We are going to have a special Dinner and Conversation on Wednesday, June 23 - right here.  The dinner will benefit The French Broad Tailgate market and will be a chance for you to enjoy a meal produced entirely from our local farmers.   I will also share with you the experience of this trip and the "Now what?" that is already happening her in our area.

 

The menu will feature our local farms:

Sunburst Trout pate from - Sunburst Trout!

Poussin (chicken) from Foothills Family Farms

Heritage Beets and Zephyr Squash from Ten Mile Farms

Zesty Cukes

Cheeses from Looking Glass Dairy

Danny McConnell's berries

and much more.

 

Come for a dinner of local bounty.

And hear about my visit and what's going to happen now.

 

Right after coming back from Washington I went to Iowa, invited by The National Honey Board to cook some things with honey.  In my night-before-the-presentation dream I was making food for 2000 over a camp stove (!) but the real show was for 14 editors of big time magazines. 

 

Des Moines is nice, though it rained HARD off and on.  There was a pork convention there at the same time, which was kind of funny.  Lots of men in cowboy hats wandering around the lobby of the hotel.

 

Ooh we're headed into my favorite time as far as food goes.  The farmers are calling now and Brendan and Deb and Martha and Lito have a bounty from which to choose when they come into the kitchen each morning.

 

I spin, thinking of marinating and grilling and imagining.  Come see (and taste) what they have come up with.

 

Here are our dinners for the week. Order by noon and we'll have your dinner ready to pick up by 3. We are open until 8 now which makes it easy for you to dawdle if you like. Feel free to stay right here with us if you like. We'll reheat your meal and stay out of your way.

 

Monday June 14 *

Thai Curry Chicken 11.25

 

Tuesday June 15

Mountain Trout with Cheddar Spoonbread 12.50

 

Wednesday June 16

East Fork Lamb + Cheddar Burgers w/Sweet Potato Fries 11.50

 

Thursday June 17

Chickpea Cakes and Italian Antipasto 10.75

 

Friday June 18

*BBQ Pork Roast with Sweet Potato Salad 12.75

 

* these are gluten free

 (though it is important to know that

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, June 16

Shrimp Provençal with White Beans and Rice

Full: 60 Half: 30

 

We make Lasagna every Friday. Here's this Friday's offering:

 

Friday, June 18

Cremini Mushroom and Parmesan Pesto

Full: 38 Half: 19

 

Remember I told you that we sent Anne to pickle school?  Making and selling your own "acidified foods" is a very complicated thing to do and I am happy that we sent her and not me.  I could never in a million years put up with all the shenanigans one has to go through to get a pickle recipe approved.  Anne, on the other hand, can.

 

We now have the jars.  We now have the recipe.  We now have everything we need except for the final approval from the department of whoever it is that we need it from.  We'll have that approval soon and we'll (that is, Anne will) be able to make our own pickles and sell them to you.

 

These fellows had a gorgeous day last week for a wedding.  They, handsome in their khakis and white shirts, strolled across a beautiful field, met their gals, then the main guy and gal married. 

 

Our Thursday night music is catching on. 

 

Do come this week for music with Hilary Dirlam, Mary Gordon and Elizabeth Galloway.  "...fiddle, banjo, guitar stuff - plus singing..."  Should be good.

 

 

June 12, 2010

 

I am so happy to be sitting here at my desk this morning. I have no trips to take for the next bit of time. I have no reservations to go anywhere for the rest of this month. All the big things are done for a minute or two and I can safely sit, think, reflect, and enjoy the being here right now. What luxury.

 

I have really enjoyed my trips. I mean, who wouldn’t be thrilled about a trip to the White House? And who wouldn’t think it was very cool to go cook in front of some editors from those iconic magazines that have been with me since I was a little girl? Who wouldn’t think it was fun to scoot here and there, helping bees, helping children, imagining a better place for both of them?

 

But I also, more than I can describe, fill up with deep, oh-so-deep breaths when I am finally home after these jaunts. There is nothing at all like getting out of that plane and letting the soft mountain air wash over me. And nothing like stepping inside my cabin and smelling its own special smells, cabin-y and old and mine. Home.

 

My pup loves it when I pick her up from Martha’s. She recognizes my car and the squealing starts as I pull down the driveway. Tye bounds down Martha’s stairs, screeches past me and hurls herself into my car before I can even latch the porch gate behind her. She demands I open her window and sticks a full half of her body out into the wind.

 

Home we go, Mom. Let’s go home.

 

At home I say hello to my bees, hello to the flowers, hello to the woods, the trees, the steps, the birds. Hello. Hello. I’m home. I’m home. I am sorry I left but I had a good time. And now I’m home. Home. And as the evening comes on, the fireflies pop out, flickering, signaling to each other. Welcome home. Welcome home. We’re glad you’re back. Home.

 

I’m making a border for one of my gardens out of wine bottles. My sister and I saw one like the one I’m making when we were at a B+B in Breaux Bridge last month. Making this border is a slow process but that’s fine with me. I like the way it is looking, tidy and quirky and fun. I bought a rubber mallet the other day and tapped in the next case of bottles. Each week or so my neighbor (from the Wine market) gives me another box and so gradually, gradually the border grows, one bottle tapped in at a time.

 

Next month the board of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs comes to Asheville. I get to share my home with them, my town, my shop, my food, my dog, my house. The hydrangeas are in bloom right now and by then the Shasta daisies will be too. The tiger lilies are popping out and the lychnis are floating dots of bright red. The lawn is green and the trees are green and it is a full, rich place and I am the luckiest person to get to call it, and here, home.

 

My garden, wild and chaotic, fills me with pleasure.  I like to sit on my front step, dog under my arm, bees flying around doing their work.  While not exactly a riot of color, there are spots of all my favorites visible in one glance.  And, just to my left, some volunteer tomatoes are coming right along, right under the rosemary and right in front of the lavender.