Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Eat local in support of local theater this Saturday

Wondering how to spend your Saturday morning?  We present a clever idea: gather a few favorite friends for a meet-up or wake your family for some quality time and enjoy a Yellow Door brunch experience.

* Tasty dishes crafted with the freshest local ingredients
* Casual, hip atmosphere at Chelsea Alehouse
* Guaranteed good times
* Feel-good fundraiser for Chelsea High School Theater Boosters


Yellow Door 'farm to fork' brunch
November 8, 2104
8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Chelsea Alehouse

$15 per plate donation suggestion

{Breakfast menu coming soon... it will be flavorful and seasonally fresh.)




Chef Todd of Wesley's Catering will be in the (ale)house dishing up breakfast dishes.  Learn about Todd here: wesleyscatering.com/about-the-chef/

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Discovery Center boardwalk update

Moose and I took a walk on the wild side this morning to check out the progress of the new boardwalks at the Discovery Center in Chelsea. Looking good from our vantage. We're excited to see work is underway and are eager to walk the full Bog Trail soon.

Last year, Yellow Doorers helped raise a lot of money to aid the Discovery Center with the new boardwalks. No need to wait, though, as there are plenty of trails to enjoy. 

 
Spring has sprung! Go see the dainty Trilliums.

Chelsea Farmers Market - this Saturday

Our recent Yellow Door gathering at Smokehouse 52 BBQ helped raise $2,800 for Chelsea Farmers Market. The market will use the funds to promote the featured farmers and artisans, as well as plan special events. The market opens for the season on Saturday, May 3. Find the market in the Palmer lot on the west side of Main Street.


Look for asparagus, greens, hummus, baguettes, greens, meats, cheeses, maple syrup, locally roasted coffee and other delicious fare. See you there!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

April 26 YD Menu: Cajun French Toast & Smokehouse Scramble

This Saturday, April 26, dine at Smokehouse 52 BBQ from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to support the Chelsea Farmers Market. (The market opens May 3 - yippee!)

Your brunch donation of $15 (or more) goes directly to help bring regional farmers and artisans to Chelsea every Saturday between May and October.

Saturday's menu:

(1) Pain Perdu - Cajun French Toast - not spicy, just southern-style

Served with: Homemade whipped cream and Michigan maple syrup
Plus: A side of Vernors-glazed sliced ham and Michigan cherry spinach salad with smoked Bleu cheese and house-made apple cider vinaigrette

(2) Smokehouse Scramble or Smokehouse Veggie Scramble

Made with: eggs, potatoes, Manchego cheese and ham or veggie sausage

Plus: Michigan cherry spinach salad with smoked Bleu cheese and house-made apple cider vinaigrette


Beverages: Coffee by Fresh and Calder Milk


Featuring ingredients from the following Chelsea Farmers Market vendors:

Fresh, Zatkovich Pastures / Tantre Farm / Goetz Farm / Mama Mofoods / La Baguette, Greystone Creamery / Ruhlig's Produce / Kelly Farms / Golden Fleece Farm / Kapnick Orchards


LIVE music by Swizzlestick with special guest Joe Uzarski


A BIG thank you to our event sponsors:


Stephanie and Larry Doll / Pat and Sandy Merkel / Chelsea Community Kitchen / Vendors of the Chelsea Farmers Market / Phil and Jen Tolliver of Smokehouse 52 BBQ / Chef Warren and Gabe of Smokehouse 52 BBQ


 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Next Yellow Door: April 26

Mother Nature's antics can't stop the inevitable: Chelsea Farmers Market opens next month.

The market managers and the farmers and purveyors who tend the market -- and who will bring us hoop-and-greenhouse greens, carrots, radishes, rhubarb and other early season veggies over the next month or two -- can use assistance in underwriting costs to promote the market.

Celebrate spring and all its finery with a freshly sourced Yellow Door breakfast featuring the produce and meats of the market's participants.  



April 26, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Smokehouse 52 BBQ 
125 S. Main Street, Chelsea

* Menu coming soon
* $15 suggested minimum donation

* Bring a friend or two or the entire family

 

Thank you to our sponsors:

Stephanie and Larry Doll
Chelsea Community Kitchen
Chelsea Farmers Market vendors

*Email Janice or Jane if interested in sponsoring this event.

Thank you to our hosts:

Phil and Jen Tolliver of Smokehouse 52 BBQ
Chef Warren

Monday, February 24, 2014

Yellow Door at Chelsea Alehouse Tonight, 5 to 7 p.m.

Please join us for yummy soup at the Chelsea Alehouse between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Your $15 dinner donation will go directly to aid the Caselli family. (Read all the details -- menu, supporters and more -- in previous posting.)

See you tonight @ 420 North Main Street, Chelsea!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

February 24 Yellow Door to aid local family

Please join us at Chelsea Alehouse on February 24 between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to eat and raise money to aid the Caselli family.  Unexpectedly, Tony Caselli is enduring a long-term hospital stay.  This special dinner will help the Caselli family with Tony's care and recovery.

As always, the community has rallied with the assistance of local purveyors and farms to present a scrumptious "soup's on" dinner.

Choose a soup crafted by Zou Zou's Café using Tantre Farm veggies and Ernst Farm pork sausage:

Vegetarian Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup 

- or - Potato, Kale, Sausage Soup

plus:Tantre Farm Watermelon Radish Slaw


&



Assorted Zingerman's Bakehouse Bread



A minimum donation of $15 per dinner is suggested. Checks will be accepted. Please make them out to: Jeanne Caselli. Yellow Door will deliver all funds directly to Jeanne. (Please note the Caselli family may not be in attendance.)


*Thank you to Chelsea Alehouse for donating their space and for hosting the dinner. The alehouse is located at: 420 N. Main, Ste. 100, Chelsea, in the clock tower complex.

*Thank you to Zou Zou's Café for soup preparation and to Tantre Farm for slaw preparation.
*Thank you Zingerman's Bakehouse for donating the bread.




Thursday, January 2, 2014

Community Rallies to Raise $5,000 for Chelsea's At-Risk Kids

"It's like Cheers," said Misha, as she finished her Yellow Door meal on New Year's Eve.  "Where everyone knows your name," was my instinctive comeback.


The vibe at Yellow Door's NYE breakfast was lively, bustling and full of laughter and conversation. Chelsea Alehouse overflowed with familiar and new community members who enjoyed unique British-influenced dishes (thanks to Zingerman Chef Kieron Hales, who originally hails from England). CHS Students took the lead greeting and serving customers with a handful of regular YD volunteers filling in the gaps.

"It was fun and delicious... everybody knows each other," said nine-year-old Stella.

New to Yellow Door, Fawn (of Columbus) was thrilled to stumble upon the alehouse and the breakfast to help the area's at-risk kids. Chef Kieron had run into Fawn and her trio of friends, Derrek, Monica and Charles,
 the night before and had encouraged them to attend. It was a great introduction to Chelsea and its community spirit, particularly for Charles who just relocated here.  

We learned about and savored "Bubble & Squeak" -- an Irish/British tradition of frying potatoes with cabbage and other vegetables -- and dug into the sustainably farmed salmon, which Chef Kieron smoked the night before in his Chelsea backyard. The salmon topped a fluffy crumpet and rich-tasting scrambled eggs. Chelsea Alehouse offered beermosas and many customers enjoyed a glass -- and some even enjoyed a flight of Brewmaster Chris Martinson's brews.

"An integral part of our mission from the start has been to offer the alehouse as a community space," said Chris. He's thrilled with the  informal "partnership" with Yellow Door and the ability to offer the space to Yellow Door to aid nonprofits in the region.


The doors opened at 9:00 a.m. and the first order was already in play. Community members filed in through the morning and filled the alehouse until after Yellow Door's 'official' closing at noon.

At the end, when Janice and Jane, Yellow Door co-founders, did a final tally of funds raised, they realized they were $100 short of $5,000 ($1,000 above the original goal). In a "George Baily" moment, said Janice, the hat was passed and everyone chipped in pocket change -- from $7 to whatever -- to reach the $5,000 mark.

Chelsea School District Social Worker Beth Morris was overwhelmed with the breakfast's success, and is thrilled the funds will be used to provide living essentials -- such as coats, lunches and hygiene products -- and funds for field trips, yearbooks and caps and gowns for school-age kids.

And that, my friends, was a great way to wrap up 2013 and toast the New Year.

Enjoy viewing an album of photographs from the breakfast at: facebook.com/yellowdoor