YOUR FRIENDLY JULY UPDATE

Salutations, fine friends,

We hope that the summer has been treating you right and that your table, like ours, is crowded with all the flavors of the season. Heavy Georgia peaches, heirloom tomatoes, bright cherries, a bumper crop of fresh cucumbers. Hungry? Good. But allow me to touch on a few bits and bobs of business before the reveal of our July menu...

TWEET, TWEET

Regardless of a personal grudge against them for robbing us of one of the English language's finest onomatopoeic words, we have joined the worldwide throng and are now able to appear on your Twitter feed, should you wish to find us at @TWELVEATHETABLE. (Notice that there's only one "t" there where there are otherwise two, such as in our website title and our Instagram hashtag. Oh, how it irks us to have mismatched social network titles, but the folks at Twitter cut it off at fifteen characters. The nerve of some people! So FIND US, follow us, like us, love us.

LETTUCE BE FRIENDS

Do you know folks who aren't receiving these emails but who really should be? You might consider simply forwarding this email to such people so that they can click on THIS LINK, enter their info and thereby receive updates. Or you can just tell them about our website and they can figure it out like big boys and girls.

CHICKENSCRATCH: OUR BLOG

We're really going to try to be better about posting at least weekly. Care to bookmark us? Angela has penned A CHARMING LITTLE REFLECTION PIECE about a recent event, so go check out some pretty writing!

(and finally.....)

JOIN US AT THE TABLE!

How does one get a chair at this table, you ask? Easy! By simply going to our CONTACT PAGE and submitting a little note containing the number of seats you'd like. Diners will be added to the list of twelve as they appear in our inbox, so don't delay. We don't like being left out, and we'll bet you don't either. The menu is as follows, depending on availability and the whim-and-fancy of the cook, of course. You shall bring a bottle of your own favorite wine (have fun with the pairing and the sharing!), and we won't mind one bit if you also want to bring along your dancing shoes, your cigars, or slips of notebook paper and a bowler hat for a post-feast game of charades. Let's be honest, it'd be really fun.

*****

THE COMMUNITY TABLE

Saturday, July 28, 6:30 pm 

Locale: clandestine

 a rousing cocktail hour and very decent snackery

 vichyssoise, basil oil, leek rings

 fall-apart, herb-rubbed pork shoulder, preserved lemon chimichurri

 soft polenta, silver queen corn,  thyme breadcrumbs 

heirloom tomato, fennel, avocado, citrus vinaigrette 

summer's squashes and green beans, arugula-basil pesto

frozen nougatine, raspberry puree and whole berries, toasted sesame brittle

$75 per diner, suggested donation (cash only, if you'd be so kind)

*****

 THE COMMUNITY TABLE

Saturday, August 25, 6:30pm

Save the date. Menu will come, all in good time.

 *****

So keep in touch, keep your head cool, and keep on keepin' on. Add a sprinkling of sea salt to your next bowl of sweet, cold cantaloupe chunks and see if it doesn't change your world a little bit. Before we part, take a moment and enjoy the scene that gets painted in your head when you read this bit by EDNA LEWIS, a favorite food writer...

"Wheat harvesting came at the peak of summer, usually mid-July. Everyone was very tense the moment the men began cutting the wheat, as the hot weather carried the threat of thunderstorms and rain, which could descend at any moment and put a stop to the threshing....

Early that morning Mother and some of the neighbors would have gone over to the farmhouse to help with the dinner and the kitchen would be turned upside down. Fortunately, this was the time when the garden was at its peak, yielding forth all of its fruits, so there would be many, many dishes to prepare. Then women would set up tables under the shade trees and when dinner was ready one of the cooks would go out and ring a giant dinner bell so that it could be herd all over the countryside.

And then men would gather hungrily around the tables that were laden with so many good things...

On other hot summer days between wheat harvesting and Revival, we would often enjoy an afternoon of feasting on homemade ice cream or a bowl of crushed peaches. It seemed that there was always something delicious to reward us at the end of any hectic work."

We wish you similar "delicious rewards" with those you love on these sweltering summer evenings.

Love from TWELVE AT THE TABLE