Have I ever mentioned that I love Wild Turkey? Not that I am a connoisseur of fine bourbons, but I did once try some Red State Bourbon and it was absolutely awful--which, if nothing else, makes the case that if you want your product to speak for your cause, you had better fundamentally make it taste good. And that suffices for political commentary on this post-election day.
I am, however, happy to report that yesterday I bought a jug of Wild Turkey and we made our first Bourbon Pecan granola of the season. First we made a vegan praline using Sucanat and coconut cream, mixed in the toasted nuts, and dusted them with sea salt. We then made Wild Turkey flavored granola using the nuts and Ghirardelli chocolate. History in the making. It's already for sale on our website. It should be at the farmers' markets on Saturday. Granola of the Month orders should go out on Tuesday. It's an all-purpose granola. Celebrate or drown your sorrows. Warm yourself during a nor'easter. The holidays are coming.
Which reminds me... we've put together some holiday gift boxes, available for ordering now, and for real at farmers' markets on Nov. 24th on through the season. We'll get something up on our webstore soon. We're also offering a delivery service to those who live in the Providence area. If you live in the Providence area and want to get a jump on holiday orders, the form is available. And we'd love your help: if you know of businesses or organizations looking for a meaningful and tasty holiday gift, please feel free to print out a copy and pass it along.
I realize I have been neglecting this blog--although there is a reason. We have started the process of turning Providence Granola over to Beautiful Day, a non-profit with a mission to mobilize refugee employment. Which, of course, means another website, another blog, and facebook page... and a learning curve on what to post where. So bear with me. In the meantime, those of you who don't want to miss any updates about the non-profit should make sure you're on the Beautiful Day list.
If you get a chance, please check out my recent blog post We Don't Live in Amarillo which was published by the Providence Journal. This is my first attempt at an op/ed type piece to explain more about our vision for the non-profit. We would love to get the word out about our vision for impacting refugee employment, so please feel free to forward it to friends. If you have ideas for places to publish, let us know.
If you haven't read the feature story about us in RIMonthly, please feel free to read it here. I'll soon have the entire text available and with a better pdf quality as well.
Lastly--really this is first in our hearts--our prayers and concern for all who are struggling in the aftermath of Sandy. Most of us here in Providence were unscathed--but we know that if the storm had changed course by a few degrees, we would not be making granola this week.