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The Weekly Newsletter for April 23-27, 2012 |
Stacks and piles and rows of color
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| Dining Out for Life - this Thursday (the 26th) |
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Get ready!
This Thursday is a big day in Asheville. We, along with a WHOLE bunch of other restaurants open our doors and hope to fill our establishments with YOU. Collectively we give 20% the day's sales to Western North Carolina AIDS Project. Yes - people still need our help.
Come here for breakfast or lunch or order some catering or get some dinners to go. We'll give 20% of the shop sales and of any catering that is ordered for the day (when you tell us it's a WNCAP-inspired order.)
It's actually a very fun day. ALL the eating places are filled. We each have our own Ambassador to greet you and I'll be here dancing around and thinking about my beloved friends who are no longer here. Let's all put a stop to that, shall we? |
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My desk |
| I might have shown you these blocks once before. Emily gave them to me, knowing I like stacking things. People come and bump into them and they fall and the people gush with apologies but the truth is, re-stacking them gives me great pleasure so I smile, shoo the people away, and drift into my blocks, feeling their balance and mine. |
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| Dinners for the week |
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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.
Monday, April 23
Chicken Tikka Masala 8.25 (Gluten Free)
Tuesday, April 24
Spanakopita with Sesame Tabbouleh 8.25
Wednesday, April 25
Glazed Meatloaf and Cheddar Smashed Potatoes 7.50
Thursday,April 26
Smothered Pork Chops, Braised Cabbage, and Honeyed Carrots 8.75
Friday, April 27
Crabcakes with Caper Dill Sauce 10.25 |
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Laurey's |
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Casserole and Lasagna for the Week |
Call by noon and then come pick up between 4 and 7 that day!
Casserole - Wednesday, April 25
Chicken Pot Pie
Full: 34 Half: 17
Lasagna - Friday, April 28
Spinach, Pesto, and White Sauce Lasagna
Full: 38 Half; 19 |
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| Line 'em up. Fill 'em up. |
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| Ooh it's a busy morning here in snap-boy central. We have boxes going all over town. I get to take some to Lake Lure to a group who is, as I write, learning about the flora and fauna of the now-preserved Hickory Nut Gap/ Chimney Rock area. When I get there I get to talk about bees. What could be sweeter? |
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My bottle tree |
Bottle trees are supposed to collect the bad spirits. I put mine near my bees, feeling that they needed more protection than me. And then I was diagnosed with cancer and my bees subsequently all died - again.
It'd be pretty easy to be cynical about my bottle tree's protective ability. But if I re-frame it, I can say that I made it through this incredibly difficult year and that these hives are now ready for what I hear is the most dynamic shipment of bees my mentors have seen in years.
All of us have had troubles with our bees. Maybe this is the turn around year. And my doctor called my recovery "amazing" and "remarkable" this week. Some things take a long time, bottle tree or not. |
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| Blue and white and the day's bread |
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Almost 26 years ago a baby boy was born to my best friend. I went and lived with her for a month before he arrived, cooking, cleaning, waiting. One day I doodled what became the logo of the business I started, a year later.
That time was when I started cooking. My business is now 25. Ezra, my godson, is about to graduate from Law School. Life swirls on. I will go watch him cross the stage next month. I am very proud of him. Zounds. |
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Every Third Bite - coming right along |
| Yeeks! It's almost time to turn in my manuscript for my book. Happily, I'm in good shape. Though it may look intimidating, these little colored flags mark the remaining writing or correcting that needs to be done. And though it looks like a lot, it really isn't. I will finish in time and I am happy with the way it is all turning out. And, truthfully, kind of amazed that I actually managed to do it this year. (I got the news about the sale of my book on the day I found out I was going to need chemotherapy. Oof.) |
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| A word or two from Laurey |
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April 21, 2012
It is Earth Day today. I feel the Earth deserves and needs attention every day but I also guess it’s okay to set aside one day to honor it, sort of like Mother’s Day (which is coming up too.)
This morning Tye and Lewis roared out of bed, slammed down the hall, careened around the corner into the living room, hurled themselves out the dog door and crashed into the deck railing. I took the civilized route, through the regular door (I CAN get through the dog door but it’s not a quick thing.) By the time I got out there, whatever had aroused them was gone. Their approach was not exactly silent, after all. But their fur was standing up on their necks and they were panting with the thrill of whatever it might have been.
Walking back inside I heard the shrill call of a hawk, patrolling its neighborhood. And driving away from home I saw a Wood Thrush, owner of the most beautiful call I know. Peepers are out, calling to me at night, carrying me to my little sloped-ceiling bedroom of my childhood. The hatching of the new batch of baby frogs was and is a sure sign of spring. Delicious.
It is also delicious to be feeling better and better. And better. Tomorrow I am giving the main message at Jubilee! If you live here, please do come. 9:45 or 11:00. I have some things to say about all of this, my year, my life, spring, growth, light, color, love. Come if you can.
In two weeks I go to California to see my baby godson graduate. I watched him emerge into this world, a miracle if ever there was one, an amazing gift given to me by my oldest best friend. She and I will share this event of his. We shared his Bar Mitzvah, singing him into his adulthood. We’ll always share him in our own special way. I quiver thinking about him and this and life.
I start training next week. I really am feeling so good. Not still 100%, and my friends caution me, but I will be careful and I am ready to move and to firm things up in my legs and belly and arms and in my whole body. It is time. Time to get myself ready to ride my bike across Iowa. I’m going to tell you more about that very soon so please watch for it, okay?
And now, back in the present, it is Earth Day and I am going to go through the gorge to deliver lunch and tell tales about my bee adventure. When I get back I have a garden to visit and then some dogs to worship and celebrate. I have the evening to review and think about and tweak my Jubilee! thoughts. If I can manage to tame my seemingly untamable excitement, I’ll try to sit quietly later on, watching life emerge in MY garden and at my house, in my woods. Oh, and not incidentally, in my entire body. I am, my friends, so happy to have made it through this year. I am, my friends, so happy to be alive. |
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Come Taste Honey - Wednesday the 25th |
Elijah, my garden goddess, is another watcher and protector of mine. She wasn't quite this festive when I met her, but she does perk things up when it is not a blooming garden time, as it is now.
Speaking of festive - please do come join me this Wednesday for a guided (I'll be the guide) honey tasting. It's a very interesting experience and you will come away understanding some of the nuances of honey, the miracle creation of the miracle bees. $10. We'll start promptly at 6 and you'll be on your way by 8. Please call to reserve your spots. 828-252-1500 |
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