Let the Sunshine In! (Bring on the Lemonade!)

Howdy, folks! Well this here mess ya'll see right in front of ya is a lil' sandwich we like to call "The Cookout."

The Cookout
Fried Egg, White Cheddar, Baked Beans with Homemade BBQ-Beer Sauce, and Fried Onions on Fleur de Lis Ciabatta.
Be A Sinner...
Add Bacon...1
Add Veggie Bacon...1

Sorry, I've got to cut the cowgirl act, not only do I doubt my accuracy (despite that semester spent in Lubbock), but I don't think an accent translates well over the internet. We are known to run The Cookout on sunny days when we're itching to see the rays break through that ceiling of clouds. Guess what? It looks like tomorrow might just be our lucky day. Forecasts for the weekend call for mostly sunny weather with temperatures possibly topping 70F by Sunday afternoon. In celebration of this fact, we're bringing one of your favorites back. Well known to be one of the messiest messes we've ever created (you did want to add bacon to that, didn't you?), we also know that this one will go down in LRBC history.

Here's what you all had to say about the "The Cookout" last time we ran it:

"just shared my 'Cookout' w/my friend and we both died, were reborn, and died again. Delish! Well played, LRB...well played."

"Had one...loved it...would order it again in a heartbeat!"

"freakin delicious...that was a really good father's day gift."

Well Portland, about time to put in a word with Mother nature. Tell her that it's time to get a move on things. Winter was supposed to be over two weeks ago!

In further celebration of sunny weather and all things spring, we squeezed so many lemons today for fresh-squeezed lemonade, that the acid from the juicy peels stung the crooks of skin in-between our fingers. We've also been playing around with basil in the kitchen, resulting in a new turkey special:

Turkey of Eden
turkey, bacon, brie, artichoke, lettuce, and pesto mayonnaise on Como bread

But wait! That's not all!!! Back by popular demand this weekend is our very special biscuits and gravy, featuring biscuits made by my man (whose god-given talent in the baking department is something to be noted) and gravy made by my mama (whose mama hailed from Kansas, and knew a thing or two about pie dough and gravy, so you see what I'm getting at).

Hail (Rose)mary! Biscuits and Gravy
homemade buttermilk-sage biscuits smothered in brown-butter mushroom gravy, served with a cup of fresh fruit
add two eggs add bacon

How sweet is that? I'm utterly flattered that they get along and work so well as a team. I don't know what gets me more, the fact that they are not only willing to put up with one another in such a close-knit way, threading elbows, hips, and bottoms on a weekly basis, or that they are able to kiss each other at the end of the day and say "I love you." It's a special bond the three of us have, spanning back many years to when we first got started in all this "food" business, in a 10X10 booth at the Portland Farmers Market. That's when the three of us got to know one another intimately. In a square that small inches are limited, and coveted .

That's when we began playing telephone Friday nights, discussing new recipes and new heating methods. That's when we started collecting even more unnecessary cooking equipment, sharing our treasured finds with one another. We've come a long way since then. Gone are the days of setting up a completely portable shop in the pouring rain, only to discover your bread pudding didn't set up, and that you're out of quarters. Well, maybe that's not true, we still run out of quarters all the time and our bread puddings have always been known to have a mind of their own. Yes, I guess it would be more fair to say that a lot has also stayed the same. When it comes down to it, at the end of the day, she's still our Mom and we her children.

Alright, already! Enough with the gushy family stuff! Ick! I need a segue..um...okay...aha! Bread pudding! How about a bread pudding segue? After work today I gussied up a Orange-Chocolate-Almond concoction that we're calling:

Orange Sticky-Bun Bread Pudding
with cinnamon, orange zest, almonds and bittersweet chocolate
served with fresh whipped cream

I'm excited about this one. We plan on letting the batter soak into the bread overnight, and baking it off first thing in the morning. Should be good. Should be real good.

And here's a heads up for Sunday. Looks like we'll be serving up an encore performance of:

Hawaiian French Toast
coconut French toast with shaved coconut, grilled pineapple, whipped butter, and toasted macadamia nut maple syrup
lu'au style: add bacon...

For those of you looking for something else, consider this your warning. We are serving this French Toast and this French Toast ONLY. Next weekend will be something new and we'll let you know about that when you need to know about that.

Or alternatively, you may not consider this a warning but a solicitation to get your rump outta bed early on Sunday and come down and enjoy our delightfully wicked, sunshine-in-your-mouth Special with the rest of the world who loves it. And do it quick before we sell out!