Vacation & Happy New Year!

Stumpjack Coffee will be closed much of this week - from Monday Dec 29th most likely through Sunday Jan 3rd. We're taking a few days off to recharge the batteries, regroup and make a game plan for 2009. We are in Sturgeon Bay right now and I'm surfing some of my favorite blogs, including Dave Theiss' Working with Chemicals and The L.A. Post blogs. Unfortunately, Dave updates his blogs about as often as I go on vacation. This is unfortunate for all of the many people who religiously follow Dave's blogging, his fans, as it were. Dave is not just a highly skilled printer who puts out an outstanding product, he is also an artist who does some rather creative and visually interesting work, and his fans need to...no, they deserve to see it! This is, of course, an appeal to Dave to update his blog (I need something to read while lying in this hotel room, dangit!). And if he does, I will clothe myself like Michael Palin below and sing the Monty Python Lumberjack Song on the street corner in front of his shop. Thank you all for a very enjoyable and spunky 2008. You guys are truly the absolute best and we are so grateful for all of our friends who come into this joint and support the place.

Happy New Year!

Awesome blues and pre-vacay loose ends

I'm going to be out of town for a few days this week, so I'm trying to get several things in with this one post. Kim and the girls will be running the Stump without me, which some of you are likely grateful for as I am being "forced" to take a brief sabbatical by the boss (Kim) to mellow me out (she sounds like Struther Martin, "Ya gotta git yer mind right, boy"). I've been putting in almost 24/7 weeks for a few weeks now and I guess it's starting to show as I'm getting a little owly, impatient and irritable (GET YER OWN DAMN COFFEE!)...at least more than normal anyway.

If you weren't here last Saturday night you missed one of the best live music performance that Stumpjack has had to date. Brian Sanchez and Nick Weiland of Whiskey Jars & Scandals put on one of the smoothest, tightest, free-feelin' improv, groovenest and bluesenest shows ever. I'm kicking myself that we didn't get this down on tape...it would have made one of the coolest small venue live blues recordings ever. We didn't have a big crowd...only around 15 people not counting us, but the applause and vocal appreciation from those who were here made it sound like a full house. We're picking a date to have Brian and Nick back in September and will have the wires set to record. You gotta come down to see these guys and be a part of the recording...if they put it out like they did Saturday night you will be very glad you did, guaranteed. Check out Brian Powell's comment about the evening in the post below this one...thanks Brian.

Click here for the Flickr set of pics.

This coming Saturday at 8pm the always angelic acoustic sounds of one Becky Markvart will again grace the carpet at Stumpjack. Becky's new CD (3 or 4 weeks old now I think), "Shine Down On Me," has been selling like Leinie's in the Moccasin Bar on a Friday night (you musky fishermen will get that reference). Come on down for a gelato, good music and conversation.

The results have been officially published now, and we can announce that Stumpjack Coffee won "Best of Manitowoc County" in the following categories:

• Best Coffee Shop
• Best Atmosphere
• Best Lunch

So thank you everyone who voted for us. We are grateful, gratified and groovin' on the high that comes from having good people appreciate what's happening at Stumpjack Coffee. Thanks so very, very much. While they didn't announce 2nd or 3rd place finishes in the voting categories I heard that David Smith received an unofficial 3rd place finish in the "Best OB/GYN" category...congratulations to him.

Wednesdays, July 2 and 16 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. the Urban Gardening Gang (UGG) will meet at Stumpjack. Come one, come all. Help spread the word about urban gardening. Here's there website link: http://www.urbangardengathering.blogspot.com/.

Finally, we just got an Indian Monsooned Blend in, around an hour ago as I write this. People have been asking for it since last week's "Spill the Beans" coffee column came out in the Herald Times Reporter. This is not pure Indian Monsooned but is a blend of Indian, Sumatra Mandheling and Mexican. Not quite as pungent or spicy as pure Indian Monsooned, but definitely carries the monsooned fingerprint and very fine nonetheless.

You all have a beautiful and joyous week...I promise I won't be thinking of any of you.

Vacation Notes

Here's a few notes from our little get-away last week: http://stumptoons.blogspot.com/

Santa is a Stumpjumper

Happy New Year!

Last Friday, December 28th, Bobbi and Doug from the "Out n' About in Manitowoc County" radio program visited with Santa Claus while broadcasting live from the North Pole. You can hear their 30-minute program by going to the web address below, scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking on the audio file play button. See if you can guess who Santa sounds a lot like.

http://www.outnabout.info/christmas07.htm

Also, we're filling up our music and event calendar over the next few days so be sure to go to our myspace site and mark your own calendar with some of those things that we've got going on: http://www.myspace.com/stumpjackcoffee

Have a safe and fun New Year celebration.
Ciao!

David & Kim and Glen & Stef

Stumpy vacay this weekend/Gelato update

Stumpjack Coffee will be closed this weekend, August 25 & 26, and we will back on Wednesday the 29th as usual. Taking a much welcome little getaway with the family before school starts up in another week (I miss my girls! Didn't do any fishing or hiking together this summer at all). I think I'm going to be much more adamant and disciplined in making sure I take a little time off more regularly, even if that means closing shop for several days every so often. Cheyenne is going to Lincoln High this year as a sophomore and Jesse is entering junior high as a 7th grader. Man, time is surely a thief.

Gelato! Only have a few minutes to write this but we actually made some gelato this afternoon. Our rep, Ken, came in and showed us the ropes and we made some pistachio and blueberry gelato. Deeeelicious! I gotta boogie now if I'm going to make the finale of Lakeshore's Rising Stars! so I'll write more tomorrow.

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Ok, it's Thursday morning so let's talk gelato. Made some chocolate this morning and it is...very...very...chocolaty. Only made a half pan as I'm still experimenting and learning the process. But everyone who's been in has loved the stuff. We don't yet have everything we need, like proper gelato dishes and those cool little neon shovel spoons (some dingbat forgot to order them when he ordered product...yea, that was me), so we've been giving away samples in little drinking cups with plastic picnic spoons. This morning I found that the display freezer is running too cold as well...the stuff was hard as a rock. So I've been playing with the temp on that all morning.

Kim bought some decorative stuff for the display: wafer cookies, pistachio nuts, blueberries, drizzle...decorating the gelato in the display case will be a lot of fun. Shoot, the whole thing is fun...even cleaning the machine (although I won't be surprised if that doesn't take too long to not be fun anymore). Gotta order those dishes and spoons now.

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This just in the email pipeline from our pal Mike Zimmer:

Hello Everyone,

I know that it's a tough job, that's why I'm doing it --- testing Stumpjack Coffee Company's new Gelato offerings!

I can unequivocally tell you that calling this wonderful product "ice cream" is doing it a disservice. It is GOOD! It has a creamy mouth feel and richness that is positively decadent.

You must stop in to try it.

There it is, you have my recommendation.

Sincerely,

Mike

Michael S. Zimmer

Executive Director

Two Rivers Main Street, Inc.