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By N2H Give Back
A Letter to AC from Opelika’s Newest Coffee Shop
This is an email we received from Red Door June owner Rick Lanier that we thought we’d post for you. We always enjoy and desire as much interaction as we can get from our local coffee shops and this is an example of some great open communication.
To Auburn Coffee:
Just wanted to drop a post to say thanks for mentioning our soft opening on AC and to let everyone know that both the coffee and floral sides of the house are operating at full capacity and doing well “by the tracks” in Opelika.
Also, I would like to personally invite AC and everyone visiting this great site back to rdj for another visit and for a great cup of coffee and pastry.
Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you at red door june coffee and floral soon.
Sincerely,
Rick Lanier
Owner
Summer is Over…
Well at least my obsession with cold coffee has burnt out. Almost all summer I am sure that I’ve only had about two or three hot coffees at the shops. I still have them at home but the local coffee shop had turned into the smoothie, milkshake & iced coffee shop. Well, for about a week now I have been back on the Hot stuff. I mean the burn your tongue and like it kinda stuff. I know what it is that pushes us to the cold stuff in long Alabama summers but now that I’ve given back over to all hot drinks it’s like you don’t know what your missing until it’s gone.
It’s like I’ve never had a Cafe Americano or Creme Brulee. I can’t get enough and unlike I usually am I’m not even trying new stuff right now. I pretty much get the same two things every trip.
So, enough about me. Am I in the majority here in being worn out on cold drinks are is everyone going to ride the wave ’til winter?
The Gnu’s letter – July 2008
The Gnu’s letter
The Gnu’s Room Bookstore
& Coffee house
Summer Hours of Operation:
Monday—Closed Tue through Sat—9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sunday—Closed
Science Café Auburn
On Friday, July 11th at 7:00 p.m. our guest speaker will be Roma Davis. Roma is the owner of Aromatherapy and Massage Center in Auburn (AMC). She graduated from the Academy of Somatic Healing, and specializes in a combination of Swedish massage and neuromuscular massage. In 2006, AMC added a very powerful modality called Orthobionomy to their menu of services. Roma will be speaking about the health benefits to be gained from her areas of expertise, and will entertain questions from the audience.
Words Café Live!
In addition to the poets, storytellers and spoken word artists normally in attendance, this month’s event features the band, “Park Street.” They will be performing an acoustic set, which will be professionally recorded. Copies of the recording will be made available for later purchase at The Gnu’s Room. The event begins at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 12th.
JULY GNU BREW
Please join us on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. as Marian Carcache visits the store. Marian’s short stories, articles, and reviews have appeared in Shenandoah, Chattahoochee Review, Southern Humanities Review, Bronte Society Transactions and other journals. Her work has been anthologized in Due South, Belles Lettres, Crossroads: Stories of the Southern Literary Fantastic, and most recently, Climbing Mt. Cheaha: Emerging Alabama Writers. Under the Arbor, an opera made from her short story and for which she wrote the libretto, appeared on PBS stations nationwide, was nominated for a regional Emmy, and was a finalist in the New York Festivals. She is recipient of the Alabama State Council on the Arts’ 2003-2004 Fellowship Award for fiction.
Marian grew up in rural Russell County, Alabama and now lives in Auburn with her five dogs and her son nearby. She is studying homeopathy. Marian is also our Artist of the Month. Many of her photographs on display were taken in black and white in rural Russell and Lee counties and hand-tinted using photo oils.
BOOK SIGNING
On Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 4:00 p.m., we are pleased to welcome local author, Gina Lancaster. Gina is a 1986 graduate of Auburn University in Fine Arts. While at Auburn, she worked with the Biology Department illustrating textbooks, which are still in current use. As an artist and designer, Gina won many awards, including the prestigious ADDY award for creative excellence in advertising. In 1989, a rising star in the art world, she had an important show coming up, but the joy and excitement of that event was marred by the sudden death of her beloved brother. The show was a huge success for Gina, but the loss of her brother left her questioning her existence, and would eventually change the course of her life. Her next 20 years were spent discovering truths of generations past, and unearthing healing practices that are just as viable today as they were thousands of years ago.
Gina accumulated years of experience in making herbal remedies, and while studying for her Naturopathic Doctorate Degree, earned certificates in various healing fields including Hands on Healing, Acupressure, Homeopathic Medicine, Herbal Medicine, and Flower Remedies. The culmination of Gina’s research, experience, and training has been the recent publication of her book, In Search of a Cure: While Living Off a Dime. The book details over 1,200 simple and cost conscious remedies. Gina will discuss her book and sign copies.
THIS MONTH IN BOOKS
July 2, 1877 German novelist Hermann Hesse, who will receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946 for his novel The Glass Bead Game (aka Magister Ludi), is born in a small town in the Black Forest.
July 4, 1981 On the 155th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s death, Dumas Malone, aged 89 and nearly blind, publishes The Sage of Monticello, the sixth and final volume of his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Jefferson.
July 8, 1915 H. G. Wells writes Henry James: “To you literature like painting has an end, to me literature like architecture is a means, it has a use.”
July 9, 1942 Anne Frank, 13, goes into hiding with her family and four other Jews in the Amsterdam warehouse behind her father’s business.
July 12, 1817 Henry David Thoreau is born in Concord, Massachusetts. He will publish only two books in his lifetime: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, and Walden, or Life in the Woods.
July 16, 1951 Little, Brown publishes J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.
July 17, 1889 Attorney and author Erle Stanley Gardner is born in Madden, Massachusetts. Many of his more than 100 novels (written under his own name and the pen name A. A. Fair) will feature lawyer Perry Mason.
July 23, 1880 Mystery writer Raymond Chandler (Farewell, My Lovely; The Big Sleep) is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will be educated in England, France, and Germany, and travel widely before settling in California, which forms the background for his novels.
July 24, 1880 Alexandre Dumas (The Man in the Iron Mask) is born in Villers-Cotterets, France. Since he uses ghostwriters for his formula novels, it will be said: “nobody has read everything of Dumas, not even Dumas himself.”
July 29, 1805 Statesman and writer Alexis de Tocqueville is born in Paris. After a two-year stay in the United States, he will publish Democracy in America (1835–40).
“If I could I would work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.”
- Emily Bronte
It’s Coming Soon
We’re going to name ‘Auburn’s Favorite Coffee Shop’ as voted by Auburn Coffee visitors before the end of this month. If you have not voted yet please do on the left side of this page. If you have a favorite coffee shop that’s not winning be sure to pass the word to your friends to come vote. This is our summer competition and we will give the award before starting our fall competition in early August.
Coffee for Summer
Well, unfortunately it is almost the end of June. Summer is flying by and for some is already half way over. As I ponder this I sip my cookies and creme milkshake I picked up from AK’s. I’m probably going to check out the “Frozen Hot Chocolate Peanut Butter” drink from Toomer’s some time next week. It was highly recommended by a friend and the oxymoron has me intreaged. I’ll probably make the rounds to a few other shops and try come more coffee related summer treats during July and into the fall. So, that being said, what are you cooling down with & where are you getting it?
The Gnu’s letter – June 2008
The Gnu’s letter
June 2008
The Gnu’s Room Bookstore
& Coffee house
Summer Hours of Operation:
Monday—Closed Tue through Sat—9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m Sunday—Closed
JUNE GNU BREW
Please join us on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. as we welcome local author, Sue McDougald Watson.
Sue moved to Auburn about three years ago having spent most of her life in the tiny hamlets of Lowndesboro and Glenwood, Alabama. A former educator in the public school system, Sue is now teaching sophomore and senior English at Lee-Scott Academy, and spends her spare time being a hands-on grandmother to three rambunctious grandchildren.
She has recently published her first book, Jane Ellen’s Path. Set in the turbulent times of the 1960’s, it is a fictional account of the struggles of two women, one poor and black, the other white and privileged, who are best friends. A tale of poverty, injustice, financial insecurity, separation and need as well as love, loyalty, and reconciliation, Jane Ellen’s Path could be the story of any number of women who came of age in the South during that time.
Recently someone asked Sue how long she had been a writer. Her answer, “All my life. I have been fascinated with words for as long as I can remember. When I learned to read, I felt as if the entire world had been opened to me. I still feel that way about the written word.”
Sue will be discussing her novel and will be happy to sign copies during the evening.
Summer Night 2008 - downtown art walk
You will not want to miss the second annual Summer Night downtown art walk this Friday, June 20, 2008. This event celebrates local artists and will be a fun-filled evening of art, music, food and fun. From 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. you can browse artists’ booths for paintings, pottery, prints and more. There will be special events for the kids and music by Todd Vickery and the Alabama Gravy Soppers. Downtown restaurants will be providing food specials. Last year’s event was a lot of fun, and this year promises to be even bigger and better. We hope to see you there!
Artist of the Month—Christopher Newton
Christopher Newton is a student at Auburn University who spent several fire seasons during 2003 through 2005 in the Pacific Northwest, California, Arizona, Idaho and Montana. His photographs are “representations of milliseconds of my life and the lives of some of the finest individuals I have ever had the privilege of knowing.”
Christopher refers to the photographic display as “My Crucible.” It is a period of his life in which his character was tempered and greatly refined through his experiences with fire and people.
The photographs have been described by several of our store patrons as “riveting.” Come by and take a look at the display and read Christopher’s description of “My Crucible.” In his words, “Although fire is potentially hazardous and destructive, it is my hope to convey its beautiful and regenerative properties given the proper context.”
Prints are available upon request.
THIS MONTH IN BOOKS
June 3, 1964 T. S. Eliot writes to Groucho Marx: “The picture of you in the newspaper saying that, amongst other reasons, you have come to London to see me has greatly enhanced my credit line in the neighborhood , and particularly with the greengrocer across the street.”
June 5, 1900 Stephen Crane (The Red Badge of Courage), 28, dies in a sanitarium in Badenweiler, Germany, of tuberculosis, compounded by malarial fever caught while he was covering the Spanish-American War in Cuba.
June 10, 1928 Artist and author of children’s books, Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) is born in Brooklyn, New York.
June 17, 1917 Gwendolyn Brooks is born in Topeka, Kansas. A poet and novelist, Brooks will become the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize, in 1950, for Annie Allen.
June 22, 1913 Amy Lowell gives an “Imagist” dinner party attended, among others, by Ford Madox Ford (author of 81 books—32 of them novels), who says he has no idea what the word means and suspects no one else does either..
June 24, 1842 Cynical author, Ambrose Bierce (The Devil’s Dictionary) is born in Meigs County, Ohio. Jack London will say: “Bierce would bury his best friend with a sigh of relief, and express satisfaction that he was done with him.”
June 26, 1892 Novelist Pearl S. Buck, winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature, is born in Hillsboro, West Virginia. A few months later, her missionary parents return to China, which will remain her home until 1933.
June 27, 1880 Helen Keller is born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Deaf, mute and blind from the age of 19 months due to scarlet fever, will write fluently about her life: The World I Live In and The Song of the Stone Wall.
June 30, 1857 Charles Dickens gives the first public reading from his works—A Christmas Carol—at St. Martin’s Hall, London.
“Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.”
- Louisa May Alcott
The Gnu’s Room Bookstore & Coffee house
414 S Gay St
Auburn, AL
Phone: 334-821-5550
Fax: 334-821-5550
Email: tina@gnusroom.com
Good books…Great Coffee
Coffee Smoothie Recipe
An Auburn Coffee guest sent in this article/video from about.com that we thought we’d pass along. We’ve had a lot of post relating to local coffee shops but here’s one for the house. Make your own coffee smoothie today!
Coffee Smoothie Ingredients
* 6 or 7 coffee ice cubes
* 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee grind
* 1 cup milk
* 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
* 1 tablespoon artificial sweetener
Click here for the full article from about.com
Source: About.com / Sent in by Brian Simmons (Java Joz)
Caffeine for Dinner or Decaf
The older I get the more I am around people that choose decaf coffee any time they drink after lunch. Some even have gone all decaf. I don’t recall ever having had a cup of decaf before but I am pondering it. I drink a dreaded Caff free Diet Coke here and there and I have all but decided that it is going to have to degrade the quality of the coffee for me to switch.
I am pondering whether or not it is that I am getting older and thus my friends are as well and we just are getting to old for the caffeine or if I am just missing something. Is there a great decaf alternative for a soothing afternoon cup of Joe? Are there any other benefits to going decaf? And finally, how many of you drink decaf? Is it just my circle of friends that are making this change?
Like I said before I am not currently doing the decaf thing. I seem to make it to bed at a decent time even if I had a late night cup of coffee. Plus, all I have is the real thing.
-Heath
Red Door June is Now Open in Opelika
We stopped by Red Door June to check out their first day open. It was a bit of a soft opening and they are still getting things in like tables and stools. They have a few couches and the expresso machine is up and running. Here are a few pics from day one. We’ll keep checking in as they get everything put together and get the flower shop added in the back.
Updates on New Coffee Shop Opening
Red Door June is opening Wednesday, June 11th in the Downtown Opelika Railroad strip. They will have both hot and cold drinks available. We will get a better idea of what they have once they open. Here are a few pictures of the shop as it looks a few days before opening. It is really coming together. (Previous post on RDJ)
This is Dennis Smythe, Originally from San Diego, CA & Graduae of the Amarican Barista and Coffee School. He is heading up and managing the Coffee side of Red Door June and graciously allowed us in for pictures. He is excited about the opeinging and excited about coffee. Hopefully Red Door June will be a long term tenant to downtown Opelika unlike some previous efforts. We look forward to checking out the new coffee soon.
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