It’s sure great to have Nick Roumel and Chris Wick tag team Selma Cafe. First, they navigate our kitchen with little need for help, they love coming up with creative and new breakfast treats for us, and their food is awesome. Last week, while the Selma Cafe household was preparing for a very special wedding, and there were 14 people staying in the house, (along with two dogs) Nick, Chris and a whole crew of volunteers prepared and served a wonderful deconstructed Reuben sandwich. Chris created the foundation for this special with her super rich and buttery biscuits. By the way, Chris has been selling her amazing baked goods through her new venture called Miette. You can find her at the new Wednesday evening Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market, and believe me, you do want to find her! Okay, back to breakfast– Half the biscuit was smeared with locally made strawberry preserves and butter, and the other half was topped with Nick’s Russian dressing, a generous chunk of brisket and a perfectly poached Dragonwood Farm egg. On the side was the Brinery’s sauerkraut, and some lovely oven roasted asparagus.

Thank you to all the volunteers who really stepped up and made Selma Cafe happen without Mr. and Mrs. Selma at home. Thanks Mel Adams, Michelle Fortin, Kristine Pernic, Sam West, Michael Schmidt, Claire Toeniskoetter, Genevieve Wong, Albert Wu, Rich Kato, Kellen McGee, Maddie Green, Ares Panagarlios, Caroline Miller, Jesse, Anna, Ben, Selena, Devon, Thomas, Andy, Aaron and Jim.

Here’s one of my favorite things about Selma Cafe in the warm weather months. It’s sweet to see so many volunteers and guests using their bikes to get to breakfast.

oh yeah! Here’s another favorite Selma Cafe tradition. Sunseed Farm has some real beautiful goods they are sharing with their CSA members, and the general public on Friday mornings in the Selma Cafe driveway. Be sure to say hi and take a look.

And, of course, the rose bush out front opened it’s blossoms overnight it seems. They really are lovely and fragrant. Stop and smell ‘em!

Stay tuned for updates on yesterday’s Selma Cafe with L’il Teapot, and our 20 Hoops in 20 Days Hoopla Adventure which is completing our 3rd hoop of the 20 today at Capella Farm.

Looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon,

~Lisa

Here’s Silvio & Mike at the end of breakfast service yesterday, tired and gratified by serving breakfast to the 150 guests who enjoyed their ricotta cheese gnocchi with arugula pesto, and their frittata two ways–with pancetta, chives and collards, or asparagus, mushroom and spinach. Both specials were toothsome, rich and full of the flavor of our fresh spring vegetables. This is the time of year when sourcing our breakfast ingredients is a joy. The strawberries and rhubarb for the bread pudding came from Carpenter Organic Farm, the collards, arugula, spinach, mushrooms and asparagus came from Tantre Farm, and the salad mix came from Frog Holler Farm. What an abundance of fine fresh food!

Gnocchi making is a beautiful art. Mike mixed up the dough using four ingredients: Silvio’s organic flour, Zingerman’s ricotta cheese, Dragonwood Farm’s eggs, a little salt and, suddenly, perfection. Top it with a walnut, asiago and olive oil pesto and it’s heavenly perfection.

Aren’t these bundled herbs lovely? Erin Dixon from our neighborhood Gretchen’s House child care contacted me in early spring, letting us know that they wanted to grow some things for us to use at Selma Cafe. I was w delighted with the offer, and I was even more delighted when I found these herbs waiting for me when I got home on Thursday afternoon. Chives, oregano, two kinds of thyme and lambs quarter were all used in the dishes we prepared and served. Thank you Gretchen’s House!

In addition to all the wonderful produce and CSA shares available in our community, did you know that Kirk at Good Scents Gardens has a flower SCA? Kirk is delivering a bouquet of his home grown flowers to Selma Cafe every Friday, just in time for breakfast. That’s yesterday’s batch. Pretty, no?

Finally, one of Eberwhite School’s kindergarten classes came by on a little field trip to visit our chickens. The kids were polite, funny, engaged, and asked wonderful questions. When they asked to see the inside of the coop, I explained to them that I was happy to drop the window that opens to the laying beds, but that they needed to be prepared because there was a lot of chicken poop in the coop. Before the kids could reply, the teacher said, “now children, remember what we say when we see something that we may think is gross or disgusting?” As a group, all the kids looked up at me and said in the sweetest, most sincere tone, “isn’t that interesting!” It’s hard for me to describe my absolute pleasure at their open minded and generous response. What cool kids!

Thank you to all our volunteers this week.Thank you Michelle Fortin for facilitating prep and clean up, Andrew Bozio for expediting, Mel Adams for kitchen management, Salomon Jost for hosting and helping with everything else, along with Kendall Kuneman, Jeannie and Jamie Ballew, Gretchen Gehrke, Mia Gottlieb, Caroline Miller, Clare Toeniskoeter, Genevieve Wag, Joey Steinberger, Duff Mahan. Maddie Green, Janet Cannon, Rich Kato and Aaron Fown.

Usually during this time of year our volunteer numbers decrease, so those who do show up sometimes have to work a little harder than when our numbers are up. If you have thought about volunteering for breakfast, and just need a little nudge, please consider yourself gently and lovingly nudged. We need you! You can go HERE to sign up for a shift. Come on, it’s fun!

Friday coming up we are lucky enough to have Nick Roumel and Chris Wick in the kitchen again, and as soon as I know what they are serving, I’ll post it on facebook.

See you soon in the kitchen,

Lisa

James Beard award winner chef Alex Young, from Zingerman’s Roadhouse,  here poaching one of the 346 eggs served at Selma Cafe Friday. That’s right, Alex plated 173 specials. ( The rest of the 30 breakfasts were pretty evenly divided between the strawberry bread pudding and the waffles.)

Alex’s breakfast hash was extra delicious and extra local with nearby-secret- location morel mushrooms, Carpenter Farm’s organic asparagus, Tantre Farm potatoes and our own front yard garden onions.  Served with a couple of Dragonwood Farm poached eggs, a side of bacon, spring salad from Capella Farm, a dollop of Zingerman’s Creamery lovely farm cheese, and Zingerman’s Bakehouse 8-grain 3-seed bread, this meal was the perfect welcome for springtime eating.

How do we know it’s finally spring? Take a look at this luscious and sweet smelling tree peony in the Selma Cafe backyard if you aren’t yet sure.

Thanks so much to all our volunteers this week, including Melanie Adams for her role as sous chef and expeditor, Susie Baity Stearns for facilitating Thursday evening prep, Michelle Fortin for her clean-up coordination and Linda Kidder, Roberta Knox, Jeff Herbstman, Anna Shatsman, Jessi Carothers, Siri and Mia Gottlieb, Anne West, Ares Paragoulias, Rich Kato, Dorran Dihle, Michael Schmidt, Salomon Jost, Aneka Kaul, Janet Cannon, Rachel Shah, and Marissa Lapedis for making everything else happen smoothly and with a smile.

In between the rain showers, the sun is working it’s way through the clouds, and  into our gardens, warming our bones,  and melting the left over winter chill in our still defrosting winter hearts.  Enjoy!

Looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon,

~Lisa

Marcello Grasso, Emil Bosh and Claudia Kimble rocked out nearly one hundred and fifty specials this morning, with the help of an awesome crew of volunteers.  Marc, in his first appearance as a Selma Cafe chef (thank you Grasso!) and Emil have created From the Hearth Food, a new catering venture that is especially good for kosher, vegetarian and vegan cuisine, as well as omnivore dishes.  Emil is also  the executive chef at U of M Hillel Foundation, so we sure appreciate him taking the time to come chef for us again. Claudia works with Heather Anne Leavitt, owner of Sweet Heather Anne Cakes, and rumor has it she will be on the Selma Cafe chef docket sometime this summer.

It’s always a pleasure to have new specials for breakfast, and this crew really did it up right. I loved the combination of rich ricotta cheese pancakes seasoned with fresh lemon thyme, straight from our front yard herb bed.  The eggs in the batter, from Dragonwood Farm were an added bonus. Topped with a luscious honey blueberry compote and gently whipped cream, and served with a side of salad greens from Capella Farm, this pancake dish was a wonderful blend of flavors that I hadn’t thought to pair together before. Next time you want a lemony flavor, but you want to keep it local, try some lemon thyme!

Spring time quiche was the second special, and it was a great choice. Packed with spinach from our own hoop at Tessmer Farm,  gouda cheese from Oliver, cream from Calder Dairy and Goetz Farms onions, this dish was really good. Served with a side of roasted potatoes and caramelized onions, and a side of spinach, there was a lot of  contented sighs in the kitchen this morning. Although the photos don’t show it, all the specials today were served with a side of bacon as an option, even the new vegan and wheat free granola!

Thanks to our volunteers last night during prep and this morning during service: Michelle Fortin for facilitating prep and coordinating after service clean up, Andrew Bozio for expediting and his awesomely calm demeanor, Mel Adams for multi-tasking with absolute ease, and Mike Green, Alicia Michelson, Rachel Lu, Rachel Goldberg,  Benjamin Strutin,  Anna Shatsman Jessica Carrothers, Mary Rock, Salomon Jost, Nate Lada, Jill Sweetman, Jen DeMoss, Duff Mahan, Siri Gottlieb, Mia Gottlieb, Caroline Miller, Scooter Merrins, Brent Beam, Valerie Benka, Kris Kaul, and Paul Burger.

Each week it’s a real treat to see what Trilby and Tomm Becker of Sunseed Farm have to offer in their weekly CSA share. Take a moment next time you come to Selma Cafe to introduce yourselves to the Beckers–they are wonderful farmers and are growing us good food.

It sure is looking like spring around our house these days, especially the trillium blooming in the shade of the side yard.

And there is nothing like bikes lined up in the driveway to shout spring loud and clear.  Sure, we may have all kinds of big weather in the next month or so, but I can sense Spring, with a capital S is lurking very close by, ready to clamor for our full attention.

Enjoy your weekend, happy Mother’s Day to mama’s everywhere, including mama Earth, and see you soon around our kitchen,

~Lisa

Chris, flanked here between Mel Adams and Aaron Van Dyke is a chef who clearly enjoys what she does.  As an accomplished baker, she is always looking for new and creative dishes to share. Apparently, she thinks about these sorts of things in  her sleep, because her idea of soaking Michigan dried cherries in Arbor Teas’ Earl Grey Tea to infuse them with the compelling flavor of bergamot, came to her in a little dream.

The dream was beautifully realized in a French Far Breton, a rich pudding like cake made with milk, eggs, butter and a little flour, that Chris filled with those lovely soaked cherries and caramelized apples. Served with fresh spinach and other greens, plus a side of bacon, this delicious breakfast special was rich and satisfying without being too sweet.

That being said, some folks love sweets for breakfast, and the Jackson Pollack shaped caramel mini-sculpture that topped each Breton met that expectation perfectly. And so pretty too!

Chris’s second special was more on the savory side. A hoe cake, which is basically a pancake made primarily with corn as it’s main ingredient, topped with a dollop of green onion cream cheese had a wonderful lightness, and a deep, rich flavor of corn.  Served with a gently fried egg, more of the wonderful greens, and the option of a side of bacon was really satisfying. Yes, some folks skipped the onion cream cheese and went right for the more traditional butter and maple syrup, and that’s just fine with us. These photos really don’t capture the full beauty of Chris’s specials. Take a look at her husband Pierre’s website to really feel like you were there.

Nice shirt, no? And even nicer message on the back of the shirt. Our friend and Selma Care volunteer extraordinaire, Salomon Jost, has just got himself a new farm, in Chelsea, close to Tantre Farm.

I guess you can tell from the look on his face that he is darn pleased with this, and we are very very happy for Salomon, and his new adventure. Look for more info about Salomon’s farm in future posts. In addition to Salomon who volunteered at Selma Cafe this week, we have many others to thank, including Michelle Fortin for facilitating prep and coordinating the volunteer clean up, Mel and Aaron, Andrew Bozio for expediting, along with Jesse (JD) Rubin, Christine Deucher, Anita Bhat and her parents Suma and Srini Bhat, Jim Le Moine, Lotus Yu, Jules Cooch, Codi Sharp, Jennifer Jensen and Jose Alfaro.  Thanks to everyone who helped pull off another successful week of Selma Cafe!

Though we are still enjoying a variety of mitten weather these days, there is nothing more hopeful to me than food ready for harvesting in our front yard garden.  I hope you are able to take some time in your day to notice the bright green budding of trees as they begin to unfurl their leaves, the beautiful swaths of yellow forsythia, and the amazingly luscious scent of the hyacinths wafting in the breezes.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon,

~Lisa