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The Weekly Newsletter |
Menus and Stories for March 20 - 25, 2006
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| Delicate Arch |
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This amazing, precarious looking arch is the symbol of Moab and Arches National Park. This is where I went on my Spring Vacation. As promised, I'm going to show you some pictures from that lovely trip. Oh, the tiny dot under the arch is me. Can you imagine that?
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In Courthouse Wash |
The rock is called SlickRock, but it is far from slick. Made of the residue of ancient oceans, the sand in the stone offers a dependable grip for scrambling and ascending up seemingly impossible inclines. We hopped up to this hollow, hid from the sharp wind, soaked up the warmth from the rock, and felt very happy.
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We did not just sit still, though it might look like it from the pictures I'm putting in, but, well, when you're hiking it is hard to stop and take pictures (at least for me.) I am amazed to look at these pictures and think about being tucked in on these rock slopes. The air is so different, so dry, the light so sharp and bright.
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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 March 20 Teriyaki Chicken with Garlic 9.75
Tuesday March 21 Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna 9.00
Wednesday March 22 Traditional Meatloaf with Roasted Potatoes 10.25
Thursday March 23 Grilled Pork Chops with Saffron Risotto 10.50
Friday March 24 Cashew Crusted Tuna with Herb Butter 12.50
By the way, 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. Inaugurated a few months ago, our first winner was delighted! Maybe you'll win next month.
Order a lot? Enter a lot!
Good luck!!
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Our website |
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| Casseroles for 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, March 22
Ham and Potato Gratin
Full 30.00
Half 15.00
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A catered affair in Canyonlands |
We all had a good laugh at this one. This picnic was a gourmet event, to be sure. We had some very nice Cheddar Cheese, sausage rolled in Herbes du Provence, fresh red peppers and cilantro, roasted chicken, um, and handfuls of trail mix and cookies and peanut butter and crackers and snack-y things.
On this day we took our chances, negotiating the 10% grade on the road into the park through a freak snowstorm, hoping for clearer weather down below. We did find a navigable path indeed and tried to silence the voice of caution from the park ranger who warned of "treacherous conditions" on our day's chosen route. I would have turned back but our friends, experts, kept on. Good thing. We met no other hikers and the wind kept most snow off the route. Cold, yes. And gaspingly beautiful too.
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| Mesa Arch |
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What a spot! I had no idea, driving up in the bright sun and new snow, that this beauty hid at the top of our short hike. This arch looks out over the Colorado River, a tiny snaking band thousands of feet below the canyon rim.
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Under a petroglyph |
This enormous red wall swept over us on a hike one day, keeping us dry in the midst of yet another rainstorm. In addition to some footprints and some horseprints we found sharp rocks which, in the nomenclature of anthropologists, "had been worked." (i.e. someone had chipped them into hide scrapers or something.)
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| A Note From Laurey |
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Well, thanks for indulging me by looking at my vacation pictures. My oh my, what a beautiful place that is, Moab and Arches and Canyonlands and that whole area of Utah. Not to overcrowd the place but, if you haven’t been there, put it on your list. And make sure to get off the road and hike up onto that rock.
And then the vacation ended.
After the week or dodging snow and rain, (“We NEVER get this kind of weather out here!” we heard every day) we headed for home., in yet another near whiteout. The little red rental car admirably gripped the highway. I must have used up a full gallon of wiper fluid trying to keep the windshield clear of crud flung up from semi trucks. Ah well.
At the tiny airport we heard an announcement about there being a delay, which did not seem surprising. I mean, we could barely see the runway. My neck started to feel tense as I thought about being in a small plane in a full whiteout. Ugh. Nose tucked into a new book, I tried to let the worry wash off. I was, technically, still on vacation, right? I had it all planned: get home a day early, unpack, settle in, spend the next day boning up on my words for the Monday night spelling bee here in Asheville. All was good.
Not.
Our plane arrived at our tiny airport a whole hour late. And left, with us on it, later than that. We got to Salt Lake way past the time of our connection. And, it being Sunday of a big spring break week, every single plane for the rest of the day was booked. Solid. No chance of standby. No chance of getting home that night. Or, it appeared, the next day. It looked like I was not going to make it home for the spelling bee.
Trying to make the best of an unplanned detour, we went to baggage claim, found that our bags HAD made a connection to Atlanta (how is this possible?), collected a lovely gift of a new toothbrush from the airline (!) and hopped a cab to downtown Salt Lake. With nothing to unpack, and with a raging appetite, we decided to explore the city. It was, to state the obvious, a big change from the warm and welcoming red rocks.
On a Sunday in downtown Salt Lake, not much happens. Almost every restaurant was closed. No one was on the streets. We found a downtown mall and found a barely edible chain-store meal. It was cold there too. Wind whipped up and down the wide, empty streets. We saw a movie. Huddled back to our hotel. Went to bed. Ugh.
Our plane was not scheduled to leave until mid-afternoon the next day. Seemed like a good opportunity to explore Salt Lake City. But nothing, on a Monday morning, seemed open. During what should have been a rush time, the streets seemed too quiet. We wandered up to the center of town and tried to visit the famous temple (closed to tourists, alas) and the tabernacle (which was closed for renovation.) We DID finally see some pedestrians, one of whom engaged us in conversation and, when finding we were from Asheville, talked excitedly about his many visits to OUR town. I missed our town. I missed the bustle, the liveliness, the warmth.
We did finally find an open restaurant where we had a nice lunch, went to our hotel, collected our few things, went to the airport, got on the plane, made three connections, collected our luggage (where had IT spent the night?) and finally got home well after midnight, glad to be tucked back into these old mountains.
My skin drank in the moisture of this beautiful place. I was, at long last, so glad to be home.
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A Labyrinth - almost |
This beauty hovered over us at a break spot in Moab. There is a geological name for this kind of formation, but to me it looked like a labyrinth, one of my guiding symbols. The circles, formed in rock high up on a canyon wall, were huge, quiet, an ancient reminder that the answers are at the center and that the path is visible to a searching eye.
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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
"Don't Postpone Joy!"(tm)
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