"bee, I love you AND

...the toilet is overflowing."

ah. the life of a restaurant owner.
As I watching the most fetching janitor mop up the overflowing water while I plunged, I told her the story of how back at Roast & Toast every time something like this happened, we had to go talk to the bookstore that (was awesome! go McLean & Eakin...) expanded their office directly below our bathrooms. Ouch.

So while overflowing toilets, breaking down coolers, water heaters from hell, plumbers from outer space, raining apartment ceilings, flash flooding, slippery stairs, creaky doors, broken tiles, drippy valves, shaky legged sinks, and the al capone/abu ghraib basement room are without much charm, at least there isn't a bookstore underneath me.

that day also started with the first-ish guest walking in and immediately informing us that this was her first and last visit; before she even talked to us or tried anything. Like Bob Keedy used to say: "at least you don't have to be her".

just don't ask me about the day I made eye goggles from poblano peppers. No, it wasn't intentional, but you aren't gonna ask, so we won't talk about it. And floor muffins. Cunningham muffins hasn't even made those.

I spent 93% of my day in bed today. forced laziness was necessary. it's been nonstop since two days before the doors opened way back in November. And in the last 2 weeks I had an "extra" day off, I spent those days moving in to my apartment finally; unpacking boxes from the July move (that coincided with the lease signing for Washington St.) and cleaning up (on so many levels)...

oh, and you know adding several unconventional hours to my week with the breakfast buffet; which in turn inspired several more hours of brainstorming (oh, just wait, ypsilanti...) and popcorn brain... and beezy's was WAY busier than I could've hoped with 4 less staff on schedule. And I went and got smitten besides. And drunker on NYE than I've been since my 21st birthday.

yes yes, the glamour, the glory!

and to the 2 anonymous people who said I shouldn't use 'ass' when referring to recipes: suck it. As a person who's very particular about the words she chooses, a certain level of crASS is very important when referring to some inspired moment. Lighten up. I also ordered a bunch of this ass milk for lattes.

Besides, the health inspection was FINE.

Those are kale flower stalks holding up the caution tape. They were not used in the soup.

Seriously though, I take asses and food safety very seriously, and while I appreciate the concern... food is sexy and asses are sexy and while ass food, okay.. I'll stop, just had to get it out of my system. Nothing if not inappropriate is a tagline I've not been able to shake and I don't see that changing any time soon. I always thought it was part of my charm. But I'm also delusional. So there's that.

Other things we've experimented with the last couple of weeks sans recipe and with extra supplies (fortunate how when a freezer breaks you're loaded down with 4 bags of once frozen berries and cinnamon roll dough and cookie dough and... not wanting anything to go to waste, inspired moments and creative refrigeration and utilization become inspirationally mandatory- nothing like crisis to motivate)

• housemade blueberry jam, blueberry sauce
• raspberry jam and sauce
• cinnamon roll bake off- then soaked in egg happiness for 2 different baked french toasts:
  cinnapear crunch and apple crisp baked french toasts
• banana mash and calder yogurt, peanut butter and omanhene single origin Ghana chocolate becoming happy banana french toast
• sugar BUTTer cookies filled with raspberry, blueberry and happy peanut butter sauce (that also filled peanut butter cookies....)
• Chula Vista flashbacks of higas/chilaquiles; frying corn tortillas with eggs and refried beans
• smittenfest corn chowder for a new friend and who doesn't want a soup dedication? really!?) that combined a mess of roasted poblanos with potatoes, roasted garlic, roasted corn, sour cream, toasted cumin and love... then upon reheating it started to scorch (New Year's Day at breakfast- thanks to my crew of best customers ever being a posse of 18?) while kicking breakfast ass (there I go with ass again) like some breakfast ninja with a wicked hangover... still, my little 4 burner range took it's aggression out on the poor chowder which was repaired with the magic of bacon and cheese and more more more poblano peppers. It started vegetarian, but ended in bacon. (like most things should)
• a rippin' delicious vegan mushroom veggie barley
• a slew of delicious vegan entrees of fun for the VG Kids Christmas party all with recipes I conjured (is that more appropriate?). I was especially pleased with the sweet potato and wild rice casserole- roasted sweet potatoes (man, I am SO hawt for sweet potatoes! orange vegetables in general...) wild rice, celery, roasted pears, dried Michigan cherries, hickory seasoning from Alden Mill House and topped with housemade sourdough croutons and drizzled and baked with maple syrup... and the vegan mushroom and spelt noodle stroganoff was fun too; using no 'substitute' ingredients like margarine or fake sour cream: red wine, mushroom stock, coffee and almond milk are magical...
  

and probably three hundred other things.

did you know:
buff wizard calendars are available at beezy's? [19.99]
growing hope calendars too? [12.95]
erin kelley's [of tarte.] handmade groovy owl, heart and bird ornaments [11.-24.] are for sale?

a note to all of you fantastic guests and supporters: thank you SO SO SO much for your feedback, your help, your bits of delciousness you share with me- I wish I could sell everyone's everything and probably eventually will; it's just [excuse time] there is so much to do, and so little is working equipment wise that logistically, until I can afford 2 new reach in refrigerators (one just for desserts so they don't reek of leeks and roasted poblano! and another to run our ever busier breakfast days that will replace the [broken] freezer) I just can't take anything else on. Unless it's dry, easy to store and virtually indestructible :D

other things in the works that need work/visioning/writing/future blog posts:

• the milkshake buffet in 18 (18 is the room behind the curtain- where I play wizard {priestess} of Oz) as soon as the floor is laid and the lights are installed
• the soapbox saturday shindig leading into the...
  
• the late night beezy's events (hoping jonathon will dj, BZ will move back to ypsi and help host sweet ass indie folk rock in an alcohol free venue)
• more tables, more chairs, community table and benches
• finish painting, the tin ceiling, and finish finishing in general
• sami's fashion club
• the record player will work
• secret benefit breakfasts, dinners, brunches, etc.
• the mystery machine catering van (think A Team, but with beezy's flair; think Velma baking with cocaine laced flour)
  
• tables and chairs and permits, oh my, for spring & summer outdoor seating
• the grrls of beezy's calendar to benefit alex's change the vu project

damn, see what resting does?

more soon.

all my love,
yours in service-

bee

MONDAY THRU SATURDAY
7 AM TIL 6 PM

CLOSED SUNDAYS
FOR.EVA

mmmhmmm, thanks to all who cruised in last night- excited for next year/excited for future opportunities to rock special things at special times...

beezy's and mittenfest!

two great tastes that taste great together... a spur of the moment decision was borne last night:

beezy's will open tonight at 1 am for a breakfast buffet with 33% of the proceeds going to 826 michigan

roll on by post elbow room!

9 dollars, a lotta good food, and some coffee to keep you partying like the rock star you are or want to be...

end of week 6

and there's this amazing snow that, while forecast, sorta hit all at once between my falling asleep around 3 am and waking up (late) around 6:30. A damn mess really.

wanted to get an update out about holiday hours:

Christmas Eve: open 7 to 4 pm
Christmas Day: closed
Friday Dec. 26th: 10 am to 6 pm
Saturday 27th: 7 am to 6 pm
Sunday: closed as per Sunday

New Year's Eve: same ol' same ol'- 7 am to 6 pm
New Year's Day 10 am to 6 pm

Also, we will be open on my birthday, Jan 9th. It should be a holiday, but isn't.

love & light
bee

utilization dreams come true

I had two huge food wins this week that I pulled right out of my ass...

the first:
harvest vegan soup

I wanted to make a roasted sweet potato soup. My natural inclination is to saute applewood smoked bacon with mirepoix and add pureed sweet potatoes, finish with heavy cream and sprinkle on some sharp cheddar.

But things took a turn at 7 am. The last of my gifted apples from Petoskey's Jennifer Eis (of Ward & Eis gallery) which were picked over at Bill's Farm market starting getting braised with the mirepoix (no bacon yet) and then I hit them with some crushed red pepper and cinnamon and molasses. And then some apple cider and white wine to deglaze. And then, and then... a butternut squash was roasted and pureed along with the sweet potatoes. Combined them all together and thanks to Stef's suggestions, we cut the sweetness with some lemon juice and a little salt. It was so full of flavor and the texture was outta sight- though the base of the soup was pureed, the chunks of carrot and apple, as well as the rough puree of the sweet potatoes (no thanks to me not having a commercial food processor yet!) made it less baby food textured than squash soups often come out to be....

The second started out as a series of losses.

I make the caramel sauce for the espresso drinks/cider/chai whathaveyou- and the first recipe Sami pulled- I didn't think reading the recipe that it would turn out as sauce, but I gave it a shot anyway. What I ended up with was more of a burnt sugar syrup, close to butterscotch. Very very tasty, but not thick and saucy like I wanted for the drinks.... so I stored it and it had been floating around since a week or so before we opened. I knew I'd find a use for it, but....

On Tuesday my bananas were finally ripe for banana bread. I make, what I believe to be the finest banana bread on the planet- hand mixed and wickedly banana-y, but not sweet. I crust the pans with cinnamon sugar and the loaf comes out airy and dense at the same time.

But at the shop, I doubled the recipe. Only to recognize that my bowl was much too small and there was no going back- I couldn't divvy it into 2 bowls because the ratio of ingredients would be off, etc. So Genevieve suggested I use a bucket- it was difficult for me to think outside the bowl, but I went for it. And the results were what I would expect- there is a certain hand and wrist motion that occurs working with a bowl... a bucket lend itself to shovelling- something quick breads don't love so much.

Once it was baked, I had what felt like 5# loaves of sunken banana mash. boo. But I sliced a loaf and put it out for sale by the slice and I didn't feel good about it, so I covered the other loaves and put 'em aside until I figured out how to deal with my mess. All the while :this is so good:best banana bread:tell me when you make this again comments were floating around. I shrugged and said it was alright, but not how the recipe was supposed to turn out. meh. (food depression isn't pretty)

But... I thought maybe it would make nice french toast. A good baked french toast casserole (I love casseroles) a good saturday breakfast & brunch special... and then the wheels started spinning. Bananas foster... rum, lime, yeah.

walked over to Dos Hermanos to get some whole cumin for the homefries and black bean veggie soup, my apartment to grab the ol' mortar and pestle, called my daughter's dad who was once a pretty renowned chef (Andante, opening chef at Chandler's, Douglas Lake Bar amonst others) around the Petoskey area and starting laying out my idea- he offered some helpful tips regarding cooking off the rum and a plan was born.

later that day while Christine from the Ypsi Citizen was interviewing me, my idea took another level... (oh and thanks to the beer cooler for that rum, it really was for the french toast). I had some egg nog from Calder. I don't really enjoy eggnog, but it would mean that I could cut the amount of egg in the recipe, plus I'd get a nice, rich, perfectly spiced custard out of it. I mixed the egg nog, some extra vanilla, some rum and a few eggs and poured that over 3 loaves of sliced banana bread, covered it with foil and said, "see ya in the morning, drunken monkey bread to be!"

the topping spread was going to be shredded coconut with butter and toasted almonds, and then I'd make a lime rum sauce to serve it with.

Once the morning came around, I saw my burnt sugar sauce sitting on my prep table... and another bunch of bananas. And the pan of soaking banana bread. pow! sliced the bananas and poured the sauce over the bananas in the pan. Let it bake for about 40 minutes... it crisped and caramelized the bananas beautifully. Then I spread the topping on and let it bake another 20 minutes, until the top was golden brown. As that was going down, I started whisking brown sugar with water and lime juice over the stove, then chugged the rum, I mean, poured the rum into the pan and got a little flame (fire at 6 am is a beautiful thing!), it coated the back of a spoon and voila, I was done. Took a spoonful out of the french toast pan and my first bite made my knees buckle.


It sounds like a lot of work- and maybe it was- but it was just a succession of work and experimentation that turned into a happy accident. And it will probably never turn out as deliciously as it did this time, but thanks to my fine obsessing, I recall every detail and it will undoubtedly translate again, likely with a subtle nuance due to humidity, the ripeness of bananas, my hungover and sleepless state or some other astrological pattern I won't be able to put my finger on til after the fact!

all in all, a great week- steady sales and lots of new faces, but even better, lots of the same faces daily and so many wonderful comments....

"I want to move to Ypsi so I can eat here every day!"

"We like your place a lot- [other guy chimes in] No! We LOVE your place!"

"I haven't a soup this good in I don't know when"

Really?! Me?! Us?! We're doin' it!

Yesterday Anna worked on a mini menu in 'veganeze' which could also be adapted for gluten free in the coming weeks.

Almost all the dressings are made from scratch ('cept the ranch and caesar) and I have the ingredients on hand, same with the soup. And the bread. But I just learned about someone having a soy lecithin allergy (I'd not run across that in my years in this business) which is a concern since I use a pan spray that contains it- and I couldn't tell you where I don't use it. The salads are safe. But anything that has touched a pan in the oven or on the stove has likely been hit with it. Hmmm.

end of week 2!

beezy's: out of survival mode, the ICU, and starting to settle into being and growing and progressing...

if you've talked to me through the summer, you know that basically the work of two people amounted to the majority of the transformation of the space. One of those people was not me. That not me person was my fiancee. I'm still there. And the restaurant is terrifically unfinished. Does that cover it?

There's lots of big and little buttoning up to do- but all our guests seem to either find it charming and real or offer their tools and hands in exchange for lunch. It's amazing. I had harbored fantasies that we wouldn't be as steady busy as we are and would be able to get more done during the day- aside from caulking, attaching base coving around the counters and trying to catch up with all the rock dust and building debris it's a slow going process. I feel a little like a superheroine- soup & breakfast girl by day, contractor girl at night and best mom in the world through it all. (delusions of grandeur anyone?)

but it's working. and we haven't burned the building down yet. In fact, it seems to be working really, really well:

ypsi food bulletin

best cafe ever

beezy's runs on ...

beezy's buzzing with business

and my first Yelp! review

pretty sweet stuff!

and my crew is amazing- strong personalities, strong sense of caring, and a huge support to me during my difficult personal problems.... I'm amazingly lucky that I have them in my life! thank you jon, erin, nick, jamie, stef, jess, emily, genevieve and my daughter, sami for working so hard and being so awesome!

5 days down (er, or UP!)

Sunday night, midnight? 1 am? I am freaking the fuck out. Been up since 7 am or so and busting ass and brainsorting all day. This picture does no justice to how trashed it was.

then here we are, 3 am. about ready to set up the tables in some reasonable and inviting formation. No more metal shavings on the floor. But everything. everything. is crusted in a fine layer of dust.

4 am. it's hazy, my hands are shaky and if I'm gonna be any kind of worth a damn in an hour, I better go home and shower. And let the dust settle for a second. Sure the menu isn't up on the chalkboard, the menus aren't printed and we have nothing to hold ice in, nor is there any ice in the building yet. But every single menu item is available.

then Robyn was our first customer! just after 8 am- we took down the opening soon sign and signed it for her to keep. She keeps coming back and emailed to say it's her new favorite place. (thanks SO SO much!)

it's only Tuesday but all these people I know start showing up, and suddenly I'm putting smiles on faces while frying chorizo and flipping homefries and washing dishes and cartwheeling through the cafe.






more later, I gotta be at the shop in a few hours... thanks beyond thanks for the tremendous support already, it's AMAZING.