trip to Sam's, we had a couple more stainless rolling work tables and some storage & stainless baking racks. It was finally beginning to look like a real working kitchen! Luckily it was just in time for our first non-family houseguests...
In part 4: Housekeepers, humidity & hygrometers....
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Grown Up Christmas Gifts & Vacuum Cleaners
This is kind of "off-topic" in the sequential kitchen development posts but I thought it was too funny. I got an email from my parents santa last night sent to my siblings and me about ideas for Christmas gifts for us this year. I love my family. They make me belly laugh just like my friends do. (So this may not seem quite as funny as it did to me!). Anyway, here's the original email:
Santa would like to bring some surprises to the Bussey children - this is
what Santa is considering:
luggage (light weight and easy to pack like what he brought Kathryn and
Reid last year)
new mattress and box springs and/or bedding
vacuum cleaner
ski attire
do any of these ideas get you excited? Are there other items that Santa
should know about? Please help Santa by responding to this email with your
preferences
I guess you are officially a grown-up when "necessities" become exciting. (Actually all of these items are really luxuries in most cases just kind of more utilitarian luxuries).
And if anyone is looking to buy a vacuum cleaner, do as my mother told me and only buy a really good one. I took her advice: I borrowed a friends and used a broom until I could go to the Oreck store and pick out my beauty. The way I see it this is good advice on three counts:
1.) You have a lifetime guarantee and annual "tune-ups" are included so you will never have to buy another vacuum cleaner again.
2.) If you haven't been using your vacuum cleaner as much as you should have then you can just set it out when company comes over. Then your company is pretty sure you are really serious about housekeeping but just got tied up cooking dinner for them or saving small children.
3.) When the luster of the new vacuum wears off and your company figures you out, then you can hire a housekeeper who will enjoy getting to use an awesome (instead of poorly crafted and powerless) vacuum cleaner and make your home look as nice as your cleaning supplies.
On that note, I'm going to go start baking cookies...and put aside some for Santa.
What is Santa bringing to you this Christmas?
Santa would like to bring some surprises to the Bussey children - this is
what Santa is considering:
luggage (light weight and easy to pack like what he brought Kathryn and
Reid last year)
new mattress and box springs and/or bedding
vacuum cleaner
ski attire
do any of these ideas get you excited? Are there other items that Santa
should know about? Please help Santa by responding to this email with your
preferences
I guess you are officially a grown-up when "necessities" become exciting. (Actually all of these items are really luxuries in most cases just kind of more utilitarian luxuries).
And if anyone is looking to buy a vacuum cleaner, do as my mother told me and only buy a really good one. I took her advice: I borrowed a friends and used a broom until I could go to the Oreck store and pick out my beauty. The way I see it this is good advice on three counts:
1.) You have a lifetime guarantee and annual "tune-ups" are included so you will never have to buy another vacuum cleaner again.
2.) If you haven't been using your vacuum cleaner as much as you should have then you can just set it out when company comes over. Then your company is pretty sure you are really serious about housekeeping but just got tied up cooking dinner for them or saving small children.
3.) When the luster of the new vacuum wears off and your company figures you out, then you can hire a housekeeper who will enjoy getting to use an awesome (instead of poorly crafted and powerless) vacuum cleaner and make your home look as nice as your cleaning supplies.
On that note, I'm going to go start baking cookies...and put aside some for Santa.
What is Santa bringing to you this Christmas?
Monday, December 6, 2010
Our Kitchen Evolution: Part 2
So the very first market we baked everything in our home kitchen with the dented oven. The first batch of cookies I made in it burned, which I think is some kind of universal law of using a new or unfamiliar oven. I still so clearly remember that very first morning. I was going by myself to the market because Reid was going to stay here for the yard sale (i.e. combining 2 houses into one, so pick the better one of each and sell the other sale. Conveniently most of my stuff was still in boxes and not sold.) I had only been down to the Washington market once the previous summer before the 4th of July party and wasn't completely sure what to expect. I also wasn't completely sure what time it opened so I thought my 6:30 am leave time from the house was really late for a Farmer's Market.
We still had basically the same kitchen set up for the next market except by this time our new oven had arrived. By then I knew the market didn't officially start until 9am and Reid went with me which was way more fun than being there alone. I had more ingredients than I normally would have on hand in my own kitchen but everything still fit just fine in the pantry (which was another big clean out-repaint-repurpose back to pantry from closet project). After the second market, Reid and I realized the big thing we were missing down there was hot coffee. (Well, we missed not being able to sip on coffee Saturday morning so we figured everyone else must feel the same way!)
So after the second market we went on our first "Southern Scratch" shopping trip to Sam's. As a card carrying big box club shopping member since high school (on my parent's membership) to being single with my own card (justifying it because of organic spring mix and individual portion size containers of half and half), I was super excited to finally be shopping for a kind-of-sort-of-almost real "small business."
Oh what fun was to be had. All the commercial boxes of things like 3,000 feet of aluminum foil and 1,000 count sheets of wax paper were finally something I would feasibly need for the market. I threw some more half sheet baking pans in the cart along with a box of a hundred or more coffee cups and I think a box of 500 coffee lids. The trip was even more fun when our joint fascination with people watching was indulged over a piece of pizza and big 32 oz. cokes analyzing (judging) the contents of shopping carts. (Kind of hypocrital but we called it "food anthropology research" on what was really "date night" instead.)
I tried making space for the boxes in the pantry but then it made it harder to fit all the bags of flour and half gallon of baking powder on the shelves too. I also had pulled out extra pink tulle ribbon, glassine bags & labels leftover from our wedding to the dining room table for packaging up treats. Pretty quickly the entire upstairs had a little Southern Scratch on it.
So I went to Fred's and was super excited to find big plastic totes in turquoise. Ah-ha! These would be perfect. I bought five of them and then ran home to label them (so organized, right?) by category of all the things we needed to bake/set-up for the market. The boxes were labeled:
1.) Ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, etc.)
2.) Coffee cups & lids
3.) Cake plates
4.) Gift packaging (ribbon, bags, scissors, etc.)
5.) Tablecloths, spatulas, etc.
My plan was to keep everything in the boxes stacked up neatly at the foot of the stairs and then bring them upstairs on Thursday or Friday when I started baking for the market. Then after the market Saturday I would make sure everything was in it's right box and it would be out sight again.
Well, remember what I said in the last post about organizing things then not following the organization system? Case in point here. It ended up that I did manage to get things back in their boxes, but the boxes always stayed upstairs. And the gift packaging supplies moved to our guest bedroom where I had set up a desk and my printer after another order from Nashville Wraps and Sam Flax. And our dining room table (thank goodness for those thick mat things that go over them) was constantly overrun by flour bags and things like 3,000 foot aluminum foil rolls.
At this point Reid put up with so much from me. (He still does). Here he had married this girl who had said she was going to take a little while off work "to get the house set up so we could live happily ever after with home cooked meals and clean laundry" and now he is coming home to the inside of a bakery/office upstairs and his man basement covered in this girl's furniture and moving boxes. To top it off, I'm asking him to do things like wrap brownies up individually or put pink labels on pound cakes and stay up all hours baking on Friday nights instead of him relaxing after a long week at work. Oh, and the amazing number of dishes he has washed for me instead of going fishing.
We both knew we couldn't cook from our house forever but also knew we didn't want to take a huge risk and open up any kind of storefront until we a) knew where we were headed and b.) knew where we were headed. Still, living inside my biggest project yet was overwhelming. Even though the "facilities" were adequate to do the comparatively small amount of baking and cooking we were doing, it invaded our living area. We slowly started to realize we might really be able to build up a little business if we stuck with it, but we had to find somewhere else to do our little business.
In mid July was when I think we reached our peak of craziness.
Reid's "second mama" Angie was putting together a benefit which included selling tickets for meal plates. We were so excited to be a part of it and get to make the plates up which included from scratch lasagna (noodles, sauce from locally grown tomatoes, etc.), salad with homemade dressing, yeast rolls and brownies. The benefit plates were for Saturday afternoon so we planned to do a small market in the morning then head over to the benefit.
I did the brownies and made up ranch dressing on Thursday. Friday I started on the lasagna. Anyone who has roasted forty or fifty pounds of tomatoes, then made sauce from them knows you are bound to get some everywhere. And with the flour of rolling out noodles and mixing up big bowls of ricotta cheese, organic spinach and cage free eggs, we had quite an operation going on. We set up all of our folding tables plus a baking rack (that we had traded for meals) in the kitchen with the sofa pushed back against the organ. (Because everyone has an antique organ in their kitchen, right?) So once the lasagnas were completely assembled we brought those, the salad fixings, and the brownies over to Lori's house close to where the benefit would end. They would be out of town and had a great big refrigerator so we could fit all the pans, etc. in them. (We still just had our one fridge and otherwise would have had to skip the market and just make lasagna all morning...which it's always better anyway if you let the flavors kind of ripen together first so it worked out perfectly).
That morning we went to the market with cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, scones, cakes and other goodies we had baked in the midnight to 8am time frame from dropping off lasagna and start of time to set up for market. I left early around 10ish to head back to our house and make yeast rolls for the plates. We had the rack still set up (tables were at the market) and all the sitting furniture pushed up against this organ save for one chair that swivvles that someone could turn and squeeze into. The oriental rug (which never even had a chance in this house before I sent it back to my mother's house after having a year long love affair with it in my little cottage) was still rolled up against the wall too. Laundry was left in a forlorn pile in front of the door to the laundry room. Dishes that didn't make the Friday night cut-off to get washed were (somewhat) neatly stacked in those plastic dish bussing tubs closer to the other side of the room. The dining table was covered in cellophane, tulle,a stack of receipts and display containers that didn't make it to the market. If they didn't know better I'm sure a passerby would have probably called the police and reported a break-in.
So by 12:30 I was deep in yeast dough with some dough resting, some rising, some baking and some still letting the yeast mix with warm milk and sugar first. One thing I learned working at the donut shop in college was that you shouldn't be stingy with your floured surface when working with yeast dough. So stingy I wasn't and thus had flour covering my stainless table and the floor around my stainless table which fell off when you rolled out dough. On one hand I felt like a half crazy housewife who had gotten herself in way too deep, but on the other hand I felt kind of like an accomplished baker who could make fifteen dozen yeast rolls at once.
Watching the clock I thought "Wow-we are really going to be able to pull this off! After I get home and get a nap I'm going to spend the next few days getting my kitchen back to normal and maybe then we could invite some friends or neighbors over."
Well, as if she had been somehow psychic summoned with my wish to have company over eventually, my neighbor showed up. And not the ones from next door who had been in and out of our house and loved us anyway. But our neighbor from a few houses down on an adjacent street who I had only met a couple times pre-wedding when she helped us do our registry in town at Bee Southern. I heard the car pull up, realized it wasn't Reid, and froze. Then the knock on the door. I quickly calculated that it was too late to just duck down and hide and thought "Well, to heck with it." I opened the door and just said "Hey, welcome to our craziness!"
Pam re-introduced herself, gave me a hug even in my flour covered clothes and asked if I needed any help, darlin? She had heard I was doing the benefit plates and also wanted to do a donation. Since she just lived around the corner she came over to put in her order and just check on us. I didn't need any help at the moment (and wasn't bold enough to put her to work washing dishes!) so just invited her to come sit for a while, apologizing profusely for the house. She found the only chair, made herself at home, and made me feel a million times better about the whole state of affairs going on. She actually made me feel more comfortable in my own home and for that immediately endeared herself to me. It was like my own mom telling me "everything would be fine and that it takes years to set up your house the way you want it." (A month later her husband would teach me how to fry onion rings properly and endear himself to me too! Pam still gets the award for being in our house at "peak crazy time," and like our other neighbors Opie & Michelle, I think she still loves us anyway!)
Late that afternoon, across town, Reid and I ended up getting all the plates ready on time with piping hot lasagna, fresh yeast rolls and even some homegrown veggies from the market that morning with the salad. Although we were pretty exhuasted, Reid and I kept saying to each other "We did it. Now we know the two of us can make 120 lasagna plates from scratch. We did it!!" It was definitely a fun moment and great learning experience for us. And one thing we learned was that we had to get Southern Scratch out of our kitchen/living room/dining room as soon as possible!
After getting some rest we got the kitchen cleaned up but left the furniture as it was. On Monday we started ripping things off the wall in the basement for our new dedicated Southern Scratch kitchen...
Next: Priming cinder blocks, August humidity & more stainless kitchen equipment...
We still had basically the same kitchen set up for the next market except by this time our new oven had arrived. By then I knew the market didn't officially start until 9am and Reid went with me which was way more fun than being there alone. I had more ingredients than I normally would have on hand in my own kitchen but everything still fit just fine in the pantry (which was another big clean out-repaint-repurpose back to pantry from closet project). After the second market, Reid and I realized the big thing we were missing down there was hot coffee. (Well, we missed not being able to sip on coffee Saturday morning so we figured everyone else must feel the same way!)
So after the second market we went on our first "Southern Scratch" shopping trip to Sam's. As a card carrying big box club shopping member since high school (on my parent's membership) to being single with my own card (justifying it because of organic spring mix and individual portion size containers of half and half), I was super excited to finally be shopping for a kind-of-sort-of-almost real "small business."
Oh what fun was to be had. All the commercial boxes of things like 3,000 feet of aluminum foil and 1,000 count sheets of wax paper were finally something I would feasibly need for the market. I threw some more half sheet baking pans in the cart along with a box of a hundred or more coffee cups and I think a box of 500 coffee lids. The trip was even more fun when our joint fascination with people watching was indulged over a piece of pizza and big 32 oz. cokes analyzing (judging) the contents of shopping carts. (Kind of hypocrital but we called it "food anthropology research" on what was really "date night" instead.)
I tried making space for the boxes in the pantry but then it made it harder to fit all the bags of flour and half gallon of baking powder on the shelves too. I also had pulled out extra pink tulle ribbon, glassine bags & labels leftover from our wedding to the dining room table for packaging up treats. Pretty quickly the entire upstairs had a little Southern Scratch on it.
So I went to Fred's and was super excited to find big plastic totes in turquoise. Ah-ha! These would be perfect. I bought five of them and then ran home to label them (so organized, right?) by category of all the things we needed to bake/set-up for the market. The boxes were labeled:
1.) Ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, etc.)
2.) Coffee cups & lids
3.) Cake plates
4.) Gift packaging (ribbon, bags, scissors, etc.)
5.) Tablecloths, spatulas, etc.
My plan was to keep everything in the boxes stacked up neatly at the foot of the stairs and then bring them upstairs on Thursday or Friday when I started baking for the market. Then after the market Saturday I would make sure everything was in it's right box and it would be out sight again.
Well, remember what I said in the last post about organizing things then not following the organization system? Case in point here. It ended up that I did manage to get things back in their boxes, but the boxes always stayed upstairs. And the gift packaging supplies moved to our guest bedroom where I had set up a desk and my printer after another order from Nashville Wraps and Sam Flax. And our dining room table (thank goodness for those thick mat things that go over them) was constantly overrun by flour bags and things like 3,000 foot aluminum foil rolls.
At this point Reid put up with so much from me. (He still does). Here he had married this girl who had said she was going to take a little while off work "to get the house set up so we could live happily ever after with home cooked meals and clean laundry" and now he is coming home to the inside of a bakery/office upstairs and his man basement covered in this girl's furniture and moving boxes. To top it off, I'm asking him to do things like wrap brownies up individually or put pink labels on pound cakes and stay up all hours baking on Friday nights instead of him relaxing after a long week at work. Oh, and the amazing number of dishes he has washed for me instead of going fishing.
We both knew we couldn't cook from our house forever but also knew we didn't want to take a huge risk and open up any kind of storefront until we a) knew where we were headed and b.) knew where we were headed. Still, living inside my biggest project yet was overwhelming. Even though the "facilities" were adequate to do the comparatively small amount of baking and cooking we were doing, it invaded our living area. We slowly started to realize we might really be able to build up a little business if we stuck with it, but we had to find somewhere else to do our little business.
In mid July was when I think we reached our peak of craziness.
Reid's "second mama" Angie was putting together a benefit which included selling tickets for meal plates. We were so excited to be a part of it and get to make the plates up which included from scratch lasagna (noodles, sauce from locally grown tomatoes, etc.), salad with homemade dressing, yeast rolls and brownies. The benefit plates were for Saturday afternoon so we planned to do a small market in the morning then head over to the benefit.
I did the brownies and made up ranch dressing on Thursday. Friday I started on the lasagna. Anyone who has roasted forty or fifty pounds of tomatoes, then made sauce from them knows you are bound to get some everywhere. And with the flour of rolling out noodles and mixing up big bowls of ricotta cheese, organic spinach and cage free eggs, we had quite an operation going on. We set up all of our folding tables plus a baking rack (that we had traded for meals) in the kitchen with the sofa pushed back against the organ. (Because everyone has an antique organ in their kitchen, right?) So once the lasagnas were completely assembled we brought those, the salad fixings, and the brownies over to Lori's house close to where the benefit would end. They would be out of town and had a great big refrigerator so we could fit all the pans, etc. in them. (We still just had our one fridge and otherwise would have had to skip the market and just make lasagna all morning...which it's always better anyway if you let the flavors kind of ripen together first so it worked out perfectly).
That morning we went to the market with cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, scones, cakes and other goodies we had baked in the midnight to 8am time frame from dropping off lasagna and start of time to set up for market. I left early around 10ish to head back to our house and make yeast rolls for the plates. We had the rack still set up (tables were at the market) and all the sitting furniture pushed up against this organ save for one chair that swivvles that someone could turn and squeeze into. The oriental rug (which never even had a chance in this house before I sent it back to my mother's house after having a year long love affair with it in my little cottage) was still rolled up against the wall too. Laundry was left in a forlorn pile in front of the door to the laundry room. Dishes that didn't make the Friday night cut-off to get washed were (somewhat) neatly stacked in those plastic dish bussing tubs closer to the other side of the room. The dining table was covered in cellophane, tulle,a stack of receipts and display containers that didn't make it to the market. If they didn't know better I'm sure a passerby would have probably called the police and reported a break-in.
So by 12:30 I was deep in yeast dough with some dough resting, some rising, some baking and some still letting the yeast mix with warm milk and sugar first. One thing I learned working at the donut shop in college was that you shouldn't be stingy with your floured surface when working with yeast dough. So stingy I wasn't and thus had flour covering my stainless table and the floor around my stainless table which fell off when you rolled out dough. On one hand I felt like a half crazy housewife who had gotten herself in way too deep, but on the other hand I felt kind of like an accomplished baker who could make fifteen dozen yeast rolls at once.
Watching the clock I thought "Wow-we are really going to be able to pull this off! After I get home and get a nap I'm going to spend the next few days getting my kitchen back to normal and maybe then we could invite some friends or neighbors over."
Well, as if she had been somehow psychic summoned with my wish to have company over eventually, my neighbor showed up. And not the ones from next door who had been in and out of our house and loved us anyway. But our neighbor from a few houses down on an adjacent street who I had only met a couple times pre-wedding when she helped us do our registry in town at Bee Southern. I heard the car pull up, realized it wasn't Reid, and froze. Then the knock on the door. I quickly calculated that it was too late to just duck down and hide and thought "Well, to heck with it." I opened the door and just said "Hey, welcome to our craziness!"
Pam re-introduced herself, gave me a hug even in my flour covered clothes and asked if I needed any help, darlin? She had heard I was doing the benefit plates and also wanted to do a donation. Since she just lived around the corner she came over to put in her order and just check on us. I didn't need any help at the moment (and wasn't bold enough to put her to work washing dishes!) so just invited her to come sit for a while, apologizing profusely for the house. She found the only chair, made herself at home, and made me feel a million times better about the whole state of affairs going on. She actually made me feel more comfortable in my own home and for that immediately endeared herself to me. It was like my own mom telling me "everything would be fine and that it takes years to set up your house the way you want it." (A month later her husband would teach me how to fry onion rings properly and endear himself to me too! Pam still gets the award for being in our house at "peak crazy time," and like our other neighbors Opie & Michelle, I think she still loves us anyway!)
Late that afternoon, across town, Reid and I ended up getting all the plates ready on time with piping hot lasagna, fresh yeast rolls and even some homegrown veggies from the market that morning with the salad. Although we were pretty exhuasted, Reid and I kept saying to each other "We did it. Now we know the two of us can make 120 lasagna plates from scratch. We did it!!" It was definitely a fun moment and great learning experience for us. And one thing we learned was that we had to get Southern Scratch out of our kitchen/living room/dining room as soon as possible!
After getting some rest we got the kitchen cleaned up but left the furniture as it was. On Monday we started ripping things off the wall in the basement for our new dedicated Southern Scratch kitchen...
Next: Priming cinder blocks, August humidity & more stainless kitchen equipment...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Our Kitchen Evolution: Part One
Reid and I met on a Monday night. He came over for a dinner party I was having two days later on a Wednesday night. And on that Friday night he called me Kathryn Bussey...Filipiak.
So on my first visit to Washington a month or so later I had no qualms to go ahead and get started on what we were both pretty sure was my future kitchen. I am not the best at what they call "home maintenence" but I do love a big home project. (I think they probably have some diagnosis for people who really like organizing things but then don't follow their system so it's still...unorganized?). And his kitchen was a really big project. Luckily Reid trusted me because he willingly took five trash bags to the dump of things I deemed not fit for the kitchen without even asking questions. This included the usual like going through the fridge and pantry and tossing anything expired. It also included a massive plastic elimination-I hate anything plastic in a kitchen. (You shouldn't heat things up in them or use them scratched so I just use glass for any storage containers/leftovers like Pyrex or Anchorware). And all the butter tubs and yogurt containers? Tossed.
I then ran all the surviving dinnerware through the dishwasher (many loads) and separated them. After a good ShopVac on the remaining space we had made great progress. Reid eventually finished the job after I had gone back home and it was a big step in the right direction.
A few months after that I decided to host a Fourth of July party at his house. I ended up with a five day weekend so we had fun getting everything together for the party. I replaced some of the things hanging above the cabinets with patriotic flair which was another improvement. (This is also the trip when I put the first coat on the bathroom to cover up the wallpaper because as they always say "If you have a clean bathroom and clean kitchen people will forgive everything else.") The only caveat to planning the menu for the party was that I couldn't make anything that would have to go in the oven. Because Reid didn't have a working oven. (He said he would just dig a hole in the ground if he needed to bake anything..you know, like squirrel.)
Well a little while later on Labor Day weekend we got engaged and any of my kitchen/house renovating projects went on the backburner planning a wedding.
So when Reid lifted me over the threshold intohis our house, we had no oven. For the first month or so I cooked using a plug in skillet and a toaster oven. Luckily we had gotten a great bread maker and a panini press for wedding gifts so we pretty much just ate fancy sandwiches for dinner most nights.
We started looking at ovens as soon as I finally got everything moved in. After a couple romantic trips to Lowe's and hours searching online we found exactly what we wanted: 5 burners, warming drawer, gas, professional level but not a huge commercial range. We ordered it from a place in New York and I was sooo excited when it finally arrived. Then bummed when it had a dent in it and the warming drawer didn't work. The people told us to just start using it and they would send a replacement.
So we did. And this was the first oven we used to bake for the very first market!
A few weeks later, our replacement oven came. When the delivery guys from New York dropped the new one off, they conveniently didn't take the other one. We were ecstatic even though we were still pretty sure someone would show up at the house to get it but after seven or eight months I don't think they're coming for it...
Next stage: Crazy upstairs kitchen and Southern Scratch in boxes...
So on my first visit to Washington a month or so later I had no qualms to go ahead and get started on what we were both pretty sure was my future kitchen. I am not the best at what they call "home maintenence" but I do love a big home project. (I think they probably have some diagnosis for people who really like organizing things but then don't follow their system so it's still...unorganized?). And his kitchen was a really big project. Luckily Reid trusted me because he willingly took five trash bags to the dump of things I deemed not fit for the kitchen without even asking questions. This included the usual like going through the fridge and pantry and tossing anything expired. It also included a massive plastic elimination-I hate anything plastic in a kitchen. (You shouldn't heat things up in them or use them scratched so I just use glass for any storage containers/leftovers like Pyrex or Anchorware). And all the butter tubs and yogurt containers? Tossed.
I then ran all the surviving dinnerware through the dishwasher (many loads) and separated them. After a good ShopVac on the remaining space we had made great progress. Reid eventually finished the job after I had gone back home and it was a big step in the right direction.
A few months after that I decided to host a Fourth of July party at his house. I ended up with a five day weekend so we had fun getting everything together for the party. I replaced some of the things hanging above the cabinets with patriotic flair which was another improvement. (This is also the trip when I put the first coat on the bathroom to cover up the wallpaper because as they always say "If you have a clean bathroom and clean kitchen people will forgive everything else.") The only caveat to planning the menu for the party was that I couldn't make anything that would have to go in the oven. Because Reid didn't have a working oven. (He said he would just dig a hole in the ground if he needed to bake anything..you know, like squirrel.)
Well a little while later on Labor Day weekend we got engaged and any of my kitchen/house renovating projects went on the backburner planning a wedding.
So when Reid lifted me over the threshold into
We started looking at ovens as soon as I finally got everything moved in. After a couple romantic trips to Lowe's and hours searching online we found exactly what we wanted: 5 burners, warming drawer, gas, professional level but not a huge commercial range. We ordered it from a place in New York and I was sooo excited when it finally arrived. Then bummed when it had a dent in it and the warming drawer didn't work. The people told us to just start using it and they would send a replacement.
So we did. And this was the first oven we used to bake for the very first market!
A few weeks later, our replacement oven came. When the delivery guys from New York dropped the new one off, they conveniently didn't take the other one. We were ecstatic even though we were still pretty sure someone would show up at the house to get it but after seven or eight months I don't think they're coming for it...
Next stage: Crazy upstairs kitchen and Southern Scratch in boxes...
Monday, November 29, 2010
Why I Have Four Bars of Artisan Chocolate in My Glove Compartment.
Reid always says he doesn't like sweets. He is mostly telling the truth. Of the breakfast goodies I bake for the market he always eats a blue cheese green onion and grit scone (which I put off to the side for him) but turns his nose up at a cinnamon roll. He doesn't really eat ice cream (much to my dismay) and, sin of all sins here in Georgia, he prefers unsweetened tea.
So I was really surprised when, after several months of dating, Reid got back into the car from the gas station with a Hershey's chocolate almond bar. I'm not even sure if I knew then that he even liked chocolate so was of course really excited to find out Reid had a little bit of a fat kid inside of him too.
Last Wednesday before Thanksgiving I had to drive to Athens to find a few organic ingredients I couldn't get in Washington. I needed to get in and out of Earthfare quickly (dodging the other customers carrying their free range turkeys) but I also felt I needed to make the trip "worth it" for more than my few items. Since we would be driving a little over five hours I thought I'd surprise Reid with a little chocolate sampler for the trip.
Neither one of us eat a ton of fast food so we usually pack up little gourmet picnics for the trip. This trip we just started out with coffee, some yogurt/granola for breakfast and of course, my secret chocolate stash. A few hours in we did a preliminary sampling: a Black&Green organic hazelnut/currant/72% cacoa; an Escazu pumpkin seed and guajillo chile/74% cacoa; an XOXO dark chocolate & crystallized ginger and lastly a dark chocolate coconut truffle bar whose brand I can't remember.
We agreed the coconut truffle bar was the best on the first tasting. On our way back we had a little bag of brown butter pecan shortbread from the treats I brought to Thanksgiving and then tried all the chocolates again along with fresh coffee at the first Starbucks we found across the Georgia line (which happened to be in a Target on Black Friday...). From that I leaned a little toward the pumpkin/chile. I like ginger/chocolate combo in cookies or scones but not so much straight up like the bar.
Today I drove up to the Happy Cow Creamery for butter (delicious, big rolls of grass fed butter), milk and cream cheese. On the way home I started to look around for a little something to eat in my car thinking I may have a Larabar left. (We were introduced to these in Boulder and love them!). Then I remembered the chocolate bars we had left. (The benefit to buying weird flavors of chocolate is that a little bit really does satisfy you so they last a long time). I gave the hazelnut/currant another try and it was perfect this go round.
Anyway, I think when it stops raining I'm going to bring the rest of the chocolate inside. Luckily it's nearly December and not August or we would have an odd hazelnut/guajillo/pumpkin/currant/coconut/ginger melting pot on top of the car instruction manual, insurance info, nail polish remover and the extra napkins.
I think the next time the two of us are on the road will be during Christmas...so if anyone has some great chocolate suggestions to add to my fancy chocolate compartment collection let us know!
So I was really surprised when, after several months of dating, Reid got back into the car from the gas station with a Hershey's chocolate almond bar. I'm not even sure if I knew then that he even liked chocolate so was of course really excited to find out Reid had a little bit of a fat kid inside of him too.
Last Wednesday before Thanksgiving I had to drive to Athens to find a few organic ingredients I couldn't get in Washington. I needed to get in and out of Earthfare quickly (dodging the other customers carrying their free range turkeys) but I also felt I needed to make the trip "worth it" for more than my few items. Since we would be driving a little over five hours I thought I'd surprise Reid with a little chocolate sampler for the trip.
Neither one of us eat a ton of fast food so we usually pack up little gourmet picnics for the trip. This trip we just started out with coffee, some yogurt/granola for breakfast and of course, my secret chocolate stash. A few hours in we did a preliminary sampling: a Black&Green organic hazelnut/currant/72% cacoa; an Escazu pumpkin seed and guajillo chile/74% cacoa; an XOXO dark chocolate & crystallized ginger and lastly a dark chocolate coconut truffle bar whose brand I can't remember.
We agreed the coconut truffle bar was the best on the first tasting. On our way back we had a little bag of brown butter pecan shortbread from the treats I brought to Thanksgiving and then tried all the chocolates again along with fresh coffee at the first Starbucks we found across the Georgia line (which happened to be in a Target on Black Friday...). From that I leaned a little toward the pumpkin/chile. I like ginger/chocolate combo in cookies or scones but not so much straight up like the bar.
Today I drove up to the Happy Cow Creamery for butter (delicious, big rolls of grass fed butter), milk and cream cheese. On the way home I started to look around for a little something to eat in my car thinking I may have a Larabar left. (We were introduced to these in Boulder and love them!). Then I remembered the chocolate bars we had left. (The benefit to buying weird flavors of chocolate is that a little bit really does satisfy you so they last a long time). I gave the hazelnut/currant another try and it was perfect this go round.
Anyway, I think when it stops raining I'm going to bring the rest of the chocolate inside. Luckily it's nearly December and not August or we would have an odd hazelnut/guajillo/pumpkin/currant/coconut/ginger melting pot on top of the car instruction manual, insurance info, nail polish remover and the extra napkins.
I think the next time the two of us are on the road will be during Christmas...so if anyone has some great chocolate suggestions to add to my fancy chocolate compartment collection let us know!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
My Favorite Food Network Celebrity and Her All Stainless & White Kitchen Appliances.
So I just saw that Google's doodle was done by Ina Garten today. I've strongly considered getting a TV solely for the purpose of watching Barefoot Contessa. I know favorite Food Network celebrities can trigger hot debate, but who doesn't want to live in the Hamptons in the middle of their kitchen garden, be best friends with a chocolatier and have their friends over for lunch on their yacht every day?
In one of the aforementioned times of inwardly debating the "TV for news and Food Network purposes" issue, I just googled Ina instead. (I'm pretty sure deep down if I didn't have a "real job" AND had a TV in the house I could very quickly own only mu-mu's, develop a serious potato chip habit and be sucked in to every daytime soap & telenovela that was on air). I ended up finding an interview with her about kitchen design. Dreaming of someday having a dream kitchen someday, I took copious notes while thinking what a genius Ina was. (I like saying "Ina" as if we actually know each other in real life. One can dream.) Now, I have no idea where those notes are, if they survived the move, but I do remember having a ton of "ah-ha!" moments. But when I've finally got my laptop back and am somewhere other than the middle of the country with sketchy at best internet service (but improved today by our fixed transformer box), I plan to re-watch the interview.
I have been thinking a lot lately about good, functional kitchen design both for the Southern Scratch kitchen as well as our home kitchen. The great thing about the interview was that Ina's advice works for both a commercial kitchen where baking and cooking are going on all the time or for the home cook who wants a streamlined space to get dinner out fast.
One of the most memorable thing she said was how she only uses stainless or white kitchen utensils and appliances. She noted that colorful spatulas and mixing bowls may look pretty but if you have twenty different colored items, it can make a working kitchen (i.e. when you're getting ready for a dinner party) look cluttered and messy. If you stick with one color (and you can find nearly everything in white or stainless), the room automatically looks "put together" even if you've got a floured work surface, pots on the stove, caserolles in the oven, the mixer going and guests walking in the door. Genius Ina. Just genius.
I try to remember that tip whenever I'm drawn to turquoise spatulas or pink handled whisks for the Southern Scratch kitchen to go all matchy with our Waste Not Paper labels. And while I did give in and register for lemongrass colored Fiesta for our everyday china, we got rid of any and all other plates, mugs, etc. so we still have a monochrome look in our home kitchen. (Which is really important since the eager home renovater I am took off all our kitchen cabinet doors the day we got back from our honeymoon and haven't made good progress on getting them back up or painted like I had planned...oh sigh.)
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you live in Washington, plan to come by the market Saturday morning between 8-till we sell out right behind the courthouse. We are going to have a good little selection of our best breakfast items for anyone that wants to get out of the house before the football games start or bring your kids by to come pick out a freshly made cinnamon roll! (We totally allow footie pajamas at the market).
In one of the aforementioned times of inwardly debating the "TV for news and Food Network purposes" issue, I just googled Ina instead. (I'm pretty sure deep down if I didn't have a "real job" AND had a TV in the house I could very quickly own only mu-mu's, develop a serious potato chip habit and be sucked in to every daytime soap & telenovela that was on air). I ended up finding an interview with her about kitchen design. Dreaming of someday having a dream kitchen someday, I took copious notes while thinking what a genius Ina was. (I like saying "Ina" as if we actually know each other in real life. One can dream.) Now, I have no idea where those notes are, if they survived the move, but I do remember having a ton of "ah-ha!" moments. But when I've finally got my laptop back and am somewhere other than the middle of the country with sketchy at best internet service (but improved today by our fixed transformer box), I plan to re-watch the interview.
I have been thinking a lot lately about good, functional kitchen design both for the Southern Scratch kitchen as well as our home kitchen. The great thing about the interview was that Ina's advice works for both a commercial kitchen where baking and cooking are going on all the time or for the home cook who wants a streamlined space to get dinner out fast.
One of the most memorable thing she said was how she only uses stainless or white kitchen utensils and appliances. She noted that colorful spatulas and mixing bowls may look pretty but if you have twenty different colored items, it can make a working kitchen (i.e. when you're getting ready for a dinner party) look cluttered and messy. If you stick with one color (and you can find nearly everything in white or stainless), the room automatically looks "put together" even if you've got a floured work surface, pots on the stove, caserolles in the oven, the mixer going and guests walking in the door. Genius Ina. Just genius.
I try to remember that tip whenever I'm drawn to turquoise spatulas or pink handled whisks for the Southern Scratch kitchen to go all matchy with our Waste Not Paper labels. And while I did give in and register for lemongrass colored Fiesta for our everyday china, we got rid of any and all other plates, mugs, etc. so we still have a monochrome look in our home kitchen. (Which is really important since the eager home renovater I am took off all our kitchen cabinet doors the day we got back from our honeymoon and haven't made good progress on getting them back up or painted like I had planned...oh sigh.)
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you live in Washington, plan to come by the market Saturday morning between 8-till we sell out right behind the courthouse. We are going to have a good little selection of our best breakfast items for anyone that wants to get out of the house before the football games start or bring your kids by to come pick out a freshly made cinnamon roll! (We totally allow footie pajamas at the market).
Another Reason Why I Love Reid and a Weight Loss Tip All in the Same.
I realized yesterday that Reid and I had been married a grand total of eight months on Saturday. So basically we know squat about being married. And really, we know squat about each other too. In that time though we have both learned to enjoy the little quirks each of us have that we didn't notice when we were all love-struck, thinking "let's get married and live out a John Prine song."
Today I had made up a bunch of brown butter pecan shortbread for gift box orders and like a good wife, saved some extra cookies for Reid. After I told him they were his, he took a little nibble then said "Oh wait, these need coffee." So we made a pot of fresh coffee (roasted less than a week ago from 1000 Faces in Athens) just so he could have the "perfect pairing" with the shortbread.
You would be right if you thought the above was a boring little anecdote. But what I loved was that Reid had the patience and appreciation to enjoy his shortbread to the fullest. As he was eating them, all nestled in his chair, he said again how great the two went together. (Our eyes met and this shared passion for really good food just made my little newlywed heart all a-flutter. Oh, what a sophisticated man I married, ripped blue jeans, threadbare t-shirt and discussing the nuances he could taste in non-overroasted coffee. Rwroarr...).
But on a more practical and less lovey-dovey note, the weight management/enjoying life without counting calories aspects were there too. How many people mindlessly eat store bought cookies? Or mindlessly eat even really good cookies without truly enjoying them? Reid wasn't "dieting" but he avoided eating five or six cookies standing up in the kitchen without mentally "registering" them and instead had two small ones sitting down with coffee which he ended up calling dinner because he had enjoyed it so much.
I think having a deep appreciation of food may be the cornerstone of maintaining a healthy weight and building a good relationship with food where it nourishes you physically, emotionally and mentally yet doesn't abuse your feelings, invade all your thoughts or harm your body. I am not a fan of any kind of diet advice during the holidays (or diets ever actually) but Thanksgiving is a great time to practice the art of savoring food for all it's worth. Not the "how much food can I get away with eating this year?" but "how amazing is this homemade butter crust?" Take the time to really taste your family's good food Thursday instead of just chewing your food.
And when it comes time for dessert, definitely make a fresh pot of coffee.
Today I had made up a bunch of brown butter pecan shortbread for gift box orders and like a good wife, saved some extra cookies for Reid. After I told him they were his, he took a little nibble then said "Oh wait, these need coffee." So we made a pot of fresh coffee (roasted less than a week ago from 1000 Faces in Athens) just so he could have the "perfect pairing" with the shortbread.
You would be right if you thought the above was a boring little anecdote. But what I loved was that Reid had the patience and appreciation to enjoy his shortbread to the fullest. As he was eating them, all nestled in his chair, he said again how great the two went together. (Our eyes met and this shared passion for really good food just made my little newlywed heart all a-flutter. Oh, what a sophisticated man I married, ripped blue jeans, threadbare t-shirt and discussing the nuances he could taste in non-overroasted coffee. Rwroarr...).
But on a more practical and less lovey-dovey note, the weight management/enjoying life without counting calories aspects were there too. How many people mindlessly eat store bought cookies? Or mindlessly eat even really good cookies without truly enjoying them? Reid wasn't "dieting" but he avoided eating five or six cookies standing up in the kitchen without mentally "registering" them and instead had two small ones sitting down with coffee which he ended up calling dinner because he had enjoyed it so much.
I think having a deep appreciation of food may be the cornerstone of maintaining a healthy weight and building a good relationship with food where it nourishes you physically, emotionally and mentally yet doesn't abuse your feelings, invade all your thoughts or harm your body. I am not a fan of any kind of diet advice during the holidays (or diets ever actually) but Thanksgiving is a great time to practice the art of savoring food for all it's worth. Not the "how much food can I get away with eating this year?" but "how amazing is this homemade butter crust?" Take the time to really taste your family's good food Thursday instead of just chewing your food.
And when it comes time for dessert, definitely make a fresh pot of coffee.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Country Heads to Town this Holiday Season! Delivery Dates & More!
It seems like just yesterday I was packing up all my Christmas decorations into big plastic totes and labeling them "X-Mas-->Reid's House." Soon after we got engaged and firmly settled on living in Washington after we were married (I did my fair amount of begging and scheming to try to get Reid to work at Roosevelt where I lived but Reid's farm outweighed my little cottage), I started to pre-move. I packed up everything I thought I could live without until the wedding (which you can live without most of the stuff you have apparently) and sent Reid back with boxes every time he came to visit. We still ended up with a massive moving truck a few weeks after the wedding so I'm glad I had started early even if it did mean I still have a lot of random boxes in the barn. (I did spend one last night in my cottage alone after the wedding curled up with my dog, Myra, indulging in Hulu episodes of 30 Rock and Ben & Jerry's knowing it would be the last night ever of living alone. Cherish it single friends. Marriage is awesome but so is not having anyone judge you when you're halfway down a pint without plans to stop too.)
Anyways, it is now the holiday season again. Since our hallway is the only fully painted room in our house, I'm considering setting it up as our sole holiday vignette. Maybe I'll even pull a chair or two in there and make Reid pretend we just live in a 4 x 12 cottage that is decorated to the hilt. Or as if we're celebrating the holiday in a Paris hotel room all romantic-ally. Or like we're struggling grad students living in a tiny dorm room together. (Sidenote to the Lipscomb University student dorm assistants present during the 2003 annual door decorating contest: You know that our "Christmas in Dixie" life size aluminum foil mobile home and clothesline decoration complete with original self portraits in our finest denim cut off skirts and genuine LU parking tickets was the best and Kaitlyn, Steph, Liz and I still kind of hold a grudge against you for awarding us a bag of pork rinds and case of RC cola instead of the $300 gift certificate the girl that decorated with a felt cut-out nativity scene got. And besides, everyone knows that only moon pies, not pork rinds, go with RC cola. That was poor taste all around ladies.)
So instead of making our house a winter wonderland, I am going to holiday up our Southern Scratch booth! (Oh and the pink (or is it lime green?) Christmas tree I'd never thought I'd get to put out again will be on full display). We have a lot of great things planned as well as a BIG change (we'll get to announce that hopefully in just a week or so when everything is final!!) so I've listed out a schedule for where to find us.
You can order by calling (706-505-0698 or 7442 in Washington (I love a town that is small enough where you only have to give the last 4 digits of your phone number because everyones starts the same way-in this case it's 706-678-7442); email at scratchbaking@gmail.com ; post/message on Facebook or visit us at the Farmer's Market Nov. 27th/Dec. 11th/Dec. 18th or Festival off Main in Thomson (Dec. 4th/5th)!
You can either order "off the menu" (Thanksgiving is posted already and Christmas will be by posted Friday) or call for custom items. If you live close you can also bring your serving dishes or platters for us to fill up with your order. (We won't even tell if you pretend you made it!).
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010:
-Dropping off side dishes, pies, rolls, and more in Washington, GA. Check out the menu here and order by tomorrow night (Monday, November 22nd).
Saturday, November 27th, 2010: Washington Farmer's Market
-We plan on setting up a booth at the market early Saturday morning located behind the courthouse. We will have cinnamon rolls, scones, chocolate croissants, Better Than's and plenty of coffee. We will be there around 8am until we sell out. You can reserve fresh cinnamon rolls, etc. for your family by calling (7442 in Washington or 706-505-0698). This is a perfect way to start off your Small Business Saturday, show your in-laws a little piece of Washington, or take back to the house before the games start!
Saturday, December 4th-Sunday, December 5th: Thomson, GA Festival Off Main
We are sooo excited about this event! We will have a booth on both shopping days, Saturday and Sunday. Our menu is focused around cakes (large and small), custom gift boxes and pans of breakfast items like our blue cheese green onion and grit scones and grass fed butter cinnamon rolls.
I am most looking forward to our gift boxes: We will have different sized & shaped boxes available along with a wide variety of individual serving treats (Better Than's, homemade caramel chocolate nut popcorn, truffles, brown butter shortbread just to name a few items). You pick your box, treats, and color ribbon to match. We package them up for you along with a menu card with treat names/ingredients either on the spot (for early gift giving) or shipped/delivered to you closer to Christmas. You will be able to give a completely custom gift to your friends and family based on what treats you think they'll love.
We will also have super cute gift certificates in their own fabulous packaging that will make great stocking stuffers.
Saturday, December 11th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market, OPEN LATE!
Even though it is cold the market will still be open! We are so lucky to have several Wilkes County farmer's with green houses so the vegetables are still coming. (Thomas MacFie even showed up with kiwi Saturday...we were all duly impressed). The downtown shops are adorable and with the Tour of Homes this is the perfect weekend to spend in Washington.
We plan to have our usual full assortment of breakfast items, treats, cakes and coffee along with the gift boxes & gift certificates mentioned above. We plan on getting there around 8:30 (or when the last pan of cinnamon rolls come out of the oven) and staying down there until 5pm/dark.
Saturday, December 18th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market
Our usual spread! If you are ordering teacher gifts or headed out of town early to visit family it is a great day to pick up your treats. We will be there around 8:30 until a little after noon. (Then I'll be headed over to Bee Southern, Cost Cutters, Petal Pushers (Christmas Shop) and Talk of the Town along with all of our other cute downtown shops for last minute holiday shopping!!)
Tuesday, December 14th and Tuesday, December 21st: Deliveries to Atlanta and Athens
We plan on making mid morning-afternoon deliveries to Atlanta and late afternoon/evening delivery to Athens. We will offer custom gift boxes, cakes, and breakfast treats as well as a holiday menu (to be posted soon!) for side dishes, appetizers, entrees, etc. made primarily from Georgia grown and organic ingredients. These delivery dates are right in time for teachers and end of the year corporate gifts!
Wednesday, December 15th and Wednesday, December 22nd: Deliveries to Thomson and Augusta
If you've ordered at Festival Off Main you can pick which day you would like your treats, gift boxes or holiday food delivered fresh! If you missed the festival you can still be able to order Southern Scratch goodies!
Thursday, December 16th and Thursday, December 23rd: Deliveries in Washington, GA
Our usual delivery day! We can do any time of day deliveries on the 16th and morning/early afternoon deliveries on the 23rd just in time for Christmas guests!
Friday, December 24th: Birmingham, AL Deliveries
We are thrilled to be able to do deliveries all the way back in my hometown! Perfect chance to have treats delivered to your door on Christmas Eve!
Saturday, December 25th-Wednesday, December 29th: Vacation
Reid and I plan to soak up time with our families and not lift a finger in the kitchen!
Thursday, December 30th-Friday, December 31st:
We will have New Year's appetizers and treats ready to be picked up or delivered in the Washington, Thomson, or Augusta area. Catering also available-book by Dec. 11th!
I still can't believe the holidays are finally here but we are so excited about being able to deliver to the awesome "city folk" we've met in Atlanta, Athens & Augusta in addition to our wonderful neighbors in Washington and more distant neighbors in Thomson!! Also just thrilled to be at the Festival Off Main and even make deliveries over in Alabama! Reid and I cannot say enough about how much fun we have had meeting all of you and how much you have enriched our lives! We are so thankful this year for so much!!
Anyways, it is now the holiday season again. Since our hallway is the only fully painted room in our house, I'm considering setting it up as our sole holiday vignette. Maybe I'll even pull a chair or two in there and make Reid pretend we just live in a 4 x 12 cottage that is decorated to the hilt. Or as if we're celebrating the holiday in a Paris hotel room all romantic-ally. Or like we're struggling grad students living in a tiny dorm room together. (Sidenote to the Lipscomb University student dorm assistants present during the 2003 annual door decorating contest: You know that our "Christmas in Dixie" life size aluminum foil mobile home and clothesline decoration complete with original self portraits in our finest denim cut off skirts and genuine LU parking tickets was the best and Kaitlyn, Steph, Liz and I still kind of hold a grudge against you for awarding us a bag of pork rinds and case of RC cola instead of the $300 gift certificate the girl that decorated with a felt cut-out nativity scene got. And besides, everyone knows that only moon pies, not pork rinds, go with RC cola. That was poor taste all around ladies.)
So instead of making our house a winter wonderland, I am going to holiday up our Southern Scratch booth! (Oh and the pink (or is it lime green?) Christmas tree I'd never thought I'd get to put out again will be on full display). We have a lot of great things planned as well as a BIG change (we'll get to announce that hopefully in just a week or so when everything is final!!) so I've listed out a schedule for where to find us.
You can order by calling (706-505-0698 or 7442 in Washington (I love a town that is small enough where you only have to give the last 4 digits of your phone number because everyones starts the same way-in this case it's 706-678-7442); email at scratchbaking@gmail.com ; post/message on Facebook or visit us at the Farmer's Market Nov. 27th/Dec. 11th/Dec. 18th or Festival off Main in Thomson (Dec. 4th/5th)!
You can either order "off the menu" (Thanksgiving is posted already and Christmas will be by posted Friday) or call for custom items. If you live close you can also bring your serving dishes or platters for us to fill up with your order. (We won't even tell if you pretend you made it!).
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010:
-Dropping off side dishes, pies, rolls, and more in Washington, GA. Check out the menu here and order by tomorrow night (Monday, November 22nd).
Saturday, November 27th, 2010: Washington Farmer's Market
-We plan on setting up a booth at the market early Saturday morning located behind the courthouse. We will have cinnamon rolls, scones, chocolate croissants, Better Than's and plenty of coffee. We will be there around 8am until we sell out. You can reserve fresh cinnamon rolls, etc. for your family by calling (7442 in Washington or 706-505-0698). This is a perfect way to start off your Small Business Saturday, show your in-laws a little piece of Washington, or take back to the house before the games start!
Saturday, December 4th-Sunday, December 5th: Thomson, GA Festival Off Main
We are sooo excited about this event! We will have a booth on both shopping days, Saturday and Sunday. Our menu is focused around cakes (large and small), custom gift boxes and pans of breakfast items like our blue cheese green onion and grit scones and grass fed butter cinnamon rolls.
I am most looking forward to our gift boxes: We will have different sized & shaped boxes available along with a wide variety of individual serving treats (Better Than's, homemade caramel chocolate nut popcorn, truffles, brown butter shortbread just to name a few items). You pick your box, treats, and color ribbon to match. We package them up for you along with a menu card with treat names/ingredients either on the spot (for early gift giving) or shipped/delivered to you closer to Christmas. You will be able to give a completely custom gift to your friends and family based on what treats you think they'll love.
We will also have super cute gift certificates in their own fabulous packaging that will make great stocking stuffers.
Saturday, December 11th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market, OPEN LATE!
Even though it is cold the market will still be open! We are so lucky to have several Wilkes County farmer's with green houses so the vegetables are still coming. (Thomas MacFie even showed up with kiwi Saturday...we were all duly impressed). The downtown shops are adorable and with the Tour of Homes this is the perfect weekend to spend in Washington.
We plan to have our usual full assortment of breakfast items, treats, cakes and coffee along with the gift boxes & gift certificates mentioned above. We plan on getting there around 8:30 (or when the last pan of cinnamon rolls come out of the oven) and staying down there until 5pm/dark.
Saturday, December 18th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market
Our usual spread! If you are ordering teacher gifts or headed out of town early to visit family it is a great day to pick up your treats. We will be there around 8:30 until a little after noon. (Then I'll be headed over to Bee Southern, Cost Cutters, Petal Pushers (Christmas Shop) and Talk of the Town along with all of our other cute downtown shops for last minute holiday shopping!!)
Tuesday, December 14th and Tuesday, December 21st: Deliveries to Atlanta and Athens
We plan on making mid morning-afternoon deliveries to Atlanta and late afternoon/evening delivery to Athens. We will offer custom gift boxes, cakes, and breakfast treats as well as a holiday menu (to be posted soon!) for side dishes, appetizers, entrees, etc. made primarily from Georgia grown and organic ingredients. These delivery dates are right in time for teachers and end of the year corporate gifts!
Wednesday, December 15th and Wednesday, December 22nd: Deliveries to Thomson and Augusta
If you've ordered at Festival Off Main you can pick which day you would like your treats, gift boxes or holiday food delivered fresh! If you missed the festival you can still be able to order Southern Scratch goodies!
Thursday, December 16th and Thursday, December 23rd: Deliveries in Washington, GA
Our usual delivery day! We can do any time of day deliveries on the 16th and morning/early afternoon deliveries on the 23rd just in time for Christmas guests!
Friday, December 24th: Birmingham, AL Deliveries
We are thrilled to be able to do deliveries all the way back in my hometown! Perfect chance to have treats delivered to your door on Christmas Eve!
Saturday, December 25th-Wednesday, December 29th: Vacation
Reid and I plan to soak up time with our families and not lift a finger in the kitchen!
Thursday, December 30th-Friday, December 31st:
We will have New Year's appetizers and treats ready to be picked up or delivered in the Washington, Thomson, or Augusta area. Catering also available-book by Dec. 11th!
I still can't believe the holidays are finally here but we are so excited about being able to deliver to the awesome "city folk" we've met in Atlanta, Athens & Augusta in addition to our wonderful neighbors in Washington and more distant neighbors in Thomson!! Also just thrilled to be at the Festival Off Main and even make deliveries over in Alabama! Reid and I cannot say enough about how much fun we have had meeting all of you and how much you have enriched our lives! We are so thankful this year for so much!!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Boulder Farmer's Market & a 9 Volt Battery Taste Testing
Saturday morning Reid and I decided to walk down into the city after breakfast. The time change was great because we could feel like we were sleeping in but actually be awake pretty early. We bundled up and with a map headed down the mountain on foot. (I usually look like a bagwoman in cold weather so if you see me at the market Saturday don't be surprised if I have six coats on.) We didn't have anywhere we needed to be except to eventually find the Whole Foods and pick up grits and a few things we needed to make blue cheese scones. (Reid had a special request from the Colorado resident but Southern raised groom to fix him grits before his big day).
So on our walk, my doting husband stops at a massage place (not the shady kind) so he could find some aromatherapy lotion. (He definitely had the store employees convinced he made sure to rub my back for no less than two hours every day. Oh, people in Colorado must believe anything. Actually Reid was being really nice since we were on our second honeymoon in less than a year and all. I didn't even mind when later my back was on fire and I read the container that had "capsecin" listed as an active ingredient.) While we were there, we said we were just walking around town and they told us we had to go check out the Farmer's Market, especially since it was the last day it would be open for the season.
The market ended up being right behind the store and they let us out the back door to walk right to it. The first stand we came to had grass fed cheeses which were absolutely incredible. We knew we couldn't buy a ton of stuff because, obviously, you can't haul heads of cabbage no matter how pretty they are back in your luggage. Luckily we remembered that we had at least forty or more people we could possibly feed back up at the main lodge with the groom's family and friends. And since my favorite thing to do is feed people and I was staring at the biggest farmer's market I'd ever seen, I said we should do some kind of wine and cheese thing for everyone. Reid agreed and we set out trying to find everything we needed for our "menu."
There was everything from a non-GMO popcorn stand to at least five gluten free baked goods stands to several grass fed milk and cheese vendors. We picked up several types of cheese, baguette, sourdough, raisin walnut bread, radishes, cabbage (so sweet we just ate them raw), roasted poblano and anaheim peppers, artisan chocolates and of course apples. We also found freshly milled flour to use in the scones, locally roasted coffee and a bottle of artisan chai mix that had a little cayenne pepper in it for breakfast the next morning. The market also had a dedicated "food court" with a pizza stand to die for...homemade heirloom tomatoe sauce on a stove with fresh market vegetables and cheeses being used as pizza toppings on homemade dough.
I realized for us to be able to taste everything this market had to offer we would have to vacation here for a couple weeks every year. We then daydreamed walking back about planning all of our vacations around really great farmer's markets. Our poor children one day-we will have to let their grandparents take them to real vacation places and let them watch plenty of TV at other kid's houses so they aren't completely socially awkward.
About halfway through the market a little lady popped out from her booth and held out a bag of cocoa powdered chocolate covered almonds. I ate the little piece of heaven and the lady disappeared. Before we could turn around though a man popped up to us and told us we had to try his buttons. (What???) He walked over to a little cloth napkin and uncovered a bunch of tiny little flower buds which he called Szechuan buttons. Reid and I were slightly nervous but the man, who liked he may have lived another life as a Tibetan Monk dressed in a Northface coat was convincing. (He convinced Reid by saying it was like putting your tongue to a nine volt battery. Later I found out that was a perfectly acceptable method of testing a battery.)
He tore off a little piece of the flower bud (looked like a marigold) and gave it to each of us. We put it in our mouths and after a few seconds you could feel not only your palette being cleansed but also a kind of little jolt of energy...like the little flower shocked your mouth alive. We were both wide eyed at the feeling when the lady with the almonds popped back up again. She handed the bag to her husband (I'm assuming) who then gave us each other chocolate covered almond. He encouraged us to eat one so we could see what the button did to our tastebuds. I put the chocolate in my mouth and was overwhelmed with how intese the flavors were. I felt like I was at some high end weight loss center going through an exercise to help you become more aware of your food and had just had a major breakthrough. I thought, "So this is what chocolate could really taste like."
We bought several of the buttons and the man gave us two more so we could each keep one in our mouths. If you held the button in the side of your mouth and just bit it slightly before taste testing, the flavors would of course intensify. And perhaps this is why we could not stop buying food at the market. Everything we tasted of course was "the best ever" since we had a constant stream of palate cleansing battery voltage current.
We left the market with a bookbag and our hands full of our spoils and started to head back to the lodge. Someone on the street told us the Whole Foods had closed (later we found out it didn't and just took a car there instead) so we headed straight up the mountain. I felt like a true hunter/gatherer or any other kind of handy mountain woman type "hiking" the sidewalks back up the mountain, provisions for the crew in hand. (I especially felt like this because of the burning in my quads. I had forgotten the what goes down must go back up rule of physics on our breezy downhill journey).
Back at our little cabin we unloaded our finds and made veggie platters, cheese and apple platters and paired the different breads and cheeses along with some radish, grass fed butter and baguette bruchetta. We also broke the dark chocolate and sunflower butter chocolate cups. It was so much fun-I'd get a plate ready and Reid would run it over to the main lodge since we didn't have enough space in our cabin to get everything prepped at once.
Once we had finished we joined everyone with a glass of wine, talking about all the great things we found at the market. Later on, we shared some of our precious Szechuan buttons with a select few and conducted our own "chocolate button tastings." (Which of course was awarded a "street name" once we told our story of tasting it for the first time but possibly inappropriate to mention here.)
Monday afternoon one of the other guests and first people to try the button with us, a photographer from New York, was on our flight with us. We told him we had plenty of chocolate and button left. So mid-flight the three of us had another little tasting session with the chocolates we were given as wedding favors. (Unfortunately for Ken, he missed finishing off the last of the sourdough batard and the snowdrop goat's cheese brie with us before the flight attendants cleared the aisle. But very fortunately for Ken, he missed our pre-flight lunch at an airport steakhouse that served "mountain oysters." They tasted exactly like you think they would. Never again. That is not food.)
Tomorrow night I think we are going to have our last chocolate tasting with Reid's dad after dinner. He is always up for a good food experience and needs a good meal for taking care of our dogs for us (and letting us borrow his truck the past few weeks). I've already been looking online to see if I can order some more Szechuan buttons and make some kind of tiny cookies or a sorbet with them to cleanse our palettes and give us a little charge. Until then, we will just have to stick to batteries.
So on our walk, my doting husband stops at a massage place (not the shady kind) so he could find some aromatherapy lotion. (He definitely had the store employees convinced he made sure to rub my back for no less than two hours every day. Oh, people in Colorado must believe anything. Actually Reid was being really nice since we were on our second honeymoon in less than a year and all. I didn't even mind when later my back was on fire and I read the container that had "capsecin" listed as an active ingredient.) While we were there, we said we were just walking around town and they told us we had to go check out the Farmer's Market, especially since it was the last day it would be open for the season.
The market ended up being right behind the store and they let us out the back door to walk right to it. The first stand we came to had grass fed cheeses which were absolutely incredible. We knew we couldn't buy a ton of stuff because, obviously, you can't haul heads of cabbage no matter how pretty they are back in your luggage. Luckily we remembered that we had at least forty or more people we could possibly feed back up at the main lodge with the groom's family and friends. And since my favorite thing to do is feed people and I was staring at the biggest farmer's market I'd ever seen, I said we should do some kind of wine and cheese thing for everyone. Reid agreed and we set out trying to find everything we needed for our "menu."
There was everything from a non-GMO popcorn stand to at least five gluten free baked goods stands to several grass fed milk and cheese vendors. We picked up several types of cheese, baguette, sourdough, raisin walnut bread, radishes, cabbage (so sweet we just ate them raw), roasted poblano and anaheim peppers, artisan chocolates and of course apples. We also found freshly milled flour to use in the scones, locally roasted coffee and a bottle of artisan chai mix that had a little cayenne pepper in it for breakfast the next morning. The market also had a dedicated "food court" with a pizza stand to die for...homemade heirloom tomatoe sauce on a stove with fresh market vegetables and cheeses being used as pizza toppings on homemade dough.
I realized for us to be able to taste everything this market had to offer we would have to vacation here for a couple weeks every year. We then daydreamed walking back about planning all of our vacations around really great farmer's markets. Our poor children one day-we will have to let their grandparents take them to real vacation places and let them watch plenty of TV at other kid's houses so they aren't completely socially awkward.
About halfway through the market a little lady popped out from her booth and held out a bag of cocoa powdered chocolate covered almonds. I ate the little piece of heaven and the lady disappeared. Before we could turn around though a man popped up to us and told us we had to try his buttons. (What???) He walked over to a little cloth napkin and uncovered a bunch of tiny little flower buds which he called Szechuan buttons. Reid and I were slightly nervous but the man, who liked he may have lived another life as a Tibetan Monk dressed in a Northface coat was convincing. (He convinced Reid by saying it was like putting your tongue to a nine volt battery. Later I found out that was a perfectly acceptable method of testing a battery.)
He tore off a little piece of the flower bud (looked like a marigold) and gave it to each of us. We put it in our mouths and after a few seconds you could feel not only your palette being cleansed but also a kind of little jolt of energy...like the little flower shocked your mouth alive. We were both wide eyed at the feeling when the lady with the almonds popped back up again. She handed the bag to her husband (I'm assuming) who then gave us each other chocolate covered almond. He encouraged us to eat one so we could see what the button did to our tastebuds. I put the chocolate in my mouth and was overwhelmed with how intese the flavors were. I felt like I was at some high end weight loss center going through an exercise to help you become more aware of your food and had just had a major breakthrough. I thought, "So this is what chocolate could really taste like."
We bought several of the buttons and the man gave us two more so we could each keep one in our mouths. If you held the button in the side of your mouth and just bit it slightly before taste testing, the flavors would of course intensify. And perhaps this is why we could not stop buying food at the market. Everything we tasted of course was "the best ever" since we had a constant stream of palate cleansing battery voltage current.
We left the market with a bookbag and our hands full of our spoils and started to head back to the lodge. Someone on the street told us the Whole Foods had closed (later we found out it didn't and just took a car there instead) so we headed straight up the mountain. I felt like a true hunter/gatherer or any other kind of handy mountain woman type "hiking" the sidewalks back up the mountain, provisions for the crew in hand. (I especially felt like this because of the burning in my quads. I had forgotten the what goes down must go back up rule of physics on our breezy downhill journey).
Back at our little cabin we unloaded our finds and made veggie platters, cheese and apple platters and paired the different breads and cheeses along with some radish, grass fed butter and baguette bruchetta. We also broke the dark chocolate and sunflower butter chocolate cups. It was so much fun-I'd get a plate ready and Reid would run it over to the main lodge since we didn't have enough space in our cabin to get everything prepped at once.
Once we had finished we joined everyone with a glass of wine, talking about all the great things we found at the market. Later on, we shared some of our precious Szechuan buttons with a select few and conducted our own "chocolate button tastings." (Which of course was awarded a "street name" once we told our story of tasting it for the first time but possibly inappropriate to mention here.)
Monday afternoon one of the other guests and first people to try the button with us, a photographer from New York, was on our flight with us. We told him we had plenty of chocolate and button left. So mid-flight the three of us had another little tasting session with the chocolates we were given as wedding favors. (Unfortunately for Ken, he missed finishing off the last of the sourdough batard and the snowdrop goat's cheese brie with us before the flight attendants cleared the aisle. But very fortunately for Ken, he missed our pre-flight lunch at an airport steakhouse that served "mountain oysters." They tasted exactly like you think they would. Never again. That is not food.)
Tomorrow night I think we are going to have our last chocolate tasting with Reid's dad after dinner. He is always up for a good food experience and needs a good meal for taking care of our dogs for us (and letting us borrow his truck the past few weeks). I've already been looking online to see if I can order some more Szechuan buttons and make some kind of tiny cookies or a sorbet with them to cleanse our palettes and give us a little charge. Until then, we will just have to stick to batteries.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
No Pictures to Prove It, But We Had a Great Time.
The past few days, Reid and I have had one of the best weekends we've ever had together (in the entire 20 long months we've known each other). We flew out Friday morning to Boulder, CO to see one of Reid's closest friends from his highschool days at Riverside Military Academy get married to a gorgeous girl he has been in love with since he graduated from highschool. With the time change we still arrived at Chatauqua before noon. The wedding was on Sunday morning and we got back to Washington around 1am this morning. (Sidenote: If you work at a particularly popular coffee shop founded in Seattle off I-20 between Atlanta and Washington, please don't close at 10:30 when tired people driving home are counting on you to be open until 11:00 like the Garmin and your sign says. A cup of coffee would have meant a whole lot more to me than closing early would have meant to you last night, okay?)
At Chatauqua, we had rented one of the little cottages which were all in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The scenery was breathtaking. The people were incredible. The wedding was beautiful. The food was outstanding. I think this trip will be something Reid and I reminisce about when we're old. And I hope our memories stay sharp because we forgot to take any pictures.
That said, I'm really actually even more grateful now than I was before we left that my laptop had totally gone kaput on me. I brought my camera but forgot to use it except for a couple shots of some vegetables we found at a great Farmer's Market (I think food is the only thing I take pictures of anyway). We pretty much kept our phones on silent. And we didn't even have a TV in the room (which is really good for us because we don't have a TV at home and would have probably missed the wedding because we were too sucked into watching Friends reruns like little entertainment deprived junkies).
Basically, we had no choice but to be with only the people that were actually there in person.
Luckily we ended up amongst some really great people. We didn't really have anywhere we "had" to be except for dinner or the wedding (or the bachelorette party which I was thrilled to get to be a part of even though I had just met all of the girls including the bride who all turned out to be awesome, super fun, belly laughing with them even though you just met them type of girls). It was just four days in complete vacation mode. Not the camera-strapped-around-your-neck and check-the-next-attraction-off-your-list kind of vacation. The "let's just go on a walk and see where we end up" type of vacation along with a little "why not have a glass of wine with breakfast?" mixed in with a little dice playing, hiking on a snowy mountain, spontaneous wine and cheese parties and most adorable three year old little boy who could high kick and jazz hands to the Rockettes better than any 5'10" ballerina could ever dream of doing.
I think over the next few posts I'll talk about the amazing Tea House we had dinner at Friday night or my new fascination with Szechuan Buttons. I'll definitely have to include a post on the mother of the groom, who has to be the most superb hostess I have ever met in my life. And about fifty other things about why Reid and I think we should vacation in Boulder every year now. And how we really hope the couples who were dating at the wedding get married and invite us so we can hang out with all the same people again in one place...
Perfect wedding, perfect weekend. Congratulations Zach & Stacy!!
At Chatauqua, we had rented one of the little cottages which were all in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The scenery was breathtaking. The people were incredible. The wedding was beautiful. The food was outstanding. I think this trip will be something Reid and I reminisce about when we're old. And I hope our memories stay sharp because we forgot to take any pictures.
That said, I'm really actually even more grateful now than I was before we left that my laptop had totally gone kaput on me. I brought my camera but forgot to use it except for a couple shots of some vegetables we found at a great Farmer's Market (I think food is the only thing I take pictures of anyway). We pretty much kept our phones on silent. And we didn't even have a TV in the room (which is really good for us because we don't have a TV at home and would have probably missed the wedding because we were too sucked into watching Friends reruns like little entertainment deprived junkies).
Basically, we had no choice but to be with only the people that were actually there in person.
Luckily we ended up amongst some really great people. We didn't really have anywhere we "had" to be except for dinner or the wedding (or the bachelorette party which I was thrilled to get to be a part of even though I had just met all of the girls including the bride who all turned out to be awesome, super fun, belly laughing with them even though you just met them type of girls). It was just four days in complete vacation mode. Not the camera-strapped-around-your-neck and check-the-next-attraction-off-your-list kind of vacation. The "let's just go on a walk and see where we end up" type of vacation along with a little "why not have a glass of wine with breakfast?" mixed in with a little dice playing, hiking on a snowy mountain, spontaneous wine and cheese parties and most adorable three year old little boy who could high kick and jazz hands to the Rockettes better than any 5'10" ballerina could ever dream of doing.
I think over the next few posts I'll talk about the amazing Tea House we had dinner at Friday night or my new fascination with Szechuan Buttons. I'll definitely have to include a post on the mother of the groom, who has to be the most superb hostess I have ever met in my life. And about fifty other things about why Reid and I think we should vacation in Boulder every year now. And how we really hope the couples who were dating at the wedding get married and invite us so we can hang out with all the same people again in one place...
Perfect wedding, perfect weekend. Congratulations Zach & Stacy!!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Don't Judge a Book by its' Fantastical Creature Content.
I definitely enjoy getting into a good book. It seems the past several years though, I've mainly been reading dietetics oriented books with a thick bibliography section or more how-to type things like How to Keep an Organized Home when you have a Disorganized Head (it was something like that.) But an amazing thing has happened in the past seven months and that thing is me becoming a housewife. And housewives that don't have kids yet get to do woman of leisure type things like read books all morning with really good coffee and dark chocolate biscotti while their husbands are at work. If they play it right and have a nice dinner on the table when husband comes home, husband usually doesn't ask too much what you did all day. So the book before last I read A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, which is by far the greatest romance novel ever written. It is not actually a romance novel but a non-fictional memoir. I promise it rivals "The Notebook" anyday. By a long shot. It is tear your heart out, sobbing on the pages, make you want to tell your husband he is the most wonderful person in the world and you are so grateful he goes to work all day while you read in your pajamas kind of good. Well that was several months ago...
Either wisely or unwisely, I gave myself a job as owner/employee/dishwasher/cook/marketing director/driver/financial advisor and errand girl of my own little business and now my days of not having to be anywhere are getting fewer and fewer. Which is great and exciting and good. But also kind of terrifying and rushed. So Monday, in a great moment of "seeing the silver lining of every situation," I realized that having my laptop down meant that on our trip this weekend I couldn't do any "work." We have a lot coming up with the holidays (we'll have exciting news to share in a few weeks here!!) and our trip can really be a great time to rest up before keeping the oven going full speed the next month or so.
Our friend is getting married at Chataqua in Boulder, Colorado so we booked a little cottage there for a long weekend. We've got an early morning flight and then of course I'm sure typical delays, etc. so I started looking for a good book to read. Reid and I briefly contemplated buying "dueling" books such as "Trickle Up Poverty" and "Dreams of My Father." (Or my new food processing book and "In Defense of Food.") I figured if I wanted to make my head spin though I'd at least read something useful like "Small Business for Dummies." I finally decided I just needed to find something for pure enjoyment. Not deep. Not useful. Just a good page-turner I could curl up with on the flight or surrounded by snow (thanking the good Lord I live in Georgia).
Luckily for me, a Washington, GA local just released her second novel and it is the perfect vacation book.
I feel I need to preface how I came around to reading her first book "The Unicorn Girl". In January of this year I was up in Washington visiting my future husband and town. We had coffee at The Fitzpatrick Hotel and I noticed there were novels on sale in the lobby titled "The Unicorn Girl." I (correctly) assumed they were written by a local author. I passed over them because a) I was busy planning a wedding and b) I'm not really into unicorns.
Months later, post wedding and early market, I noticed "The Unicorn Girl" on sale at one of the Washington Farmer's Market's vendors table. I assumed the vendor either knew the unicorn author or was the unicorn author, but I didn't ask to find out. Honestly I didn't really want to inquire when I really had no intention to buy a book about unicorns. I thought it may be weird and I didn't want to be put into a situation of not liking it and then avoiding whoever the author or author's friend was for the rest of my life so they wouldn't ask me if I liked it.
Months after that, I got to know Sandy, "the unicorn book vendor", and found out it was her daughter Melissa who was "the unicorn author." Even though Sandy was completely normal I still tried to avoid asking any questions about the unicorn book. I honestly did not think any book about a mythical creature would be anything I would be the least bit interested in. But finally last month, on a spur of the moment whim probably caused by lack of sleep, I bought the unicorn book. I felt kind of brave for doing it especially with the whole possible social awkward interactions it could cause.
But instead of not liking it I was absolutely captivated. I started the book Sunday afternoon and read it late until the night along with a package of our leftover "Better Than's" (cheese straws) from the market and a glass of wine. Then I stayed in my pajamas all morning and into the afternoon Monday reading it with coffee. I kept thinking "I'll stop at this chapter and get some laundry done" until I finally just decided I had to finish it before I could do anything else. It had been such a long time since I was that sucked into a novel that I literally couldn't put it down.
I think "officially" the book is targeted toward adolescents but I'm 26 and kind of really loved it. It is about this young girl growing up in a huge castle that becomes friends with a (nice) witch woman who had been best friends with the girls' deceased mother. A rival cousin is involved as well as a king, a prince, a (mean) witch stripped of her powers, a mysterious illness, and of course some unicorns. After the mysterious illness she runs away from her home and embarks on an epic journey to fulfill whatever her calling is that is associated with her illness. It is a book that has unicorns in it but I swear to you it is good, not weird.
What I really enjoyed is that I never felt like I should be "getting" the real meaning behind the characters and plot. It was just fun to read. On one hand Melissa's writing style is really straightforward. She doesn't make you do mazes in your head trying to figure out what she's saying or get you lost in a five page description of a tree which I loved. But on the other hand she has a fantastic ability to not reveal too much so that the plot really isn't predictable.
I think maybe she accomplishes this by really keeping the reader "in the moment." Reading it is like enjoying a really great dinner with friends where you are so happy just to be where you are but the conversation is still moving forward with building interest. (I feel like I'm reviewing a book for AP English writing this..."the reader.")
Instead of using fifty adjectives to describe an everyday object, she creates a new object. For instance she came up with this bag called a "Replenisher." The replenisher is an old tattered burlap sack that belongs to the good witch. It works by the person just thinking of what they want (like to eat, drink, etc.) and pulling it out of the bag to replenish themselves (get it?). The young girl takes it with her on her journey so throughout the novel you get to see what she eats. After the "repelenisher" was first introduced I thought, "If this is a fantasy novel it hit the nail on the head for a ton of people. I would totally fantasize about a bag that contained 10 year sharp cheddar and grapes and probably chocolate cake whenever you wanted it." (I told Melissa I could definitely tell a "foodie" wrote the book because the girl pulls out some pretty delicious meals for being stuck in a forest.)
But back to the book I'm taking on our trip out west. (I just checked and it is going to be 23 degrees tomorrow night. Oh how I love Georgia.) I saw on Facebook where Melissa had just gotten her shipment of her newest book in and thought, "Yes! This is perfect-no political downers, no business books about the hundreds of things I should probably be doing and nothing that is going to make me go into deep reflection on my life." And oh so luckily for me I was planning on being at the LeGette household (one of the most fabulous places on earth) early Tuesday morning to go with Sandy to that pickling/hypochloride class. Early Tuesday morning I was excited to get one of the first copies-signed by the author with "To Kathryn: May you make almond toffee. -M.L.LeGette" (I'll be interested to see if toffee is in the book or if is a Southern Scratch order in which case I'll have to find out how much she wants).
By the time I get back from Colorado I'll have finished "For the Kingdom" and then jump right back in to baking! I think Melissa is doing a booksigning at the Mary Willis Library (oldest public library in the state of Georgia I believe right here in Washington, GA!) December 9th from 3:30-5:30. Sandy will also have copies of it at her booth at the market (along with the now "not so weird" unicorn book). Don't be afraid of asking about it because Sandy is not weird and the book is really good I promise. I've already peeked at a few pages of this new one and I think it is going to be really good too.
Melissa said she is working on a third book so maybe we'll plan our next vacation around it's release date...
Hope everyone has a great weekend!! We (obviously) won't be at the market Saturday but will be back the morning of the 20th! There should be produce year round (possibly even tomatoes in December thanks to a wood heated green house) so you haven't missed it for the season. Next Thursday's meal (the 18th) is our last one for 2010 and then we will be doing 2 meals/week starting in January (a family friendly night on Tuesdays and the Weekday Gourmet on Thursdays).
Either wisely or unwisely, I gave myself a job as owner/employee/dishwasher/cook/marketing director/driver/financial advisor and errand girl of my own little business and now my days of not having to be anywhere are getting fewer and fewer. Which is great and exciting and good. But also kind of terrifying and rushed. So Monday, in a great moment of "seeing the silver lining of every situation," I realized that having my laptop down meant that on our trip this weekend I couldn't do any "work." We have a lot coming up with the holidays (we'll have exciting news to share in a few weeks here!!) and our trip can really be a great time to rest up before keeping the oven going full speed the next month or so.
Our friend is getting married at Chataqua in Boulder, Colorado so we booked a little cottage there for a long weekend. We've got an early morning flight and then of course I'm sure typical delays, etc. so I started looking for a good book to read. Reid and I briefly contemplated buying "dueling" books such as "Trickle Up Poverty" and "Dreams of My Father." (Or my new food processing book and "In Defense of Food.") I figured if I wanted to make my head spin though I'd at least read something useful like "Small Business for Dummies." I finally decided I just needed to find something for pure enjoyment. Not deep. Not useful. Just a good page-turner I could curl up with on the flight or surrounded by snow (thanking the good Lord I live in Georgia).
Luckily for me, a Washington, GA local just released her second novel and it is the perfect vacation book.
I feel I need to preface how I came around to reading her first book "The Unicorn Girl". In January of this year I was up in Washington visiting my future husband and town. We had coffee at The Fitzpatrick Hotel and I noticed there were novels on sale in the lobby titled "The Unicorn Girl." I (correctly) assumed they were written by a local author. I passed over them because a) I was busy planning a wedding and b) I'm not really into unicorns.
Months later, post wedding and early market, I noticed "The Unicorn Girl" on sale at one of the Washington Farmer's Market's vendors table. I assumed the vendor either knew the unicorn author or was the unicorn author, but I didn't ask to find out. Honestly I didn't really want to inquire when I really had no intention to buy a book about unicorns. I thought it may be weird and I didn't want to be put into a situation of not liking it and then avoiding whoever the author or author's friend was for the rest of my life so they wouldn't ask me if I liked it.
Months after that, I got to know Sandy, "the unicorn book vendor", and found out it was her daughter Melissa who was "the unicorn author." Even though Sandy was completely normal I still tried to avoid asking any questions about the unicorn book. I honestly did not think any book about a mythical creature would be anything I would be the least bit interested in. But finally last month, on a spur of the moment whim probably caused by lack of sleep, I bought the unicorn book. I felt kind of brave for doing it especially with the whole possible social awkward interactions it could cause.
But instead of not liking it I was absolutely captivated. I started the book Sunday afternoon and read it late until the night along with a package of our leftover "Better Than's" (cheese straws) from the market and a glass of wine. Then I stayed in my pajamas all morning and into the afternoon Monday reading it with coffee. I kept thinking "I'll stop at this chapter and get some laundry done" until I finally just decided I had to finish it before I could do anything else. It had been such a long time since I was that sucked into a novel that I literally couldn't put it down.
I think "officially" the book is targeted toward adolescents but I'm 26 and kind of really loved it. It is about this young girl growing up in a huge castle that becomes friends with a (nice) witch woman who had been best friends with the girls' deceased mother. A rival cousin is involved as well as a king, a prince, a (mean) witch stripped of her powers, a mysterious illness, and of course some unicorns. After the mysterious illness she runs away from her home and embarks on an epic journey to fulfill whatever her calling is that is associated with her illness. It is a book that has unicorns in it but I swear to you it is good, not weird.
What I really enjoyed is that I never felt like I should be "getting" the real meaning behind the characters and plot. It was just fun to read. On one hand Melissa's writing style is really straightforward. She doesn't make you do mazes in your head trying to figure out what she's saying or get you lost in a five page description of a tree which I loved. But on the other hand she has a fantastic ability to not reveal too much so that the plot really isn't predictable.
I think maybe she accomplishes this by really keeping the reader "in the moment." Reading it is like enjoying a really great dinner with friends where you are so happy just to be where you are but the conversation is still moving forward with building interest. (I feel like I'm reviewing a book for AP English writing this..."the reader.")
Instead of using fifty adjectives to describe an everyday object, she creates a new object. For instance she came up with this bag called a "Replenisher." The replenisher is an old tattered burlap sack that belongs to the good witch. It works by the person just thinking of what they want (like to eat, drink, etc.) and pulling it out of the bag to replenish themselves (get it?). The young girl takes it with her on her journey so throughout the novel you get to see what she eats. After the "repelenisher" was first introduced I thought, "If this is a fantasy novel it hit the nail on the head for a ton of people. I would totally fantasize about a bag that contained 10 year sharp cheddar and grapes and probably chocolate cake whenever you wanted it." (I told Melissa I could definitely tell a "foodie" wrote the book because the girl pulls out some pretty delicious meals for being stuck in a forest.)
But back to the book I'm taking on our trip out west. (I just checked and it is going to be 23 degrees tomorrow night. Oh how I love Georgia.) I saw on Facebook where Melissa had just gotten her shipment of her newest book in and thought, "Yes! This is perfect-no political downers, no business books about the hundreds of things I should probably be doing and nothing that is going to make me go into deep reflection on my life." And oh so luckily for me I was planning on being at the LeGette household (one of the most fabulous places on earth) early Tuesday morning to go with Sandy to that pickling/hypochloride class. Early Tuesday morning I was excited to get one of the first copies-signed by the author with "To Kathryn: May you make almond toffee. -M.L.LeGette" (I'll be interested to see if toffee is in the book or if is a Southern Scratch order in which case I'll have to find out how much she wants).
By the time I get back from Colorado I'll have finished "For the Kingdom" and then jump right back in to baking! I think Melissa is doing a booksigning at the Mary Willis Library (oldest public library in the state of Georgia I believe right here in Washington, GA!) December 9th from 3:30-5:30. Sandy will also have copies of it at her booth at the market (along with the now "not so weird" unicorn book). Don't be afraid of asking about it because Sandy is not weird and the book is really good I promise. I've already peeked at a few pages of this new one and I think it is going to be really good too.
Melissa said she is working on a third book so maybe we'll plan our next vacation around it's release date...
Hope everyone has a great weekend!! We (obviously) won't be at the market Saturday but will be back the morning of the 20th! There should be produce year round (possibly even tomatoes in December thanks to a wood heated green house) so you haven't missed it for the season. Next Thursday's meal (the 18th) is our last one for 2010 and then we will be doing 2 meals/week starting in January (a family friendly night on Tuesdays and the Weekday Gourmet on Thursdays).
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