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The Weekly Newsletter |
Menus and Stories for September 4 - 15, 2006
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| More Fried Green Tomatoes |
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Oh life is good.
I got to cook more fried green tomatoes this morning - this time in North Asheville.
Peter Marks roasted local peppers and I fried tomatoes and mashed up his peppers with some chipotle cream and we had a good couple of hours, all entertained by the lovely melodies of Patrick Fitzsimons (gosh he's good!)
My favorite comment came from one local gent who said, after he tasted my version of this southern specialty, "You're not FROM here, are you?"
When I said that no, I am not, he grunted, "Yeah - I THOUGHT so," before scruffling on.
(Most everyone else liked them, I think.)
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Celebrate Sunburst Week |
Our friends over at Sunburst Trout had a tragic fire a couple of weeks ago. We, and a number of other restaurants, decided to have a week of meals in their honor. There are about 14 restaurants and food joints who are part of this. Look for the lovely posters picturing a trout and a burst of sun (made by the clever souls at Blue Barn House Press) around town (I tried to put a picture in this newsletter but my computer savviness failed me.) Each restaurant will let you know what they are doing for Sunburst.
Our "Celebrate Sunburst" day is going to be on Thursday, September 14th. We'll have a special dinner-to-go that night which will feature their trout. I wanted to give you plenty of time to get this in your minds. Save that night for us - for "Dinner-to-go for Sunburst."
30% of the proceeds from those dinners will get sent right to Sunburst to help them rebuild their production facilities. We are also going to give them 10% of the proceeds from the entire day's sales so do come by for lunch in our cafe or have us cater a meal to your place of work on that day.
The other restaurants (and food joints) who are part of this are:
Bouchon
Corner House Kitchen
Early Girl Eatery
The Marketplace
Grovewood Cafe
The Lobster Trap
28806
Savoy
Fig
Earth Fare
Vincenzo's
Cafe on the Square
and Greenlife
And, the folks at the winery of The Biltmore House are giving us some wine that they think will pair nicely with this dinner. They GIVE it to us, you give us a donation, and we send all the money to Sunburst.
Ain't life grand?
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| Special Sunburst Dinner - Thursday, September 14 |
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Here’s our special meal for the night:
“A taste of our Southern Mountains”
At the start:
Southern Antipasto
Our own pickled vegetables (carrots, beets, okra, and cukes) and Spinning Spider Chevre Bites. We’ll accompany this with Roasted Red Pepper Crostini
The Dinner:
Grilled Mountain Trout Filets with Lemon Zest
Martha’s Incredible Southern Corn and Squash Casserole
Richard’s Sweet Potato Salad
Corn Bread
The Dessert:
Peach Cobbler
The price per person will be 19.25 per person
Please place your order by the end of the day on Tuesday, September 12 if possible. (We’ll order extra, but we’d like to know if we should plan on you.)
Orders will be ready to pick up on Thursday, September 14th between 4:30 and 6:00
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Dinners to go for the next two weeks |
Dinners, as you know, 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.
(I'm headed out for a vacation so I am sending two weeks of menus in this newsletter.)
Here is the menu for this coming two weeks: Monday September 4 We will be closed today in honor of Labor Day
Tuesday September 5 Pear, Caramelized Onion and Brie Turnovers 9.95
Wednesday September 6 Sesame Beef with Shitake Mushrooms and Broccoli 12.75
Thursday September 7 Lemon Rosemary Chicken 10.25
Friday September 8 Red Snapper Veracruz 12.75
Monday September 11 Chicken with Pecan Parsley Cream 9.95
Tuesday September 12 Italian Sausage and Roasted Tomato Cassoulet 11.75
Wednesday September 13 Beef Tips with Mushroom Sherry Sauce 12.25
Thursday September 14 “Celebrate Sunburst” day at Laurey’s (see above)
Friday September 15 Lime and Coconut Tilapia Filet 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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| Special casserole of the week - for two weeks |
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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, September 6
Seafood Cottage Pie
topped with Puffed Pastry
Full 44.75
Half 22.50
**
Wednesday, September 14
Martha’s Fried Green Tomato-topped Chicken Pot Pie
Full 33.00
Half 16.50
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A flash of color |
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| and light green petals too |
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(zinnia haiku) |
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| A Note From Laurey |
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Late last month I had the pleasure of catering a Bat Mitzvah. The girl of the day had decided she wanted a western theme to her big party. The good news for her is that her parents live on a farm, so the overall décor was already in place. A friend of their family knew where to get cowboy paraphernalia and so, months in advance, the family’s barn filled up with hats and lanterns and boots and all matter of western things.
On the day of the party, our staff, along with the honoree’s younger sister, set out cowboy hats and bandanas, lanterns, and place cards – oh, and Sheriff’s badges.
I was the cook on this one, a job I don’t get to do too much these days, having filled my work life with other kinds of jobs for the most part. But I knew the parents and, well, just felt like becoming grill babe once again. (I get to pull rank every once in a while after all!)
Midway through the party, a guest wandered back into my grilling area. He proudly wore his bandana and his hat and his Sheriff’s badge. Noticing my unadorned chef’s coat, he pointedly returned to the party area, found an unclaimed badge, and brought it to me. I pinned it on and continued to cook, gleefully splattering my chef’s coat with grilling detritus. (Cooking is like that – hence the protective clothing!) The day after the party I took my coat to the cleaners, completely forgetting about my Sheriff’s badge.
Last week I went to pick up my cleaning, for it was time to go to yet another party, and, though I do have other chef’s coats, the one at the cleaners is my current favorite one. When the counter gal brought my jacket to me, she also handed my a small plastic sack which said, “It’s in the bag” on the side. Tucked neatly inside was my Sheriff’s badge, which I promptly pinned onto my work shirt.
“Maybe,” I joked to the women working there, “I’ll get some respect with this thing.”
They smiled indulgently at my silliness before turning to the next customer in the morning’s line.
Boy I had a fun day wearing that badge!
“Oh, I see the SHERIFF is here!” announced the teller at my bank that morning.
“Morning, Sheriff!” greeted the friends I bumped into on my trips back and forth in my shop.
“Howdy, pardner!” said others.
Stupid as it was, I wore the pin through serious meetings (which provided some levity) and through casual encounters all day long. I heard stories of friends’ childhoods with their holsters and chaps. My little pin elicited reveries, tales, musings. And it made things just seem lighter.
I love these kinds of things, these flashes of reminders. For some reason, my sisters and I usually pretended to be Indians, not cowboys. I have a picture of us with bandanas tied around our heads, feathers stuck in, staging mock battles with each other using sticks as weapons. Since we three were girls, our house was not brimming with holsters and guns (this was before all the political correctness of these kinds of toys) but we managed to know about them and to create our own. I’m sure I would have proudly worn a Sheriff’s badge if I’d had one then.
Now, however, is certainly better than never.
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First tastes of Fried Green Tomatoes |
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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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