Yes, this is a very last-minute, very special event and we hope you can join us. Four chefs, four wines, four courses. A BARGAIN at 65.00. (I know - I forgot to include the price in the note I mailed yesterday...)

 

Do call (252-1500) to save your spots.

 

Here's the menu:

 

Fried Green Olives stuffed with Garlic Confit

Croque Monsieur with Truffle Mornay

 

 

**

 

Velouté de Courges à la Rapée de Truffe

(Cream of Buttercup Soup with Grated Truffles)

 

 

**

 

Trumpet Mushroom-Dusted Single Diver Scallop over Celery Root Purée,

with Micro Greens & Fennel Slaw

 

**

 

Chicken Marsala with Wild Mushrooms & Truffled Potatoes au Gratin

 

 

 

**

 

Chocolate Caramel Hazelnut Tart with Sea Salt

and Truffled Crème Fraîche

 

 

I love wandering through the cafe, passing small (and large) groups of folks who are conducting all kinds of business.  Of course many are just visiting and that's fun too.

 

We have a number of groups who meet on a regular basis.  Some that I know of are:

a French conversation group, a hiking group, a knitting group, a group of mothers with their children, a group of pre-movie goers, a group of lawyers, a group of bankers, a business networking group and people planning all KINDS of things.

 

Bring your group, why don't you?  We'll provide the food, the space, the drinks.  If you're small there's no need to make a reservation.  if you have a lot of folks, let us know and we'll pull out our "reserved" signs for you. 

 

It's cold here today but the sun is out and things look pretty good from my point of view.  The birds are returning to the area, the light is coming up earlier and fading out later.

 

The cafe is warm and full of all sorts of good things: soups, hot lunches, dinners to go, simple suppers to stay.  Come see what I mean. 

 

Dinners 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. Orders are ready by 3.

 

Feel free to stay here with us, listening to music and visiting with your friends. I can't think of a nicer place to linger and we're now open until 8, you know.

 

Please order by phone (252-1500) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.

 

Dinners for this week are:

 

Monday, March 1 Chicken Parmesan with Asparagus Risotto 11.25

 

Tuesday, March 2 * Grilled Flank Steak with Pupusas Picante 12.75

(pupusas are delicious Salvadorean turnovers!!)

 

Wednesday, March 3 * Pan-fried Tilapia with Garlicky Kale 11.75

 

Thursday, March 4 Tuscan Porchetta with White Beans 11.00

 

Friday, March 5 Local lamb Burgers with Carolina Cole Slaw 11.00

 

We make a special casserole each week.

 

Order by noon or so. Order a half if you have around 4 folks. If you have a bigger group, or you just like leftovers, order a full-sized one.

 

Then come pick up between 3:00 and 8:00. (Or bring a gang and enjoy your dinner right here. We do have beer and wine by the glass, you know.)

 

Please order by phone (252-1500) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.

 

This week's casserole is:

 

Wednesday, March 3

Macaroni and Cheese with

Roasted  "Ochre" (as in, not "green") Vegetables

Full: 30

Half: 15

 

Also, Friday is lasagna day around here these days.

 

This Friday, the special lasagna is a Spinach Lover's

Full: 38

Half: 19

 

Come for simple supper and sweet jazz from Honey, a local trio.

6-8 is the time.  Dance if you like. 

No charge (but we'll have a tip jar for the musicians.)

 

Say - we're thinking of having Friday night fun.

Dance parties.  Game nights.  Family things. 

(Does that sound fun to you?)

Have you seen these stickers around?  Suddenly they seem to be everywhere, especially in all the downtown business' windows.

 

When the phone ringgs at 4 in the morning it is most often not someone calling to have light conversation. 

 

Last week someone threw a rock through our front door, ran in, grabbed the cash register (which was empty), and ran out.  The alarm went off, the cash register was dropped, and I was called out of my sleep to come down and mind my broken store.

 

This is a disconcerting thing but the police were nice and my sister came over - roused from HER sleep in the middle of the night.  I made coffee and we swept everything up. 

 

Hello.

 

I’m tucked here in my office corner, happily listening to the staff’s music choice of the day, kitchen conversation, and birdsongs too. It’s almost spring and, though today is chilly, I can tell the change is about to come.

 

At home there is a small clump of crocus that has popped out. When I leave in the morning, they are closed up but if I’m around during the day I get to see their insides, pollen-laden, ready for visiting bees.

 

Speaking of bees, I am so sad to report that, once again, I will be starting at the beginning. My bees have not made it. This is certainly one of the hardest things I’ve ever attempted to do – become a beekeeper. It was my intention to help them along, not be a part of them not making it. But the fellow from whom I buy bees tried to make me feel better by telling me that these past couple of years have been very hard for beekeeping. First we had a serious drought, then a year with way too much rain. And me, not being sure of what to do, did not provide the right amount of assistance. This year I will try again. This year I will try again.

 

And speaking of trying, I realized the other day that I have taken on a number of different challenges. I’m picking up my fiddle again. I’m beginning to learn the ukulele. I’m a moderately able glassblower but feel like I am always on the step side of the learning curve. There are the bees. And then there is the business of learning, ever learning, how to run this business.

 

I had an interesting conversation with Moreton Neal the other day. She and her late husband Bill Neal opened and ran The Residence and Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill. She’s now a writer and was in town visiting some eating places in Asheville. She had lunch here and we talked about Asheville and food and life and such. I mentioned the idea of the ‘third home,’ because someone had once mentioned it to me, saying that people have their home, which is the first home; their work, which is often their second home and then, in some cases, there is a place that they frequent that becomes their ‘third home.’ Laurey’s she suggested, was her third home. And, she suggested, it was many others’ too.

 

That’s nice.

 

It was an interesting week for me, starting out as it did with the smashing in of my front door here at work. My home was vandalized a month ago too. Curious. Disturbing. And, hopefully, opportunities for me if I can reframe things to give them this spin. I feel protective of these two homes I have and care about their well-being and safe-keeping. This home, this workplace is the work home to all the people who work here and also a special spot for many of you, your ‘Third Home” perhaps.

 

In both cases of vandalism, I did what I could to secure and protect and then carry on. I’m getting better at carrying on. If I believe that I CAN keep going, I do. It’s when I lose that belief that I get in trouble.

 

This, I now know, is the Swedish word for Joy.

 

A friend, who's car this is, shared her tale of a life-changing situation which, she related, was smoothed out when she saw our "Don't Postpone Joy (tm)" bumper sticker.