Thank you, coffee.

Breakfast Day 4: After a late night of serving 30 people a 5 course meal, day 4 absolutely needed to start with coffee. Unfortunately, coffee is not a crop that grows well in Cincinnati, Ohio. So it is one of my exotic items.

But I still want my exotics to be as local as possible, so I went with beans from a local roaster who does relational sourcing. They work directly with the farmers to ensure a fair wage in exchange for the coffee. It makes the coffee taste just a little better, too.

It pairs nicely with some Snowville Creamery milk. I’ve been trying to kick my sugar habit, but if I need a little sweetness I use some of Kartal’s Honey. A hand-painted mug with my son’s footprint on it makes coffee even better, too.

Despite being zonked from the day before, the husband and I still had some entertaining to do. So breakfast wasn’t for the 3 of us, it was for the 7 of us! We put guests to work flipping french toast and serving coffee.

A local baker originally from Germany from our cinnamon bread. He doesn’t use local flour because he can’t get his hands on any! I hadn’t planned on using bread with non-local flour, but then I found out we were having breakfast guests, and I couldn’t access any more of my Blue Oven Bakery bread in time.

Lunch Day 4: Still tired from the previous day, I kept lunch simple. The soup is simply the leftover roasted vegetables from the day before, pureed with some milk and water. Pair that with some apples and cheese, and I’m all set!

Dinner Day 4: At this point, the house guests had left, the baby was passed out in his crib, and the husband and I were melted into the couches watching Zoo on Netflix. We each heated up some leftovers — spaghetti squash for me, and a grilled (local!) hamburger for the husband.

Vendors I bought from and where I found them: