Notes

So why do we call it Easter? And what’s this about the paschal mystery or the paschal lamb. Why not the Easter lamb? Here is the link between those two words.

This Holiday Season things are going more smoothly and holiday product is better (so far, keep your fingers crossed for the rest of the season). I’m convinced that is because we have been able to hold onto employees who get better and better the longer they are here. We are able to keep them, in part because Alec is such a good manager. (Don’t tell him, but in my opinion he's a better manager.than I am). We also have a strong benefits package which helps.

Though the weather isn’t cooperating as it is too warm, we know that the winter holidays are here because of the long dark nights, the low angle of the sun when it deigns to appear, and our growing need to gather together. All over the northern hemisphere this is the time of year we try to outwit nature’s darkness by lighting bonfires, fireplaces and candles, stringing lights on trees and houses, and turning our attention to each other while we celebrate ancient rituals and memories. We give and receive presents, and begin forming resolutions for the New Year, and eat special foods..

Thanksgiving, of course, it's my favorite holiday! It's about Fall and Food and Harvest. All that hard work over the summer, all the miracle of seeds turning into plants turning into vegetables turning into seeds again. The portent of longer nights and shorter days sends us to a bountiful table, surrounded by friends and family. Thanksgiving signals that growth has ended with the harvest and that the earth is going to take a rest, even as our thoughts quicken anticipating the spring reawakening and our plans and dreams of next year's plantings. I am really moved by the markers and the cycles of the year echoing the markers and the cycles of life itself.

We are in tomato heaven! We have come into a fabulous bounty of heritage tomatoes. Thanks to our friend, Pat Smith, of T.A. Kirklin Farms, we have access to lots and lots of late season, perfectly ripe heritage tomatoes..  She has trained us in how to control ripening so that they are in peak ripeness when we need them. And we want to share them with you, so for as long as they last, which may be as long as two (three?) weeks, we will be having special salads, soups, and other tomato forward dishes.

Music and good food and nice people.  That's what I crave on a Sunday morning. Add the New York Times and I don't think it gets any better. Check out the line up below.

In the mean time, lean over the sink while you devour produce - peaches, plums, tomatoes, watermelon cantaloupe - slurp up the juice as you bite down so you lose as little as possible.

Remember last summer? The cursed summer of the Heritage Tomato Crop Failure? We keened and rent our garments for naught. All we could do was wait a year and hope. Well, it's looking good this year, There should be some (at least a few) tomatoes to begin having BLTs by next week!. And there should be a plentitude soon after.

So last Sunday we were treated to a demonstration of Okinawan Karate brought to us by Lia and Emma The (“Tay”), two young martial artists who are representing Team USA at the Martial Arts World Championship this weekend! Their father, Henning Schröder and mother, Yu-lien The are Kalamazoo musicians that performed in the “Raising the Dough Benefit Concert” for the bakery after the fire. In an indirect, roundabout kind of way, Sarkozy Bakery is returning the favor by sponsoring Lia and Emma while they compete. Two years ago in London, Lia won two bronze medals and this year, Emma is competing in the youngest age bracket. We’ll keep everyone updated with how they do this weekend.