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The Weekly Newsletter for August 20-24, 2012 |
Local bounty. Local beauty.
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| Come join us this Wednesday |
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Have you ever eaten Celeriac? It's celery root, but is one of those wonderful things that tastes like, well, like itself. This dinner with our farmers will be a mash up of their local produce and my adventures in Provence.
Though it has been a few years, my trips to Provence are indelibly etched in my mind, my heart, my sense memories. This is what I'll bring you on Wednesday at our dinner with farmers Anne and Aaron of Gaining Ground Farms. Read on to learn more.... |
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Eggplant beauties |
You know, everything I need to recreate this Provencal feast is available in this one place. I always find it interesting to travel so far away and come home to find many of those same things right in my own home market. This time of year is perfect for that. Market tables fill with sun-drenched produce, the evening air, punctuated by our katydids, is not as incessant as French cicadas, but is enough to carry me out of my home and transport me to southern France.
The menu is set, sort of. We'll do a Nicoise-style assortment of grilled NC fish (got to talk to the fish guy on Monday to see what's freshest) accompanied by grilled and roasted vegetables. We'll have caponata, a cereliac relish. We're going to make some Vichyssoise and we'll have Fougasse, the French version of foccacia. We will finish dinner off with a fresh fruit Clafouti (sort of a fruity upside down cake) served with a lavender honey-infused creme Chantilly (that's fancy talk for whipped cream, y'all...)
We still have room for you if you call us by Monday. 252-1500. 45 is the cost of the dinner. Add 12 if you'd like beer or wine. |
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| Dinners to go |
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Monday August 20
Almond Brie-stuffed Chicken 8.25
Tuesday August 21
Chickpea Cakes, Cucumber Sauce, and Sesame Tabouli 7.25
Wednesday August 22
Grilled Flank Steak and French-style Red Potato Salad 8.95 (GF)
Thursday August 23
Seafood Fettuccine Alfredo 10.25
Friday August 24
Laurey’s favorite Crab Cakes, NC Style 10.25
Call by noon and we'll have your dinner ready at 3. You can stop by to pick yours up until we close at 7. Add Salad (3.25) or bread (1.25) if you like. |
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Laurey's |
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Casserole and Lasagnas to go |
Casserole to go:
Wednesday, August 22
Chicken a la King with Herbed Rice
Whole: 35 Half: 17.50
Lasagna to go:
Friday, August 24
Mexican Chicken and Cheddar Lasagna
Whole: 42 Half: 21
Call by noon and then come pick up between 3 and 7 |
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| Wonder of wonder |
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So last week I wrote about how messy and unkempt my gardens have gotten. This coming Sunday is the first photo shoot for my book and things around my house have gotten, well, ragged! These days I tend to go right to my bedroom when I get home, settling in with Tye for a bit of a nap. My gardens have never been models of perfection, but lately they've gotten to the point where I just don't even look.
WELL! A garden (like a guardian) angel popped up after reading my note and sent her crackerjack crew over a couple of days ago. WOW!!!! When I came home on Thursday I found a wonderland of tidiness and new flowers and mulch and order. What an amazing gift. |
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Miracle of miracles |
| Here's a look at my shed from my porch. The before of this snap would show broken branches from one of those wild summer storms we've been having. You would not have been able to see any of the Hostas, nor would you have even been able to tell where the garden was, covered with so many weeds it just was a big fat jumble. |
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| Knockouts for my girls |
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And on the bank in front of my bees the mulch had gotten trampled and was ugly and so thin in places that the under cover of cardboard was showing through.
I've wanted red Knockout Roses FOREVER but for some reason never have gotten them. WELL! Voila! The garden fairies took a look and planted them for me. I was not consulted, an odd-ish thing. But I could not be more thrilled to have someone come, look, assess, and add touches that so perfectly express what I would have wanted, if I could have been that clear. |
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Into the woods |
| And in the woods below my house things had gotten completely out of hand. It was as if Jack had come and planted beanstalk beans everywhere. Huge prehistoric things were growing everywhere. I could not even see this path. Ha! I can't imagine what kind of a crew did so much work in one day, but I can say that sitting on my deck is a whole new experience. I no longer look at the jumble with distress, knowing that clearing it all out is beyond me right now. No, I get to sit and gaze and breathe deep, slow breaths of gratitude for this friend and this gift and this addition to my home. |
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| A word or two from Laurey |
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August 18, 2012
Hiya. I’ve had a fun, fine, full morning already today. It was a two-market morning for me which is always a good thing in my opinion. I needed to go to the North Asheville market to meet with Anne and find out what’s going to be available for our market dinner on Wednesday. This sort of thing charges me up, knowing I get to bring together my farm friends and you. I revel in thinking about the bounty that they have coaxed out of the ground and how it sparks my imagination as I think about the menu for this dinner. It makes me feel normal and good and happy and that, these days, is a very fine thing.
And then I went to the City Market, where the proclamation for Bee City, USA was being read. The south side of the market overflowed with bee creatures, real bees, antenna-clad revelers, and tattoed celebrants. We're the very first Bee City in the entire United States!!! Go Asheville! (Go Phyllis Stiles, and the members of our city council who made it happen.)
I feel so full these days. I try to put my spinning thoughts into words, trying to describe the tumult, the incredible highs and the deep lows. It can change very quickly. One minute all is fine, smooth and manageable. The next I sometimes get overtaken by fear and worry and concern and such. This is the big challenge, managing this ride, these unforeseen yanks from comfort to despair. Oof.
But an amazing thing has started and that is a major uplift for me. As you all know, I did not ride across Iowa, needing to focus on my treatments and needing to rest that week instead of riding. Well, the people who DID ride for Livestrong chose one day as the day they would all ride for me. Amazing. They all had cards with my name on them that they pinned to their jerseys. They all thought about me that day. And then they wrote on the back of those cards and have been sending them to me, a few every day. Right now I have about 20 of these cards, all lined up in my bathroom. They have my name on them and they have notes about how they look forward to riding with me next year and that yes, I WAS on the team, even though I was not there. It has been deeply moving to me to have this support and thought and care from people who I have never met. And it makes me feel, even more, that I am blessed to be in the fold of Livestrong. What an amazing organization.
This coming week is a full one for me too. I need to edit the first round of edits on my book. The photographers are coming to take the first round of pictures. It is a rest week for me so I get to, um, rest and focus on my body’s healing abilities, a subtle but very full-time job. I get one more treatment before the mid-point evaluation of how these treatments are working so, fingers crossed, all is going in the right direction.
And in other news. Um, there is no other news. Okay?
I’ll be in touch next week with a story or two. Until then, let us know if you want to join me for the Wednesday dinner with my farmer friends.
Ciao,
Laurey |
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Suh-WEET!!!! |
Don't you agree that this is the CUTEST watermelon you have EVER seen? It's a watermelon for one. (Actually, I have been known to eat almost a whole watermelon by myself, but my belly's protrusion following that sort of excess makes me think twice about doing something that stupid again.)
I can't wait to dive into this juicy little baby. Later today, perhaps. YUM! |
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My Livestrong page |
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