July 1, 2009 by tina.

I’m trying! Really, really trying! I screwed it up again! The last two Wednesdays I have taken subs and salads out to the Gundersen-Lutheran clinic in Onalaska to sell to the peeps out there. They don’t have a cafeteria so local restaurants bring in selected items and sell them in their employee break room. They told me to expect about 75 people on average; summer is usually slower, Wednesday is usually a busy day, Fridays not as much. There was also a “Lunch and Learn” that first time so we also catered for the pharmeceutical rep that was presenting that day. They also told me that may cut into sales. Well, I took out 75 subs and a ton of chips and some pasta salad….and everything was gone by 12:15. Nice, right? I’m sure that was really great for the people that don’t get a lunch break until 12:30. So today, I take out 85 subs (they said that the fast approaching holiday weekend may affect attendance), three times as much salad but less chips and cookies. Again, sold out at 12:15. Now I’m really grovelling to the people that come after that. I even used the words “I suck.”

All I can hope is that the late lunch crowd is a forgiving bunch! So I promise to try even harder the next time later this month. Of course, next time is a Friday….

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June 17, 2009 by tina.

Today for lunch, Lance and the girls stopped at the Cheese Corner and brought us some yummy sammies home. I just thought that I would tell you how ridiculously scrumptious my Turkey Trio was. If you haven’t tried the Sun-Dried Tomato Basil bun yet, I would highly recommend it! (Add some cucumbers to it, too!)

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May 6, 2009 by tina.

I hope that all of you are ready for the large influx of new graduates that are hitting the streets in the next few weeks! The La Crosse store has two grads-a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Kassie and Hannah and their families! (We knew that had it in them!)

We, at both stores, are geared up and ready to make your graduation party as painless as possible. We will build your cheese trays, your wrap-etizer trays, your meat trays, your sub trays and your dessert trays! We can hook you up with yummy pasta salads, fruit salads, and cheese spreads. You can work as much or as little as you want-let us do it all, or just cut your cheese for you to build your own masterpieces. Enjoy your dual accomplishment!

Hope that it’s a great Wednesday!

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April 28, 2009 by tina.

Today we had a customer that was unaware of the fact that we sell all of our deli meats as well as make sandwiches with them. Our fantastic sandwich meats can be picked up individually. We’ll sell you one slice, three pounds, a fat slice for cubing, shaved slices for the perfect S.O.S and, as always, we’ll give you a taste before you commit.

We also had someone that needed gluten-free products. You may have read in my newsletter that I’m clueless as to what things to even look for on the ingredient labels so my solution to that is to make a nutrition binder for both store. These binders will have the ingredient labels and nutritional information for every meat, cheese, soup, salad, dip, etc., etc., etc. That way, the people that know what to look for can verify for themselves what may or may not be off limits. (And of course, we send everyone over to U-Bake because they have a whole freezer full of gluten-free products. That’s because U-Bake Rocks!)

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April 11, 2009 by tina.

Kris from U-Bake and her husband joined my husband and I at our house for a Raclette party last night and it was out of this world! The food AND the company! We ate until we almost exploded and we may have done just a little bit of laughing, which was fortunate because that burned off calories so that we could eat some more. The tray of cheeses hosted feta, bleu, sharp cheddar, swiss, pepper jack and cave aged gruyere from the Cheese Corner and some raclette cheese I picked up the last time I was at Trader Joe’s. (You may recall how I waxed poetical about them in the not-so-distant past.) (Of course, the grill itself came from the Cheese Corner also!) Then bring on the meat! We had scallops, shrimp, steak and chicken. Accompany all of that with fresh vegetables: asparagus, red, green and yellow peppers, pea pods, green beans and onions. Now keep in mind that all of these items will be covered with melty cheese from the tray o’ cheeses. It was really too delicious for words. The only negative to the evening was the potatoes. Raclette in Switzerland, where it originated, consists primarily of potatoes cooked on the grill top and then covered in the melted cheese from the dishes below. Well, not being from Switzerland, I did not know that it goes a lot better if you boil the potatoes, at least a little bit, before hand. Even though I bought the little baby red kind, potatoes don’t really cook very fast on a skillet. But, Kris, I think yours were finally done this morning!

We were so full that it was nearly torture to choke down the U-Bake Strawberry Cream Cheese Turnovers! Thanks Kris and Scott for a fabulous evening!

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April 10, 2009 by tina.

Remember when I said that I wanted to feature a few more exotic cheeses? Well, they aren’t really EXOTIC but they are new and not what you’d find in the grocery stores! We have a quarter wheel of Asiago cheese that we will cut to order. All your fantastic U-Bake pastas should now sport freshly grated, awesome, hard, Italian cheese. Then there is our full wheel of brie, which of course, we will cut to order for your Baked Brie appetizer. Next week we will also premier a Brie Bliss sandwich. It is, as it’s name suggests, bliss! And, last but not least, cave aged Gruyere. Now don’t be frightened by it’s $24 per pound price tag because it is, quite possibly, the best cheese EVAH!!! It is incredibly versatile and flavorful without being overpowering. It is great in any cooking dish, PHENOMENAL when used with your Raclette grill, and absolutely amazing on toast. (I know that last one sounds weird but it’s what they fed me for breakfast when I went to Sweden in high school!)

I am wet-my-pants excited for the Raclette party we are having with Kris and Scott from U-Bake tonight! I bet you know what kind of cheese we will have!

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April 7, 2009 by tina.

I’m so excited! We have our first fundraising group! They are a youth group raising money for their summer trip to New Orleans and they will be selling Cheese Corner pizza vouchers! The pastor said that the biggest selling point was that it’s so easy-no product to deliver-just sell customers a voucher and let them collect it from one of our stores whenever they want it. He is an incredibly nice man who is being VERY understanding about our first-timer efforts! So, to all the rest of you, in another week we will be seasoned veterans so mount up!

So much to do…!

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April 1, 2009 by tina.

You can’t forget that tomorrow is Dirty Rancher Thursday at the La Crosse store! We will be featuring fresh made coleslaw using the mix sold at U-Bake and it is out of this world! We will have samples of the slaw for everyone and you can buy just the slaw or have it added to your sandwich. Any ‘wich will do-we recommend “dirty-ing” the Rancher, but you could add slaw to whichever sandwich you like!

In other news, we are contemplating yet another rearrangement in LaX. We are always in search of a better way to do things and we really appreciate your patience with us. In an effort to be more efficient, we think we will try taking orders at the cash register and paying right away. We usually manage to confuse all our guests as well as ourselves-of course, that doesn’t always take much!

Last tidbit, I did some crew reviews tonight and I would just like to tell everyone how great these three girls are. Emily, Maddison and Alyssa are our Wednesday night closers. Each of them is sweet, adorable, smart and absolutely hilarious! Come in and meet them sometime!

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March 30, 2009 by tina.

Here’s where I apologize for hyping our great buns and not delivering. They were extremely popular and disappeared from the shelves in record time! So I promise that there will be twice as many this week! Delivery is Tuesday morning so you can get your fix after that. I’m so sorry! (But on the positive side, it’s really great that there are so many of you that read all of the garbage I send to you! You’re making me feel special!!! )

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March 25, 2009 by tina.

Last night I took one of the new Sun-dried Tomato Basil buns, put a little mayo on it, covered it with our phenomenal roast beef (shaved of course), and then a few slices of to-die-for havarti (also from our store). I broiled it on low, in our oven at home, open faced until the cheese started to brown, then I closed it up and toasted the top for a little bit and then the bottom. Whilst I was doing this I was warming, on the stovetop, some Au Jus from U-Bake. Then I headed to my very happy place! (I have a very special relationship with food.) This was the most wonderful French Dip experience I have ever had. I thought Lance was going to eat until he exploded! One of our daughters was in lip-smacking bliss (I had to scold her three times for trying to drink the Au Jus) but the other may have been switched at birth because she was asking for PB & J. Oh well, we love her despite her lack of taste buds.

So I just took care of the better part of your dinner menu for tonight! Hook yourself up with meat, cheese, and buns at the Cheese Corner, then pop down to U-Bake for Au Jus. And I’m sure, with very little effort, these two stores can come up with side dishes and dessert!

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