It's All Happening!

We are so thrilled to announce that our daughter, Hazel, joined our family on May 6th! She is doing quite well, as are the rest of us. You won't see her in the shop for another few weeks (and you may only catch glimpses of us,) but after that she may be my little companion there while I get some work done.

Also, the bike rack is bolted to the ground in back of the shop by the deck! For real. It has finally been installed. We take forever to do things sometimes.

The shop has also recently started to serve a new organic/Fair Trade coffee from The Roasterie. It is from Peru, and is a delicious, light roast that we are pleased to add to our rotation of coffees.

You have only about a week left to catch the photography work of Joan Calkins. After that...I have no one. I'm just hanging up some favorite Nikki McClure prints for the summer, unless I get some interested artists! If you know anyone who would like a chance to hang some of their work in our shop for a month, send them my way.

That's all for now! Take care.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Hello!

Less than two weeks from the due date of our daughter, so I figured I should get an update in now.

We had a great birthday celebration towards the end of February. Thank you to everyone who made it out, and continues to support us on other days too! We can't believe how quickly this next year is already passing by.

We have some new items added to the menu, some of which are permanent, and others that are seasonal. As far as seasonal goes...hot apple cider is no longer available, but we have lemonade once again. Try a "tee time" (our silly take on an "Arnold Palmer") which is half lemonade and half iced tea. It is quite refreshing. Also available for the spring/summer months are frozen Snickers bars. No, these are not organic, ice cream bars, or anything besides a Snickers bar frozen into delectable, hard chewiness. They simply remind me of summers spent at the pool, and I like them! So, enjoy one for a buck. Root beer floats have also returned - vanilla ice cream and a Lost Trail root beer. Yum. We can also blend one up for you!

Speaking of blending...that is our biggest change. We now have a very small selection of shakes available! Last summer we noticed some demand for frozen, blended drinks. We were resistant for a couple of reasons. One of the primary reasons is that many of the frozen drinks shops offer come from powdered mixes. Some of these mixes are not terrible, but many of them contain some pretty nasty ingredients. You would think creating a blended coffee drink would be as easy as blending espresso, ice, and milk together, but that just doesn't work well. The texture/consistency is all off.

Our solution? Shakes made with as few ingredients as possible. Healthy? Not quite, but WAY better than powdered mix! There are 3 vanilla ice cream based ones (a surprisingly-few- ingredient vanilla ice cream...hormone-free too!) and one vegan one.

Toddy - vanilla ice cream, toddy concentrate, Shatto milk

Chai - vanilla ice cream, black or green chai

Berry - vanilla ice cream, frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries), Shatto milk

Vegan - frozen banana, frozen berries (same as above), soy milk

They come in one size (16 oz. for $4.25) and are a rich, flavorful treat! We are not a shake or smoothie emporium...no endless choices, but we have created a small, yummy selection that we hope you enjoy. The toddy one is pretty out-of-control! So is the vegan.

Okay, I know that I have been promising this for almost a year, but remember the bike rack we purchased, but never installed? One of our baristas has an incredibly handy father who will be pouring a concrete slab and installing the rack on it within the next couple weeks for sure! It has been a long wait, but will be here this summer. It will be located off the deck that is out in back of the shop.

We have also done some other improvements recently. No more ratty screen door in back! We have a nice, shiny storm door there now. Also, we replaced some of our fridges with a larger, more energy efficient one and a bigger, energy-efficient freezer. There is a glass fronted fridge out front too so you can grab your own bottled drink or sandwich. We feel pretty fancy.

Otherwise, we have to give it up to our wonderful employees. Some have been with us from the start, and have been such a great help and support during a crazy first year. Others are newer, but equally valuable to us. All of them have been so great while we have been getting closer to having a baby. We truly appreciate them all, and we hope that you do too! Sadly we have a barista leaving for Australia next week (happy for her, sad for us!) but we found another great person to step into her shifts. It is hard letting people you like go, but that is the nature of the beast.

That is it for now! Be well, and take care.

In Hibernation

Oh my...I feel like a stranger here. I've been all around town both physically and on the web for the last couple of months, but have neglected this small piece of internet real estate. What can I say other than life gets busy.

The shop rolled it's way through the holidays, weathered some snow at the new year that caused us to close early some days, and wish we were closed others, but we have emerged in 2010 into a sweet spot. We are very excited for the year ahead.

To kick it off, we will be one-year-old on Feb. 26! There will be some sort of minor celebration on Saturday, February 27. We don't have all the details hammered out, but there will likely be drink specials, giveaways (probably through facebook,) and buy a drink get a free cookie! If you have not tried one of our cookies (made in house) this is the perfect opportunity to. Simple and delicious.

Thinking of baked goods, one of the changes over the last couple months has been a switch in our in-house baker. Jolinda left us in December, and we were joined by Rachel. In addition to baking some of the items we had been offering, Rachel has begun making vegan options, muffins, and some interesting new cookies.

The composting efforts have been going really well. The main challenge has been letting customers know about it, and learn how quick and easy it is to separate their trash. We have plenty of signage (I like signs...) and always look for an opportunity to chat with people about it. We have even had some local groups and other businesses take an interest in it, and want to learn more! That is so great!

The eggnog drinks came and went over the holidays, and the last couple weeks have been lower production milk weeks for the cows. Unfortunately that has meant very limited flavored milk. Apparently though, those issues should be over, so we are hoping to get all flavors of milk back in stock soon! We've missed them. As of this post we have chocolate and root beer milk from Shatto, and we always have flavored syrups.

On a personal note, for any of you who haven't spied me at the shop recently, we are expecting a baby girl to join our family this spring! We couldn't be more delighted to add another member to our family. We might not be around much for a month or so around her birth, but we love our staff, and they keep things running very well when we can't be there. Once she's past a month old, I'm sure she will be my tiny companion while I take care of business...just no hot drinks around her!

That's it for now. I will try to keep up on letting everyone know what is happening in our world a little bit better this year. I mainly update our Facebook fan page, because it is such an easy way to get the word out about most things.

Hope you all have been well.

New Artwork Up

Please come check out paintings by Jenni McSpadden that are hanging for the month of October. Jenni is a librarian for the Kansas City Art Institute, as well as a painter. If you are interested in purchasing any pieces, we can put you in touch with her directly. She has had this particular series of work around for awhile, and said that she is willing to give out some serious deals if anyone is interested!

September!

August escaped me, and now here we are right in the heart of September. That's fine with me as it is nearing my most favorite month, October!

We have been quietly making some small changes at the shop, but will now shout them from our blog.

First off...yesterday was the first day we offered sandwiches from the Nutty Girl! We often had folks ask if we had sandwiches, and we resisted for awhile. I just really did not want to get into making our own for a number of reasons. The Nutty Girl solves that. Delicious sandwiches delivered fresh every morning, Monday through Saturday. The are technically 1/2 sandwiches, but are really the size of sandwich I enjoy the most. Not too big, not too small. We sell them for $3.50, and they come in the following varieties: tuna (in a tasty balsamic dressing,) free-range egg salad, hummus, veggie, turkey (with a really tasty sun-dried tomato cream cheese,) and the nutty girl (cashew butter, apple slices, and cheddar!) They are available each day until they sell out.

We chatted with Missouri Organic last week, and at some point in the next few weeks, they will begin picking up almost all of our waste. I'm kind of geeking out over the fact that they will be able to take our hot cups, cold cups, straws, disposable cutlery (all of those are plant based and compostable,) plus all paper, deli tissue, food waste, coffee grounds, filters, and paper towels! Basically they can take anything except plastic, metal, and styrofoam. All of it will get turned into rich compost that you can purchase for your garden. I've used it in my garden at home, and it is great! They are going to be able to take about 98% of our waste, and much of the rest will be recycled. Really all that we will have left to toss will be food-handling gloves, our hot cup lids, bottle caps, and whatever trash people happen to bring with them from elsewhere!

Our September artist's work was up for about a week, but then some of the pieces fell due to needing better hooks on the back. We felt sad having her take them down, but luckily she is going to re-frame, and hang in November! The wall looks so bare now. I'm taking it as an opportunity to put up a notice that we want more artists to contact us about the possibility of showing their work.

Popsicles went away with Labor Day. They are definitely more of a summer treat. Iced drinks are available year round. I'm pretty sure there are going to be many people who can't give up toddy for the winter months!

We had a really nice piece written about us in the September issue (print edition) of tastebud magazine! The main article was about how great the local coffee scene is, and mentioned Broadway, Latteland, and The Roasterie. We had our own little box with a photo and everything! We feel pretty honored to be mentioned alongside those three, as they are truly some of K.C.'s best. We really love lots of the coffee shops in Kansas City. Each has it's own feel and style. Plus everyone does things a little differently. We are a little partial to our shop, though.

And now for the bike rack. Our beautiful, green, wave rack. We are still at the mercy of our very busy and ambitious friend who is installing it for free. Apparently where we want to put it cannot support it without having concrete poured. He is a very busy fellow, and we really want it installed. We may just have to hire someone handier than us to do it. We'll see.

I think that is about all for now. I'm still meeting lots of new customers, and getting to know regulars better. Thank you all for making my day a little brighter, and bringing me out of the haze of day-to-day operations, bills, fixing things, etc.

artwork for the month of August

                                          image property of Michael Wolfe

For the month of August, we have the photography of Michael "Wolfie" Wolfe.  

"Wolfie's Ru4Real Photography is located in the West Plaza area of Kansas City, MO.  Ru4Real is Fine Art Photography for young people of all ages."

Come in some time during August to check out Wolfie's unique images of Kansas City!  If you find that you would like to own one of his photos, you just need to contact Michael directly through his website or we have some of his cards available in the shop.

happy times

     This week started off with being closed for a day, which is always a little sad, but now we have a new air conditioner/furnace!  I don't think my eyeballs will pop out of my head again at our energy bill like they did last month after summer truly kicked in, and we ran the AC a bunch.  Neal Harris is a really great heating/cooling company.  That's who we have been using at the shop, and who we have always used in our home.  They are nice, thorough, and usually have coupons or discounts running.  

     While we were closed, we took the opportunity to add a couple new things.  One is not too major.  We now offer organic lemonade as a drinking option.  It is seriously just organic lemon juice, organic sugar, and water.  Tasty.  You can get it mixed with iced tea as well...usually known as an "Arnold Palmer," we weren't sure if we could use that name or not, so we went with "Tee Time."  Cheesy, perhaps, but we are like that.  The other change is starting a daily happy hour!  There are some pretty good deals on there.  I think Saturday should be a blast.  Potentially frightening for folks without kids, but maybe not!  Fun!

     Otherwise...

This Friday we will hang new artwork, and begin our journey of switching out which artists are showing every month.  I will definitely post info on each artist here each time we change.  I'm looking forward to it.  

We, and our neighbors, received nice little write-ups on The Ink's website, and in the print edition that hit the news stands today!  Thanks, Sarah.  We certainly appreciate the interest.

Jolinda is back from vacation, and back to baking for us.  I really enjoyed my stint as baker, and wouldn't mind doing it again, but have to say I am thankful for her return.  A lot of my other duties fell to the side while I took over.

That's it for now.  The bike rack will get installed soon...we are waiting for Jo's husband to have some spare moments to do it.  He has many tools, and can drill into asphalt which is what we need!  Have good days...