July 25, 2024

Hi folks!

I know, it’s been too long. And several of you have made me aware of that!  So, first, I apologize. I will try to be more timely.  I could say that we have been busy, and it would be truthful. But, we started pushing the boundaries of what we can do.  We are not the spring chickens that we all wish we could be. Our bodies got tired, and tempers started to fray.  We took a few days just to recover and recalibrate. We enjoy this food truck. So, before we start to hate it, every now and then we need to take time to take a break and breathe. 

Independence week was certainly festive. On July 3 (Wednesday) we opened downtown, then went out to Bridgewater’s Generation Park where the town had a free concert followed by fireworks! It was a lot of fun!  We sold a lot of food there, even with three other food trucks attending as well. 

We sold so much, we couldn’t even open July 4th.  Instead, we prepped all day.  That night, we went to a friend’s house who put on a good ten-minute professional fireworks show!  Friday, the 5th, we were downtown for First Fridays, an event put on by the Arts Council of the Valley. From 5-7 pm on the first Friday of each month, various venues around town show off a variety of art works. Leigh Anne is the current President of the Shenandoah Valley Quilters Guild which is having a quilt show in September.  As a fundraiser for the guild, they have a raffle quilt that the guild worked on together.  She displayed the quilt and sold raffle tickets that evening. Take a look at the temperature…

Saturday, we spent the day at Brothers Craft Brewing enjoying some new beers, music, and selling food at their independence celebration!

I had two interviews with people about upcoming events.  The first one is Cave Comedy Fest!  This is the third year of this event that goes on at Melrose Caverns.  They will have local to national comedians performing in the caverns!  (hint hint…it’s a lot cooler in the cave.)

Get your tickets soon for this because they have told me that they are selling quickly!

Then I did an interview to promote the annual Food Truck Fest put on by Open Doors.  That will be at the Rockingham County Fair Grounds on September 21st.  This is a big fundraiser for them.  Open Doors is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the homeless in our community.  Please plan to come out and support them and have a wonderful variety of food trucks with great cuisines to choose from on that date.  More on that as we get closer to that date.

Rewards cards are everywhere. Everyone wants to provide you with an incentive to come back. We all have at least a couple in our wallets. Some get frightfully complicated giving you points for dollars spent, but you have to use those points in a certain amount of time…good Lord…  Well, we decided its past time we got something useful going.  We are going to keep it simple and direct. And those more frequent visitors will certainly like it. AND, there is no expiration. Come back next year when you are in town again, we’ll still honor it.

Hopefully you can read it.  It looks lousy on this computer.  But, it’s a business size card.  Each time you come by and spend increments of $10, you will get a punch for each $10 spent. When you get 10 punches, you get $10 off your next purchase!  Simple, to the point.  And once I get a little more ink for my printer, I will put some on the food truck for those who would like them! 

Ok. Here comes the interactive part of this newsletter.  Let’s talk about the menu.

As you are aware, we have gone through a lot of changes and challenges over the past year. We changed the menu every week. We have changed our hours. We tried breakfast and even dinner. Of course, the biggest challenge is changing the menu each week. We are foodies, so developing a menu is not that big a deal. Of course, buying and prepping a new menu each week can be hard. And, though most of you are also foodies who enjoy a variety of different foods, we are considering starting a seasonal menu…along with some weekly ‘chef specials.’

So, we are starting with some favorites. Our Jambalaya, pulled pork sliders, and chicken satays have been great sellers for us. So, we are going to bring them all back. We do have some other things we are going to put out this week. However, I would invite you to send me YOUR FAVORITES that we may consider them for a seasonal menu. Come fall or winter, we will come up with a new core menu…complete with weekly ‘chef specials.’ Meanwhile, simply hit ‘reply’ to this email with your personal favorites and it will come to my personal email box.

So previously I talked about tipping. And wow has that become a really hot topic across the internet. I belong to a bunch of food truck and restaurant groups online and it seems to be a remarkably contentious topic, almost as divisive as politics nowadays. As such, we made a decision. When people pay with a credit card, we no longer ask if they would like to leave a tip. We don’t even present the option. This way, we don’t put people in an awkward position of feeling that they need to, or that they should. Tipping should never be guilt driven.

Have we taken a pay cut from this decision? Absolutely. Was it the right decision? Absolutely. We want everyone to feel comfortable. We have kept a little jar out front in case someone wants to leave a dollar or two, and some do. But, avoiding that awkward moment of giving people the option to put in a credit card tip has increased speed of service, and has helped the folks that help us out on the truck feel more comfortable working the cashier position.

This week we are serving…

July 24-27,  2024

¨ Chicken Satay                                           $9

       Marinated Chicken Breast Strips, Skewered and

       Baked, Drizzled With Peanut Sauce

¨ Jambalaya                                                $12

      Shrimp & Smoked Turkey Sausage and Orzo

¨ Jalapeno Poppers                                      $8

      Jalapenos Stuffed With Pimento Cheese

      Wrapped In Bacon

¨ Bang-Bang Shrimp Pasta Salad                     $12

      Pasta, Edamame, Red Pepper

¨ Pork Sliders                                             $14

      Tomato Chutney, Napa Cabbage Slaw

¨ Soft Pretzel Sticks                                      $6

      German Mustard Dipping Sauce

¨ Fried Potato Ribbons                                  $6

      Chipotle Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

¨ Key Lime Tarts                                            $5

On Saturday, we will also be adding a Cave Mouth Burger while we are at the Cave Comedy!

Today’s culinary tip is this: use what’s local and seasonal.  Everyone should be knee deep in tomatoes right now. We have some raised beds in back of our house that are overflowing with delicious produce, especially tomatoes. We are NOT farmers. We have neglected these gardens practically from the day we planted them. I might toss a little water on them after ten days above 95 degrees without any rain. Otherwise, nothing. So, for those of you who actually take gardening far more seriously, you have a lot right now. We have made tomato pie, tomato chutney, Jambalaya (because it uses tomatoes), sliced tomatoes on sandwiches, tomatoes on skewers, and even the humble tomato sandwich. And, I am not even going to talk about the zucchini that I swear were pencils one day and footballs the next…zucchini fritters, zucchini bread, zucchini in salads, etc. etc.

It is all delicious because it is what is grown this time of year. It is local, it came from dirt we know. Do you ever scratch your head in January when it is 12 degrees, you are bundled in scarves and boots, trudging through the snow into a grocery store to buy tomatoes, or zucchini? You look at the sticker on it where it says “Product of…?”  We should all do better at trying to buy more locally. I am no saint in this area, but we are trying. We try to get as much local produce as we can. Local proteins tend to be a bit out of our price range, but we keep looking.

Ok. Leigh Anne (my wife) has declared this to be a novel…meaning WAY too long. And, I have gotten similar comments in the past. So, I will end it here saying that I will try to get back on track with a weekly newsletter with fewer things to say. As always, thank you for your support…and your patience.

Johnnymac