We're making two special dinners to go this year.  If you don't feel like cooking, these may be perfect for you!

 

Christmas Eve Comfort

Dinner to Go

(December 24)

 

 

Roasted Pork Loin

Or

Apple Cider-Roasted

Turkey Breast

*

Sweet Potato Casserole

*

Brussels Sprouts with Garlic

*

Marty’s Cheesy

Black Pepper Rolls

*

Chocolate Cheesecake

 

***

 

Price per person 16.50

 

Please order by December 21.

Orders will be ready to pick up

December 24th between 2 and 4.

New Year’s Eve

Dinner to Go

(December 31)

 

 

Hoppin’ John

(Black-eyed Peas and Rice)

*

Southern-style

Braised Collard Greens

*

Sorghum-glazed

Sweet Potato Wedges

*

Cornbread

*

Pear Upside-down Cake

 

***

 

Price per person: 12.95

 

Please order by December 28.

Orders will be ready to pick up

December 31 between 2 and 4.

Monday, December 19

Smothered Chicken with Green Beans 8.95

 

Tuesday, December 20

Broccoli, Mushroom, Chevre and Peas in Cornmeal Crepes 7.95

 

Wednesday, December 21

Grilled Rosemary Flank Steak with Potatoes and Leeks 8.95 (GF)

 

Thursday, December 22

Meatloaf with Cheddar Mashed Potatoes 7.75

 

Friday, December 23

Laurey’s Crabcakes with Maple Cole Slaw 10.25

 

Saturday, December 24

Special Christmas Dinner to go (see above)

 

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:

Vegetable Ragout with Sweet Potato Polenta

Full: 30  Half: 15

 

Lasagna of the week:

Italian Chicken and Almond

When people see our menus and note "Local Cheese Assortment" it might not mean that much.  But here's what it looks like on a party.  Beautiful cheeses are made by friends of ours in our region.  Just yesterday Karen, from Yellow Branch Farms was here, delivering a big round of cheese for last night's party.

 

Sometimes it is just too much to load everything into a van, drive to a delivery location, find a parking spot, unload a cart, deliver the lunch, put the cart back in the van, and drive back to the shop, especially when the destination is within a couple of blocks!  Times like this call for the SUW.

 

Look what's up on the roof of the new hotel!  Christmas is everywhere.

Pretty soon the Aloft Hotel will be fully constructed and, before too long, full of guests (it'd be a great place to stay when you come to visit Asheville) but for now we have the extreme pleasure of watching this place grow.  The builders are now our friends and that is a fine thing too.

 

Mackensey Lundsford, of our Mountain Xpress made a list of Asheville's top ten Culinary Movers, Shakers, and Badasses (in no particular order).

 

She picked me for being "an unstoppable dynamo with a bajillion projects in the air at all times."

 

 

December 17, 2011

 

Yippee skippy – it is cold today, but clear and bright. I have completed my personal responsibilities for the season, cooking one party and attending one other one. In years past I did many more but this year is a bit different for me AND there are others here who have a lot more energy than I do at the moment so I have been replacing myself as the cook more and more. But this one party, our 20th with these folks, was a must for me. I’m glad I was there. Very.

 

I’ve been preparing my home for the arrival of my sister and her beau who will be with me for the Christmas week. Heather will join in often and Tye, the pup, is gearing up to have a visiting dog for a month or so, while my sister and beau go to Paris. Tye doesn’t REALLY know it yet, but she’ll be happy to have a playmate. Come springtime we’re (um, I am) thinking of getting kittens, but we have a bit of thinking to do about that before the time comes.

 

Monday, as I’ve mentioned is my last chemotherapy treatment. And Wednesday, the Solstice, is when the two day drip gets disconnected for the last time. I’m SO grateful to have had the medicine, as it seems to have worked well. And, more than that, I am over the moon about being done. It is not an easy thing to receive these drugs and maintain any semblance of optimism, but, with much help, I’m here, intermittently perky, and feeling quite positive about how things are going to be in my future. I’m letting myself dream about projects again, planning excursions again, and feeling darn good about the whole thing. A few more days of hours of sleeping and I should be back on the road to my norm. Oh, I guess there’ll be a break at some point in the near future when I have surgery one more time, but there’s plenty of time to deal with that later. For now, I’M ALMOST DONE!!!!!!!

 

In other news, um, IS there any other news?

 

I got myself a nice Christmas/Solstice/end of treatment present yesterday: an outdoor fire pit. I have been wanting one for some time and decided this was a fine time. It will go on my front lawn and will be a fine place to sit outside, watching the stars and sitting in the chill, clear winter nights, warmed with the flames. Between nighttimes and early mornings in my hot tub, the extra hours with an outdoor fire sound like the perfect thing. I can’t wait. Might try it out tonight for starters, just to make sure it works before I invite anyone over to try it with me.

 

I do want to thank you ALL for the many many prayers and offerings of light and healing. My surgeon, when he first met me, said, “Well, you need to know you are not our ideal candidate…” (nice start, eh?) But now he tells me we are heading for a cure and that is a big relief. I credit the treatment and I credit my doctors, but more than almost anything else, I credit the enormous number of prayers and candles and accumulated belief that I will get through this as the most important part of actually getting through.

 

My oncologist, on the other hand, said, first thing, "You will need to have faith," and that is what I have tried to do.  "I'll take care of the doctoring, you just have to believe it will work," he said.  With your help, I do have faith and trust and belief. 

 

I had the extreme pleasure of cooking for my favorite party the other night.  As you may recall, this was our 20th year of doing this party, and my 20th year of cooking.  SO nice!  But I DID have to stop for a tiny bit at one point (captured here, resting in the hosts' baking closet!)