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The Weekly Newsletter |
Menus and Stories for August 29 - September 3, 2005
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| Richard's "Sandy's" |
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Our Richard, the fellow who created the amazingly delicious Sweet Potato Salad, mentioned earlier this week that he had made some new pastries. Oh boy did he! Named after his mother, the babies have fresh fruit (as you can see) but underneath that he slathered some vanilla-bean infused Bavarian cream. But wait - there's more! Yup - underneath it all he hid a layer of chocolate. Oh, and on the pastry he brushed apricot glaze.
I am pretty sure that covers all the food groups for a good morning's start.
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Speaking of Sweet Potatoes |
Kether, our newest cook, told me this morning that we are now baking more than 25 pounds of sweet potatoes EVERY DAY these days just to keep up with the needs of the deli case. If we have a lunch delivery, she needs to peel and slice (we now have a fancy super duper food processor!) even more.
I hate to say this, but if you have not tried Richard's amazing, award-winning Sweet Potato salad, well, um, you probably should. (Sorry Kether.)
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| Jon's new toy |
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Jon, our ace delivery fellow, was all smiles earlier this week as he showed off his newest guitar. It is an exact copy of the one played by the Gypsy Jazz guitar player Django Reinhardt. He refused to play it for us right then, but we hope to have a bit of a listen sometime soon.
By the way, Jon is also the rhythm guitar player for The Rib Tips, the local band that is getting so much attention these days. For instance, there is a new movie (and ad piece I think) being filmed about Asheville. The Rib Tips will be the soundtrack! Cool, don't you think?
For us Jon is a masterful, careful, attentive, and courteous delivery driver. But more than just showing up and dropping the baskets, I suspect he takes care of the offices and hostesses (and hosts) perfectly. That careful attention to exemplary service is just who he is. (When he is not playing his guitars.)
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Dinners to go |
Dinners come with a freshly-made green salad, salad dressing of the day,
and made-right-here bread of the day. We take reservations until noon or so.
Please order by phone (252-1500), by FAX (252-02002) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.
Monday, August 29 Greek Lemon Chicken with Tabouli 9.75
Tuesday, August 30 Salmon and Corn Cakes with Lemon Basil Aioli 12.75
Wednesday, August 31 Grilled Pesto-rubbed Flank Steak 10.75
Thursday, September 1 Pork Tenderloin with Peach Salsa 10.50
Friday, September 2 Shrimp with Grits 12.00
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Our website |
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| Our Casserole of the week |
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We make a special casserole each week on Wednesday. Please give us a call by the end of the day on Tuesday and we’ll fix yours for you. Come by between 4:30 and 6:00. Get a half (for 4 appetites) or a full sized pan (for 9 or so.)
Chicken Puttanesca with Pasta
(with tomatoes, capers, and fresh herbs)
Whole casserole 33.00
Half casserole 16.50
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A gift for the Out of Town visitors |
Wouldn't you like to get to your hotel room and find one of these waiting for you?
Karen put them together for a group of folks who are in town for a wedding. Just enough to take care of a sweet tooth or a thirst, these fun baskets are just an example of what we do when we're not busy keeping the shop filled or the parties cooked and served or the lunches delivered.
Gift baskets? You bet.
(By the way, we do special ones for the holidays. Make 'em. Ship 'em. Call it a day. We've just decided what to put in them this year. I'll tell you about it soon...)
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| They keep coming! |
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Oh how lovely these Zinnias are. Judith's garden must be absolutely amazing. She shows up twice a week with her buckets full. Faster than imaginable the vases are cleaned, filled, repositioned and she's off.
The other day we hosted a welcome luncheon for a gal who is new to town. We put up the screens and gave over The Garden Room to them, setting up a buffet and serving iced tea or wine. The tables, graced with Judith's posies, shimmered. Very nice. Very nice.
By the way, speaking of the Garden Room and parties, we are beginning to take reservations for holiday parties. Amazing as it is to believe, it really is time to save the date if you want to reserve space with us for a party here. Our whole shop and dining area love being transformed into party spaces. Do consider making it your own for an evening. We have pictures and lots of ideas for you. We've almost arrived at the "...ber" months! Gulp! It really is almost time to think about these things.
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Hey - we're working! |
Karen and Emily couldn't resist donning these festive hats the other day. Search as I might, I could not find one to match, so I picked the best one available (big, yup, ah well.)
The funny thing was, they apparently wore theirs at their computers, typing away at their desks and laying in wait for my arrival. I was late and so they had no choice but to sit and work. (I was ten minutes later than they expected.) We know we're at work, but it's so much more amusing to jump around and play. Makes life so much more fun. And fun IS part of our mission statement. So we HAVE to play. (Luckily.)
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| A Note from Laurey |
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The world and our town and we, here at Laurey's, lost a friend this week.
Bob Moog, musical and electronic genius, left this world the other day. Things seem very quiet all of a sudden.
I remember having a copy of "Switched on Bach" when I was a teenager. It might have been one of the first records my sisters and I bought. We had grown up with Broadway musicals, so this zippy, peppy music really caught our attention. We played the record over and over again. I remember talking about the "Moog synthesizer" (I pronounced it like the sound a cow makes.) Of course I had no idea what a synthesizer was, nor did I know that Moog was an actual man (and that his named rhymed with "vogue.")
A few years ago we got a call from someone named Moog looking for a caterer for a wedding. The Moogs, we came to realize, now lived in Asheville! Imagine! We catered the first of many small and larger meals for them that day.
Jump ahead a few years. A friend of mine had just started working at a company here that was making kits for Theremins. These crazy electronic gadgets could be played just by waving a hand in the air. I had recently watched a documentary about these weird instruments and I was stunned that the syntheszer man was involved in this thing too. I went and visited her there and got to try playing the thing. Spooky sounds came out. Gail pointed out that Brian Wilson had played one in the song "Good Vibrations." I was very excited to be playing with one - not that I understood how it worked. (But then again, I don't know how an internal combustion engine works either, but I do drive.)
Adam, our shop co-manager, came in a week or so ago bubbling about a documentary he and Emily (our office manager) had just seen. This one was all about Bob Moog and his synthesizers. It was a recent movie, originally shown at The Asheville Film festival. I took the movie home and watched it and the next day we all three talked about it. I decided to call Bob and ask him to come in for lunch. I wanted to connect him up with Adam, let him listen to the music Adam creates these days.
But the next day we all saw a small article in the paper saying that Moog was very ill. And the day after that we heard he had died. This meeting, this lunch I imagined, was not going to happen.
Adam and I went to Bob's memorial. We sat and listened to story after story, performance after performance. People came from all over the United States. From all over the world, really. Wendy Carlos, the "Switched on Bach" genius, was there, speaking and telling how it all happened. She played three pieces, created over the years. Bach. Brandenburg. Her soundtrack to " A Clockwork Orange." At the end she played a piece from her "Beauty and The Beast." As we all listened, she sat down on the platform behind the podium, just on the edge of the spotlight. Her head, resting in her hands, barely moved. But at one point, when the music soared, she perked up, hands waving, conducting the air, punctuating the dark with staccato gestures. The room shook with her music, which existed in that form only because of the genius of her friend and teacher, Bob Moog.
We had made 1600 brownies for the occasion. Our brownies, they told us, were his favorites. I was glad we could offer a bit of sweetness to this deeply moving tribute. I was glad I could stop and sit and be there. He made a huge impact in a very quiet and humble way. We will all miss him very much. All in our own ways.
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Griffith's new pup |
This morning at our tailgate market this cutie pie was turning heads. (The puppy, not the boy.) I was tempted to adopt him and his equally sweet brother, but I think my dog and two cats would have a fit so I resisted. All of us in the kitchen oohed and aahed and considered, but all of us said no too.
But, as you can see, one puppy did find a home. Griffith's dad sells us groceries, and he had stopped by to drop off some tortillas he'd forgotten to give us yesterday. Just as he was coming out of the shop, I was walking across the street to show everyone this little pup. Boy and pup took one look at each other. Boy squealed. Pup's tail hinted at wagging. Boy looked at dad. Dad, HOORAY, said yes. Ain't life sweet!
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Contact Info: |
Laurey's
"Gourmet Comfort Food"
Eat In - Take Out - Catering
67 Biltmore Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
828-252-1500
Hours:
Monday - Friday 8:00 - 6:00 pm
Saturday 8:00 - 4:00 pm |
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