A little relief for all!

After a seemingly endless wait we finally got a good rain. The forecast for the week is lovely AND bearable. In fact, I expect to see quite a few folks enjoying lunch al fresco this week. It will be interesting to see how the local flora responds to the sudden influx of water in abundance. Will there be the flowers we missed due to dryness early on? Will we skip right to the late summer sunflowers and asters? Watch and see.

We have music this week. Look for details at the end of my blog.

We are celebrating all sorts of happy harvesting right now. The tomatoes have finally started coming in. We are getting fabulous ones from Maranatha Farm as well as some heirloom locals. There's a no more classic way to celebrate the fresh tomatoes than a panzanella salad. Lots of fresh chopped tomatoes, toasted homemade bread soaked in tomato juices, wine vinegar and garlic, lemon and capers. I'll grill some lovely squash and bell peppers to top it off. That will kick the lunch menu off on Tuesday. $6.99

Wednesday we celebrate the classic combination of fresh green beans, ham, black-eyed peas, bell pepper and rice in the form of Hoppin' John. The name is thought to come from a bastardization of the Haitian Creole term for black-eyed peas: pois pigeons (pronounced: [pwapiˈjawn]). I'll serve it with a side for $6.99

Thursday brings on a celebration of another sort—fresh mozzarella! We have begun to use fresh mozzarella on our pesto pizzas now. They will also have fresh Roma tomatoes, fresh in-house pesto, wood-fired chicken and sliced mushrooms and onions. $6.99 includes a side.

Friday brings back the 1905 Salad from the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa. To Romaine lettuce we add ham, turkey, swiss cheese, tomatoes, romano cheese, Kalamata Olives (the original had green olives) and a dressing featuring worchestershire and lemon juice and an oregano vinaigrette. This salad has developed a strong folowing with our customers. $6.99

Thank you to those who took the time to give me feedback on an upcoming Flavor Journey. Your feedback strongly directs our actions and we DO care about what you have to say. I'll try to schedule a special dinner in the next month or so.

In the meantime, due to one response, I have planned a Flavor Journey this week. The focus will be Cubano. I am still trying to locate one of the major ingredients and will add it if we can locate it—that ingredient is plantains. The influence of fresh ingredients is very key to Cuban cuisine. Pork, chicken and fish/ seafood are the primary meats. In this case we are going to use chicken breasts marinated in a mojo sauce. Mojo's major flavor influences are cumin seeds, fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice, garlic and chilis. We'll start the meal with a salad made of Chayote squash which has been peeled and boiled then tossed with a light oil and mustard sauce. The main course is Spicy Cuban mojo chicken with warm mango and avocado salsa. It will be sided with black beans and yellow rice. For dessert I'll make a traditional flan—a caramel-topped custard. IF I can locate any plantains I'll add in chichachirritos or fried plantains served with a mojo sauce. The dinner is $11.99 and the flan is $4.

My seafood this week is two-fold. The first starting Tuesday night is shrimp, scallop and grouper cheek kabobs. My kabobs will be assembled with onion, red peppers, squash, cherry tomatoes and marinated seafoods. We'll grill them and serve them atop rice with "sea sauce", fresh citrus slices and with a side salad. You'll get 2 kabobs for $14.99. Add a third for $4 more. The second is Mussels!!!!! We'll have fresh mussels straight from Prince Edward Island delivered Thursday afternoon. I'll make a curried shallot wine sauce to braise them in. They'll be served with a rice pilaf and stir-fried squash, onions and tomatoes and come with a side salad. $14.99.

The music this week comes from a new source for us. State fiddling champion Vinny Ray will be this Friday's musical entertainment. Vinny will be playing original jazz compositions with his trio. Several of our customers asked if we had heard Vinny play and suggested he would be a great fit for our Friday night music.  You may have heard him at the recent Old time music festival where he played on the OMC stage with 2 other band members. Don't miss out! Reservations strongly recommended. No cover charge but you are expected to tip the band and we prefer that you join us for dinner. As always—we never try to "turn the tables." You are welcome to stay through all the music.

Have you tried our new key-lime bar with coconut ice cream? Here's a photo of it. It is rich and cool and refreshing—all in one piece. We make the coconut ice cream in house as well as the key-lime bar. It is one of our new line of "grown-up" desserts. Another is the grilled pound cake with grilled fresh peaches, whipped cream and caramel. $5.

Have a lovely week!~~

Susan

Celebrations: Earth Day, etc.




I love to celebrate! It doesn't have to be monumental. Just a strong acknowledgement. I think it is an important part of "taking the time to smell the roses." For many years it seemed we were caught up in the rat race that demanded "onward & upward" at a rigorous pace. We lived in or near good-sized cites and allowed ourselves to be caught up in the swell and momentum of city life. The frantic pace, interspersed with traffic back-ups and interminable traffic lights was the daily norm. We were surrounded constantly by the masses, often even more packed during "tourist season." Moving to the Ozarks was a conscientious decision to change all that. After eleven years, we have grown quite accustomed to the slower pace and definitely prefer it.
When we visit larger cites—like St. Louis and even Springfield— I am dismayed by the traffic and frantic level of life. We used to live like that!!! The celebrations these days are on a more basic level. I am more in tune with the seasonal changes and find myself wanting to acknowledge each step of spring's progression.

As we are becoming closer to our food sources, I find I delight in each new find. I was thrilled this week when one of our customers offered to bring in morels and other foraged mushrooms. The Willow Mountain Mushroom people are back in production and we can add their goods back to our menu. Last week I spoke with the people who own Newman's Pork out of Myrtle. They sell most of their carefully raised and crafted pork products in Memphis at the Farmers' Market and to about 80 restaurants in that market. I expect we will be adding their products to our offerings. We are the only local restaurant to do so.

We recently offered Elk burgers that were sourced locally from Jamison Farm. Our trout comes from the pristine Rockbridge Trout Ranch near Brixey. Such lovely, near-by sources.

I am thrilled that eggs are back in production again. While the girls seemed to take a 3-month sabbatical, we yearned for their golden offerings. I get such a delight in serving that luscious deep yellow egg salad or peeling a green hard-boiled egg for the spinach salad. It was down-right fun to show a kid who brought in his dyed  Easter Eggs my green eggs that came right from the chicken that color.

Another customer brought me freshly harvested watercress. How exciting to chomp on that peppery crunch knowing it came from one of our local pristine rivers.

Through my involvement with Chef's Collaborative we now have direct access dockside to fishermen in the Gulf, in the Atlantic and the Pacific. They deal in only wild-caught seafood. We can now have fresh caught seafood shipped directly from their docks to our back door.  Let me know what fresh seafood you have a hankering for. We'll make a point of incorporating it into our menu planning.

Did you notice our new screen door? Thanks to Phil Orlikowski we have a custom made one with a carved handle. It had to be made custom as the doorway is 42" wide and 8 ft tall. We are hoping we'll be able to leave the front and back doors open to give us a fresh breeze—minus the flies. During the winter our utility bill rivaled our rent for for top prize. We're hoping that spring and fall are kinder to our utility bills and think the screen door will be a good first step.

This Friday we are hosting and Earth Day Feast and we very much hope you'll join us. The cost is $20 per person and that includes appetizer, salad, entrees, side dishes, dessert AND your beverage. With all that included in your cost, it is about what you'd pay on most Friday nights. We still have spaces available, though I expect that to change quickly early in the week. I'd suggest you make that call for reservations TODAY 505-0302

I am putting together the menu, sourced locally. Sourcing locally keeps the money in the community and helps build prosperity that lasts. So far, it has taken more effort to build local sources than I imagined. While there are many independent growers, raisers and producers locally, most have had to find ways to market their goods to a larger market and have thus by-passed the local market in order to survive. The same situation exists for local artists. Most have to take their products to much bigger markets simply to make a "go" of it.

Obviously, certain times of the year local produce is bountiful. Other times we are fortunate to find any tomatoes that don't taste like cardboard and THEY are NOT local.

The Earth Day Feast is a celebration. It acknowledges that we are a part of a larger whole that cannot be disrespected to facilitate short-term perceived "gains." It allows us to take an evening to enjoy the local plenitude and the joy of being among friends.

As I write this Saturday morning, after a major spring storm moved through, the Carolina Wren is showing me her newest nest in an old Bluebird box. With her staccato chirps she joins the Cardinal the returns each spring. Actually, he probably didn't leave—he is just more vocal right now. Have you noticed that different cardinals have their own songs? This one we call "Pete Seeger" because that is his call.  Three "Pete Seegers" and we know our old friend is nearby. Another Cardinal's call is, "Snip-snip, snip-snip-snip, snip-snip." We call him "Bob it." The mourning dove's low cooing provides the bass notes to our concert. The silent but soaring turkey and black vultures have said their good-byes and the migrating flocks have moved northward. We won't see the nightly gathering of 300+ vultures roosting in the empty trees until next fall.

Up until now, our small pond has had mostly frogs with their nice variable trills. With all this rain, I know the toads are due. They'll begin their droaning call and continue it for about three days, non-stop, before they scamper back off to their hiding places. We appreciate their visits, though, I am not so sure our 5.5 cats do. With my partial hearing loss, I cup my ears with my hands to get the full effect. Those suckers are LOUD!

Speaking of celebrations, did you see the article featuring us in Missouri Life Magazine? We are so grateful to have that kind of support and recognition. Several new customers drove across the state to visit us, based on that article. Thanks for making them welcome.

This week's menu—
Monday~ Crab & Chipotle Onion Quesadilla; Creamy Garlic and Spinach Soup
Tuesday~ Fire Roasted Caribbean Pork Tamales with Pineapple Salsa, warm Mango and Pineapple Puree and Yellow Rice;
Wednesday~ Personal pizzas—Pesto, Sun-dried tomatoes, Shitakes, Mozzarella, Wood-fired Chicken
Thursday~ Spinach/mushroom quiche with fruit or Italian Potato Salad
Friday~ Chicken Mole Tacos with side of black beans

Additionally, one of our regular menu items will be featured each day at 50 cents off.
We look forward to seeing you during this wet, rainy week. It is the same every year, this week. Wet, wet, wet! I am just glad I am not manning a booth at an outdoor art festival. THAT'S WET!

See you soon!