By December. Christmas season. Sarah's Table Christmas orders are open and the response is: immediate. Eighteen Christmas dinner orders in the first week. At $95 each (Christmas is $10 more than Thanksgiving because Christmas requires ham AND I'm worth it). The December book is filling. The Madison kitchen is booked every Saturday and Sunday through the 23rd. The business is in its first holiday sprint and the sprint is exhilarating and exhausting and I love it and it's killing me and both things are true and the both-things is the whole story of Sarah's Table.
The Altima died. Wednesday. On Murfreesboro Pike. The transmission finally gave up, ironically, near the Waffle House where I used to work — the car that carried me from that parking lot decided to die within sight of it, which is either cosmic poetry or a coincidence, and I choose poetry. The tow truck came. The Altima was towed to a mechanic who pronounced it: dead. Not fixable-dead. DEAD-dead. The car that had a dent for six years, that delivered the first Sarah's Table order, that made twelve trips on Thanksgiving, that has been the vehicle of every Mitchell milestone since 2017 — that car is gone. I sat in the mechanic's parking lot and I did not cry because the car was a car and not a person, but I FELT like crying because the car knew things. The car was there. The car saw it all.
The replacement: I bought a 2019 Toyota RAV4. Used. Certified. Reliable. No dent. The RAV4 has cargo space — actual cargo space, enough for ten dinner orders instead of two. The RAV4 is the Sarah's Table company vehicle. The purchase was made with Sarah's Table revenue — the business bought the car. The business that started with a napkin and a $200 kitchen rental bought a CAR. The car cost $18,000. I put $8,000 down (savings from a year of Sarah's Table) and financed the rest. The financing is the first business debt. The debt is healthy. The debt is growth. The debt is the opposite of the gap that used to keep me up at night. The gap has been replaced by a vehicle.
Chloe photographed the RAV4 for Instagram. She stood in the parking lot and photographed a Toyota with the same side lighting she uses for food. The caption: "Sarah's Table has a new delivery vehicle. No dent. We're moving up." We're moving up. The ten-year-old's summary of the business trajectory: we're moving up. From Altima to RAV4. From dent to no dent. From twelve trips to four. We're moving up. The caption is the mission statement.
I didn’t cook this week — not for myself, anyway. Every ounce of kitchen energy went into eighteen Christmas dinner orders, and the only thing I made for the Mitchell household was a plate of these pinwheels, because they are fast and they are red and green and they look like a celebration even when you’re too tired to feel like one. The RAV4 is in the driveway. Chloe called it a mission statement. I’m calling it a reason to put something festive on the table.
Red & Green Pinwheels
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (includes chilling) | Servings: 30 pinwheels
Ingredients
- 4 large flour tortillas (10-inch)
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 oz packet ranch seasoning mix
- 3/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 1/4 cup diced pimentos or jarred roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make the filling. In a medium bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, sour cream, and ranch seasoning mix until smooth and fully combined. Stir in the garlic powder and season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Add the vegetables. Fold in the diced red bell pepper, spinach, green onions, and pimentos. Stir until the filling is evenly mixed and colorful throughout.
- Spread and roll. Lay one tortilla flat on a clean surface. Spread roughly 1/4 of the filling in an even layer all the way to the edges. Roll the tortilla tightly into a log, pressing gently as you go to keep it snug.
- Wrap and chill. Wrap each rolled tortilla tightly in plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to overnight) — this step is essential for clean slices.
- Slice and serve. Unwrap each log and use a sharp serrated knife to slice into 3/4-inch rounds, discarding the uneven ends. Arrange cut-side up on a platter and serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 68 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 145mg