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The Weekly Newsletter |
Menus and Stories for May 24 - May 29, 2004
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| This morning at the market |
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Can you imagine how wonderful it is to just stroll across the street, visit with the farmers, listen to sweet Bob Willoughby playing haunting Appalachian tunes on his fiddle, and pick up some plants for my home?
I've been there three times already this morning. Can't seem to get enough of this fine green and warm spot on a day like this.
I feel incomparably lucky. |
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What's in this issue: |
1. The downtown Farmer's market
2. Fromage Fresh
3. Dinners to Go
4. Casserole of the week
5. Our Mission - an examination
6. Champlain Chocolates
7. A Note from Laurey
Say, if you don't wish to continue to receive these weekly notes, simply scroll to the bottom of this page, follow the instructions about "unsubscribe" and consider it a done deal. No sweat.
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| Fromage Fresh from Spinning Spider |
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Oh my! Chris and the boys (and the goats) have been busy this spring. Their newest introduction is a fresh, gently sweet spread made with their delicate chevre which they combine with their own fruit preserves. (Actually some of the preserves come from neighbors, but you get my drift, right?)
This is a lovely morning spread but could be the light finish you might want after a dinner of just-out-of-the garden steamed asparagus.
Take some out to the porch and tell stories while the moon rises. |
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The nightly dinners for the week |
Dinners-to-go are available Monday through Friday.
Here's how it works:
Just call us in the morning and we'll take your order. Then come back between 4:30 and 6:00 to pick up your dinner - all ready in a heatable container. Simple, yes?
Monday May 24 Old-fashioned Fried Chicken 9.75
Tuesday May 25 Rosemary Roasted Pork Tenderloin 10.75
Wednesday May 26 Flank Steak Au Poivre 11.25
Thursday May 27 BBQ Ribs with Richard’s Amazing Sweet Potatoes 10.50
Friday May 28 Dijon Grouper and French Green Beans 12.00 **
How's your low carb plan going? ** means you can enjoy this meal to your heart's content. Yum! |
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Dinners to go for the whole month |
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| The Casserole of the Week |
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Casseroles are made each Wednesday.
Call to order on Tuesday if you can.
Orders will be ready on Wednesday between 4:30 and 6:00.
Order a full pan for 9 (or so) or a half pan for 4 or 5.
This week's casserole (for May 26) is:
Spanakopita with Peppers and Olives
Half 14.50
Full 29.00
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Our mission: the conversation begins |
I thought it might be good to speak a bit about the parts of our mission. This is the foundation of this place, after all. For the next few weeks I am going to write, just a bit, about the mission's parts.
"Our pledge is to use the best ingredients available, from local sources wherever possible."
We are really committed to this, and now, with so many farmers and food producers coming around, we're able to do more and more.
Watch in our deli case for the "Get Fresh, Buy Appalachian" stickers. This will be our indication that there are farm fresh parts in that item.
And, when you call us to ask for catering, be sure to let us know that it matters that the food is carefully, safely, locally grown. This will enable us to do more and even more.
After all, the health of all of us is at stake. And it is our pledge to do as much as we can. So thanks for doing your part too. |
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| Champlain Chocolates - zounds |
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These are not only my favorite chocolates but are now being packed in my favorite colors. We've filled in the grown-up chocolate bar supply too and, in case you need to be monitored, we have smaller versions, just right for that ONE bite you must have after dinner.
We think they have the best chocolate. (After all, it IS from Vermont, you know).
Yum! |
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A Note from Laurey |
May 24.
I am 50 years and one week old. I do not feel much more than 11, I’d have to say. As I slipped on shorts and sneakers this morning I wondered when, if ever, I’ll feel my age. But, um, maybe this IS what 50 is supposed to feel like. I mean, here I am, 50, and feeling like this. Yes, I guess I feel just right.
My sisters have been here for their annual birthday visit. If I could, I’d send them to your house too, but actually, when they are with me, they are way too busy. The energy of the three of us is impressive. They run their own businesses too, and when we three get together we accomplish amazing things.
Last year, as I remember telling you, we installed a whole fenced in yard for my pup, redid gardens, trimmed, yanked, planted, and sorted things out. When they left I felt like I had a new home. This year is not a whole lot different.
Over the year I had let things go. I have been working on my book, you know, which has meant that I have been going home and writing instead of working in my yard or garden. The vegetable garden had become a tangled mess, the bank overtaken by vetch and invasive plants. I had brought in a friend to do the big work, but I had never felt motivated enough to follow behind, clearing and trimming. And, down below the driveway, the fruit trees I planted some years ago had grown way out of control. The whole picture, combined, was daunting.
But then “the sisters” appeared. You should see my place now!
We started in the vegetable area. Heather led by digging in with my fork, loosening the ground and making things malleable enough that Lucinda and I could easily follow behind and clear the old weeds out. Last year we had redone one path in this garden, but the other two were neglected. This year Lucinda hauled out the old bricks and spread gravel. I laid the bricks back in place and we spread more gravel and sand on top. Two new paths. Done. Just like that.
Heather, in the meantime, drifted over to the apples which shot up, way too high in the air to ever reach. “You start,” she said, “by imagining tossing a chicken through the branches. You want it to be that their flapping wings don’t touch anything. Let’s do that for now.” And off she went with my clippers. The branches fell, the light came in, and I began to feel the weight of it all lifting.
“This is great!” Lucinda chimed in, grabbing a saw.
(We KNOW you’re not supposed to prune at this time of year, and that this action will compromise this year’s fruit, but, heck, I’ve never had any fruit anyway – so what the heck. At least now the trees LOOK great, and there is plenty of room for chicken tossing if you are so inclined).
Anyway – after we pruned we went to the garden store and spent some of the gift certificates I was given for my 50th. My car, loaded, creaked on the way home, crammed with garden future.
Now I go home at night, sit on my front step, smell the mint and the sage and the verbena and say thank you to these wonders of my life. My sisters. They are the very best.
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| This morning in our back yard at the shop |
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Martha has been sharing the green of all her fingers, not just her thumbs, nuturing and coaxing all sorts of things in our garden patch behind the old office.
I know it is now very easy to just sit with us in our new dining area, but remember just last year, when you used to carry your lunch around back to the garden? You still can. The table is there for you and you can sit, eat, talk, and watch as the flowers grow.
Who says you always have to be in such a hurry? |
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