Mary Morgan of the Ann Arbor Chronicle has done an excellent job of updating the community on the resolution between The County Health Dept. and FM @ SELMA. Check it out here if you want a thorough and fair report of our SELMA history and events.
How does she do it? Eve Aronoff, Jedi-knight chef and big time sweetie-pie, knows how to make it happen in the kitchen. Eve gave us two fab options: Chilaquiles with salsa verde– a Mexican dish made with white corn tortillas and jalapenos, and the second special: eggs scrambled with basil-walnut pesto and sausage. It was hard to say which one was more popular, as we ran out of both by the end of the morning. Thanks Eve! It’s always a pleasure to have you in our home.
Thanks also for all our volunteer help this week. Thursday night prep was a breeze with the prep to-do list organized by Susie Baity-Stearns, and the to-do helpers stepping up to get everything done early than usual: Steve and JD Rubin, Christine Deucher, Olivia May, Joerg Z., Anita Staubach, Bridgette Guarasci, Marty, Colleen Sherman, and Joanna Campbell deserve a round of applause. We took time to share a meal during prep, which gives prep night a real party feel–especially this week with folks bringing everything from a lovely fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil salad to homemade lavender gelato. If you have been thinking about volunteering for Thursday night prep, but aren’t quite sure, the potluck meal alone should convince you to sign up and have some fun with us.
Friday morning volunteers kept the food coming and the coffee flowing. And the coffee was really flowing–we actually thought we were going to run out at one point, and our lovely friends and neighbors Jeremy and Aubrey Lopatin were kind enough to make a Roos Roast front porch run to restock our supply. There were other spur of the moment helpers too–Bridgette Guarasci and Xochil Ruiz, two FM @SELMA regulars who finished their breakfast and headed out to our front yard garden to pick arugula when we needed more greens! Our other wonderful Friday volunteers include Joanna Campbell, Claire Rice, Nevon Clark, Olivia May, Rachel Chadderdon, Laura Kowal, Bridgette Carr, and Carolyn Christopher.
*****
I’m very happy to report some good news for Repasts, Present & Future, and Friday Mornings @SELMA. Last week I finalized a formal affiliation with Slow Food Huron Valley which has satisfied the County Public Health Department’s need for us to be directly connected with fund raising for a 501(c)3 organization. This connection allows us to be exempt from their jurisdiction and we are no longer considered a food establishment in their opinion.
SFHV is embracing FM @SELMA under their organization’s umbrella, and I will join the SFHV leadership team as their secretary. I am looking forward to working with my friend Kim Bayer, current president of SFHV and a FM @SELMA chef, and the rest of the SFHV team to work together towards our shared mission and goals.
Finally, Jeff and I are thrilled to be done with the time and effort it has taken to resolve the unnecessary conflict with the County over these last months. Now we can turn our focus back to the important activities of making and sharing good food with community while supporting local food and farm initiatives. Thanks to everyone who has given us support and encouragement to fight the good fight. ~Lisa
First on the blog post agenda today is a deeply heartfelt thanks to the Thursday night prep volunteers who worked later than usual to get every little thing together for Friday breakfast–primarily because I was not as prepared as I should have been due to a pressing and important research project that Jeff and I undertook earlier in the day. Note to self: save the lovely and romantic Irish Hills area wine tasting afternoon with husband for a different day than when scheduled to teach a 5:30p yoga class, with Thursday prep immediately following! (Yes, we had such a sweet and relaxed time, yes the many, many wines we sampled were good– and yes, most importantly our research paid off– we found some good bottles of vino for the upcoming and exciting Sept. 12th Home Grown Festival.)
It was primarily due to the many samples of wine I tasted that I am extra appreciative of our Thursday night crew this week–they stepped up with energy and ease while I recovered from our afternoon– staggering around my kitchen, spending way too much time looking for my sobriety and my to-do list, which I realized later I hadn’t actually yet written.
Thank you Susie Baity-Stearns, Riva Jewell-Vitale, Brad Wicklund, Olivia May, JD Rubin (our youngest prepster yet), Christine Deucher, Rena Basch, Janet Shane, Dawn Tilbury, Bridget Guarasci, Marnie Reid and Nancy Biehn–How lucky can a girl be to have you all here–you had my back and I’m grateful!
One of my favorite things about cooking this week was the opportunity to utilize lots of things from our fridge and freezer from before. It’s a blast to go to the market each Saturday and plan the next weeks menu around what is available, but I also am committed to using up what we already have left over.
We cleaned out the veggie bin for the zucchini, onion, arugula and beet green ragout, emptied the egg cartons by hard boiling 4 dozen eggs for the huevos diablos, defrosted parboiled Tantre Farm potatoes left over from a previous SELMA for home fries, and we had the pleasure of using Olivia May’s best-ever savory herb pie crust dough again when Olivia herself rolled out nearly 5 dozen of the deliciously buttery dough as crackers. Putting it all together created a fun special–the savory cracker, the veggie ragout, the two spicy deviled eggs, and the olive oil and baby onion home fried taters made a great combination.
This week the bread pudding was made with challah instead of the rustic Italian bread I baked for the last bread pudding and I liked it better–soft and pillow-y with a rich egg and vanilla flavor, it was more like flan with a little bread in it. The fat sweet blueberries from the Farmer’s Market were an added treat.
We were pretty full up this week with the addition of our art fair friends, so it was extra wonderful to have such a great group of Friday volunteers. Big thanks to Susie Baity Stearns who continues to be our kitchen angel, Scooter Merrins, Nicole, Olivia May, Rena Basch, and Carolyn Christopher for the smooth service and their non-stop energy, Marnie Reid for taking on the waffles, Nevon Clark and Michelle Segar for washing dishes, and Nancy Biehn for being at my side the whole morning helping with everything from frying bacon to plating food. Way to make it happen one and all.
***
That’s all for now. County update next week when things are in place. In the meantime, enjoy these beautiful days of big, fat clouds, the sun chasing the rain, gusty winds, flowers galore, berries overflowing at the market, and all the other luscious bounty available right here in our community. ~Lisa
Hello out there! It’s been a busy few weeks which has contributed to me getting behind in the “thanks and appreciation” department. This is a reflection only on my being spread a little thin– the excitement and enthusiasm about our FM @SELMA remains constant. I promise I’ll try to keep up in the future. AND, there is always room for others to post their thoughts too! Please contribute.
Let’s catch up a bit, shall we? 3 weeks ago Janea Mikowski from Carson’s American Bistro thrilled us with her specials–biscuits and gravy with an herb scramble, and a poached egg a top a veggie ragout. I loved the variety of flavors in Janea’s dishes, and so did everybody else–we ate it all! Even better, Janea clearly knows her way around a kitchen–and matches Silvio for calm and an easy going approach.
The following week I got my bake on with some help from Eve Aranoff’s perfect bread pudding recipe. Rich and eggy, with fresh raspberries, this recipe is easy to follow and is a real crowd pleaser. For our gluten-free friends, I also made a potato and kale strata with garlic and cheddar cheese that was served with some hoop house greens. I could not have pulled this off without the tons of help from all our hard working volunteers.
Last week, Olivia May stepped up with two lovely offerings–a baked zucchini and cheese tart in a buttery herb crust, and the same herb crust gently cradling an egg baked with our home cured bacon. Wow! She’s young, but the girl rocks out the food! Both dishes were topped with a wonderfully flavorful tomato and walnut tapenade, and served with spicy home fries and hoop house greens.
Since I have a way lighter work load in the summer, I’ll be bringing you breakfast again this Friday with two offerings– blueberry bread pudding (thanks again dear Eve!) made with my own home made challah, and chipotle flavored deviled eggs a top a mix of zucchini, onions and garlic, served with a fresh herb infused shortbread and a side of oven roasted potatoes and hoop house greens.
***
Due to the length of time between this post and my last, I don’t have a comprehensive list of all the many volunteers who showed up Thursday nights and Friday mornings to make the magic happen. I’m truly sorry about this, since the volunteers are the ONLY, and I mean ONLY way our weekly breakfast salon can sustain it’s juice. So, if you helped out, in any capacity, which many of you did, massive appreciation and thanks are heading out of my finger tips and heart right to ya! I hope you can feel the love.
***
Nearly two weeks ago I had a meeting with the legal counsel and staff of the County Department of Planning and Environment to discuss their concerns regarding our FM @SELMA activities. Thanks to the help of our exceptionally generous friend Kurt Berggren, and the good people of the County Dept., the meeting was cordial, thoughtful and very productive. If things go as planned, I will tell all next week– but in the mean time you can relax, dream about the good breakfasts to come, and visualize hoop houses springing to life around us, knowing that FM @SELMA is ok to go. Stay tuned.
***
Finally, I want to give a shout out to regular SELMA friends Nick Durrie and Carisa Wilder who, along with their older daughter Leila, welcomed the newest addition to their family– little baby girl Iris. Nicely done Carisa! Hope to see you soon in our kitchen.
Until next time, enjoy these long summer days, and take a long moment to appreciate all the bounty the earth, sun and rain bring to us through the hard and steady work of our local farmers. ~Lisa