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The Weekly Newsletter |
Menus and Stories for July 26 - July 31, 2004
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| New Products from High Desert |
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Aren't these beautiful?
This is a glimpse of the jars of High Desert Conserves I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Honest, my friends, this is a fabulously delicious product. Pure fruit. A little sugar. Oh my.
Come pick up a selection of these beauts. They have lovely, poetic combinations of fruit and flavors. Here's a thought: Make a new kind of banana split, with three of these as toppings. You'll wow your friends. If that sounds too exotic, spread some on toast. Okay? |
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What's in this issue: |
1. High Desert Preserves
2. Mama Lil's Peppers
3. Dinners to Go
4. Casserole of the week
5. Talented individuals
6. Yum # 1
7. A Note from Laurey
8. Yum, another one
If you'd rather not receive these weekly notes, simply scroll to the bottom of this page, follow the instructions about "unsubscribe" and that'll be that. |
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| New products: Mama Lil's |
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These wonderful peppers from Howard Lev are back. We zipped through our first shipment last fall and are pleased to have the shelves full once again.
Howard is a funny gent from Seattle who makes spicy pickled Hungarian "Goathorn" peppers. We've got the Gourmet magazine article for those of you who like stories. He's quirky, which is just the way we like him, and his pickles are de-LI-cious! Trust me! |
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The nightly dinners for the week (Call 252-1500 to order) |
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 for that night's meal. Then come back between 4:30 and 6:00 to pick up your dinner - all ready in a heatable container. Simple, yes?
Monday July 26 Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Fresh Spinach and Ricotta 9.50
Tuesday July 27 Vegetarian Blue Plate Special 9.50
Wednesday July 28 Honey-lime Grilled Chicken with Avocado Salsa 9.75**
Thursday July 29 Peanut-crusted Pork Chops 10.25
Friday July 30 Grilled Shrimp Kebobs with Rice Pilaf 12.00
** means you can enjoy this meal to your "low-carb" 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 month we are featuring casseoles that represent some of the places our ancestors came from. Try 'em all, why don't you? Why cook?
This week's casserole (for July 28) is inspired by India. We're making a Chicken Curry with Fresh Mangoes and Pineapple. Basmati Rice will be the foundation for this delicious summertime casserole. Don’t worry – we’ll be light-handed with the spice (unless you WANT a hot version.)
Full 33.00
Half 16.50
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Talented and interesting individuals |
Okay - here's a team shot for you: the office team.
Here's the order: from the left you see Karen (our director of catering), Emily, me, and Maurie.
Emily is the one who generally gets to the phone first. She heads up the organization of each day's parties, and, well, keeps things together for all of us. She came to the Fancy Food Show with me last month and is now also taking the lead on keeping the shop full of all the products we fell in love with on that trek. She really is the glue that holds the whole place together and I am particulary delighted every time I come to work and see her perky smile.
And Maurie is the official Office Manager. It is her responsibility to keep all the payments coming in and going out, which is, as you know, a key part of any business. She keeps herself tucked into the corner of the office, quietly entering numbers, writing invoices, keeping the joint in line. She has been a part of this place for quite some time (has it really been five years?) and, well, I'm not so sure what I'd do without her either.
I told you how I fretted when we moved out of the big office downstairs into our much smaller space upstairs. It used to be that we each had tons of room, shouting out thoughts to each other. Now, tucked into this small room that we share, we are doing well, keeping ourselves in a good humor (for the most part.) It is a rare thing to get along this well with four very different people, but we do just fine, working, laughing, helping, protecting, caring.
Lucky me! |
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| Heirloom Tomatoes from Whistlepig Farms |
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Our friend Tom is making us all very happy these days, now that tomato season has finally arrived. He's a specialist, you see, making it his task to grow and sell unusual kinds of tomatoes and, yes, garlic. (Now that we have so many farmers and markets in Asheville, growers are seeing that they would do well to specialize. Tom caught on early, and we are the happy beneficiaries of his talents.)
The other day, as I was having a meeting with a new young business-owner-to-be, Tom showed up with a box of Cherokee Purple, Black Prince, and Oregon Spring Heirloom tomatoes for us. I sent him right through the red door into the kitchen where Martha and Deb and Richard wasted no time in getting them them cut, gently seasoned (not much is needed) and into the deli case for your lunch. He promises to keep us in tomatoes all summer, not just for the shop but for special parties too. Ask for them the next time you call and we'll see what we can do.
Oh yes, before I forget, look for his braids of different garlic too. We're the only place to get them, unless you can figure out which taligate market to go to. This week he brought in a few braids of Nootka Rose Garlic, but, since he's growing forty kinds (who KNEW there was that much variety!) there's no telling what you might find the next time you look. |
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Dinner and Conversation - August 18 |
Okay, my friends, we've settled on a date.
Want to come and spend an evening with us here in the new shop? We'll be featuring the bounty of Varri Green Farms' produce (and maybe other's too) and would love to introduce you to the growers and share an intentional meal with you.
Yes, there will be a charge (though I'm not quite sure what it will be yet), and yes, there is a limit on how many folks we can accommodate, but, for now, please let me know if you're still interested (or interested for the first time if that is the case for you) and we'll be back in touch.
Sandra Smith, from Holy Ground, will help keep the conversation going, as will Penny Rush, a colleague and friend of mine. Come eat and talk about the spirit of food. Sound good? We thought so too. |
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| A Note from Laurey |
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I've been doing a fair bit of thinking about balancing rocks these days. Yes. That's right. Balancing Rocks. I'm not really sure why this is such a fascinating thing, but, well, it has become so.
Do you know the artist Andy Goldsworthy, the fellow who goes out and picks up leaves and sticks and rocks and makes sculptures in the woods? Well, for some reason, I seem to be finding myself captivated by the simple act of finding the point of balance for rocks. Finding it, holding the rock, sensing its spot, and letting it stand, balanced, in its river or ocean or porch home.
The other day I was up on a hillside, scouting for a ceremony that will be coming up this fall. I stood, listening and trying to get the feeling of that spot and, seeing a pile of rocks, I could not resist the pull to play. One rock called and I picked it up and, mesmerized in a way, positioned it to stand up in a way that, from a distant glance, seemed like a position that would have been impossible for it to hold. But there it stood. Solid and strong and odd. The wind came up. A Red-tailed Hawk flew over. The rock held.
Up on the top of Blueberry Hill there was a huge boulder when I was little. I have no idea how it could have gotten up there on a grassy knoll, but I guess it must have rolled off Romance Mountain a long time before I ever discovered it. It was, by far, my favorite of my many secret hideouts, a grand place to climb, hide, dream. I often sat on it, balanced and very happy.
Today, thinking of writing and life, I balanced a couple of rocks, concentrating but drifting at the same time. I think that when you become 50 some things change and there seem to be many times when I need to just think and breathe and mull over what is going on. Rock balancing is a good thing to do for me right now.
I'm not quite sure how much call there is for rock balancing in this world, but it is certainly a settling thing for me to do. And, when I return to a rock that I have placed, and it is still standing, it makes me smile, amused at this odd passion of mine.
Um, I have no tidy conclusion here. But perhaps, before you wonder about me, you might give it a try. You might see what I mean. You might. |
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Yum! |
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Contact Info: |
Laurey@laureysyum.com
828-252-1500
67 Biltmore Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801 |
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