If it’s November it’s time to think of Thanksgiving!

This year we’re making a wonderful dinner-to-go featuring favorite recipes of our staff.

 

(This is a snap of my yard - where I usually spend the day...)

 

Here’s the menu:

 

Thanksgiving at Laurey’s – 2010:

A Menu of Staff Favorites

 

Kentucky Beer Cheese

Irvegg’s Mexican “Romeritos:”

(with Shrimp, Mole and Rosemary)

 

Sage-roasted Turkey

With Martha’s Mushroom Gravy

 

Brendan’s Oyster Stuffing

 

Laurey’s Cranberry Chutney

 

Anne’s Grandma’s

Butternut Squash Casserole

With Cream Cheese and Onions

 

Marty’s Favorite Baked Apple Gratin

 

Andrew’s Favorite Green Bean Casserole

 

Emily’s Favorite Big Fluffy Yeast Rolls

 

Laurey’s Blackberry Jam

 

Noel’s Sweet Potato Pie

Apple Pie

 

Price per person: $34.95

 

(It is also possible to

order just your favorite parts.)

Here's Anne, patient pickle gal.  She managed to hurdle the seemingly endless obstacles tossed in her way.  Trial.  Another trial.  Another form.  Another application.  Another filing fee.  Another waiting period.

 

We DO now have TWO kinds of pickles.  They're on display. 

 

We're still getting fresh, local items even though the season is winding down.  Here's today's beet soup made with Hickory Nut Gap beef and local beets.  I had some for lunch and it was just the thing.  We're screaming through the soup these days.  As soon as I announce today's special, it has sold out and another one is coming off the stoves. 

 

Here are our dinners for this coming week. You might enjoy taking dinner home or to your favorite picnic spot or, heck, just to one of our tables. We'll reheat it for you even!

 

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.

 

Monday, November 8

*Orange Ginger Chicken with Wild Rice 11.25

 

Tuesday, November 9

Chicken and Dumplings 11.25

 

Wednesday, November 10

Local Beef Stew with Carrots and Parsnips 12.25

 

Thursday, November 11

Chicken Fried Steak w/ Mushroom Gravy + Mashed Potatoes 12.50

 

Friday, November 12

*Braised East Fork Lamb Curry with Pistachio Rice 14.25

 

* 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.

 

The casserole for next week is:

 

Wednesday, November 10

Shrimp Scampi with Mushroom Fettucine

Full 52 Half: 26

 

We make Lasagna every Friday. Here is this week's offering.

 

Friday, November 12

Traditional Beef Lasagna

Full: 45 Half: 22.50

 

Yup.  Our Thursday night Gourmet Comfort Tunes aka Thursday Night House Concerts are going well.  It really is sweet to come here early, have simple supper, listen to some honest-to-goodness local music, and get home before 9. 

 

Paul plays folk, roots, Americana.  Just what we like.  His website says "think Neil Young meets Hank Williams."  Come hear for yourself, why don't you?

 

Brendan takes these little zips and makes hot pepper sauces and salsas and things to tuck in here and there.  Oh my.  Keep an eye out for them, added to something or drizzled over something or, well, put on top of something!

 

Martha, as I've said before, is the gal who decides what we're going to serve for dinners to go each month.  To be truthful, others add a dinner or two, but she is the one who pours over the books to develop the entire month's menu.

 

Today the accompaniment to the Tilapia was this local butternut squash gratin. 

 

 

November 4, 2010

 

I’m at home as I write. Tomorrow I head out for a couple of days to do a couple of speaking engagements. I’m giving a talk called “Every third bite” for my colleagues at the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs conference. (I do believe I mentioned that bees are responsible for the pollination of a third of everything we eat.) And then I’m going to New Orleans for an hour long session for a bunch of food writers - all about the different flavor profiles of honey varietals.

 

Then I’m coming home.

 

Right now Tye, my pup, is lying on the rug next to me, exhausted after having raced around the house for 15 minutes chasing a little red fuzzy thing. I don’t know what it is, but it has kept her engaged for a good long bit. She’s in a pile on the rug now, the red thing near her. Yesterday we were outside raking leaves and she exhausted herself chasing the neighborhood flock of chickens. One flew up onto low tree branch and squawked and her, daring her to reach high enough to catch it. And though she leaped with enormous effort, Tye never got anywhere near close enough to endanger the chicken.

 

Tomorrow I’ll go into high speed mode. Then I’ll come home and rake leaves. Pasadena. Asheville. New Orleans. Weaverville. Fancy fashion. Red flannel shirts and a warm vest. Contrasts.

 

It’s cold here tonight. Earlier this afternoon I took Tye for a walk. I wore my winter jacket for the first time this season. I had a hat on too. Tye doesn’t dress for walks, but she was patient as I hauled things out of the closets. Halfway through our walk a squall blew in, rushing across the lake and soaking me. Tye, taking a cue from the weather, hopped into the water, lay down as she always does, paddled after a duck or two, got out, shook herself off, and urged me to continue on our walk, please. By the time we got to the car my hands were no longer working and I was wet through my jacket. My jeans were soaked though and I was really cold. Tye, invigorated by her swim, hopped into the car, asked for the window to be lowered, please, and stuck her head out as if it was July.

 

I have to go pack my nice clothes. I dressed up as a Rastafarian for Halloween. That costume will not go to Los Angeles with me but my big girl suit is clean and will make the trip. My chef’s coat will too. I’ll leave the fleece shirts here, the wool hat, the scruffy, comfortable things. Time to put on a different sort of costume, one that is, to be truthful, a real part of me (not like the Rasta dreads) not that I play that part , in those clothes, too often.

 

After my city adventures I get to come home. The leaves will probably all be off the trees by then and Tye and I will do a good clean up of the yard. I know she’d like it if the chickens would stop by for a little game of catch. We’ll just have to see.

 

This view is what I get to see each night when I head home.  I've been trying to catch it at just the right time, trying to get the light when the sun is setting or when the cows are perfectly positioned.  I've given up on searching for perfect, since it is really perfect every day, just as it is.