Well, hello there, fans of sugar everywhere! It is a fine Friday morning and Dawn and I are getting ready to hit the streets selling S-U-G-A-R!!! Our trip today will take us down the ever-interesting and stimulating, NE Alberta.
For those of you who have not spent much time in NE PDX, the fabled NE Alberta neighborhood is one you may never forget! We just so happen to hold down the major intersection of MLK and Alberta. So, Sweet Thing, is in storied territory! Hopefully we can live up to the hype!
That said, there are neat little spots on every block. As you traverse east from Sweet Thing, it is as though each successive block is striving to outdo the next..... It starts out kinda slow and sparse, but by the time you've hit 14th/15th, you've discovered that eccentricity sells, no one in Portland seems to have to work during the day, and breakfast, in this town, is KING!!!! From Tin Shed to Helser's, Petite Provance to Francis, Fuel Cafe to Vita Cafe, there are a litany of options for the meal of all meals, BREAKFAST! Interspersed among said breakfast options are an array of coffee/tea joints, from the Black Cat to Townshend's, Random Order to Concordia Coffeehouse. Nary a Starbuck's in sight! That, my friends, is why you have to love this part of town!
And that too, my friends, is why we are embarking down the Avenida del Alberta in search of those great little drink/nosh/sit/chill spots that would be just that much better if a Sweet Thing sweet were added to their menu del dia! (OK, I'll stop....Cinco de Mayo was a couple of days ago....).
Here's to a day full of Sweet sales!!!
In other news:
1) We are working on getting menus up on the website (official, current ones....=)). In the meantime, if you would like to get one, please let us know and we can e-mail them to you.
2) I mentioned a "Dawn" above. Said "Dawn" (Dawn A. Dall), is a new team member and one that has already paid for herself in encouragement, idea generation and last, but certainly NOT least, keeping me from going crrraaazzzzeeee! If you get the chance to say hello, please do so, and thank her...=)
3) Kindra is now the Shop Manager and is doing a great job! She has a great staff: Ethan, Amanda and Byren! Amanda has been with us from day one, and bless her little soul, has put up with us since then too! We are better for her! Ethan, is new to the team! Three weeks down! He brings a positive upbeat style to the morning coffee drinker! Say "Hey!" next time you're in! Byren, is an intern with Sweet Thing, for the next couple of months! He comes in on Mondays and Tuesdays, when we're closed, to help prep for the week! He gets to work with both Kindra and I, so for that, if you see him, give him a hug!
4) Props to Jose Jiminez, our final team member! Jose does all of the tasks the rest of us hate doing: cleaning, cleaning and cleaning! Oh, and did I mention he does it with aplomb, a sense of humor and style!
5) I'm sure I forgot something important, but I'll pick it up next time!
Cheers to a great day of Sweet selling! Catch ya'll soon! - S
Friday, May 7, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Wow.....It has been FOR-Ever!!!
Well, friends and family, acquaintences and all other folks who may be following our MIA blog, I thought it was high, and I do mean HIGH, time to get something posted. Hopefully, this will become routine so rumors of our falling off the planet can stop!
We made it through winter....(phew?)..... Not quite sure how much we'll have to shell out for counseling because of it, but we are still here, breathing.....most of the time.
Kindra has become a demi-god(dess) on the espresso machine and is making GF chocolate cake that will take your breath away!!!! (In a good way, of course!) I've been known to hold my own too....so....its a friendly competition to see who can produce the best of the best.... Good for all of you!!!
NEW to Sweet Thing: We now have three kinds of croissants....made in house....! Brie and Apricot, Ham, Swiss and Herbed Cream Cheese, and Butter. We are interested in finding out what other kinds of croissants our loyal fans would be interested in. So, don't be shy.....! Let us know!
The basement of our space now has....wait for it......WALLS!!! And a door! We have spent some time the last week getting our clean on, along with our good friends, Shajahan Sharif and Dawn Dall. It is now available for renting, by the hour. Until the renovation is completed, we are most interested in renting out for band/music rehearsal space. Great accoustics and no neighbors makes it a fab location for making noise late into the night. If anyone is interested, or knows of folks who are, they can contact me at 503-888-2436 to arrange to view and rent the space. It is available after 5 pm every night.....until ???? The rate is $50/hour, with monthly rates available.
We now have MALASADAS!!!! If anyone has been to Hawaii....ya'll know what I'm talking about when I say MALASADAS....!!! If you haven't, I am so sorry, but you'll just have to come on down, on Saturday or Sunday morning, and try out the delish concoction those Hawaiians have been loving on for years! If you're still not convinced, here's the breakdown: Pillow-shaped (Portugese-decent) Donut....covered in cinnamon/sugar..... We have a couple of fillings available right now.....Chocolate Cream or Banana Cream..... PLEASE NOTE: We are only making these bad boys on Saturday and Sunday morning, between 8 am and 10 am.....so come early, and come often!!! Reason: They ROCK when they are fresh!!!!! ALSO PLEASE NOTE: These will not be found on ANYONE'S diet, but we will wave our magic want over then to take away as many calories and fat grams as is magically possible.
OK....clearly I'm all over the place with this blog post! Can't wait to see you all soon!
Here's to getting a post out sometime in the next couple of weeks....as opposed to 6 months!!!
Have a great day all!
We made it through winter....(phew?)..... Not quite sure how much we'll have to shell out for counseling because of it, but we are still here, breathing.....most of the time.
Kindra has become a demi-god(dess) on the espresso machine and is making GF chocolate cake that will take your breath away!!!! (In a good way, of course!) I've been known to hold my own too....so....its a friendly competition to see who can produce the best of the best.... Good for all of you!!!
NEW to Sweet Thing: We now have three kinds of croissants....made in house....! Brie and Apricot, Ham, Swiss and Herbed Cream Cheese, and Butter. We are interested in finding out what other kinds of croissants our loyal fans would be interested in. So, don't be shy.....! Let us know!
The basement of our space now has....wait for it......WALLS!!! And a door! We have spent some time the last week getting our clean on, along with our good friends, Shajahan Sharif and Dawn Dall. It is now available for renting, by the hour. Until the renovation is completed, we are most interested in renting out for band/music rehearsal space. Great accoustics and no neighbors makes it a fab location for making noise late into the night. If anyone is interested, or knows of folks who are, they can contact me at 503-888-2436 to arrange to view and rent the space. It is available after 5 pm every night.....until ???? The rate is $50/hour, with monthly rates available.
We now have MALASADAS!!!! If anyone has been to Hawaii....ya'll know what I'm talking about when I say MALASADAS....!!! If you haven't, I am so sorry, but you'll just have to come on down, on Saturday or Sunday morning, and try out the delish concoction those Hawaiians have been loving on for years! If you're still not convinced, here's the breakdown: Pillow-shaped (Portugese-decent) Donut....covered in cinnamon/sugar..... We have a couple of fillings available right now.....Chocolate Cream or Banana Cream..... PLEASE NOTE: We are only making these bad boys on Saturday and Sunday morning, between 8 am and 10 am.....so come early, and come often!!! Reason: They ROCK when they are fresh!!!!! ALSO PLEASE NOTE: These will not be found on ANYONE'S diet, but we will wave our magic want over then to take away as many calories and fat grams as is magically possible.
OK....clearly I'm all over the place with this blog post! Can't wait to see you all soon!
Here's to getting a post out sometime in the next couple of weeks....as opposed to 6 months!!!
Have a great day all!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Follow Us On Twitter!!!
By the way, we are now up and moving on Twitter. Our address is SweetThingPDX. We will have updates about food items and anything else that fits our fancy.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Grand opening ... ?
So ... we had our grand opening. Sadly, we aren't open yet. If anyone desires to learn the nightmare that is dealing with contractors, open a bakery. Much frustration.
The grand opening was enjoyable. We had just over 150 people come through the doors. Another hundred or so were serviced with cookies and pastries at random red lights outside our front door. I think the public found that enjoyable. We are sorry we weren't able to open soon after, in order to take advantage of the buzz we created.
We currently wait for the last of the inspections to happen. A few contractor problems have caused much delay for us, but success looks immenent.
Below are a few pictures of the grand opening: a picture of the sitting area, the kitchen area, our first customer, the shop from the outside, and our logo on the window.
The grand opening was enjoyable. We had just over 150 people come through the doors. Another hundred or so were serviced with cookies and pastries at random red lights outside our front door. I think the public found that enjoyable. We are sorry we weren't able to open soon after, in order to take advantage of the buzz we created.
We currently wait for the last of the inspections to happen. A few contractor problems have caused much delay for us, but success looks immenent.
Below are a few pictures of the grand opening: a picture of the sitting area, the kitchen area, our first customer, the shop from the outside, and our logo on the window.
Friday, June 12, 2009
We're getting somewhere!
Life at Sweet Thing remains its fun self. We are still having back and forths with the contractor, but as you can see from the pictures the shop has begun to take shape. It's lovely, really.
Beside the contractor, the big deal right now is purchasing equipment. All eyes have been peeled on ebay, and craigslist, and whatever else could be found to find the best equipment for the cheapest price. So far, it appears we have been victorious. The equipment list shrinks by the day. Last night we drove down to Salem to pick up a fancy ice maker, then we wandered down the road to Independence to pick up a massive reach in cooler. The seller helped us load the cooler with his handy dandy fork lift. Sadly, we didn't have one when it came time to unload the contraption. It was a scary/exciting experience that involved large machinery on rusty wheels, rickity ramps, a clunky, junky pickup, and a few moans and groans for good measure. The good news is we avoided a large machinery hit and run. That would have been messy.
We also managed to find some fancy stools (or really tall chairs) for seating at the bar we'll have against the window. They weren't in perfect shape, but the price was mere cents on the dollar. It was too good a deal to pass up. So, it was decided the stools would work grandly ... if they could be repainted. Kindra has been up to her elbows in the mess that is repainting all week. She has loved every minute of it, to be sure. Except for the dirty parts. Oh well, we're all doing things we never imagined we'd be doing. Ain't it grand?!
Below are pictures of how the site looks currently.
Looking through where the kitchen will be toward Alberta.
Looking toward Alberta.
Looking toward MLK.
Beside the contractor, the big deal right now is purchasing equipment. All eyes have been peeled on ebay, and craigslist, and whatever else could be found to find the best equipment for the cheapest price. So far, it appears we have been victorious. The equipment list shrinks by the day. Last night we drove down to Salem to pick up a fancy ice maker, then we wandered down the road to Independence to pick up a massive reach in cooler. The seller helped us load the cooler with his handy dandy fork lift. Sadly, we didn't have one when it came time to unload the contraption. It was a scary/exciting experience that involved large machinery on rusty wheels, rickity ramps, a clunky, junky pickup, and a few moans and groans for good measure. The good news is we avoided a large machinery hit and run. That would have been messy.
We also managed to find some fancy stools (or really tall chairs) for seating at the bar we'll have against the window. They weren't in perfect shape, but the price was mere cents on the dollar. It was too good a deal to pass up. So, it was decided the stools would work grandly ... if they could be repainted. Kindra has been up to her elbows in the mess that is repainting all week. She has loved every minute of it, to be sure. Except for the dirty parts. Oh well, we're all doing things we never imagined we'd be doing. Ain't it grand?!
Below are pictures of how the site looks currently.
Looking through where the kitchen will be toward Alberta.
Looking toward Alberta.
Looking toward MLK.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Coffee School
Kindra and I went to coffee school for two grueling days last week. It was something to behold. The lovely lady that stuffed our brilliant minds with all the coffee knowledge necessary to run a successful cafe was a lot of fun. Her husband was the actual coffee connoisseur—he'd had successful coffee houses all over the country until he died—but she carried on the tradition well. As will be evident when Sweet Thing opens, her experience and knowledge held much value.
Also, for amusement factor, it must be mentioned that the Davison mind is also something to behold. And behold it this nice lady (Oksana) did. Heh. The first day of class she shared a billion stories with us to help illustrate the importance of what she spoke of. She had a funny habit of including more details than were necessary. I don't suppose it would have been so interesting to a lot of people, but when you have a mind like a vice details don't just skip across the surface. On the second day of class Oksana was quite shocked to hear the dreadful details of her most absurd stories relayed back to her. The situation made her state she should be more careful with the details of her stories. And, sadly, her stories were less frequent the second day.
We don't mean to scare people. It's just the way we are. Ask Grampa.
The second day was practical exam day. We made every hot drink on the menu before lunch, and every cold drink on the menu after lunch. We also were required to try every drink we made for experience sake. Ugh. A coffee high is so much more insane than tea drunkeness. We were wired for hours. We got the making of the drinks down on the machine Oksana had, but the machine we have is different. Hopefully we will get it up and running soon so we can adjust our tactics to suit it before openning. That will be fun.
These are all the cold drinks we made. Look at all that waste! But after consuming all the hot drinks in the morning, who could blame us?
Here is Kindra excitedly foaming milk. Don't scald it! Ah, just perfect.
Me acting like he's pulling a shot. I missed out on getting my picture taken while the real action happened so we had to make do. As you can see the espresso machine cleaner is sitting on the counter. Obviously not the beginning of the day.
Also, for amusement factor, it must be mentioned that the Davison mind is also something to behold. And behold it this nice lady (Oksana) did. Heh. The first day of class she shared a billion stories with us to help illustrate the importance of what she spoke of. She had a funny habit of including more details than were necessary. I don't suppose it would have been so interesting to a lot of people, but when you have a mind like a vice details don't just skip across the surface. On the second day of class Oksana was quite shocked to hear the dreadful details of her most absurd stories relayed back to her. The situation made her state she should be more careful with the details of her stories. And, sadly, her stories were less frequent the second day.
We don't mean to scare people. It's just the way we are. Ask Grampa.
The second day was practical exam day. We made every hot drink on the menu before lunch, and every cold drink on the menu after lunch. We also were required to try every drink we made for experience sake. Ugh. A coffee high is so much more insane than tea drunkeness. We were wired for hours. We got the making of the drinks down on the machine Oksana had, but the machine we have is different. Hopefully we will get it up and running soon so we can adjust our tactics to suit it before openning. That will be fun.
These are all the cold drinks we made. Look at all that waste! But after consuming all the hot drinks in the morning, who could blame us?
Here is Kindra excitedly foaming milk. Don't scald it! Ah, just perfect.
Me acting like he's pulling a shot. I missed out on getting my picture taken while the real action happened so we had to make do. As you can see the espresso machine cleaner is sitting on the counter. Obviously not the beginning of the day.
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