Listening: Roosevelt Sykes' Honeydripper’s Ball
Reading: Bon Appetit May ‘09. Charcuterie; The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn
Eating: Two egg omelet with mozzarella and green chile with a side of Advil
Drinking: Water. Lots and lots of water
Feeling: Like hammered dog shit.
It is becoming clear to me that I need to quit drinking. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I just drank a couple of beers and stopped, but it’s that stopping thing that throws it for me. It is easier for me to not drink at all than it is for me to stop once I’ve started. I have become a country song. Maybe it’s the hangover talking, if it is I wish it would quiet down some…and turn off the lights.
Sunday morning is starting off slowly…actually it’s just after noon now…after what was the slowest Saturday ever, less than a thousand bucks. That would be great on a Tuesday, but on a Saturday that just plain sucks. I had planned on closing this week and meeting my sister and brother-in-law at our parents' place in Oklahoma for a few days, but upon balancing out the books the other day saw that we would be short a couple grand of where we needed to be to still pay the bills.
Easy enough, I thought, just stay open through the weekend…then my business debit card number got loose on the internet somehow and a bunch of charges started coming in that I wasn’t making. More of a nuisance than anything, but it has caused a hell of a mess.
So, trip home is postponed, my sister and I talked the other day and we’re shooting for mid-May now, it’s a pain in the ass trying to get everyone time off at the same time, she’s a manager at a lake resort in Kentucky and Mom and Dad both still work and when the kids are out of school that’s when all of us are at our busiest with work…and…and…and…
The new place is coming along slowly, Brett’s pretty much going to be over there from now on though and won’t have any duties at the café so things should pick up. We need to replace the flooring in the kitchen and some other light construction/destruction, and do some painting, probably a week’s worth of work, and nail down the rest of the menu. The spinach and mushroom enchiladas in tomatillo sauce turned out really, really well and Brett did chicken in green mole that was also really good. Took a couple of days on that one to get it where we wanted it, not to mention tracking down a couple of the ingredients, but it’s there now.
We might be calling the new place Paso Por Aqui, which translates as "pass this way," from the title of a western which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1926. The story is by New Mexican Eugene Manlove Rhodes, and much of it takes place in our area of the state.
At the top (if anyone knows how to put pics somewhere besides the top of the post please tell me how) are some pics of the place when it was the Greenhouse Cafe to give you an idea of what it looks like, I'll try to get some new ones soon. Really.
I’m thinking green chile cheesecake and a chocolate tart with Cajeta (a goat’s milk caramel from Mexico) as the desserts. We did the cheesecake here a couple of times and it was flippin’ great, I love that sweet/heat combination.
I also got a small meat grinder to try some sausage recipes, I'd like to start doing some of what we use in house along with smoking some of our own meats, so I'll let you know how that goes as well.
Now, I'm going to open my bottle of bubbly water and turn out the light.
See ya!
6 comments:
Ah...Cajeta. Yum.
And the new place looks spiffy. It looks a bit more cottagey than I pictured it in my mind, though. I always have this photo of you in my head as this no-nonsense sort of cook in a no-nonsense sort of diner. You know, lots of twirly red stools and a juke box. Booths with shiny red vinyl to match and hash browns to die for, all crispy crunchy on the outside and soft and delicate on the inside. Sort of the way I imagine um..you. Keep in mind that I am sort of drugged out on painkillers here....
That's funny 'cause that's what I want next, an old school diner. This place is close, but right now I wanna do sliders and cheese steaks and meatloaf and mac & cheese and fried chicken...and yeah, I want to master the hash brown.
The new place is going to be Brett's, I'm helping him and I'll have my hand in it for two years and then it's all his.
By the way, that's how I picture myself as well.
Now, get some rest.
how very exciting! I love the porch, and now I'm hungry for sliders...
Velveeta? Ugh. When I lived in Oklahoma the enchiladas in most restaurants came with a brown sauce that tasted a lot like watered down canned chili. Oh, and they were topped with "white sauce", which years later I realized was ranch dressing.
But, it could be worse. My kids' mom was raised in Mexico but lives in Germany. A few years back someone started building a new restaurant and word got around that it was to be Mexican. She was so excited that she and her family might have a source for Mexican food without having to cook it for themselves, but when it finally opened and they went there the food, they said, seemed to have been prepared by a cook who had seen pictures of Mexican food, but had never tasted it.
Actually, I guess that might explain velveeta and ranch.
Sarah, I've been craving sliders for a week with no relief in sight.
No, I can't cook them for myself, my kitchens (home and work) are both in the middle of overhauls.
spinach & mushroom enchilada with tomatillo sauce, please.
i vote for paso por aqui. it's going to be amazing.
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