Discovering My Crowd Funding Option

Hey There Y'all...Welcome Back to Que-Licious!

I first heard the term crowd funding while watching something on Fox News in regard to the Jobs Act; and my curiosity was peeked. Although I hadn't heard this exact term used as a source for start-up capital, I was familiar with similar options such as Angel Investing and Venture Capital. Was crowd-funding just another “trendy” term used to re-invent the financial backing wheel? Or was this something different? Turns out; something different.

“What the heck is crowd funding anyway?”, well…here is my take on it.

Crowd-funding is the combined effort of individuals making up a “virtual-crowd” usually via social media or a website to pool their money and support your cause or project. Again…just the way I see it. Crowd-funding projects can range from start-up capital to scientific research and virtually everything in between. A person or group sets a financial goal, describes what the money will be used for, finds an online portal like Kick Starter or GoFundMe to collect contributions for their project, and updates contributors on the progress of the project.

I had mixed feelings about this approach and to a certain degree, still do. This particular source for obtaining capital would most likely attract some unsavory characters and allow scammers to run a muck. And…to be honest with you...it kind of reminded me of begging. I don’t go for handouts! So like I usually do; I picked up the shovel and yet again began to dig. (I should be almost to Kansas City by now!)

There are some amazing, legitimate organizations and individuals out there helping people just like me achieve their goals. Sadly; the complete opposite end of that spectrum is true as well. Dishonest people are going to be encountered everywhere, but it seems as though the Internet is their favorite place to dwell. Your greatest weapon against being scammed is research. Research the crowd-funding site through the Better Business Bureau. Research the individual asking for backing or support. If they don’t have contact information or can verify they are who they say they are…don’t invest. Whether you are investing $10 or $10,000,000 the same principles apply.

After searching the Internet over and reading article after article on crowd-funding from websites I trust such as Forbes and Fortune; I decided to give it a try. But I wasn't about to ask for a contribution without contributors getting something in return.

…and that is where the home bakery comes into play.

I decided to implement a crowd-funding campaign in hopes of raising the funds necessary to purchase our food truck. I found a dealer close to us just over the border in Indiana and have priced the trucks between $8,000 and $10,000. Details of the project can be found on  “GoFundMe”,  the crowd-funding site where my project is hosted.

Success or Epic Fail it's all on me; and I am perfectly fine with that. What I would not be fine with is quietly waiting on the sidelines for my turn to play. I know my own capabilities and my own limitations. Unfortunately my major limitation at the moment is cold hard cash. Yes…I know I’m not the only one and I have exhausted all other resources to fund my little barbecue biz. However, in today’s unpredictable economy; financial institutions are not only limiting the amount of funds they will lend, but the type of loans they will approve, SBA backed or not. I believe this to be the primary reason for such an explosion of crowd-funding sites and a true testament of the American Entrepreneurial Spirit not to give up simply because of someone else’s decision.

If you are inclined to donate toward my cause, please click on the GoFundMe link to the right for details on my project. If not, I sincerely hope you take the time to look over the site and find a project you feel strongly about and invest in someone’s dream.

Until next time…Keep cookin’ y’all!

Welcome to My Whiskey Soaked Barbecue...Bakery?

Hey There Y'All...Welcome Back to Que-Licious!

Okay! I know by reading the title of this blog post you may think I have had a sip or two of whiskey instead of cooking with it; but trust me...it will make sense after you read through the post – hopefully – especially after reading my previous post, Creating My Own Opportunities.

As you know, I am on a mission to earn the funds necessary to purchase my first food truck outright without financing, which brings me to my "barbecue bakery", so to speak. In my last post I touched on an opportunity to sell baked goods from my home kitchen through several local markets as well as online through two very specific venues; Etsy and Crowd-Funding.

I was already familiar with Etsy; but for those of you who are not, I encourage you to check out this wonderful site of talented Artisan Entrepreneurs. Etsy is an online marketplace where you can find everything from handcrafted jewelry to gluten free cookies; and the Artisans selling on Etsy are as unique and individualized as their products. What I like most about this site is the Artisan community feel for an online environment and that feeling is carried over into every part of the site and not just the shops. I have found Etsy to be a supporting, encouraging online assemblage of talented crafts-people; which persuaded me to choose Etsy as my preferred online platform to introduce a “Sweet-Heat” product line. Additionally, once the requirements and licensing is complete to start production for our barbecue sauce; those items can be sold on my Etsy Shop as well.

So, you may be asking yourself why sweets? I say why not! With the Holiday Season just around the corner, I knew I would be spending a lot of time in my kitchen anyway so I just decided that this year I would try to make so extra “dough” while I’m there. (Yes people…I am that flaky!) I love infusing unusual ingredients together and creating unique flavor combinations that enhance foods natural flavor and it’s not restricted to just our barbecue. Okay…it’s kind of my obsession! Once you taste my Ancho-Orange Chocolate Dessert Sauce…you’ll be glad I’m obsessed! Deciding to introduce the “Sweet Heat” product line of Whiskey River before the sauces and dry rubs was born more out of convenience, timing, and necessity rather than perfectly planned marketing. People tend to buy more sweets, candies, and such during the holidays and are looking to fire up the grill in the spring; timing truly is everything. It just happened that finalizing the legal’s for producing the sauce was taking a little longer than anticipated. (Apparently government agencies don’t really care about your deadlines only theirs)

So I decided to make the best of it and start with the “Sweet-Heats”. Our dessert line and snacks tie into our barbecue through infusing chilis, bacon, and bourbon in our sweets just as we do in our barbecue. Opening a sweet shop on Etsy just seemed like a logical step to take for two reasons: 1) the startup process was more streamlined and easier to establish than mass producing bottles of acidic sauce and less regulated, and 2) introducing these products on the cusp of the holiday shopping season has the potential to generate enough sales to purchase our food truck before spring, or as I like to call it…Barbecue Season!

Opening the Etsy shop was a much easier decision than developing a strategy to market my fundraising food truck project through crowd funding. In my next post, I will share my insights regarding crowd funding and why I decided to give it a try. Until next time…

…keep cookin’ y’all!

Creating My Own Opportunities

Hey there y'all...Welcome back to Que-Licious!

It's not easy operating on a virtually non-existent budget during start-up mode, but I will say this much, I have discovered that even I have a creative side when it comes to financing a dream. Don't misunderstand me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with conventional financing; you know, baring your soul submitting a business plan to the bank and begging the SBA to back your dream, I've done it before. However, I am at a point in my life where I try to prioritize my financial wants and needs a little better. Financing a home takes precedent over financing a food truck. If I were interested in starting a full-blown restaurant that required a brick and mortar structure, I would definitively approach this business differently. But what I want to do is strictly mobile which keeps things simpler. And I have to admit, up to this point in my venture, it feels pretty darn great to have paid for everything I need to "get mobile" with no balance due!

That is why I have taken this pay-as-you-go approach to getting my little barbecue biz off the ground. I actually thought of this after we had completed our first set-up at the 127 Yard Sale and made enough profit to purchase our mobile concession sink. That set the wheels in motion...pun is definitely intended here. We needed a food truck or at the very least a cargo van, but my heart is set on a food truck. Our debt has started dwindling down and we like it. The last option I wanted to explore was to finance a vehicle and again have that payment looming over us for the next five years...especially during the off season which is typically December - April. (Ohio weather permitting) So I started doing some digging...and digging...and digging...oh wait!...I think I can see Memphis!

I am a firm believer that hard work, a little creativity, and by never giving up people are capable of creating their own opportunities. That is just exactly what I decided to do...create my own opportunity with a little outside-the-box thinking. Or in this case a little inside the box thinking...a candy box that is! It is no secret to those who know me best know I have an incredible sweet tooth! Seriously...it's ridiculous! When I am not conjuring up smoke in the backyard, you can most likely find me in the kitchen fixing something sweet to nibble on.   

And as I was doing so one day...I had a tiny little ½ pound epiphany! (An ah-ha moment even “Ms. O” herself would be proud of) I am always making these candy gift boxes for the holidays for my family and friends and each year I try to make something different. As I usually do when cooking anything, when I make sweets I add my own subtle touches to those treats as well. With shovel in hand...I started yet again to dig...and dig...and; well you get it. I discovered there was an opportunity for me to make some cold hard sweet cash straight from my own kitchen! For a whopping cost of $10 for an annual inspection of my kitchen and the cost of packaging and ingredient inventory, I would be able to sell my little gift boxes at craft fairs, farm markets, locally owned retail outlets, flea markets, local restaurants and businesses, and even online! Sweet! (literally)

Unfortunately this also prompted more questions:  Where online would I sell these incredible edibles? How would I let people know they could help support my dream when they buy one of these little gift boxes without sounding like I was begging? Was I begging? Well…you get the picture…don’t you?

Enter Etsy and Crowd-Funding! In the next few posts I will share with you how I decided on both of these venues to help me set and achieve my goal to raise the funds to buy my food truck. I hope it does not sound like begging; rather, like an creative opportunity for you – my whiskey-spritzed readers – to make a difference by empowering someone (me) to become more self-sufficient. 

I hope you will keep following along this whiskey soaked adventure of ours and until next time…

Keep cookin’ y’all!

A Race To The Bottom...What Value Do You Place On Your Product/Service

Hey there y'all...Welcome Back to Que-Licious!

I recently read a blog post about marketing and case study findings in the small food business industry that spoke directly to me. The complete article can be found here at Small Food Business; The Soup to Nuts Resource for Artisan Food Entrepreneurs. I enjoy this blog for several reasons; but mainly because I find the mix of business advice and food topics well balanced and relatable. The latest article; Don't Compete on Price - Also Known As Why I Failed My First MBA Marketing Project, was as if the author was speaking to me directly given that I am gearing up for my own product launch September 1st.

One sentence in particular stood out..."And so began what’s known as ‘the race to the bottom’ where companies are willing to give up profit margin in order to gain a bigger share of the market."

As it turns out, I had just finished working on marketing material to promote a couple of catering packages to list on Whiskey River BBQ & Caterings Facebook page, blog, and proofs for commercial printing. I was recently asked about my pricing structure from friends of mine whose opinion I value a great deal. I value their opinion because, yes they are friends and family; but they are also candid when they believe or don't believe in something; either way...you are going to know about it. That's what happened when I asked them to review an ad for some feedback.

At first, I will admit that it was tempting to consider offering our catering services at a lower price just to get our foot in the door and introduce Whiskey River BBQ & Catering's products  and services. Then I snapped back to reality. Yes I could undercut the competition on price, but at what real cost? The "Big Boys of BBQ" - as I like to call a couple of chains in my area - could very easily counteract any low-ball introductory offer I could advertise simply because they are just that...BIG. These same "Big Boys" have a loyal customer base, restaurants, and/or compete professionally on the barbecue circuit and have spent years building their brand and reputations. Inevitably, it would spur a snowball effect of price wars, not only in the barbecue food specialty market, but anyone offering catering services within our area would be inclined to do the same. For me, the race would be over before the starting gun sounded and quite honestly...it's just not a realistic approach to starting my business. Besides the obvious cost of purchasing ingredients, production costs, packaging expenses, and kitchen rental fees; I also did not want to overlook or "donate" my time in producing the product and running the business. Yes this is a labor of love and I honestly don't ever stop thinking about my business or trying new ideas; but I also realize my time is important and worth something. (OK...maybe not as much to some as to me, but worth something!) And let's not lose sight of the fact that my whole purpose and intent is to continue to grow my business successfully which means setting an attainable profit margin to re-invest back into the continued growth of Whiskey River.

When first researching catering vendors specializing in barbecue foods, specifically whole hog barbecue, I was overwhelmed at the different pricing structures and methods used and just ended up confused and frustrated trying to make sense of it all. Some vendors priced by the number of guests (example: 50-100 = $/person,101-200=$/person and so on) by the plate, by the pound, ribs are more than pork, brisket is more than ribs and pork combined...ughhhh! ENOUGH! Designing our catering menu was the single most challenging obstacle I had to overcome...period! Developing recipes for our bottled products...no problem; designing a mobile concession menu...piece of cake; trying to please the masses on barbecue catering...impossible! Somehow I managed to pull it off...please don't ask me how...but it's done! I take extreme pride in the quality of food that we produce for the events we cater; as well as our sauces and rubs we are bringing to the retail market and I don't feel that all of our hard work should be under-valued in hopes of being the front-runner in the barbecue market. I'm patient...I can wait for my day in the sun.

I realized from the onset of starting Whiskey River that there are elements of our products and services that stand out from our competitors that have nothing to do with price. This is also a good time to mention, be sure when you are comparing vendors for catering services that you are comparing apples to apples. If couscous and Peking Duck are on your top choice for your catered event; you probably aren't looking for a caterer specializing in barbecue food. (Yes...we got that call) The point is, weather you are selling barbecue or band-aids don't sell yourself short by under-valuing your product, service, and time. After all, you were the one smart enough to develop a plan for your one-of-a-kind product/service; be brave enough to see it through.

So why the big rant about price, product, profit margin and such...glad you asked!

I am officially introducing our new Catering page to the blog today! I am excited and scared to death all at the same time and it feels amazing!

Be sure to share this post with all of your friends, fans, and followers and until next post...

Keep cookin' y'all!

To Blog Or Not To Blog...That Is The Proverbial Question

Welcome Back to Que-Licious!

For the first time since I started this blog; for some reason, I have been blocked! And I don’t mean just a little stumped. I mean; I started this post almost 3 weeks ago and have come back to, edited, left it alone for a while, edited some more, reworked the title and just felt like calling it quits BLOCKED!

Which prompted me to ask myself a very important question: Is having a blog the right choice for your business and do you have the dedicated time necessary to write informative content to promote your brand effectively? Wow! If only I had answers as good as the questions I ask!

One obstacle I have always struggled with, once I started Que-Licious,! is wondering if my style of writing is relatable…interesting…helpful…or just something that gets overlooked because of poor marketing on my part. (My money is on the latter) The problem isn’t that I don’t know what I want to share…it’s because for the first time since I started both the blog and the barbecue biz;  I have so stinkin’ much going on that I want to share I honestly don’t know where to start. For me, I have thought of Que-Licious! as documenting my journey from start, to middle, to end without giving much thought to if my style of writing is relatable or perhaps more amply put…just plain interesting.

I basically wanted a platform to share my experience starting my business, the pitfalls and the achievements, and maybe pass along some information that may help another struggling; yet, budding entrepreneur. There are so many food blogs out there that I didn’t want Que-Licious! to be just about recipes, competition secrets, and documenting dinner every night. I wanted to occasionally include those items in our blog, but I was aiming for something more. So I have gathered my thoughts and decided to put together some short informative posts to keep those of you interested in our little whiskey soaked barbecue adventure current and hopefully provide you with some interesting reading.

Speaking of interesting reading, beginning on September 1, 2013 Que-Licious! will have a brand new look and feel.  My hope is to become more interactive with my readers, followers, and fans and to create an “online front porch” environment if you will. I am almost finished with the page contents and want to make sure nothing is missed or overlooked and that people can find me! There is a lot more that goes into this blogging thingy than just putting words on the screen and hitting the publishing button. (If only it were that simple) I have learned a great deal about finding the right platform from which to blog, hosting, search engine optimization, social media, ad words, and a whole slew of other tidbits I will be sharing at some point or in some fashion on the new site.

After my last post, I really began to take a look at what it would mean for me to define success on my terms. What are my terms? What affordable opportunities are out there for me right now? Is this the right time to pursue my vision or should I just continue to wait until the timing is better?
Well, for me waiting for the right time to start a business is like waiting to have a baby once you can afford it…we all know how that works…so that answers that! My terms remain the same: be realistic, do my best, and be happy. So that leaves me with finding the opportunities that I can afford on a shoestring (ahem…that’s code for non-existent) budget.

With a little outside the box thinking and a day of phone calls and Googling I was able to find some surprisingly affordable avenues to pursue in taking Whiskey River to the next level. I will be sharing those opportunities with you during the next few weeks and, as always, welcome feedback.

As you can see I have decided to continue writing on Que-Licious! I still believe this blog can and will be my best method for promoting my brand; especially during the initial introduction phase of opening an online store. This little “writer’s road-block” that I encountered is just like any other I have stumbled upon in my journey; something to learn from. What did it teach me? That if you truly believe in what you are doing and you can see success in the future…keep going! Never before has the old adage “Where there’s a will there’s a way” been so important to me. I have always had the will and am beginning to find opportunities that will help me achieve my goals one small step at a time.

I hope you decide to follow me in my journey and share this whiskey soaked adventure with your friends.

Keep cookin’ y’all!

I just created my own Jalapeno Madness!

Hey Y'all! Welcome back to Que-Licious!

 I just created my first sweet heat dessert and wanted to share it with you! I don't even have a name for this recipe yet so for now we will go with the obvious...

Stuffed Chocolate Covered Jalapenos

Ingredients
15 oz. container of Ricotta Cheese
8 oz. container of Mascarpone Cheese
1 stick of butter (softened)
20 Jalapeno Peppers
14 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate
3 tablespoons Crisco
6 ounces white chocolate
Cayenne Pepper to taste

In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter with a wire whisk until smooth.
Next blend in Ricotta with whisk until smooth. This may take just a little longer because of the consistency of the cheese. Then add Mascarpone cheese and continue mixing with whisk until all ingredients are blended smooth. The mixture will resemble runny mashed potatoes with tiny little lumps. (from the ricotta) Sprinkle in cayenne pepper to your taste. Refrigerate until ready to stuff peppers.

In a medium stock pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil on high heat. While water is reaching the boiling point, cut the tops off of the jalapenos and place in a bowl and set aside. These will be used later for display purposes.

Next, keeping the rest of the pepper intact, seed and remove the membranes from the inside of the pepper. I used an Avocado Peeler from The Pampered Chef. This works perfectly with out cutting the skin as a knife would, but allows you to remove all of the insides effortlessly.

Once the caps are removed and the peppers are seeded, the water should be at a full rolling boil. Keep the water boiling on high heat and drop peppers in water. This blanches the peppers and helps remove the remaining seeds. Do not keep peppers in water longer than 2 minutes. You want the peppers to be bright in color and still have most of the crispness. Place peppers on a baking sheet and let cool. When peppers are cool to the touch, spoon in cheese mixture into each pepper until full.

Once the peppers are stuffed, place the peppers on the cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about one hour. Once the peppers are slightly frosted on the outside and the center is set, they are ready to be dipped in chocolate.

Place the semi-sweet chocolate and 2 tablespoons of Crisco in a microwavable bowl and heat on your microwaves highest setting for 1 minute. Stir mixture and repeat hight heat setting for an additional 1 minute. Repeat as often as necessary until the chocolate is melted smooth. Dip each jalapeno into the melted chocolate coating each side and place on wax paper to cool. You may refrigerate if you want to speed up the cooling process.

In a separate smaller microwavable bowl, place the white chocolate and 1 tablespoon Crisco. Repeat the melting process and stir until chocolate is melted smooth. Once the jalapenos have cooled and the chocolate has hardened to the pepper, hold the jalapeno over the white chocolate and drizzle the white chocolate over the jalapeno with a spoon in a small stream or you can dip the tip in white chocolate. Your in charge of the creative process here.

Alternative Filling: I also found this to be a slightly sweeter version of the filling and cuts the heat of the pepper quite a bit. So if you are a fan of more sweet and less heat this would be a good alternative filling for your peppers. Also, look for the mild jalapeno peppers in your produce section as well.

Mascarpone Cream Filling:1 stick(s) unsalted butter, softened
1 container(s) (8-ounce) mascarpone cheese , softened
3 cup(s) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract

Either version will give you an exciting twist on dessert that is sure to impress! Enjoy

Keep cookin' y'all!

Success On My Terms

Hey y'all...Welcome back to Que-Licious!

I have taken the time to be still and listen to that little "inside voice" we all have but all too often ignore. Today is the day I define my own terms for success.

 

I admire those outside of the box thinkers and doers; the ones who take the risk of all risks to pursue the life they were meant to live. After all; we were put here on this earth to live not sit on the sidelines and observe. It's so easy to allow ourselves to become overwhelmed with what we think is expected of us in order to be successful; when we should be defining our own terms of success. We blog, we read e-books,we  talk to anyone who will listen to us babble on about our ideas, we find everything Pinteresting, then we follow and tweet until our head spins. There is no question that we have some pretty amazing "techie-tools" for social interaction that allow us to quickly access information on topics from food to becoming your own Pharmacist.

The problem to having access to such an overabundance of information is that we allow ourselves to think maybe we don't have it all together and that we should be doing things differently. After all, "Super Susie Blogger Queen" (yes I made this up) says to follow these exact steps and success will be yours. Not even close Susie. It's hard not to be envious of others success who create products and provide services similar to your own; yet so easy to believe we must be doing everything wrong. But here's the thing..."Super Susie Blogger Queen" doesn't have the first clue about me, my life, my capabilities, my limitations, my likes, my fears, my strengths...but I know. Success is not so simply defined by a cookie cutter pattern that applies to everyone. Success is above and beyond just following a core set of principals and business practices.

Once I became still and listened to that "inside voice" I discovered I was trying to attain success according to other people's definition and not my own. I not only began to pay attention to that gut feeling but acted on it as well. I realized that stepping out of your comfort zone is exhilarating and necessary.  I believe in the dream I am pursuing, even if I am the only one. I have stopped reading so many articles, newsletters, and the like and started to focus more on my own. I feel as if I am finally in command of my own success.

Keep cookin' y'all!

Starting Small

Hey y'all...Welcome back to Que-Licious!

When I set out on my little barbecue adventure 6 years ago, my plan was simple really. Buy a nice smoker, a canopy, a few packaging supplies, get booked at some popular events in my area, and cook for people. Turns out achieving simplicity is not easily attained. As I began contacting event organizers in hopes of setting up our little barbecue stand, I soon discovered several factors at play that I simply did not take into consideration. (Ignorance is not always bliss)

Most events such as local weekend festivals, county fairs, or even craft shows book their vendors at least six months to one year in advance. In addition to the advance booking, there is also the rule of being a preferred vendor...which means as a new vendor, you are offered a spot on their waiting list and generally have to wait until the preferred vendor is no longer interested in securing a spot in the event. Now I do understand the concept of not wanting to duplicate the food selections of event goers, but for the record, I am currently on waiting lists for almost every event within a five county area.

A recent follow-up call to one such event committee turned into a very enlightening conversation. Turns out there was an opening for my type of food! Please hold your applause and cheers of joy and jubilation...there's more. As I calmed myself down and began the process of exchanging information, getting the set-up fee and times, the voice on the other end of the phone asks me a very real and important question..."What would you say your feeding capacity would be per hour"? Darn good question. She then proceeded to let me know that during the course of the three day festival at any given time there are between 150,000 to over 200,000 visitors to the event who at some point will want to eat. My heart sank...and then it sank again. I had to remove myself from the list. My little pig cooker is amazing and we produce some of the best barbecue you have ever put in your mouth, but I did not have that kind of capacity. Not yet anyway.

I guess this conversation could be considered as my "ah-ha" moment. After spending about all of an hour being down and discouraged; I asked myself a question..."Why am I waiting to be set-up at some over-crowded event when what I really wanted to do was provide my food on a more personal setting"? Another darn good question...and one I knew the answer too. Life is a constant game of highs and lows. If we are not careful, we loose sight of what we really set out to accomplish in life and just become purposeless, lost, and desperate.  My passion for creating great food and being in the company of great people is the driving force behind Whiskey River BBQ & Catering. Somewhere during my journey I had allowed myself to get caught up in the "grandiose" of what Whiskey River might grow into and just wanted to come out of the gate like gang-busters! Very unrealistic.

For the past two years I have been trying to get my name out there in the fair and festival circuit as a food vendor and have come to the realization...that's not what I want at all. Well, not entirely. I would still like to setup at select populated events in my area, but to introduce our line of barbecue sauces, rubs, slathers, and other packaged food items while letting customers know we cater. That was my original goal from so long ago while talking over my idea with my family. For quite sometime now I have been needing to find my way back to the simplicity of that plan and start on a smaller scale. Instead of focusing on what I haven't been able to do I have decided to start advertising what I can do.

I have tapped into some very outstanding resources that I will be sharing with you during the next few days and I will be introducing some of our catering packages on our Facebook Page and Twitter Feed.

Keep cookin' y'all!

"Test Kitchen Tuesday!"...Today the kitchen tested me.

Hey there y'all...welcome back to Que-Licious! (Original post date was Jan. 2013)

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day in the kitchen, but it was a great day for writing a cookbook. My intention was to smoke a pork butt, develop a new recipe for a Carolina style barbecue sauce I have been working on, take some awesome mouth-watering pictures, and share with all you fine folks. Obviously that didn't happen. I'll tell you what did happen...winter in Ohio!

I knew I was in for a challenge right away when the temperature gage on our enclosed back porch said 2 degrees, or as I interpreted...GO BACK INSIDE! Nevertheless; I thought I would give it a try, mistake #1. I have fought the cold, the wind, the rain, and the snow of Northwest Ohio before when doing a smoke and settled in bundled up Eskimo style to get the smoker warmed up to start my smoke. Mother Nature and my smoker had other ideas. Try as I may, the wind and bitter cold was victorious over my attempt to bring a little warmth and sunshine into this blustery winter day.

Frustrated and defeated (and about a 15 minute rant to myself as to why we don't live in Key West) I finally threw in the towel after a good 2 hour fight with the elements and the smoker and shifted gears. Standing there in the kitchen...hands on the table, head hanging low, I happened to fix my gaze on a picture hanging on the wall. A framed cross-stitching picture that my grandmother had made. Ever get one of those gut feelings like someone is trying to tell you something?

I got the message. I couldn't help but think about mommaw and all those cold mornings when she would be the first one out of bed to start the fire in her cast iron cook stove and at that moment a wonderful flood of memories came rushing over me and I couldn't help but smile...and then I started writing...and I wrote all afternoon. It was this time last year that I began a cookbook project called "The Forgotten Kitchen" which contains family recipes and stories of my life growing up with a grandmother who taught me to cook, love, and live. Several factors interfered with me finishing this book; most of which were self-induced. Returning to this project is a major accomplishment for me emotionally. Not only because of missing my grandmother and dealing with the demoralizing effects of Alzheimer's Disease, but also because of facing the loss of my dad. I spent the last week of his life with him in the hospital and took my draft of "The Forgotten Kitchen" with me and would read to him after his chemo treatments until he fell asleep. Reading back over the chapters now, I can see him smiling and sharing memories with me of our time together as a family. The words I would read brought back memories for both of us, each one with a different meaning and special place in our hearts. I truly believe this cookbook is a turning point of some sort in my life; I'm just not sure of the direction yet, but I know I will be guided. I have learned to listen to that inner voice we all have telling us what we need to be doing but choose to fight it because WE think we know best. I could have stood in the kitchen and blamed the weather and cold and become so frustrated that I wasted the entire day being very unproductive. I could have broke down when I started remembering time with family on the farm and my dad sharing those stories with me during his last days...but I didn't. A pretty amazing thing happened instead...I became inspired.

So, for this week's "Test Kitchen Tuesday" I believe the kitchen tested me. I would like to end this post with and excerpt from my cookbook as another little sneak-peek into what's to come when this bittersweet project is complete.

Keep cookin' y'all.

"The landscape of a kitchen can leave just as effective of an imprint on the mind’s eye. For me, it is a cast-iron cook stove consuming one whole wall in the kitchen with a commanding presence; a batch of fresh apple butter and preserves sitting in mason jars to cool; an old buffet filled end-to-end with homemade pies; and the ever present combination of wood smoke and ham. With the scene always present in my mind, I chart my path and try to convince myself I am headed forward when in reality, I am constantly returning to that back porch to peek at that all familiar view through that old screen door." 

~Excerpt Taken From "The Forgotten Kitchen"
Stephanie Robinson, Author

Getting It All Together

Hay Y'all...Welcome back to Que-Licious!

When I sat down three months ago and started putting my business plan together I started to become overwhelmed with the amount of capital I was going to have to come up with to get my business off the ground. Since I'm not a trust-fund kid, I'm not even remotely interested in using retirement money to fund this venture, (it's called retirement for a reason), and the money tree in the back yard seems to have caught a blite and died I decided to turn my focus on the "small" in "small business". In my case it could probably be more amply named minuet.

As I began to look at my options, I started researching other small businesses like mine and read the back story of how they not only became successful, but maintained that success through economic shifts. Oddly enough they share similar objectives to my own about being realistic, doing the best you can do, and have a positive attitude. Imagine that...for once I felt like I wasn't alone in my thought process.

I will be the first to admit that at this point it would be so easy to just throw in the towel and allow that self-doubt to creep in and take over. I wasn't going to let that happen this time. I have too much riding on this decision and I was not going to simply just give up or put things on the back-burner again. So I started to focus on what I could do...look at that, my first realist decision in business! There may be hope for this little country girl yet.

My business is all about my roots. Where I come from, how I was raised, who my friends were and are, my family, and the appreciation of a simple life earning a sustainable living is the driving force behind Whiskey River BBQ.

So where do I "grow" from here? Don't worry...I will keep you posted. After all, if it's one thing us girls like to do it's talk.

Keep cookin' y'all!