One of the women that helps me went to the hospital this morning in the ambulance. A family member called and said she was fading in and out of consciousness. She is conscious now but stayed in the hospital to determine what is creating the problem. Hope everything is OK.

It has been a slow week at the cafe. I always worry about cash flow when things get slow. We had pork chops today and they are a favorite of our customers. I always soak the chops in a mixture of buttermilk with garlic salt and soy sauce in it. Then I bread it like I would a chicken fried steak. I cook them on a flat grill- Wolf brand. I really like my Wolf grill--must be forty years old or more. I also have a six burner stove with a convection oven that is a Wolf brand. We bought it used when the Red Lobster went out of business. Our special tomorrow will be hand breaded fish and Mexican on Friday which are usually our two best days. I am hoping some accounts pay in the next couple of days. I have four catering jobs that I am still hanging out on. I did mention that we cater too. It's just a means to survive in these small communities! Gripey Joe has been watching the OKC Thunder pro basketball team play San Antonio--OKC lost. We are going to watch the thunder play in Oklahoma City Saturday night and I can't wait. It will be a big night on the city, about two hours from our house in Northwest Ok.

Today I'm posting my first blog 1-9-10. Let me introduce myself. I am Susan Parks and I own a small cafe in a very small town . I bought this cafe over nine years ago with my husband Joe. When we bought the cafe it was named Anongs and we changed it to Ranch House Cafe. Over a period of time the name has expanded to Gripey Joe's Ranch House. The name is self explanatory if you ever come in the cafe as my husband has a very unique personality! In fact, we had gas company make t-shirts that feature his infamous sayings. But more about the cafe.
We serve truck stop food. By that I mean chicken fried steak, hamburgers and etc. I have always loved to cook and believe me, it gets a little overwhelming at times. I plan to use this space to give you updates on the happenings at Gripey Joes as it possibly might be good therapy for me. Also I would like to include some tips that work for me,some tips on buying food and some recipes.