A little history...

Years ago, I was walking around my hometowns down town area and noticed a beautiful old house for sale. I immediately thought it would be the perfect spot for a coffee shop/bakery seeing as our town has no bakeries! We have your typical chain coffee shops and bagel or breakfast restaurants, but there is nothing like going to a real bakery. A place where everything is freshly made that day. A place where you walk in the door and the smell of sugary goodness takes over your brain and makes all things happy in the world. Don't tell me I'm the only one this happens to. Well, I called the realtor (this was back in 2002 before all the handy realtor websites existed) and the house was for sale for "a little over a million dollars." Seeing as how I was maybe 19 at the time and had only a few bucks to my name, I politely thanked the realtor and hung up the phone. Since then, Coffee And...has been a dream.

Last summer, I attended a cooking class at Sur La Table with my mother and a few of her girlfriends.  It was a presentation and demonstration given by the "Chief Baking Officer” for the popular Magnolia Bakery based out of New York City. (BTW, that's what I want to be when I grow up...a Chief Baking Officer).  It was such a fun class and we got to taste test some amazing cupcakes! This class was located within a block of "the house" that I had for years, thought could be my "Coffee And." Before going into this cooking class on this same day, I noticed that "the house" was once again for sale! Now that it was 2012, I had my smartphone and access to handy realtor websites. I looked up "the house" and read that it was for sale for about $500,000!!! Still a heck of a lot of money, but definitely much more doable than a little over a million dollars! I couldn't help but think that this was some twist of fate happening; telling me that I better get moving on this dream of mine or it will never happen.

In January, I wrote a list of about 11 resolutions for 2013. One of my goals or New Year’s resolutions is to start a business proposal for Coffee And...; I have started one, but thought a blog might be a great place to keep track of ideas, thoughts, and recipes.  So, here it goes.