Vegetable Soup

We ran out of Vegetable Soup early today. A potential, and likely repeat customer was unhappy and left with nothing but her upset.
This is a tough part of a new business. We want to have everything that people want, especially what is on the menu(!), all the time. And we have no history, week to week is coming, month to month is almost possible, season to season, same day sales -- all are in our future, hopefully.
Colder weather = more soup, obvious and doable, however -- how much of what kind? should we try a new chowder this week or next? to keep it totally fresh and tasty, we need to serve it in a few days time -- a lot to learn and one of the reasons why we at the BR really appreciate the feedback and the supportive attitude of you, our customers.
Thank you all and I do apologize for those times we are out of something it would seem we should always have extra on hand -- we are learning about your tastes, your eating patterns and how to mold our kitchen to meet them to the best of our ability.
I am very sorry that someone left today unhappy because of the missing soup, we will be back on track with Veg, Black Bean and our chowder and a special soup tomorrow. Stew is still in the planning stages.

1st Day Afternoon Tea

We served our first tea today and the crowd was small, the reception was positive and we hope the service will grow over the next weeks and month. 

As a reminder -- 2 seatings:  3pm & 4:45pm --reservations required.

Cupcakes for the Cause: Oct 20 - 26 - final tally

880 cupcakes purchased.  We have a check for $550. ready to send to the Cancer Care for Kids organisation.

Thank you all for your generosity in participating with us.

Next year 1000 should be "a piece of cake".

Cupcakes for the Cause: Oct 20 - 26

You have purchased 749 cupcakes between Monday, Oct 20th and Saturday, Oct 25th. 

Thank you and we look forward to making a final push tomorrow!

Cupcakes for the Cause: 20th - 26th October, 2008

This is the week each autumn (for the last 5 years) that Cancer Care for Kids has asked bakeries nationwide to donate a portion of proceeds from their cupcake sales to Cancer Care.

Between Monday morning, October 20th and 6 pm October 23rd - you, our customers, have purchased 525 cupcakes.

Thank you for your generosity and I know that Cancer Care for Kids will be appreciative when we reach the end of the week and send off our check to them

Can we make it to 1000 cupcakes by the end of day on Sunday?

How did we come up with the name?

There is no fancy story behind the name. Bob and I spent time brainstorming names and with our first list in hand, we did a bit of test marketing. No clear winners. Back to the drawing board -- Bob became enamoured with the name: The Baker's Peel. Test market result: "What is that?" "What does it mean?" -- for those of you who fall in that camp - a baker's peel is the tool used to take hot breads from the oven!
Some of my best ideas tend to surface when I stop "trying" and let them come. The Blue Rooster came to me just that way. I believe it surfaced as a compilation of many of my favorite things -- the color blue (I love it) the bit of European influence of the cockerel and so we went to the test market with The Blue Rooster. The response for the most part was --- a smile, a nod, a positive "ummm". And so we took it to a wider audience and the response was similar.
Now, what I was asked then was -- what is the genesis of the name -- what is the story, why. You now have the actual story.

The newsletter

Thanks to the many of you who sent favorable comments on the newsletter. We will continue to publish that once every 2-3 months. In the last edition we included a recipe and we are likely to do that regularly -- comments about recipes would be most welcome.

Opening Hours

A question, hopefully answered by now but worth a repeat -

We are open as follows;
7 AM - 6 PM Monday - Friday. We serve breakfast from 7 - 11'ish and move right into lunch which we serve until 3 pm. From 3 to 6 we are happy to serve you soups, warm a quiche or tart and generally feed you what is available in the kitchen or bakery case.

7 AM - 4 PM on Saturday. We serve breakfast from 7 am - 12 noon and lunch from 12 noon until 4.

8 am - 2 pm on Sunday. We serve breakfast all day and at 12 noon we put on 3-4 of the week's favorite lunch items as well.

We are becoming more oriented to having "specials" most days -- so watch for our Pumpkin Pancakes, Cinnamon Raisin French Toast and Omelet on the breakfast front.

email woes

In the last week I found out that the email address associated with our newsletter was NOT being forwarded to what I think of as my "active" email. This changed yesterday, however I found 40 or so notes from the last number of months from well-wishers and folks with questions -- mea culpa -- I will be responding to each one in the next few days. And will post here a few general question / answers that came up.

Tuesday, October 21st is Day 50 open.

At 50 days, we feel good about our progress in many areas - the croissant and pain au chocolat are in preliminary testing before coming back into full production.  Our chefs are beginning to take hold of the basic menu and are adding many interesting and complementary variations and special dishes.  

The risottos, pastas, Mac & Cheese and Cassoulette continue to get rave reviews as does all the bread and all the breakfast dishes made with bread (have you tried the cinnamon raisin french toast?)

The staff and Bob and I are settling into a bit of a pattern -- busy a good bit of the time.  We are pleased to be learning the names and tastes of some folks who are becoming "regulars" and we are enjoying meeting "friend of friends" -- so many of you are finding us through your friends.  Thanks for that, it is a great way for our popularity to grow!

Gift Baskets

We are contemplating making gift baskets that would include some of the favorite jams, sauces and oils we use and sell and perhaps a bread or other fresh bakery treat(s).

We'd love to hear from you on this idea.

Thanks!

Bacon / Breakfast Potatoes

We had a comment about the bacon portion - 3 slices is what is served here at the BR as a portion. It is certainly possible that a plate went out with 2 and I apologise!

Same anon blogger is interested in breakfast potatoes -- we are exploring possible recipes and may try a special as early as this weekend.

Thanks for all the comments and helpful feedback.

Afternoon Tea

Finally -- we have a date for the start of our Afternoon Tea.  It will begin on Monday, October 27th.  We will have two seatings:  3pm and 4:45pm.  Reservations will be accepted at both seatings.

We look forward to welcoming you to tea where you and your friends will enjoy a wide array of treats both sweet and savory, the likes of which you would find in the country houses and top hotels in Ireland and England.

We hope it will be fun for all!

Mid-October, coming up on our first 50 Days

Just to let you know, our staff -- from William who washes dishes to Lois and Peter who create and cook to Advah who creates and bakes to all the baristas and waitstaff -- loves your feedback and your great enthusiasm about the BR.  We love that they love it because we think we have great staff and we want them all to continue on the BR team as long as possible!

We already have our first alumna -- Samantha Scott has left us after a stellar few weeks waiting tables at both breakfast and lunch.  Sam has taken a job in the field of study she pursued in college and we are all extremely happy for her.  (And we trust that she will visit and eat with us when she visits her folks in town).

Many of you continue to look for the croissant.  They are being test-baked this week and we are hopeful that they will go back into production SOON.  The problem with heat in the kitchen has dissipated with the change of season, so we will look at a more permanent fix in the spring. 

This week we have made great strides with varieties of breads:  Irish Soda Bread, Sourdough Rye, Fougase, Foccaccio, Cinnamon Raisin, Apricot Walnut -- along with our daily favorites:  baguette, pain de campagne, white and wheat pan.  We are a bread bakery!

The cafe is reflecting on your comments about the size of portions, the presentation and the price.  

Cupcakes, cookies, fruit tarts and cheesecakes are the mainstays of our pastry case and we strive to have a good variety most days --still working on this!

Our olive oil and balsamic vinegar are "wowwing" many with the clean taste and lack of bitterness.  It is our house dressing and we hope you will all give it a try!

Bob and I are beginning to find a rhythm to our days.  He is up and at the shop before 5 (since many of you ask me and I needed to confirm this with him - it is confirmed!).  I try to arrive with the staff at 6.  So it is working and we are thrilled with the support from all of you.

Thank you!

Cupcakes for the Cause: Oct 20 - 26

As we did last year, we will participate in Cupcakes for the Cause.  This year we will sell cupcakes all week long and will donate 100% of our profits to the Cupcakes for the Cause.

www.cupcakesforacause.org

We will have at least our standard three varieties:  red velvet, devil's food 

& vanilla -- all week long.  And we are likely to have a few special surprises throughout the week.

Stop in and try our cupcakes if you haven't already.  The cause is worthy and we look forward to seeing you!

Autumn Events at the Rooster

Saturday, October 18th -- 2 pm to 4 pm:  The CEO of School House Kitchens will visit the Blue Rooster and she will bring ideas and taste treats for using the 3 School House Kitchen products.  The Bardshar Chutney, which we serve on our Brie and Chutney baguette, will be featured along with a fabulous mustard and a great vinaigrette.

Wendy's business www.schoolhousekitchens.org

contributes to education projects throughout the country.

Stop by for a taste or two!

October 8th - general update

The days are flying by and I often think --- "write in the blog" -- however by the time the napkins are washed, dried and folded, the numbers are reviewed and a bit of play time with the dogs is slotted, it's usually time for some shut eye before starting it all over again.

News on a few fronts - - it looks like the weather is our immediate solution to a kitchen too hot and we will go with that for now.  IN the spring we will likely have to revisit our HVAC and make serious decisions on what is required.  For now, we are thankful for the cool weather because it costs us nothing!

News about tea -- so many of you are asking when we will be able to start tea -- it looks like October is the right month to start it and it is likely to be closer to the end of the month.  There are several components in play:  the bakers' need to produce all the petit fours and other mini desserts and tarts.  The cooks need to organise the tea sandwiches and savory treats and then we need to have knowledgeable and capable servers.  So, these are now top priority items for us all and we feel good about getting it organised before the end of the month.