If Jeff and I can do it, you probably can too! We have had some fabulous, passionate, amazing chefs since Selma started way back in February.  And lately, most of those chefs have been really busy–too busy for Selma.  This has left us pondering how to bring more folks in to cook up breakfast, especially since the alternative is for Jeff or me to step up and cook.  Much as I love coming up with and cooking specials for our Friday mornings, it doesn’t meet our goal of keeping the local food community directly involved in our weekly breakfast salon by filling as many roles as they can.

Do you like to make food for your family and friends? Do you like coming up with fun breakfast ideas that focus on local and seasonal food?  Please consider stepping up and taking a turn!  It may seem daunting, but it is really fun and exciting.  We promise we will help you through all phases of the process–from planning your specials to garnishing the plates!  I’m happy to woman the egg pans for anyone who is interested.

Props and thanks to Jeff for his delicious special: fall-off-the-bone tender spicy pork shoulder with hoop house roasted chilies, served with moist, rich cornbread and a couple of butter fried eggs.  Wow! What a great combination. We still had blueberry bread pudding, waffles with pancetta or not,  and yogurt, granola and fruit parfaits for  anyone who wanted a vegetarian option.

Thursday night we had lots of help pulling it together– Susie Baity-Stearns, JD Rubin, Shaelyn Smith, Brad Wicklund and his friend Michael Borowski, Olivia May, Garin Fons, Kate Mathews, Elizabeth Edwards and Nevon Clark all made the evening fun and easy.

Friday morning volunteers included Susie Baity-Stearns, Shaelyn Smith, Carolyn Christopher, Laura Kowal, Nevon Clark, Sarah Burns, and Nevon Clark.Thanks to all for helping Jeff and I pull it off!  Hope to see you soon around our kitchen! ~Lisa

Ok, there’s been a little friendly competition among the Selma guest chef’s over the months.  If you’ve been paying attention, we’ve had chefs now and then try and outdo one and other.  Maybe it’s the nature of people who are passionate about their art form to simply want to be the best of what they do.  This past week at Selma just may have raised the bar another notch.  Of course, favorite food means different things to different people–one persons best breakfast might include kippers and fried tomatoes, another person’s might be a cream filled doughnut.

Far be it for me to judge…but I will say this, I had Max and Eli’s special of a home made English muffin with a thick juicy slice of heirloom tomato, a perfectly fried sunny side up egg topped with salmon hollandaise sauce served with a side of garlicky home fries, and I can’t remember eating anything for breakfast quite as delicious as this…ever.  I don’t think I was alone.

Wait, I hear someone in the background–what’s that??  The French toast?? Ohhhh.  Apparently I am wrong.  It was Max and Eli’s other special of challah French toast served with a reduction of peaches, butter and maple syrup and candied peaches, served with a side of house made pork breakfast sausage spiced up with ginger, garlic and sage that was the best breakfast ever.  Can we both be right?  Absolutely–that’s the beauty of scrumptious food–everybody wins.  Regardless of which special was your favorite this week, we can bow down to Max and Eli, who made all the work of Selma extra worth it this week. Thanks boys!

Thanks also to the great crew who showed up to prep Thursday night: Garin Fons organized the wonderful volunteers that included JD Rubin, Amanda Schott, Rob Foley, Krista Stone, Laura Kowal, Nevon Clark and Olivia May.  Friday morning volunteers did an awesome job of everything–including the crew who stayed to wash the kitchen floor and put the dishes away! Thanks to Susie Baity-Stearns, Caroline Garret, Imogen Taylor, Leslie Isaacs, Kate Noll-Greene, Nevon Clark, Ines and Eric Storhork, Laura Kowal, Eva Stern, and Rob Foley.

An extra special thanks goes out to Matt Graff for donating a case of Clancy’s Fancy Hot Sauce to Selma at the end of the HomeGrown Festival last night.  Thanks Matt!

Come on by for breakfast some Friday soon!  We’re looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen, ~Lisa

What a weekend! Let’s start with Sylvia and her husband Joe, from Pilar’s Tamales who showed up in our kitchen with the most beautiful tray of re-fried black turtle beans I have ever seen.  Not only did they look good, they were unbelievably creamy and delicious.  Sylvia knows her way around a kitchen, and Joe is a non-stop support.  Together with the Thursday night prep crew of Susie Baity Stearns, David Collins, Eva Stern, JD Rubin, Bridgette Carr, Amanda Schott, Nevon Clark, Emily Stearns and Judith Rontal they created two authentic El Salvadorian specials: first, Huevos con Chorizo, with Jeff’s house made chorizo, and second, for our non-meat eating friends, scrambled eggs with salsa ranchero.  Both were served with the  black beans topped with a simple crema, and fried plantains, topped with a sweetened, cinnamon flavored crema.  Both these dishes were made with the wonderful, rich flavors of El Salvador, and the most important ingredient of all– Sylvia’s open hearted love!

Friday morning servers really came through to make another Selma breakfast successful and easy.  Thank you Susie Baity Stearns, Laura Wetherington,  Matt Burton, Garin Fons, Bridgett Carr, Scooter Merrin, Laura Kowal, Nevon CLark, Carolyn Christopher, Ines, Eva Stern, and Marcie Greenfield.

******************************************

Tammy Coxen is an amazing chef! Check out some photos here.  Tammy is organized, thoughtful, creative, committed to local food, and clearly talented.   She threw 8 friends of RP & F a fabulous dinner party Saturday night in her cozy home.  Check out more photos at Brian Steinberg’s blog Last one Eating! If we are lucky, we will have Tammy cooking up some breakfast soon for FM @SELMA.  Thanks to Tammy and all the folks who showed up to the party in our support.

***************************************

Once again, a big heartfelt thanks goes out to the beautiful and fabulous Cynthia Hodges for rounding up a lovely and hardworking bunch of magician helpers including Elizabeth Bruch, Heidi Kumao, Nevon Clark and Erin Schumacher, who turned a bushel of tomatoes into nearly two cases of rich, thick , spicy delicious ketchup for FM @SELMA. This is something we can all look forward to tasting as the potato harvest comes to fruition later this fall.  Thank you all for the time and energy you all put into this project on Sunday afternoon.

***************************************

Finally, Jeff and I went on a micro-mini vacation Tuesday evening–micro being the operative word.  Ingredients for a micro-mini-vacation include the following: a destination that we can reach in less than 45 minutes on the motorcycle, an activity that includes being outside as much as possible, discovering and eating good food, and time to to ourselves to connect with each other.  Why am I sharing this??  Because, our Tuesday evening adventure was a trip out to Grass Lake’s  The Blueberry Patch , a sweet little organic blueberry farm where u-pick is the name of the game, along with home made donuts and the monologue of proprietor Steven, who  regaled us with stories until we managed to pull ourselves away to fill our buckets with sweet, ripe blueberries.  We came home with enough blueberries to fill and freeze two gallons worth, along with deep blue tongues, an indication that we were sampling as well as picking. Sure Grass Lake is a bit of a drive, but the place is  way-fun cool, the owners are sincere and friendly, the donuts are fresh and good, and the patch is a nice escape from city bustle.  Hope to see you soon around the kitchen, Lisa

Where oh where to start?? It was a busy weekend for all those involved in RP&F.  Starting with the Thursday evening prep party, Monica and Emil Boch led the prep crew once again with some amazing breakfast choices.  Thanks to Susie Baity-Stearns, Olivia May, Janet Shane, Ines Storhok, Kate Matthews, Amanda Schott and Nevon Clark for bringing it all together!

There was a lot of excitement about the two specials Monica and Emil created–the first was a brandied apricot french toast made with Zingerman’s challah and served with amaretto flavored whipped cream. This dish was  melt-in-your-mouth comfort food that pleased everyone who was lucky enough (or awake enough) to get to SELMA early to eat it before it was gone.  I’m already composing a request to Monica and Emil for a repeat performance of this knock-out creation before summer’s end.

Their second special was just as delicious, and a brand new breakfast dish for SELMA as well.  The favors were Northern African–a Tunisian and Moroccan combo of spices that made mouth’s water and stomachs growl.  Turkey sausage wrapped in a filo-like pastry was rich and satisfying, served with a perfect poached egg and an orange flavored dressing atop bitter greens made everyone who ate it leave the table happy.  There were many sighs of deep contentment throughout the morning. Monica and Emil–we bow down to you!!

Thanks to the Friday morning volunteer crew who had their hands full with more than 110 guests:   Susie Baity-Stearns for her organizational magic, and Laura Smith, Jennifer Haines, Sarah Gerk, Ines Storhok, Laura Meisler, Carolyn Christopher, Laura Kowal and Nevon Clark for serving, dish washing, waffle making and big clean up afterwards.

Please consider volunteering for Thursday prep or Friday morning service.  With the huge numbers of guests we really need the support of lots of folks to keep FM @SELMA operating smoothly.  It’s fun, delicious and community building at it’s best.  Give it a try soon!!

*************************

The Saturday Hoop House build for Sun Seed Farm was an amazing success thanks to every single person who showed up through out the day to help. Please take the time to read through this long list of names–and send some love and appreciation their way!!

Massive and huge thanks to Tomm Becker and Trilby MacDonald, Sean Kehoe, Steve Thiry, Kerby Smithson, Amber Webster, Riva Jewell Vitale, Adam Montri, Marianne Rush, Gabe Tilve, Misa Cady, Jeremy Moghtador,  Rachel Beyer, Pedro Ghirotti, Daniel Blair, Brendan Sinclair, Emil Boch, Chip and Kathleen Letts, Amy Heath, Laura Smith, Deanna Liimatta, Lessie Brown, Rachel Chadderdon, Adam Miller, Trevor Johnson, Kathy Koch, Anton Smith, Sue Shink, Emily Hatch, Steve Bunn, Emily Hannewald, Mohmad Sulemon, Magdy Mohamed, Ahmad Abou Assi, Pattie, Tim and Elizabeth Redmond, Dan Ezekiel, David Collins, Myra Klarman for shooting photos and Wonder Woman, Bad Fairy and their crew for showing up at dinner time with a load of amazing food to revive us. I hope I got everyone–if you don’t see a name on the list, let me know so I can add it!

Looking over the above list of names, I am remembering all the big and little things that were done throughout the day to make the hoop house build a beautiful success.  Each person, and each act of support on Saturday was absolutely vital to the over all completion.

I also want to especially thank Olivia May, Trilby MacDonald, Amber Webster and Kerby Smithson for coming over Friday night and preparing lunches for all our Saturday volunteers.  Nothing like wonderful food to nourish the body, heart and soul on a hot August day.

***************************

Finally, more thanks and appreciation to the lovely and efficient Cynthia Hodges for organizing and facilitating the first FM @SELMA food preserving event! Cynthia and her canning crew of Marnie Reid, Erin Schumacher, Kelly Kieft, Mike Stearns, Olivia May and Nevon Clark put up nearly 20 quarts of local peaches that we will all enjoy this winter on waffles, in bread pudding, with yogurt granola parfaits and who-knows-surprise-breakfast treats.  We look forward to more canning and preserving as the harvest continues, and if you want to learn how to can, or bring your expertise to the kitchen, we can sure use your help!!

Enjoy this week–here’s hoping it unfolds for you with ease, grace, love, and lots of delicious local…everything.  ~Lisa

Our first  hoop house build took place on Rosa Parks Blvd. in Detroit last Saturday, on Greg Willerer’s Brother Nature Produce farm, from early morning until we lost the light.  We completed nearly every part of the installation– a pretty amazing feat for one day! It looks like we will finish by pulling the plastic this Sunday afternoon–check back for details.

Over forty, yes FORTY volunteers showed up through the day and evening to make the hoop go from an idea on paper (and a truck full of metal and plastic) to a beautiful reality with enthusiasm, team work,  relentless energy and, of course, delicious food!  Our volunteers are mind boggling wonderful–not only did they show up to work, many brought delicious food to keep us all going.

Big, big thanks to Kevin Hawkins, Tomm Brewer, Joanna Campbell, Chad Pratt, Trilby Macdonald, Jon Brewster, Sara Schlotterbeck, Mindy Matice, Max and Ulisses Porto, Laurel, Pax, Rosalie & Gabriel MaGuire, Larry Thompson, Ryan Hudson, Mike Cicerone, Brandi Trapp, Heidi Kumao, Michael Szuberla, Priyanka Pathak, Sunny Kawenski, Kip Koschell, Ingrid Rousseau, Blair Carlson, Kevin Bingham, Lynette Gaitskill, Olivia May, Garin Fons, Matt Burton, Shannon Brines, Adam Fu, Shannon Riffe, Max and Rich Klarman, Brother Nature Produce boss Greg Willerer and his helpers Anika, Mia, Sierra, Nate and John.

Thanks too, to local photographer Myra Klarman and film maker Jonathon Swain for documenting our efforts throughout the day. Stay tuned for their creativity!

Sure, it was a long day of physical labor, organizational challenge and some logistical juggling, but it was also tremendously gratifying and fun.  Please consider coming out to our next build on August 15, and be part of making fresh harvest available  all year ’round for our community.

Here are  a few photos that give just a little feeling of the tremendous enthusiasm and energy present on Greg Willerer’s urban prairie.

~Lisa & Jeff

hoop house site

preparing the site for installation

some of the many hoop house parts

Jeff preparing a jig to put the structural bows together

pounding in the structural support posts

installing the bows and baseboards

adding the supports

taking a break

the long view

and let's not forget the food! home made pizza with fresh garden toppings