January 2009

Food Focus-Newsletter

359 N. Main Street
Milford, MI 48381

phone: 248-685-3354
fax: 248-685-3359

January Drink Specials

As we are all watching pennies and calories from our Christmas cookies splurges we will only offer our standard desserts – Linda’s carrot cake, gluten free brownies, decadent brownies, mini cannolis chocolate chip cookies & one other cookie (all based on own cravings). Since all I see are snowflakes they are going to be our drink specials for the month:

Snowflake Latte has vanilla, peppermint, espresso and steamed milk.

small $3.25
med $3.75
lrg $4.50

Snowflake Hot Chocolate has our delicious blend of Ghiradelli dark and white chocolate, vanilla, peppermint and steamed milk.

small $3.25
med $3.75
lrg $4.50

Spiced Snowflake Mocha has hiradelli dark chocolate, peppermint, cinnamon and steamed milk.

small $3.25
med $3.75
lrg $4.50

Lunch Specials

We will be offering our Chili to fend of the chilly weather as the second soup this month.

We are continuing our Thursday Tacos for $1.50.

Italian Roast Beef Panini: Roast Beef with Garlic Herb Aioli, carmelized onions, sun dried tomatoes & roast beef on our special pannini bread.

$6.75 full
5.25 half

Grab & Go

We have expanded our line of to go meals, which are good for lunch or dinner, from our Turkey Pot Pie to include:

Irish Stew has corn beef, cabbage and carrots with a pastry top.

We call it comfort food with au gratin potatoes, corn and ham chunks.

Meat Loaf a little sausage, ground beef and our special ingredients.

Shepherd’s Pie that has roast beef, green beans, corn, beef gravy and mashed potatoes.

All are in a 1# aluminum pan and are $4.25 That is $16.50 for a family of 4, about the price of a large pizza. We hope that these specials will fill you up but not empty your pocket books and wallets.

Breakfast Specials

To make my life easier we are going to do our specials for the entire month of January, not to say that I don’t decide to throw in a strata sometime, each month we will have something special.

Sweet potato pancakes with our Java Bar B Que and Ancho sauce. with your choice of meat (pork sausage, turkey sausage or bacon. $6.00

Now for those of you who love things spicey will will throw some Ancho sauce into your pancake mix and add the sauce. Additional $0.50

Just pancakes and no meat $5.00

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Our Services

Many of you have been surprised when we talk about our delivery service, so I though I would give you some of the extras we offer:

1. Delivery is free if you are within 5 miles of the Café. Don’t hesitate to call and place your order – give us an hour to prepare your meal and we will have it delivered to your door.

2. We have Saint George’s Café Cards – these cards can be loaded on the weekend and during the week all you have to do is walk in (unless you choose option 3) pick up your order and walk out. We will take the amount of your purchase off the card so no making sure you have cash or exact change on you.

3. You can call in your order, running late and driving by, call us when you are at Commerce waiting for the light to change and we will have your coffee ready. If you are ordering a sandwich you might need to call when you are at the light by Krogers!! We will even run it out the door to the curb to make it quick and easy for you to keep going.

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Importance of Breakfast

Big, Well Balanced Breakfast Adds Weight Loss An article in HealthDay Reporter by Serena Gordon stated that starting your day with a large meal packed with carbohydrates and lean protein and even a small piece of chocolate, can help lessen cravings and hunger the rest of the day, which can lead to significant weght loss.

Presented at Endocrine Society annual meeting, the new research found that sedentary, obese women lost almost five times as much weight on the “big breakfast” diet as did women following a traditional, restrictive low-carbohydrate diet.

“We treat obese people by telling them to eat less and exercise more, but that does not take into account feelings of carb cravings and hunger. We have to change our approach and find a diet that can control cravings and hunger,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, a clinical professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and an endocrinologist at the Hospital de Clinicas Caracas in Venezuela.

Jakubowicz explained that when you wake in the morning, your body is primed to look for food. Your metabolism is revved up and levels of cortisol and adrenaline are at their highest. Your brain needs energy right away, and if you don’t eat or eat too little, the brain needs to find another fuel source. To do this, it activates am emergency system that pulls energy from muscle, destroying muscle tissue in the process. Then when you eat later, to body and brain are still in high-alert mode, so the body saves energy from food as fat.

Compounding the problem, your levels of the brain chemical serotonin are highest in the morning, which means your craving levels are at the lowest when you first wake up, and you may not feel much like eating. But as the day wears on, serotonin levels dip, and you get cravings for chocolate or cookies and the like. If you eat these foods your serotonin levels rise and your body begins to associate goof feelings with them, creating an addictive cycle, she said. To combat this Jakubowicz and her collegues designed the “big breakfast” diet. In this eating plan, your breakfast accounts for roughly half of your daily calories, and breakfast includes milk, 3 oz lean mean, two slices of cheese, two whole grain servings, one fat serving and one ounce of milk chocolate or candy. The high protein, carbohydrate mix gives the body the initial energy boost it needs in the morning. Throughout the rest of the day, the meals are made up of protein and complex carbohydrates, like vegetables. Because protein is digested slowly you won’t feel hungry. She said, by having a small piece of chocolate or candy when serotonin levels are high, it won’t taste as good (when has chocolate not tasted good??) and the brain won’t fee the same serotonin boost, which will eventually help cut down on cravings.

In the study of 94 obese, sedentary women with metabolic syndrome, half were told to eat the big breakfast diet (1,240 calories while the other half ate 1,085 calories high protein low carb diet for eight months. At the end of 8 months the more restrictive low-carb diet lost an average of almost 9 pounds, but the big breakfast eiet lost nearly 40 pounds.

More Information: National Women’s Health Information Center www.4woman.gov

Sources: Daniela, Jakubowicz, M.D., clinical professor, Virginai Commonwealth Univerisy and endocrinologist, Hospital de Clinicas Caracas, Venezula; June 17, 2008, presentations, The Endocrine Society annual meeting, San Franciso; Gordon, Serena, HealthDay Reporter

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Politics

The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy.

Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations, 1774 With so many people laid off, unemployed and the government not seeming to have a clue, I am steamed (appropriate for a café owner don’t you think)?!! Did you know that the Federal officials had a Cola raise on January 8, 2008 of 2.5% and have a Cola raise coming this January, 2009 of 2.9%. There is legislation pending that would adjust the pay of federal justices and judges 28.7%.

Per an APR report the devastated banks who received bailout monies paid for financial advisors up to $20,.000 for each top executive at Wells Fargo in San Francisco (this bank took 25 billion in bail out) Financial planning services for Robert P. Kelly, chief executive at Bank of New York Mellon Corp were $66,748 on top of his $975,000 salary and $7.5 million bonus.

I am looking for folks who will help draft emails, maybe petitions to change the way the system operates. Details of the financial expenditures being made at our expense will be at the Café and some I will put our website rather than have you listen to all my ramblings. I think it is time to write, call and email our federal and state officials and tell then NOT take this increase and that all pay raises be held null and void for all federal legislative, executive and judicial officials and state officials until our economy is out of a depression/recession since most of us are wondering how to make house payments. See further details of what I think are improprieties under the politics section of the website.

Both the American Revolution and the infamous French Revolution were born in coffee houses. The American Revolution grew from roots planted by patriots in the Green Dragon (some say it was the Green Lion) Public House in the Lloyd's District of London.

An article posted by Project for Public Spaces on December 12, 2008 at 10:59am addresses concerns about massive investments that will focus on highways and perpetuate this system of transportation for decades to come rather than focusing on transit or even connected walkable communities. They cite David Brooks' article in the New York Times in which he expresses growing concern that the emerging national stimulus package will over-emphasize roadway widenings and further entrench us in old guard highway expansion instead of setting us on the path towards a sustainable future. See the complete article here.

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Thank You

All the businesses of Milford thank each and every one of you for taking the time in really wintery weather to show downtown and support us. We look forward to serving you in the New Year. In case you have not heard, Tula’s is having a Going Out of Business sale, we wish Sara well in all her future endeavors and will miss her on Main Street. Just hope this means we will get to see more of her at the café sipping tea!!

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January 7th

We have been chosen for a filming location for St. Joseph Hospital on January 7th starting at 7:00am until 1:00pm. We will not be able to offer our great service, but we are going to try to put coffee by the back door with muffins, scones & donation box so no one has to “suffer” without our coffee and breakfast goodies.

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New Hours

We have obtained a long term commitment from Prepaid Legal Services for lunch meetings on Monday’s so we will be closing at 11:00am on Monday’s throughout April.

Tuesday, & Wednesday we will be open from 7:00am - 3:00pm

Thursday & Friday we will be open from 7:00am - 4:00pm

Saturday we will be open from 8:00am - 3:00pm

Sunday we will be open from 9:00am - 2:00pm

We are currently hosting meetings for a non-profit organization, health seminars and a for profit home party company. We are happy to work with any organization to rent the café after hours. We are also looking for commitments from organizations or businesses for office space and/or larger meeting space as we have the opportunity to add to our existing location. If you have an organization that would like morning or lunch meetings let us know your requirements, we will need to make a decision by the end of February.

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Produce Quality Barometer

Our suppliers are saying the following –

Excellent: Onions.

Very Good: Apples, Asparagus, Avocados, Celery, Green Leaf/Variety Lettuce, Iceberg Lettuce, Romaine, Honeydew, Lemons, Mixed Berries, Oranges, & Pears.

Average: Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Grapes, Potatoes, Spring Mix, Squash & Tomatoes.

Pricing is beginning to reduce on asparagus as the supply begins to increase. Cantaloupe & Honeydew season in the states is almost over so imported product will begin to be seen. Cucumbers from Mexico are abundant. Florida’s green peppers have been consistently good quality thanks to cool and rainy weather. Michigan apples are at their lowest prices of the season with lots available

Strawberries are not having the same shelf life as typically expected to unseasonable hot temperatures and high gusting winds. They are being packaged in 1# containers versus the typical 2# and are bruising and have soft texture. Butter is dropping in price approximately $.25/pound. Guess they think we have all done our holiday baking already. Cheese block pricing is dropping by a cent or two and egg pricing is dropping by a couple of cents.

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Worst Coffee Alternatives

Starbucks Venti White Chocolate 640 calories, 23g fat (15g saturated) 76g sugar.

Starbucks Venti 2% Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha 660 calories 22g fat (14g saturated) 95g sugar.

Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5 oz can) 360 calories, 84g sugar 5% juice & 96% sugar water.

Vitamin Water has as many calories as a can or Coke.

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Upcoming Events

January 27 3:00pm
Coffee Cupping
Our roaster will be having us taste a variety of coffees from different regions.
Cost $10.00 pp
Snacks provided.