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The Weekly Newsletter |
Menus and Stories for October 31 - November 4, 2005
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Wow! - Local Garlic |
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Tom, our buddy over at Whistlepig Farms (a "Whistle Pig" is a ground hog in the local vernacular, by the way), is a self-proclaimed garlic freak. He farms some flat acreage at the base of Mt. Pisgah, just to the west of here, and decided, a few years back, to specialize in unusual garlics. He had an idea to package them in fancy boxes and, without further ado, got to work.
He's been planting and selling and working with a designer and tweaking the box and - ta da! - here it is! We bought his first batch and are offering it to you for the very first time. It's an amazing gift for a food lover. If you know of a food lover, I suggest you come here as soon as possible to buy a box to stow away until gift-time. This is a most unusual gift, my friends, most unusual.
Hand-grown, hand-picked, organic...wow. (Plus the label, by Alice Io, is fabulous!)
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Apple Walnut Tarts |
Aren't these pretty?
This was last night's dessert for a Garden Room Bat Mitzvah celebration. The young lady was radiant, graciously greeting her family with poise and sweetness. The afternoon sun brought out the best for everyone.
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Southern Living |
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We're in it this month!
If you are in North or South Carolina, be sure to take a gander at the Carolina Living section of November's Southern Living magazine. There is a nice story about us, a couple of pictures, some sweet words. This attention is a bit of a blast - warm and strong and, well, a bit much too. But it's a pleasure to be a place that out of towners are finding out about. We've added a couple of tables to accommodate these newcomers, but there is always room for you.
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Dinners to go (Free dinner drawing*) |
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.
Every time you order a dinner to go you are eligible to enter our drawing. Just drop a card in our drawing jar (a business card works or fill out one of the cards that we have right here) and, at the end of the month, we'll pull one card which will be good for two free dinners-to-go.
Order a lot? Enter a lot! Good luck!!
Here's this week's menu:
Monday, October 31 Chicken Sate with Ginger-glazed Vegetables 9.75
Tuesday November 1 Elsie’s Chicken Baked in Wine 9.75
Wednesday November 2 Pork Chops with Red Eye Gravy and Grits 10.25
Thursday November 3 Sesame Beef and Sugar Snap Peas 10.75
Friday November 4 Honey-Dijon Wild Salmon Filet 13.00
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Our website |
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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.)
Wednesday, November 2
Creole-style Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage
Full: 37.50
Half: 18.75
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Middle Eastern Buffet in the Garden Room |
Here is a look at the spread, basking in the afternoon sun of our Garden Room, waiting for the guests to arrive.
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Thanksgiving Dinner to Go |
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Believe it or not, it is time to think about Thanksgiving. We thought we'd show you this year's menu and give you an early chance to get your order in for this year's meal.
Thanksgiving 2005 – Dinner to go
We make a full Thanksgiving Dinner to Go each year. Our dinners are made
and packed up on Wednesday giving our staff the chance to go home
and be with their own families on Thanksgiving.
Please order by Friday, November 18 if you can.
(This will give us plenty of time to make sure we have the ingredients we need.)
We’ll have your dinner ready to pick up on
Wednesday, November 23
between 3 and 5:00 in the afternoon
At the start:
Richard’s Oven-roasted Tomatoes with Quattro Formaggi and Garlic Toasts
Elsie’s Spiced, Pickled Shrimp
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Blueberry Hill Turkey and Stuffing
served with Herbed Gravy and Roasted Cranberries
Creamy Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
Richard’s Award-winning Sweet Potato Salad
Roasted Baby Green Beans and Whole Baby Carrots
with Roasted Mushrooms
Laurey’s Jubilee* Chutney
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Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Price per person 28.25 (+ tax)
Orders will be presented in reheatable containers and you will be given instructions for reheating. Feel free to order the whole meal just for yourself or for a gang of 50.
Want just the parts? Let us know. We do that too.
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Time for "Hot Lunch of the day" |
Yup - now that it is cold around here the cooks have once again started their daily offering of a hot lunch of the day. They had planned to start next week, but the unexpected chill prompted them to step up the schedule a bit - and already they're hustling and bustling and making more and more each day.
When the cold first hit Martha made Macaroni and Cheese with Fall Vegetables. Gone! Just like that. We had Gumbo one day, Jambalaya the next. Of course we're making soups like crazy too. Come see what's on the stove today.
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A Note From Laurey |
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October 29, 2005
Hiya,
I’m enjoying a quiet morning, knowing that the busy-ness is coming soon. I am meeting with a bride soon about a June wedding, I have a stack of menus to write, the shop needs primping, and the film festival’s visitors will, no doubt, drop by for lunch here pretty soon. The momentary pause, when I get to write this note, is a gift.
We’ve had quite a week. The Southern Living article appeared on newsstands around here last weekend and it has been a bit of a blur since then. We’ve seen a major increase in the number of visitors we don’t know, and it has been a trick to keep the deli case full, the cookies wrapped and ready, and the tables cleared off for the next round. We all knew the story was coming, but none of us knew quite what to expect. It’s wild.
On Thursday evening we took a group break, however, and visited a lovely new place near here: Shoji Spas. The proprietors have finally opened up their Japanese-style hot tubs to the public (well, it’s been a few months now) and we had a very nice time up there skipping in and out of hot tubs, cold plunge pools and the deliciously hot sauna. If you “Google” Shoji Retreats, you’ll find them. 8 minutes from downtown Asheville. Nice!!!
(By the way, when we got back to town a bunch of us were wildly hungry – sitting in hot water can make a gal work up an appetite! – so we trooped off across the street to eat some great BBQ at Ed Boudreaux’s. Our guy Jon – delivery driver by day – was guitar master for some excellent Bob Will’s-style western swing. The food and music were the perfect finish.)
Earlier in the week Emily and I drove to Atlanta to get more tables for our shop. We’d realized that it was time to move our staff break area down to where our old office was and devote more space to seating up on this level. We got up early, picked up a van at 7:30, drove down to Ikea, shopped and shopped and shopped (fortunately we knew exactly what we needed before we went) and got back on the road at 3:30, our van filled with chairs and desks and assorted other things. We pulled up to the back door of the shop at 8:00 pm, unloaded everything into the old office, and scooted home, dizzy with it all. Jon and Karen Grace spent the day assembling everything on Thursday, just in time for Friday’s party. Whew!!!
New products are coming in by the hand truck full. I’ll tell you about them all in the coming weeks, but, um, it is time to start thinking about all that stuff you know – after Halloween, of course.
There is a lot going on around here. Makes me kind of swirl.
I think I need another trip up to Shoji.
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Gum Philosophy |
Yup.
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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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