Hooray!!!!

I just found out that my sister Heather is going to be joining Jenna Lindbo to lead us in carols and songs.  The two of them sing so beautifully and to have them together is unimaginably wonderful.

 

Join us, bring friends, and settle in for a warm night of wonderful food, favorite songs, and comfort. I'll be the evening's Chef,

but will step out for a song or two.

 

The menu this year is all about comfort (and joy.)

 

Here's what we're serving:

 

Shrimp Tempura

With John’s Dunk Sauce

 

Bacon and Roasted Tomato Bites

With Basil Mayonnaise

 

Hot Spiced Apple Cider

 

The First Course:

Winter Squash Soup

With Crispy Shallots and Crème Fraiche

 

Crusty Baguettes with Butter

 

The Dinner:

 

Airline Breast of Chicken

With a Wild Mushroom Cream

 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

With Garlic and Onions

 

Polenta Rounds with Yellow Branch Farmstead Cheese

 

The Dessert:

 

Molten Chocolate Cakes

With Vanilla Crème Anglaise

 

The price is $49.75 per person (+tax).

 

Please add 15.00 per person if you’d like to have wines with your dinner.

 

I hope you can come. It is so much nicer to share these dark nights having dinner and singing with friends.

 

Call us at 252-1500 to reserve your spots.

 

(By the way, commend Andrew and Connor who thought up and created the "Don't Postpone Joy to the World" art.  It was supposed to go on the door but I liked it so much I moved it to the wall - and it's going to stay there for a long while!)

Someone here had the fine idea of giving You a gift if you give US as a gift.  here's the way it works:

 

Buy a gift certificate for $50.00 and we'll give you a $5.00 thank you card.  If you buy multiple gift certificates, you'll get multiple thank you cards, which can be used here until the end of March.

 

We have added a second soup class, since the first one sold out.  This one will be on Wednesday, December 22 from 6-8.  Call us at 252-1500 to sign up.  Four soups (at least).  Yum!

 

Here are our dinners for this coming 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.

 

Monday, December 13

Chicken Cordon Bleu 12.95

 

Tuesday, December 14

* Housemade Corned Beef + Cabbage w/ Lusty Monk Mustard 14.50

 

Wednesday, December 15

Cornmeal-crusted Catfish with Fried Green Tomatoes 13.25

 

Thursday, December 16

* Gingered Flank Steak with Grilled Sweet Potatoes 12.25

 

Friday, December 17

Crabcakes with Maple Cole Slaw 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.)

 

The casserole this week is:

 

Wednesday, December 15

Beef Stroganoff

Full: 55 Half: 27.50

 

And the Lasagna of the week is for

 

Friday, December 17

Spinach Lover’s Lasagna

Full: 39.95 Half: 19.95

 

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

 

We're making a good old comfort dinner to go. It'll be ready for you on Friday, December 24th between 2 and 4 (which is when we'll close that night.)

 

Here's our menu:

 

At the start:

 

Traditional Shrimp Cocktail

with Spicy, homemade Cocktail Sauce

 

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon, made with Hickory Nut Gap Beef

 

accompanied by

 

Elsie's Noodles with Sherry

 

Green Bean Casserole (which is SO fabulously comforting I'm changing the menu to have it with this dinner too)

 

Rosemary Yeasted Rolls

 

Sacher Torte

 

The price is a truly remarkable, old-fashioned 24.95 (+ tax).

 

Please call to save yours. 252-1500

 

Got plans on the night of the 25th?  How about coming here with your kids to dance!  This is a "private party" meaning we will not be officially open.  It is a benefit for Shayla, a little angel friend of mine who is tackling some major health challenges. 

 

If you come, please bring some cookies to share and also a gift card for my sweet friend and her family.  Target.  A grocery store.  A certificate from us (now THAT'S a great idea!)... you choose.

 

I'm am surprised to find that some people still don't know we're a RESTAURANT!  Amazing.

 

SO, we're going to have a contest.

 

Here's how it goes:

1. Come up with a new slogan or an illustration about us being a restaurant. (i.e. not just catering)

2. Show how your design would look on a t-shirt. (If you're not a fabulous artist, we might be able to help on that end).

3. Submit it to us by January 28th.

4. We'll have an esteemed panel of smart art judges.

5. We'll pick a winner.

 

If your entry is the winner, you'll get a prize!

 

1st place: A private cooking class with Laurey + bragging rights (your design on our new t-shirts)

2nd place: Dinner for 2 for one of our monthly Dinner and Conversations.

 

December 11, 2010

 

Hiya,

 

I sit here at my desk enveloped by the delicious aroma of Brendan’s cooking.  He’s smoking slabs of pork belly that will turn into bacon for Ari’s special Zingerman’s Bacon dinner on January 4^th.  It’ll go into soups too, casseroles, comfort foods of all sorts.  Yum!

 

The music is playing, comforting music.  Right now old-time banjo tunes are filling the air.  I can also hear chopping, sweeping, oven doors opening, the dishwasher cycling on and off.  Clicking of dishes and silverware.  Saturday morning in the café.

 

I’ve been noticing my bees these days.  When cold temperatures come the bees cluster up.  Any bee in the hive gathers around the queen.  The workers rotate positions, moving to the outside of the cluster as they need, taking turns keeping the queen alive and, truthfully, keeping each other alive too. 

 

When I drive into my driveway the beehives sit, silent.  When I leave in the morning the beehives sit, silent.  It’s too cold for them to fly and there’s nothing for them to eat now anyway.  The other day we had some snow and the beehives got a covering.  Right now, today, the snow has melted and the outer covers of the hives are exposed.  I hope that any glint of sunlight is seeping in, helping them stay warm.  They are calling for more snow in the next few days so the hives will get another blanket.  We have a few more months of this.

 

Inside the bees cluster, gather, beat their wings, and keep the queen and each other warm.

 

Earlier this week a woman came in for breakfast.  She introduced herself to me.  “My name is Joy,” she said.  She went on to tell me that our “Don’t Postpone Joy” was a blast of a gift when she first moved to Asheville a few years ago.  And then she told me how important it was to her that I am here, that we are here.  I wasn’t feeling particularly important to anyone at that moment but her words made me feel so warm, like I was in the middle of a cluster.

 

When I got back to my office there was a message for me from a woman who wanted to make a video about hope.  And she wanted it to be about me.  Huh!

 

And then, later in the day, I went home.  It had been a hard day, me shifting in and out of sadness and worry and the blues.  The relentlessness of the news and the dark times had piled up on me and I felt beaten and sad. 

 

I got home, though, and my pup, Tye, greeted me with kisses and yips.  As far as she was concerned, I was the heroine of her world and all that mattered was that I was home.  On the other side of the lawn, the beehives sat.

 

I went inside and looked at my computer.  An e-mail from my sweet friend Annie waited for me.  “You have your own cluster, you know,” she said.  (I had not really been talking about the cluster, just thinking it).  But it occurred to me that she is right.  I AM in a cluster.  I’m not necessarily the queen and I’m necessarily always in the center – or on the outside, for that matter.  But I am also not alone.  Not by a long shot.

 

I've had a nice day in the hot shop recently and have some ornaments here for your viewing and sharing pleasure.  Check out the tree full of them in the front of the cafe.  They're right next to the Lake Champlain Chocolates!