House Blend Cafe

We have added a place to connect to House Blend online. Goto http://myimn.com/group/houseblendcafe and join the group.

When was the last time you went to a concert?

May 26th at 7:30 PM there will be a live concert at House Blend Cafe. You should be here.

I am a passionate person. When I was in LA last week, I was described by a new friend as "a romantic in life." I can’t help but have ownership in something. I am more than just a fan… I am a part of the team.

This is probably why I have never really gotten into sports. I simply don’t have the time to give it the time that my personality would require.

When I started drinking coffee, I read about different types of brewers, the roasting process, the various ways they decaffeinate coffee (and I don’t even drink decaf), and various other coffee related facts and books. I couldn’t help it. I just feel like if I am going to be involved in something, I want to be INVOLVED.

So blogging for House Blend seemed like a natural extension of who I am. I believe in what they are doing, I am here anyways, and I am a fan to the point of considering myself a member of the team.

But can you be too involved? Or perhaps are most people just not involved enough in the things they are passionate about and so my passion seems overzealous?

There are restaurants I just go to. There are places I visit where I simply order my dinner, eat, and go home. But there are places I am passionate about.

If I knew you were visiting Daytona, I would give you detailed directions to Booth’s Bowery where you can partake of literally the best chicken wings on earth. Medium Garlic, extra wet.

In New Port Richey is a little place called Great Subs and More. Maybe not "the best," but unbelievably good and affordable Cheese Steaks and Gyros. Even their Cheeseburger is pretty good. I ate their three or four days a week.

There are plenty more. And if you are in Ocoee, you have to stop by House Blend Cafe. Great coffee, an unbelievable menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The prices are good. The service is great. The atmosphere is comfortable and relaxed. And they are doing so much more for their community than providing just some good coffee.

And if you happen to stop in to House Blend Cafe, keep your eye open for me. I am not "officially" on the team, but I am there all the time.

After several days of being out of town, I am finally back and enjoying a great cup of House Blend Cafe Coffee. I’ve had Starbucks, airline coffee, Coffee from the Crave Cafe, Coffee at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, and while some of that was good, it is so great to be back home.

I posted some of what I’ve been up to over at ChrisMarsden.com. Check it out. I’ll be back to posting about what is going on around here real soon.

Traffic at House Blend is always hard to predict. Sometimes it is fairly and quiet, and sometimes it is packed. Today, it is definitely packed. It is exciting to look around and see people engaged in life. They are not just here for coffee (or food), but to spend time together, to converse, and to engage in life.

See you around the cafe.

Well… I went to last night’s screening of Invisible Children, camera in hand. It was a House Blend event and I went in with plans to cover it like any other House Blend event.

Wow…

The place was packed. My friend Ben had driven down to see the movie and the only spot to sit was way up front. By the time the movie was over and more people had trickled in, it was standing room only. Literally.

Let me just say, this was not the kind of event to take pictures at. It was something that you just needed to sit back and absorb.

Wow…

I still find the whole idea of what they saw and filmed overwhelming. There are kids in the world who are suffering and they are basically Invisible. Nobody sees them. Nobody is paying attention to their plight.

Here is a quick clip that shows some of the progress that has been made since the original film was shot.

House Blend Cafe may be known for a lot of things. They are known for their great coffee. The have incredible lunches and dinners. They put on concerts, movie nights, and events in their parking lot. They cater all over town. They deliver lunches. They have free wifi. House Blend Cafe is a lot of things to a lot of different people.

But around our house, they are known as The Breakfast Store.

Several weeks ago, I brought my daughter up to House Blend for a little daughter daddy time. It was great. We sat at the counter, drank our hot cocoa. She devoured a huge waffle. Ever since then, she has asked if we can go to the breakfast store.

“Where do you want to go to dinner tonight?”

“Let’s go to the breakfast store!”

Well last Friday, there was no school. So the whole family packed up and headed to the breakfast store… I mean, House Blend Cafe. We had some wonderful food and a great time. I finally tried the Greek Breakfast Burrito and now have a new favorite.

Here’s a few pics of my girls out at the Breakfast Store.

  

  

Tomorrow morning I head over to help House Blend Cafe with a huge catering gig they have going on with a Church Conference. It is exciting to be a part of something as big as this is going to be. I haven’t served coffee on this scale since the Phat Rok’s Bean Krib days.

Did I ever tell you about Phat Rok’s Bean Krib? Well… another time. I have to go to bed so I can get up and help Josh.

Well, I decided to try something new this morning and it has given me the perfect excuse to share something completely useless with you.

Back in the day, I was a firm believer that real men drank real coffee and that frozen smoothy drinks were a bit girly for real men. Then I sampled a S*******s F*********o. (Words starred out so as to not promote the enemy, not to conceal profanity although some might contend that their name should be considered profanity). Needless to say, I was hooked.

Sometime later, I tried a local coffee shops frozen coffee blender thinking, “If I like S*******s’, I should like theirs.” Well… I was wrong. Their’s was ok at best.

This morning I realized that I have never had one of House Blend’s House Blenders. After my previous experience, I was concerned that I would only ever like S*******s’, but I gave it a shot.

Wow!!! Is that good. A new favorite option for those hot days.

So now for the useless…

A while back I discovered one of the most fun sites on the internet. www.willitblend.com. It is hosted by a blender manufacturer and asks the simple question of will it blend. The blend tons of ordinary things like chicken, coke, spinach, mcdonalds etc… BUT, they also try and blend those things that are a bit more exciting. One of my favorites is the 12 hour lantern they made.

You can check them out on their site, youtube, or iTunes.

And don’t forget to try a House Blender the next time you are in at House Blend Cafe…

Friday, April 27th 2007

7:00 PM

House Blend Cafe
Ocoee, FL 34761