The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for July 7 - 11, 2008
This is the before...
Barry tells me that the way to know if a "new potato" is really new is to rub it with your thumb and if it rubs right off, like here, it IS new.  We'vre been buying cases of these little beauties and I see them roasted and tossed with olive oil or mixed with Hellman's (my favorite) up in our deli case. 

If you want some of your own to cook with, head to the tailgate markets. Barry comes to the French Broad Market, right across the street from here, on Wednesdays and on Saturdays, Laura (together they become B+L Organics) sets up at the North Asheville market on the UNCA campus.  My Saturday mornings involve driving and sampling and shopping and dreaming.

Nothing like local, is there?

And here's the middle
These have been roasted and seasoned with Sea Salt and Ground Pepper and are being packed up and pretty soon they will be loaded up with all the other parts of whatever meal they are joining.  The kitchen gang will check them off their list and then the catering staff will show up and load them into the van and check them off THEIR list.  These vegetables will turn into "Roasted Seasonal Vegetables" and will be displayed on a lovely buffet somewhere (in this case, at a stream-side wedding) and that will be that.

Those little squash were grown in dirt that became dirt from our compost.  Cool thing, eh?

B+L's carrots
I couldn't resist this snap either.  The other night I went home, after having ridden a bunch of miles on my bike, and, needing a snack, snipped the tips off some carrots and some radishes and some beets and settled down with a dish of John's Dunk Sauce for some low-key TV.  The sauce was all that remained from a recent party.  You can make some of your own from the recipe in Elsie's Biscuits if you like.  It is the perfect accompaniment to Elsie's Shrimp Tempura but it works very well with vegetables too. 

Dinners to go for this week
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           July 7               Honey Thyme-Roasted Chicken w/ Summer Tomato Salad 9.75

Tuesday           July 8               Crab Burgers and Fried Plantains 11.50

Wednesday      July 9               Merlot-braised Beef Brisket and Mushrooms 12.50

Thursday          July 10             Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms with Potato Basil Gratin 9.95

Friday              July 11             Blackened Tuna with Wild Rice 14.25

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, July 9

Seafood and Leek Cottage Pie

Full: 49.75

Half: 24.75




 

"How're your bees?"
Things are coming along well at my little bee yard.  One hive is still pretty far ahead of the other one, but then again, the "other one" is doing well enough.  I was telling a beekeeper about that today at the market and he said, "Well if you only had one hive, you wouldn't KNOW that one was ahead of the other, now would you?" 

Well said.

We are in between "honey flows" right now, which means that things are kind of on hold at the moment.  When the Sourwood trees flower things will pick up again.  For now, everyone seems just fine. 

Dave's Bees' Locust Honey
 "We don't get the Locust honey every year," Dave tells me.  I guess the timing of the blossoms and the bees isn't always perfectly lined up.  But this year was a good one he tells me and we DO have Locust honey.  Take a look in our shop for sweet little jars of this intriguing honey.  It has character, but is not as strong as the Chestnut honey I bring back from Italy.  I like to drizzle some on Locust Grove Cheese, a sheep's milk Sardinian-style cheese from the nearby Tennessee mountains.  Slice up a pear and taste all three together. 
A glass of prosecco would be a fine addition.

More local color
Slice up some fresh Kohlrabi and serve it on a "crudite" platter.  Crunchy and pretty and, oh by the way, delicious.  (Eating it is even better than just looking at it at the markets.)

In a couple of weeks a magazine writer and photographer are going to go shopping with me and then are going to come to my house with me while I cook and then they are going to take some pictures of my friends eating my market dinner.  My pets and I are all excited.  I'll tell you more when I know it.

A Note From Laurey
July 5, 2008

We made it through the Fourth again.  Funny to realize that last summer I was out, traveling in Vermont on a book tour.  I sat, last summer, on a rocky beach, watching a very small group of visitors setting off very small fireworks.  In context they were plenty huge and I was happy with the display.

This year I stayed home and spent the evening with friends in our illustrious downtown.  It was PACKED here!  The streets teemed with folks eating ice cream or dancing to drumming or visiting with other visitors.  The contrast between this and last year struck me, sending me into thoughts of here and there, now and then, rocky and smooth, quiet and bustling.  Both, in their place, are good.

Last night we found ourselves close to, and quite underneath, Asheville’s fireworks display.  From where we stood we could also see far and not-so faraway shows.  Seeing tiny explosions in the distance makes one think about geography in a whole new way.  Was that The Biltmore Estate?  Hmm.  What neighborhood had that many Roman-candle igniters?  Are they going to shut off the lights at McKormick Fied in time for the city’s show?  (nope.)

The night before, Eric Weiner was in town to talk about his book and to share his thoughts about place.  Geography of Bliss made it to # 8 on the New York Times’ bestseller list, a high spot indeed.  When I met him, when he interviewed me, he was still sorting out his thoughts, trying to figure out how to put his year’s travels into some conclusive order.  He figured it out and talked and read for me and a big bunch of folks.   After his reading at Malaprops, a friend and I took him out to dinner and talked about his book and other books and his travels and our travels and his places and our places.  It was a rich and wonderful evening all around.  I ordered him some Fried Green Tomatoes and we recommended some local trout, which he ordered.  The beer, I was pleased to find (and order) was from Otter Creek Brewery, which is from my Vermont homeplace.  It seemed themost fitting accompaniment since that very idea was part of our interview.  Where IS home?  What IS happiness?  What does one have to do with the other?

I’ve been getting my current home place in order, knowing that a photo shoot is in the works.  I have never had a professional photographer at my house before and suddenly everything looks sloppy or dusty or out of order.  The other day I was up early (thanks to my furry companions) and found myself scouring my kitchen almost before dawn.  A mouse had taken up residence in a corner drawer, making a not-so-cute nest of pink wall insulation - which then meant that the cleaning spurt had to include all my kitchen drawers.  Everything is very clean now.  (Maybe I’ll suggest a picture of the inside of my utensil drawer to the writer.)

Meanwhile, in my garden the Purple Echinacea and the White Shasta Daisies are strong and bold and bright.  Zinnias will be in pretty soon.  Red Gladiolas, which I keep trying to remove, keep coming back and I almost like them now.  I tucked in some Nicotiana which has the most intoxicating perfume when darkness falls.  Lavender drapes off one of the rock walls and whenever I stroll back to visit my bees I brush by it.  Oh bliss. The Butterfly bushes are about to bloom as are the Phlox and who knows what else.  It is so pretty.  So pretty.

Next week I am going to Vermont again, with my book again, bringing my stories of here there.  I missed the Brandon parade and I missed the White River fireworks but I have new stories of here.  Next week I’ll get more of there. 

When I noticed the Otter Creek beer and excitedly ordered one, Eric said, “After all this time you still call Vermont home, don’t you?”

In a way, yes, I still do.

But my home here is really my home.  Really.  And yes, I’m also happy to be going back to my, um, Vermont, um, home.  Yes, home.  Really.

Henry's first visit to Laurey's
He's a teeny pip of a fellow and I never saw his eyes, but I was happy that Emily and Adam's little boy came for a howdy-do last week, even though he slept through the entire visit.  I look forward to the time when he comes for longer than a mid-afternoon snooze.  For now, however, I'm happy that we get him even for this short, quiet time.

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