Notes from Nan: Lunch!!!
BY HF Contributing Writer, Nan Parati

Wasn’t that fun!

Our first annual Winter Craft Show in a Quaint New England Town went as well as, maybe the combined weather and economy could have allowed. It was a good first-annual, I think and I look forward to doing a second-annual next year.

And the snow came in just in time! I had actually ordered it for Friday, and what I wanted was just a light fluffy bit, not too cold, not too frozen but apparently the order got typed in wrong (I called it in) and when I said I wanted a BLEND of snow and sleet, someone apparently heard that I wanted a WIND of snow and sleet and so they sent up Siberia on Saturday. Sorry about that. By Sunday we got the whole weather thing worked out and it wasn’t nearly as cold, but still pretty.

DID YOU HAVE LUNCH AT ELMER’S?

Because I didn’t cook it I can tell you it was SO GOOD! I kept ordering the grilled cheese sandwich with caramelized onions and local apples. I also had the gumbo. Whoo it was good!

And so Sunday night we all sat down and said, “You know, we can’t go backwards.” So starting this Saturday, we are going to start serving LUNCH! On Saturdays and Sundays (for now only on those days). I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to be, but here’s what I do know we will offer a soup, a salad and a sandwich. It will be every Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 2. We’ll stop serving breakfast at noon and go to lunch then. Our kitchen is so small that (we found out last weekend) trying to continue breakfast into the lunch time is too much stuff in too small a space. So come after church on Sunday! Come after chores on Saturday! Come on over here and eat!

FRIDAY NIGHT MENU (12/07/08):

And come on over on Friday night and eat dinner!

Here’s what we’re having this Friday night:

• Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Red Onion, Walnuts, Goat cheese and dressed with our home-made Ranch dressing
• Herb-encrusted Porkloin Roast with Cider Gravy
• Potatoes au Gratin
• Braised Greens
• And for vegetarians, Herb-Encrusted Tempeh with all the rest of the same

Now, this may seem kind of different from our traditional Elmer’s Friday night dinners, and that is because it is different from our traditional Elmer’s Friday night dinners. But it’s very much like our new Elmer’s Friday night dinners. I have told you before about our new chef, Jim Dion, and can that boy cook! He and Mary are working together on this New Way of The Elmer’s Dinner and people are leaping to their feet and cheering and shouting “Bravo! Brava!” —-No wait! That was at “Lost in Yonkers” last weekend. But they really do love our new Friday night dinners, too!

(By the way, “Lost in Yonkers” continues this weekend, Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 and Sunday at 2pm.)

EL JARDIN

Neftali from our beloved “El Jardin” bread baking company came in today to say that he is going to have to raise the price of our beloved El Jardin bread soon. He didn’t say by how much, but he did say that flour has risen (Ha! Get it?) in price, as gas has exploded (ha! Get it?) in price for them to deliver it and so therefore must the price of the bread. He is sorry and so are we and we will have to see what happens. But we will let you know. By the way, you know, their winter delivery days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I’ve asked them to bring extra on Saturdays.

HEY, GUESS WHAT!

For the month of December we are going to be making Holiday Food for you to order and pick up for any kind of events you may be having on or around the 25th of December! Jim and Mary and Susanne and I all discussed that, too (while we were talking about the future of lunch) and they are working up menus that I will tell you about in a special e-mail as soon as they tell me what they’ve decided to offer. We are thinking to offer finger food for your parties, and vegetable dishes and other “side orders” (we don’t have the room for whole turkeys or geese or anything) and special desserts that you can order in advance and then pick up on the 23rd or 24th or whenever you need them. I’ll give you a menu and tell you more as soon as I know it.

IN THE GALLERY

This weekend we are having a Gallery Opening with works in the Café Gallery by Jackie Boudreau Kinsey. The show is called “Blue Chickens and Ripped Livestock” and is just great work! That girl has an eye for chickens and their true inner personalities and you don’t have to be a chicken farmer to just love them. Her “Ripped Livestock” are presently in the gallery, watching diners eat breakfast.

Our artist in the Big Room is Scott Salzman, a New Orleans photographer who shows through his intimate black and white photography, moments with musicians. The portraits are beautiful, fun, exciting and there is not one single one of Britney Spears or anyone else from her group of friends. So don’t look for those. It’s beautiful work and is drawing much interest. The gallery opening for these fine works is this Sunday the 9th from 3 – 5pm.

FARM REPORT

And now for The Farm Report!

PRODUCE POINTER OF THE WEEK:
We are stocking some additional fruits and veggies this week being delivered Tuesday from the vegetable market in Boston. The organic items are oranges, ginger root, and red yams. Also, don’t miss bunches of radishes with greens, and cluster tomatoes! We have to adjust our 100-mile diet this time of year as the local pickings get pretty slim unless we have frozen a lot of beans and canned bushels of tomatoes. -Donna

• 1/2 mile from Elmer’s Store:
  PATTY FLAT FARM Joan and Joel Arsenault:
  collard greens, leeks, red onions, red kuri and delicata squash.
• 1 mile from Elmer’s Store:
  SANGHA FARM Maribeth and Derek Richie:
  beets (Heirloom and Red Ace) herbs (parsley), kale (when the weather warms up), acorn squash, buttercup squash.
• 2 miles from Elmer’s Store:
  SIDEHILL FARM Amy Klippenstein and Paul Lacinski:
  Fresh yogurt in 5 flavors.
• 4 miles from Elmer’s Store:
  SPRING WATER GARDENS Will and Donna Elwell:
  cordwood (split and dried), garlic (for eating or for seed), long cayenne peppers, winterberry branches (for decorating – not eating!).
• 10 miles from Elmer’s Store:
  SCOTT’S ORCHARD Ed, Colin, and Donna Scott:
  Macoun, Macintosh, and Empire apples, acorn squash, butternut squash,and buttercup squash.
• 10 miles from Elmer’s Store:
  ASHFIELD BACKYARD GARDENER
  French shallots
• 15 miles from Elmer’s Store:
  MANDA FARM
  Fingerling potatoes, RED AND GREEN CABBAGE.
• 20 miles from Elmer’s Store:
  DONOVAN FARM Ivan and Cinni Donovan :
  Red potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes, RUSSET POTATOES.
• Varying US and international sources:
  SQUASH, Produce Distributor:
  alfalfa sprouts (organic), avocados, bananas, broccoli, cilantro, garlic (organic), GINGER ROOT (ORGANIC), lemons, mesclun, onions (organic) (WA), ORANGES (ORGANIC), portabella mushrooms, RADISHES, cluster tomatoes (FL OR CA), YAMS (ORGANIC).

Produce is listed by proximity to Elmer’s Store; new items are capitalized.

Come in for dinner!

Big Elmer