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The Weekly Newsletter for October 6, 2014
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How to put the Log in a Log Cabin
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Dear friends,
What a glorious day!! Hope you are all out in it - I am watching the birdies from Laurey's home office window. Flickers and nuthatches, squirrels all a-bounce. No bears this week. We are apparently on a Bear Route - twice we have seen the big fellows trundling by in broad daylight. Astonishing. They roll up from the back of the cabin, past the front door, down the hill or down the gravel driveway. A well-traveled route, according to our neighbors. Good lord.
So, over the years of heavy rains, heavy sun and occasional blocked gutters, the chinking in Laurey's cabin has worn down. We got an estimate from Mitchell, a cabin-chink-er over near Waynesville, lean and soft-spoken. He lives in a cabin himself, and knows and loves this technology.
We determined to get at least a start, replacing the worst of the chinking this year, and more in future. Mitch appeared on schedule this week, working with his son Logan (so named as a nod to the Logs which make up his dad's work - truly!).
Let me say that every person who has worked on this repair work we started in June has showed up pretty much when he said he would. This seems to me to be a modern miracle, and a standing tribute to the people of this area - they are strong and well-meant, and they show up. Beautiful.
Mitchell dated our cabin, assessed the chinking work of the past.
"You can see that it was built when most of the material was not brought in by a car or truck. It's more sand than concrete - they would have been able to find the sand here on the land, but they would have packed in whatever they had to buy, that's the concrete."
He said he would match the existing mix, more or less.
"One man built this cabin," he concluded. "You notice that the logs are small - he would have been able to handle each log himself." 
What an image - one fellow alone in the woods up here, hefting the logs for his home.
Late in the first day of his chinking, Mitch discovered that one whole log needed to be replaced, having succumbed to dry rot or something like it.
He gave us a quote, and said he'd find one.
He appeared the other morning with a 20-year old poplar from his own property, cut and peeled and trucked in his pickup down the highway, with a red kerchief nailed to the end.
Here it is, in our yard, and later in the morning, in our house. Did you ever, ever think that this is how a thing could be done, here in this bright modern day? A miracle.
Hope our bears like it.
- from Heather Masterton
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Dinners to go for the week
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Here are dinners to go for this week. This, if you do not know, is a fabulous way to have dinner. It's easy - just call us by noon and your dinner will be ready for you to pick up by 3 that very day.
You can stop by to pick yours up until we close at 8.
Add salad (3.25) or bread (1.25) if you like.
 Monday, October 6 Lemon Rosemary Chicken
& Honeyed Curry Carrots $8.95
Tuesday, October 7
Spanakopita
with Lemon Chicken Tabouli $8.95
Wednesday, October 8
Bistro Steak au Poivre
with Kale & Butternut Squash $10.95*GF*
Thursday, October 9
Sicilian Fresh Mozzarella Meatballs with Orzo $9.95
Friday, October 10
Crabcakes with Maple Coleslaw $10.25
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Casserole and Lasagnas to go!
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Casserole of the Week
whole serves (9) ~ half serves (4)Wednesday, October 8
Cider Chicken & Cheddar Potatoes
Whole $42/Half $21
Lasagna of the Week
whole serves (9) ~ half serves (4)
Friday, October 10
Fresh Spinach & Artichole
Whole $42/Half $21
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What's in the Case Today?
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Here's a lovely sight for you - a shining morning look at our day's offerings.
Always fresh, as local as can be, healthy and whole and dee-licious!
Ready to please for a fast lunch or dinner, or make your own Dinner-To-Go!
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Here's our Lindsay, office gal as often as she can, treating us to a visit from young Aurek. Aurek, lives up to his name (in Poland, I find it is a name for a blond - a golden haired dream).
Young Aurek, however fascinating he found the surroundings, could not find a smile.
Laurey would have been thrilled - she loved kids in their native state, doing anything at all, and not necessarily smiling.
We smiled, we chatted, we peered, we stroked his soft little cheek.
Steadfastly stone-faced.
Go Aurek.
Love your hair, hope you win.
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Yes, this is a busy Fall for Laurey's cafe.
I have mentioned that I am a happy flag-waver, but I beg you to remember that Heather is not in the kitchen - except when I step in with the camera.
The other morning I appeared mid-morning.
"It's the Picture Lady!", Martha cried.
So this was an impressive shot, I thought: the orders to go for the day, and prep for parties or upcoming events.
The orange and blue sheets are for school lunches - a welcome weekly addition to our roster.
Each sheet represents an event - some small, some astonishing, feeding hundreds, sometimes multiple hundreds, the same day or the same weekend.
Our walk-in is bulging, the boxes ready to wrap cascading out of the kitchen and down the tables in the cafe.
Than you for honoring us with your custom, and we stand ready to serve!!
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Laurey's notes (from a lifetime of writing)
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[So much has been written about Laurey and her life projects, but of course the best spokesman is Laurey herself. In this column we present archival reprints of her messages.
[I am re-typing Laurey's OFFLINE early newsletter, a paper version, produced only once a month in the early years. This is from October of 1999. - Heather]
October 1999
Silly as it seems, fall for me is marked by Caramel Apples. It is a secret...well, I guess not anymore.
We didn't eat much candy when I was little. We were not allowed to chew gum, and, unless a guest brought some to us as a present, sweets were never part of our diet. All of this changed, however, when it was times for the fair.
Probably the biggest reason for the change was that it was our father who took us to the fair. He was the one who let us go on the rides.
"Don't let Mommy know," he'd say as he was strapping us into the Giant Swings.
"Let's keep this one between us," he'd coach as he waved us into the Fun House.
But he drew the line at some things. "We'll see," he'd murmur to us when we asked to go on the Roller Coaster. (When he said "We'll see," he usually meant "No.") Oh well.
And, even though candy was off limits at home, we did usually get a candy apple. Cloyingly sweet, treacherously hard, but oh, so delicious - especially for being so far out of our normal bounds.
It is Fair time here now. Tomorrow night I am going with Monroe. It's our annual trek. We like to look at the rabbits, the llamas (there are a lot of llama and rabbit growers around her for some reason...) and the cloggers. We wander around joking about the rides. I could be talked into riding the roller coaster-type ones, but Monroe refuses. His eyes light up when we stop to look at the twisty-kind of torments but my stomach absolutely refuses. We end up not riding anything, though we do have a good time anyway.
We do, always, make a significant dent at the food vendors. Frizzled french fries with all kinds of stuff piled on top, hot apple pies, barbecue. One thing that is certain is that I will finish it all off with a taffy apple, a crisp Granny Smith covered with Caramel. Rolled in crushed salty peanuts. A grand treat. A personal ritual. And it wouldn't be a Fair without one.
[source: Laurey's monthly newsletter, published on paper, October 1999]
- Heather Masterton
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I did help slip some autumn ribbons around this order this week - we had school lunches going out at the same moment as this gardening party's lunch, so one more pair of hands was useful.
JP, our downstairs neighbor from GoYoga was breakfasting with his dear wife as we scurried about.
"You're so busy, I don't think you can see how beautiful this is!", he marveled, and he snapped this photo for me.
Gor-geous.
Thank you, JP!
Lovely and luscious, local and healthy, and simply marvelous food.
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Our neighbor Karen, from YellowBranch Farms down in Robbinsville,, sent us this one. (Emily reminds me that Yellow Branch was Laurey's first local cheese provider!)
"Hi Emily,
"This was a magical moment. I was in the garden looking at Laurey's sunflowers and luckily I had my camera..............to capture the honey bee!
"I had a whole row of the sunflowers in the garden.
Love, Karen"
I am captivated by this note from their website, directing visitors to the Yellow Branch farm:
"We are located:
- 14 miles from Robbinsville
- 50 miles from Murphy
- 50 miles from Franklin
- 25 miles from Bryson City
- 45 miles from Sylva
- 90 miles from Asheville
- 150 miles from Chattanooga
- 185 miles from Atlanta"
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Getting Ready for Thanksgiving!
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I really truly do not wish to rush through the season, but we also don't want to miss you in your advance planning.
Here's a note, direct from our website:
"We are currently preparing our 2014 Thanksgiving Menus.
Also, we are opening this year on Friday AND Saturday following Thanksgiving.
This is a first and we are doing it for you!!!
Our weekend hours will be..."
Wednesday, November 26 - closing @ 4pm
Thanksgiving Day CLOSED
Friday, November 28 - 8am - 8pm
Saturday, November 29 - 8am - 8pm
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