This year's Thanksgiving dinner-to-go featuring favorite recipes of our staff.  If you don't feel like cooking, this is the perfect alternative.

 

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.)

This coming week's cooking class features Squash, which is also the featured vegetable of the month at Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Projects. 

 

I'll be making three things, all very doable for you.  They are all easy enough for you to make after work or on a weekend afternoon.  and if you are feeling creative, they can be a jumping off point for your own creativity.

 

The menu for this class includes:

Candy Roaster Squash Soup with Sourwood Honey Crème Fraiche

 

Farfalle Pasta with Delicata Squash

 

Spaghetti Squash with Puttanesca Sauce

 

We have Reubens on Thursdays and our new special crunchy, Zippy Chicken Extravaganza on Wednesdays.  The kitchen gang and the shop gang are working on making every single day a special sandwich day.

 

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 15

Shrimp Guajillo (not-so-spicy chiles) with Corn Cakes 12.75

 

Tuesday, November 16

*Braised Sauerkraut, Grilled Pork Chops + Local Applesauce 13.75

 

Wednesday November 17 *Balsamic-glazed Flank Steak with Mashed Sweet Potatoes 12.75

 

Thursday, November 18

House-made Corned Beef and Cabbage 14.50

 

Friday, November 19

Crabcakes with Dilled Caper Sauce 13.95

 

* 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 17

Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese

Full: 32 Half: 16

 

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

 

Friday, November 19

Chevre, Artichoke, and Spinach

Full: 38 Half: 19

 

We have folks here almost every Thursday from 6-8.  Nice.

 

Will has a surprisingly deep voice, captivating songs, rich tunes and, usually, accompanying helpers to fill out our room.  The musicians say we have a "nice vibe."  I agree.

 

The kitchen lays out tempting simple suppers, and the shopsters keep the beer chilled.  We have wine too, of course. 

 

On Saturday, November 20 from 10-12, we’re having a Big Kids/ Little Kids class.

 

This class is aimed at children, but we’d like each child to be accompanied by an adult.  This class is a hands-on class.  Children and their adults will make a seasonal soup, a salad, and a dessert. 

 

The cost for this class is 25.00 per pair (one big and one little kid).

 

Every year we sell this Cranberry Chutney right around Thanksgiving.  It is a not-too-sweet, thick accompaniment to Turkey (and I make it my self!)

 

 

November 12, 2010

 

Hiya,

 

I’m writing on Friday but, thanks to the miracle of modern science, you’ll get this newsletter at your normal time. Love that!!! I am spending all day on tomorrow at a bee workshop, an advanced session about honeybees. I am an advanced beginner beekeeper and I feel a bit over my head but I’ll try to learn as much as possible. (Can you tell I was once a swimming teacher?)

 

I’ve just come home from a trip to California and then, on the way home, a stop in New Orleans. I know you think I travel all the time and sometimes it sure feels like it. I normally go to one place and then come home. It was sort of disorienting to go to a second place on one trip rather than coming right home but it was for a good cause – honeybees.

 

In California I spoke to a group of woman chefs about what bees do and why honey matters. And then, in New Orleans, I presented honey and honey recipes to food writers. It’s a different world out there, being with all those people who travel so much.

 

It was funny, when I got on the plane bound for Asheville, things felt markedly different. After having been on all those planes in all those airports, and after meeting with chefs and writers from all over, I was overcome with a curious warmth that took over the Asheville-bound plane. The cabin filled with conversations, strangers greeted each other, exchanged introductions, shared stories – right off the bat! I sank into my seat, relaxing knowing that I was on my way home to a place that so many people want to visit.

 

I live here!

 

Everything at home was fine. More leaves are off the trees but that means that my bee hives get more afternoon sun. Almost everything was as I left it, though a plate full of drying Delicata Squash seeds was empty – enjoyed, it seems, by a mouse. Sigh. I hope she plants them somewhere near my house. I really want to grow my own next year.

 

I do live in the country, you know.

 

One day in California, hurrying to a conference session, I passed the Asian Museum. Monks from a monastery in Tibet were in momentary residence, creating a sand mandala. I stopped, watched. One tiny row of sand at a time, they filled in a square with complex patterns, bright lines, and intricate designs. This is what they do to spread the word about their home and their world and their lives. This is how they share of themselves, traveling so far to do quiet work that affects those who get to see it. I breathed in their world and then, looking at my watch, kept going to my session. When their mandala is done they sweep it up and spread the grains of sand in the air, in the water, on the earth.

 

It is easy to get lost in the zoom of life. I do. Zoom. Off I go. Zoom. Do work. Zoom. Do more. Zoom. Go home.

 

Seeing the mandala, breathing it in then for those moments, caught me. Getting on the plane with those easy, warm conversations did too. Home is where I go, finally, to really breathe as deeply as I can. I wonder how the monks do it, traveling from place to place, creating, sweeping away, creating, sweeping away. They have a longer view, I guess.