I really got waylaid on the way to 2025. Mrs M went bionic this year, and got 2x new knees. We bought our new forever home in February while she was still fresh from surgery # 1 … and sold the home where we raised our family in May, right before surgery # 2. We stayed in the Santa Clarita Valley, but we moved about 8 miles to the wilds of Castaic.
This was a big idea … before we could move we needed to process the 37 years of, uh, accumulation that didn’t have to go to Castaic, but could not stay in Valencia. In addition, we decided to do an extensive remodel to our new home … and I acted as project manager. And with the shop in Valencia closing as we moved, I stopped making until I could get the shop back up.
And, tic toc. What is only the second event I am doing this year is coming at me like a freight train. This event is the ONLY event that I have done every year since Mr M’s Woodshop began in 2012. I couldn’t miss supporting this neighborhood scholarship fundraiser, so it was time to get on with the making. Or else there would be a fairly empty booth at the Saugus High Boutique Fantastique, and that was just not OK.
Here then, are pictures of 13x cutting boards that are the first made with my new table saw in my new shop. See them – and more! – this weekend, Saturday & Sunday 10a – 4p in the Centurion gymnasium. You’ll find me at the end aisle booth I’m always at: #222.
All of these cutting boards are made from hardwoods, both domestic and exotic. Those exotic woods come from Central & South America as well as Africa, and include Purpleheart, Zebrawood, Iroko, Brazilian Cherry and more.
First up, eye candy for you. The big end grain boards. All are approximately 16×22″, give or take an inch. Thickness is 1-5/8″. All come with 3/4″ wide juice grooves, non-skid rubber feet, weight as much as 15 pounds and are made for robust use.
Next up are 2 smaller, simpler cutting boards. These edge grain boards, perfect for smaller kitchens are 13×17″ and 16×19″.
Finally, I have eight new “Juicy Boards” which are perfect small cutting boards, or perhaps the best way to serve that steak Mrs M is promising me. These are all 11-1/2″ square and 7/8″ thick. I make them in pairs, but you can buy just one! That’s good, because one of the “brown blend” boards, the 3rd picture, is already sold.
It is GREAT to be back in the shop. I will be making new stuff all through November, including special orders … so for everyone I have disappointed this year because I was not available, now is the time to tell me what you want!
So, we bought it. We had our Unicorn. Now, what to do with it?
It was clear that we needed some transformation to make our forever home. I started making lists. Lots of lists.
What did we want?
New kitchen with island.
Custom cabinets throughout the house.
Creation of a new walk-in pantry between the kitchen & the hallway. Kudos to Kim, our superstar real estate agent, that saw the opportunity to build this pantry by converting a space that had a built-in television. We added found space on the other side of the back wall, that had some cabinetry in the hallway … delivering a space that is 4’x6′. Perfect for a pantry.
New appliances for the new dream kitchen.
New plumbing fixtures for the new bathrooms.
Recessed lighting + ceiling fans in all rooms.
Smart controls for appliances, lighting, thermostat, sprinklers … and more.
Finally, the home’s 3 car garage would become a 1 car garage for Mrs M, and a 2-car garage shop for me.
A new table saw. And, at long last, a miter saw to easily break down lumber.
So then I started making spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets.
We met with our first contractor before we had the keys. That didn’t work out. He was in a transition – building his new shop/retail location, we were still developing the plan, we didn’t have possession yet … no. Strike 1.
Lots of planning went into every room … or in this case, shop. I get a purpose-built space that has the tools & space for the work I actually do. I can break down a 4’x8′ sheet of plywood, or cut a 12′ long board without breaking a sweat. In the shop. Without moving tools. Without using the driveway.
We met our 2nd contractor on February 28, the day we took possession. This was a big idea guy that had a particular way he wanted to do a big job like ours. Big job. Very professional presentation from the jump. I met all of the sub contractors he would recommend to us, and then the wheels started to come off. The cabinet guy was on vacation and could not meet with us for a week. And we lost a week before we even got started.
OK, that happens. But then this cabinet maker came back to meet with us, and couldn’t commit to a time he could begin construction. After several days, we got his quote (he accidentally sent it to us directly. Oopsie.) Then we got the entire consolidated quote from the general contractor a few days later.
The quote was over our projected budget, but more importantly, there was no promise of timing AT ALL. No projected date to begin. Just … approve this budget and we will talk about it.
Uh, no. I was in sales my whole life, and as we saw with Williams Homes, when sales techniques annoy me, I run for the hills. Strike 2.
I started to look for tradesmen myself. Then, I finally listened to our son-in-law. He knew a guy.
This guy, whom I met when Little Girl married son-in-law, was a childhood friend that grew up to be a contractor. And a groomsman, for that matter.
It happens. And life-long friends can be a wonderful thing.
Contractor #3 promised to introduce me to the right people. He would help & advise, but I would be left to supervise the process that we were oh, so invested in.
I began to stitch together a team. Some vendors were recommended to me, some we found on our own. All were available to begin work … soon. Very soon.
I created floorplans. Worklists. Ideas to be incorporated into each room.
We hired crews for garage door opener installation, epoxy floor installation, kitchen demo, plumbing, stone work, electrical, cabinetry, HVAC, roofing, chimney service, paint, carpet, and a keymaster. We bought appliances, plumbing fixtures, tile and stone slabs. We chose colors. We bought carpet.
Then I found the hardware needed to make cheese slicers. And, here we are.
Slicers are all approximately 7″ wide and 11″ long. The tightly stretched wire will cut hard cheese, soft cheese … all cheese. If you are an eater of cheese, you need to be a slicer of cheese.
There are now 22x of these slicers available, and pricing is between $50 and $90.
The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mr M’s Woodshop as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Learn about the horrors of The Road. Read the impossible demands of the people that know what I should really be doing. In short, it’s the comedy of errors that has become my life, presented here, like my cutting boards, as simple unvarnished truth. All for your amusement … and for the good of vendor-kind.
I was very excited about journeying to Northern California to be a part of the California Artisan Cheese Festival in Santa Rosa. I’ve always been focused on serving pieces, and this seemed like a very nice, targeted event.
The year was 2020, and then the world went to hell.
The 2020 event was cancelled due to covid, of course, like almost every public event in California that year. And again in 2021. And, for many events especially early in the year, 2022 was not different. For 3 years, this event was lost to me.
Finally, 2023 became a new opportunity. Thank goodness.
This Festival is a series of events over a long weekend with artisan cheese classes, food pairing events, farm tours and more. On Sunday afternoon, a vendor event is produced with a very large group of artisanal cheese producers – many with their own herds for true farm-to-table cheese – as well as related vendors including vintners, brewers, distillers … and woodworkers, among others. About 100 vendors were gathered for this 5 hour event.
New Ideas
I broke many rules to do this event.
This is a one-day, 5 hour event. I don’t do one-day events.
Since this event was 400 miles away from our home, I had to drive and stay in a hotel for … a one-day, 5 hour event. That never would have happened independently of any other good ideas, so…
Mrs M made a rare appearance at this event, playing the part of a Foodie enjoying the best of cheese while I was working like a dog in the booth. So, the event became the *excuse* to do a long weekend in Wine Country. We spent 5 days visiting Healdsburg, Sonoma, St Helena, and more. If you like wine, if you like food, if you like to wander … wine country is a great getaway.
Since I was all in for the event, the first event of 2023 … I created Serving Trays as a base for Charcuterie Kits to debut at this event.
I didn’thave walls (the event is indoors at the county fairgrounds, no canopies/frames allowed), so I could not hang pictures. And I had just done nice photography of the charcuterie kits … so I did a thing. I produced a Power Point presentation to show on my tablet, which was mounted on the table above the serving trays. The mount cost all of $22 and displayed the “boards in action” photos that really help illustrate what my boards can help you do. New presentation idea, powered by a portable battery we have to re-charge cellphones at un-powered events. Worked like a charm!
This was a getaway weekend, with a destination of a single booth at a targeted event … so I left the trailer at home, and packed the truck with what I needed. The limiting factor of the truck meant I left many products at home, but focused exclusively on serving pieces appropriate for artisanal cheese, charcuterie boards … or whatever people serve things on.
Observations
The display was more farmer’s market than fancy art boutique. It was a very casual atmosphere, a table top event (which, again, I never do these days). The promoter provided 2 8′ tables with short table cloths. I brought an additional 4′ table, and that was the total base of the display.
We arrived at 8a, and were set up by 9:30. The event didn’t start until 11, so we were perhaps a bit early. But you never know what the challenges are at a new event in an unfamiliar venue. It’s good to relax and check out the event before the masses arrive.
Mrs M being there means that she messes with my display. She improves the look of the booth, she says. She makes it better, she says. She increases sales, she says.
I have no idea what she’s talking about.
The floor was busy during this event. Estimated attendance of 1,500, all there to sample cheese and wine … and beer and nuts and bread and whatever vendors were giving away. Lines were 20+ people deep, 8-10 minutes for a “hot” vendor like Cowgirl Creamery or Beehive Cheese Company.
I had talked to the promoters about my unique presentation (compared to the food vendors sampling their creations, I was the weird one). They put me in a corner booth so people could walk on 2 sides of the booth. That was good.
They also put me across the building, in front of the bandstand. That was bad. (The band was primarily acoustic with a banjo, clarinet, tuba and percussionist. Very fun Americana music and not too loud.)
They also put me on the path to the bathroom. That was good. I guess.
Booth locations are something that I do my best to ignore, honestly. Vendors don’t control them. Why get upset about where you are when it’s someone else’s decision? I’ve run events. I’ve assigned vendors to booth locations. I’ve also dealt with upset vendors that just lost their minds because their location … wasn’t whatever they thought it should be. I don’t want to be that guy. My location was FINE. People could see me. We were not blocked by a line. If people were looking for a wooden object, they knew where I was.
But I brought cheese boards … I didn’t bring chess boards. That was a request. As were book shelves. I politely said sorry! … just as I happily dispensed free advice on how to deal with a permanently mounted wooden cutting board embedded into a stone counter. I am old, so I must be wise. I guess.
There were actually 4 woodworkers there. Two were really focused on traditional cutting boards and one exclusively made seascape resin boards using that dreaded bulbous grass, AKA bamboo, as their base. Truly I did not compete with any of them.
My first 3 sales were Charcuterie Kits and Serving Trays. Vindicated, I was.
And I said that out loud to the Lady. So, of course, I didn’t sell another one.
For a five hour event that was an excuse to drive 400 miles … this was a winner. I sold enough to pay the entire hotel bill, gas and vendor fee. The Lady got to geek out on cheese … and found the highly-sought cheeses that are used in the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich (found at the Rustic Bakery & Muir Woods National Forest) as well as the fabulous Very Adult Mac & Cheese from the Market in St Helena. Both of these dishes served as destinations for us during the weekend, so buying the necessary cheeses was a great coup.
Sometimes, going a-vendoring is about the journey, not the destination. I’m taking the win on this one.
The Food
When we travel, the Lady busies herself in the passenger seat stalking restaurants in our destination city to choose the ultimate, best dinner she could find. It’s her thing. This trip, however, it just worked out that we did lunches as our culinary adventures, and “settled” for take out most evenings.
Best Meal: Pizza Verde at The Journeyman, an Italian charcuterie in Healdsburg that makes their own sausage salumi. The pizza featured soppressata, an Italian sausage sometimes made by pressing the meat between 2 boards. It was amazing. And we just might have purchased a lot of sausage to bring home. And a guillotine to cut it. And joined their meat club. Hey, we were on vacation.
The Other Best Meal: A pannini-style grilled cheese sandwich, the Marin Melt, with Rustic Bakery‘s Honey Whole Wheat bread, Two cheeses are combined: Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam and Point Reyes Toma cheese.
Honorable Mention: Very Adult Mac & Cheese, The Market, St Helena. I added chicken, the Lady added crab. Draw your own conclusions. We had this dish a few years ago when we visited Little Girl at her nearby college, Sonoma State in Rohnert Park. Simply fabulous food. Worthy of being a destination.
Worst Meal: We went out one night, Monday night. Most restaurants were closed (oops). Choice # 1 was an Italian restaurant that wanted reservations (double oops). Desperation drove us to another relatively well reviewed Italian restaurant, Alfredo’s in Petaluma. It was horrid. Made the Lady sick, even. My belief is the Mexican American cooks had no clue how to follow the Italian recipes they were given. Every dish was just … off. Mrs M later found a couple of bad reviews that talked about “cooks in training.” Sorry, not for a dinner costing over $100 for 2 with no alcohol.
The Facts
Total miles driven: 852
Booth cost: $250
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 4
Visits in the booth by a promoter’s representative: several
Returning next year? Yes. This is a great event for cheese enthusiasts … and Mr M’s Woodshop belongs there.
This post is the culmination of a great deal of work by many people. And as I hope you will agree, it was well worth the effort!
Serving Trays were just the beginning point for me. The goal was to offer fully customizable Charcuterie Kits at my first event in 2023: the California Artisan Cheese Festival in Santa Rosa in just 2 weeks. As the pictures attest, I am ready.
You start with a Serving Tray … see them described, and see them very naked, here. This page is all about dressing them up.
Charcuterie is classically a collection of smoked meats and cheeses served to the delight of hungry people everywhere. The idea is really trending now, and people are taking the excuse of having a nice serving piece to do all sorts of offerings on a lovely serving board. To complete the presentation, I have collaborated with my good friend and potter, Nicole, the owner of NZ Designs Studio. She is also the maker of the Great Garlic Graters that are on my Garlic Dipping Boards, which continue to be a favorite.
After more than a few discussions about what would be ideal, she has made 4″ bowls – or ramekins, if you prefer – in 3 shapes and 4 colors (well, 5 colors. She’s an over-achiever.) that can be purchased at events for inclusion with your Charcuterie Kit. In addition, she has made very cute meat and cheese tags to identify some of the classic Charcuterie that you will probably be serving.
Then I went shopping and found sets of stainless Cheese Knife Sets that I am also offering to help complete your presentation.
You get to pick and choose among the options … but let’s not get ahead of the idea. The best way to understand this idea is to see it. I gathered family, friends and collaborators to create some unique and tasty boards for your consideration.
A big thanks to the food stylists and helpers that made this happen. I appreciated the eaters that helped when the work was done, too!
Nicole’s bowls are Red, White, Blue, Green … and Purple. You can go all matchy matchy, or buy your ramekins in all different shapes & colors. We did it both ways on the boards pictured. You get to choose what you like best.
Here are simpler pictures showing just the Serving Trays in the 3 sizes, along with the bowls in all of their colors. The knife set is also shown; a great matched set of 6 knives with spreaders, choppers, forks … just what you need to do anything from cut a hard cheese, spread a soft one, or pick an olive out of the bowl.
To purchase a serving tray, go here. If you want a charcuterie kit, or any of the pieces offered that tickle your fancy, then you’ll need to email me and we can work out the details. I will warn you that nothing will ship until late April. That’s good: you get to choose what you most like, and I will make sure you get exactly what you want.
