BRUNCH!

We're really proud to be doing a Brunch at the O+A now! 

It's our favorite meal, and these first two brunches have felt like a little celebration of the meal. We thought it'd be really tough after a long weekend of shows to whip out a meal for more than just the two of us. But it's been really relaxing! It feels great to have people in to just find a corner and lazily unwind with a late breakfast or cuddle up to the bar and catch up. Greg said it's like the people that come in are the focal point instead of everyone's attention turned to the stage. It's been a really neat change and change of pace.We're excited to make this a regular thing!

Our first Sunday's Brunch Menu looked like this:

Buttermilk Waffles with maple syrup and butter/honey cinnamon butter
Homemade mushroom garlic Frittata with side salad
Waffle with homemade ice cream
-$7 with choice of beverage

Homemade Granola with milk, almond milk, or yogurt...$4.50
Homemade Rhubarb Muffins...$2 ea.

Rhubarb Muffins filled with Cream Cheese Frosting...$3 ea. 

And this past Sunday...

Buttermilk Waffles with maple syrup and butter / cinnamon honey butter
Egg Strata: a Mushrooms, Cheese, wholewheat bread, layered egg dish. slightly spicy.
Waffle with homemade ice cream
-$7 with choice of coffee, tea or orange juice
-$9 comes with choice of bloody mary, mimosa or sangria

Homemade Granola with milk, almond milk, or yogurt...$4.50
Rhubabrb Stir Cake...$2 ea.

Carrot Cake Cookies...$2 ea.

Coffee...$1
Tea...$2
OJ...$2
Bloody Mary..$4
Mimosa...$4
Sangria!...$5

Many recipes will have their chance to finally be tested (though it looks like the strata will be a mainstay from now on ;) Come out and try some of our favorite food made from scratch! We try to use local and organic whenever we can. Our eggs are certified humane. Rhubarb comes from Danielle's garden..thanks Danielle!!! This is a labor of love of food, we hope to expand on this slowly (Working on espresso drinks as well!) Thanks for the support and love everyone!

It's been awhile

, quite awhile since I've posted on here. But there has been much experimentation going on in my kitchen.

Someone very wise once told me that baking is science, and you can't just toss a recipe together willy nilly. If they were so wise, would they have said willy nilly? Wouldn't they have used a better word? But if they hadn't, maybe I would have trusted them. Yes, baking is science. It employs all the laws of science so that something rises, or a certain texture is achieved blah d blah. Nobody ever told me how much fun it is to play with those laws! If you add something, you need to consider it's role in the recipe. Each ingredient plays one, and sometimes it is just the role of flavor. But it makes me sad to think that people are out there...afraid to try out their weirdo ideas (I guess that's true for everything though). I've been writing down flavors on a piece of paper on the wall in my kitchen. The last one was honey and black pepper. 

We have a regular (wink), who is vegan, and also can't eat anything with soy in it. I love challenges like this. It's how I came up with my cocoa-mocha cookie recipe, to which I add whatever I like to help in replacing the egg. I've used pumpkin, banana, fig pureed with maple syrup and almond milk, and one made with jam made by my dad, mulberry beach plum. For the "warmer" weather I'm doing Strawberry Cocoa-Mocha, and the dark chocolate moonpie version has fled. 

My camera phone tends to make things look haunted...but these are the fig cocoa-mocha moonpies. If you cut a fig lengthwise you will get a heart shape. Sometimes the fig is too smushed, but just manipulate it a bit to get the right shape.

more to come..I just made vanilla blackberry ginger ice cream lastnight ;)! 

♥k

New Spring Sliders!

New Drink!

"The Greenpoint"

A puree of strawberries and fresh jalapeno over sake!
This will also be available virgin style. I made a batch and drank every last bit of it (it is so good it hurts! Literally, this was a reeally spicy batch.)

Named after and inspired by a drink from the now defunct "Relish" restaurant in Greenpoint Brooklyn. I used to spend evenings talking about this drink! We once sat with Langhorne Slim and drank this in the Summer, oh maaan! They made it with jalapeno vodka and were 10 bucks a pop!
I'll post a picture if the new batch survives.

♥
k

I can't believe it's not, not vegan!

One recipe I've been formulating in the Winter months is Mocha Pumpkin Fudge Cookies. It needs no eggs and it needs no milk. It's far tastier with pumpkin and almond milk! They are almost brownie like, really fudgy, with a bite of 72% dark chocolate chunks, and espresso adds an almost earthy background. Spring's a comin' (maybe), and so I tried a Springy version of these cookies, using bananas instead of pumpkin. Even better!!!

 new Banana Mocha Fudge Cookies

third transformation,

Ok ok...then! I made a vegan frosting and sandwichitized them!! The "frosting" is more like a pudding and made with almond milk, less sugar than a traditional frosting, and lots of cocoa powder, it comes out decadent like a pudding, smooth with no bite of sugary grit.

I put the cookies in the freezer so they can set. They make incredible "flying saucers" too, oh man. But as they defrost they get even more fudgy...

 

don't worry, I ate that one!

These might just be a staple menu item for awhile, so come and git 'em! Rosewater or maybe strawberry for Summer!

Why yes, we dooo have mixed drinks!

This post is for those who know what I'm talking about when I mention the collage like menu wall behind our bar (and to prepare those who haven't)

I can tell when it's someone's first (or second or third...) time seeing it. The wide open mouth, the look of confusion, the leaning in for a good while and then finally asking if we sell beer (!!)

(Answer is yes)

So, mixed drinks though. I'm including here a menu of current and soon to be Sake Cocktails and other Mixed Drinks!

Sake is actually an amazing "liquor". I didn't used to be a big sake person either, but it adds so much complexity to a mixed drink and has a nice astringency like vodka. I've been constantly surprised at how well it blends.

We'll be printing up drink menus soon that one can hold and love and contemplate over.

So here it is folks and folksas..

O+A Mixed Drink Menu

Hot Sake Cider  
(has become our signature drink!)

Hot local apple cider and sake

Spicy Sake Cider 

Made with Sake infused with Chilis, Lemongrass, and honey in Hot Cider

Vegan S.S.C

Made with Sake infused with Chilis, Lemongrass, and local Maple Syrup in Hot Cider

Bloody Mary

Spiked with Sake,

Homemade & Spicy!

Eclipse 
Sake with OJ

& orange slice

Simonne 
Sparkling Apple Cider and Sake


Alphonse 
Sparkling Cranberry juice and Sake

Mimosa 
Champagne & OJ
withe slices of clementine


Full Moon
White Wine and OJ with slice of orange 


Kittywitch
Cardamom, Clove, Mint, Orange Peel, Ginger, Cinnamon, Black Tea (decaf available)
steeped in Hot Apple Cider with honey...$4
Spiked generously with Sake...$5

Kahlua
served over ice or with coffee
*add organic chocolate syrup  .50


"Olas"
Spiced tea steeped in Hot Cider over Red Wine
 
Night Cap
Secret Garden Tea (Rose Petals & Buds, Mint, Lavendar, Chamomile, Rooibos) 
steeped in Hot Apple Cider

Coming for Spring!!

Lua Saka 
Pineapple, Coconut milk, Agave nectar over a shot of sake

Sake Temple 
Grenadine, Lemon Lime Soda, and Sake 


Greenpoint 
Strawberry puree & Jalepeno over Sake
with strawberry ice cubes!


Papi 
OJ, Infused Spicy Sake, and muddled Mint leaves


Guiness Float
(or beer o' choice)
over homemade Ice Cream


*Flavor of the Day* 

TEA!

We've been trying to slowly build our tea selection. We just opened a new batch of "Secret Garden" and it's filled with whole dried roses, it's really gorgeous! We also just got in "Winter Solstice" and you can very nearly snack on it. It has big pieces of spicy, aromatic dried fruit, my favorite so far.

Our tea menu so far looks like this..

Secret Garden (Organic, Fair Trade)  -herbal tisane

Mint, Lavender, Rose (Buds & Petals), Chamomile, Rooibos

Mandela Masala (Organic, Fair Trade) (decaf)

Cloves, Cardamom, Ginger, Cinnamon, Rooibos

Nilgiri (Organic)

Black Tea Origin:  India, Dunsandle Estate

Temple of Heaven (Organic, Fair Trade)

Gunpowder Green Tea
Origin: China 
Estate: Zhejiang Province

Colonille

Vanilla, Vietnamese Black Tea

Autumn to Winter

Peppermint, Mint, Cloves, Cardamom, Ginger, Spearmint, Orange Peel, Chinese Black Tea

Fiji

Pineapple, Papaya, Chinese Green Tea

Ginger (Organic)

Peppermint (Organic) 

Origin: Egypt

Yerba Mate

"Yerba Mate, a ubiquitous S. American herb with deep cultural roots is native to Argentina, Brazil & Paraguay. The wild-grown holly shrub (Ilex paraguariensis), now formally cultivated, is found in the rainforest. Highly nutritious, loaded with anti-oxidants & numerous essential vitamins, like tea, Yerba Mate was used by indigenous people as food, beverage, medicine, a show of hospitality & even as currency. It contains matteine, a stimulant similar to caffeine yet much milder on the body with an energizing effect that doesn’t disrupt sleep or negatively react with the nervous system. Green Yerba Mate is grassy & herbaceous; Roasted is toasty & mellow."

Winter Solstice (decaf)
Apple, Cloves, Orange Peel, Apricot, Rosemary, Hops, Red Currant, Allspice