This literary slice of Yum was written one day before I had to vacate my retail storefront space in Rehoboth. ENTER Cheese Man, stage left, SOLILOQUY...

It's the day before moving day. Tomorrow is the end of my tenure in my current retail space. Sitting here as we all do, putting off the inevitable. Procrastination? I'll get back to you on that! More like, hmm, what can I eat, surrounded by good food?

So, on goes the kettle. Coffee is chosen from the remaining beans in the coffee bins, ground and dumped into the French Press. Up the road I run to the bakery and secure butter croissants. Coffee brewing in the press, and I pop the lid on a jar of Maggie's Burnt Fig Jam for the croissants. What's left in the cheese case? Perfect - a chunk of Cypress Grove Midnight Moon Goat Gouda.

I download the podcast of this weekend's The Splendid Table with Lynne Rosetto Kasper on NPR and am delighted to hear the opening segment is a review of a tribute book to Britain's culinary groundbreaker, Elizabeth David. Uh-oh, I'm not going to be packing any boxes any time soon, this is going to be a good one.

Elizabeth David (1913 - 1992) spent the years of World War II in Egypt,  travelling throughout Europe, the Middle East and India. On returning to the UK after the war, David was bummed out by the 'drabness' of post war rationed British life. Grey weather. Brown food. Grey moods. Blah! David set out bringing the colors and social culture of Mediterranean foods into Post-War Britain. The result was the classic Mediterranean Food, followed by five other books that all became bestsellers.

I was born in Wales, UK and lived in the country until the age of 28. Even in Wales - a region with its own specific food culture, I can attest to how deeply Mediterranean foods (from all parts of the Mediterranean) are ingrained into your average domestic kitchen and professional restaurant kitchens. This is to David's credit. David is also referenced as a defining professional influence by many of our popular modern chefs on both sides of the Atlantic - Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Alice Waters... Ruth Reichel, American food writer and critic, discusses on NPR that while on our side of the Atlantic, Julia Child has been credited as a major influence in our food culture relative to French cooking (France has a Mediterranean coastline), Child's focus was on technique - anyone could make French food if you knew how. David's focus was on the importance of ingredients and the social experience of her delight in simple, picnic meals made with quality ingredients. No stuffiness. Simple ingredients.

Well, this latter point struck a chord with me. I had the rare, and privileged opportunity this past weekend to sit in on a pre-dinner service staff meeting with one of our most talented, and most sincere local chefs - Nino Mancari, of Salt Air Kitchen and Salt Air Farm & Table. I got to hear Nino share his philosophy and driving passion - the rational for his restaurant, farm and food business with his staff. I know! How cool is that? While listening to The Splendid Table today, what I heard from Ruth Reichl while disussing Elizabeth David, Alice Waters, Jamie Oliver, and Nigella Lawson with Lynne Rosetto-Kasper, resonated in the back of my busy mind. I heard much commonality with Nino's own words and open-hearted impropmtu mission statement with his staff.

Salt Air - Delaware Beach Picnic, beach BBQ, farm to table, seasonal, locally sourced ingredients supplemented by quality ingredients sourced as locally as possible. No stuffiness. You know as customers, it is sometimes hard for us to perceive the end point in an ongoing development of a business concept. I will say, two years ago when Salt Air first opened, I didn't get the beach picnic concept. What I did get was the great food, great service, and dining experience. Two years  on it is quite evident for a customer to see Nino's vision, his dream for his business, evolving before our eyes. Eye get it (get it?). I hope you will hop on over to Salt Air Kitchen, Delaware Avenue, Rehoboth, and get a great experience at Chez Nino! While you're at it, hop on over to NPR's online store or Amazon and get Elizabeth David's books; hop on over to NPR and get Lynn Rosetto-Kasper's weekly broadcast of The Splendid Table.

For me it's back to the packing. Yum will be back. Persistence wins the race. Look to one of my inspirations, Julia Child. No more gutsy, persistent person ever lived. Watch her TV shows re-broadcast. She's awkward, drops utensils, drops food, forgets her mark, yet keeps going, we learn as we watch, yes we laugh (admittedly with the unease of recognition of the same traits in ourselves), but you know, somewhere along the way, we get it!

Bon Appetite! Suck it up Cheese Man! Keep on going!

P.S. Why Tumbleweed Times? Because that's what this past year of business has had me feeling like. Time now to nuture some new shoots of this business, settle in one place, and re-grow from there. I hope I'll find you there too, and if I don't then I'll always come to you (big hint on what's coming next!). See ya around town, pardner!

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It's been a long week and I've spent most of it in the doghouse, while the dogs have been in my bed. Running your own business will sometime land you where I've been this week, and guess what, sometimes it's not the businesses' fault. Shocker! This entry is for my honey, who proves every day that my Mother-in-law is not the only perfect person on this earth. I Love You Man!

It's raining in downtown Rehoboth and the store is quiet. Soft, fine rain - the kind I'd like if I didn't own a retail storefront focusing on perishable inventory! This kind of rain can settle in for days at a time in Wales, my home land. The temperature is quite balmy for early March, so this is good dog walking weather, or, as in my case since I have a store to run (read babysit - cue unhappy smiley face), I'll reach for the blog, and not the dog(s). Oh yeah, they're all in my bed!

OK - here's a hint for those whom have not had the pleasure to know me well, yet... I love play on words, I love non-sequitir humor, I love irony. So, usually when I have a point to make, even though I've lived in the USA decades at this point, I'll turn to that British conversational staple: obliqueness, to posit a well-made point. Read around the point - not through it and you'll get me, and get more out of my blog. Or not.

I also love to write. It's one reason I love to do my own marketing. I very often will be doing something unrelated, such as cleaning the walk-in cooler at the store, and an idea for a column hits me, and I have to stop and get it down before I lose it. I sometimes submit these for publication, so you may have read me somewhere other than here, at some point.
  

Le Wavreumont - French washed rind
Monastery style cheese. Earthy, sweet,
buttery. Not that stinky. Yum!

Anyways, what's my point, this point, the point I'm trying to make? While lunching on some Le Wavreumont cheese and raw almonds, the thought occured to me that I've never quite been able to succinctly answer a question I'm frequently asked, "Why, Cheese Man do you sell things other than cheeses, when you call your business a cheese company? It's rather silly, don't you think?" Italics are my addition - look to the end for a clue to this pop culture reference ***

Today it came to me - clarity on a cloudy, drizzly day. Here's my, 'elevator pitch.' Organic produce, spices, seasonings, specialty foods. What do all these have in common with REAL cheese? Simple - no farms, no food. We Know Farms. We Know Food. We Know Yum. Full circle. It's the circle of Yum, Greg!

*** Pop culture reference. The wonderful Joan Collins plays an unforgettable character ("Sign the will, Cecil!" Oops, wrong unforgettable character!), Helena Barnes on the NBC sitcom, Will and Grace. Helena tells Grace, "You are an odd girl, aren't you?" Grace asks why British people insult you and then ask you to agree with them, Helena replies, "I don't know. It's rather silly, don't you think?"  

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Public Relations experts advise addressing a concern before it becomes something to cry about - an issue requiring a tissue.

I thought I would turn to my blog to 'spring a leek,' or leak some news ahead of the rumor mill common to life in a small town. Of course I know that there are those who will dislike me for spoiling a good rumor with the truth, but not everyone's going to like everyone all of the time - that's life! Much better to insert food into one's mouth than one's foot. A cheese plate is much easier to eat than one's words. Let's make sure the words we share are the correct ones.

So, what's up Cheese Man? Not so much up as out. I'm sad to report that as of the end of March, I will no longer be present selling my cheeses, specialty foods, and organic produce, and operating my organic juice bar at Hamel's Market. My winter stint as Manager of Hamel's Market will soon conclude and the owners return to assume the running of the business. While the owners of Hamel's and myself realize that we have a solid background from our separate businesses on which to form a new business alliance, I have decided not to procede with a joint venture with Hamel's at this time. My personal friendship with the Hamel's owners will continue. Sorry rumor mill, there's, "No trouble at 'mill" -nothing sinister here - no bad feelings - purely a case of a good opportunity with not so perfect timing. I am thankful for the opportunity to have managed Hamel's for the winter season, am confident I have performed a good job, have contributed to the development and growth of the business, and leave Hamel's Market in a good position to re-open for their third summer season. Please continue to support this wonderful local, independently owned business.

For me, what next? I find myself somewhat in a state of flux. Caught between a retail space and a hard place. I had anticipated opening a cheese/specialty foods retail storefront in Rehoboth this spring. Yet, with the absence of a suitable space, it is now uncertain whether this will happen. This much I do know: as I've grown in my knowledge of the specialty foods industry over various entrepreneurial stages of my business the past five years, one thing has become clear to me. What has emerged is my role as connector, facilitator of access to specialty foods and the sales and marketing knowledge necessary to allow others to experience such foods free of any lobbied bias or platform. This does not necessarily need or mean a retail store, but I do not rule it out! What comes next is a logical extension of what has come before. This metropolitan beach town on the edge of a large agricultural plain where chicken houses sometimes outnumber human, is my home. A community that I am a full time member of. A community I love. Yum may have temporarily left the building, but most definitely not the beach.

Thus, I've chosen today, March 1, Saint David's Day, to announce the formation of my new company, the, "Rehoboth Beach Cheese Company." My current mission to support our local businesses in wholesaleing specialty foods direct to them will continue. Additionally, my educational and marketing platform will continue through private and public cheese classes and formal sales and marketing training for my business customers staff. The Rehoboth Beach Cheese Company will continue to enhance and develop relationships with other businesses, growers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. For the time being we will move all of our retail products onto our website You may order online for shipping, or free local delivery. Since I do not currently have a retail storefront, then Auntie's Organic Juice Bar will be mobile only. To book Auntie to juice up you parties, mailto:rbcheeseco@gmail.com. Our organic produce department will also move onto our online store where you may purchase organic fruits and vegetables through a new local delivery service I am calling, "Doorganics." You can order specific fruits and vegetables, or order boxes that we select for you based on seasonality. Doorganics will also expand to distribute locally and seasonally grown chemical-free produce. Please stay tuned for an update to the weknowyum website, going live April 1 with a new logo and new features in keeping with this news.

Remember, slow food, and local food is as much about supporting small, independently owned local businesses as it is farmers markets and farms. Us local retail and wholesale distributors also have a role to play in keeping foods and artisan skills alive. We are the enthusiastic, knowledgeable connectors in our food economy and food supply, as I alluded to above. Use it or lose it applies as much to choices in our food supply as in our muscles.

If you know of a small retail storefront for lease in Rehoboth Beach, a small lock-up refrigerated storage unit for lease, or a small refrigerated delivery vehicle for sale, then mailto:rbcheeseco@gmail.com

We Know Yum! Thank you, Andy.

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Good For You Market is now closed at our Route 9 location in Lewes, DE!

Thank you for four award-winning years! With your support and your business, we won Best of Delaware three times and became only the second of two Delaware-based artisan cheese retailers to be a member of The American Cheese Society (the other is way upstate). Not too shabby for a former Corporate IT guy turned specialty foods retailer!

At this point I am pretty certain our Route 9 building and farm are leased. I'm very excited about our tenant. However I will not leak the news - they have a really cool concept and it's their spotlight not mine.

Why did I decide to close Good For You Market instead of relocating as originally planned? Was business not good? Business was great! After four years, it was time for a change. I decided to close so we could re-tool, take the Best of The Best (of Delaware!), simplify the business concept and focus on the lines of business I've learnt to excel at.

While we've been looking for a new location on Route 1 southbound for my new concept specialty foods store, an opportunity arose for me to work with Mary Murphy of Hamel's Gourmet Market, Rehoboth. For those whom do not know Mary and her lovely store on Rehoboth Avenue, opposite Grove Park, then why not? You're missing out on a local treasure of great food and phenomenal customer service under Mary's leadership. Mary brings many years of hospitality industry executive management experience to her Hamel's business. We share a similar corporate America background, a no-nonsense passion for authentic foods, a common business philosophy and high standards of customer service.

So, while I still entertain a possible Route 1 south location, I could not pass by the opportunity to team with Mary. The synchronicities between our businesses were too many to let this go. Here is our press release announcing our new team.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Yum Comes To Town!

Hamel's Gourmet Market, Rehoboth Beach, DE - October 26, 2010 - Andy Meddick, former Owner of three-time Best Of Delaware award winning Good For You Market, Lewes, DE, will manage Hamel's Gourmet Market for the winter. Andy will oversee a winter menu of Hamel's popular baked goods and prepared foods to go at Hamel's Rehoboth Avenue store - original site of the historic MacQuay's Market. Andy will bring with him the best of The Best of Good For You Market's specialty food lines sold under his "We Know Yum!" brand. Yum includes Andy's popular artisan cheeses, growing charcuterie and high end deli, organic produce, bulk spices and dried goods, fresh prepared organic juices, smoothies, and coffee, special events, educational classes, and catering. "This is a natural synchronicity between two local foodie entrepreneurs. I am proud that Hamel's would consider me to operate their gourmet food market. Together we continue to demonstrate that we do not have to sacrifice choice, customer service, or value when we relocate, or recreate at the Delaware Beaches. We Know Yum and we're proud and excited to be continuing Yum with the talented team at Hamel's Gourmet Market."

Contact:

Andy Meddick
Hamel's Gourmet Market,
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971(302) 381-6182 http://www.weknowyum.com

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It's no secret we live in a small (beach) town, but here's a guilty secret you may not know! We love to eat at the bar in our favorite restaurants! Not only do you experience great service and camaradrie with the bartender (a key staff member in any restaurant in my humble opinion), you meet the most interesting people at the bar. Sociable, fun, creative people, full of zest. Or, as my Jersey relatives say, "Piss and vinegar!"

As a small town, 'townie,' I love to sit at the bar because, well, you get great scuttlebut! As delicious as the food! Sometime, during the winter months, when we're all running a little slower, start a rumor about yourself, and see how long it takes to come back at cha! Social networking indeed!

Here's the key skill any great bartender, small town Doctor, or small town Banker understands, "The better part of valour is discretion." Great bartenders never kiss and tell, great Doctors don't bring up that wierd tattoo on your butt cheek over dinner with friends, your Banker will never discuss the size of your business deposits at the firehouse spaghetti dinner! For this, I raise my glass to you all!

Not convinced? Pull up a stool, order up, and socialize! For a brief hour or two, curiously, PDAs are silent! Join in the conversation, you make great new friends at the bar. Above all else, take a leaf out of Bartending 101 - be a good listener, you learn so much about your town...

For the record, I'll never tell who asked me what wine to pair with Velveeta at my artisan cheese bar! Townies, did you hear any scuttlebut?

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Some days are baking days, some are not.

With, "All apologies" to Amazon Kindle, artists Ashley & Little, and proof in the power of advertising, I can't get the Kindle song out of my mind.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon baking - proofing a blackberry custard tart recipe for the store. The whole time, I hear, "Bake Me Away..." on loop in my head.

I think this was an autonomic reaction to baking with 3 Jack Russell Terriers under my feet - I needed a stress diversion. You can't bake when you're stressed. Ever seen a Pastry Line Cook? "Bake Me Away!"

This blog entry is a shout out to home designers. Sure, I get the, "Be in your kitchen and be able to talk to your guests thing." However, whomever came up with the idea of an open plan kitchen/family room/dining room combo clearly does not use the kitchen 'area' very often! Or they don't have dogs/cats, kids, or curious spouses. File this under, "What we want is not what we need!"

So, before I hang up my apron, home designers, please, either start a new trend for 'private' kitchens, or come up with a solution for us to be able to close them off.

Go ahead, "Bake My Day!"

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Sunday morning. Early. Left the family sleeping in a bed of dog hair and slipped out to grab a coffee, do some food shopping, prep us some juices, check on the web stats and get home before I'm missed, and the heat of the day hits (or at least gets above the 80F it was at 6am). Ughh...

All of this made me realize, despite what y'all may think, being a food market owner is not all world travel and glamour. It's a lot of wild ride, rollercoastin', fun, persistent, put your big boy pants on hard work. The bennies are rare, but one I treasure, I get to food shop without a line! I can slip into our juice bar and juice up some Valencias and make it home with fresh organic O.J.. All just in time for a family breakfast with the goodies I've hit up from the store: produce, bread, milk, eggs, meats, wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon. Yum!

So, taking a break from the shopping, I check our web stats while (st) catching up on past episodes of The Splendid Table. A few weeks back, host Lynne Rossetto Kasper talked with Anthony Bourdain asking him the question we love as listeners, but if asked ourselves are not quite sure if etiquette, business concerns, or don't pee in your own backyard issues will come back to bite us. Let there be no metaphor that go un-mixed!

So, back to Bourdain. In an uncomfortable, but guilty pleasure question (thank you Splendid Table, good interview!), Chef Bourdain was asked what he thought of his peers? An impressive laundry list! I put my coffee down, thinking, "This is going to be good!" It was. Good, that is. Diplomatic, inciteful, and honest. Considerate. Even appreciative comes to mind. Watered down, no. My favorite was the question, followed by a long pause, regarding the provocative, elegant, impactful, Chef Alice Waters. I believe the words, "Shoot yourself in the foot" were used! The discussion regarded Chef Waters' reply when asked if eating organic produce was feasible for all people, because of the, "Expense?" For example, organic grapes at $6 a lb. versus conventional at $2 a lb less. Don't get me started on "expense" - it's my day off and I need to stay calm! Chef Waters apparent comment was that we could cut down our cell phone minutes and eat better. Wow - you go, there!

My first thought was, "Where are you shopping?" Organic Grapes at $6 a lb. ? Clearly not Good For You Market !

My second thought was that I have a love-hate relationship with my cellphone, but this is not a discussion about the evils of cell phones, nor bashing those who do (love their cell phone). It's about prioritizing resources. Sometimes tact just doesn't cut it!

Thank you Splendid Table. Thank you Chef Bourdain and Chef Waters. Your work, and comments are much appreciated by this food market owner. Good For You, Good For Us All!

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