The Weekly Newsletter
Menus and Stories for November 29-December 3, 2010

Tractors on Parade!
OUR Christmas Parade had shiny tractors.  We also had unicycling kids, jump roping teams, dancers of all sizes and ages, floats with singers, floats with creches, and floats with baby animals.
 
We had bands, roving bicycles, and candy-canes galore.
 
We don't have gigantic balloons.  And we don't have tv stars.
But we DO have tractors.


New gift towels (cute!)
Emily found these swell towels when she was preparing her holiday order.  We have a few, her favorites, with cutie pie words and 50's-style illustrations.  Come see.


Gift Baskets - yup!
Oh yeah.  Browse the gift items we have.  Gather a basket full.  Add cookies.  Cheeses.  Brownies.  Chutney.  Jams.  Pickles. 
 
Then give it to us and we'll wrap it all up for you.
We'll deliver to local addresses and ship to those further afield.


Dinners to go (or to stay!)
Here are our dinners for this coming week. You might enjoy taking dinner home or to your favorite picnic spot or, heck, just to one of our tables. We'll reheat it for you even!
 
Order by noon and we'll have your dinner ready to pick up by 3. We are open until 8 now which makes it easy for you to dawdle if you like.
 
Monday November 29
Salmon Cakes with Leeks, Cabbage and Potatoes 14.75
 
Tuesday, November 30
Hominy Valley Pot Roast with Herbed Dumplings 12.95
 
Wednesday, December 1 (Happy Chanukkah!!!)
Cheese Blintzes w/ Applesauce, Latkes and Stuffed Cabbage 11.25
 
Thursday, December 2
* Citrus-seared Wild Salmon with Gremolata Butter 15.95
 
Friday, December 3
* Meatloaf with Garlic Mashed Potatoes 12.95
 
* these are gluten free
 (though it is important to know that
 we do not have a wheat free kitchen.)

Our website


Special Casseroles and Lasagna of the week
We make a special casserole each week.
 
Order by noon or so. Order a half if you have around 4 folks. If you have a bigger group, or you just like leftovers, order a full-sized one.
 
Then come pick up between 3:00 and 8:00. (Or bring a gang and enjoy your dinner right here. We do have beer and wine by the glass, you know.)
 
The casserole this week is:
 
Wednesday, December 1
Spanish Paella with Shrimp AND Chicken
Full: 65 Half: 32.50
 
And the Lasagna of the week is for Friday, December 3
 
Crispy Shallots, Chevre,
and Cremini Mushrooms
Full 45 Half: 22.50
 
Please order by phone (252-1500) or stop in to speak to one of us in person.
 
Call 252-1500 to order yours.

Casseroles for the month


An appropriate Asheville Christmas Tree
This float in our holiday parade is the brainchild of Danny, the fellow who collects our compost and recycling.  Funny, his little operation has grown and I think he might even own a couple of trucks by now instead of the single one he started with.
 
I LOVE this kind of thing!  Makes me very happy to live in this little town.


Henry snaps!
Monsieur Henri enjoyed the parade this year.  Last year, as you may recall, he and his family were trying to get him through a bone marrow transplant.  What a difference a year makes!
 
I write this newsletter on the eve of Thanksgiving.  I am deeply thankful that my life includes this miracle boy and his two parents. 


Wanna cook soups?
I'll be teaching a class about winter soups on Wednesday, December 15.  Want to come? 
 
The cost is 35.00 per person.  The class is a demonstration class. At the end you will get ample tastes of all the soups we make.  And yes, recipes are included, as is a glass of wine.
 
Call soon to save your spot(s). 252-1500.


A note from Laurey
I have a new set of little red suitcases. They are very cute. They are not terribly functional. But, boy are they cute! I got them because I thought it’d be fun to have something to carry around my honey collection. See, I have a growing collection of honey. I am doing an increasing number of events about honey: teaching, speaking, and offering tastes. I needed something to gather my jars bottles and paraphernalia. And there, right in front of me one day, I saw the little red suitcases.
 
The unfortunate part about these little red suitcases is that they are just not very sturdy, alas. I have taken them to a few events now and I think they are going to have to be relegated to my desk, because they are already showing signs of age – at one month. Also I now have more honey than I can even carry.
 
Not that that’s a bad thing!
 
I recently put my bees to bed for the winter. This involves waiting for a warm day, opening up the hives, checking to make sure they have enough honey to last until spring, and doing what I can to winterize them. This summer, when it got hot, I switched the inner covers from solid covers to screened ones. The inner cover is the piece that fits under the “roof” that you can see when you see beehives out in a field. I also removed the “queen excluder,” the grate that keeps the queen in the brood chambers, the lower boxes, and out of the stored honey in the upper boxes, the supers. Queen excluders are metal and when it gets cold the workers could get chilled when they climb up to get honey stored in the supers.
 
This is a tenuous time for me when it comes to my bees. I can’t do a whole lot for them right now because they are, of course, in charge of what goes on inside the hives. If there was a lot of nectar and pollen available this summer, they will have been able to store up a lot of honey which will get through the dark days of winter. If not, they won’t. I’m trying very hard to care for the bees without adding sugar or artificial foods to their hives, but if they don’t have enough food, well, that’ll be a big decision for me. Fortunately right now they are in pretty good shape. So far.
 
Spring is really the trickiest time, truth be told. The bees, activated by warm weather, shake off the winter, fly out on cleansing flights, and search for food. If the weather is really warm in January, say, the bees fly around and really don’t have anything to eat, since nothing is yet in bloom. The activity makes them hungry, which is a problem if there is no stored honey in their hives. It’ll be important then for me to keep watch.
 
It was easier when I had my bee hives way up in the back of my house. But actually that was a horrible place to put them, since “out of sight, out of mind” was the way it went. The bees, unobserved, died. I am trying very hard to make it different this year.
 
My bees are now right in front of my house. I see the hives every morning and every night. Which means that I think about them all the time. Every day. Every night.
 
I know it’s a bit early to think about this, but pretty soon the days, after getting shorter and shorter, will get longer and longer and then I’ll get to see how the bees did this winter. For now I can only hope that my ministrations were enough.
 
In the meantime, Happy Holidays to you and yours. In this time of darkness and light, may your days be filled with the wonder of it all. Mine certainly are. Thanks to the bees.


A last look at Thanksgiving
We're off spending the weekend with our families.  We made a bunch of food for a bunch of folks and then went home to make some for ourselves.
 
We'll be back at the stoves on Monday.
Until then - enjoy!

Laurey's Catering and gourmet to go • 67 Biltmore Avenue • Asheville • NC • 28801