Master's Hand

“I’m sorry Master’s Hand, I don’t really have a reason to go outside of the Omaha area.” That was what I thought a couple of years ago when Susie Robison of Master’s Hand reached out to me to invite me out to Tekamah. Tekamah? What’s in Tekamah? I really had no idea.  At the time it would have taken a lot of effort for me to go because I was never a fan of travel.

Fast forward to present day where before COVID, my family had done more traveling than I had probably done in the 5 previous years combined. We have traveled to San Antonio, TX, Denver, Colorado, Little Rock, AR, Rochester, MN and more. An hour drive is nothing for me now. For some reason it wasn’t meant for us to visit back then.  The cards definitely showed me that now was the time to make our visit.

Why? Because I happened to have a couple of days off from work and out of the blue Susie reached out to me again to ask us to stop out for their corn picking event. Gary Vaynerchuk, a business and media mastermind, is a very inspirational person in my life and he says to say “Yes” more. So that’s exactly what I did. I told Susie that I had time off from work and we planned a visit. She told me to make sure to ask for her when we arrived.

When we got there we asked the young lady at the front counter if she could let Susie know that we were there. The young lady goes to the back after asking who I am and then all of the sudden…”Omaha Fattie is here! Did you hear that? Omaha Fattie is here!” I was instantly a fan because I have never gone anywhere and received a welcome like that. Oh how my heart smiled!

I am going to tell you now that this is not a typical Omaha Fattie review because there is so much more than food involved with Master’s Hand. We were inside the shop that included home décor, a chocolate and baked goods counter, a café and one of the coolest restrooms that I have ever seen in my life. Outside there were train car rides, a goat petting area, cotton candy, Sno Cones, a redneck splash pad and of course the corn picking.

This was the first year that they were doing a corn field that had been a dream of her and her husband. This is an emotional thing for Susie as her husband passed away and this corn field was dedicated to him. Let me tell you, I know he would be so happy to see what the family was able to accomplish. We’ll circle back to this later on in the review.

For now, let’s talk about this corn field and corn picking. I personally have never picked corn before. This was quite the experience. Visitors receive a cloth shopping bag for only $20 and with that could pick as much as they could fit in the bag. Susie broke down the process for us and showed us how to pick it. She mentioned that there might be worms in the corn and not to worry as that was natural. Those parts get cut off after you pick it. We only had one piece of corn with a big worm in it that needed to be cut. We all enjoyed it, but my youngest did cut her hand open while picking and she wasn’t too thrilled about that. She did get over it. Once we finished we tallied our cobs and got a whopping 54!

Okay, I could go on about so much here as it is a whole experience, but as this is for the Fattie review I’ll get to the food now. I’ll start with the drinks. Myself and the girls ordered strawberry lemonades and my wife ordered a lavender lemonade. Oh man, this lemonade was so good! I’ve never tried a lavender anything so it sounded kinda weird, but my wife was enjoying it so much that I had to try it and I too was impressed. Another example of why it is good to step outside of your normal comfort zone. When we go back I know that we will be getting more lemonade.

My daughters split an order of a Chicken Bacon Ranch Panini, I ordered a Reuben Panini and my wife got a Chicken Salad. The meals came with a salad and a dessert. I was so glad that I got the Reuben. It had been a while since I had one of those and I had been wanting to order one for a while, but typically default to something else like a burger. This was the perfect opportunity to have one and it didn’t disappoint. The combination of the corned beef with the sauerkraut one so good and it being pressed as a Panini really made the sandwich complete. As mentioned, I don’t usually order this so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I can tell you that it is a winner! Everyone else enjoyed their meals also and they were filling. That is always a big part of eating at a place. In my mind, if I am eating a meal it should be good and I shouldn’t leave hungry.

We shared a cinnamon roll at the beginning of our meal, but that was given to us by Susie because she wanted us to give them a try. Yes, give these a try when you stop out. I had to force myself to stop eating it all before our food came out. For dessert, I had a Cherry Cheesecake and the girls had a Peach Cobbler. My cheesecake was thick and had a nice weight to it. We were full from the meal so took the desserts home. I think I ate most of mine later that day and the rest a day or two later. I will say that I am more of a Strawberry Cheesecake guy, but I would eat this again. It is nice to experience a place that makes their items from scratch and you can tell the difference. Often times you can tell when something was frozen and not fresh so that already gets a tip of the hat.

Okay, let’s touch on the corn field topic before we wrap this review up. Susie, we love you! You took time out of your busy schedule to welcome my family and show us around Master’s Hand. That in itself is wonderful, but the thing that gets me is your heart. My wife and I could feel your passion when you spoke about the reason that the cornfield was so important. You got into it a little and then had to step away for a moment. We talked about how it seemed like you were on the edge of getting emotional.

Later on, we picked back up where the conversation had ended and this time you did show emotion when you were able to tell us the whole story. You shared a piece of yourself with us when you didn’t have to and because of that I knew this was something that I wanted to see be a success. Even if you didn’t tell us the story we would still know your heart and spirit. You are amazing and what you are doing is amazing. Please continue on your journey. I promise you that my family will come to visit again.

If you cannot tell, I give Master’s Hand 5 Fatties! Have you been? If so, what do you think?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my thoughts on food. You are amazing!

(Disclaimer – We did receive some freebies, but that does not impact the review)