Recently Uncommon Grounds joined forces with Battenkill Valley Creamery as a part of their “Home Delivery” initiative.

We ask, “What could be better than locally produced milk, delivered directly to your doorstep each week?”

We answer, “How about bags of the freshest coffee beans to go along with that award-winning milk!”

As pointed out by the Fun in Saratoga blog, UG coffee is another addition to an exciting array of local products which can be purchased to be delivered to you. We feel we are in good company with folks such as Rock Hill Bakehouse, Argyle Cheese Farmer and Saratoga Peanut Butter.

If you are interested in joining in on the fun, please visit Battenkill Valley Creamery’s Home Delivery page on their website to learn more. There’s a Frequently Asked Questions section which should cover all your concerns.

Cheers to local businesses banding together to serve our community with great products!

Pre-cut, side view.

Last week, we participated in All Over Albany’s “Lunch Week” by sharing a sandwich concoction that included almost everything on our menu in one bagel sandwich.

You can see our submission among a bunch of other fun submissions here.

After much deliberation and brainstorming, we decided that the sandwich would be hereby named “MEAT MOUNTAIN“.

If you want to climb Meat Mountain, you’ll have to pay for it.

It’s a little costly (~$12.90), but for someone who’s really hungry?

Priceless.

Meat Mountain Weighing-in.

(Mr. Beautiful says “Hi!”)

A few months ago we profiled Laura Northrup for the many awesome things she’s got her fingers into. One of the items on her epic list of curiosities was developing a pattern for hand-knit “coffee sweaters”.

Lo and behold, a few months pass and Laura has filled the front window of the Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. with her “Hamsterdam Handknits” coffee sleeves!

Laura had this to say about the sleeves:

I made one as a gift for a friend and she got so many compliments on it that I realized maybe people would like to buy them. I’ve sold a few on Etsy but this is a new thing and I’m really excited about the product. They’re fun to make and choose materials for. They’re made out of everything from fancy merino wool to decades-old scrap acrylic yarn that I’ve gathered up and am recycling.

They've multiplied! They want to save your hands from heat!

From time-to-time here on our Community Blog we’ll be featuring some of our favorite latté designs as made by our baristas.

To kick off this series, here’s a beauty by Comy G. from the Saratoga Springs store! Comy’s designs often feature the sun-like circular swirls you see around the edges. We hope to be able to coerce Comy into letting us shoot some video of him making one of his masterpieces in crema and foam someday.

Uncommon Grounds (UG): How long have you had your business in Saratoga Springs?

Charlie (CH): Well, I started when I was licensed back in 1979 and I practiced on Long Island. I moved up here about 20 years ago. I used to work at a firm across the street for a few years and then I went out on my own.

UG: So you’ve been coming into Uncommon Grounds since we opened?

CH: Yeah, I’ve been coming in here since it opened; since day one. Back when it was the skinny, dark little hallway. It had good coffee and it was a great place to hang out.

UG: Awesome! That is devotion, thank you! So then you went from working for the other architecture firm to opening your own business a couple years in?

CH: After about 4 years, when the bottom fell out of the economy (back) then; anybody who wasn’t a part of the hierarchy was let go. I was probably one of the higher paid associates in the firm, but not a partner of it. You could see the handwriting on the wall. Basically, I was moonlighting doing a little additions on the side and it just became my first real job. That’s what you do as an architect, once you’re licensed if you’re not working for somebody you just start working for yourself. So I started out of my house, then I picked up a partner and we worked out of his garage. Then we got an “office” office. Since then I’ve been on Division Street for 15 years.

UG: How did working on the Uncommon Grounds expansion/remodel in 2006 come about?

CH: Dan (Murphy, owner) came up to me one day, we were sitting on the patio as we always do at lunchtime and he said “Charlie, you’re an architect right?” and I said, “Yeah!” and he said, “I think I might need you.” So I spoke to him and he said he was going to take over the travel agency space next door. I was excited about it but I was also subject all my peers who hang out here and their criticisms – “Oh you better not screw this up!.” I’ve got to deal with these guys every day who are going to say, “What did you do to this place?”

UG: How much of the design was us pestering you to do this or that and how much of it was your ideas?

CH: Like any project, Dan laid down the parameters; “We’re going to take over this space, keep the service area intact, etc”. For me, the challenge was how do you take an intimate coffeeshop that you love, more than double the space and not make it a cafeteria. So it was really just creating these spaces, like this arched central area, the back room – I wanted to keep that little green room. That was kind of it. Dan and I sat in my office with a tape measure to determine the proper height that the dividing wall should be. I wanted it to be low enough to separate the space but high enough that someone sitting next to it would have a certain amount of privacy.

UG: Well, I must say that the effect the remodel has had on our store and our customers has been dramatically positive. The spaces you mentioned have been crucial to maintaining a cozy feeling, yet still affording plenty of different environments for people to work and interact.

CH: I had a good sense for me (as a customer). I know the things that bugged me coming in here; one of them was is that we were always fighting for window space and the roaster took up prime real estate. Although the roaster was a feature when the store first opened; I said, “Dan let’s move it to a nice little section in the back and it will still be featured but it’s not going to occupy prime seating.” So now you’ve got all these additional window seats in front.

UG: One of our favorite things about the remodel was the expanded view of Broadway that opened up. It’s really gorgeous in the morning as the sun comes up. Did you have any problems working with the entrance or the frontside of the store?

CH: The challenge of the exterior for me was that this building is made up of what looked like three distinct spaces. When the expansion happened, the brick pilaster was not there and it just leaked into the next space and I wanted it look like the two storefronts were always part of the same thing. It was the continuous awning and adding the brick pilaster, painting it all and then adding the new sign.

UG: Do you have any long-term plans for your business? We heard somewhere that you are practicing in the Virgin Islands?

CH: I have a client in Saratoga who owns a hotel in St. Thomas and I’ve done some work for him down there. So that’s what precipitated me adding “Virgin Islands” to the “locations practicing list” on my website. I try to vacation there every year with my family, but it would be nice to get down there to work and play on a more regular basis.

UG: Do you have a building or piece of work you are most proud of?

CH: That’s hard to say. I like to do something special with every project. I guess one of my favorite buildings is the Adirondack Trust building on South Broadway. That was my first big building. I did that when I worked for another firm but it was my design. That’s still one of my favorite buildings.

UG: Wow! Yeah, that’s a landmark building!

CH: Being an architect is exciting for me because you get to create these things, and you get to drive by and walk in. It’s really good if it comes out really nice and if it’s bad you’ve got to live with it. I do mostly residential work and working for homeowners is exciting because they’re really into it, the builder is really into it and it’s this big team project. You’re affecting people’s lives in a positive way.

Check out Charlie Hoffman Architects online at CHoffmanArchitects.com, visit him at his office at 6 Franklin Square (entrance around the corner on Division St.) in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. or visit him at his “other” office on the patio at Uncommon Grounds.

Home Made Theater is an excellent example of how community can benefit from a dedicated arts collective. Just a cursory look through the theater group’s history shows a tremendous amount of effort and dedication put towards bringing quality theater presentations and education to our community.

Uncommon Grounds is pleased to share this special exhibition which combines framed show posters next to new paintings inspired by the shows.

Artists include (official artist websites in bold): Page Darrow Morrison, Francelise Dawkins, Deborah Neary, Frankie Flores, Nancy Powhida, Madeline Gallo, Linda Smythe, Patricia Goodale, Peter Stake, Beverley Mastrianni, Deborah Webster, Virginia McNeice, Susan Wiley, Doretta Miller, and Michelle Winnie.

Please stop by and witness this show at the Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. through November 28th, 2009.