John Roos , of Roos Roast coffee, and Katherine Weider, director of the Play Gallery are an amazing couple.  We were lucky enough to catch them before their next joint project comes to fruition!

Let’s take it from the top! Check out the beginning of building a Crepe ala Roos.  Start with two beautiful, fresh eggs, add house cured ham or hoop house spinach, and top with local cheddar cheese.  Wait for the eggs to cook, fold up the sides like a lovely envelope, slip it on a plate and add a side handful of hoop house greens, and Voila!  Follow the photos and here it is in the capable hands of mama Kath.  Oh yeah, the last photo?? Well, we all know Roos loves a party with food.

Roos and Kath (and the li’l baby Rooster) broke a record–they served 86, YES, 86 crepes.  We couldn’t remember any other special with those kinds of numbers!!

AND, they were good! I managed to get John to make me an egg, cheese and spinach crepe to take with me to work for lunch, and it was delish.  We are already in negotiations with  the fabulous family to come back for an encore performance before the little one arrives…if you like the idea, clap your hands really loud, just like when you wanted tinker bell to survive her latest ordeal, and then let those two know how much we love them and want them back for more!

Thanks to the whole crowd of volunteers, both Thursday night with tons of food prep, and the Friday morning slam, handling the crowd with smiling faces and lots of pump pots of steaming, rich, aromatic and sensational ROOS ROAST COFFEE. Is there nothing that guy can’t do??  Thank you Amanda Schott, Simone, Charles and Patrick Racine, Michelle Fortin, Olivia May, Kate Long, Nevon Clark, Anton Smith, Rita Conroy Martin and Jennifer Jensen for Thursday help, and Evan Dayringer, Kris Kaul, Jennifer Jensen, Nate Lada, Remi Holden and Katherine Belzowski for Friday morning.

Here’s some news: If you haven’t already, check us out on Facebook–repasts will be offering regular fb posts about this and that, and we’d love you to be a fan.

Until next time, enjoy this gentle beginnings of Spring, and we look forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon.

~Lisa

Suzanne Lipton & Nora Feldhusen, aka Taste Our Goods at Kerrytown Market sure made people happy!  Not only did they make FM@Selma’s birthday cake on February 19th, they came back the next week and made specials for us!  For sure, these two have a way high cute factor–high energy, a cool style and super fun attitude, but hey, these girls can COOK! Check out this nice review of their li’l food spot here.

Big fat fried potato latkes served with warm applesauce and home made creme fraiche hit the spot for those of us wanting deep comfort food, and the wonderfully toothsome and tasty quiche was just as popular.  Please show your support of these two kitchen magicians, and head down to their place in Kerrytown sometime soon and show them some love by trying some of their delicious offerings.

Thanks to all the volunteers who have been consistently signing up, showing up, and stepping up to keep bringing you the deliciousness of Selma every single week.  It’s still fun, it’s still tasty, and it’s still raising money and awareness towards local food and farming.  Big thanks to Jennifer Jensen, Vicki McLellan, Patrick Racine, Michelle Fortin, Dawn Tilbury, Amanda Schott, Olivia May, Remi and Nate Holden, Garin Fons, Tim Redmond, Elizabeth Edwards, Shane Beer, Janet Shane, Robbie Moore, Evan Dayringer, Siri Gottlieb, and Nevon Clark.

Come on by sometime to volunteer or eat.  Either way, we’re looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon!  ~Lisa

We had an amazing crew of volunteers both Thursday evening and Friday morning, and 135 guests showed up to eat breakfast. Big big thanks to Myra Klarman who took the most beautiful photographs and posted them on her blog Relish. Thanks also to Annarbor.com for their reporting on both FM@Selma and the Local Food Summit.

Here’s a shout out to this week’s volunteers: Jennifer Jensen, Kate Long, Suzanne Lipton, Remi  and Nate Holden, Amber Webster, Siri Gottlieb, Spencer Thomas, Kris Kaul, Merilynne Rush, Nora Feldhusen, Courtney Peterson, Arthur Peterson, Robbie Moore, Nate Lada, Shawna Jo Lee, Kerby Smithson, Claire Rice, Sarah Burns and Nevon Clark.

Looking back on this last year is an opportunity to deeply appreciate the hard work of several hundred amazing volunteers who have come into our kitchen to help prep food for the guest chefs, set up for service, serve food, run coffee, make waffles, fry bacon (let’s just pause for a moment and sigh over the bacon), wash dishes, clean the floor, put loads and loads of dishes, glasses and silverware away, wash pots and pans….and come back the next week to do it all again. For a whole year.

And, of course, thank you to the many, many chefs who were willing to take the time and energy to come up with creative, beautiful, imaginative, seasonal and local specials that proved over and over again that sourcing and cooking local food is rich in variety and flavor.

Let’s not forget the volunteers who showed up in Detroit to help build Greg Willerer’s hoop house, and in Ann Arbor, who gathered to build the hoop house for Tomm and Trilby Becker at their Sunseed Farm. These were unbelievably long days of hard physical work in the heat of the summer. No one complained, and no one got hurt. And the hoops got built.

Here’s the recap as I see it. 1 year, 2 hoop houses, and 3 little words: we love you. 3 more: we appreciate you. And a final 7: we could not do it without you.

Looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon, Lisa

Mary Wessel Walker has been a FM@Selma regular from the start, and Friday morning she took the chef plunge with sous chef Anna Secreast at her side. Mary is an apprentice farmer at the Community Farm, and is the owner/operator of the Community Farm Kitchen. Anna currently works at the People’s Food Co-op, and is looking forward to spending the summer at Tantre’ Farm and then heading to Central Asia in the fall with the Peace Corp. We were really excited when Mary decided to bring her skills to our kitchen last week. She and Anna created two specials that were beautifully delicious. The first, apple spiced waffles, was like an apple pie waffle, sweet, cinnamon-y and even better with butter and maple syrup. The second special was a wonderful, savory, deep winter quiche with bacon for the omnivores, and bacon free for the vegetarians. The quiche had a corn meal crust that took it to a whole other level of tasty.

We also served our weekly regular specials: blueberry bread pudding and granola, yogurt and fruit parfaits.

Thank you to our Thursday night prep volunteers Peter Scherer, Michael McIntyre, Julie Ritter, Jason Bates, Lotus Yu, Anita Sherman Moran, Michelle Fortin, Sarah and Judith Rontal, Emily Stearns, Garin Fons, Jennifer Jensen, Nevon Clark, Claire Maitre, and Remi Holden. With so many helpful hands, prep happened fast, our dinner break was a party, and we finished up right on time.

Friday morning volunteers were in abundance! Thank you Robbie Moore, Siri Gottlieb, Nevon Clark, Jason Bates, Melanie Adams, Amanda Klain, Cynthia Hann, Kris Kaul, Anita Sherman Moran, Jeff Tenza, Larry Maguire, Susie Baity Stearns and Remi Holden.

It was a pretty impressive group of volunteers bringing you breakfast last week, and we are thrilled that nearly a year has gone by, and FM@Selma continues to grow and bloom.

If you have considered volunteering, but haven’t yet jumped on board, don’t hesitate any longer! Sign up, come on over, and we will find something fun and helpful for you to do.

We hope to see you around the kitchen soon!
~Lisa

Is there nothing that Nick Roumel can’t do? Attorney, writer for Current Magazine, foodie and cook–he’s a modern day renaissance man, and Friday Mornings @Selma benefited from him shining his creativity and energy in our direction.  And if that weren’t wonderful enough, Nick brought Olivia May back into the kitchen as his sous chef.  Olivia was in charge of the savory bread pudding, and it was deeply rich and delicious.  Full of mushrooms, caramelized onions and kale, and served with home cured bacon and hoop house greens, this special took bread pudding to new heights.  Nick was in charge of the eggs benedict with a way cool twist.  Under the perfectly poached egg topped with luscious hollandaise sauce was a sweet potato croquette and a slice of Sparrow Meat’s ham.  Big thanks to Sparrow for donating the ham!  This special was so good I ate it once at the start of Selma service, and then asked Nick to make me one to take with me to eat later at work for lunch.  We had nearly 100 people for breakfast, and Nick and Olivia kept the food coming with ease and big grins.

It’s been really great to have a steady stream of volunteers for both Thursday evening prep and Friday morning service.  Thursday helpers were Garin Fons, Remi Holden, Mary Wessel Walker, Claire Maitre, Amanda Schott, Kate Mathews, Jennifer Jensen, Anita Sherman Moran, Michelle Fortin, Christine Deucher, Evan Dayringer, Robbie Moore, Nevon Clark and Katherine Yates.  Thank you for pulling it all together and making it so much fun.

Friday morning volunteers were Remi Holden, Garin Fons, Rob Foley, Courtney Peterson, Rex Roof, Arthur Peterson, Kate Long, Evan Dayringer, Anita Sherman Moran, Chris Kaul, Adrienne Berry, Jennifer Jensen and Nevon Clark.  These folks worked non-stop from start to finish, and left the kitchen clean and in beautiful order.  Thank you!

If you have been thinking it might be a good thing to come around on a Thursday evening to help out, or show up on a Friday morning to eat and then stay and clean up, whatcha waiting for?? As Claire Maitre said about volunteering, “It’s great to come eat breakfast, but volunteering is a whole ‘nother level of fun.”  I couldn’t agree more.  Give it a try. It’s a great group of people making delicious food all for an excellent cause.

Whether you come to help out, or just come by to eat, I look forward to seeing you around the kitchen soon.

~Lisa

I’m kicking myself that I didn’t have my camera charged and ready to go to capture the beauty of the lovely woven baskets overflowing with artisan bread placed in the middle of the island and on the dining room table.  And I missed out on a chance to get some sweet pictures of Rachel and Tarek’s colorful and creative bottles of super-duper kombucha that they generously shared with our guests through the morning.  Lucky for me, (and for you) both Mill Pond Bakery and Unity Vibration Living Kombucha Tea have terrific websites with great pictures.  I’ve included a couple of photos to spark your interest, but be sure to follow the links and check out their websites for yourself.

Mill Pond gave us two terrific specials.  First, a plate of softly scrambled buttery eggs from Dry Bucket Farms, served with a side of TMZ’s grass fed beef tenderloin and some hoop house greens.  This was the kind of breakfast that can keep a cowgirl going ’til supper.  The second special showed off the specialty breads of Mill Pond.  Slices of Mill Pond stollen and schnitzbrot (dried fruit and nut infused enriched whole wheat breads) soaked in eggs and cream made incredible French toast, topped with house made creme fraiche and served with Mama Mofoods seitan a rich and savory fermented wheat meat alternative.  We also had our weekly specials of whole grain waffles and blueberry bread pudding to round out the options.

I’ve never been a fan of Kombucha until I tried what Rachel and Tarek are brewing up in ypsilanti.  They brought lots of bottles with lots of flavors, including pineapple ginger, grape and pear.  The bottles are the perfect size for taking to a party, a potluck, or any other event where you want to share something gently fizzy, refreshing and fun with your friends.

We’ve had a wonderful surge of new volunteers, who along with those who’ve been around for a bit, combine to create a fun and efficient crew for Selma prep night.  Mill Pond’s exceptional crew was a bread-y trinity, with John Savanna (Mr. Mill Pond himself), Gabe Blauer and Sarah Ladd keeping everyone on track and with a job to do.  The other prep’sters were Michelle Fortin, Gary Hochgraf, Robbie Moore, Matt Burton, Joanna Campbell, Nick and Olivia Roumel, Garin Fons, Nevon Clark, Kate Long, Anita Sherman Moran, and last but not least, Remi Holden who has created some new protocols and organizational tools that really make the whole prep night run more smoothly.

Friday morning helpers this week included Rob Foley, Siri Gottlieb, Robbie Moore, Kate Long, Laura Matney, Ruthann Nichols, Evan Dayringer, Zoya and John Erdevig, Janet Shane, Matt Burton, Shawna Jo Lee, Remi Holden, and Susie Baity Stearns.  Big props to the early shift–they manage to get themselves here in the cold and dark of a January winter morning at 6:00 am to get things going on time and with a smile on their faces.  Huge thanks to one and all who made this past week a fun and delicious event–all for a great cause.

Please come help us keep FM@Selma sustainable.  Looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon,

Lisa

Blake Reetz and Helen Harding of EAT (you may remember them from Jefferson Market 1.0) made food last Friday morning that was so delicious and amazing the normal buzz and chatter of Selma guests turned to oohhs and aahhs of delight over their two specials.  The first, corned beef hash topped with a poached egg and horseradish sauce was just right for the omnivores in the house–wonderfully rich and meaty, the egg perfectly done, and the horseradish with just enough bite to round out all the flavors.  The second special, potato and parsnip cakes fried up with cheddar cheese, and served with a side of warm apple compote and creme fraiche was just as toothsome and satisfying.  These two EAT maestros can really bring it!

Helping with Thursday night prep was a great crew led by Remi Holden: Kate Long, Amanda Schott, Shana Kimball, Janet Shane, Deirda Stockmann, Claire Maitre, Holly Lubowicke all worked together to get it all ready for the morning.  Friday morning helpers, led by Susie Baity Stearns included Robbie Moore, Dan Blair, Jean Henry, Evan Dayringer, Nate Lada, Gary Mazzeo, Jennifer Jensen and Remi Holden.  Thanks to everyone for showing up with enthusiasm and stamina!

If you have been wondering what it might be like to volunteer for our FM @Selma activities, please sign up here and come on by for some fun.

Hope to see you in our kitchen sometime soon either helping or eating,

Lisa

Kate Mathews, along with her husband Steve and her cute as a button daughter Tess have been Selma regulars  since we started.  Kate has also volunteered for nearly every volunteer spot we offer.  After some encouragement and gentle nudging, Kate agreed to take on the big job– special guest chef, with Olivia May as her sous. Kate came up with two creative and delicious specials, both vegan, to give the non-meat eaters a little treat.  Although bacon was an option for both specials, these two dishes were wonderful on their own– gingerbread pancakes with cashew “cream”, made from cashews and maple syrup, served with roasted ginger apples, and a beautiful casserole of potato and greens served with spicey ketchup and roasted winter vegetables.  It was a cozy morning on Soule Blvd. with Kate and Olivia plating up the food with exuberance and fun.

On hand Thursday night for prep was a nice big crowd–Leah DiRamio, Amanda Schott, Dawn Tilbury, Nevon Clark, Claire Maitre, Vicki McClellan, Rex Roof, Nate Ayers, Mikey Formisano, Alexis Bogdanova-Hanna, Kate Long, Evan Dayringer, Jennifer Jensen, and Remi Holden.  It was really gratifiying to have so many helping hands.  We were all able to enjoy a relaxing meal together, and share a glass of beer or wine before we finished up for the evening.  A big round of applause and a nice loud thank you to all!

We had a fresh crew in at 6am Friday to set up, serve and clean up after breakfast.  Big thanks to Rob Foley, John Erdevig, Siri Gottlieb, Evan Dayringer, Nate Lada, Carol Bardenstein, Remi Holden, and Susie Baity-Stearns.

As Friday Morning @Selma rounds the curve to our one year anniversary, there’s been lots of discussion about whether our breakfast salon is sustainable.  A year is a long time to keep an all volunteer, weekly event operating effectively while maintaining a spirit of fun and enthusiasm.  We are invested in keeping breakfast happening, but we need your help to maintain it!  If you have considered volunteering, but are on the fence, jump off on the side of Selma, come on into the kitchen, and have some fun with us.

Looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon, either as a guest or a volunteer,

~Lisa

Friday Mornings @Selma launched full on into the new year’s sea with Captain Dan Vernia and his devoted crew mates Katey Wietor and Jared Bogdanov-Hanna at the helm. Thursday prep flew by with this super organized gang of three! At the ready were awesome prepsters JD Rubin, Christine Deucher, Olivia May, Sara Schlotterbeck, Jennifer Jensen, Susie Baity-Stearns and Nevon Clark who were able oars folk with knife and cutting board in hand. They diced, sliced, poached, wrapped, baked and magically created the wonderful mix of winter veggies lovingly wrapped in a rich brioche dough. Coulibiac is a Russian dish that takes yummy things like fish, meat or veggies and covers it all over with a rich egg bread. In this case, the veggies were winter squash and peppers, and the meat was Jeff’s pancetta. Topped with a poached egg, peach chutney and delicate green pea tendrils, this was one toothsome and tasty repast. No wonder we call it a special!

Friday morning dawned snowy and cold, with many of us who work in a school setting wishing for our first snow day of the season. Okay, so I forgot to flush an ice cube down the toilet, put my pajamas on backwards and sleep with a spoon under my pillow. Sorry, I was busy thinking about gettin’ ready for Selma!!

Dan, Anne Brazauskas, Katey and Jared rolled into the kitchen from various guestrooms ready to poach eggs, fry bacon and plate all the wonderful food. We also had Remi Holden, Shawna Lee, Nate Lada, Evan Dayringer, Jenny Jensen and Robbie Moore on hand to help with every task that needed doing. It was really gratifying to have a bunch of volunteers showing up to take care of a smooth service and thorough clean up. Thanks to everyone who helped support FM @Selma on our journey into the new year.

If you’ve been thinking about volunteering, but need just a bit more encouragement–here it is: Please, we really need your help. Because Selma is an all volunteer operation, if we don’t have help, it just won’t happen. Come on a Thursday evening to prep food and set up the tables and chairs, or sign up for a Friday shift and make waffles, wait tables, wash dishes, brew coffee, or feed and water the chickens! Even a little bit of help is appreciated! Come on over and help when ever it works for you–early shift to serve food, or later shift for clean up. It’s fun, delicious and you’ll feel great knowing you are an active and important part of supporting our local food and farm economy.

Happy New Year, and I hope to see you soon in our kitchen,
Lisa

What started out as a small idea for sharing home baked toast, tea and coffee with friends has taken on a life of it’s own.  With weekly specials ranging from eggs Benedict with hollandaise sauce to oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts, vegan blinis to home cured pancetta, Friday Mornings @Selma, nee Selma Cafe’ has served more than 3,000 plates of delicious repasts.

In addition to supporting the local food economy by sourcing our food locally and seasonally, creating affiliations among people sharing the same interests and mission around sustainable agriculture, and using the proceeds from all those thousands of breakfasts to build two hoop houses, FM @Selma has shown folks that working together on a grassroots level can make good and important things successfully come to fruition.

People routinely ask Jeff and me, “how do you DO this every week??” Our answer is always the same.  “We don’t do this alone!!”  Without the consistent and energetic support from our volunteers, FM @Selma could not continue.

First, massive thanks to Susie Baity Stearns who stepped up months ago and took on a huge organizational role, including facilitating volunteers for prep night and Friday morning service, supporting the chefs in menus and food decisions, and creating protocols for training volunteers, all while making her multi-tasking look easy.  Garin Fons, Olivia May, Remi Holden,  Nevon Clark, Evan Dayringer, Brad Wicklund and Riva Jewell Vitale are just a few of the many regular volunteers who keep the wheels smoothly turning.  JD Deucher-Rubin, who at 12 years old is our youngest volunteer, is enthusiastic, hard working and a lot of fun.  He certainly gives me hope about the next generation’s interest in healthy local food, and taking care of community.

Next, a big, big thank you to our chefs who have creatively approached the challenge of FM @Selma with grace and ease, coming up with delicious breakfast specials that amaze and satisfy.  Thank you Max and Ari Sussman, Scott Macinnis, Silvio Medoro,  Oliva May, Elizabeth Edwards, Jeremy Lopatin, John Roos, Dan Vernia, Emil and Monica Bosh, Eve Aranoff, Bad Fairy and Wonder Woman, Sylvia from Pilar’s Tamales, Heather Leavitt and Roberto (Beto) Dominguez, Eric and Ines Storhok, Tammy Coxen, Brian Steinberg, Aren Stebby, and Linda Diane Feldt.  Please let me know if I’ve forgotten anyone!

It’s difficult to write a thank you post and realize that I can’t name every person who has shown up in our kitchen to help out over the last 10 months.  It’s been more than 8 weeks since my last post, and my system for keeping track of who has volunteered fell apart when my mom’s health started to decline and I was back and forth to Los Angeles.   Since my mom’s death, and my dad coming to live with us, I haven’t had the time or energy to pull all the names together.  My lack of time and organization is no reflection on the appreciation and heart felt gratitude that Jeff and I both feel about the community interest and support of both FM @Selma and our Repasts, Present and Future goals and mission.

Please, if you have volunteered in any capacity, or want to mention others who have helped out, join in the thanks in the comment section of the blog, or pop me a message and I will add them myself!

FM @Selma is ready to start up again in the new year Friday next–Jan. 8, 2010, with Dan Varnia from Mind Body & Spirits as our guest chef.  We are very excited to have Dan back again,  but we still need volunteers to sign up and make it all happen smoothly.  Whether you are an old hand volunteer or a newbie, we would really appreciate your help!

Wishing you all the best in the new year, and we’re looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon,

Lisa