Bright orange & red equal screaming fast death for tree leaves!

Autumn is not knocking at the door, it's banging against it with the full force of its burly shoulder. The trees in our neighborhood seem to be turning faster and with brighter colors than they did last year. The squirrels and chipmunks in our yard appear to be more determined in their frantic scurrying than they did a month or two ago. And I'm more interested in deeper, amber ales and more acidic coffees.

All indications that it's fall already. (Good grief, was it not just two or three weeks ago that everyone was complaining about the heat and humidity?)

Another sign of autumn and the following holiday season is when Kim reminds me to make a post mentioning gift baskets. I'm on top of things this year, dutifully following up on her reminder well ahead of schedule.

Stumpjack Gift Baskets are really an excellent gift for just about anyone, because you can either get one ready-made or tailor them more specifically to suit the person with the items that make up the basket. And who doesn't like getting a big, beautiful basket full of goodies (whether college student, office worker, mom or dad, best friend, man or woman, everyone appreciates something that looks cool and has stuff in it that tastes good).

Next website entry we'll post a list of items that will be available for inclusion in gift baskets of various sizes, and in the next week or two we'll have some on hand at the coffee house for you to choose from as well. Doing your Christmas and Thanksgiving shopping now makes for a much less stressful holiday.

Friday Night Music

Friday the 24th at 7:30 dankennedy will be performing at Stumpjack. (Dan prefers his name written as dankennedy…and it's his name so he can do it however he wants.) Dan was here with Joseph O'Seph (O'Connor) a year or two ago as the pair was touring together. They stopped in for a midweek, early afternoon show as I recall and it was a lot of fun. I'm not certain if Joseph will be with Dan this time around (I think he will), but either way it's worth it to catch this traveling singer/songwriter. With nothing but an acoustic guitar he pours himself into his music with a passion. Come on out this Friday night and join us. We'll have the kitchen open Friday night as well, so you can have a panini sandwich and a beer or coffee with us too.

Check Dan out at his myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/dankennedymusic

4 years? No freaking way!

I. Our old pal Bill Walkner will be performing this Saturday night (the 18th) at 7:00pm. It's been many moons since Bill sat down in front of the mic at the Stump (autumn of last year perhaps?). This year he's got a new toy he'll be showing off too...a vintage squeezebox that he picked up not too long ago. He stopped in a few weeks ago and showed me the instrument and played a little on it. It is just too cool!

Bill also told me he's been keeping busy writing new songs. So, this Saturday night should be a real treat. If you haven't heard Bill before you owe it to yourself to see him. His songs are wonderful; he's one of the best story-telling songwriters around. If you have seen Bill before then then you know how good he is, and you'll be in for something new this time as well. 7:00 Saturday night. Be there or be square.

II. The Stumpjack Sunday Morning Breakfast is off to a nice start. With two Sundays under our belt I think we're moving in the right direction and are getting the kinks worked out. It's a 9am to noon affair with just two or three items on the menu each week at this point. The french toast with caramelized bananas seems to be the favorite, so we'll keep that one as the regular, while changing up the other one or two each Sunday as ingredients and whimsy dictate (for example, made a lovely quiche last Sunday...that may be a regular as well, it was delicious). I'll try to get the menu out as best I can each Saturday or early Sunday morning but will likely continue to suffer with the computer issues for a few weeks that have been stalling my regular posting until we can afford to get a new laptop (I've magpied my daughter's laptop to make this post).

Image of asparagus & mushroom quiche from Closet Cooking.

III. Four years ago, on September 16th, 2006, Stumpjack Coffee Company opened for business. September 16th is the official anniversary day, but I always mark the anniversary by Ethnic Fest, as it was in fact on Ethnic Fest four years ago that we opened the doors and let 'er rip. That was a wicked busy and fun day. I'm very proud of what we've been able to accomplish thus far in the specialty coffee arena in our area of the lakeshore. A huge thank you and humble gratitude to all of the friends who have supported Stumpjack these past four years. As I've said before, the people we've met and who have become friends have made this gig worthwhile. You surely know who you are...much love and warmth to you all.

Sunday morning breakfast?

We're going to give it a try, Tomorrow will be the first day for the "SSMB Experiment" (Stumpjack Sunday Morning Breakfast). Like our lunch and weekend dinner offerings it will be a fluid affair, meaning that the menu may change from week to week as dictated by what tasty things we feel like making at the time and by what fresh ingredients may be available via farmers markets, gardens or other high quality sources. We'll go from 9:00am to noon. While we reserve the right to change anything at any time, at this moment we're planning on the following menu for tomorrow morning (Sunday, Sept 5). Each of these is a separate menu item except for the herbed potatoes, which will be a side with each item.

1) French Toast w/ Brown Sugar Bananas
This is a Michel Nischan recipe, what he calls a "gussied-up version," and includes thick cut french toast in a honeyed egg batter, with caramelized banana, vanilla ice cream & Wisconsin maple syrup on top. It's mighty tasty and I hope I can pull it off on the counter-top griddle I'll be using.

2) Green Pea & Bacon Frittata.
A quiche-like pie with Nueske's thick cut bacon chunks. I was originally going to incude fava beans in this as well, but am thinking of subbing with something else, possibly portabellas.

3) Baked Eggs w/ Spinach & Cream.
This one I'm still a little iffy about. Still not entirely satisfied with this one, but as I tweak it today it might come together like I want it to and it'll be a go. Otherwise, if I'm not entirely satisfied, it won't be on.

4) Herbed Heirloom Potatoes.
Purple, golden and red baby & fingerling potatoes oiled & herbed, browned on the outside, soft and steamy on the inside. This will be the side for each of the above three items.

OH! 5) This Sunday's Perfect Bloody Mary.
I make this one with a mix I prepare myself from things like tomato, carrot, beet, fennel, garlic, chili pepper and horseradish (and sometimes celery & watercress if I can get it). Everything but the fennel comes from the Farmers Market and my garden.

We'll go from 9 to noon on Sunday. If, in fact, you're thinking of coming by in the morning we ask that you email us (stumpjack@gmail.com) to let us know so that we have an idea of how many folks we might need to prepare for. Because Sundays have routinely been lazy days, and we're really just announcing this now, we're not expecting a big turnout. That means we're not prepping for a whole lot of people, and if we run out then sorry but that's the way it goes. So email us today to let us know if you want to join us.