Just Cured - Experience Fine Foods

Congratulations. As a result of your diligent efforts, Over the Rhine is a much safer place than it was a few short hours ago. What, you ask, acts of heroism did you perform?

Well, you didn’t prevent the neighborhood punk from shooting a late-middle aged woman near 17th and Vine a week or so ago.

And you didn’t stop the deranged man who was verbally abusive and physically threatening to mothers walking their young children to school near Findlay Market last week.

Nor did you stop the two boys from the neighborhood two days ago when they took their fight over a wall and into Vine Street as they strangled each other.

You did drive right past two obvious crack or heroin transactions this afternoon while you were in hot pursuit of two hardened criminals — who were driving every bit of 15 miles an hour.

I know you thought those two were up to no good, buying drugs or looking for hookers. In fact, you were sure they were already high. After all, what sober person turns the wrong way onto a one-way alley, especially one that displays no sign announcing such fact? Or travels an additional block on another one-way street because he now has to avoid oncoming traffic and a street closure for construction?

If you paid any attention whatsoever on your beat, you’d have recognized the car as belong to a prominent citizen and a huge proponent of the renaissance of Over the Rhine. In fact, ask Chief Streicher who drives the yellow Corvette with green racing stripes. There is only one in town. Ask any twenty of your fellow officers who has always driven yellow Corvettes with the license plate IM4FUN. All twenty will probably be able to tell you the answer — and speak kindly of the man.

This citizen in question chose to headquarter his internationally recognized consulting firm in Over the Rhine back in the dark days. He also owned and operated another business across the street from that headquarters.

This citizen continues to support those who invest in Over the Rhine. That yellow Corvette is parked in front of Lavomatic Cafe virtually ever day while its owner enjoys his lunch inside. Most Saturdays, it is also parked opposite Tucker’s Restaurant and in a lot at Findlay Market while its owner visits Joe and Carla (thank you kind sir for introducing me to Joe and Carla) and buys from the Market vendors.

Your somber pronouncement of “multiple one-way violations” was almost laughable. The man acknowledged his error as you approached the car. He made a mistake, acknowledged it, and apologized for it before you ever opened your mouth. I guess you have never made an honest mistake. No one was endangered by his actions. Yours was the only other vehicle on either street.

Did your little traffic stop really require the reinforcements who came to your aid? Where does one draw the line of overkill? Two additional cruisers? Plus two bicycle-riding officers? And a motorcycle mounted officer? The horse mounted patrols in the area must have been on their lunch break. It’s a good thing they filled in the Erie Canal a century ago. Were it still here, you would have had to call for the police boat as well. I wonder how close you came to calling out Sheriff Leis’s helicopter. A K-9 unit would have been a nice touch, but a feline unit would have produced more results (see Note below).

You approached the car twice by yourself (albeit with your reinforcements close by). Was it really necessary to position the motorcycle officer two feet from the passenger door of the car when you came back to deliver the citation? What risk did you perceive in that passenger? Did he look ready to bolt? Was he threatening to you in some way? I’ll admit he comes off as one tough hombre — what with his Lacoste polo shirt, pressed khakis, business haircut and geeky eyeglasses (bifocals, no less). Imagine your surprise when he engaged your colleague in casual chitchat.

I am grateful for one thing — that neither you nor your colleague spotted the water bottle at the passenger’s feet. You see, the car owner-driver had just received a gift from Gus Miller, the proprietor of Batsake’s Hat Shop. Gus’s brother still owns a farm in Greece. Each year he sends Gus the best crop from his most prized mountaintop field of oregano. Gus packages the oregano and gives a quantity to his friends and best customers. Gus’s gift to the driver was a clear one liter bottle filled to the brim with this prized oregano. Had you spotted the bottle, you would certainly have confirmed your suspicion that these two criminals were users, dealers, or rubes having been taken by the local dealers.

For your incompetence in your overzealous enforcement of traffic protocol, I am relieved. I really didn’t want to call my wife this afternoon and ask her to post bail for my arrest for unlawful possession of a culinary herb. And my friend the driver didn’t particularly want to to make that call to his wife either.

Note: A cat trained to detect excessive fish contact would have immediately identified me as a dangerous slicer of smoked salmon.

Edit:† I have added photos taken shortly after noon on Monday, June 2 of the intersections from our perspective.† Note in each case the complete lack of signage.

Thirteenth and Republic:

Fourteenth and Republic (on Saturday access to 14th Street to the right was closed to traffic):

There are a couple of sentences that consistently remind me what life is about. Unrelated events of the past couple of days have me thinking about them more than usual. First, I came across the card handed out at the most recent funeral I attended when I took the jacket I wore that day to the dry cleaner. The words were on this card. Second, the shuffle songs feature of my iPod jumped this morning to a friend’s choral group’s rendition of these words.

A few years ago, some fellow made a small fortune with a book that took approximately 200 pages to explain that the author learned everything important to know in Kindergarten.

Poor St. Francis almost certainly earned not a penny for these words, everything important to do in 42 words:

. . . [G]rant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; . . . .

Is there anything else — or a more elegant way to express it?

Just Cured has completed one more step in our long walk to become a fully operational company. This week, my landlord and I got the smoking equipment completely installed in the building. I still have a couple of custom parts on order and am making do with temporary replacement pieces — but today, I finished the first batch of smoked salmon made entirely within the confines of our permanent production facility.

I am very happy with the layout of the facility and the performance of the equipment. I have a few tweaks to be made over the next week or so, including getting those custom parts completed. But, all-in-all, I am quite thrilled.

There should be plenty of Just Cured smoked salmon available for purchase at the Luken Poultry, Fish and Seafood stand at Findlay Market this weekend. Just look for the Just Cured signs on the counter. I should also be around much of the day Saturday to answer questions about Just Cured and our smoked salmon. I will also be the one slicing all the salmon.

If you are at the Market on Saturday, please stop by to say hello.

Sunday evening, my wife and I crashed someone’s graduation picnic. Well, we were invited to the party, just not by the hostess. Her brother, who was doing the heavy cooking, invited us by to pick up a spit-roasted chicken or two. Our intent was to grab our dinner, make a hasty exit, and leave the partying to the family and friends of the graduate. Typical of the hospitality of the hostess and her brother the pitmaster, they changed our plans.

Five minutes became two hours and a bottle of wine (mine) and a couple of bottles of champagne (the pitmaster’s brother’s). I made myself moderately useful as the pitmaster’s assistant. We did eventually head home with our chickens and made a late supper of one of them.

Kevin makes the best spit-roasted chicken I have had the privilege of eating. The roasting contraption is something special as well. This “small” version will roast 72 chickens at a time. Kevin did a mini batch for this party of 48 chickens (one spit removed just before I took this picture).

Is there anything better than unexpected time with friends, lively conversation and the smell of a charcoal fire?

Once again, please join Just Cured and me at Findlay Market, Over the Rhine, Cincinnati on Saturday, May 24 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The preview tasting was so successful last weekend (and I had so much fun) that we are repeating it.

I will be providing sample tastes of our European Style Smoked Salmon at a table directly across from Luken’s Poultry, Fish and Seafood on the west side of the main Market House. Just Cured smoked salmon is available for purchase at the Luken stand. Our special price of $24 per pound remains in effect for our smoked salmon sliced to your order.

I hope to see you Saturday!

If you visited me at the preview tasting last weekend, you have already seen Just Cured’s new logo.† If you didn’t make it there, here is a peek of it.

We have started on a web site design around the logo and new company identity.† We won’t be changing this site to incorporate the logo until we introduce the new site.

It has rained steadily here for 15 or so hours, on top of much rain last week. Of course it has; I have a contractor anxious to dig the footing for our new retaining wall. They did start the trench yesterday. I now have the world’s longest lap pool for insects — 24 inches wide by not very deep by forever long. Goodness knows when the job site will dry out enough for the guys to get back to work. The forecast calls for showers through noon today.

And because it was dead still during the hours around sunrise this morning, the rain was accompanied by low clouds and just a bit of fog. It matched my mood perfectly. After the excitement of the weekend, I was mired yesterday in the details of getting this business up and running. And I felt like I was running in deep sand, a lot of effort and not much discernible progress.

In hindsight, I made good progress yesterday — I picked up a cutting table I need along with a few other supplies, I submitted a product sample for some testing I want done on it, I prepared and filed some government papers, I followed up on web design and hosting and our branding efforts, I corresponded with several people I met over the weekend. All in all, not a bad day. In the quiet of the rainy night and the mist of the morning fog, it didn’t seem like much.

And the reality is it isn’t much. My to-do list has surpassed short story length and is speeding past novella. For every item I remove from it, I add four or five. I am more than ready for this business to be up and running; it just isn’t ready for me. We’re close, very close; but I need many more days of progress at least equal to yesterday’s.

As I wrote this, the sun climbed higher, the cloud ceiling lifted, the rain stopped for now, and a light breeze pushed the last of the fog aside. And I am off to tackle some of that list.

I am humbled, and excited, by the response that Just Cured and I received to the preview of Just Cured’s smoked salmon at Findlay Market this weekend. The two days were beyond my wildest expectations. I am ecstatic this evening.

First, the details. I manned a tasting table in the main Market House on Saturday from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. I couldn’t begin to count how many people visited the table. I do know that I went through just about 800 cocktail napkins on which I served the tastes.

I expected to give away a whole bunch of smoked salmon. What I didn’t expect was how many of the tasters moved directly over to the market stand of Luken’s Poultry, Fish and Seafood and bought some Just Cured smoked salmon to take home. I budgeted one pound of salmon sold for every two pounds sampled. In fact, the ratio was almost two pounds sold for every pound sampled.

The sales surprise caused me a few anxious moments. On Saturday, we consumed all the salmon I expected to use both days. Fortunately, I recognized the pace of consumption early enough to do something about it. I was back at the Market before dawn this morning finishing the smoking of a fresh batch of salmon for today’s tastings. I can only wish for many more days on which I have to increase production to meet unexpected demand.

Second, I want to acknowledge by name or by deed a number of the people who visited with me over the past two days.

To my many friends, family members, colleagues and acquaintances who visited — Thank you. I know that there was virtually no advance notice of this event. I appreciate your efforts to stop by.

To those who engaged me about the specifics of the business and the product — Thank you for your interest. You will be the people who make my business successful.

To those who declined a taste, yet stopped, made eye contact and politely demurred — Anyone who describes modern day Americans as self absorbed and rude should have stood with me for the past two days, and been proven wrong in his or her beliefs. You make living in this community a pleasure.

To those who knew you didn’t like smoked salmon, yet talked with me or read Just Cured’s marketing materials — I enjoyed your graciousness and candor.

To those who had never eaten smoked salmon and tried a taste — Many of you liked Just Cured’s smoked salmon (and came back later for seconds), some declared it “interesting” or “different,” and a few didn’t care for it. I admire your taking a risk in public. At a minimum, you’ll know in the future what appeals to you.

To the authors of the CityKin blog — Thanks for picking up my announcement. At least a half dozen people visited Saturday because they had read about Just Cured on your blog. I hope to get the chance to meet you soon.

To the parents of the two very young children who visited today — When your son and daughter reached up to the samples well in advance of your approach to the table, I caught your eye. You assured me that smoked salmon is your daughter’s favorite food. I almost giggled when they sneaked away later when you weren’t looking and got another taste or two each. As you were leaving the Market, your son ran over just to tell me “we love your smoked salmon.” Trust me when I tell you his comment made my day. I know you thought he was grabbing for another taste and I could see in his eyes that he wanted one. Your call to him stopped his hand in mid-reach. I would have gladly given him another one — or ten.

To the three grown men who took one bite from a sample and put it back on the table next to the other samples — Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Did you really want the next guest to pick up something that you had eaten from? Were you raised by wolves?

To the adolescent from the neighborhood who returned complaining that the smoked salmon gave him a stomach ache — Nice try. I know you wanted me to give you 20 bucks to go away. Not happening — not ever.

To the lady who saw what was happening and stayed on to rave about the product — Thank you for noticing. You were behind him and could not see his face; the kinder your words got, the faster his confidence in his little scam faded.

To the young woman with the bright blue eyes — I was absolutely serious when I told you I wanted to bottle the look in your eyes when you first tasted my smoked salmon. That split second was the highlight of my weekend — in a weekend full of highlights.

At long last, I am going to have Just Cured smoked salmon available to taste — and to purchase. We are not in full production yet; we are testing the equipment and honing our production procedures. The salmon, if I do say so, however, is first rate, and I do not want a single ounce to go to waste.

Please join Just Cured at Findlay Market on Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18. I will be providing sample tastes at a table near Luken’s Poultry, Fish and Seafood on the west side of the main Market House. You may purchase Just Cured smoked salmon this weekend at Luken’s stand at the Market. For the time being, we will sell our smoked salmon sliced to your order at a special discounted price of $6 per quarter pound.

Look for me at the Market all weekend. And, as a special surprise, I hope to have the new Just Cured logo finalized in time to identify the tasting table.

About Just Cured European Style Smoked Salmon:

Our goal is to produce the finest quality smoked salmon possible. Our salmon has a very moist, fresh texture and a light smoke flavor. Our salmon is hand produced using the most traditional of techniques.

We start with a European Union-certified organically raised salmon from the North Atlantic. We chose this salmon because of the dedication of the producer to sustainable aquaculture techniques that are good for both the fish and the ocean environment.

We lightly cure the salmon with natural salt and a tiny splash of top quality Kentucky bourbon. We follow this cure with a quick smoke in natural oak smoke.

That’s it — four ingredients combined with attention to every detail of the curing and smoking process.

Please try our Just Cured smoked salmon; I hope you agree that you will find no finer smoked salmon.

About a month ago, I wrote about the repair, or disrepair, of the retaining wall behind our home.† Today is day two of the wall replacement project.

We decided to replace the wall in its entirety with a wall built from engineered stone.† I’ll try to remember to post photos of the new wall as it goes up.† In the meantime, here is a photo of one partially disassembled wall.