The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for October 22 - 26, 2007
Honey

Our friend Lyn started keeping bees a couple of years ago. The other day she strolled in and quietly mentioned that she is now bottling their honey and had some for sale. I've known her for a long time and so of course I said yes. Little did I know that her honey won the Blue Ribbon, "Best of the Fair" this year. (And there are a LOT of beekeepers here so that is really saying something.)

It's Sourwood.
It's completely local.
It's prize-winning.
And the labels are really cute.
Get my drift? (Come see what I mean.)

Joy!

Okay - as promised, this is the official announcement that the protective bags have arrived and our new, locally printed "broadsides" are available. This wonderful quote, by Teillard de Chardin, is printed on fancy paper, each piece hand fed into a hulking old letterpress. I can't think of a nicer thing to give someone.

(This is mine and it is framed. You can have the folks at American Folk, right across the street, frame yours if you like - they did this one.)

Elsie's Biscuits

I'm off to Southern Pines to teach this week. I think the classes are sold out. Good for me. Not so good for you. Oh well.

On October 27 I will be at The Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury. 3 pm. Come by if you're in the area. I'd love to sign your book or tell you a story or two. In November I'll be in Providence at the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs conference. Then back here, in Sylva at the great Smoky Mountain Book Fair on November 10. I do hope you can make it to one of these events. (Um, if you can't go to any of those places, I can always sign a book right here in our shop.)

Dinners to go

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.

As a reminder, 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.

Maybe you'll win next month.

Order a lot? Enter a lot!
Good luck!!

Here is this week's menu:

Monday October 22 Chicken Marsala with Buttered Noodles 9.95
Tuesday October 23 Pork Enchiladas with Pineapple Salsa 10.95
Wednesday October 24 Grilled Flank Steak with Potatoes and Caesar Salad 12.25
Thursday October 25 Cider Chicken with Cheddar Potatoes 9.95
Friday October 26 Salmon and Scallop Cakes with Dill Sauce 12.25

Yes we are doing Thanksgiving Dinner to Go again. I'll show you the menu next week. (It'll all be for Wednesday, November 21 - all set for easy re-heating.)

Our website
Special casserole of the week

We make a special casserole each week. Order before noon on Wednesday and we'll have yours ready to pick up between 4:30 and 6:00 that very afternoon. (Yes, you can order in advance too.) Order a full for 9 portions or, if your gang is smaller, opt for the half-sized one, which serves 4 or so.

Say, we'll happily make a salad and provide bread for you if you like, just let us know when you call and we'll get you all set up.


Wednesday, October 24
Lasagna with Italian Sausage and Spinach
Full: 39.50
Half: 19.75

My vacation

Chris and I went out to New Mexico a couple of weeks ago. This is the Chama River, the feature that keeps the cottonwoods growing and, around this time of year, turning a brilliant yellow. Georgia O'Keeffe lived out here and painted this very scene a number of times. She called it Blue River, even though Chama means "muddy." That's artistic license, I guess.

Ristras

Around this time of year the chiles are ripe and become bright decorations for people's homes (they string long ropes of them onto the eaves of their houses) and hearty additions to all kinds of food. I did not get enough, though I made a valiant attempt. The cuisine is intricate, subtle and overwhelmingly strong all at the same time.

Incredible - sunRISE!

We had spectacular sky shows throughout our week. The moon was nowhere to be seen so the stars were dazzling. The Milky Way lit a broad band from one horizon to the other. Planets, constellations, stars shown.

This sunrise got me out of bed one day. What more can I say?

A Note From Laurey
 
October 21, 2007

Hiya,

For all of you who generally read my note on Saturday – please accept my apologies for the delay. There was something wrong yesterday and I could not get the computer program to work. I kept getting a message saying the whole thing had crashed, and that is, as it turns out, not true. Anyway – it is now Sunday and its working so here goes.

It is a very busy time around here. Sharp contrast to a couple of weeks ago when I was out in New Mexico doing not much of anything. It did take time to wind down, just as I had suspected it would. I had a folder full of things I wanted to do and pages of recommendations from friends. Chris is much better at going slowly, sleeping late, sitting in contemplation. Not me. I make mental lists, come up with meals and restaurants and excursions and such. In the end we sort of split the difference, slowing down AND seeing a lot too.

We hiked, went to old excavated, and unexcavated ruins, and drove around, visiting and eating and wandering. This time we concentrated on Georgia O’Keeffe. Weeks before our trip I had inquired about visiting her Abiquiu home, just about 3 miles from our vacation home. People reserve a year in advance for that tour and we were put on a waiting list and were told to call when we arrived in the area. On Tuesday morning, right at 9am (it was Chris’s birthday and she was out watching the day emerge), I called to see if we had made it off the waiting list for the end of the week.

“Where are you?” the reservation gal asked.
“Here in Abiquiu,” I said.
“No, I mean WHERE, exactly where?”
I told her.
“Can you come now? I mean NOW? There are two spots on a tour that leaves in 15 minutes.”
“Yes!” I shouted.
Chris, not one who moves quickly in the morning, rallied and we changed out of our pajamas and hurried over, accidentally going right to the house, innocently walking right in.
“What are you DOING here?” a woman in Georgia O’Keeffe’s house barked.
“We’re here for the tour,” I responded, meekly.
“NO one can be here without a guide! If you had READ your instructions you would have known that you were supposed to…”
I tried to explain that we’d had ten minutes notice and no instructions, but she shooed us away brusquely.
We hopped back into our car and scampered down to the meeting point to where we were supposed to have been exactly at 9:30 and then got scolded because, by then it was 9:45 and the bus full of other guests and the guides were annoyed and huffing but, well, what could we do.
“I see we are all here now,” the guide sniffed, “and since we’re 15 minutes late in starting, we’ll run 15 minutes late…”
I kept my eyes on the floor. I had already apologized and that was all I could do.
It all turned out well. The house is intact, inspirational, worth visiting, especially since we were staying so close. I felt surrounded by her landscapes, her vision, her presence, her artistry. It’s a beautiful place and I’m glad we went.

At "home" out west

This is a snap in front of our little Adobe home, ours, that is, for the week's visit. Can't wait to get back there, though I did miss the moisture in our air.

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