HAVE you had breakfast with us? 

 

We make things a bit ahead of time (each morning, that is) so if you have time constraints, simply drop by, pick up something that is ready to go (like a piece of quiche or a breakfast burrito or granola and fruit and yogurt)

 

OR

 

Take a bit of time to order at our front counter, grab a cup of juice or coffee or tea or a coke (I'm not RECOMMENDING it, but we have chilled cans for you if you like).  Pay for your meals and then make your way to a table, settle in, chat with your friends or read the paper or ponder your morning. 

 

And then, when you're ready to leave, well, leave.  No need to wait for the check or for your change or for anything. 

 

The food is made just for you with local eggs, local sausage, local produce (whenever it is available) and, most importantly, with pleasure.  We like food.  We like to cook.  And we like you.  Can it get any better?

 

And while you are enjoying your breafast, we're assessing the deliveries, our ingredient stock, the weather, and our days, getting ready to make lunch for you and for the catering orders we have for the day.

 

Rainy and cold days prompt us to make hot soups and hot lunch of the day and special hot sandwiches and hot things of all kinds.  Today's lunch was Chicken Cacciatore.  Oh so good, even though it was not really cold out.  We make two soups every day, one of which is always vegetarian.  We have a special sandwich each day, sometimes more than one.

 

And then, of course, you can get a preview of something you might like to take home for dinner.   So feel free to take some lunch home for your dinner or do know that you can come back here in the early evening to have simple supper with us, again - no waiting, no fuss. 

 

The cooks spend the time after lunch creating and cooking things that they think you will like and probably by dinnertime there will be more options for you. 

 

 

Here are dinners-to-go, casseroles, and lasagnas for this month. 

It's easy - just call us by noon(828.252.1500) to place your order. 

Your dinner can be picked up between 3p and 8p that evening.  Add Salad ($3.25) or bread ($1.25) if you like.

 

 

Monday, January 20:

Cider Chicken with Local Apples $8.95

 

Tuesday, January 21:

Kale and Butternut Squash, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy (GF) $7.95

 

Wednesday, January 22:

Pork Chops with Caramelized Red Onion and Kraut $9.25

 

Thursday January 23:

Five-Spice Chicken with Citrus-Glazed Carrots $8.95

 

Friday, January 24:

Crab Cakes Laurey’s Style $10.25

Here are casseroles, and lasagnas for this week. 

It's easy - just call us by noon(828.252.1500) to place your order. 

Your dinner can be picked up between 3p and 8p that evening.  Add Salad ($3.25) or bread ($1.25) if you like.

 

January 22: Spinach & Black Bean Tamale Pie

Whole $30/half $15

 

January 24: Broccoli and Roasted Butternut Squash

Whole $39/Half $19.50

Tye Masterton wins the cutest girl in my world award once again.  She is endlessly loyal, friendly, adaptable and sweet.

 

There is nothing in my house that is out of bounds for her.  All couches are leather so they are easy to clean.  All surfaces are vacuumable so I never get worried about her getting things dirty.  She DOES love bread, however, so that needs to be stowed up high.  She was given a taste of bread a long time ago (not by me) and since then she cannot be trusted to leave it alone.  Ah well, I guess that's not such a bad thing, all things being created equal. 

 

One of my favorite expressions is, "In the big potato salad of life, this is small potatoes."  So it is with Tye and bread.

 

When the cooks are thinking through the day's possibilities the process sometimes starts with chopping a bowlful of ingredients.  The meditation of the chopping is a quiet thing and gives a cook time to think about what the next ingredients could be.  On it goes, the bowls filling and shifting to become a new salad or, perhaps, one of our must-have everyday regular standards.

 

This, to me, is the best part about not being tied in to a menu that does not change at all from day to day.  We have your favorites, of course, but there is a huge amount of room for the new.  We want to cook new things and we know you want to try new things.  Want something?  Just ask and we'll see what we can do.

 

For the past two weeks I have been a part of a different sort of project, making videos of me cooking with a puppet.  Scooter, the puppet, is a new character in development with a couple of folks here.  The idea is that some short videos are being made introducing this charcter to prospective interested people in the cartoon and product promotion world.  Once that happens, well, we'll see where it all goes.

 

Last week we shot the first of my two videos.  Wow!  What a long process this is!  Part 1 is getting everything set up.  Part 2 is talking through the script and staging the video shots.  Part 3 is doing it. And doing it again and again and again.  And again.  

 

Last week we did one of the videos of me, about 5 hours of set up and action and filming and re-filming.  And then the power at my house went out.  ARGH!!!!  The good part was that I was tired and so stopping the shooting was fine with me.  The bad part was that we then had to regroup and do the second video this week.   The crew had it bad too, since they had to cart everything out of my house last week, go to a new location, set everything up and shoot the second person's videos.  And then do the same thing on Sunday - two more videos. 

 

Filming is arduous!

 

January 20, 2014

 

Hi hi hi.

Happy New Year to you all. I have to say, it is nice to be able to say, “Happy New Year” for a long time. Christmas comes and goes and you can’t really say "Merry Christmas" in January because it is so tied to that one December date. “Happy New Year” stretches out and makes things feel slower and I like that.

 

I was around and about a lot during the holidays, here and there and beyond. One thing about that is that going away and coming home makes me more aware of what might be moving and what is not moving at all. Right now the most striking thing is the light and the air and the smells of the time of year.

 

For those of you who have been with me on this writing journey for any length of time, you’ll not be surprised that now is when I become aware again of the return of the light and start thinking and talking about it. Yes, the date is December 21 – the winter solstice, the time when the darkening days stop darkening. Gradually after that day the light returns to us.

 

In my home, from my bed I can watch the light as it travels to the south in the days leading up to that shortest day and then, very slowly, as it returns to the north. At its southernmost point, the sun rises behind the corner of my house, at the far edge of the righthand side of my bedroom. At its northernmost point the sun barely peeks in from the lefthand corner of my room.  Right now, this morning, I could see that the sun is about to move beyond that righthand corner which means that my morning room will soon be filled with the sun. Happy happy me.

 

My main thing right now, now that my travels and the holidays are done is to figure out what my spring schedule will be. I have book events to schedule and promote. I have travel to schedule and prepare for. I have excursions and plots and schemes. I am a project-oriented gal and so that is the first thing on my list. Stay tuned.

 

I’ll post the current schedule of events next week. And, having gotten distracted by the holiday schedule and the travel and, yes, by some medical treatments, I have gotten away from regular postings here.  SO sorry. I’ll try to be a little more reliable. Okay?

Happy New Year. I’ll try to write again really soon – like next week.

 

Cheers,

Our family tends to celebrate our holidays whenever we can manage to do so.  I can think of only a couple of years when I and my two sisters were together for the day of Christmas, once we were adults, that is.  We celebrate birthdays whenever we can, again, rarely on the actual birthday.  Mostly we do remember to call each other on these days, but being with each other in person is rare.

 

This year was no exception.  My big sister is a judge and her vacation is prescribed and unchangeable.  My middle sister works at a local restaurant, at a local auction house, in various performance venues as a singer.  My new brother-in-law is a clarinet teacher and a professional musician with a very busy Christmas concert schedule.  Going away is not an option for him nor is taking time out for anything other than his preset schedule.

 

I was gone from Christmas day until January this year.  My sister Heather and Fred went to Paris on January 2nd.  And Lucinda and Greg have families and small children and NO one wanted to drive or be anywhere but home during the weeks between these two big holiday days.

 

SO -  finally they all came here this past weekend.  We had dinners on Friday (after an auction), breakfasts with each other and some friends.  We all went to a performance of Fred's.  We watched football.   We had our Laurey's Christmas party.  And we shared our presents with each other.  This morning, after breakfast here, Lucinda and Greg took a little dance-y spin in our cafe before they loaded up their pup, tucked into their present-laden car and drove off to Kentucky.