Mäni’s Blog Café

Soups for the New Year

Soup Schedule: January 2 to January 15

Monday:  CHICKEN NOODLE
Ingredients: chicken broth, chicken breast, onions, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, chives, sea salt, black pepper, egg noodles.

Tuesday: GREEN  SPLIT PEA
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, carrots, butternut squash, onions, green peas, celery, cumin, sea salt, black pepper.

Wednesday: TOMATO LENTIL
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, Green lentils, cilantro, celery, cauliflower, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, garlic, canola oil, sea, salt, black pepper.

Thursday: CARROT  &  GINGER
Ingredients:  Vegetable stock, carrots, celery, yams, ginger, sea salt, tamari

Friday: POTATO  LEEK
Ingredients:  Vegetable stock, potatoes, leeks, onions, celery, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper.

Saturday: TAMALE  SOUP
Ingredients:  Vegetable stock, pinto beans, onions, green &red peppers, celery, chives, celery, garlic,  cayenne pepper, cumin, canola oil, yellow corn meal.

Sunday: BLACK BEAN
Ingredients: Vegetable Stock, Tomatoes, Black Beans, Carrots, Celery, Garlic, Olive Oil, Cilantro, sea salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, onions.

Healing Power of Chocolate

Check out this story on NPR about flavanols and the potential healing power of chocolate.

Soup Schedule: December 19 - January 1

UPDATE: Download a beautiful copy of the Soup Menu here.

Monday heralds a brand new soup schedule.  For the next two weeks, here is what is featured on the menu Monday through Sunday:

Monday
*CHICKEN NOODLE
Ingredients: Chicken Broth, Chicken Breast, Onions, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Chives, sea salt, black pepper.

Tuesday
*MINESTRONE
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, cauliflower, parsley, basil, mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato paste, pasta, sea salt, black pepper, oregano, cumin, canola oil, garlic, red beans.

Wednesday
*SWEET AND SOUR MARBLE SOUP
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, butternut squash, onions, carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, sea salt, black pepper, beets, yams, balsamic vinegar, fruitreduction.

Thursday
*PASTA FAGOLI
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, olive oil, pasta, sea salt, basil, parsley,  tomato paste, black pepper.

Friday
*CREAM OF BROCCOLI
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, onions, celery, broccoli, potatoes, cashew cream, sea salt, black pepper, tamari.

Saturday
*BLACK BEAN
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, tomatoes, black beans, carrots, celery, garlic, olive oil, cilantro, sea salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, onions.

Sunday
*TORTILLA SOUP
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, onions, tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, oregano, corn tortillas

Fat or Not or Maybe A Little?

Thanks for your comment Wendy, on the Great Gift Boxes story from December 8th.  That's a wonderful question because many customers ask about Fat-Free and we're all interested in being 'thinner'!  Because our concept is to offer bakery items that taste good and are good for you, we don't offer specific 'low fat or low calorie gift options.  Since we've already taken the sugar out of most of our baked goods, if we were to remove all or most of the fat, then it becomes less than a satisfying bakery item.  After all the idea is primarily to enjoy the 'treat'. 

During the Fat-Free craze of the late 90s we had a Fat-Free holiday basket, but it wasn't really that good.  Let's face it, this is the holiday season, we need a little freedom to indulge.  I think most of us will agree that our products are way better than traditional bakery goods especially some of the old time holiday cakes, like fruit cake, with heavy preservatives and pies made with lard and Panettone packaged for a year!  Anyway, we advocate a healthy lifestyle including exercise and eating nutritious foods made with healthier ingredients. 

That way we have room for dessert! And deserve to eat it!!

Acknowledging Elijah Wood

Thank you Elijah Wood for being so helpful to your friends at Mäni's on Fairfax.  We really appreciate your helpfulness and friendliness.  Your involvement in our press release  promoting our blog site is greatly appreciated.  By the way all your friends (and family?) that you've dined with here have also been really friendly and wonderful.  Even the little toddler seemed to enjoy himself.

Our blog site is important to us since it brings us closer to our customers.  It allows our guests to comment on articles and give us feedback on what people like and what's not working for them.  For instance, many guests have commented on our new bakery/restaurant colors being too bright, so we've re-designed some colors and will be repainting the interior very soon.

Q: Do You Have A Web Site?

ANSWER:  We have brand new website that hasn't even launched yet.  It will be released in a couple of weeks.  Sign up for our weekly Morsel newsletter, and you'll be notified as soon as it reaches cyber-space.

In the meantime this blog posts articles about Mäni's on Fairfax weekly.  We also have general information about our company as well as our bakery and cafe menus in downloadable pdf format.

Mäni's Morsel: Great Gift Boxes

Well... it's that time again. It's hard to believe another Spring, Summer and Fall have come and gone already.

We say that every single year at this time and still, the next Holiday Season comes even faster.

Recently, one of our customers said we should name the Holiday Seasons like we do Hurricanes. The Holidays, like the blizzards that accompany them in certain parts, are like giant storms that take on a life of their own -some years they hit us hard and some years we get lucky and sail right on through.

In fact, some people do evacuate to "safer" ground, but for those of us who don't have time to leave it's a good idea to stay close to family and friends. Think of our neighbors... we're all in this together after all, and they may need some assistance!

Of course, to be fully prepared, you need to stock up on food and drink!!!

So, in the spirit of helping our fellow man, Mäni's wants to be a part of the solution... and since we can't offer you cheaper gas prices, we thought Gift Boxes would be the way to go!

This year Mäni's is offering...