a blink of an eye

four weeks have flown by. i hate blogs that become intermittent, starting out with good intentions only to fall by the way side as life/ work becomes too busy. i intend this to be the longest period without a post to ever occur. apologies to the three of you who read my musings.

but at least my check list is a little less busy...
- freezer installed and repaired : check
- fridge installed, new shelves and repaired: check

- two new commercial food racks: check

- new desk built: check
- wine glass rack installed: check

- new wines and beer chosen and ordered: check

- electric cables replaced: check

- cafe haven gift certificates now in store: check

- parents been and gone: check.

An awful lot has happened in the last few weeks and I am starting to feel a little more comfortable with what we are doing at the cafe.

I've been able to change electric providers and pay extra inorder to make 50% of the cafe run on green energy. These things matter to Julie and I. We've also had conversations with the local council and we are going to recycle our organic waste through the residential program (until something commercial is set up).

Julie and I took my parents to eat at a place we have been meaning to visit for a long time: BACON (http://www.eatatbacon.com/). We not only loved their menu covers (the photo above)and cherished the vegetarian poutine but had an enlightening chat with Juliana, the owner of BACON. Juliana is a real inspiration for her commitment and approach to keeping as much as she uses to locally-sourced products. In this industry this is nigh impossible! In the future we hope to emulate some of the fantastic green and ethical practices implemented at Bacon.

Julie and I decided to have a start on this with something that has bothered us for some time, our ciabatta bread. Sherwood Park is lacking a decent bakery but we did some scouting around near our coffee suppliers and found an excellent ciabatta from the Italian Centre. Locally produced, it's not only better in quality but the fact that it is something not made by a global entity fills me breaded joy. It is a small step in the right direction for a cafe still attempting to find its feet!