W/e August 31st Preparing for blast-off!

This week you might be startled to see changes toward the back of the annex. I am re-configuring my Propanels (moveable display panels for artwork) and bringing in the lighting to set up for a full gallery display of my artwork. It'll pretty much be a retrospective of my artwork. The intention is to show off my work in a gallery setting to showcase it and hopefully find new homes for several pieces. My work has always been for sale, but I never made a big deal out of it since we were focused on creating the cafe. Now we are showcasing the artwork so we can fund our next expansion.

The plans include adding a taproom in the annex which showcases craft beers—local and regional ones, primarily. In order to do so we need to raise several thousand dollars. You may have read last week that for the first time EVER, my art quilts are on sale at 20% off through the end of September. Next Friday, September 6th, we'll be a stop on the September Artwalk. We'll include beverages and hors d'voeuvres and invite you to mingle amongst the artwork and friends. Several folks have expressed an interest in specific pieces. If you have had your eye on any, speak up! It would be sad if the piece you wanted most was snapped up before you acted. I am happy to work with you to extend payments over several months for you if it would make a difference in your ability to acquire my work.  I have a pretty large resource here that has been largely ignored while we have been stabilizing the cafe. Now it is time to make it work for us. In addition to lots of large pieces, there are several more moderate pieces available, as well. Become a part of our history! Own a piece of art by Rebel QuilterTM, Susan Leslie Lumsden.

I don't usually make a big deal about my art as we are surrounded by it every day. But I have earned quite a few awards, a few of them national ones—like a Niche Award for best textile and third place in the Fantastic Fibers. For many years I was on the board of Best Of Missouri Hands and the chairman of the Jury Committee. I have taught in national venues like Studio Art Quilt Associates, which is a big part of Quilt National's opening venue, the Dairy Barn Arts Center, as well as smaller venues like the Folk Life Center in Mountain View, Arkansas. I have not done a show of any size since 2009, nor have my prices been raised in that time. QUITE an opportunity for a good deal. But art must speak to you in order to have a perceived value. Art is seldom a good value if you don't like it. Choose based on your heart.

We are looking toward a theme of water for the annex. Water is one of our most vital resources and most vulnerable to degradation. Many people in our immediate area are dependent solely on the water quality coming from their wells and live water. Hopefully, this will evolve into a place where the community can learn and be made aware of water quality issues while enjoying local craft beers. We are inviting your name suggestions and feedback on those ideas. One name we are highly interested in is Watershed. Also in the toss up are Agua, Ozark Oasis, Aquifer, and Karst.  I am leaning away from names that are over used or corny—like Watering Hole.

Did you notice that the Quill has had articles about us three weeks running? Wow! Thank you to Terry Fuhrman Hampton for taking the time to interview me and for including my articles on ingredient choices we make here at the cafe. Terry has a remarkable ability to capture the essence of those she interviews. I was honored to have her attention.

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The seasons are moving along and with it the produce coming in. Last week we added patty pan squash, okra, and beets to the summer stir-fry. Suddenly, it was very colorful. I am still hoping to buy local foraged Coral mushrooms. Please check your property for clusters of it. It looks JUST like coral in the ocean. I was delighted with the response to the scallops last week. We sold every portion we had—I didn't even get any. (pout)

This week everyone is chomping at the bit to get into the action. Vincent is creating 2 of this week's lunches. Amy is doing 2 and I'll be highlighting one of our salads. Amy is bringing back one of her most popular ones so those who missed it last time can get into the action—FRIDAY.

So here are the lunch specials~~
Monday~ Thai Basil Tofu $6.99
Tuesday~ Solstice Salad~Romaine, tomato, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, wood-fired chicken $7.29
Wednesday~ Hot Pastrami Sandwich $7.59 with side
Thursday~ Pizza made by Vincent $7.59 with side salad. I failed to get variety.
Friday~ Bacon jalapeno popper grilled cheese plus gazpacho $7.59

Flavor Journey—France! I love it when we get to use local, grass-fed meats. This week we'll use beef chuck roast from Spring Creek Beef to make beef burgundy—aka Boeuf Bourguignon. Normally I'd wait until colder weather to pull out this French standard, but I simply refused to wait. Grass-fed beef raised without hormones or prophylactic antibiotics is a precious treat. Combining it with carrots, mushrooms and onions, tomato paste, red wine and brandy for a slow cooked tenderness gives it a special treatment seldom found in these parts. Look for it served over buttered egg noodles with our summer stir-fry. $15.99

The seafood entrée is from one of my favorite restaurants on the planet—Fonda San Miguel in Austin, TX. It is Camerones en Crema De Chipotle (Shrimp in Chipotle Cream Sauce). While it CAN be very spicy, we'll keep it not quite so hot. I'll serve it over rice, accompanied by stuffed zucchini as well as cilantro lime slaw. $16.99 ¡Olé!

Well, that's it for this week. As always we appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you. Bringing along a friend or family member just adds to the joy. Have a toasty week—summer finally arrived!

~~Susan

W/E August 24th The next chapter begins...

The excitement is certainly building. With any new endeavor there is the planning portion, the learning portion and the doing portion. It is nice when they can follow a logical sequence forward. We've spent several weeks on the planning portion. That is where you realize just how much you don't know, which launches the learning portion.This last week's learning curve involved learning about the refrigeration and delivery systems for serving draft beer. In the industry these are generally known as kegerators. Until now I always thought that these delivery systems were either totally maintained by the owners or owned by the beer distributors and maintained by them. Wrong! It seems that, by law, the beer distributors may not have anything to do with ownership or supply of the refrigeration portion of holding and dispensing beer. That provision is so they cannot hold you hostage to their brands the way a liquid propane distributor can with propane tanks you lease. The second portion was happily discovered. The distributors WILL maintain the lines and taps so you can be assured of smooth pours and clean lines. This makes shopping for the refrigeration devices simpler as I don't really have to know a whole lot about the mechanics of the taps. All I need is a box that will keep the beer really cold. As soon as a major quilt is sold we'll be looking at purchasing a kegerator that can serve up to 10 different craft beers on tap. THIS time we'll have the equipment delivered.

The speed at which the acquisition and doing part of the program proceeds will be dependent on the fundraising portion. While we discussed crowd-funding as an option, we decided that first I would offer my quilts as a forefront of fundraising. I mentioned last week that for the first time ever, I am putting my existing quilts on sale through the end of September. From the smallest 5-block runners to the largest wall-sized corporate quilts, all are 20% off. I'll be bringing in several we have not hung previously and rotating them for your viewing pleasure. If you wish to see any in your home or office environment, I am happy to accommodate. You can view many of these quilts on my art website www.rebelquilter.com..The first Friday Artwalk, September 6th,  will be a showcase for many of these pieces, and I'll rearrange my "gallery" in the annex to show them off. Already, several folks have shown interest in particular pieces. Please don't keep us on pins and needles. If you are interested in a piece, please speak up. I can work with you to make it happen. I'll have a sheet of images with prices of many of the artwork pieces available for you to take with you.

The next step on the patio is to drill holes in the chimney flues we're using as planters/dividers to attach eye bolts. Then we can attach cable between the flues to create a barrier. It'll appear somewhat like the outside rails on a sailboat. After that we need only to photograph the space and update our license to include that space. Sounds easy.

In the meantime, we are learning about craft beers. As has always been the case with what we do, we  have no interest in trying to compete with another place to deliver something already being well served. We are going to focus primarily on delivering true craft beers and build that audience. History has shown that craft beer aficionados are passionate, knowledgeable and committed to enjoying their brews. Sadly, to have access to them, these folks have to travel to Springfield, Rolla, or Eureka Springs for their enjoyment. We want to provide access to many varieties here in West Plains. We have been downloading the beer lists from several craft beer places in St. Louis and Kansas City and are striving to learn what we can. If you are a craft beer fan or know someone who is, this is an ideal time to tell us what you are looking for and what gives you the most enjoyment—in terms of choices, food accompaniments, and environment. Along the way, we'll upgrade our liquor license to include spirits, as that will also allow us to sell some of the beers that have higher alcohol by volume (ABV). The current beer and wine license only allows for a beer to have 6.5% ABV. Who needs luminosity.com when there is so much to learn in everyday life?

Now what we are REALLY all about is good food. I have become so much more aware of the produce as the seasons roll by. Tomatoes and warm weather crops are peaking—including eggplant, summer squashes, and beets. These are being included in the summer stir-fry. The next fruit to become ripe are the pears. We've been enjoying the peaches and cherries and used them in the current line-up of desserts. I am planning a pear and pistachio tartlet. Maybe we can make a pistachio ice cream to join it. Hmmm. I am also planning a pear tart with Stilton and pistachio salad as a starter. These pears are poached first in a red wine and black current liqueur, then sliced and served over a puff pastry base, topped with Stilton cheese imported from England, and baby lettuces slathered in pistachio oil and sprinkled with toasted pistachios. Oh my!

The Seafood Entrée this week features gorgeous scallops. We'll be using scallops that have not been soaked in any chemicals, and they are huge! The designated size is U10 which means that there are under 10 per pound. This translates to the size of a large egg in weight or volume. The actual dish is Sea Scallops with Cilantro Lime Gremolata and Ginger Lime Beurre Blanc. Now let me translate that for you. A gremolata is an herbal condiment that begins with a citrus zest (grated peel). In this case, we'll use lime as the base to which we'll add chopped cilantro, grated fresh ginger and garlic.This will be the final topping. The beurre blanc is a sauce made with shallots (think cross between mild onions and garlic), fresh ginger, lime juice, dry white wine and butter. I'll serve the dish with a wild rice pilaf and our summer stir-fry. Oh, we're gonna eat good this week!  I'll have about twelve servings for the week. Call in to have me reserve your order. $17.99

The Flavor journey is vaguely Mediterranean. It is Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions. As a starting point, we'll use local unsprayed apples. We'll rub the tenderloin with dijon mustard, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. I'll pan sear it, then oven roast. I'll also pan sear the onions and apples, then bake with the pork. The apples then get cooked down with chicken stock, fresh thyme and a splash of Marsala to reduce volume and intensify the flavor while scraping up the meat juices and bits. Butter will round out the flavor. We'll serve this with garlic potatoes and our summer stir-fry. Yeowza! $14.99

Now for the lunch specials~
Monday~ Stir-fried veggies with rice. $6.99
Tuesday~ Quesadilla made with pulled pork, roasted red peppers, grilled onions and mushrooms $7.99
Wednesday~ Lemon Pepper Shrimp Orzo with side salad $8.50
Thursday~ 1905 salad; Romaine,oven-roasted turkey, Kalamata olives, Swiss cheese, tomatoes, lemony dressing $7.99
Friday~ Hawaiian Tacos~pork, BBQ sauce, jalapeno, pineapple, mango, avocado $7.99

Have we spoiled you yet? We hope so. It brings me great joy to be able to serve such a luscious menu and have you snarp it up.  If you have been keeping us a secret, now would be a great time to help us spread the word. I know you'd prefer to have us to yourselves, but we need to increase our audience to assure our own sustainability. Bring in a new customer and we'll add an extra punch to your card.  Thanks for being a part of our growth. We love having you along for the ride.

~~Susan

W/E August 17th After the rain...

Things are heating up, even if the weather isn't. Our plans are beginning to move forward. Last week Terry Hampton wrote a lovely article for the Quill that really caught the essence of what we are about. Hopefully, enough people who may not have been in before will be motivated to try us out. No doubt there will be a few who, though they visit, will simply not "get" us. While I would love to please everyone, I am not naive enough to think that those who are hooked on fried fast food will necessarily find a place in their hearts for our efforts. For the rest of you~ WELCOME!

You might have noticed the new chimney flues placed outside in the courtyard. These will be the basis for a new fenced area. Why? So we can apply to change our beer and wine license to include outdoor seating. As it is written now, our license only includes indoor seating.

Our first major update will be to add true craft beers on tap. To facilitate that we need to purchase a refrigeration device called a kegerator. They can range in size from handling one keg to small ones handling three small kegs to three door mammoths that can handle 10 or more different small kegs. So how are we planning to fund this? For the first time EVER, I am putting a few of my existing medium to larger quilts on a temporary sale of 20% off. These are doubly a bargain as I have not raised the price on any of my work since I stopped touring in 2009. I should point out that "Live Water", aka "the fish quilt", is not included in this offering. We plan to keep that quilt as the color and theme inspiration for the decor next door. I'll plan to have a sheet with thumbnails and prices of about 20 of my quilts by week's end. This markdown is short-term and will be over by the end of September. If you have had your eye one one of my quilts, there has never been a better time to purchase one. An example of the pricing would any of my 25 block  (approx 35" x 35") quilts are typically priced at $1800 each. At 20% off, the discount would be $360 or $1460.  If one you like isn't on the price sheet, just let me know. Many of them are stored off-site but can be brought here so you can see them. Just ask. Each quilt has a story. Be a part of OUR story. If you would like to see my inventory you can go to my website—www.rebelquilter.com. Full pricing is listed under the folder "purchasing/ pricing."

As the summer begins to wind down—did it ever get started?—the crops are hitting in droves. The richest flavors are still developing on the vines. The next major crop I am looking at are the coral mushrooms, which abound in this area. Chances are good that if you have any land, at all, you'll find a nice clump of them. They are some of the easiest mushrooms to identify.  They look just like coral growing on the ocean floor. I'd also like to buy chanterelles if you have them, too. We love to include the mushrooms in our stir-fries. BTW—the coral mushrooms freeze really well for later use. Wash them and shake out moisture before freezing

If you have figs growing they should be ripe soon. I'd like to buy some of yours if they have not been sprayed with any chemicals. The Turkish Brown fig actually does fairly well here as long as you can provide a growing location out of the harsh winter wind. My fig tree is about 3 years old and this year it "took off!" It is now about 8 ft. tall and has about 30 figs on it. I am looking forward to including some in a dessert and another appetizer looks really good.

We have started a new tradition amongst our staff. While we like to keeps things fairly casual, we still like the idea of a somewhat cohesive "look" in what we wear. A few weeks ago I spotted a line of shoes that really got me excited. The last time I got really excited about a pair of shoes, they were go-go boots in 1965. When I showed them to the staff they got excited too. This week Drew will be sporting his new shoes. They are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. In the future when a team member gets his/ her new pair, we'll say they earned their "soles." There is a wide variety of colors and patterns so everyone still has some creativity in how they look. We plan to eventually have everyone wearing Hawaiian shirts, black pants and Inkkas shoes.

I have also ordered some fabric to replace the curtain in the main bathroom. I'm excited to be gradually spiffing up the joint. Now if we can just get that carpet cleaned....

The dinner specials will cover a wide range of territory. The Seafood Entrée will be whole rainbow trout stuffed with crab. Think—crab cake inside the trout. Holy Moly! I'll serve it with a garlic and spinach rice pilaf and summer stir-fry. Sea Sauce will accompany $15.99. I have 16 servings for the week.

The Flavor Journey will be from Greece. Chicken souvlaki, Greek style zucchini fritters, spanakopita, and marinated cucumber salad plus tzatziki. $14.99. The souvlaki are chicken breasts on skewers marinated in garlic, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil and mint and then grilled. The spanikopita is a puff pastry stuffed with spinach. The fritter is made from fresh zucchini, feta, egg and herbs.  The tzatziki is a a condiment made from Greek yogurt with fresh herbs, lemon and cucumber.

This week's lunch specials~~
Monday~ Jalapeno popper grilled cheese  (whipped cream cheese, jalapeno and apricot jam)  with gazpacho or tomato soup. Amy will decide on whether to serve a hot or cold soup depending on the weather. I'm betting hot. $7.59

Tuesday~Roman Sandwich with side 50 cents off at $7.59

Wednesday~California Club sandwich (turkey,ham,bacon,tomato,avocado,sprouts and chipotle mayo) with side $7.99

Thursday~ Crab and shrimp Louis lettuce wrap crab, shrimp, heirloom cherry tomatoes, Louis Sauce-similar to Thousand Island dressing. in a wrap. $8.50

Friday~Thai Turkey Salad~ ground turkey, cucumber, lime, mint, peanuts.....yum! $7.59

• We love that you are making this journey with us. Shortly, I expect, you'll be able to enjoy regional craft beers on tap. 
• We love sharing this experience with you and have heard you loud and clear that you feel you have a vested interest in where we take things. Thank you for caring so much. 
• We love that you think we are contributing to the quality of life in these parts. We'll keep doing so.

Have a glorious week!

~~Susan

w/e August 10 Starting year number FOUR!

It is hard to believe that this time three years ago it was the hottest week of the year. Jon and I were scared and we had a massive learning curve ahead. We were working out of 4 coolers and 2 under-counter fridges. The spot I cooked in, in the trailer, was about 2 foot square and I stood there for 8 hours a day—prepping, cooking and doing dishes all from the same spot. Jon ran around setting up tables, umbrellas, buying groceries and watering plants. Ahh. Times have changed.

All this rain and cooler weather have been such a treat. Has anyone started planning their "Okay, we've had enough rain for a while dance?" I'm just glad we have intrepid diners who are not stopped because of a bit of wet stuff. All Hail the umbrella!

Terry Hamptom, with the Quill, has been given wider leeway in her feature writing and has now written an article on our cafe, our role in the community and our stance on sustainability and good food. It's due to come out on Tuesday. I am hopeful that it will help raise our visibility within the community and awareness on good food options. Included in the section will be an excerpt from my blog on our ingredient choices. If folks will just read that, we may gain a strong new audience.

We've already started the process on many of the plans we discussed last week. I am researching the liquor laws and finding out what we need in order to expand to the outside sidewalk serving. I have located the planters we need that will support the "fencing" needed to corral the outside seating. The sign on the wall that acknowledges the occasional need to lick the plate is nearly ready to be sealed down—after I move it 6" inches to the right. We've been saving wine bottles to create the down spot lights that will hang over the new bar and the seated banquette. We're putting numbers to all the items on the wish list. We'll soon be recruiting  labor in exchange for food/beverages to create the physical changes. We are still in need of a trailer that is long enough to haul 2 10-foot-long church pews. They are located near Cape Girardeau.

Fortunately, our traffic has begun to pick back up and we had a spectacular anniversary week. We know things will dip again as school gets back in swing. But hopefully, this will be a strong fall. If you have any dates planned for your holiday parties, it is not too early to put us on the calendar. Popular dates fill up fast. Remember, we can cater your party here or on-site. If you want your party to be easy on your part, knowing your guests will enjoy the delicious food, we're the guys to call.

It was nice to get all the feedback about our plans. Thank you for speaking up. Please keep those comments and ideas coming. You DO have a vested interest in what comes next.

The music this week is a new artist for us. His name is Josh Tyler and he is a singer/songwriter. Jon and I heard some of his tunes via a friend of his. We really enjoyed his music and think you will as well. His music is somewhat of a contemporary folk genre. Please join us Friday night to hear him perform.

For the dinner specials we visit both France and Mexico. France brings us boneless duck breasts with a honey lacquer or glaze. We'll pair it with a fresh tomato gratin which takes fresh tomatoes and seasonings plus a topping of bread crumbs and browns them for a crusty texture. I'll complete the dish with our super fresh summer stir-fry. This week we have all sorts of local veggies in the stir-fry including eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet red peppers, and cabbage—plus extras as they come along.

The seafood entrée comes from Mexico's coastline—shrimp chilaquiles. (pronounced chee-leh-kee-lez) This is nearly a casserole as it combines lots of shrimp with fresh peppers, garlic, Mexican cheeses like Crema Mexicana and Queso Fresco and corn tortillas that have been crisped and then baked in the sauce. I'll serve it with the customer favorite of Mexican corn pudding plus a bit of cilantro lime slaw. It will be a bit kicky without being too hot. ¡Que buena suerte! (what good luck!)

Lunches~
Monday~ Spicy cilantro, pepita pesto stuffed peppers $7.59
Tuesday~ Roasted veggie sandwich with eggplant, red bell pepper, mushrooms and onions on ciabatta with side $7.59
Wednesday~ Pizza with red sauce, spinach, tomatoes, salami and fresh mozzarella with side salad $7.99
Thursday~ Pasta All' Amatriciana—pasta with pancetta, Pecorino cheese, parsley, oven roasted tomatoes plus side salad $7.99
Friday~ Tortellini Antipasto Salad $7.59

Seafood entrée~ (Mexico) Shrimp chilaquiles plus corn pudding and cilantro lime slaw $14.99
Flavor Journey~ (France) Duck breasts with honey glaze, tomato gratin, summer stir-fry $16.99

We are having a huge amount of fun and hope you are able to join us regularly. If you see anything you think we are missing, please feel free to speak up. We are looking forward to traveling this journey with you on our team. You make what we do a joyful experience. Thank you. Have a lovely, rare cool August week. We'll be here for you.

~~Susan