Here we are, in November, and I am confused. I went to several stores over the weekend running my usual errands and each time I left a store I felt as though I was in some time warp. I knew it was Halloween weekend because I got out my “ghoul goblets” , watched as costumes were being assembled, and got out our collection of scary old movies. Yet, I turned one corner and there were all the decorations and menu items for Thanksgiving. People were buying solid pack pumpkin, ready made crusts and bags of stuffing. No sooner did I pass through Thanksgiving that before me were ornaments, tinsel, cards and an array of fake trees.

So….what month is this? In what season are we? It seems to me that we have forgotten how to savor moments, times in our lives, and the uniqueness of every day. I do understand the black and white- marketing, retail, businesses struggling to survive in this economy. I also understand that we lose so much along the way. Life is in the journey. We have forgotten to savor each year as it passes, each season as it changes and brings with it so many different and wonderful gifts, each holiday as it provides much more than a business and marketing opportunity, and each day as we cross the paths of many many people and fail to notice them or engage with them on the way.

The terms sweet and savory are often used in culinary text. Sweet, without a doubt, is a wonderful treat to our senses. Savory is welcomed as it adds a bit of variety and flavor. Alone, each are a necessary part of cooking. Together….well, together they are unbeatable. Life to me is sweet and savory. While we like the “sweet” moments and parts of life such as all the things we want rather than perhaps need and constant and instant gratification for ourselves, we should love the savory. We should “savor the savory”. Take the time to see each day for what it is without rushing ahead to the next day, week, month of our lives.

Savor the planning and anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday as it approaches. Reflect upon all the blessings and that for which we should be thankful. Savor the moments that take you down that path of sweetness that can often be blinding and a bit misleading rather than just the sweet treats at the end. Sprinkle your life with the savory- slow down and allow roots to take hold, meaningfulness to return and a whole life to be embraced.

I will not be putting out my Christmas decorations until Thanksgiving is past. I will be savoring the moments and not wishing them away after the meal is done and dishes washed. As my “ghoul goblets” get placed back away in the pantry and  I put away the costume box and other Halloween traditions, I will be able to smile remembering this past Halloween. I will savor the memories and they will be embedded in my memory forever- no regrets that I didn’t take the time to enjoy the journey.

Fill your days with sweet and the savory- it makes for such a well balanced meal!

Claudia

Here’s to hoping this week brings better health and some regular schedules. Whatever flu it was that visited my home last week, it was a flu that I pray has no other visiting relatives in town- or in this state- or in existence! I lost a week. I was even too sick to cook and for me, that is on death’s bed.

That was last week and thsi week- I am cooking! Check the menu for the week to see what is in the shop and I hope you will stop by. I hope you were not inconvenienced last week and thank you for your understanding.

A reminder that next week we will begin having at least one vegetarian and one vegan entree and offering for you. Our Open House will be November 14th and we hope you will join us for a special day.

Hope to see you this week!

Claudia

With all the flu in Zionsville- including my own home- I have decided to close the shop for the week. I am hoping most of you have escaped it and with fall break this weekend, I m hopeful that when we all return next week the flu will have gone away on a break as well!

I will re-open next week with regular hours and lots of warm soups and comfort foods for you. Until then, keep well and I thank you for your understanding.

Claudia

Well, just as we were all gong to get our flu shots, the flu beat us to it. I will make this short as I am included in the “us” as well as my two daughters and need to crawl myself back to bed.

Just wanted you to know I am closing the shop for a few days while we all get back back on our feet. I will be closed: Monday, Tiesday, wednesday this week and will re-open on Thursday. I am generally closed on Thursday but will be open this week for normal hours- 11-5. In addition, we will be at the shop as usual on Friday 11-6 and Saturday 11-5.

Hope you are esacaping the flu- it is not one of my favorite houseguests……

My apologies for a late entry…. sometimes a break in routine really makes getting back into that routine a bear! However, here I am at my laptop ready to write. I have been thinking a lot lately about what things we are able to release and part with as well as those things we are destined and driven to hold onto forever. I am a sentimentalist in the highest degree. I have in my possession things which were a part of my family for generations. They are very dear to me have in turn become special to my children. These books, letters, pictures, bracelets, chairs ….. I cannot imagine ever placing in a garage sale.

Certain memories and dreams are also impossible to put into storage. I bring some of them out over and over again and they always seem brand new. The more often they are retrieved, the more ragged, worn and loved they become- like an old teddy bear.  There have been some moments in my life that I am able to put away forever- and I am so very grateful to my heart for allowing me to do so. Those memories will be replaced by new ones and the process goes on.

My recipes are quite the same. I have some that have been in my family for many many years and enjoyed so many times that I don’t even have to look at the writing or measurements yet I cannot part with the actual card or piece of paper that it is on. I will most likely never ever part with those recipes. Handwritten and fragile- they will remain.

I have let go of some of my old ways though as gadgets seem to be entering my drawers in the kitchen. I am not a gadget person- choppers, blenders, food processors and all the many many scores of inventions to make life easier have yet to make mine so. Yet, as I feel a bit more arthritis in my hands and feel that ache a bit more in the small of my back after a long day of standing and cooking- some of those gadgets have been added to my arsenal of cooking utensils. I have given up doing this the “traditional” way (or as some of my employees have said- the “hard way”.) An easy seperation.

So, as I think of things to which I have been able to nod farewell and things to which I will never bid au revoir- I am content. I can keep my I love Lucy tapes, keep my Mom’s macaroni and cheese recipe, keep my shoeboxes of old letters and my seventh and eight grade diaries. I can give away one more cutting board for a mini-chopper, give away the clothes that I wore while writing in that eighth grade diary, and pack up those 8 tracks to plug in my ipod.

I can handle moving forward as long as I have one foot in the past.  After all-having the best of both worlds has always sounded really good to me!!

Over the past months I have had many requests for vegetarian offerings as well as vegan offerings on the menu. Beginning November 1, I will be offering both on a weekly basis. Meeting the dietary needs as well as preferences of families is important to me and I am happy to be able to learn more about the culinary challenges of these menus as well as  continue to provide homemade and fresh offerings each week for you to take to your home. My son has made a choice to be a vegan while at his forst year away at college. Quite a challenge on a campus!! Needless to say, I am learning a great deal about vegan baking and sent just this past week, my first care package- all vegan!

So, both at home as well as at the shop, I will be adding some new items to my repertoire and hope you will enjoy them and give them a try.

In addition to that change, we are also in the process of labeling each to go item in our coolers with ingredients and providing re-heating and cooking instructions upon request. Look for these new changes over the next few weeks and we hope they will serve you well.

See you at the Shop!

I had the honor in my life here in Zionsville to meet a woman who was full of life and full of passion for whatever path her heart followed. Our lives had connections that were discovered by us as we got to know one another over several years and I would suspect that we would have uncovered many more. She was a painter and through those works and sketches- she touched lives and shared a bit of hereself on every canvas. Her outreach and openness went far beyond the edges of her canvas however and on Friday evening that was clearly evident. The Munce Art Center and Sullivan Museum were filled with her paintings- many from her own home which were shared by her family and many from private collections- all hung as a tribute to her beautiful gift of creativity. While the walls were full of her art work, the rooms were filled with her friends and those who were most fortunate to have had her cross their paths in life. That, for me, spoke much more vividly than the colors and brushstrokes.

She was a person whose life mattered. A woman who lived her life in a way that had depth, substance and left it’s mark on others. I can only hope that my life will perhaps make a difference, add to the world, and with the gifts that I have been given as we all have, share with those who I meet and engage.

“We are, all of us, molded and remolded by those who cross our paths. No life, no experience can pass us by without changing our lives forever.”

Cynthia Van Tassel Yeo- a life that truly mattered.

I love New York- no reference to the corny coined phrase that has now become the standard jingle for this city. I just simply love New York. I first visited the city when I was much younger and upon my panic on a train to the call “last stop Manhattan”, I learned that Manhattan and New York City were one in the same. A bit of an abrupt welcome and then the first glimpse of homelessness in Grand central station, I was overwhelmed. Several years later I returned there for my first post-college job, remained there four years single, returned there for another four years married and brought my son into the world.

Last weekend, I returned there again with my two daughters and saw the city with both fresh eyes through them as well as relived many happy memories. We had a great time filled with school visits (Parsons School of Design), shopping, amazing meals and visits with old friends. I must say, it was hard to leave. I love New York!

One of the many things I have always loved most is that although it is city of many many people,  many many buildings and a constant interaction of all cultures, languages and sensory overload- it is at times very intimate. The neighborhoods are just that- small niches where people put out their welcome mats, (altough very small) and set down roots. I loved walking through my old neighborhoods, seeing the same shops years later, same people in those shops, and for a brief moment, feeling like I was home.

Zionsville is a long way from New York city- in many ways. Yet, it has it’s own pulse and own pace and can easily adapt some of the wonderful qualities that make New York special. New York manages to welcome many unique and diverse cultures yet cultivate a sense of a hometown. There are opportunities here to do the same and how fortumnate we would  all be to take hold of those opportunities, branch out, and make our worlds a bit bigger, a bit more tolerant and I believe, a bit more full.

This Wednesday, September 16th, we will mark our one year anniversary at To The Last Drop! Although a bit cliche, I will say that it does not see possible that a year has passed. We have now been through every holiday, all seasons, and many Zionsville and local events. We have had the wonderful opportunity to meet many new friends, be a part of many happy and meaningful occasions and been able to be in your homes at dinner time as well as special gatherings.  We have laughed and cooked together at classes and private dinners as we learned about cooking as well as each other. It has truly been a joy.Thank you!

It has been a pleasure to go to work each day and do what I love to do- cook. The challenges of the business have been a learning experience and the ability to be able to join my home life and business life has helped both myself and my children grow. We have had many adjustments but those have been tackled together and given us one more bond and connection. Having them work by my side at events as well as in the shop is one of the most fulfilling parts of this past year.

My staff has been a steady and very special part of this past year. We have made mistakes and hopefully learned from them, had moments of extreme pride and fulfillment and through it all and many good laughs and lots of fun. Thank you for your hard work, all the clean dishes, mopped floors, smiles while serving, Costco runs, chopping, prepping and cooking, patience with me, your tolerance of my music and old movies, your support, your loyalty and your giving of yourselves and time. I am so very grateful.

I hope to have a full house on Wednesday- new friends, old friends, first time customers that are curious and loyal customers stopping by to help celebrate.

We will have tastings all day, treats to sample, drawings for a chance to take a class, plan a dinner, or choose a cookbook. Class lists and menus will be available. Come and share in a glass of bubbly and some delicious food. We will look forward to seeing you!!!

Thank you for everything- it has been a year of memories and much happiness for me!

Claudia

To The Last Drop will have a bit of a shortened week-

Monday-as usual

Tuesday 11-2

Wednesday 11-2

Thursday- as usual

Friday 11-6

Saturday 11-5

Farmer’s Market is a short one as well due to Fall festival. We will be at our booth with all the favorites but only from 8-10 a.m.

Hope you have an enjoyable Labor Day weekend!!!!

Claudia