|
The Weekly Newsletter for February 27-March 2, 2012 |
|
|
| Henry |
|
This newsletter is all about things that bring hope. Henry is certainly the miracle boy in my book. And in March we get to celebrate the second anniversary of his successful bone marrow transplant. We might get to find out who the donor is - some still unknown stranger from somewhere else who gave this bit of herself to help some unknown stranger who, WE know, is Henry.
Henry is a thriving, wild 3 1/2 year old now but it really was not that long ago when we were all holding our breath about him. Nice to be able to breathe and just watch him grow and learn and live. |
|
|
|
|
|
Our kitchen windows |
These windows open up the wall between the cafe and the kitchen as many of you have seen. When we built this place I wanted to have the cooks in as nice a place as the guests got to be. I bought the window boxes at a trade show. At that point this place was a mere glimmer. When it was time to build our kitchen these windows showed up, fitting the window boxes perfectly.
A small leap that was, buying those boxes with no windows. But they are, in my humble opinion, one of the nicest parts of this place. |
|
|
|
|
| Dinners for the week |
|
We make dinners to go Monday through Friday.
Call 252-1500 by noon or so and then come pick up your dinners between 3 and 7, when we close. Add a salad for 3.25 or bread for 1.25.
Here is this week's menu:
Monday, February 27
Chicken Piccata with Pasta 7.95
Tuesday, February 28
Indian Vegetarian Tikka Masala with Rice 7.50
Wednesday, February 29
Grilled Rosemary Flank Steak with Spinach Sauté 8.95
Thursday, March 1
Chicken and Dumplings 7.95
Friday, March 2
Herb-crusted Salmon with Parmesan-grilled Broccoli 10.25 GF |
|
Laurey's |
|
|
| |
Casserole and Lasagna for the Week |
Call by noon and then come pick up between 4 and 7 that day!
Casserole of the week - Wednesday, February 29
Spinach and Pepper Enchiladas Suizas
Full: 30 Half: 15
Lasagna of the week - Friday, February March 2
Herbed Turkey Meatball Lasagna
Full: 52 Half: 26 |
|
|
|
|
| Lewis |
|
Lewis doesn't exactly fit into the theme of this newsletter but I find him so irresistibly cute that, well, he gets his own little story. He is, as I believe I have mentioned, a fellow who likes to sleep under the covers. I am not squeamish about these things, finding it more amusing than disgusting. This snap says it all, he, tucked under the cover (I did NOT assist him!) taking up what he believes to be his rightful place in my bed.
He cracks me up. And that, my friends, is a great thing. |
|
|
|
|
|
A honey of a guided tasting |
Gosh I had fun this week with our honey tasting. Though I had been having a string of inane anxiety dreams in the nights leading up to our event (mostly having to do with things like not having enough light in the room or forgetting everything I know about honey or having everyone walk out from boredom) it all worked out very well.
The event was very sold out and we had to turn folks away. SO we're doing it again. There actually may be people who come for a second time. I'm giving you a big advance notice about the second tasting so call and get your name on our list if you want to be sure to get in this time.
Wednesday, April 25th. 6-8 pm. $10.00 252-1500.
(I'll remind you again, but thought you'd like an early notice.) |
|
|
|
|
| SO close!!! |
|
| I've been on my own deadline, wanting to have all the recipes written by the end of February so I can send them out to the folks who are testing. I have just eight more savory recipes and five more beverage recipes to go. Wow! I'll have them done in a few more days, meeting my deadline. Then I'll print them out, pack them up and send them out, with instructions. The testers will have one month to work on them, following my instructions and letting me know what they think. In April I'll correct them as needed and will finish the non-recipe parts of the manuscript. The publisher wants it all in June. All seems on track. Yay! |
|
|
|
|
|
Morning food |
Again, a fairly straightforward addition to this note here. But I think it's a good idea to remind you every once in a while that we make really good, quick breakfast foods here too. Deb (it's usually Deb), makes a vegetarian and a local sausage quiche each morning and also makes breakfast burritos, both sausage and veg.) We always have scones, muffins, and biscuits. And the kitchen gang is happy to make you an omelet or a breakfast sandwich. It's not the main thing we do so I forget to mention it, though I shouldn't, since I have a quiche and fresh fruit for my breakfast most days.
|
|
|
|
|
| A word or two from Laurey |
|
March, 2012
I've been so focused on light these days. The return of the light, starting at the winter solstice last December, has caught my attention in a big way this year, seeming, to me, to signify the return of room to breathe, return of a normal life, return of hope and trust and belief.
I’ve talked about watching the light move across the wall of my bedroom. In the middle of summer, the sun rises directly in front of my bed, waking me up with a full blast of light. In the middle of winter it rises behind the edge of my house, never even making it directly into my room. I’ve spent a lot of time at home this year and a lot of time watching the light and paying attention to where it rises each day. It seems like it has taken ages for it to stop moving further and further south and start moving back to the north. It started moving on December 21 (um, the Earth started to move differently, that is) and just this week the sun rose past that edge of my cabin. Lovely.
Last night, when I got home the not-quite-dark sky was crystal clear. I had come home after a rollicking Zumba class and went out for a bit of a soak in the hot tub. The planets were lined up on their chain, looking like a string of jewels, so striking that I had to go in and find out what they all were. Jupiter, Venus, Mars. Orion stood brightly over my head. My little computer pointed out Aldeberon, Betelgeuse, The Pleiades, other sky-borne gems. Their light, reaching me after starting from such a faraway place reminded me again about the cycle of things, the flow of the seasons.
On we go.
In my childhood, Orion stood out to me over Romance Mountain, the behemoth (to me) just to the East of Blueberry Hill. In my Vermont winters it hovered at the tip of the ridge, standing guard. Now, doing a little research, I see that it is far less visible in this hemisphere outside of those winter months. No wonder that’s when I remember seeing it, its presence and brightness a stark contrast to the chill of those dark nights. Still now, seeing Orion I feel a dark and cold Vermont winter night, even if I am on my North Carolina deck in the relative mildness of these not-very-wintry days.
I’m in a meditation group these days. This week part of the words we thought about were, “If you do not fast from the cosmos you will never grasp reality.” As I sit on my deck and wonder about Orion or lay in bed watching the light of the sun I am not sure that’s true right now. My wanderings out there seem to ground me, not keep me from reality.
The reality is that I am headed for the final part of my nearly year-long treatment for my 3rd dance with of cancer. It is easy and tempting to think that I am an anomaly and that this is wrong and too hard not fair and such. I can drift into fear if I’m not careful. But I see the gradual movement of the light and remember that there were other times when all I could do was sit and wait. I see Orion, still standing guard, and think of all the years (so few in REALITY) that it has guarded me and I feel comforted, trustful that I will be here next year to watch that sun dance and see the mighty Sky Hunter once more. Next year and more after that. Fingers crossed. |
|
|
|
|
|
Riding across Iowa |
Riding across Iowa would have seemed very doable to me a year ago. In fact, it would have hardly have seemed a challenge, coming off riding across the United States. But as I head off for surgery, I know it will be a BIG deal to recover and then get in the shape that a ride of this scope will demand of me.
But I've leaped before. Here we go again. |
|
|
|
|
|
