Remember when you were a kid, and your older brother used to pin you to the ground and make you say "uncle?"

I feel like 2020 is that older brother. And this week, I finally said it.

With a heavy heart, I temporarily closed my restaurant yesterday.  It was just becoming financially, mentally, and emotionally unsustainable. From February, 2015 until December, 2018, I transformed that old building in Rockford into a Nordic cabin of a dining room, made to transport my customers to a cozy, mountaintop nook where they could meet their neighbors, hear local musicians, and sample great foods from a scratch kitchen.  

There's just no good way to put that experience into a carry-out box.

And so I'm pivoting once again.  The staff and I are turning the space into a holiday Snømarket and fresh food shop. I'm not sure it'll work, but I have to try something new.  I'm out of tricks in the old format.  Time to start fresh.  

Reader, I've worked so hard to have a "never-say-die" attitude.  And that attitude remains.  But that attitude really can't fix absolutely everything.  If you too find yourself banging your head against the same wall, remember: you don't have to give up.

You may just need to find a new wall.

Wish me luck!  See you next Monday. -Em