The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for March 31 - April 4, 2008
Making my bee hives
I've decided you would like to know about my bee adventure.  (A couple of you have said as much, so I tell myself that I am not making it up.)

Yesterday was a beautiful day here and I had finished my work at my desk so I went home and put some bee hives together.  Lyne, my bee mentor, told me that time would fly, that the meditation of this activity would be a good thing.  She was and is so right. 

I set up my workbench in the driveway, lined up all the tools and parts on the stone wall, made a place for Tye, my helper, to "help" and the next thing I knew, it was time to clean up to go meet my sister for dinner and music.  (I'm very glad she is now here during the week.  My other sister gets her on the weekends which seems very fair to me.)

The frames
All too soon all my hive boxes were assembled (I'm only starting with two bee hives) and it was time to shift my concentration to the frames.  These are the structures that the bees will use to build their honeycomb and raise their sisters (and some almost-brothers).  Each frame needed to be worked, glued, nailed, smoothed.  Once the glue is set I can add the wax foundation. 

This frame has the foundation in it already.  I just could not wait to see how it looked and so, even though the glue on this one was not dry, I finished it.

I took it with me to show my sister and my car now has the soothing aroma of the wax.  When Heather got in my car she immediately noticed it.  "Wow!  That smells so good!" she exclaimed.  I agree. It's a soft smell, sweet and old and full of other times.  I like it very much.

Tye helps
Even though I arranged a blanket for her next to me, she decided that a better place was on the top of the bank on the other side of the driveway.  She settled in, back legs splayed in her favorite position, while I methodically shaved, glued, and tapped my frames. 

I'm not sure what she was watching, but it kept her engaged for a long time. 

I think she likes this bee fixation.  I wonder how it will be for her once they actually move in to our yard.  I hope she doesn't get too close for their comfort.  I'll have to help her understand their boundaries, or maybe she'll figure it out for herself.

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        March 31         Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Mushroom Wild Rice 10.25

Tuesday           April 1              Parmesan Chicken with Asparagus Risotto 10.25

Wednesday      April 2              Tuscan Meatloaf with Rosemary Potatoes 10.25

Thursday          April 3              Molasses BBQ Ribs and Sweet Potatoes 10.75

Friday              April 4              Cashew-roasted Tuna with Herb Butter 14.25


 

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,  April 2

Local Italian sausage Lasagna with Roasted Peppers

Whole: 39.50

Half: 19.75

New tumblers
Still learning, still giving myself the gift of Thursday afternoons at the crucible.  My current thing is these drinking tumblers.  These have a "lip wrap" which is a whole other step. 

"Is it hard?" someone asked the other day.

Yes.

"Is it fun?"

Yes.

I put some of them in the window in front of my office here in the back of the cafe.  Come see them if you like.  They are kind of wonky still, but you might just like that. 

Another color
Someone asked me to make some blue ones.  These are the first attempt at them.  As soon as I put them out someone else snapped up a couple - just like that.  I like them very much too.

A friend of mine is a color expert and she says that blue is America's favorite color.  Interesting.  Another friend says that blue represents the Divine Feminine (that comes from some study she did about Sacred Geometry and other ethereal considerations at Chartres Cathedral).

Whatever the reason, blue is lovely, don't you think?

Triplets of Asheville
We continue to show up dressed alike.  No, we do not call each other to find out who is wearing what, but about once a week, it seems, there we are.  Funny.  On this day, even the shop staff noticed. 

This is me, with Sky and Emily, three fourths of the regular office staff.  Jaime came dressed in spring pastel lovelies so she did not get to be in the picture, but it happens with her too.

By the way, if you have not seen The Triplets of Belleville, make a point to.  It is a fabulous movie, animated but quirky and clever and oh so fun.

A Note From Laurey

March 29, 2008

I woke up to lightning and thunder this morning.  At first the storm was about five miles away but it got closer and closer, as did the dog and the cat.  By the time it was really close, both of my little friends were tucked right next to me on my bed.  What a wonderful way to start a morning.  Now it is really raining, a good steady soaker.  We are so parched here, and it has been so dry at my house that I am just filled with relief at this weather.  I know it will probably mean that not so many people come here for lunch today, but that is a short view.  The longer view is that this rain is good and, when it stops, things will be so green and the blossoms will be that much fuller and brighter. 

My garden beds at home are almost all cleaned out.  Not quite, but almost.  If it does not rain on Monday I’ll finish the last couple of them.  I did clean out all the pots on the deck and tucked in some deep purple pansies the other day.  They are perky dots that greet me now.  Gosh I love spring.

The bee project is a good thing for me.  It is big and involved and different.  Historically I have been very methodical in adding something like this to my life.  I usually feel the need to really understand a whole process before I will start in.  But I was only able to attend the first half of the recent bee school, which means that there is a lot I don’t understand or know.  I missed the part about diseases, for instance (which might be fine because it might have intimidated me.)  And I missed the part about how to collect the honey and so much more.  But this time, instead of worrying that I don’t know enough, I am just plunging in.  I have learned enough to choose and buy and assemble my bee hives.  Pretty soon the bees will come.  At the moment I don’t know how to get them into my hives or even how I will get them to my house form their nursery in Georgia, but I’ll figure that out when the time comes.  And when it is time to add more room for them, I’ll know how to do that too.  When it is tiem to gather the honey, I'll figure that out.  One tiny step at a time.  It is okay.  It is a good way of being for me right now.

April is one my favorite months around here.  Green and light and soft and warm and nice.  On the nicest days we can now open our café windows.  And our sidewalk tables are upstairs now, pulled out of winter storage, ready and happy to take their spots out in front of our shop's windows.  I love seeing people sitting out there, talking, lazing, dreaming. 

The guy who delivers our produce told us that he heard a mention on some radio station that said we win the prize for having the most loyal customers.  Cool!  I have not been able to find out more, but, really, who needs to know more?  I do know that many of you come here again and again and again.  What, for me, could possibly be nicer?  Not much.  Bees and gardens and glass and dogs and spring and you.  Lucky me.

Happy day.  Happy rainy day.  Happy April.

I’ll be in touch next week.

Laurey

Adam picking coffee
Remember that Adam spent a week in Nicaragua earlier this year?  Well, here he is picking coffee, which, he tells us, is an arduous and exacting process.  He wasn't very fast, he said, and if he'd been paid for his labors, he might have made forty cents.  Ah well.

We've just brought in coffee from some of the farms he visited.  It's a very unique opportunity, my friends, to know, by only two degrees of separation, who grew and picked and sorted and packed and shipped and roasted your coffee.  This coffee is alive.  Try it, you'll see what we mean. (And if you want to know more, Adam will be delighted to tell you a story or two.)

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