With a whole lotta help from our friends!

One of the aspects of creating our café that continues to give me hope and gratification is the degree to which our customers are vested in this operation. On numerous occasions we've received offers of help, ideas and physical strength. Last weekend was a prime example. As you probably already know, we have been working toward the tavern permit which will allow us to serve you beer and wine with your meals. But we have needed a large capacity cooler in which to store the beer and wine. FYI—we have now gone from 5 iced coolers to 6 refrigerated devices in the year plus since we opened in the trailer.

Every Saturday morning for several weeks I have searched on Craigslist for possible 3-door glass-fronted coolers. I have missed out on a couple of them because we didn't moved fast enough. So when I saw one bright and early Saturday morning I jumped on it. It was in St. Louis. We have been fortunate to have access to a 5 x 10 ft. flat trailer from our neighbor in Thayer. So we high-tailed it to St. Louis. Turns out the cooler was in a warehouse with a 4 ft. dock. Our trailer is about 18" off the ground. The seller was able to get in a few guys to help, but not before we had to call Jon's brother to help move that sucker. Did I mention it is big? 7 ft tall, 7 ft wide and 30" deep. That also translates to HEAVY. Despite a light drizzle we were able to get it loaded and headed back to West Plains. At 8:30, while on US 60 between Cabool and Willow Springs one of the tires blew out on the trailer. Hmm. Now what? No spare for the trailer tire. We tried to see if our car spare might work. The lug wrench wouldn't even fit the trailer tire. Fortunately, we were able to call Sergio and he came out with a 4-way lug wrench and one of the tires from his trailer that looked just like the one we had plus a nice fast floor jack. Despite trying 3 different spare tires, none of them would fit the trailer hub.  ARGH!!!! We wound up driving on the rim for about half a mile to the weigh station parking lot. There, we removed the wheel and left the whole shebang parked overnight. Fortunately, Wal-mart has a crew that can put a new tire on a wheel at 9 am Sunday morning.  Everything went wonderfully smoothly to get the tire replaced and on the trailer. Then we arrived at the cafe to unload this behemoth. Again, our friends and vested customers showed up to help us unload. Included in that lot was a very talented stranger who just happened to be driving by. He quickly backed the trailer and skillfully directed the unloading of the cooler. Our known friends who pitched in were Sergio, Gene, Greg, and Marcos. Thank you, thank you!!! The mystery man remains a mystery. We hope he comes in to cash the filled-up punch card we issued him.

Last week went fairly well in introducing our new schedule and night-time menu. I am still tweaking the details of the menu. We were delighted to see how many of you gave us a try. I must admit that Friday night caught me a bit flat-footed and I was scrambling. We had gotten in 4 lovely haddock fillets and they went really quickly. I am thrilled to have access to fresh seafood each week. This week we have Steelhead Salmon. Sometimes you'll see it as Steelhead Trout. Either name brings visions of  really sweet red-meated fish fresh from the bays in Washington state. I'll treat them with a minimum of flavoring as the meat itself has such a luscious flavor. We'll simply top with slices of fresh lemon and a compound butter that contains fresh dill and garlic. I'll bake them just long enough to firm up the flesh. I have a "seafood sauce" I serve with it. We need a name for this sauce.  The hibachi restaurants call it "yum-yum sauce". Way too cute for me. It has mayo, soy sauce, lemon juice, cayenne and horseradish. Put on your thinking caps, Kids and help me out.  We'll have the Steelhead available as of Wednesday at dinner. $15.

My flavor journey this week takes us to Madagascar. That is an island the size of Texas about 200 miles off the southeast coast of Africa. The dish will be available all week at night. I am borrowing the description of the dish from a blog that explores different cuisines—
One of the most unusual things about the food of Madagascar is how much it pulls from different traditions. In today’s chicken dish, we see traces of mainland Africa, Asia and Polynesia. The coconut oil gives the chicken just a hint of Polynesian tradition, while the garlic, and ginger play into Asian flavors. Finally, the lemon rind gives a fresh, yet slightly bitter flavor, reminiscent of north African cooking. The dish is Madagascar Chicken—Akoho sy Sakamalao which is made with whole chicken legs. It has a dry rub of garlic, fresh ginger, lemon zest that are absorbed overnight. Then it is cooked with sweet red peppers and onions in a small amount of coconut oil until it is falling off the bone. I'll serve it with rice and a side of stir-fried broccoli/onions/snow peas. Available starting on Tuesday night. $9.99

We have Valentine's Day (Tuesday, February 14th in case you have forgotten)coming up really quickly. In addition to our usual night-time menu we will have a special dinner that is priced to make everyone happy while being quite elegant. Also, we have teamed up with Renée Wood and her After Hours Big Band to give you a discount to attend her Sweetheart Dance at the Barn. Instead of $10 you get in for $7/person.
Now about that dinner...for $35/ couple you get

amuse bouche

Fig and Olive Tapenade with whipped cream cheese and tortilla crisps

appetizer

choice of shrimp bisque or spinach salad

entrée

Pepper-crusted tuna mignon with potato cranberry corn galette and shitake mushroom braise

dessert

Crépe cup filled with vanilla ice cream and Bananas Foster

Please note that reservations for Valentines Day will be necessary.

Now for this week's lunch menu. Please note that Tamales are now on Thursday!—

Soups~ start with white chicken chili and then a mushroom/brie bisque later in the week.

Tuesday~Creamy chicken mushroom and spinach noodle casserole with side salad. $6.75

Wednesday~Ham and asparagus crépes with hollandaise and Cajun home fries $6.75

Thursday~Caribbean pork tamales with pineapple salsa and mango/pineapple purée and fried rice $6.75

Friday~Pesto pizza with chicken sausage, artichoke hearts and shitakes. With side salad $7.

We hope you'll join us this week. I think we have a pretty exciting menu.