Almost Spring inspiration

You know how when you are really looking forward to something, you wish you had the power to distort time. Maybe work some kind of deal—like spring sooner now in exchange for a slightly earlier fall. I know darn well that time is not going to speed up OR slow down at my whim. In fact, I know that time is likely to zip by even faster than I am ready for it to, right now. But I sure do look forward to spring.

We've lived here 11 years. With the exception of 8 years in Nashville, we've lived pretty far south. In those parts, spring is early and quite sudden. In Florida, fall and spring happen only about a week apart in late January. That's the spread between when the leaves that do fall, fall and the new growth sprouts as leaves. Here...it slowly unwraps. It is like a glorious, seductive dance. To me we are in phase II. We are past phase I—the skunks. Phase II is when the storms start and the rain comes and the fields start to turn green— but before the flowers and bushes start their show. It is when I find my awareness of my surroundings picks up and I am tuned into the possibility of inspiration. I am LOOKING for things to celebrate.

You may have noticed I brought cuttings in from the garden to put on the tables. To most it probably looks like I just brought in a bunch of sticks. Huh? Well those are forsythia stems. They've been kept in water since they were brought up about a week ago. In that time they have begun to sprout green leaves and I am pretty certain that by the end of the week there will be a few blooms. ( Just MY attempt at controlling time.)

We've been trying a few new dishes lately, which is always fun for us all. The first is a new sandwich that I am calling the Roman Sandwich. It's name comes from the name of the bread I'm making for it. The Roman bun has onion baked right into the dough and it is quite light. The remaining ingredients might make you think it is a substituski or something similar. With ham and two kinds of salami plus cheddar, monterrey jack, mustard, black olives, red onion, tomato and choice of spicy sprouts or lettuce, it is a tasty, tasty sandwich served warm from the toaster oven. We'll have it in two sizes: a 4" bun(small) and a 5" bun(regular).
small w/ chips 5.99  regular w/chips 6.99

The other new treat was created in desperation. But Man, oh man!!!!We had run out of the wood-fired tilapia Tuesday afternoon and did not have time to get more done for Wednesday because we had a good sized catering gig. I was about to put a sign on the board saying "sorry, no fish tacos today" when Bruce asked me if we still had frozen salmon. When I replied "yes", he suggested blackened salmon tacos with pineapple salsa. We did them as both blackened and directly cooked and also wood-fired and stirred up. The consensus was the wood-fired version with its distinctive smokey flavor was the most loved. So be it. We are making the pineapple salsa fresh daily, just like we do our guacamole, tomato salsa and cilantro lime slaw. Ask for the Salmon Tacos next time you are in. Their full name, if on a fancy high faluttin' menu would be "Wild caught Alaskan Salmon, woodfired on oak, served with a fresh pineapple salsa on a pair of double, fresh soft corn tortillas. Presented with a side of fresh, in-season, hand-chopped fruit." At $6.75 is it a filling meal.

We are now growing our own spicy sprouts. If you are a sprout fan, you'll rejoice at this offering. Sometimes they are called zesty sprouts. They are the sprouts of radish, onion, mustards, clover etc. They defininetly have a zing to them. A very fresh zing. You are welcome to request the spicy sprouts any time in lieu of the regular alfalfa aprouts.

We are having a St. Patrick's Day dinner on March 17th at 6pm. There will be one sitting only. Tom and Renee will entertain us with penny whistle and Irish tunes. Bruce has put together a delightful menu. It features all your typical Irish ingredients—corned beef, potatoes, cabbage. But he is presenting them with a much more contempory style that captures all the flavors in a more delicate manner. Here is his menu—
First Course~Cheese & Guinness Fondue
Salad Course~Watercress Salad ~w~ Guinness & Oil Dressing
Entrée~Oven Roasted Mustard and Brown Sugar Encrusted Corned Beef
     Served ~w~ Garlic Jelly Glazed Baby Red’s and Carrots
     & Oven Roasted Cabbage
Dessert Course~Bailey’s Irish Crème Cake ~w~ Crème Fresh
$15/person: reservations required and a maximum of 30 reservations. We have already begun to take reservations.

This week—

• Monday~ Antipasto Salad; Soup~hot & sour Thai chicken soup
• Tuesday~Tamale Tuesday~Black bean and wood-fired chicken tamale with salsa verde and avocado and verde sauce. Served with Spanish rice.$6.25 Posole~ Mexican Pork and Hominy Stew
• Wednesday~Trout almandine with rice pilaf and fresh asparagus. $7.50 Soup~ Potato Leek.
• Thursday~Traditional Caesar salad with wood-fired salmon or chicken  $6.75 Soup~Black Bean
• Friday~Lunch: Ham & asparagus crepes with hollandaise Dinner~ Wood-fired trout crepes with baby red potatoes and fresh asparagus topped with a lemon dill sauce.$12 Beef and ricotta stuffed manicotti with side salad $10
• Desserts to watch for this week~ tiramisu, panna cotta and pavlovas

The entertainment this week will be the monthly "First Friday Open Mic." If you know someone who would like to play for us, please check in with Jon. He is doing the line-up. Because our venue is small we are asking for volume that is space-appropriate. It is the intimacy that everyone appreciates. Come listen, come eat, come visit with friends. Just come!