Winter Break & A Homeless Bloomy

As an end-of-year treat and so we wouldn’t lose our “use it or fuhgeddaboudit” PTO days, the Rhino and I decided to take the whole week between Christmas and New Year’s off of work (day job work, that is). This means that we had ten whole days where we really didn’t have to do anything except dream about Bloomy’s and the day when we wouldn’t have to live in cubicles anymore. I was super excited as you can imagine, since this meant a break from the following things:

1. Uncomfortable work clothes
2. Alarm clock
3. Hair dryer/static machine
4. Driving
5. High heels
6. Going outside

It also meant that we could sit on the couch in our pajamas and eat pie and pistachio pudding bars like tomorrow would never come. But, it did, and now we're left wondering how every single pair of pants we own managed to shrink so much in just one week. I blame the dryer.

The day before we were scheduled to return to our exciting* day jobs, we decided to put on some normal clothes, venture outside, and move Bloomy1 from Rhino’s mom’s yard to the parking lot of Chameleon Concessions. As you may remember, Mark Palm from Chameleon is the wonderbrain behind our food truck makeover, and he was just about ready to get started on transforming Bloomy1 from empty boring truck shell to slamazing diner on wheels.
*not exciting at all.

I was looking forward to visiting Bloomy1, seeing as it is the closest thing that the Rhino and I have to a pet and I had started to miss its crappy white paint job. You can imagine my terror and devastation when the Rhino went to turn it on and IT WOULDN’T START!!! I was on the verge of having a whack attack, but the Rhino’s Mom calmed me down by reminding me that it had been sitting in the cold yard for several weeks and just needed some TLC. She was right, as Moms always are, and the hand-off to Mark was a complete success. We are proud to say that our vehicle-pet is now undergoing a deep cleaning and complete transformation that we will document via pictures in this very blog.

Anyway, the next day was the dreaded end to our PTO dream holiday staycation. I had to force myself to act like a grown up instead of pitching my alarm clock through the window and throwing a small* whack attack like I wanted to. I did attempt to wake the Rhino up with my sobs, but he just rolled over and put the pillow over his head. I proceeded to drag myself to cubicle home-away-from-home where it took about two hours for my stress to reach pre-holiday levels. At least my pants fit again.
*large

So now that it’s officially 2012, it’s also officially the YEAR of BLOOMY’S (if the world doesn’t end, which would be really lame). Already during this year, the YEAR of BLOOMY’S, Rhino & I have done the following things:

1. Scheduled the pre-launch sponsor celebration event!!!
2. Started interviewing for our very important Food Truck Manager position
3. Scheduled a visit to the super huge Sysco Test Kitchen a.k.a. heaven on earth
4. Conducted an intense prayer/law of attraction session during which we begged & pleaded that our bank loan would close by February 1. The results of this session are still TBD.
5. Found out that the home we had lined up for Bloomy1 is going out of business, which left us with a great sadness in our heart and a big white homeless truck. Wonderful.
6. Transferred the title from the previous castle-dwelling owner to us regular house folk (see below for the ridiculous “I can’t believe this actually just happened” details)

So here we begin the tale of the:

Ridiculous Title Transferring Debacle
The Rhino and I were looking forward to transferring the title for Blooomy1 so we could become the official owners, and also because it’s the law. I had just gotten a fix-it-or-else-you're-gonna-get-a-ticket for not having my address changed on my license, so I really didn’t want to break the law again so soon. We decided to meet up over lunch to drive to the DMV and conduct the very easy title transfer. Remember that we have allotted one hour for this very simple and not-complex-at-all errand. Here is a synopsis of what ensued:

12:00pm

·  KJ arrives at Excelsior DMV and reads the large and prominent sign that reads “CASH OR CHECK ONLY”

·  Calls the Rhino and politely asks if he happens to have approximately $600 in cash in his wallet. He checks his wallet and says that he has about $4.

·  Rhino picks up KJ and they drive to Wayzata Anchor Bank to get a cashier’s check (government requires paper trails, which we are getting very good at leaving.). On the way, we realize:

·  We don’t know how much to get the cashier’s check for.

12:30pm

· We arrive at the Wayzata DMV and wait in line for approximately three minutes. The nice lady types out a receipt for how much the transfer will cost.

12:40pm

· Rhino & KJ arrive at the bank and get the cashier’s check.

12:50pm

· Back at the DMV, Rhino & KJ successfully complete the transfer and go to Chipotle for some burritos to celebrate.

1:30pm

·  We breathe a collective sigh of relief. That wasn’t too bad!

·  Wait for it…

·  Wait for it…

The next day:

·  Rhino realizes that we transferred the title into our individual names instead of into the business. KJ has whack attack.

·  Bank confirms that title needs to be in Bloomy’s name.

·  KJ calls DMV and learns that she needs to obtain elusive IRC code to avoid paying sales tax twice. She learns that:

· No one seems to know what an IRC code is or how to get it. A mystery solving operation begins and lasts several days.

Several days later:

· KJ goes back to DMV to expedite the original title which otherwise would have taken 3-4 months to get back. Cost: $20

3-5 days later:

· KJ gets title in the mail. She goes back to DMV and realizes Rhino hasn’t signed the title.

That night:

·   KJ watches while Rhino signs the title

The next day:

·  KJ goes back to DMV and successfully transfers the title! Yes! Except…

·   Once I get back to work, I realize that I didn’t put the bank on as a lien holder and have to break speeding laws (sorry) to get back to the DMV before they close.

· KJ doesn’t tell Rhino about this until everything is fixed. He says thank you.

So, a one hour very simple errand has turned into a three-week mega-fiasco. Good job! Apparently, 10 days of couch sitting has not only shrunk all of my pants but has also made my brain a little mushy. No biggie. I’ve started taking Ginko Biloba and am almost back to normal. Let’s hope this is not indicative of how the YEAR of BLOOMY’S will transpire.

However and without further ado, it is now time to spill the beans on our latest and greatest creative project:

The Bloomy’s National Television Project Debut:

I wasn’t going to say anything about our project as I didn’t want to ruin the surprise or jinx the Bloomy’s marketing team, but then I figured a bit of positive energy from peeps wouldn’t hurt. So, here we go.

As you know, the Bloomy’s marketing team is comprised of our awesomesauce Creative Director, Jamie D, and yours truly. As you also may know, Bloomy’s has done a pretty solid job so far of getting some interest from the press. In true ambition, we decided to go for more. More as in national. National as in national network television.

So I started thinking… how does one get the attention of a national network television show such as the Food Network or the Cooking Channel? Phone call? Even I would hang up on myself. E-mail? Easy delete. Carefully handwritten and subtly perfumed letter? Passé. That left just one cool and solidly popular medium: YouTube. Home of Justin Bieber and the Honey Badger. Bring it on.

I was nervous about making another video for a few reasons, such as:

1. The fact that video making does not agree with the Rhino or me and results in several severe dagger eye death stare matches.
3. We can’t ever remember our lines.
2. HD video makes my lips disappear and my hillbilly tooth become more prominent.
3. I had recently self-cut* my bangs slightly too short and the result was similar to what happens when a six year old discovers a pair of safety scissors.  
 *cost control

In any case, we invited Jamie D over to assist with the shoot, and she calmly fixed all of the above using relationship counseling techniques, script highlighter and interesting topic prompting questions, really bright lipstick, and wicked eye makeup (I assume to distract from the bangs). Jamie D then proceeded to whip out some sneaky Steven Spielberg moves and, before we knew it, we had over half our video recorded. We all still liked each other too.

So we’re half done with the video and hopefully will have that uploaded and ready to leave the show-deciders so wowed they will immediately want to give us a few moments of screen time. Ready… go!

That’s all I’ve got so far. I’m off to freak out about the realization I just had that we’re launching in just three short months and our food truck still looks like this:

Well, at least it will be an interesting ride. See ya next time!

Show me the Cash Money

Our story begins last week Saturday. The Rhino and I had to get up super early so we could formally purchase Bloomy1, our very first food truck! Boss! We were so excited about this fact that we went to Rhino’s company holiday party the night before, which was being held at Chino Latino in Uptown, and proceeded to have one* cocktail.
* More than one

We then meandered over to Williams, which apparently has gone from an “early 20s preppie crowd trying hard to impress all the other early 20s preppies” that I loved dearly when I was 22 (somehow, just tossing your peanut shells on the floor without getting yelled at seems both devious and delicious, like you’re breaking the fundamental rule learned when you were three that “YOU DON’T THROW YOUR TRASH ON THE FLOOR!”) to an “early 20s hipster crowd trying hard to impress all the other early 20s hipsters” that, being an almost-30 grown up, now makes me cringe and think, “look at all those deviants just throwing their peanut trash on the floor. Would you do that in your own house? I don’t think so!” In any case, we had one* more cocktail before hailing a cab back home.
* More than one

We finally made it to bed around 3:30am and fell into a blissful sleep. Less than five hours later, my alarm clock started chirping, and we had to pry ourselves out of bed and go to Ham Lake to pick up Bloomy1. We were very, very grumpy. We are not morning people. 

We had procrastinated on picking up the funds for this purchase beforehand so needed to make a bank stop to take out a rather large stack of cash. No worries though, I had it all planned out. We would go to the Eden Prairie bank, take out the large stack of cash, and get to Ham Lake by our mutually agreed-upon time of 10:30. When we got to the bank, however, we discovered that their lobby was closed on Saturdays (despite what was noted on the website). What?! Ever the optimist, I responded by saying in a loud cheerful voice “Okay! We’ll just go to the drive thru!” Once in the drive thru lane, we were made to understand that the cap on cash withdrawals was $3,000. We needed more than two times that much. I started sweating.

At the teller’s advice, we drove to the Wayzata bank location, a mere 25 minutes away. Neither of us knew where in Wayzata this bank was, even though I’d lived in Wayzata (a city of just 3.2 square miles, according to Wikipedia) for two years before I met the Rhino. We fought. However, with the help of our smart phones, we figured out where the bank was (after at least one wrong turn) and I immediately realized that I had driven or walked past this very bank over 1,000 times before. The lobby sign said “closed.”

At this point, I decided not to be optimistic anymore and started having a whack attack. I figured that I would be forced to go to the drive thru and default to my verbal judo tactics in order to negotiate my way into the large stack of cash we needed, despite the $3,000 cap.

Here’s a transcript of what ensued:

KJ: Drives up to the teller window
Teller: “How can I help you today scary lady?”
KJ: <This is the point at which I cast my verbal judo spell using what I learned during Basic Training:* large words, distraction techniques, active listening, and street truths.>
KJ: Pause for response
Teller: “Well, you can’t take out that amount of money using the drive thru window so you’ll have to come into the lobby!”
KJ: “Wait, the lobby is open?!?!”
Teller: “It sure is!”
KJ: “Um…”
*I have never taken Basic Training.

So, needless to say, my verbal judo tactics were successful and we walked into the fake-closed lobby to get our dollars. By the time we were halfway to Ham Lake, we were both staring googly eyed at the stack of cash and saying things like “Do you need some change? Oh, well let me see if I have any!” and “Ok, it’s my turn to hold it now!”.

Rhino enjoyed holding the dollars.

The guy we were buying Bloomy1 from lives in a ginormous castle with a circle driveway and stone lion statues everywhere. I like pretending that I live there. He invited us inside to his office/library/museum and we spent the remainder of the time signing paperwork and trying not to touch any of his fancy museum pieces. We sadly handed over our cash money but drove away with our very own truck!! This moment made me remember the story about letting birds (money) go free and sometimes the birds (money) will come back to you.

Anyway, we are very gratefully storing Bloomy1 at Rhino’s mom’s house until we drop it off at the makeover garage for its transformation from empty truck shell to fully operational Bloomy’s on wheels.

Rhino spent the remainder of last weekend and early week learning neat things about food, as he had to take his official Food Manager exam on Wednesday at 1pm. This exam required all of the following things:

1. $175
2. Extensive preparation and completion of numerous learning modules
3. An easy-to-use flash card system created by yours truly (#goteam or #nerd, your choice)
4.  A one hour drive to the exam station, in Mankato, which necessitated 
5. That Rhino take a PTO day

I am happy to report that the exam went without hitch and the Rhino passed with flying colors! Now he spends his days informing me of proper food storage techniques, and I practice multi-tasking by both listening to him and reading the new (and very funny) Tina Fey book. I’ve had to learn to laugh on the inside.

Last Friday brought our first meeting with Mr. Mark “Awesome” Palm from Chameleon Carts. Mark is the brains and brawn behind the Bloomy1 makeover. We got to see the inside of another food truck makeover he had done as well as a warehouse stocked with equipment as far as my eyes could see. I stared, Rhino drooled, and we both got a little giddy. With Mark’s help, we are about 1,000+ steps closer to finalizing the details of the Bloomy1 makeover. And he gave us some kettle popcorn to boot. We ate all of it. We were happy.

The ensuing week was spent putting the dozens of Kickstarter reward packages together and making the handful of last minute holiday package shippers who were waiting in line at the post office very very very angry. After three Christmas celebrations and lots of laughs and memories with our families, the Rhino and I settled gratefully into our week of vacation time away from our day jobs.

So that brings us up to the present. I am attempting to convince the Rhino to make another video (for a top secret project) but it is a tough sell considering what happened last time. He’s avoiding my sales techniques and celebrating the fact that he won the Fantasy League chalice this year. <Insert Rhino comment here: "Whatever! It's engraved!">> We never put up our Christmas tree. Well, you can’t win them all.

Happy new year from these two food truck fanatics. We’ve had an amazing 2011 and hope you have too. 2012 - bring it on!

Peace, love & roast beef,

Rhino & Katie

Verbal Judo & the Rhino Rap

First off, I have to share that I actually wrote this blog like a week and a half ago and then forgot to post it. So… oops. Anyway. Here it is although updated in the form of small rant and a picture at the end.

The Blog.

Ok, I know that this is supposed to be an educational and informative blog but can I just take a moment to say the following:

HOLY CRAP. THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!

For those of you who have followed the blog since its inception in May, you can understand how completely crazy this whole adventure has been. I mean, think about it. I remember back to that mind blowing day in May when I realized my lifelong dream of making money (after which I Googled “how to make money” and explored the extensive and very attainable list of options provided (such as “design and execute a complex con situation during which you get ridiculously injured by a rich person. Then sue them for causing you psychological issues”. See first blog for other enlightening ideas.)). Now, 6 months later, the Rhino and I have done exactly all of the following things:

1) Brainstormed a wicked business idea.
2) Wrote a 65 page business plan that took approximately over 100 hours.
3) Bought stylish, 007-like dark sunglasses for our sleuthing operation.  I lost mine immediately and had to get new ones. Then I lost those too.
4) Got almost-approval for an actual bank loan (which is a nearly impossible process right now given our awesomesauce economy. Thanks guys! Good job!).
5) Made a minor motion picture (I’d watch your back M. Night Shyamalan. Just saying.)
6) Ate approximately 17 pounds of roast beef, each.
7) Got engaged. Ahhh! This was my favorite part, obvi.
8) Met a few new foodie friends.
9) Made our HDTV debut before which we deep cleaned the house for two days straight.  
10) Bid our prized nest egg a very (very, very, very) tearful adieu. I still find myself crying for no reason and figure that I am stuck in the fourth stage of mourning. 
11) Perfected our “working relationship” so now we don’t want to strangle one another anymore (this only happened occasionally). This achievement now requires that we fight like grownups, which isn’t nearly as fun as throwing tantrums and saying things like “you’re a dummy head!” 
12) Started planning an event for over 100 people! I have never done this before and am really scared/excited/nervous/anxious/excited. Mostly excited.

Wow! Phew! I feel like I blinked 1.5 times and now we’re here. This reminds me of a special story my dad used to tell me when I was a kid: “life just gets faster as you get older, so enjoy it while you can.” Actually writing it down makes me realize that it is not a story at all and probably one of those things that everyone says (but important to note nonetheless).

In any case, I have a feeling that the next 6 months will be more exciting, more slamazing, and more life changing than the last. Bring. It. On.

Bloomy’s at the bank (again).

The Rhino and I went back to Anchor Bank last week for the “beginning of the end” mega-paperwork signing marathon during which I received a finger callous and a hand cramp and we both discovered extra closing costs that came to no surprise for anyone in the room except for us. This latter discovery prompted the Rhino to share several personal opinions that succeeded in severely pissing off the head bank lady and resulted in me verbally judoing* the Rhino in the parking lot. But, we prevailed and we’re on schedule to close next week.

* verbal judo (n): tactical communications. Involved in this are things like (as quoted from the verbal judo Basic Training description): professional intervention, peace phrases, active listening, and street truths (such as two people equals six people). The Rhino and I can't figure out if they just don't know how to do math properly or if they have some sort of awesome replication/holographic service.

** Update **
We’ve unfortunately run into yet another bank obstacle. You’d think that getting a bank loan so you could start a business to provide yummy sandwiches and economic support would be slightly less difficult than achieving the gold medal for the 400 meter hurdle event in the Olympics. But, alas, it is not and the Rhino and I are now navigating more paperwork that the bank says will take (but we hope it won’t take) another 60 days to process. You can imagine my demonic reaction to this news, but we’re brushing the dust off of our butts once again and trying not to ask them, “um, why did we not learn about this until the week before we’re supposed to close? Could we not have learned about this 3 months ago when we first started this thing?” Anyway. <Heavy sigh.> I’m going to go listen to some Boyz II Men and cry a bit. BRB. 

Bloomy’s in the news (again).
A few Thursdays ago, the Rhino and I met up with a lovely freelance writer who is doing a foodie story with the City Pages. We rolled out of bed long before the sun came out, bared the chilly 14 degree weather, and headed to a nearby coffee shop to meet with the charming Tricia Cornell.

We proceeded to chat Tricia’s ears off about Kickstarter, Bloomy’s, adventures, life in general, and deer hunting season (during which the Rhino didn’t get anything but after which he saw two trophy bucks taunting him in various ways. I saw the second one and said “look, there’s a moose!” <Insert Rhino eye roll here>).

The story – hopefully minus the moose sighting - should be out in the next few weeks.
 
**Update ** It’s out now, just yesterday! Here you go! City Pages Article

Thanks to Tricia for braving Bloomyland! We’re glad we met you before we learned about our new bank obstacle cuz we both have fury flying out of our eyeballs right now, and I’m thinking it’s a bit scary.

Social Media Update
For those of you who rely on Facebook to get Bloomy’s business and blog updates, you will now need to become an official fan of Bloomy's on Facebook as the Rhino and I are reclaiming our personal profile pages. So, if you haven’t already, “like” Bloomy's on Facebook otherwise you will lose out on all future Bloomy’s Facebook updates. And we all know how awful life would become if that happens.

Backer Reward Update
We’ve officially received all responses from our wonderful backers and have the rewards ordered and on their way! You should be receiving them just in time for the wintery holiday coming up. I know everyone will want to wear their comfy Bloomy’s apparel around the yuletide log while drinking egg nog and singing carols. I know I do.  
 
Misc. Updates
So we’ve been toiling away on our various to do lists but have also been fortunate enough to take some much needed R&R and spend time with our wonderful families. I also got to see the Rhino in full-on kiddo mode over Thanksgiving. A mode that included piggy back rides, a game of Hungry Hippos, and a spontaneous + spectacular performance of the “Holiday Conga Line Featuring Rhino and the Fantastic Five Nieces & Nephews.”  The Conga Line quickly became a source of endless, low-cost holiday entertainment for everyone involved (and fulfilled my physical exercise quota for the day, even though I only participated by sitting on the couch and clapping my hands. It’s the thought that counts, as they say.). In any case, the Rhino and I truly enjoyed our much needed time away from Bloomyland reality but are excited about the…

Next Order of Business

THE PURCHASING OF THE FOOD TRUCK!!!!

The Rhino and I MAY have some very exciting news about the food truck. We MAY have found said truck and MAY have decided to purchase it. I MAY have posted a picture below for your viewing pleasure (if you’re wondering what’s up with the weird crappy paint job that does absolutely nothing to cover up the Doritos logo, pay no mind. We’re on it.). 

The Rhino was so excited that he immediately broke into song (rap song, that is). It went a little something like this:

The Rhino Food Truck Rap

“I hope I don’t have to look no more
Cuz I been lookin’ at trucks till I hit the floor!”

That’s all he has so far. I think it’s coming along great though.

Anyway, stay tuned for some exciting news about the where, when, and how behind one of the most important pieces of this roast beef endeavor. Until next time!

Twist & Shout

Survey says that last blog’s format was a no-go, so you’re back to just Katie or just the Rhino. Too bad, so sad! We tried…

Alright, so we have a lot to talk about!

(1) Bloomy’s Kickstarter Efforts
Our project is officially closed and, after 60 days of promotion and hype and – well – pretty much begging, we’re very excited to share that not only did we make our goal, but we ended up with 56 SLAMAZING SLAMAZING backers who supported us to the tune of $10,885!!! What?! What?! Did that just happen? OMG. That just happened. You can only begin to realize how nervous we were about meeting our goal when you remember that we were still $5,635 short just 9 days ago. Yikes! But, thanks to our truly wonderful and supportive friends, family, and new Bloomy’s fans, we’ve exceeded our goal and are super incredibly psyched about the next order of business.

THE PURCHASING OF THE FOOD TRUCK!

Wait, did you think I was going to say:

THE PLANNING OF THE SPONSOR PARTY!

If you did, don’t worry. Jamie D and I are starting the planning as we speak. (I actually have not yet informed Jamie D that I need her assistance on this project but, seeing as we have been friends longer than we haven’t (nearly 15 years to be exact), I can pretty much tell you that she is going to be so excited she will immediately begin developing the most comprehensive event to-do list and may do one or all of the following things: (1) get a notebook/journal specifically for the event, (2) write down things we have already done so that she can cross them off. Adorable.). Another Bloomy’s backer and long-time Katie J pal has offered to help as well and, between the three of us, I know we can throw a killer paaartayy!

The Rhino and I also have some super fun sponsor party secrets up our sleeves for our backers and cannot wait to celebrate with those of you who have helped us get this far! Also, we will be sending around a survey this week to our sponsors so we can get you your goodies. Rhino has already started strutting around the house in his Bloomy’s tee, and I can’t wait to replace my former fave hoodie (circa 2004) with the new and improved Bloomy’s hoodie (for those who don’t know me, when I am at home – this is what I wear 80% of the time: brown velour pajama pants, a tank top, and a gray hoodie. The other 20% of the time, I wear: blue pajama pants, a tank top, and a gray hoodie). I’m sure the Rhino will be excited for my hoodie upgrade, for sure. Gotta keep things fresh, ya know? (That’s a piece of relationship advice for everyone.)

Anyway. I am also really excited about putting together the Bloomy’s Soundtrack. Now, you know that Bloomy’s is a throwback diner, so our music will consist of jamz from the 50s, 60s, and very early 70s. If you have any requests, leave a blog comment or e-mail us at eat@bloomysroastbeef.com. In order to conduct proper research, I have already started listening to Kool108 non-stop when I’m driving to and fro and, thanks to my intelligent SoundHound app, already have some fairly awesomesauce jamz on the list. However, the Rhino did have to explain to me once (as I was holding my SoundHound up to the car radio to catch the song) that “um, you know that the sound comes out of the speakers and not the actual radio right?” Right! Thankfully one of us is savvy about cars.

For those music junkies who have discovered the slamazingness that is Spotify, I’ve also started a Spotify “Bloomy’s Mix” in case you’d like to subscribe (it’s free and great!). Just a fair warning, Bloomy’s Mix may or may not cause you to break into the twist, the mashed potato, and/or the hand jive in your cubicle/car/home office.

So that brings us back around to this:

THE PURCHASING OF THE FOOD TRUCK!
We’ve received some great advice from our food trucker friend Josh (of the Smack Shack) and have subsequently learned where NOT to go to purchase Bloomy1* and where TO go to store Bloomy1 when it’s not rocking out on the road or at events. In any case, the Rhino is spending much of his days researching, sleuthing, scouring, and otherwise narrowing down our pool of food truck potentials. And, I’m no expert in this area or anything, but there seem to be quite a number of odd balls out there selling food trucks. For example, we were <this close> to partnering with a dude out in New York but were scared off by the fact that he didn’t want to take a bank check and didn’t want to provide us with anything that had his name or business name on it. So… we’ll take that as a firm tentative yes? Um, no. Moving on.

*Bloomy1 (noun): the first Bloomy’s food truck.

If you had worried about where we’d store Bloomy1, we’ve got it covered! No problemo! Due to zoning and mobile food regulations, we’re not able to store Bloomy1 at our place of residence, so we needed to find a storage facility/warehouse that would do the job. Easy, until you throw in the fact that we needed electricity and a fairly ginormous storage spot. As I mentioned above, our friend Josh (Smack Shack) tipped us off to the food truck friendly Gopher Towing, right outside of Dinkytown. My old stomping grounds! The Rhino has started conversations with our pals over there and decided that GT will be Bloomy1’s new home!

Side note: I find it very interesting that during the years of 2000 – 2003, I did absolutely everything in my power to avoid having to go to or speak to Gopher Towing in any way, shape or form. Being a U of M college student meant sometimes having to park your car in places you shouldn’t, and a trip to Gopher Towing usually meant having to scrape together lots of dollars I didn’t have in order to bail out my trusty rusty maroon 1987 Honda from the GT impound lot. Now, we’ll happily be storing Bloomy1 there. Ahh how the world turns.

So, in any case. By the end of the year, we will have Bloomy1 in hand and snuggled up in her new storage spot. Then we can begin the install of the super-duper-slamazing-slow-cook-ovens that we’ll be using to prepare our tender roast beef. But that’s Rhino territory, and I need to stay over here in Katieville where there’s event planning, apparel ordering, social networking, and media plugging to be done.

Until next time!   

Cue the DVR!

Introduction
Rhino and I wanted to shake up the blog this week, so below you will find a new blog format. K means written by Katie, and R means written by Rhino (obvi). Let us know what you think! 

 

The Purple Cole Slaw
K: A few weeks back, a new Bloomy’s friend e-mailed us to share his prized coleslaw recipe. Now, if you can recall, a few weeks back was also the time during which each of the following things happened:

1. Rhino asked for my hand in marriage
2. I was struck by a massive four-debilitating-day head cold
3. I was promoted at work (I know I don’t talk about my day job a lot, or at all, but I was promoted and alas this caused some delay with the coleslaw).

So, in any case, these fairly significant life events have challenged our ability to try new recipes in the Bloomy’s test kitchen. However, the timing actually turned out to be quite well – timely, and the first official taste tester of this coleslaw just so happened to be an Emmy award winner! (See “Hosting an Emmy Award Winner” section below).

R: Now that my Katie has given you the entire history of how we came to prepare the coleslaw recipe, I feel that it is due time to get to the point of this topic.  Dan’s recipe was wicked good.  However, during the “flair” that I truly enjoy putting on any recipe, my version turned out purple.  Wicked good, wicked purple.  Fortunately, we loved the purple results and neither of us had ever seen purple coleslaw, so we are keeping it (any correlation to the MN Vikings, Purple Pride, The Purple People Eaters,  I Bleed Purple, Purple Lovers Anonymous, or Purple Rain is completely unintentional and irrelevant to any content of this blog). Thanks Dan! Katie and I truly appreciate your contributions to Bloomy’s.

Hosting an Emmy Award Winner

R: As a result of Katie’s phone conversations with our visiting Emmy Award Winner, I was pretty excited to meet him and not so nervous about the whole being interviewed thing.  However, the immediate shock of discovering that your house is not only going to be on HD television, but that you also have to prepare sample food for HD television, was slightly more intense (by slightly, I mean immensely.) Now, in all fairness, Katie and I knew that we had an entire weekend of cleaning ahead of us as soon as we found out that we were going to be interviewed by Kare11’s Emmy Award Winning Reporter Boyd Huppert on the “Land of 10,000 Stories” last Monday.  Although we should have probably been the ones to bring it up, Boyd asked us if we would have samples available to shoot.  The answer to that question was so obvious that we were instantly making a list of necessities needed to make an accurately slamazing representation of the Bloomy’s Menu and factoring the cooking schedules into our weekend plans. 

K: So, I think the Rhino does not accurately describe how FREAKING INTENSE this whole “have a local celebrity over to your house to eat your food and tape you for tv” process is. In any case, I think that we both held it together pretty well. This is also evidenced by the fact that we didn’t fight ONE time and I didn’t have even ONE whack attack. (Apparently, we are adapting to increased levels of stress – aka two full time jobs, each.)

Getting back to the subject. When we found out that Boyd was going to head over to casa de Bloomy’s for the taping, I immediately went downstairs to dig out our industrial strength cleaning product bucket and requisite superpower cleaning gloves. Beginning Friday night and ending Monday pre-11am, the Rhino and I cleaned every square inch of Bloomyland. And I mean: Every. Square. Inch. In addition, we found time to do each of the following things:

1. Stop at the grocery (we actually had to go to two places because the roast beef at the first place wasn’t up to Rhino quality and he felt “like there was some sort of trickery involved” with the deli so we had to drive 25 minutes to find the perfect cut – which we did and it was worth it)
2. Get welcoming budget-friendly flowers (see pic below)
3. Prepare a full menu (this required my “taking one for the team” and getting up at 3:30AM to put the roast beef in the oven so it could begin its evolution to pure roast beef perfection)
4. Plate said menu, and
5. Host the Kare11 crew, make them laugh at least four times, and feed them a delish Bloomy’s lunch

Ps – I also forgot that we totally went to a super bonfire during this whole deal too! But the bonfire-hosters are our close couple friend, and we needed a mental break from Bloomyland. We met a new cool dude at this bonfire too who is now a future Bloomy’s customer. I love how the world works!

>> The Rhino and I also have to take a serious moment to sincerely thank Boyd & Jonathan for taking the time to come over, share our home, and learn more about Bloomy’s. It was an awesome experience for us, and we’ll never forget it. <<

For those of you who wish to view our TV debut “live and in action,” please tune into Boyd’s “Land of 10,000 stories” segment this Tuesday (as in TOMORROW, November 1) at 10pm on channel 11.

Ok, back to it then!

Bloomy’s Gear
K: The Rhino has been tasked with identifying the perfect Bloomy’s gear that will be given to our slamazing 26 (and counting!) Kickstarter Backers  who have helped fund Bloomy’s to the tune of $3350! 13 days to go. Can we do it? Yes we can! As fate would have it, the Rhino used to work with a guy who just so happens to do screen printing as a side business. Aric (I wanted to call him “Mr. Tee” like tee-shirt but Rhino wouldn’t let me) graciously mocked up not one but four Bloomy’s logo prototypes to select from. After review and input from our talented Creative Director, Miss Jamie D., we decided to go with a washed out vintage-style color logo for our backers and a classic washed out vintage-style black and white logo for our official sponsors. Dope! I’m currently working with Jamie D. on finalizing our t-shirt and hoodie styles but I can promise you that they will be out of this world comfy cozy.

R: Aric is truly hooking Bloomy’s up for our apparel needs, and I would be doing an injustice not to recommend him for custom screen printing and embroidery needs to anyone.  You couldn’t have wiped the sh*t-eating grin off my face with paint thinner when I saw our logo on those T’s.  I realize that some business owners put too much stake in their logo and website, but let’s face it; this is a part of our dream coming true and epic to Katie and me.  I immediately put one of the sample shirts on for the rest of the evening (partially because Katie hadn’t seen them and I was ultra-elated for her to see them when she first walked in) and proceeded to strut my way around the house like a proud father of sorts.  A TV interview and our OWN clothing in one week was quenching my thirst for Bloomy’s success.

Buying a Food Truck

R: We get a lot of questions about the Food Truck itself.  The good news is that WE have fewer questions about our “soon-to-be food truck.”  For starters, we know that Bloomy’s is raising the bar for food truck requirements.  Our desire to have a true Mobile Food Truck does not follow the traditional method of “Food Trucking.”  A lot of food trucks currently either prepare their wares ahead of time in a brick and mortar kitchen or utilize a more “freezer to customer” approach to cooking.  Since Bloomy’s makes our food from scratch and won’t have a kitchen to use, we require a unique set of full kitchen equipment on our truck.  This ended up being an ultra-awesome project for me that has also been a bittersweet brain teaser.  “To be continued,” as we have a very good idea of the who’s, where’s and how’s involved in our ongoing custom food truck design, and we are fully expecting to place an order in the first week of December.

K: I don't have anything to add to that as the food truck is a vehicle and therefore something I know absolutely nothing about. 

So, In conclusion, these have been some serious days filled with serious planning and serious cleaning. But, in spite of it all, we still find time to laugh and love - and isn’t that what life is all about anyway?

Remember to tune into Bloomy’s tomorrow night at 10pm. Kare11 baby!

Truckin’ Along

First order of business, Bloomy’s Beef Stew:
Seeing as this is a foodie blog and sometimes even a business blog, I figured I would start off by telling you about the Rhino’s latest achievement: the creation of the Bloomy’s Beef Stew!  So the Rhino has made lots and lots of stew before in his life, obvi, but he decided he wanted to take it to the next level (this is a hobby he has. This is partly why I love the Rhino. He can do tough guy things during the day like fix the broken thermostat for the defroster system in the fridge and do awesome stuff at night like create the best tasting beef stew EVER and other creative things with his er- hands).

In any case, let me share with you the story of the Bloomy’s Beef Stew.

So first the Rhino simmered some soup bones (that we got from this cow we bought last year from a farmer friend) for like ever along with some spices and bay leaves and such. Then he threw some round steaks (from that cow again) on the grill until they were almost done but let them finish cooking under this tinfoil hut he made. Then he strained the broth into a new pot and then added a bunch of potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, anything else that looked good, more spices, etc and simmered for another long time. Then he added the meat and let it go just a little bit longer. Then it was done! I’ve eaten exactly 5 bowls in the last 7 days. It is that good. Slamazing. His secret ingredient? Lot’s o’ Rhino love. Awww…..

So I had this great photo of the Rhino's beef stew that I was going to post but my smart phone is being stupid, so that will have to wait for next time. The excitement!

Second order of business, 15 second Kickstarter update:
I know, I know, I know. Give me 15 seconds and then I’ll be done. We have exactly 22 SLAMAZING sponsors who have backed Bloomy’s to the tune of $3,000! I don’t want to say again how much this means to us, but you guys ROCK! We are so excited to celebrate with ya’ll at the sponsor-only tasting event in March. The Rhino and I are also contemplating an annual celebration event just for our sponsors so we can continue to recognize you for your amazing support and also to give you an excuse to PARTY!!    

For those of you readers non-sponsors, our Kickstarter project will close in 26 days so act now or forever hold your peace.

Third order of business, Bloomy’s International:
We are pleased to announce that our blog readers are popping up all around the world! Check it out yo!

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: “Holy smokes! Why would someone in Malaysia or the UK want to read about Bloomy’s, so far away in chilly MN?” I’ll tell you why. Cuz Bloomy’s ROCKS THE GLOBE! It’s slightly better than reading Perez Hilton or MSNBC. You don’t have to quick click off it if your boss walks by because I don’t put up scandalous celeb pics (yet… ), and you also don’t leave worrying about such things as recessions, the stock market, or what Justin Bieber is going to do next with his hair (Will he grow it out again? Will he cut it? We don’t know! It’s crazy!) In any case, here’s a shout out to our international readers. We hope you have delicious roast beef where you live and, if not, what better reason to head to MN and visit Bloomy’s?

Fourth order of business, Bloomy’s Update:
On Thursday, the Rhino and I met with Sysco to discuss a potential partnership. You may know that Sysco has launched a new Sysco Natural brand that offers people like us access to local, natural products – from onions to beef to the eco friendly serving dishes we are planning to use. The part I am most excited about though is the trip to the SYSCO TEST KITCHEN! Yayyy! All my dreams are coming true! This is a fantastic little spot where we can test all of Sysco’s delicious natural products and finalize which local producers we wish to partner with. Of course, the Rhino and our food truck manager (who I will call J even though that is not his real name, it’s just a nick name that I gave him just now, but I’m not too sure who all reads this blog so you can never be too careful given all that’s happened on CraigsList). So anyway, where was I? So the Rhino and J will be the culinary experts discussing things like flavor balancing while I stuff my face and contribute with great and helpful insights like “yummy!”

Also, the Rhino and I are on the tail end of this business loan process and I can tell you that, if we didn’t have each other to vent to, we would have gone bananas a long time ago. I told the Rhino yesterday that I wouldn’t be surprised if our bank dude e-mailed us and said that, in addition to all that he now has on file - which includes everything from every single shred of personal, professional and financial information we’ve ever had to an actual blood sample from yours truly (don’t ask, I have a bruise) - he now also needs <DO NOT READ THIS NEXT BIT IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED> Rhino’s left nut <OK, YOU’RE GOOD> and he just can’t approve the loan without it. <Sigh> But hopefully that won’t happen and the Rhino can keep that area intact. Stay tuned.

Fifth order of business: Bloomy’s in the news:
If you haven’t already heard, Bloomy’s had its first bit of press the other day! The local celeb BT of the Cities 97 morning show plugged us on his website!!! And you can read about it here! Cities 97 Morning Show

AND, I received a call on Wednesday from a very slamazing individual who just so happens to be an Emmy award winning local reporter and wants to do a story on Bloomy’s Kickstarter efforts! Now, it’s still in the works so I can’t tell you guys any more details because I don’t want to jinx it, but keep your fingers crossed and you may see the Rhino & me on actual, non cable television in just a few short weeks! Hopefully I can fit in my skinny jeans by then!

Seventh order of business, random closing thought:
I’m wondering if anyone else has just started mistaking Owen Wilson for Ellen DeGeneres (see evidence below)? Apparently this has been going on for quite some time, but it has just started happening to me and it’s been cause for some confusion.

What the…?



I got this from TotallyLooksLike.com, which is a very entertaining and
somewhat educational websitefor those who have some down time.



Alright folks. We’re off to put the finishing touches on the Bloomy’s apparel and start studying for our foodie certifications. Until next time!

Post VBQ Scene - Some Stuff Goes Down

After watching the Vikings lose their 4^th straight game yesterday, I could hardly muster the proper attitude to sit down and write this week’s blog. But, alas, I got over it as do the rest of us Minnesotans, and inspiration has officially struck smack dab in the middle of eating my $5 footlong from Subway. In case you haven’t seen the commercials, it is “Anytober” at Subway which means you can get ANY footlong for just $5! No, they didn’t pay me to say this (although I did have the idea to advertise in the blog in exchange for sponsorship dollars but then I decided that would be annoying on numerous fronts). I was just excited to share the cost savings implications. I get excited these days by such things as cost savings, and I said to the Rhino – look, I can get that $5 footlong and eat half for lunch and half for dinner! Seeing as we didn’t have our Sunday cookathon yesterday due to the fact that I failed on going to the grocery, I needed a cheap Monday lunch and look what happened! A $2.50 solution c/o Subway sandwiches. Another colorful example of our cost-savings capabilities is highlighted with the fact that I came home from the grocery last time with a family size jumbo value package of… wait for it…. wait for it…… wait… for… it….. Chicken Flavored Ramen Noodles. Agh! The shame is so great my cheeks are pink just from writing it. And worse – Rhino ate these very ramen noodles for dinner last night. Aghhhh! We’ve gone too far!

Anyway. Moving on. So last week, after the VBQ episode went down and had some days to sink in, I woke up on Thursday with a freaking massive head cold. And by freaking massive, I mean extremely incredibly insanely ginormous freaking massive head cold. It was so bad I actually called in sick to work on Thursday AND Friday, which is something that has only happened once before in 29 year Katie J history. Then I promptly built a little house on the couch - complete with blankets, pillows, large quantities of tissues, remotes, and smart phone (for adding Netflix movies to the instant queue, obvi) as well as a constant flow of hot tea, orange juice and cold meds. Then I crawled in, hunkered down, and didn’t move out until Sunday night. So I was full-time busy fighting off death, blowing my nose and making little mewing sounds so everyone in range of the couch knew how awful I felt, and the Rhino was spending his time providing me with warm, yummy cold-curing rations (like his made-from-scratch chicken noodle soup complete with homemade melt-in-your-mouth dumpling style noodles and fresh garden veggies and mmm hmm, just writing this is making my mouth water like mad and my footlong doesn’t seem so great now), battling that evil cabin fever that tends to arise when one goes too many hours without fresh air or natural light and trying not to barf from my constant nose blowing. PS - this story is also a.k.a. the reason why we didn’t make any cole slaw like I promised we would and under delivered, seeing as we didn’t.

On Sunday, I finally felt well enough to remove myself from the couch, venture outside and take a walk from the house to the end of the garage. Then I got really tired and just sat there gulping in natural light and non-tainted-by-sickness air flow as the sunshine burned my retinas. After that, I was pretty much on the mend.

The Commencement of the Nasty Terror Dreams
After I started feeling better, I was looking forward to some nice, non-interrupted-by-sickness sleep. I’m fairly sure that the Rhino was also looking forward to not waking up from getting coughed or nose-dripped on. So we went to bed on Sunday and both the Rhino and I began what ended up being a multi-night marathon of nasty terror dreams.

The Rhino’s terror dreams included the following:
- demonic cats, claws (including claws embedded in skin), sharp teeth, fish, hooks, and scary black figure spirits that needed chasing

My terror dreams included:
- super-cute and fluffy evil birds, claws that sliced my skin apart, razor sharp bird beaks that could only be removed from my body if I yanked the bird off and my flesh in the process, and weird empty houses with scary too-low lighting.

By Thursday, we were both incredibly beat-down and fed up with this plague that had obviously drifted its way into our house and dreams, and we convened in the Bloomy’s test kitchen to decide what to do. After much deliberation and intelligent discussions, we decided the best course of action was to conduct a very serious smudging ceremony.

The Bloomy’s Household Very Serious Smudging Ceremony
For those who don’t know, smudging ceremonies are used to clear out negative vibes and other weird things like monsters and dream demons that can apparently find their way into people’s homes. It appears that we have watched a very scary movie called Insidious and have opened our home to ugly dream spirits as a result (if you haven’t seen this movie, it is by far the scariest movie in the world. The Rhino, who is a bigger-than-normal fan of scary movies, got so scared he had goose bumps. I, who am a not-at-all fan of scary movies, got so scared that I nearly barfed into the Rhino’s lap, twice).

In any case, we decided to do a serious smudging ceremony to clear out the negative vibes from watching Insidious and restore our home to its usual positive self. This ceremony basically included us walking around the house and saying such powerful statements as: “ONLY GOOD THINGS ARE WELCOME HERE!” and other things as suggested on the Internet while waving around sticks of burning sage from our back yard sage bush. The weirdest part about it is that both of us were very serious about this and didn’t laugh or smile one time. Also, placebo effect or no, the Rhino & I have been blissfully terror-dream free since the ceremony took place. I did, however, mistake the downstairs steam machine for an evil spirit figure last night as I was preparing to steam my Monday workday dress. But it ended up just being the steam machine, obvi.

Bloomy’s Regular Update
Now on to the real purpose for the blog. The Bloomy’s update!
Our friends over at Anchor Bank are working diligently on putting the final touches on our business loan application, and the Rhino and I are also working diligently on putting every penny into our penny jar so we can fulfill our end of the financial bargaining. We’re about T-60 days from getting the loan, after which we will be moments away from purchasing the food truck and starting the really fun process of installing equipment (including the dream machine double decker ultra-dope Bloomy’s super slow roasting oven) and getting all of our permits. Yay in advance. Not. We are also <this close> to uploading pictures of the stylish apparel that our sponsors will soon be wearing and that we hope will soon be profiled in the 2012 fall fashion lineup and will also appear in Glamour or some such magazine.

Bloomy’s Sponsorship Update

We’re excited to share that we’ve had 14 wonderful backers pledge $2,115 toward the launch! This means we’ve successfully reached 21% of our sponsorship goal and have just $7,885 left to go! However, we have just 41 days left to raise the remaining funds. If we are successful, we’re having an exclusive sponsor-only pre-launch tasting event in March to celebrate our sponsors and all the support you’ve provided. If we’re not successful, well … let’s not think about that quite yet as it will mean several horrible things including another whack attack from yours truly. For those readers-non-sponsors, we continue to ask for your sponsorship support. We are so close to making Bloomy’s a true Twin Cities staple and are excited to build a community of supporters without whom this beefy dream would not be possible.

Learn more about sponsoring by visiting our Kickstarter page and selecting the reward you want to receive!

Go Vikes! - er... um... <cough> I mean MN Lynx?

xo,

Katie J

PS - to anyone who received an odd scandalous link from my hotmail account, that wasn't me - it was a hacker. Sorry about that. Thankfully no one was in my contact list except everyone I know and ex boyfriends.