the Friday Feeding; VOL. 4

It’s another big week-end here at the store as we celebrate opening our doors with a Grand Opening event! We have worked out most of the bugs in the last 5 weeks so want to thank you for coming in and dance a little happy dance with a big party! Here is what we have planned…

Friday night 5-7pm

Let’s celebrate the artists who submitted their work to hang in the community art gallery at The Feed Loft. This is our very first show entitled “What Lurks in the Woods”. It’s a beautiful selection of diverse works. Meet them and enjoy wine tasting of some of our favorites PLUS try some of our special cheeses.

Saturday 7am – 6pm

Sample food & drink all day long; our Meals-in-a-Minute Hearty Stew mix with beef pepperoni, sweet baked bites, Naomi’s mulled apple cider, Naomi’s garlic dip, specialty drizzling syrups and other goodies.

From noon to 2:00 enjoy the music of Celtic Joy, Jacqueline Laughman and her friends will fiddle us happy.

And the Feed Loft is open for sitting and eating and visiting while all this is going on.

Sunday 9am – 4pm

Food samples all day. Noon: the Hummus Taste Off…what is your favorite style of our own slow-cooked hummus. And learn about the many types of garlic that go into hummus, grown right here in Canterbury by Grateful Garlic. At 2:00 join Jane in the back kitchen area to learn a bit about cooking with condiments. Get some tips and some recipes to discover that your refrigerator may already hold some gourmet meals during this informal discussion.

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We want to take this opportunity to publicly thank and bid a warm farewell to Silvia who helped us behind the scenes the last 7 weeks to get us up and running here at the store. Her work here is done and she is returning to her normal life. She is remarkable and we love ya gal!

A feast for your eyes; Lorrie Carey’s beautiful flowers from Marshall’s Florist and Gifts brought to us every week for you to take home.

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There has been quite a bit of discussion about scones over our counter.  You like how we make them and have confessed that you have not had the same success.  Here are some tips for making pastry in general.

Time.  To make good pastry it takes time.  No rushing, no shortcuts, patience. For a roll-out pie dough the gluten needs to develop in order for the crust to hold together so your finished dough needs to rest for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. To make scones, I use 3 steps of cutting in butter, flattening each piece of butter and gently folding in each ingredient; patience.

Temperature.  All your wet ingredients need to be ice cold.  It’s hard to make pastry in the summer unless you are in a chilly air conditioned environment; in the winter it’s easier.  Stone counter tops aid in pastry making because they help hold the chill.  But handling the dough too much with your hands warms it up.  I really like using tools and only finishing with my gloved hands to keep it all cool.

Texture. Your finished dough should look and initially feel dry and grainy with chunks of fat/butter etc.  When you are pulling the dough together with your hands, their slight warmth melts the butter so the dough will come together and not be grainy any longer.  Remember, though, still seeing chunks of fat is a good thing.  When the hot oven melts those chunks, it forces the gluten apart into layers and that is what makes a flaky crust. Most people make the mistake of adding too much liquid to their dough and it is this that makes it cardboard-like.

We thank you for reading this week and click here for the weekly menu.

See you this week-end we hope,

Dave and Jane