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The Weekly Newsletter for October 17-21, 2011 |
In the neighborhood
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| The taste of Honey |
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I've been working along on my honey book. Tomorrow I'm going to a conference where the winners for the honey tasting contest will be announced. My bees are VERY excited to be in their very first contest!
One very cool thing is that we are going to have ALL the honeys here for sale - starting next week. We'll have the winners, and the also-rans. Do stop by. Those gift times are coming right up, you know. |
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Fall tomatoes |
We're still getting local tomatoes. Local squash. Local kale and greens. local cheese. Local eggs. Local honey and other things.
Come see. You never quite know what we'll have - which is, I think, one of the best parts about this place. |
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| Dinners for the week |
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Give us a call by noon and we'll have your dinners ready by 3. You can come until 7.
828-252-1500
Monday, October 17
Chicken Piccata with Pasta 7.95
Tuesday, October 18
Potato Pancakes, Collards, and Tomato Soufflé 7.25
Wednesday, October 19
Pork Schnitzel with House-made Kraut and Gravy 9.95
Thursday, October 20
Meatloaf with Cheddar mashed Potatoes 7.25
Friday, October 21
Crabcakes with Maple Cole Slaw 10.25 |
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Laurey's |
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Casseroles and Lasagna for the Week |
Here is this week's casserole:
Wednesday, October 19
Chardonnay Chicken with Wild Rice
Full: 35 Half: 17.50
And this week's Lasagna is:
Friday, October 21
Roasted Peppers with Hickory Nut Gap Beef
Full: 59.95 Half: 30
Call us by noon and we'll have yours ready to pick up by 3. |
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| Brendan makes crabcakes |
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And in the meantime, as I wander the neighborhood looking for color, things here in the kitchen are in full swing. Today we are cooking for a couple of weddings, a surprise birthday party, and some other things. These crab cakes are part of the surprise (don't tell) for some folks who are world travelers and who are spending the weekend here. They found us on the internet last week and tonight our food will be a part of their celebration.
Sweet! |
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The cafe page |
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Our neighbor grows |
| The Aloft Hotel building right next to us is growing and growing. the air if full of the pounding of hammers and the churning of machinery. It's amazing to me to see how much of this building is done by hand. Men assemble forms for cement, coax bundles of rebar into shapes that will keep the building strong, guide the crane loads into position. I've never been this close to a construction project of this caliber and it is really fun to watch. I think it will grow by two more floors before it is as high as it is going to go. |
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| A dinner with Firefly Farms - November 11 |
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Scott and Elizabeth, our friends at Firefly Farms are going to bring us some fall produce and some of their Devon Beef and Brendan is going to make a farm dinner for you. Brendan is envisioning a French-style comfort dinner. It's a bit early to commit to the final menu but please do put this on your calendar. November 11th.
And in addition to raising animals and vegetables, Scott and Elizabeth are harvesting wind power. They now make so much electricity that the power company owes THEM! We'll get Scott to tell you about that too.
(This picture shows their Candy Roaster Squash, which will be part of the dinner too.) |
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Firefly Farms |
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Fall in our backyard |
At my house things are in full fall swing. Most of my days start out on my deck, sitting it my hot tub, watching the sun come up over the eastern hills. The leaves are sparser now, but much more colorful too, filling the early mornings with bright yellows and rich reds.
Here at work I have to look a little bit harder, but right behind this building we have a sweet little maple, whose life we saved when they were building the parking lot. It chugs along, filling our downtown air with color that reflects onto my desk. Nothing as grand as the displays I grew up with in Vermont, but I love its modest one-leaf-at-a-time show. |
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| A word or two from Laurey |
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October 15, 2011
Howdy. How’s your day going? Mine is good. I woke up mashed into one small section of my bed, my pup tucked into me, forcing me off “my” side and up into the pillows. When I moved, she woke up and batted her eyes at me. Ha!
My yard is ablaze as are the hills around my home. There are individual trees here and there that are brilliantly red or yellow. As I drive over the rise on the way home I get to see the mountains, get to watch them turning, turning, turning into fall. It’s a beautiful time around here. Truly.
Last week I got to visit my niece and her children in Kentucky. Jones, the five year old, had just learned to ride a two-wheeler and his mother invited us out to watch him and his little sister ride. Bailey still has training wheels but she enthusiastically pedaled her little bike as any three-year-old would do, proudly showing the aunties what she could do.
Now Jones, a new bike rider, is pretty good at going straight ahead but, as became evident, turning and braking are not yet his strong suits. Bailey pedaled off first, taking up one half of the lane. Jones followed behind and, as we watched, pedaled right into Bailey, who had been off in her own little world.
Bam!
Bailey, not surprisingly, immediately burst into screams. Rachael took off down the lane, comforted Bailey, who was not really hurt, just surprised at this unexpected bump.
After a few minutes, Bailey got back on her bike. Jones got back on his bike. Bailey took off. Jones followed. And – yup – Jones, once again, crashed right into Bailey, once again catching her completely off guard and, this time, knocking her off her bike and onto the gravel. This time all the aunties took off, hurrying to pick Bailey up and comfort her. Jones, in the meantime, was horrified that he’d hurt his sister and he took off in the opposite direction, heading to a big rock where he threw himself down, sobbing with embarrassment.
It was quite the scene there for a minute.
But Bailey got a Band-Aid and, sniffling, accepted our commiserations and Jones got a lesson in how to use his brakes (which he grasped quickly, thereby avoiding any future crashes.) All of us hauled the bikes back into the garage, made a nice dinner, and switched the subject to something a bit less, shall we say, volatile.
I love my family. |
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Jones! |
| The sweetest nephew! |
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