The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for November 26 - 30, 2007
Deb mixing up the starters

Elbows thick into the dough, Deb seems in a gooey heaven.

Elyse making the rolls

And can you believe this pile of dough? Smiling all along, Elyse rolled each one out, careful and perfect.

The finished beauties

"Have you ever made these before?" I asked, after the fact.

"Nope," she replied.

Whew!!!!

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 November 26 Chicken Crepes Florentine 10.25
Tuesday November 27 Crab-stuffed Salmon Filet 16.95
Wednesday November 28 Herbed Flank Steak with Tomato Basil Coulis 12.25
Thursday November 29 Marinated Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Onions 13.25
Friday November 30 Lemon Garlic Shrimp w/ Parmesan Pine Nut Risotto 14.95

Our website
Special casserole of the week

We make a special casserole each week, usually on Wednesday. Order before noon 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, November 28
Chicken Pot Pie with Fried Green Tomato Crust
Full: 32.50
Half: 16.25

(this freezes perfectly, if you feel like ordering extra for later.)

Hot Pepper Jelly

Everyone seems to want some this year. Here's ours, presented with some Locust Grove cheese (and, also, slathered on top of cream cheese.)

Southern?
You bet.

Delicious?
Yup.

Jubilee Chutney 2007

Here's what it looks like, all stuffed into the jars and graced with this year's label. As we always do, the profit from the sale of this chutney will go toward the Outreach programs at The Jubilee Community, here in town.
Stock up, there is a limited supply.

Martha finishes the stuffing

The chestnuts came all the way from Italy this year, roasted and peeled by the folks who keep the air fragrant (with roasting chestnuts) at Greenlife Grocery. They import the chestnuts. Yu - UM!!! Grazie Mille!

A Note From Laurey

November 21, 2007

I write as the gang here is preparing the Thanksgiving Dinners to go. We’ll be closed for the weekend, and I’ll be out of computer range in Kentucky, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to write you a note and arrange to send it out on Saturday. (Cool program, you know?)

My role these days around here is to do my own thing and jump in if I need to. So far today I don’t need to. The cooks have been here since very early this morning and are just now finishing packaging up everything for the guests, who will come here starting in an hour. At that point my job is usually to stand up in the shop, saying hello, smiling, stalling at times as the gang shuttles back to the back of the shop with guests' names and scurrying up to the front with filled bags of prepared food. The truth is that it all makes me nervous too. Over the years I have made some last minute deliveries and even some last minute dinner parts. From the looks of it, I think I might not have to do that this year, but I’m not going to jinx myself.

Yesterday was kind of fun. Some time last year I got an e-mail from someone saying that there was a reporter in town looking for people who had something to say about Asheville being a happy place. I like meeting people so I wrote to him, which turned into meeting him and talking with him and, as far as I knew, that was that. But recently I got an e-mail from ABC news in New York saying they were going to be here doing a story about us, Asheville, based on some of the thoughts and interviews from Eric’s forthcoming book (and I don't even knokw the name of the book at this point....) They would be, they said, here at 2 yesterday. They might, they said, go into our kitchen.

Everyone here hopped into gear and, in between major cooking for today, managed to clean everything in the kitchen – just in case.

I was not sure they’d really come, but sure enough, almost on time, they did come and they did talk to me and two other Asheville folks. We were asked what brought us here, why we stay, why we think it’s a special place. That sort of thing. I don’t think about all of this all the time, but sometimes I do, and it was interesting to see what the questions brought up for me, and for us.

I don’t know exactly when we’ll be on, and I don’t know even IF we’ll be a part of the show, when it finally airs. I guess you just never know about these sorts of things, do you?

In the meantime, a close friend from years ago showed up yesterday too. And this morning, as we were beginning to get ready for this afternoon’s festivities, she dropped in to say goodbye on her way out of town. Her look, when she saw the shop, reminded me that I’ve come a long way. We knew each other when I was 18 and many things are different, as you can easily imagine. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking abut how far I’ve come, but every once in a while something like a visit from a long lost friend, or a question from a national television show leaps in front of me and jolts me and says, "Hey, good job, there Sport.”

So thanks, I say to you, on this day before Thanksgiving for making this work so good and for making this place in this community for me and for us and for our food.

Thank you very very much.



20/20 visits Laurey's

Yup. It's true. Here we are, 3 local gals, getting wired for sound and prepped for our minute and a half of fame (maybe.)

20/20, the news show on ABC in New York, was in town to shoot a story about Asheville and a new book that is about to be released about our town and it being a "happy place."

They say the story will be aired in early January. I'll keep you posted.

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