February 21, 2009
Gee whiz.
My bike has gone. Packing has started. It’s time for lists and final preparations and checking and cross checking. I leave on a day or two more than one week – March 3rd.
REALLY???!!!
I started pulling out all my bike clothes the other day, making piles on the window seat in my bedroom. My cat and dog spend time up on that window seat during the day, so when I came home, I found all my tidy stacks scattered all over the floor. SOME people are not happy with this activity.
There is a lot to think about with this ride. Getting in shape, for one. And I have overdone it and have had to actually pull back. But all the people who have been helping me train think I’ll be fine so I’m trying to settle into believing them.
Getting the final bits of equipment has been fun and methodical. I bought new Kevlar tires the other day. Hopefully they will be impervious to cactus spikes and broken glass. I have a new tube of sunscreen, and extra pair of bike shorts, new socks, new rain pants, new stuff. I feel like a kid on the first day of school, eager to try all those things I’ve been carrying around in my new pencil box. I do have a new pencil box, but it will not be going on the trip. My new handlebar bag WILL be going and in it will be my camera and all my little good luck charms.
Taking care of things here at work has been good. There is a fabulous team in place here. Emily and Adam and Jaime and Chris lead the office, shop, catering, and kitchen teams. And those teams all have great folks, cooks, servers, sweet people. Nothing will be different here at all – all the same people will be doing all the same things. Don’t stop coming! Don’t stop planning parties, lunches, breakfasts. We need you and this gang is ready to take care of you. (and if you ask, they’ll point to the map and tell you where I am and what’s going on.)
I’ve been learning how to do remote hookups with my little portable computer. I’ll be updating my blog (http://www.laureybikes.blogspot.com) on a regular basis and will also continue to send in my once-a-week notes to you right here. I now have a Facebook page too, (I am SO with it!) so if you want to be Facebook friends, feel free.
But I haven’t really had the “mom’s going to be gone for two months” conversation with the little furry friends. Emma, who works here, is going to take care of them and my house. She’ll take them for walks, well, not the cat, and they’ll be fine. I’m the one who gets chocked up thinking about my days without them. We have quite a little pattern these days and I will miss them very much.
I’ve been cleaning up my gardens and I know that when I get back the Iris will be up and the dogwoods will be in bloom and my yard will be lovely. That’s exciting. And my friend Gail is going to come and do some gardening work – making a nice compost pile, digging around in the dirt. It’ll be nice to come home to her and that.
My bees, I’m afraid, might not have made it. There is SO much to learn. Time will tell. I’ll know how things went once I get home. I might need to start all over again with new bees. We’ll see.
My sister is gong to help keep up with my bill paying and will start my car a couple of times. And by the end of this week I’ll be caught up with my desk, having balanced my accounts, arranged for my taxes, filled my prescriptions, changed all the batteries, done the final laundry and vacuuming. There is a lot to do to go away for two months.
I’m very excited. Excited about what I’ll see, who I’ll meet, what will happen. Thank you for sharing this adventure with me. And thank to everyone who helps make Laurey’s what it is. I could NOT do it without them.
I’ll send one more note from here next week.
Until then – cheers,
Laurey
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Finally - Sunday Breakfast
Laurey’s is delighted to announce that we are now serving Sunday Breakfast.
We’re open from 9 until 2 on Sundays*
Made to order breakfasts:
French Toast
Omelets – you pick the ingredients
Local Eggs (any style)
Stone ground Grits and Gravy
Laurey’s own Blueberry Jam too
AND
Muffins
Scones, Biscuits
Breakfast Burritos
Quiche
All made right here.
Casual, gourmet comfort food.
Laurey’s
67 Biltmore Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
828-252-1500
www.laureysyum.com
•we also serve breakfast every other day, but the Sunday thing is new!
See you soon!
Laurey
(and the gang)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
A note from January 31, 2009
January 31, 2009
Hi hi hi!
Today is a great day. The chill is leaving. Yesterday’s freeze is melting away. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the high 50s. NICE! This morning I could see light behind the trees as soon as my alarm went off. I love the light. I love the return to longer days. I love the promise of spring.
Tomorrow I am driving to Washington, DC to speak at a big fundraising dinner. A big group of women chefs is gathering to make their specialties for an audience of some couple of hundred guests. This event is a fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance – the primary beneficiary of my upcoming cross country bike ride. I’ve been invited to speak (for 2 minutes!!). I’m taking my bike and I’m excited.
Two minutes isn’t a long time, but still, I’m thrilled to do this initial speaking engagement. Pretty soon I’ll be riding across the country, meeting people all along the way. This message, the message about paying attention to your body, is a good one. Early detection can be a life saver. It was for me.
Next Thursday, the 5th, we are going to host a very important event. Lance Armstrong is starting a series of conversations – all over the world – about cancer. He is in Australia right now, kicking off this initiative, getting people to talk about the affect cancer has had on their lives. In September there is going to be a big summit in Ottawa where the results of these global conversations will be collected. Lance and this movement will hopefully make a worldwide difference in this terrible disease. The conversation here on the 5th will be the very first one of these in the entire Untied States. If you’d like to come share your thoughts and concerns (on the 5th from 5 – 7pm), register via e-mail with Mary Hill, the event organizer (maryh@c2cc.ca).
In other news – well, things seem to be cranking up. Though I’m trying to stay focused on every day’s tasks, I find myself drifting off to bike ride, bike ride, bike ride things. The other day someone asked, “So, are you going to be MORE tired or more ENERGIZED at the end of the ride?” who knows? I certainly don’t. I CAN say that I find myself quivering with excitement. I CAN say that my body is whipping through soreness and feelings of invincibility and the sense that this is absolutely impossible – sometimes in the span of a few minutes. I look around my house, my car, my office, my town, and wonder how it’s all going to be. Wonder wonder wonder.
So there I go again. And I still have a desk of assignments: menus to write, an article to do, my checkbook to balance, advertising to plan, on it goes. Then it will be time to go home, walk the dog, and try to settle down enough for sleep. Tomorrow it will be one day closer. And tomorrow we’ll start serving breakfast and then it’ll be time to go watch the Superbowl with my sweet friends and then it’ll be time to go to Washington and then it’ll be time for…
I’ll be in touch next week.
Hi hi hi!
Today is a great day. The chill is leaving. Yesterday’s freeze is melting away. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the high 50s. NICE! This morning I could see light behind the trees as soon as my alarm went off. I love the light. I love the return to longer days. I love the promise of spring.
Tomorrow I am driving to Washington, DC to speak at a big fundraising dinner. A big group of women chefs is gathering to make their specialties for an audience of some couple of hundred guests. This event is a fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance – the primary beneficiary of my upcoming cross country bike ride. I’ve been invited to speak (for 2 minutes!!). I’m taking my bike and I’m excited.
Two minutes isn’t a long time, but still, I’m thrilled to do this initial speaking engagement. Pretty soon I’ll be riding across the country, meeting people all along the way. This message, the message about paying attention to your body, is a good one. Early detection can be a life saver. It was for me.
Next Thursday, the 5th, we are going to host a very important event. Lance Armstrong is starting a series of conversations – all over the world – about cancer. He is in Australia right now, kicking off this initiative, getting people to talk about the affect cancer has had on their lives. In September there is going to be a big summit in Ottawa where the results of these global conversations will be collected. Lance and this movement will hopefully make a worldwide difference in this terrible disease. The conversation here on the 5th will be the very first one of these in the entire Untied States. If you’d like to come share your thoughts and concerns (on the 5th from 5 – 7pm), register via e-mail with Mary Hill, the event organizer (maryh@c2cc.ca).
In other news – well, things seem to be cranking up. Though I’m trying to stay focused on every day’s tasks, I find myself drifting off to bike ride, bike ride, bike ride things. The other day someone asked, “So, are you going to be MORE tired or more ENERGIZED at the end of the ride?” who knows? I certainly don’t. I CAN say that I find myself quivering with excitement. I CAN say that my body is whipping through soreness and feelings of invincibility and the sense that this is absolutely impossible – sometimes in the span of a few minutes. I look around my house, my car, my office, my town, and wonder how it’s all going to be. Wonder wonder wonder.
So there I go again. And I still have a desk of assignments: menus to write, an article to do, my checkbook to balance, advertising to plan, on it goes. Then it will be time to go home, walk the dog, and try to settle down enough for sleep. Tomorrow it will be one day closer. And tomorrow we’ll start serving breakfast and then it’ll be time to go watch the Superbowl with my sweet friends and then it’ll be time to go to Washington and then it’ll be time for…
I’ll be in touch next week.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
What a week!
January 24, 2009
What a week! Boy, after feeling like I was holding my breath, things seemed to blast open on Tuesday. And I held my breath again, waiting for it to be Tuesday and then waiting for it to be daylight and then waiting for it to be morning and then waiting for it to be noon.
Around 11:00 we turned on the radio at work and, at 11:50 we lined up chairs in the café and sat, rapt, as our new President took the oath of office. It was a magical, magical moment. And, in that moment, I felt like I started to let some air in, out, in, out.
The afternoon was quiet and I had no idea if all the people who were supposed to come to our party would come. It was cold and I wouldn’t have blamed anyone for staying home. But right at 6:00 people started to drift in and by 6:25 the café was packed, people carrying their chili and beer to tables, pushing the chairs around, rearranging things, making themselves at home. At one table, a cluster of friends leaned in, sharing the highlights of the days’ celebration. Up in front, people who had not known each other shared tables, shared stories, shared friendship. Someone had given us some balloons and they made the place look very fun.
When everyone left I, still quivering from the energy, started to let in all the voices of all the people who have been saying that they’d like to come to our place at night. It suddenly began to make sense. This place is a nice place and so I just felt like, well, why not? So we’re going to work it out and pretty soon we’ll be open for you. (And this very weekend we’re going to start with Sunday breakfast. Fun, eh?)
So on Wednesday I was still feeling spirited and began to feel like I was emerging from a major slump and emerging felt really good. The balloons were still full of helium and the place looked festive still and I was so happy about our new President. (I was not thrilled that the balloons set off my shop’s motion detectors, making me go in to work in the middle of a nice dinner I had cooked at my house for my sister, but she’s good company so it didn’t matter that much.) And I got an e-mail from our new President and hooked into the new White House website. Amazing.
On Thursday I was part of a fancy dinner for a couple hundred guests, a fundraiser for the scholarship program of our Independent Restaurant Association. I had a BLAST! All of us chefs helped plate each other’s courses and it was a very, very fun night. Big time teamwork. Great food. Big fun. We all want to do more so stay tuned.
And by Friday I was still in a good mood. The balloons were still full (who has ever heard of balloons staying inflated for that long?) And at night I made a birthday dinner for a friend who had gone to the Inauguration and a bunch of friends and I sat around making her tell story after story. “And THEN what happened?’ “And then!?”
Today is Saturday and it’s taken me until night to finish my newsletter because there was a computer glitch. So I left work, took the pup for a walk, and just took a deep breath. No reason to sweat this small annoyance. And when I left work the balloons were still full of helium. And I still felt good.
I’ll be in touch next week.
What a week! Boy, after feeling like I was holding my breath, things seemed to blast open on Tuesday. And I held my breath again, waiting for it to be Tuesday and then waiting for it to be daylight and then waiting for it to be morning and then waiting for it to be noon.
Around 11:00 we turned on the radio at work and, at 11:50 we lined up chairs in the café and sat, rapt, as our new President took the oath of office. It was a magical, magical moment. And, in that moment, I felt like I started to let some air in, out, in, out.
The afternoon was quiet and I had no idea if all the people who were supposed to come to our party would come. It was cold and I wouldn’t have blamed anyone for staying home. But right at 6:00 people started to drift in and by 6:25 the café was packed, people carrying their chili and beer to tables, pushing the chairs around, rearranging things, making themselves at home. At one table, a cluster of friends leaned in, sharing the highlights of the days’ celebration. Up in front, people who had not known each other shared tables, shared stories, shared friendship. Someone had given us some balloons and they made the place look very fun.
When everyone left I, still quivering from the energy, started to let in all the voices of all the people who have been saying that they’d like to come to our place at night. It suddenly began to make sense. This place is a nice place and so I just felt like, well, why not? So we’re going to work it out and pretty soon we’ll be open for you. (And this very weekend we’re going to start with Sunday breakfast. Fun, eh?)
So on Wednesday I was still feeling spirited and began to feel like I was emerging from a major slump and emerging felt really good. The balloons were still full of helium and the place looked festive still and I was so happy about our new President. (I was not thrilled that the balloons set off my shop’s motion detectors, making me go in to work in the middle of a nice dinner I had cooked at my house for my sister, but she’s good company so it didn’t matter that much.) And I got an e-mail from our new President and hooked into the new White House website. Amazing.
On Thursday I was part of a fancy dinner for a couple hundred guests, a fundraiser for the scholarship program of our Independent Restaurant Association. I had a BLAST! All of us chefs helped plate each other’s courses and it was a very, very fun night. Big time teamwork. Great food. Big fun. We all want to do more so stay tuned.
And by Friday I was still in a good mood. The balloons were still full (who has ever heard of balloons staying inflated for that long?) And at night I made a birthday dinner for a friend who had gone to the Inauguration and a bunch of friends and I sat around making her tell story after story. “And THEN what happened?’ “And then!?”
Today is Saturday and it’s taken me until night to finish my newsletter because there was a computer glitch. So I left work, took the pup for a walk, and just took a deep breath. No reason to sweat this small annoyance. And when I left work the balloons were still full of helium. And I still felt good.
I’ll be in touch next week.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Thoughts of the morning
January 10, 2009
Still haven’t gotten used to this 2009 thing. Yesterday at the bank I wrote and crossed out 2008 a bunch of times before I finally was able to write it correctly. I’m not one who slides into the new with ease.
Tomorrow is the day we will have our staff Christmas party. What? Yup! Historically we’ve always been too full of work and the season and such to be able to carve out time to celebrate on our own. And then we go away, close our doors and go back to our home places, wherever they are, and do the celebrate with family thing. Many of us travel and so the second weekend of January is frequently when we get back together and have time to catch our breath.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Well, actually, I have a lot to do to get ready, but that’s a good thing, because these are things that need to happen. I need to vacuum. I need to pick up the yard (um, not sure that is going to happen by tomorrow), and, oh yes, I need to make my present. See, we do one of those gift exchange games except that each person, if inspired, makes something. And most people make their present right before the party. The cool thing is how inventive people get.
We all make things to eat too. We have, on occasion, brought food in from elsewhere. And we have, a time or two, gone out. But the most fun always seems to be when we each bring a taste of something that we made. Tomorrow I’m making little hamburgers, “Sliders.” We’re making them for a party in a couple of weeks, see, and the idea seemed so good that I’ve decided that will be my contribution. So yes, I have to go to the grocery store too. Sheesh! Lots to do.
In the meantime, I’m still working on getting this body of mine into shape for my bike ride. Three thousand miles is a heck of a lot of miles. (I’ll say!) Last week I rode 20 miles on Sunday. Remember how beautiful it was here? Well, the 20 miles scooted by in a zip. And, as I was pedaling, I thought about these days, these days that are coming right up, of riding all day long for that many days. 20 miles takes a bit more than an hour. At the end of my 20 mile jaunt I went home, sat in the hot tub, lazed around, puttered. I might have gone to bed early. I went to spin class on Monday and Wednesday. I worked out on Tuesday and Friday. But each of those things lasted only a couple of hours. I’m kind of sore from these days of training. But more than that I’m feeling kind of stunned about this whole adventure. In less than two months I’ll be doing nothing but riding fro two whole months. Ohmygod. It’s so hard to believe that I’m going to do this thing.
Okay – enough of that.
I have things to do right here, right now. Brides are beginning to drift in and I have menus to write, proposals to do. I have planning for the three parties I told you about earlier in the newsletter. There are signs to make for our tables. A delivery, later on today. No time to get caught in obsessing about mileage.
I’d better go. If I keep this up I’ll scare myself too badly and there simply is no room for that.
I’ll be in touch next week. See you then if not before.
Cheers,
Laurey
Still haven’t gotten used to this 2009 thing. Yesterday at the bank I wrote and crossed out 2008 a bunch of times before I finally was able to write it correctly. I’m not one who slides into the new with ease.
Tomorrow is the day we will have our staff Christmas party. What? Yup! Historically we’ve always been too full of work and the season and such to be able to carve out time to celebrate on our own. And then we go away, close our doors and go back to our home places, wherever they are, and do the celebrate with family thing. Many of us travel and so the second weekend of January is frequently when we get back together and have time to catch our breath.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Well, actually, I have a lot to do to get ready, but that’s a good thing, because these are things that need to happen. I need to vacuum. I need to pick up the yard (um, not sure that is going to happen by tomorrow), and, oh yes, I need to make my present. See, we do one of those gift exchange games except that each person, if inspired, makes something. And most people make their present right before the party. The cool thing is how inventive people get.
We all make things to eat too. We have, on occasion, brought food in from elsewhere. And we have, a time or two, gone out. But the most fun always seems to be when we each bring a taste of something that we made. Tomorrow I’m making little hamburgers, “Sliders.” We’re making them for a party in a couple of weeks, see, and the idea seemed so good that I’ve decided that will be my contribution. So yes, I have to go to the grocery store too. Sheesh! Lots to do.
In the meantime, I’m still working on getting this body of mine into shape for my bike ride. Three thousand miles is a heck of a lot of miles. (I’ll say!) Last week I rode 20 miles on Sunday. Remember how beautiful it was here? Well, the 20 miles scooted by in a zip. And, as I was pedaling, I thought about these days, these days that are coming right up, of riding all day long for that many days. 20 miles takes a bit more than an hour. At the end of my 20 mile jaunt I went home, sat in the hot tub, lazed around, puttered. I might have gone to bed early. I went to spin class on Monday and Wednesday. I worked out on Tuesday and Friday. But each of those things lasted only a couple of hours. I’m kind of sore from these days of training. But more than that I’m feeling kind of stunned about this whole adventure. In less than two months I’ll be doing nothing but riding fro two whole months. Ohmygod. It’s so hard to believe that I’m going to do this thing.
Okay – enough of that.
I have things to do right here, right now. Brides are beginning to drift in and I have menus to write, proposals to do. I have planning for the three parties I told you about earlier in the newsletter. There are signs to make for our tables. A delivery, later on today. No time to get caught in obsessing about mileage.
I’d better go. If I keep this up I’ll scare myself too badly and there simply is no room for that.
I’ll be in touch next week. See you then if not before.
Cheers,
Laurey
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
New Year time
A Note From Laurey
Oooh WEE! 2009. Amazing. The news is filled with gloom and doom. There is a tension in the air. What is going to happen? How’s it all going to turn out? What’s to become of us?
I’ve just spent a lovely few days with my family in Kentucky. We have the three sisters, for starters. One sister has one daughter. That daughter has a husband and together they have one son and one daughter. Those children are youngsters: The son is 2 ½ years old and the daughter is 10 months. They, to me, are the future, the light, hope, love, fun.
One day one sister and I went to take care of the little kids. My niece and her husband had plans for their day: returning things that weren’t quite right, going out for a quiet dinner, and then taking in a movie. We, on the home front, were baby tenders.
When we got there, Jones, the 2 ½ year old, was on his way to his nap. Seeing us did not make him any more excited about napping than he had been before we got there, which is to say, not very excited at all. But with some encouragement from my sister, who acquiesced to his requests and went to his room and sat quietly with him, he was sound asleep soon after.
That left Bailey to roam around freely. She tottered from table to sofa to chair to, occasionally, no support at all. Without Jones’s concerned attention, she was able to touch and play with every single things she encountered: his cars, his puzzles, his games. She poked and chortled and sputtered, laughing and happy.
After while she, too, went off to nap land. My sister and I settled in for an afternoon of travels with Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel, both of us nodding off on our respective soft couches. The kids slept. We did too.
Later, almost 3 hours later, everyone woke up. Diapers were changed and then everyone ate. I got to deliver tiny spoonfuls of turkey and vegetables and rice and milk to Bailey while Jones picked up his chicken, poked it onto his fork, and put it in his mouth by himself. Kids full and cleaned, my sister and I ate a bit, helped by the little ones.
Games, play time, and then bedtime came. Rachel and Dustin came home, calm and happy and relaxed. Store exchanges done. Dinner good. Movie fun.
Lucinda and I bundled up, drove home, played some of our own new Christmas games with Heather, who had spent the day alone nursing a cold, and then went to bed.
All that day no one mentioned an economic downturn or unemployment numbers or daily sales or prospects for the future. The future, solidly and dependably, was in those two little babies. I have their pictures on my computer, on my desk, and in my thoughts. With them, all is bright. Happy New Year to you and yours. Thanks for being a part of this little world that we are creating here at 67 Biltmore. Thanks a whole lot.
Oooh WEE! 2009. Amazing. The news is filled with gloom and doom. There is a tension in the air. What is going to happen? How’s it all going to turn out? What’s to become of us?
I’ve just spent a lovely few days with my family in Kentucky. We have the three sisters, for starters. One sister has one daughter. That daughter has a husband and together they have one son and one daughter. Those children are youngsters: The son is 2 ½ years old and the daughter is 10 months. They, to me, are the future, the light, hope, love, fun.
One day one sister and I went to take care of the little kids. My niece and her husband had plans for their day: returning things that weren’t quite right, going out for a quiet dinner, and then taking in a movie. We, on the home front, were baby tenders.
When we got there, Jones, the 2 ½ year old, was on his way to his nap. Seeing us did not make him any more excited about napping than he had been before we got there, which is to say, not very excited at all. But with some encouragement from my sister, who acquiesced to his requests and went to his room and sat quietly with him, he was sound asleep soon after.
That left Bailey to roam around freely. She tottered from table to sofa to chair to, occasionally, no support at all. Without Jones’s concerned attention, she was able to touch and play with every single things she encountered: his cars, his puzzles, his games. She poked and chortled and sputtered, laughing and happy.
After while she, too, went off to nap land. My sister and I settled in for an afternoon of travels with Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel, both of us nodding off on our respective soft couches. The kids slept. We did too.
Later, almost 3 hours later, everyone woke up. Diapers were changed and then everyone ate. I got to deliver tiny spoonfuls of turkey and vegetables and rice and milk to Bailey while Jones picked up his chicken, poked it onto his fork, and put it in his mouth by himself. Kids full and cleaned, my sister and I ate a bit, helped by the little ones.
Games, play time, and then bedtime came. Rachel and Dustin came home, calm and happy and relaxed. Store exchanges done. Dinner good. Movie fun.
Lucinda and I bundled up, drove home, played some of our own new Christmas games with Heather, who had spent the day alone nursing a cold, and then went to bed.
All that day no one mentioned an economic downturn or unemployment numbers or daily sales or prospects for the future. The future, solidly and dependably, was in those two little babies. I have their pictures on my computer, on my desk, and in my thoughts. With them, all is bright. Happy New Year to you and yours. Thanks for being a part of this little world that we are creating here at 67 Biltmore. Thanks a whole lot.
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