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The Weekly Newsletter |
Menus and Stories for July 13- 17, 2009
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| Dinner with three Farmers - July 16 |
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We're gearing up for our next Farmer's Dinner.
This one will feature the food and the folks from East Fork Farm (we'll be cooking their lamb), from Annie Louise Perkinson from Flying Cloud Farm (this is that lovely farm on the straightaway on the Fairview Road, just before Hickory Nut Gap), and from my friend Frank Teneralli (who grows "cute baby squash" among many other things.) We'll also have VERY fresh Blueberry Jam (I'm making a new batch that very morning!)
It's so enlightening to meet these folks, see how hard they work, understand, for real, where the food comes from. Do join in, won't you?
The menu will feature their food. We're making my mother's Lamb Shish Kebobs and will have accompaniments from all three farms. It's prime market time right now. I'm so excited!
The dinner will start at 7. Cost is $37.00 per person (+tax). Add 10.00 if you'd like to have wine or beer.
Give us a call. 252 -1500
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It's Green Bean Time! |
We do a lot with Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Projects. They are very smart and do a TON with our local farm and market community. The newest thing is to feature a specific locally grown something-or-other each month.
July is Beans.
We've got 'em.
Come see.
Local.
Cooked right here.
Lots of different versions.
Yum!
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| Setting up for a Rehearsal Dinner |
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I know I tell you about how fun our place looks when it's time for a party. Here's the gang in process recently, setting up for a gathering on Friday night.
The area behind the big arch in our cafe is the area we call "The Garden Room." If you look out our back windows you get to look out at our garden which is gorgeous right now. If a gathering is small, folks cluster back here. I love the way it feels. Guests do too. |
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Dinners to go (or to stay!) |
Dinners come with a freshly-made green salad, salad dressing of the day, and made-right here bread (or rice cakes) of the day. We take reservations until noon or so. Please order by phone (252-1500), by fax (252-0200) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.
New pickup hours!!! Dinners are now ready to pick up between 3:00 and 8:00.
Monday July 13 *Honey-thyme Chicken w/ Roasted Root Vegetables12.25
Tuesday July 14 Cornmeal-crusted Rainbow Trout 13.75
Wednesday July 15 *Flank Steak Au Poivre with Lemon Buerre Blanc 12.75
Thursday July 16 *Summer Shrimp and Scallop Scampi 12.50
Friday July 17 *Grilled Grouper with Warm Artichoke Potato Salad 13.75
* Gluten Free!!
(now offering gluten free breads or crackers in place of our baked right here breads)
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Our website |
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| Special casserole of the week |
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We make a special casserole each Wednesday.
Order by noon or so.
Order a half if you have around 4 folks. If you have a bigger group,
or just like leftovers, order a full sized one.
Then come pick up between 3:00 and 8:00. (Bring a gang and enjoy your dinner right here.)
Wednesday, July 15
*Seafood and Local Vegetable Risotto
Full 50
Half 25
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and, for the Wedding |
The next night those same folks came back, along with a whole crowd of out-of-towners. Here's a snap of our gang setting up for THOSE festivities. This, as you see, is a more formal look. The guests loved it, loved being downtown, and especially loved stepping outside at the conclusion of the dinner to watch the fireworks display, happening right across the street from the shop.
Ka - BAM!!!
(We can't guarantee the fireworks out there, but I'm pretty sure your friends would love it if you decided to have your next party here.)
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| Transformation |
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When it's party time, our deli case turns into the bar. (EVERYONE likes to go to a party, even our equipment!)
Fun, don't you think?
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The hallway gets a retouch |
The area that leads from the cafe out to our big hallway was looking mighty shabby. Our deliveries get put here, things get stored here, people go in and out. It was scuffed and banged up and, well, awful.
Nothing like a party to make a girl sit up and pay attention, right?
My sister and I gave it a couple of coats of paint right last Thursday, getting it all primped and snazzy in time for the guests' arrival on Friday for the Rehearsal Dinner. I still can't walk by it without stopping to congratulate our very fine redo. Come see for yourself.
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| A Note from Laurey |
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July 11, 2009
Hiya,
Saturday morning. Kitchen in full swing. Me getting ready to go run out to a place an hour and a half from here to bring some food and have a little visit. Then back (an hour and a half) to get back here in time to greet folks who would like to hear Dr. Pascal This, a renowned French expert on nutritional and diet, especially as it pertains to menopause. (You can come if you like. 3 pm. Right here. No charge.) Then off to a birthday party. Then to Shindig on The Green for some music.
Tomorrow is more. Then more again on Monday, Tuesday, and so on. The Farmer’s Dinner is on Thursday (I hope you come) and then on Friday I go to my first board meeting with the North Carolina Outward Bound School. I moved here, 22 years ago, to work with these folks. Now, here I am, on the board. This is exciting. A nice circular completion of this particular path.
Summer is now in full swing. My garden is blooming out of control. The tomato plants are higher than me. The flowers are amazing. The bees have a lot to do.
I’m just back from my speech in Washington, as you see in the picture right after this article. My sisters came. My girlfriend came. One of the women I rode across the country with came too. Oh, and my nephew. I spoke in front of cancer survivors and in front of people who are on the front lines in this fight. Politicians, advocates, doctors, community activists. My bike ride took on a different, fuller meaning for me as I addressed these people. I am, I realized after watching one of their videos in a presentation right before mine, one face of ovarian cancer – a surviving face at that.
Whew.
Life feels good these days. Full. Fun in many ways. Still challenging in some ways – especially as I continue to ponder the best way to make the most of the bike ride’s experience. But I have three or four other talks on my calendar and am in conversation with some others about speaking opportunities. People keep asking when the book will come out (hmmm….good question). On it goes.
Next week I also get to make Blueberry Jam. Hooray! Jam Babes return.
I’ve started to learn how to play the Ukulele (um, no performances are on my calendar and there won’t be any for a LONG time.)
The lobster dinner was really fun. Dinner and Conversations are really fun.
The shop is bustling and fun too.
Tra la.
On it goes.
See you soon.
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Laurey Bikes (the blog) |
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Big me. Little me |
I had been looking forward to the speech I gave earlier this week for some time. I was the closing speaker for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance's annual conference in Washington, DC. This was the culmination of the bike ride for me, as I had been raising money for OCNA and gave them a big check at the conclusion of my talk ($27,000.00!)
It was fun. And uplifting, too, to be in front of folks who are in the midst of major health challenges and also in front of the folks who are doing something about bringing this particular cause to the attention of the people who can make some changes in Congress. Big stuff for them. And, yup, big stuff for me too.
Onward.
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OCNA |
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