Tuesday           March 25         Curried Shrimp and Chicken Chapatti 11.25

Wednesday      March 26         Grilled Flank Steak with Ginger Béarnaise 10.75

Thursday          March 27         Pork Chops with Pecan and Onion Stuffing 10.75

Friday              March 28         Tilapia Piccata with Lemon Risotto 12.25

Wednesday,  March 26

Beef Bourguignon

Full: 38.25

Half: 19.25

March 22, 2008

Good day to you.  I’d say morning but, as I glance up at the clock, it is now noon.  Missed my chance.  It’s been a good steady morning here, prospective brides are on the loose and they find their way to us and so we sit with them and help them imagine their meals months and, in some cases, years away.  In a little while we’re doing a tasting for a couple who is getting married next month.  Weddings are in the air.   

Late yesterday afternoon I took Tye, my sweet and very patient pup, for a walk.  The sun was thinking about setting but filled the air with thick and rich light.  Tye is a redhead and she looked beautiful prancing around the lake.  She loves spring and she loves walks and she loves me and so she was very happy – as was I.

As we walked I thought about something that happened earlier in the day, something that made me proud to get to work with the people I work with.  One of our customers had ordered a gift basket earlier in the week.  Emily took the order and left specific instructions for its completion and delivery yesterday  - Good Friday.  Adam chose special cheeses and he, too, left clear notes for me about what he had chosen and where it was to be found.  Julie was to be the delivery gal.

I found Adam’s cheeses, followed the guidelines left by Emily, and put the basket together – a very nice basket, if I do say so myself.  I gave the basket to Julie and that, I thought, was that.  But a little while later, Julie called saying that the office she had been instructed to go to was closed.  The college is a Presbyterian one and everything was closed for Good Friday.  Hmm.  Jaime, here in the office, phoned around, looking for a home address to deliver the basket.  I called the basket giver, asking for help, but, getting only an answering machine, left a message but didn’t feel very hopeful about that being much of a solution.  Back in the delivery neighborhood, Julie scouted for a neighbor, someone, anyone who might be able to help.  No one was anywhere.  Everyone was gone for Good Friday.  Oh dear.  Jaime kept trying and I tried a little bit more and Julie kept trying too.  But finally I, in frustration, said, oh the heck with it, just bring the thing back here.  I give up.  But Jaime persisted and Julie persisted and the basket giver called in and got in touch with the intended basket recipient and Jamie was able to talk Julie through some complex turns and twists to get to the basket recipients' home and got the basket to the recipient after all.  It took longer than I would have liked, but time is not always the only things that counts.  Jaime did not give up.  Julie did not give up.  I’m glad that they were here, glad that the basket got to where it needed to go.  It was a happy ending.  A lesson in persistence.  A good lesson. 

I found out that on Monday this next week I finally get to pick up the parts for my bee hives.  I’ve been feeling anxious and impatient about that too.  But my bee mentor soothed me the other day, saying that there is plenty of time.  I will, she said, get everything in time.  The queen is not ready, is not even born.  Mid-April, the bee breeder tells me.  Mid-April. There will be plenty of time for me to put my hives together before the bees are ready.  Spring seems slow this year.  Maybe it is my impatience, my lack of recalling that it will come, that it has its own time, that I have no control but that it will, somehow work out.  I’m glad that the bee hive pieces are closer to me and that I can soon start.  And that it will, as it always does, get warm and be fine.  Every year this is what happens.  And it will this year too.