Monday, June 23, 2014

Summer Seductions at Mel’s Café



by Kath Rutledge from the Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries


Rosemary-infused Watermelon Lemonade

Have you been in Mel’s on Main recently? You know Mel, don’t you? Spiked mustard-colored hair and prickly attitude? Don’t let the attitude fool you, though. She’s a chef with a heart of gold and a knitting obsession. Anyway, she’s tinkering with the café’s menu and trying new recipes again. She’s brought back the summertime favorite – rosemary-infused watermelon Lemonade. And she’s getting deliveries of locally grown fresh berries for the fruit salad. Scallion bread is new and superb. Peach pie isn’t new – but it’s fabulous. And vanilla beet ice cream is something you have to see and try for yourself before you’ll believe it. I know what you’re thinking – beet ice cream? Really? Yes, really. The color is startling and the taste is . . . amazing.



Fruit Salad and Scallion Bread









I sound like a paid advertisement for the café, don’t I? The Weaver’s Cat and Mel’s on Main are trying cross-promotion this summer. Ardis and I are talking up Mel’s and handing out her menus. In return, Mel is reserving one of the tables in her front window for knitters, crocheters, spinners, quilters, embroiderers, and fly-tiers during June and July. Bring your needles, hooks, spindles, and fibers to the cafe and the coffee and tea are on the house. This kind of cross-promotion can’t hurt, and it’s fun!


Here’s something else that's fun in June and July - every day through July 30th, the Killer Characters are giving away books for your summer reading pleasure. Leave a comment by midnight 6/23/14 for a chance to win an audiobook of a Haunted Yarn Shop  Mystery – your choice of LAST WOOL AND TESTAMENT, DYEING WISHES, or SPINNING IN HER GRAVE. Be sure to leave your email address in the comment to be notified in case you are the winner.


 




Vanilla Beet Ice Cream
Kath Rutledge’s latest adventure is the national bestselling SPINNING IN HER GRAVE, third book in the award-winning Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries, which are available in mass market, e-book, large print, and audio wherever books are sold.  Watch for Kath in PLAGUED BY QUILT, coming in November 2014, and available now for pre-order.

 

 

     

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61 comments:

  1. DebbyJune 23, 2014 at 6:48 AM

    Beet ice cream sounds different. It sounds like fun to sit and knit while at the cafe. Can you crochet as well?
    debby236 at gmail dot com

    Reply
    Replies
    1. Kath from the Haunted Yarn Shop MysteriesJune 23, 2014 at 8:10 AM

      Crochet is more than okay! I should have included that, Debby. Now Mel will be on my case. Thanks for stopping by the blog today.

    2. Kath from the Haunted Yarn Shop MysteriesJune 23, 2014 at 10:38 AM

      There, Debby - this is better - crocheters are welcome at Mel's table, and so are spinners, quilters, embroiders, and fly-tiers! Thanks for the prompt to fix the post!

  • Elaine KlingbeilJune 23, 2014 at 8:59 AM

    "Last Wool and Testament" would be my choice, I think. Anyway, I don't knit but I have taken up crochet again and I need to come to your shop ASAP, as I have run out of yarn for a project I am working on. It involves 63 different stitches for squares to sew together. And so far I have figured out 32 of those stitches.

    I would be interested in trying that Vanilla Beet ice cream. My husband, not so much.

    ElaineE246 at msn dot com

    Reply
    Replies
    1. Kath from the Haunted Yarn Shop MysteriesJune 23, 2014 at 9:07 AM

      Do stop by the Weaver's Cat, Elaine, and bring your project. I'd love to see all those stitches. Or if you happen to be in Champaign, stop by the library and show your project to Molly. She'd love to see it, too! :)

    2. Elaine KlingbeilJune 23, 2014 at 3:36 PM

      I'm using a book called "63 Easy-to-Crochet Pattern Stitches" and using Lily Sugar'n Cream yarn in all different colors so it will be crazy when I finish! Very colorful!

  • NancyJune 23, 2014 at 9:19 AM

    I haven't met a piece of pie that I didn't like, so beet pie...I'm hopeful. Knitting or crocheting in a cafe sounds heavenly.

    Reply
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    1. Kath from the Haunted Yarn Shop MysteriesJune 23, 2014 at 10:28 AM

      Actually, it's beet ice cream. The pie up there in the picture is peach. But now that you mention it, I bet Mel would like the idea of beet pie. I'll pass that along. Thanks!

  • DelAnneJune 23, 2014 at 9:41 AM

    I'll take your word about the beet ice cream. Make it a blueberry pie or blackberry cobbler and I would stop by every day. Now the fruit salad looks like it might actually be the first one I might actually enjoy. I have never heard of scallion bread, that might be interesting. I really need to stop by the cafe again soon to take a closer look at all the new items Mel is offering. Would they ladies be terribly upset if I admit that I prefer to crochet, than to knit. I reserve knitting to layettes everything else I crochet.

    DelAnne
    [email protected]

    Reply
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    1. Kath from the Haunted Yarn Shop MysteriesJune 23, 2014 at 10:31 AM

      DelAnne, you stop by with your crochet and the ladies will treat you to some of that fruit salad! I can't believe I left crochet out of the post. I think I'll go in and fix that.