Oktoberfest Downtown Douglas

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Being one of the most famous events held in Germany, Oktoberfest festival is held each year in Munich, Bavaria AND Douglas, Michigan.

We host our event Downtown Douglas starting and ending the first weekend in October with close to a thousand people attending.
Modeled off the Munich event Oktoberfest is an important part of Douglas, it originally raised funds for Dutcher Lodge which soon became City Hall and for the past three years it has raised funds for Douglas.
The festival held in Beery Field, located Downtown Douglas has benefited from replacement of playground equipment, bleachers, landscape and installation of a sprinkler system. The 2010 Oktoberfest raised funds for the replacement of the backstop fencing as well as grassing in the infield and resurfacing the bleachers.

Visitors ate huge amounts of traditional hearty fare such as Chicken served by Saugatuck Brewing Company, Pork Ribs by the Knights of Colombus, Bratwürsth by Christo’s, fruit pies, and desserts by Earl’s Farm along with Potato Soup, Chocolate Covered Brezn (Pretzel), and cupcakes served by Respite Cappuccino Court.

Events for kids were pumpkin painting, sack race, and bubble blowing contest. Adults enjoyed a Keg toss and a stein holding competition. There were two German Nationals that joined together in harmony to sign the German anthem while four people matched it with the US National Anthem. It was so much fun and everyone had a smile on their face.

Make sure that you put this event on your calendar for next year.

Busy Busy Week

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In the time between our first catering event for the Shedd Aquarium leadership retreat (2007–2010) Respite Cappuccino Court has produced some of the most demanding, experimental, and enigmatic catering works of their career—food that has been cultural with rigorously descriptive detail, pyramids of desserts geometric and sharply composed, and dominated by shades of white and dark chocolate. Works from this period have been heartfelt and hands-on and typically unrelated to one another, as an aberration within the catering development, or as response to Cafe demands move us beyond the surface to examine the physical production and the essential context of Respite’s Catering, and it shows!
Through this shift of focus we have kicked our catering up another notch with the creation of the Rushin’, the Sweet n’ Sassy, and the Adult Grilled Cheese the Respite/Shedd exhibition revealed deep successful connection of teamwork in menu development and demonstrates the critical role of tailoring menu’s around clients needs. “We have built a great partnership with our Chicago friends and launched dynamic catering menus,” Waddell herself acknowledged this event as among her most “pivotal.” The importance of this moment resides not only in the formal qualities of the menu but also in the physical nature the pictures display. The exhibition includes approximately 9 specialty sandwiches, three quiches, fabulous sweet rolls, muffins, salads, and desserts, primarily from the 2010 catering menu. This year’s exhibition was available for the leadership team from Shedd Aquarium and located for the first time at The Old School House from September 28 through September 30, 2010.
Based off of the workshop, I would suggest a visit this Holiday Season to see Chicago’s number one cultural attraction, The Shedd Aquarium. First, begin with a visit to www.sheddaquarium.org to see what is available and to check out their quality website. Enjoy a day at the museum or become a member for immediate entry plus a year of exhibitions, educational programs, and more. Ted Beattie wants for his guests to “Make Shedd the friendliest place in town!” and that must be why he chose the “Village of Friendliness” to host this event!________________________________________
The exhibition was organized by Jacqueline Waddell, Event Coordinator Renee Waddell on Menu Creation and Food Creation, of Respite Cappuccino Court, Douglas, MI.

The exhibition is co-organized by Shedd Aquarium, Chicago and The Old School House.

A romantic tribute to Respite Coffee!

It is my philosophy that wrapping quality food around Great Coffee reveals dramatic arts much like a choreographed dance and music production transforming into Fine Art. I will touch on gastronomy which is the study of the relationship between culture and food (English Dictionary) a Greek word meaning “stomach” knowledge” or “stomach law”. This study does not simply refer to the art of cooking, but studies various cultural components with food as its center so it is better stated as Fine Arts of the digestive system. Merge that together with a coffee tasting and it equals a romantic tribute to Respite Coffee!

The first formal Coffee Tasting in Douglas is happening at Respite today September 11, 2010 with a touch of gastronomy. As opposed to simply sipping on a single origin coffee, we offer you the opportunity to study the relationship between the senses and food pairing as you would food and wine at Le Cordon Bleu in New York. Okay, on a more subtle cuisine and in a more charming setting. Your Cupping episode will allow you to taste coffee first by aroma and then by flavor side by side introducing our Fall Line of Flavored Coffee: Smores, German Chocolate Cake, Coffee Cake, and Harvest Spice served up with fashionable smores, german chocolate cupcakes, caramel apple coffee cake, and pumpkin frosted cinnamon rolls.

Respite always chooses light roasted coffee or “first crack”, this allows our suppliers to fully evaluate the coffee for defects before our consumers taste the sweetness and aroma that are burned off at darker roasts.To prepare for this event Respite carefully chose Fall Coffee’s and paired them with sensational desserts. At the Coffee tasting session, the table was set up with 4 cups of coffee and studied for coffee aroma, fragrance, and flavor. After this time, coffee is based on appearance.

Before brewing, the smell of coffee grounds is referred to as the fragrance while the smell of brewing the coffee is refered to aroma. If you put your nose directly over the cup and push the coffee down this creates the most potent burst of aroma you will have during enjoying your cup of coffee.

After the coffee has cooled sufficiently take some coffee into your mouth aspirating it over the entire tongue creating a full rainbow of flavors which will immediately become evident. Observe how the coffee tastes, its acidity, aftertaste, and body. Now bite into your paired dessert and compare the difference. As the coffee cools, it is often possible to detect new flavors. Therefore, it is important to cup a coffee when it is both warm and when it has cooled to just above room temperature. The best coffees will have positive characteristics at both ranges of temperature and that my friends is a romantic tribute to Respite coffee.

Were All in this Together

The shop is located in Downtown Douglas, Michigan. The video was based upon creators, Alex Martin, Heather Leach and Sam Mirto’s version of Respite, filmed in entirety like the TV series “The Office”. The staff and the community provided many life experiences which aided in this film.

The Respite, consisting of Sam Phillippe and Renee Waddell, their seven employees, provide the shop’s story as seen primarily through the eyes of Samuel Kingsly Mirto, one of the longest employee’s, who serves as narrator. Occasional strangers needing temporary respite for various reasons periodically stay with the hospitable Respite family. In the signature scene that closes every Friday and Saturday night episode, the shop is taken over in song, “Good Night Irene”. Through voice-overs, Samuel Kingsly Mirto has a brief conversation, related to the “Respite Family” as they bid each other good-night.

Lisa challenged us to listen to what the sand says, this is what we heard…..

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With the last days of summer upon us, we experienced creamy lattes at the Douglas Beach, returning with a digital photo album full of rolling waves and a colorful sunset. And thanks to William, the souvenirs also include a new genre of family photos – a dozen or so snapshots of a vacation we experienced together on the sandy beach only a mile plus from respite cappuccino court.

            As we settled down together silently sharing hot creamy lattes, we dug our toes into the cool sand, and that’s where we listened. The sun took center stage as the waves unfolded before us in an orchestrated introduction to four year old William as he approached the water. Dancing among the orchestra of cool rolling waves in Lake Michigan he soon commanded the behavior of the Lake, a twirl sent a swirl around a sizeable rock, a gaze into the sunset achieved a speed boat skimming parallel to the horizon, and a few splashes later presented a boogie boarder across the shoreline.

We took in the locals and vacationers who became extras wondering if they were aware of their surroundings or was it an accident that fashion set the tone from Robin and Sharon Bauer who mimicked the warm colors of the sunset and our St. Louis summertime neighbors who introduced the casualness of our Harbor Town. The sand directed us all to applaud as the sun took its final bow and left center stage, and so the performance ended.

Sharing these photos, we hope you discover that we like inviting you to share how we experience respite “off site”. We experience respite by sharing an hour or so at the beach sipping on hot creamy lattes, allowing for conversations with family, friends, and some second homeowners. We find respite by connecting with others.

            It’s a different venue for us, but one I know you’ll enjoy, along with the photos of our memories and personal collection. The fact of the matter is that (%) of our coffee sales are to go, everyday simple ways of celebrating the experience of respite with Fresh-Ground Organic, Fairly-Traded Coffee and you are on your way to experience your own respite...where is your destination?

Share the Sand In honor of listening to the sand, we’re holding a just-for-fun contest. (Well, for fun and $50.) Take your favorite photo of a quieting moment from our beaches, include a respite menu item, and enter our “Sand Says“ contest by posting them on our Facebook page. The photo that receives the most “likes” will receive a $50.00 gift certificate. Deadline: October 5, 2010.