The Elk Coffee Shop

Meet the women of The Elk, a coffee shop in the West Village of New York. The owner, Claire Chan took over the space four years ago, renovated, and reopened with her grand vision in mind.

“I became, somewhat fanatically, interested in coffee while I worked in fashion. Beyond the fact that it was an integral part of my morning routine/ritual, I wanted to build a community around the appreciation of great coffee. There are so many nuances involved in making coffee, many of which people are not aware of. I wanted to create a space where the coffee was both thoughtful and approachable, and where people felt comfortable and at home.” -Claire Chan, owner of The Elk

Claire, Christine, & Nona

“I’m a very hands-on type of person, so I’ll regularly hop behind the bar to dial-in the espresso or make a few drinks. Being a barista is actually really fun! I like being close to my product – I think it’s my way of ensuring consistency and quality-control.” -Claire Chan, owner of The Elk

“I feel so proud of the all women-run businesses I see popping up, especially right now. At a time where women’s rights and female empowerment is more relevant than ever, it is important to express your ideas and exercise your values so that others will be encouraged to do the same. There’s strength in numbers, and it feels amazing to surround yourself with like-minded and strong women!” -Claire Chan, owner of The Elk

“I love that I’m able to just be so connected to our customers through our coffee. For me, the day to day interactions I get to have with the people who come into the shop to start their day with us and really enjoy the drinks we make for them, is super rewarding.” -Christine of The Elk, a coffee shop in NYC

“My favorite coffee drink is our Bourbon Vanilla Cortado. Its a smaller 6oz sort of ‘mini latte.’ We home-make our syrup with real vanilla beans as well. I love to add a few drops of that to my espresso, it’s delicious!” -Christina

The next time you’re in New York, check out The Elk for yourself.

Blue Marble Ice Cream

Ten years ago, Jennie Dundas and Alexis Gallivan, opened Blue Marble Ice Cream in Brooklyn. Their products are entirely organic, made from only high quality ingredients, and absolutely no hormones, antibiotics, harmful pesticides and artificial additives. Manufacturing in New York with ethical and sustainable practices is crucial to this woman-run company.

We got to tag along as Jennie, CEO of Blue Marble Ice Cream, and Susan Jo, Ice Cream Chef, went about their normal routine. Join us this week as we talk ice cream and show you around their facilities in Industry City, a historic industrial complex built in the 1800s.

“We have been committed from the beginning to creating what we call “elemental ice cream” — this is traditional flavors, created with integrity.  We believe that if you use the absolute highest quality ingredients, folks will taste the difference — and they do!” Jennie Dundas, CEO of Blue Marble Ice Cream

“After going to art school in LA, I moved to NYC for an internship at an art magazine, hoping for a career in art publishing. I worked some restaurant jobs on the side (front of house), and unknowingly started to fall in love with the food industry culture. The magazine eventually folded, and after a series of unfulfilling admin jobs, I looked back to my love of food and working with my hands for a new path. I enrolled in night courses at the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center) while working for a fashion company, and after graduation, quit my office job to work in kitchens. I worked at some really great restaurants for some amazing chefs for 6 years. Last year I decided I wanted to take a step back from the hustle of restaurant kitchens for various personal reasons. I saw an ad for a part-time ice cream maker at Blue Marble, and thought it sounded perfect.  And it was!  My role quickly shifted from ice cream maker to Ice Cream Chef.” -Susan Jo, Ice Cream Chef at Blue Marble Ice Cream

Ever wonder what a day in the life of an Ice Cream Chef is like? Susan Jo gives us a step by step look at her job:

1. Get changed into work clothes and grab a coffee.
2. Consult my production list for the day + decide on a music playlist.
3. Fill out production sheets (includes recipes and quantities that will be produced).
4. Assemble and sanitize the Emery Thompson (ice cream machine)
5. Build the (ice cream) tubs, if necessary.
6. Load up my speed rack with ingredients.
7. Scale/mix a batch, pour it into the machine.  While it’s spinning, get my next round scaled and ready.
8. Extract the ice cream. Repeat steps 6 – 8 until everything’s finished.
9. Break down the machine, wash the dishes, clean down my station and the kitchen.
10. Go up to the office to process the data for the day’s production.
11. Go home and dream up new flavors!

Ice Cream Chef, Susan Jo, building an ice cream tub

“For anyone looking to get into not necessarily ice cream, but any type of kitchen work: before you go dropping out of school, or quitting your day job, or enrolling in an expensive culinary school–try it out. Actually go work in a kitchen. Get a stage, or an apprenticeship, and see if it’s really for you. It’s not what a lot of people think it’s going to be, and it’s certainly not for everyone.” -Susan Jo, Ice Cream Chef

“My favorite flavors are in line with our ‘less is more’ philosophy.  Give me a great Vanilla, Nitro Cold Brew Coffee, or Green Tea – they need no mix ins because the quality of dairy and lower sweetness level make them as dreamy as a great classic gelato.” -Jennie Dundas, CEO of Blue Marble Ice Cream

“Nobody can really be sad eating ice cream, can they?” -Susan Jo, Ice Cream Chef 

Ship Blue Marble Ice Cream straight to your front door here.

DIY Doughnut Place Cards

Brunch with friends on New Year’s Day is a great cure for staying up far too late the night before. With a little icing and a few doughnuts, you can make edible place cards for your 2017 celebration.

Happy New Year, friends!

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The Bread Cone DIY

Ladies and Gents, I give you the bread cone. This rolled up carb loaded goodness is perfectly crafted with your Thanksgiving feast in mind. You can use it as a cornucopia of leftovers or as a creative way of shoveling food into your mouth.

You’ll need:

• pre-made seamless pizza dough
• around 10 cone shaped paper cups
• aluminum foil
• an egg
• and a few pinches of salt

First, preheat your oven to 400°F. Then wrap each cone shaped cup in aluminum foil. Be sure every bit of it is covered (it’ll be going into the oven later).

Roll out the pizza dough and cut it into strips lengthwise. Then lightly grease a cookie sheet and the outside foil of each cup.

Carefully wrap the dough around the foil wrapped cups. Start at the pointy end and work your way down. Coat the dough in a light egg wash and sprinkle with a dash of salt.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Now you’re ready to chow down. Have fun!

DIY Pumpkin Pie Bites

Get ready for the simplest and tiniest pumpkin pie recipe you ever did see. Not only is it quick, but you get the perfect ratio of pastry crust to pumpkin filling in each bite.

You’ll need:

• pre-made seamless pastry dough sheets
• a mini cupcake tray
• 1 cup of pure canned pumpkin
• 8 oz of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice extract
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• and a can of whipped cream

First, roll out your pastry dough on a flat surface. Use a shot glass to stamp out each individual pie crust.

Grease the pan and place each circle of dough into the mini cupcake tray.

Use a mixer (or a blender if you must) and combine the following: 1 cup of pure pumpkin, 2 eggs, 8 oz of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice extract, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Spoon out the mixture into each of the pie crusts. Be careful not to over fill. The pumpkin filling with rise with cooking.

Bake at the sheet at 400°F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Let the mini pies cool and then serve them up with a dollop of whipped cream.

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Mother’s Day BBQ Brunch

With Mother’s Day around the corner, it’s a great time to start planning your surprise for mom. We have a great idea for you this year—throw her a BBQ brunch. Gather all those she holds dear in the world, bring on the good food, and don’t let her lift a finger. After all the snuggles, love, and encouragement she’s given you over the years, wouldn’t it be great to honor Mom with a little more umph?

Take a look through our simple DIYs for your BBQ brunch that’ll blow Mom away. We used Carhartt Woodsman Beer to add some great flavor to our BBQ and we made a few chalkboard crafts to show Mom how much you care in a creative personal way.

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Floriole Olive Oil Granola Recipe

With fall just around the corner, it’s raining pumpkin seeds! Sandra Holl, from Floriole Cafe and Bakery in Chicago, shared her recipe for a killer fall granola. It’s so tasty, you’ll hardly believe it’s good for you.

What you need: 
3 cups of rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1 cup of pumpkin seeds (a.k.a. pepitas)
¼ cup of flax seed
¾ cup of grade B maple syrup
½ cup of olive oil (if your olive oil has a strong flavor, use ¼ cup of olive oil and ¼ cup of neutral oil like grapeseed or sunflower)
¾ tsp. of fine sea salt
½ tsp. of cinnamon
½ tsp. of ground ginger
½ cup of dried cherries
¼ cup of chopped dates
¾ cup of toasted pecans
(serves 8)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or oiled parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except for cherries, and dates. Mix until homogenous.
3. Spread mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and stir. Bake 20 minutes more and stir again.
5. Let the granola cool for 20 minutes. Scrape into a large bowl.
6. When it’s cooled completely, add cherries, pecans and chopped dates. Store in a sealed container in a cool, dry place for up to a month.

Sandra is wearing: Carhartt Women’s Minot Shirt, 1889 Slim Double-Front Denim Dungaree, & Rapid City Utility Work Apron.

 

 

Forget the Desk Job– I Make a Mean Chocolate Croissant

 

It’s fair to say that most people would prefer an early morning routine of rolling out fresh chocolate croissants to a 9 to 5 desk job. But how do you get there? How do pin down your dreams fast enough to make a career out of them?
After realizing she wasn’t cut out for the daily grind of cubicle life, Sandra Holl decided to buckle down and follow her heart by attending culinary school. At that time, she knew she wanted to be her own boss and make the food she wanted to make. Seeing the opportunities at Chicago’s Green City Market, Sandra decided that opening her own booth would be a low-risk way of starting a business. There she and her husband, Mathieu, used it as a venue to test out their rustic, French pastries and built a name for themselves. Eventually, a brick and mortar space was next step. In 2010, Floriole Café and Bakery’s doors opened in Chicago’s quaint Lincoln Park neighborhood.
When I asked Sandra what the most rewarding part of her job was, she replied,

“I love that I have a family business. I work with my husband and can bring my daughter to work with me. She sees how hard I work and is so proud of her mama. She often tells customers, “This is my mom’s bakery.””

There is no greater feeling than to bring creativity and light to the world through the smile a chocolate hazelnut cookie can yield, while inspiring your own daughter and nudging her along to the discovery that she too can do the same with a little elbow grease and determination.

Here are a few tips from Sandra for anyone striving towards a similar path:
1. Find a chef you admire and work with her or him. Absorb as much of their knowledge as you can, then move on and learn more.
2. Perfect the basics before you get creative. No one really wants a wasabi curry cupcake but everyone wants a perfect slice of peach pie.
3. Everything breaks. Learn how to fix things yourself.
4. Know that you will work seven days a week. Even when you are off, you will run errands for the business, answer calls and emails and when the security alarm goes off in the middle of the night, you will go make sure that it was only a false alarm.

Sandra is wearing: Carhartt Women’s Minot Shirt, 1889 Slim Double-Front Denim Dungaree, & Rapid City Utility Work Apron.

 

Edible Hut– You Can Eat Right Off the Roof

Mira and Kate met in Detroit in graduate school as artists. Together they like to plan projects that give back to their community and involve nontraditional art works. So Mira and Kate took on an abandoned park in the city of Detroit. Refusing to let good parkland go to waste, they created Edible Hut. It’s one part art and one part sculpture with a small garden and a little architecture thrown in. Together with the surrounding neighborhood, they have been building the hut out of steel and wood, lifting bags of compost up to the roof, and planting edible herbs for all to enjoy. When completed, the community will be free to enjoy a shady and protected respite for gathering, rest, sharing meals, holding classes, watching children play in the park, and maybe even one day selling vegetables. One step at a time, Kate and Mira are doing their part to bring a struggling neighborhood in the city back together.

Kate’s Outfit: Women’s Hamilton Flannel Shirt II, Women’s Straight-Fit Slim Jean, Women’s Soft Hand Gloves, & Women’s Marlinton Jacket Mira’s Outfit: Women’s C-Grip Knuckler Glove, Women’s Quick Duck Woodward Jacket, Women’s Force Long-Sleeve Crewneck, & Original-Fit Denim Jasper Jean The little one’s outfit: Kids Acrylic Watch Hat, Infant Toddler Boy’s Washed Denim Bib Overalls, & Infant Toddler Boy’s Lap Shoulder Bodysuit 

DIY: Pumpkin Seed Trail Mix

If you saved your seeds from making pumpkin bowls yesterday, you’re ahead of the game. If not, grab a pumpkin and get started. This fall trail mix is great to have around the house for friends and family that are visiting. The perfect mix of sweet and salty is key in a snack. The mix of cranberries, garlic toast, Reese’s Pieces, and pumpkin seeds is so good! Give it a try. Get creative and add in some of your own ingredients.

grab this outfit for yourself: Carhartt Women’s Norfolk Henley, Carhartt Sweatshirt, Straight Fit Jeans, & Wellington Boots