The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for December 3 - 7, 2007
Men in Ovenmitts

Oh we could not resist this one. You'll find this collection of magnets in our "Happy Center" (that's what it says on the display piece.) We also have some "I'm not Gay I just like Rainbows" magnets and some new silly gums. The magnets are a bit large to stuff in a stocking, but, well, you could clip them onto the edge, I guess. Anyway, they're pretty funny.

More fun

And then there are these cute little coin purses. I have one. Use it all the time. And they WILL fit into a stocking. They're right next to the "Happy Center".

Breakfast anyone?

Elyse continues to quietly please. Her muffins and scones are great as are her cookies, cakes, breads. She's just plain old great. And on Thursday, when she is off, Essie fills in admirably. Life in our little bakery is certainly good these days.

Dinners to go

Dinners, as you know, come with a freshly-made green salad, salad dressing of the day, and made-right-here bread of the day. We take reservations until noon or so. Please order by phone (252-1500), by FAX (252-02002) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.

As a reminder, every time you order a dinner to go you are eligible to enter our drawing. Just drop a card in our drawing jar (a business card works or fill out one of the cards that we have right here) and, at the end of the month, we'll pull one card which will be good for two free dinners-to-go.

Maybe you'll win next month.

Order a lot? Enter a lot!
Good luck!!

Here is this week's menu:

Monday December 3 Chevre Chicken with Rosemary Corn Crepes 10.25
Tuesday December 4 Turkey Parmesan with Fettuccine Marinara 10.25
Wednesday December 5 Pork Tenderloin with Fig and Gorgonzola Stuffing 13.25
Thursday December 6 Blackberry Glazed Roast Duck Breast 15.75
Friday December 7 Wild Salmon with White Wine Sauce 13.50

Our website
Special casserole of the week

We make a special casserole each week, usually on Wednesday. Order before noon and we'll have yours ready to pick up between 4:30 and 6:00 that very afternoon. (Yes, you can order in advance too.) Order a full for 9 portions or, if your gang is smaller, opt for the half-sized one, which serves 4 or so.

Say, we'll happily make a salad and provide bread for you if you like, just let us know when you call and we'll get you all set up.
Wednesday, December 5
Winter Vegetable Gratin with Lemon Walnut Pasta
Whole 28.50
Half: 16.25

For Chocolate Lovers!

You do know we make gift baskets, right? We've already made a number of them and that, to me, is great. This year our themes involve Chocolate or Coffee or, well, Joy. Some of our baskets feature things from North Carolina and, new this year, is one that is all about "Laurey's" (with a signed copy of Elsie's Biscuits for starters.)

Come see. Browse. Pick out your own gifts or choose one of our selections (or, if you wish, we'll choose together!) Then we can ship or deliver or just make them for you to pick up. We have fun new baskets, or tin buckets or, well, some fun red colanders. You gotta come see. Trust me!

Our staff Art Sale - December 8th

Do plan to stop by next Saturday for our 2nd Annual staff art and craft sale. Last year we raised a bunch of money which then got turned into a big Christmas for a lucky family. We'll have Sky's paintings, Noel and Kether's fused glass jewelry, Martha's treat-filled mugs, my glass and who knows what else.

Also, this week, Tuesday - Thursday, there is another art and craft sale in Biltmore Forest at 30 Buena Vista Road which will benefit Arts for Life (a terrific program for children undergoing medical treatment.) I'll have glass, books, and chutney for sale there.

Fun stuff, yes?

Jones and Auntie Heather

Jones spent a couple of days with us over the recent holiday. In addition to "Dada" and "Mama" he's good at "apple" and "cracker" and "water." This visit gave him a chance to learn "Spike" and "Tye" and he did so quickly, enchanting us all (what's better than "Jones TV?") by roaring around the house, chasing after the two of them, howling "PAAAK!!! PAAAAK!!!" which was close enough to the puppy's actual name that he actually started to respond to the little boy. Very cute!!

A Note From Laurey


December 1, 2007

Whee! Happy December. Last month of 2007. Last push of the year. Almost time for Christmas, New Year�s Eve, Hanukkah. Whatever it is, it�s almost time for it.

Tonight we have our first round of parties. I�m wearing a red shirt to get in the mood. Of course I also have my red shoes on, and they�re not exactly Christmas shoes, though they do cheer me up. I mean, how bad can things be if you get to wear red sneakers to work or for lounging around the house?

I had a rather notable time yesterday at the glass studio. I�ve been messing around with glass now for more than two years and some of the things I have made please me very much. But many of them are accidents, fortunate errors, unplanned pleasantries. I do sometimes have an idea of what I want to make and I do sometimes come close to making my imagination a reality, but often, still, what I make is whatever happens to occur.

Yesterday I was making ornaments for our craft sale and I was plugging along just fine. I am pretty good at ornaments by now and even find them relaxing to do. I can make them all by myself, which is handy since I have not yet found a good assistant. But even though the ornaments are fun and I know I can sell them, I want to make more complicated things too. So yesterday, by accident, I ended up �gathering� too much glass on the end of my pipe. Too much to make a small ornament, I began inflating the piece and thought well, what the heck, how about if I tried to work with one of the �optic molds,� forms that make an impression in the glass. I�ve used the molds before with some success, but not completely to my liking. Yesterday, however, all of a sudden it worked!

The glass was hot, my set up was, all of a sudden, much better than it had ever been before, and the piece, inserted and inflated in the mold, worked perfectly. It was a stunning moment, to be able to make it work just like my teachers had demonstrated. But watching a demonstration and trying to do it yourself can often be two completely different things. Yesterday I was doing things that my teachers would have said were just right!

Later in the afternoon my sister Heather came by to watch. She�s never seen me do this before and I was prepared to show off a little bit by making a couple of ornaments, since I can now do them with great reliability. I made one ornament and then, feeling so happy with my new found ability, suggested to her that I try something more complicated. She didn�t really care since to her the ornament was plenty impressive. But I wanted to try something else to finish out my session.

I gathered just the right amount of glass for the start. I shaped it perfectly, inflated the starter bubble, cooled it just enough, gathered more glass over it and kept going. Every step was perfect. The piece took on shape (I gave it shape) and it went into the mold at the exactly perfect time, came out with perfect form and then continued to become a piece that I might previously have only dreamed about. I felt, for the first time, very excited about it. (Anyone who has seen my work has nice things to say about it, but I am very critical and none of it has thoroughly pleased me for more than about two minutes. This, a whole day later, still makes me gush to myself.)

Making glass is very hard and I�m so very happy to have come to this new place. I have felt limited by my ability and now, finding all of a sudden that I have just made a big step forward, can�t wait to return to the hot shop to pursue this body of work that has suddenly appeared in my mind.

(Just thought you might like to know what goes on in my head when I�m not planning menus�)

I�ll be in touch next week.

Cheers.
Laurey

"Spike-imedes"

Sporting his West-Coast sweater (he mostly lives in Seattle so he needs to dress well) Spike graced us all with his presence this past Thanksgiving. He got along well with his big sister Tye and his cousin Lewis (my sister's Jack Russell.) The only one who was not enchanted with his whirling energy was Skipper the cat, but even he started to adjust, though not until the little whirlwind got on the plane to go back to the Pacific. Ah well. Chris will bring him back for Christmas so his big cat brother will get a second chance to get to know him.

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