McHuston Booksellers

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Tag: Books and Bistro (Page 47 of 92)

White Linen Night and I was in Cotton.

August 18, 2014 /

High Cotton, and white linen undies.

You don’t really believe that, do you?

The white linen is under the belt. Sauntering the streets in August, Rose District style. We certainly had the warm evening for wearing linen, even if there were a lot of cotton tees on display. Comfort, first of all.

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It was a night for the extended McHuston clan to gather, from Great-grandmother to that happiest grand-daughter o’ mine – and everyone in between. Thanks to daughter Kristen and son Dustin for manning the lines, both on the sidewalk and in the kitchen.

The new beer dispenser got its first real workout and came through with flying colors. Boulevard Wheat on draft. It’s a tasty brew even when it isn’t a hot August night. Which it was.

For the first go-round, White Linen Night in the Rose District will be recorded as a success for McHuston Booksellers & Irish Bistro. Sampled some Bangers & Mash in an unorthodox fashion – on a whitebread roll. Sliced the bread, laid in the sausage link all hot dog fashion, then topped it with creamy, handmade mashed potatoes and a little of our special Irish Stew gravy. Maybe a tad messy, but delicious! A thanks to Rachel for the idea and to all who tried one Saturday evening.

After seeing the photograph that the Tulsa World selected to showcase our little operation, I am reassured that the decision to have Kristen at the cash register was a good one. I’d have rather had her picture on the TW website, but I’ll settle for the brother and sister image I’ve attached.

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Next year, we might make some posters. Maybe a few handbills to pass out in the shopping bags. Try to get an article or two in the news, before the event. (I know there were some, because I read a couple. But a couple more might have helped attendance.) As with any new project, there is a learning curve.

But – truth to tell, it was a success for us.

Anytime we can get together as a family and meet new friends wandering the Rose District – it’s a hit. Cotton, Linen, or Commando.

Here’s to bigger and better next year!

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

White Linen Night.

August 14, 2014 /

Signs went up this morning. Main Street will be closed to traffic Saturday evening so we can waltz through the Rose District looking over artwork, crafts, food offerings, and beverages. White Linen Night.

You are invited to attend, regardless of whether you don your white linen wardrobe.

Our neighbors Greg (at Southern Magnolia) and Alisa (at Your Design) are the driving forces behind the Rose District’s 1st annual ‘White Linen Night.’

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If you’ve lived in New Orleans or Houston you may have experienced the festival’s origins, a summertime fashion funfest that mixes arts, shops, vendors, and musicians. Ours won’t be a tuxedo-event, so you needn’t worry about the high-fashion aspect so much as the simply-fun venture Saturday evening.

Along the sidewalks you’ll find local artists and their latest original creations. Between the curbs, you’ll encounter food trucks offering tasty and unique creations. And, of course, there will be music. Local, live musicians. (All the dead, zombie musicians were previously engaged.)

In front of the bookshop you’ll have a chance to taste our Bangers & Mash – at least, the street festival version. Instead of mashed potatoes and stew gravy, we’ll be serving up the spicy link sausages on a bun, proving that old Irish adage, “A banger in hand is worth two in the bushes.” Particularly when available with draft-style Boulevard Wheat.

You can see this afternoon’s project in the image – a little flyer to describe to folks what our menu item is. I’ve discovered that not everyone is familiar with Bangers and Mash. Of course, mash is just short for mashed potatoes. Bangers are sausage links. Why are they called bangers? I’m glad you asked.

During the wartime shortages, Europeans mixed a little cereal with the sausage meat to make a small portion into something a little more. Unfortunately, those cereal-extended sausages didn’t fry up in the skillet quite the same as they had in the past. In fact, the popping and banging noises were almost enough to set off the air-raid sirens, and those sausages came to be called Bangers.

We’ve kept the name but left out the infused cereal content. Just delicious hot links over mashed potatoes and covered in brown gravy and stew vegetables. That’s our twist on an old favorite. You can try it Saturday with the banger nestled in a bun, ballpark style.

It ought to be some fun.

Look for us Saturday. Ought to be easy to spot us. We’ll be in white.

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

Old dogs. New tricks.

August 11, 2014 /

There is so much to learn, and we only have one lifetime in which to master it all. At my stage of the game, I’m picking my lessons. Some are more entertaining than others. Today’s learning-project involved beer kegs.

Luckily, I have some life-experts that I can count on for advice. I’ve learned the hard way that I’d rather not learn things the hard way. Ronnie let me know that I could disconnect a full keg without it exploding. That’s important knowledge.

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When a keg ran out in the old days, someone would poke their head in the kitchen and call out that this keg or that keg had blown. I would dash into the walk-in refrigerator and start rocking kegs until I found an empty. Then, there is the little handle. Pop that up, then do the twist-on, twist-off thingy. Remove the valve from one and replace it on another with the same label.

And that was the extent of my knowledge. My partner kept track of that stuff. I had enough work to keep me busy in the kitchen.

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These days, when the handle is pulled and beer doesn’t come streaming out of the spout, I’m the one who has to figure it out. I’ve learned that the CO2 container is important. When the needle points to the red area on the gauge, that’s not good. When a newly-filled container is attached to the line and still the beer isn’t pouring, that’s even worse.

I’ve always thought that – where beer is concerned – the frostier, the better. When I saw the thermometer at 29-degrees, I could not have been happier, knowing that the refrigerator was doing its job so well. The machine believes it’s a freezer. Turns out, when it gets too cold, beer freezes.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

The beer was so cold that it froze inside the small line leading to the spout. (It’s still difficult to get mad at anyone or anything for doing a job so well…) It was easy enough to open the door long enough for the line to thaw and then turn the thermostat a notch.

From the internet I learned that beer served from a keg ought to be chilled to 38-degrees. That’s still pretty frosty. Just not freezing-up-frosty.

So, that’s the lesson for today. None of the Boulevard Wheat went out at lunchtime. The line was frozen solid. But tomorrow is another day, and beer & corned beef on rye is a pretty good combination.

Or so I’m told.

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

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