King's Corner After Dark - Update

What a whirlwind! The list of things to do seems endless, but we are making great progress. We met with the State Liquor Commission last week and have to gather a bunch of paperwork before our next meeting on 26 March. From there it's pretty much a formality for approval, but it means driving to Concord with the paperwork. Steve has met with one of the beer reps (Sam Adams, of course) and has contacted another that deals in some local microbrews. He also signed a contract with Pepsi that will result in us getting a small cooler to store the soda (freeing up room in the current soda cooler for beer). We haven't decided on which wines to offer yet, but we did pick out the wine rack and glasses which will have our logo on them.

Of course the really important piece of all of this is the actual dinner menu. Steve has it pretty much all worked out. It's grown a little bit from the original plan, but not so much that it's unmanageable. There will be a few "regulars" and then a few items will change from week to week. There's enough variety to satisfy the vegetarians as well as the meat lovers and everyone in between. He's working with our new food supplier to fine-tune the menu and cost everything out.

Our customers are all pretty excited about coming for dinner. We'll be starting to work on our marketing package this week - cover letter, menus, comps, and guest discounts - and will distribute them to all of the hotels and resort condos in town. Heather will be writing an article and submitting it to the newspapers, and an announcement will go out in the next Chamber of Commerce mailing.

There's a million little things - like we need special stemware racks for the dishwasher and something to put them when they're dirty (can't just throw them in the bus bucket with the dishes and mugs!) so they don't get broken. A new outlet for the soda cooler. Vases for the tables - we originally had vases on the tables when we first opened, but the staff complained about the mess they made on the table. Too bad - flowers will be back. If only I can find the vases! Liquor affidavits from staff and training classes to attend.

I'm sure we'll forget something, but I'm also sure that it won't be something major and we'll be able to improvise. Would you like an espresso with your tiramisu?

Is It Spring Yet?

I'm definitely ready for Spring to arrive. Here in northern New Hampshire, that usually doesn't happen until May. In between Winter and Spring we have "Mud Season". And this year it's probably going to be a doozy. After finally getting rid of most of the ice, we've had more snow. And more snow is expected for this weekend. Not much, mind you - but by now we're all anxious to get mud season over with and move on to watching the world turn green once again.

In that spirit I'm working on another flower piece - this one with Susan Sorrell's Fertile Earth class on Joggles. My first piece - pomegranates - is still in my head, but the flower piece couldn't wait to get out of my head and onto fabric.

This, of course, is just the beginning, but I'm really loving the textured surface I'm creating here. I started with a piece of green batik, and layered a piece of hand-dyed or painted cheesecloth in lovely lilac shades of pink and green. On top of that I put a layer of green tulle. This wonderful background will be covered with lilac buds and blossoms - a single stem. If you click on the image you should be able to see a couple of buttonhole wheels - the intent is to do a lot of hand-embroidery on this piece.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Dinner Time!

On June 30 we'll be celebrating the 4th anniversary of King's Corner Cafe. I'm not sure if celebrating is the right word, but as long as it's ours, we might as well. It's treated us very well. We've nurtured it and watched the business grow.

When we first started looking for a small cafe to buy we weren't thinking breakfast. But after several months of looking, everything about what was then "King's Korner" seemed right. So breakfast/lunch it was. We upgraded the breakfast menu, made major additions to the lunch menu, and added an espresso bar. We cook almost everything from scratch and use only top-quality ingredients.

The thing is, while my husband is a morning person, he's always wanted to do dinner. We've contemplated many times opening a couple of evenings a week, but there's always been one obstacle or another in our way -- usually having to do with help.

Well, it seems that the stars and planets are with us, and everything seems to be coming together now. A small dinner menu that will change weekly is being developed. A new vendor is being contacted for high-quality meat, seafood, produce and desserts. We'll be meeting with the State Liquor Commission on Friday to begin the process of obtaining a beer and wine license. The restaurant is being rearranged -- things like a wine rack and soda cooler will replace the to-go coffee table. And artwork will once again grace the walls.

Stay tuned. Our anticipated launch will be my birthday weekend with a Gala Event to happen sometime in June most likely.

Then again, someone may come along tomorrow and make us an offer we can't refuse!

MiniFlorals

The first of the mini-florals are finished and ready to be put into shadow boxes and hung in the restaurant. I feel so productive!

First, I added a center vein on each of the large leaves with some hand-dyed #5 Perle Cotton. The tendrils are done with chenille and some thick/thin wool yarn. I then outlined each leaf and petal using a buttonhole stitch and #12 Perle Cotton, except on the pink flower which I used something more like #8.

I tried a number of things on the background - sorbello stitch, seed stitch, beads ... and ripped them all out. A plain background it is! I fused strips of hand-dyed fabric around the edges and then finished it off with seed beads.

Done!

New Work

Cappuccino, Prega! is now hanging in the restaurant and receiving lots of compliments. I'll Take Mine Black! is still waiting for its finishing touches. I've done a bit of embroidery on it - Portuguese Stem Stitch along the small placemat, colonial knots along the edges of the cup, and some running stitches and colonial knots along the edges of the saucer. I also did a crazy quilting seam motif along the seam separating the table and the wallpaper. It's still missing something, and I'm waiting for it to tell me what it is. I'll let you know.

In the meantime I've started some small floral pieces - again, I think they'll go nicely in the restaurant and will fit in the shadow boxes I had used to hang my journal quilts. Here's what they look like so far:

These aren't original designs; they're from a Quilt University class with Debbie Babbin. These classes are really helping me spend quality time in the studio and I'm learning a lot about color in the process. Next steps are thread painting the flower and leaves, adding a bit of texture, and then calling them done. The finished size is 6" x 8".

Time to move my chair from my desk to my sewing machine!

Happy Anniversary!

Today's our anniversary. Well, one of our anniversaries. Two years ago today we moved into our "cottage." The picture above was taken on the day of the home inspection. I'll never forget moving day - there was about a foot of snow on the ground and it was one of the coldest days on record. Who moves in northern New England in March?!

Two years later, there's a foot of snow on the ground. We've been blanketed again here in the North Country. It's a beautiful snow with huge fluffy snowflakes - the kind you can catch on your tongue. A gorgeous snowfall and a perfect day for cross-country skiing or snow-shoeing in the woods.

This is one of our favorite spots on the veranda to sit in the early morning or late afternoon. We have several spots, depending on the time of day and the weather. Yes, we have a rather large veranda.

This was taken at the mudroom entry - that tree is gorgeous when covered in apple blossoms. And you can barely see my Christmas Tree through the lower branch on the left.

We're supposed to have a few more inches overnight, but then it'll be getting warm and melting. Can Mud Season be far behind?