The dinner is THIS week so do call if you'd like to join us (I hope you do).  My sister Heather (seen decorating my ficus tree) will sing with us and Brendan has a wonderful menu planned.  I'll be here and it will be a nice, nice evening.

 

Here's this year's menu:

 

Brendan’s Country Pate with Pickled Vegetables and Onion Jam

 

Pears and Pecorino with Local Honey

 

The First Course: an all-local Salad

Wilted Local Greens with Roasted Beets, Delicata Squash

and Goat Cheese

 

The Main Course:

 

Bolognese with Hickory Nut Gap meats

served with Made-right-here Tagliatelle Pasta

and Locust Grove Pecorino

 

Braised Brussels Sprouts

with Housemade Bacon

 

Foccacia

 

For Dessert:

Warmed Chocolate Cake

With Vanilla Ice Cream

and a Caramel Sauce

 

Price per person: 45.00 + tax

Please add 12.00 if you’d like wine and/or beer

 

This ficus tree was a gift from my two sisters when I got "legit" and moved from my apartment into a real kitchen.  That was in 1990!  Somehow I've managed to keep the Ficus alive AND the business too.

 

2012 is my 25th year as "Laurey of Laurey's" which is pretty amazing. My godson, who was born the year before I started, is almost finished with law school!  I cooked for his mother and father as we waited for him to arrive.  And that, my friends, is where I imagined cooking for a living. 

 

Monday, December 12

Tandoori Roast Chicken with French Lentils 8.25 (GF)

 

Tuesday, December 13

Spanikopita with Chick Pea Salad 8.25

 

Wednesday, December 14

Braised Pork with Olives and Tomatoes with Rice 9.95

 

Thursday, December 15

Chicken Croquettes and Applesauce 8.25

 

Friday, December 16

Lemon Garlic Tilapia Parmesan with Wild and Brown Rice 8.50

 

Give us a call by noon and we'll have your dinners ready by 3. You can come until 7.

 

Call by noon and then come pick up between 4 and 7 that day!

 

Casserole of the week:

Full: 55 Half: 27.50

 

Lasagna of the week:

Our cooks often make small pot pies or casseroles for 2.  I can't really give you a predictable schedule - it has to do with how busy we are and what mood they are in and what else they might be making.  But do come by in the afternoon and see.  Most days we'll have a little something that would be good for you to tuck in your freezer for that day when you don't feel like cooking.

 

Way back in 1990 I swapped a gift basket for this tree.  Don Bundrick is a fellow who makes twig furniture and he'd gotten caught off guard by a birthday.  My gift basket swap ended up with this wonderful bird-filled creation.  It's now in my office at home, filled with mementos of this and that: my bike ride, a trip to New Orleans, and now, with Christmas lights. 

 

Heather, my professional decorating sister (not really) spent last Sunday with me and Tye, my pup.  I was responsible for the trees, the lights, the decorations, and the breakfast.  Heather put up all the lights and together we sifted through the boxed ornaments that have traveled with me since I left Vermont, so many years ago. Tye supervised.

 

 

December 10, 2011

 

Good morning to you all. I’m at work on a quiet morning. The kitchen gang is taking care of the breakfast visitors and is getting ready for the evening’s parties. Noel, my office mate, is off to her second of three meetings – weddings for the next year. I get to sit at my desk, musing and pondering and sinking into the pleasure of being home, surrounded by friends and life.

 

It’s a chilly and crisp day here. Though I puttered and poked around and tucked way under the covers, I still got out of bed before the sun crested the ridge. Almost 8 o’clock! These last days of increasing darkness are the lead in to the reverse – the return to light. Soon. Soon. And my knowing friends tell about Mercury’s retrograde path which reverses right around the New Year. All bodes well for things improving as these days roll out.

 

I have filled my home with scents and flavors of the winter holiday. I have candles and lights and trees and such everywhere. I think I might spend the afternoon and evening making gifts. I do have some made, but my list is long and I have been kind of pokey in that regard. This is the time, this is the week. Who knows, I might spend the afternoon making cookies to really fill my home with the warmth of the oven and the aromas of the season.

 

I am looking forward to this coming week. On Thursday I get to be the cook for some wonderful friends in Brevard. This, I think, will be our 20th Christmas party. 20! Amazing. Each year I say that Christmas really starts for me at that party. I drive there in the light but, by the time we have put away all the dishes, it is fully dark and our drive home is punctuated by light displays of all sorts: reindeer bounding up lawns, houses flashing with programmed shows, driveways lined with bulb-enhanced milk jugs. It’s fun and always puts me in the spirit. A few years ago, when everyone else cancelled their parties, these folks bucked up and had theirs. I was grateful to them that year and I still am. 20 years is a long time. 20 years of good friendship and lovely times.

 

On Friday we’ll have our Comfort and Joy dinner. This is our 3rd year. Three years ago, that same year when most everyone cancelled holiday cheer, we decided to have our own celebration. It was a quiet and snowy night and we all gathered in our candle-lit café and sang along to my sister's songs. Each year we have things to be grateful for. This year is no different. It has been a different sort of year for me and for us here but we’re hanging in and I, for one, am going to be happy to sit and sing and share a wonderful meal with friends in this sweet café.

 

On the health front things seem good. I got word yesterday that things have gone well with my chemotherapy treatments. “No evidence of disease” is the phrase one looks for these days, and I heard those words about one part of my body that has been receiving treatments. I have just one more treatment to go – Christmas week. Then, after a break, I will have a bit more to do but the news was good. I’m not done, but I’m coming along. A couple more scans, a procedure or two, and one more surgery and I will, I hope, be good to go. The crossed fingers and the prayers and the thoughts of light and love have helped, so thank you. Just like the heavens, I am not out of the dark yet, but I do see the return to light on my personal horizon.

 

As some of you know, The Blue Heron is my personal talisman, an indication that I am not alone and that things will work out.  This one showed up yesterday on the wall of my surgeon in Chapel Hill.  And as I was telling my Kentucky sister about my visit, another one appeared, a real one, right in front of her.