After holding onto last year's precious honey, I decided to extract it this past week.  It is, I hope, early enough in the season that my girls can make enough more to hold them through the upcoming winter.  I hope I did not make a mistake. 

 

My friend Lupe has the gear necessary to remove honey from the frames.  I hauled my sole honey "super" to his house and got my first experience of extracting.  It is a manual operation, using a table fork to scratch the wax cappings covering the honey-filled cells.  The frames are then spun in a simple barrel, the honey flinging out to the barrel sides, dripping down, collecting in the bottom.

 

Give us a call (252-1500) by noon or so. Dinners are ready by 3 and can be picked up until we close at 7. If you'd like a salad (3.25) or bread (1.25) just let us know.

 

Here are this week's dinner to go options:

 

Monday, June 13

Elsie’s Chicken Baked in Wine 7.95

 

Tuesday, June 14

Spinach and Mushroom Crepes 6.95

 

Wednesday, June 15

Grilled Flank Steak with New Potato Salad (GF) 8.95

 

Thursday, June 16

Chicken Croquettes with Applesauce 7.95

 

Friday, June 17

Here is this week's casserole:

 

Wednesday June 15

Macaroni and Cheese with Roasted Veggies

Full: 32 Half: 16

 

And this week's Lasagna is:

 

Friday, June 17

Spinach Lover’s Lasagna

Full: 38 Half: 19

 

Yes, we're very near a construction zone.  And yes, there is a lot going on in the neighborhood.  BUT, fear not!  There is a brand new parking lot right behind our shop.  It has not really been discovered.  Just drive up or down Lexington Avenue and you'll be all set. 

 

It's just 1.00 for an hour or 5.00 for an entire day.  The machine is very cosmopolitan (just like the ones in big cities!!!)  You can use a credit card or cash.  (I don't know about you but I always get tickets when I park on the street because I never have a quarter.)  This is EASY!!

 

Trust me on this one. 

 

Here's a look at those Team Shazamwich shirts I modeled a couple of weeks ago.  In case you missed it, The Shazamwich is our Wednesday special:  zippy fried chicken, zesty coleslaw, crusty Ciabatta roll, and a couple of surprises too.

 

 

June 11, 2011

 

Hi there!

 

What a great day it is. I’m at work. It’s a Saturday. I’m full of French Toast and our coffee and I’m happy. I have a client meeting in a few minutes, planning a wedding in October. These simple things are soothing to me right now. Very.

 

As you can see by the photos this week, I’ve had the extraordinary bliss of harvesting the honey from the bees living at my house. I’d read about experience of tasting your own honey for the first time. I can now tell you that there is nothing like it.

 

First of all, you’ve agonized right along with me as my bees died two years in a row. And last year’s bees suffered too, though they did leave some honey before they perished. This year I am starting again. It’s not that unusual to lose bees. You certainly have read about the challenges that abound these days. Nationally most beekeepers lost 1/3 of their bees last year – a horrifying and frightening statistic.

 

So the other day, when I finally tasted the gift that last year’s bees had created I almost swooned. The flavor is unlike any other honey I’ve ever tasted. It is delicately floral. I can taste the lavender, hints of the wild cherry blossoms, whiffs of tulip poplar. This liquid, this elixir, this creation of the industriously brilliant artisans living in the hives in my yard is more exquisite than anything any cook or flavor expert or scientist could create. This combination of the flavors of my land and the flora of my neighborhood is balanced perfectly, unique, gentle, graceful, yes - perfect. Who could have imagined that those little beings could have searched and foraged and blended to such extraordinary result?

 

A book I read spoke about the intoxication of one’s own honey. I think I’ve fallen head over heels.   And no, sorry, it is not for sale. Not this year. Hopefully I’ll have some for you at the end of this season. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

 

In other news, this week marks the start of my followup treatment. I’ve decided to think of it as my “Big Cleanse.” I’m not exactly looking forward to the changes that I am going to experience, but, then again, I am trying to keep an open mind – and am trying really hard to just believe in my decision. I’m placing my full trust in my doctors and in this medicine and these procedures and in what I am doing. I am ready to go. Nervous, to be sure, but ready.

 

If anyone wonders what I might need, I can offer two suggestions:

 

Believe, with me, that I will through this challenge. I’ve heard a lot of comments indicating that “if anyone can manage this and get through it – YOU can,” which is nice to hear. After enough notes like this, I am beginning to believe too.

 

And don’t be afraid to come downtown. Things here are in top shape, even if I’m not here quite so regularly (and even if parking is a tiny bit different than it was in the old days.) I work with a wonderfully talented group of people and they have been doing stellar work. In the month of May we were part of a number of large, interesting, and challenging events. I have a stack of gushing thank you letters from the party clients and guests. The cooks here in the shop are making plentiful, delicious, fabulous foods every day, frequently with local ingredients. Breakfasts are great (and you get a quieter time in our sunny café to sit and ponder or visit with friends.) Lunches are stellar with SO many good things to try. Dinners-to-go are the deal of Asheville: freshly sourced, freshly made dinners that you get to enjoy in your own home. And of course, caterings of all kinds continue. I thank you for your support and trust and love and patronage. It means so much to me.

 

If you’re in the shop, poke your head into the office and say hi. Okay?

 

I’ll be in touch next week.

 

These remind me of those Terra Cotta warriors in Xian, though lot less solemn, to be sure.

 

I am very proud of my girls.

 

I took the honey strainer home and gave it to the bee neighborhood.  The girls from my hives made a bee-line (really!) to clean out the remaining honey, separating it from the bits of wax that had also collected in the mesh.