How fortunate are we? I’ll tell you. We had Frank Fejeran in the kitchen two weeks in a row–first as Li’l Teapot’s wing man, then, this week, he was the star of the show. Here he is in the middle between Sarah Horvitz, and Brandon Johns, his own special Friday morning crew. Frank made us some really fabulously delicious food, and he did it so efficiently, and so easily, it seemed like magic. Take a look at what we had for breakfast, and catch Frank at the Produce Station during the week.

Frank’s first special was a beautifully fried Dragonwood Farm egg, covering a pulled pork confit, with a buttery biscuit underneath. Served with a side of Green Things Farm salad mix, this special was wonderfully flavorful and satisfying.

Frank’s second special was a sweet one. Honey roasted cornbread, served with a compote of fresh Tantre Farms strawberries and basil, and topped with a generous dollop of luscious whipped yogurt and whole cream, a side of Crestwick Farms bacon, and more Green Things Farm greens.

Thanks to our volunteer crew who make all this food greatness happen: Prep facilitator Michelle Fortin, expediter Andrew Bozio, and Mike Green, Aaron Van Dyke, Anna Shatsman, Spencer Michaud, Lilly Baer, Rebecca Guerriero, Abby Michaelson, Chase Estrin, Kristine Perria, Mary Rock, Roberta Knox, Kellen McGee, Rich Kato, Brittany Brown, Kris and Gautam Kaul, Joan Martin, Noah Miller, Hallie Levine, Lyra Boyd, Jim LeMoine, Sam Cheslak, Abby Kenyan and Jose Alfaro for taking care of everything else.

Thanks also to the folks from Common Cycle who set up their bike repair and tune up equipment in the driveway and serviced the many bikes that folks ride over to Selma Cafe every week.

We are still looking for volunteers to complete the last weekend of our 20 Hoops in 20 Days project. Donations of food for Saturday’s Tilian Farm Development Center build, and for the volunteer after party at Sunseed Farm on Monday July 4th, as well as volunteers to build the hoops. Sign up HERE FOR THE BUILD and email me for food donation info please: lisa@selmacafe.org.

This week we have Dan Vernia, Chef de Cuisine of The Ravens Club bringing us some delicious breakfast specials this week. Be sure to come by and enjoy his wonderful cooking and get involved in our community of local food and sustainable farms.

Looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon,

~Lisa

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