Let’s Have Coffee

Welcome to the first Havin’ Coffee post. Allow me to take a roundabout way of explaining that.

For decades, one of my favorite pass times with friends has been to settle down with a good cup of coffee and have a good, long conversation. Personally, I’d rather have coffee than alcohol – even if it’s the dreaded decaf. Because of the nature of my work in a number of industries, I have many Long-Distance Friends. In fact, I have many close friends with whom my relationship is almost entirely made up of phone calls, emails and texts. And when an LDF calls (or I call them), I always make sure I have a full cup of coffee at my elbow. Often, as we are saying goodbye, I’ll say, “Let’s have coffee again soon.” In emails, I’ll say much the same thing. “Call me; let’s have coffee.”

All my friends know that having coffee means having a phone conversation – usually one that lasts long enough to catch up on everything and cover personal ground as well. They also know that “let’s have pie” means getting together face to face, breathing the same air and all that. So when I had to come up with a name for this category, Havin’ Coffee just made sense to me. And now you know… (smile)

While on tour break over the past several days, I’ve been preparing new recipe posts and thinking about refinements for the site. One refinement (that will be ongoing, I’m sure) is the navigation system. I know it’s very important for visitors to easily find what  they’re interested in. On future visits, you may see changes to the navigation. Please bear with me as I do my best to refine the system, OK?

Another thing I’ll be doing in October is adding a lot more content to the site. I’ve already prepared a pair of drafts and am working on more today. There are several recipes I have already posted on my music site that need to be transferred to Manly Kitchen. I also have raw footage for several more recipes that needs to be edited. My goal is to post at least one new recipe every week, so that you have something new to try.

Finally, working with my web guru Roger Barlow of FVRPro, I’ll be refining the look and feel of the site. We’re using a template that is new to both of us, and we’re still figuring out exactly what we can do with it. Expect to see ongoing updates in this area as well.

Tomorrow I leave for a three-day run to Pennsylvania where my band, Ryan Pelton & the Difference, will perform at Holiday Casino. It works out that it’s easier for me to drive myself, rather than meet the bus in Nashville, so I’ll be taking my new (new to me, at least) PT Cruiser.

So… that’s about everything worth mentioning, I think. Moving forward, I hope that Havin’ Coffee will make it easier for us to get to know each other. If you have any ideas or suggestions for the web site, or any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment below. Until next time, remember to…

Play with your food!

Lane