The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for January 28 - February 1, 2008
Our new sign

My sweet friend Deb told me about this sign. I googled "gather sign" and found it easily. (Ain't google something?) We hug it up the other day, right above our coffee area. Festive, comforting, nice, don't you think?

(By the way, Adam has just returned from a week in Nicaragua, guest of the folks who sell us our coffee. Counter Culture Coffee is truly a remarkable company, known not only for great coffee but for its adherence to sustainable principles, and also for its care of the coffee growers and harvesters, AND for its care of the environment. When he settles down, we'll have a session for you to hear about his trip and to taste some of the coffee. In the meantime, come on in and have a cup. right under our "Gather" sign.)

...which goes with...

Our "Eat" sign has been here for a year or so, a gift from another friend. Delighted by the "Gather" sign, we installed this one too, instead of just propping it up against the cups.

In the cold and dark of Winter

I read a story about Fondue in the New York Times earlier this week. The author told a story about her mother dropping off fondue forks (but not the pot, which had become a receptacle for a houseplant.) Inspired, the author found an old cast iron pot, melted a bunch of cheese bits she had in her refrigerator, and ended up with fondue. Thrilled with this old and new concoction, she went on to make fondue after fondue for a long time, experimenting with all sorts of cheeses.

We have a small yet wonderful assortment of regional artisanal cheeses. I'm not saying that you have to melt fancy cheeses if you want to make fondue, but, according to the author, the nicer the cheese, the better the result (shouldn't come as a surprise). So invite some friends over or just make a fire and warm up some cheese for yourself. Bread. Apple slices. Warm Cheese. YUM!

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 January 28 Elsie’s Chicken Baked in Wine 9.95
Tuesday January 29 Apple Bourbon Basted Pork Loin 10.25
Wednesday January 30 Swedish Meatballs with Herb Mashed Potatoes 10.75
Thursday January 31 Smoked Ham Hash with Winter Vegetables 9.95
Friday February 1Seafood Leek Gratin 11.75

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, January 30
Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
Full: 38.00
Half: 19.00

Lusty Monk - zesty, local mustard

Mmm Mmm!!!

Lusty Monk is a new find for us. Made right around here, it is a strong, sharp mustard. It is quite wonderful, a lively addition to a ham sandwich, a perfect accompaniment to a cheese omelet, or a terrific complement to a vegetable plate. I suggest mixing some in with sour cream and mayonnaise for an easy dip.

Give it a try. (We'll have some available for you to sample this week.)

The Twins!

Kether, our recent sous chef, had these two sweetie pies in October. She and Derek, her husband, brought them in for a visit last week. Grant (on the left) and Ian (I think I have that right), were perfect tiny gentlemen, saying hello, offering wobbly smiles, and staying put while their mother and father had lunch. An outing with twins is no simple matter. Kether, as you would guess, is now a full-time mom.

We send our congratulations to this sweet family.

More thoughts for the dark days

Someone came in recently and gushed over this Teillard de Chardin quote. Surprisingly, she did not know that we have had it printed on very nice paper and have made them available for you to have. (You'll have to find your own frame, but that can be fun too, right?)

I look at these words and find comfort. And that, along with warm cheese, can be good.

A Note From Laurey


January 26, 2008

Hi there,

I’m here at my desk, chilled and having a hard time just typing. But the GREAT reason is that we are getting new windows here. I feel bad for the installers, who are up on ladders, pounding and sawing and fitting and working out there to take out the old ones and install the new. These things take a long time to do, however, just waiting for the new windows to arrive has taken months, so I’m not about to ask them to wait for a warm day to do the installation. They’ve hung up plastic to keep the dust out of the café, and we have our space heaters going here in the office, but, it’s CHILLY in here!

At home I find myself hovering next to my wood stove, sitting inches away from the fire each night. I’m always cold, and that place offers great comfort to me. Then I usually go and sit in my hot tub right before I go to bed, warm up, hurry inside, and snuggle under flannel sheets. The dog and the cat are not far behind and I’m not afraid to say that I am happy for their little warm bodies. Often I wake up squished between then, the cat in one curve, the dog in the other. I hope they get some of my warmth too, a gift back to them for the one they give to me.

I’m finding myself slow and quiet right now. I feel like I am in a holding pattern, slowly circling, waiting, wondering. Sometimes I feel tremendous energy and drive. Not right now, though. I went to the bookstore last night on my way home, stocked up, and then spent the evening reading. I don’t really want to go out, don’t want to face the cold, don’t want to be anywhere outside of that small circle of warmth at home.

Seed catalogs have started to arrive on my desk. This is the time of year to dream about gardens, planting, color and aroma and buds and green. Truthfully, I have not even opened them yet. Not yet. Soon, but not yet.

Next week some of us here, the gals in the office, are going to Bee School. We’ll spend the next four weekend days learning about bee keeping and bee caring and all things bee. My friend Barbara, out in Oakland, keeps bees, telling me quiet stories of their magic and their loveliness. She found bees in the foundation of her house when she moved in years ago. An old man came and helped her move them to a hive and now she has them, right in her backyard in the middle of the city.

I’ve talked about bee keeping for years and, as you know, recently found out that I am NOT allergic to them and so have a green light to pursue keeping them. I’m thrilled to know that I will be helping my flowers and the fields and farms in my area. I’m thrilled to know that, in a few months, I’ll have a hive and real bees and I can go and listen to them and care for them and, hopefully, share their honey. I’ll bet that I’ll want to pore over those seed catalogs pretty soon, knowing that more flowers will make for happier bees – and vice versa.

The light is gradually returning. I can see it in the early mornings as I lie in bed with the dog and the cat, watching the sky lighten. I’d love to try to paint that light on glass plates, see how the view out my window would look, painted on a big glass vase. We’ll see. It’ll come. Right along with the light. Just as it does every year. Patience. Patience. Patience.

Another new piece of glass

Here is the last of the new pieces from my recent glass class. This started as three plates of glass, each painted separately. The three plates then got fused together, warmed, and rolled up to become a cylinder. Then I shaped the cylinder into this vase. (It's more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it.)

I love the idea of painting my own images and turning them into finished glass pieces. This one, of birch trees, is pretty crude, but its a start. My mind is filled with others. It'll be fun to see how they come out once I have the time and space and facility to turn these ideas into real pieces.

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