Photo of the day: June 29, 2011

When I got to work today to cook the new menu, 

I found a sign of the divine next to my stash in the freezer.

I knew right then, it was going to be a good day.

Sweet Summer!

It's a sunny summer morning as I park my car and make my way up the driveway. I can hear the waves crashing on the beach, a leftover from the winds that blew the day before. The air smells like the sea and I breathe deep as I slip in the back door. I'm overtaken by warmth tinged with the scent of fresh bread and roasting garlic. It must be Thursday, garlic ciabatta day.

Soon people will be coming around to the oven side, peering over the wall that separates us and them. "Is the bread out, yet?" Sharon turns from the brick oven and gives them a satisfied smile, her apron, smudged with a mix of flour and soot, shows the signs of her busy morning. "It's just coming out of the oven." and she turns, wraps a loaf in paper and hands it over. "Be careful it's wicked hot...no, you can pay the gal at the register, Thanks, have a great day." She turns to greet me as I wash my hands and put on my apron. "Red had to go shopping three times yesterday and we are already out of everything!" Time to get rolling, turn Natalia on to the shopping list, write up the Country Foods order and get cracking on magically producing some soup from our limited pantry. Sharon has gone from bread to cakes while Ben whips out the sandwiches...3 dozen turkey focaccia, 2 dozen veg. and as many BLT's as he can make. I'll follow up with cupcakes and more goodies for the case and he'll move onto cookies after that. The baristas dance around us passing out sticky buns and basically putting a bright spin on everything they serve. The prep bakers, Annie and Sabrina... bless their dough rolling hearts, are the unsung heroes of this operation hand rolling ham danishes by the hundreds. "Another tray of Hammies, please!" Jill yells, and I am startled as I look up from my table to see the lines of customers are winding their way out both doors. Oh, it's summer all right...time to chop a little faster!

Spring and now solstice have come and gone in a whirlwind of new staff, broken equipment, wild retail days and dinners going 4 days a week. As you have guessed, we have barely been able to catch our breath, let alone update our blog. My apologies for the longtime gone...but, hey here we are with a new July menu for you to drool over. Click here to check out the new menu blog, which puts them all up in one place, even allowing for comments. (be nice, people!) I'll be working over the summer to get it linked together from all the sites, so be patient...it's gonna be great, you'll see! Speaking of great, our new porch enclosure has given us a whole new lease on life in the dining area. The big beautiful windows and welcoming colors and artwork are a total delight. I get goosebumps when I check on customers sitting out there, basking in the evening sun, enjoying the very best our kitchen has to offer. It is a dream spot and we are all working hard to do it justice. With our expanded hours, we have had to say no a lot, unfortunately. Cooking dinners has cut out my time to work on wedding cakes, so we are no longer offering that service except in a very limited capacity. It was hard choice after 18 years of bride whispering, but I was ready to pass the torch. (good luck, Amy!) So it also goes with offsite catering, a big thanks to Maura's Catering and Vagabond Cafe for picking up our slack.
I suppose that means if you want to enjoy our food, you'll have to come join us here...the porch is waiting for you!
So are the snacks:

Sweet Potato Falafel lettuce wraps are a crunchy addition to the new July menu!