March Wines

I have found some Great Value Wines over the past few months that have become great hits. Here are just a few to mention.

Bodega Privada Malbec. This Argentinean wine is a fuller bolder surprise that has hints of cherries and plums. It’s warm and velvety with sweet tannins with a long finish. I was completely impressed at this wine and it’s price of 7.99 a bottle.

Latitude 34 Syrah is another wine with a intense ruby red color, tastes of fresh red fruits and spices with a smooth smoky and vanilla notes at the end. Was 14.99 now 10.99, while it lasts.

Here is another wine that I have found to be a up and coming pick. Carmenere Wines. I have had them on the shelf from time to time and have hand sold them to folks that have come back for more. A little bit about Carmenere Wines: It a Albarino grape that is the mainstay of wine production in the Rias Baixas denomination in northwestern Spain, representing 92% of it’s plantings, or roughly 5,000 acres. Typically, wines made from Albarino are very aromatic, often described as having scents of almonds or almond paste, apples, peaches, citrus, and flowers or grass. These wines are an indisputable match for seafood and tapas.

The Carmenere that I have found meeting this description is one called MORANDE Pionero Carmenere. I wasn’t sure that this was going to be a wine for the shelf but once I opened the bottle and let it sit for about 20 minutes then tasted it I was amazingly surprised. It’s velvety, smooth and well-rounded flavors made me forget the price and wanting more. Oh the price, 7.99 yes that is right so take some home today and I guarantee you will be back for more.

So only one more wine that I want to talk about which is not a value wine but one that is incredible. It’s a 2006 Sonoma Syrah from Hamilton CA Vineyard Dry Creek Valley. All I can say is WOWOWOW!!! And you need to pick it up today I only have 10 bottles left and the vineyard had been sold to another and it will never be made again. It can lay down in your collection or cellar for a few years to come but if you’re like me it won’t be there for long. It’s intense dark violet with deep garnet red around the edges color and boysenberry; smoky and earthy tastes will seduce you into more. Great with hearty braised foods of winter to grilled foods in the summer. At this price make sure you have it for all occasions. This is a truly great price for a truly great wine. 24.99

So those are my wine choices for March look for more to come. There are many of our distributors wine tastings that I will be going to over the next two months and will bring more to the shelves soon.

Please be sure to let us know your favorite wines if you don’t see them on the shelves. We can get all wines that are distributed in Maine so please ask us to order them today. We can get them within a day or two. I can get single bottles or by the case at a 10% discount. And you know that always on Thursday’s 10% off all wines.

Bonnie

H.B. Provisions Andouille Sausage & Mushroom Soup

Below is the recipe for soup we entered into this weekend's soup tasting. There were lots of requests for the recipe so we decided to put it here on the blog so everyone could get it for themselves.

This is for sure a favorite soup of many and easy to make as well! Enjoy!

H.B. Provisions Andouille Sausage & Mushroom Soup

1 TBS Vegetable oil

12 – 16 oz Andouille Sausage (cut length wise and slice thinly)
16 oz Sliced Mushrooms
4 TBS Butter
4 scallions chopped
1 clove garlic minced
½ cup flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. shredded cheddar
Dash nutmeg
1/8 TBS ground black pepper

In a large pot sautée sausage in oil, remove after cooked leaving drippings in pot. Add mushrooms, if needed add more oil. Cook, stirring until mushrooms are tender and slightly browned. Add scallions and garlic, sautée for another minute or so. Pour mushroom mixture into a bowl and set aside. Melt the butter in the same pot, stir in flour until blended. Stir in broth until thickened. Add the heavy cream and cheese keep stirring until all blended together. Add the sausage and mushrooms back into the pot with nutmeg and pepper. Add salt if needed to taste. Heat thoroughly and simply enjoy!

Thanksgiving Happenings at HB

It has been a long time since we have written a blog but it seems with so many things going on this time of year a blog is a good place to put it all in one place.

In October, Bonnie went for her annual trip for "crush" in Napa and came home with many ideas for new and fabulous wines. She has put these wines on the front end of the wine aisle with great notes and of course her recommendations for Holiday wines to be used as gifts or on your dinner table.
Some of the new wines Bonnie is recommending are from the following vineyards*:
Chateau Montelina
Keenan
St. Clement (Of course!)
Louis Martini

Bill Harlan's Bond Estates (these can be special ordered)

*Another blog will be dedicated just to Bonnie's trip and the specific wines she has brought in.


Now on Thursday, November 18 (tomorrow) from 5pm to 7pm, there is a wine tasting along with a dinner to sample with the wines. The theme of course is Thanksgiving with a lovely selection of appropriate wines for a turkey dinner. The dinner we are serving is of course a turkey dinner with a side salad and desert served all for $10.99 (the tasting is as usual free!)Call to make a reservation 967-5762.

We are still taking orders for a complete Thanksgiving dinner for 6 if you are not inclined to prepare the meal yourself. It comes with a large turkey, cranberry walnut stuffing, herbed mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans almondine, gravy, cranberry orange relish and rolls. You can get it on Wednesday and just heat it up on Thursday (and pretend you made it!!) or pick it up on Thursday morning all hot and ready to eat. Please call to order by Friday, November 19. 967-5762

Also we are still taking orders for pies, until Monday afternoon, that can be picked up as late as noon on Thanksgiving. Choose from pumpkin, apple, blueberry or mincemeat pies. We also have frozen pies in our new freezer that can be baked in less than an hour and will make your house smell as good as it does here at HB!!

Our store hours for Thanksgiving are 6am to 12noon.

Mary's Walk

As many of you know I was diagnosed with stage 2- her2 breast cancer in August of 2009. My treatments began right away with Mercy Hospital’s oncology team. And that is thanks to the support and guidance of Louise Hurlbutt who many of you know as well, has gone through the same diagnosis and is in her completion of successful treatment. I will speak for myself but know that Lousie feels the same way that our community has been our strength, our guidance and our support. We know that this was not an easy time for either of us. For me I am reminded daily of how grateful I am to live here and to have such wonderful friends and family that has kept me going.

Over the past 7 months I have endured Chemotherapy, 2 surgeries, and now in the completion stage of radiation treatments. I would love to say it was easy but many of you know through either your own personal experiences or through other friends it is not. However the out come to date has been incredible. I am feeling good and on the quick road to feeling great. I have worked at the store throughout most all of this time and have kept my friends and family close to my heart and soul. And as some of you also know I opened a second business during this time called H.B. Café 2. Because I didn’t have quite enough going on in my life I needed to add one more thing.

Helen has been my biggest cheerleader and support person and I know that I could have never done this without her being here everyday walking me through it. She has kept all of you posted through my web site with blogs. She has also kept the store running and now manages the new H.B. Cafe2.

As a gesture of continued support for Louise Hurlbutt and me we are asking you to now join us in Mary’s Walk and Maine Cancer Foundation- a local event that since its inception in 1999 has raised over One Million dollars for cancer research in Maine. This Walk began in Saco as a way to recognize the life of Mary Libby and has evolved into a community event to remember friends lost and to encourage and support those dealing with Cancer.

Louise & Bonnie

That being said Louise and I have formed a team and am asking you to support and join us on March 14^th to either a walk or run. Those who do wish to join us can learn more on line by going to www.maryswalk.org. You can pre-register by March 5^th and join our team, which you will see how to do so at that web site. Latecomers can register to join our team Sunday morning at the event. Others can sponser our team if you cannot join us. You may contribute on line in the name of Team Hurlbutt/HB Provisions. Don’t forget to memo our name. You may also send a check to Mary’s Walk, P.O.Box 746, Saco, Maine, 04072.

Please do this today and help us go for gold in walking or running for the cure of cancer.

It's all good!

Just wanted to give a quick update on Bonnie's pathology report and her progress.

There were still some cancer cells found in the second tissue removal but there was a clear margin which is the good news. The radiation oncologist, Dr Godin and the breast surgeon, Dr. Molin consulted and they determined that all the remaining cells could be blasted away with the radiation. Dr. Molin explained that those few cells were really not worrisome to them and with more concentrated radiation in that area it would all be taken care of.

Bonnie is feeling much better and has been out walking most days last week. Next week she meets with Dr. Godin for the breast mapping where they determine exactly where the radiation will go. Then a couple of weeks after that and when she has had more time to heal from the surgeries, she will begin radiation.

Helen

One more time....

Well.........we went to see the oncologist yesterday and the pathology report had just come in which showed that there were still a few cancer cells found in the tissue. The real issue is that the cancer cells were right on the edge of the margin (the tissue they took) so they are now not sure if there are more cells further out in the breast because they were at the edge of the sample taken or if they got all the cells. So to find out the answer to this question (did they get all the cancer cells) is to do another surgery, take out another centimeter of tissue around where the tumor was and have pathology determine if there are more cancer cells there or not.

Dr. Molin only took a small amount of tissue because of Bonnie's dramatic clinical response (doctor's words) and that there was no sign of any cancer cells where the tumor once was. Well that was using ultrasound, feel and sight but the pathologists did find a few cells (remember it only takes one cell to wreak havoc for someone) which I think was a surprise to everyone.

So on Friday Bonnie will have another surgery. This will be a quicker surgery since there is no lymph node work to be done and this time it will be going into the same place which is now clearly marked with the sutures. The hard part will be that it is more anesthesia which is hard on her and then of course the extended healing time.

Bonnie is in good spirits about all of this although she is sick of being sick. I will write more to let you know how she is doing after the surgery.

Helen

It's All Good News!!

Wow, I did not realize it had been so long since I last wrote a blog. Well lots of things have been happening and they are all good!

First of all Bonnie had an ultrasound last week (it's all a blur maybe it was the week before that) and they were looking for the tumor in anticipation of her surgery (yup that was today but more on that later!). The ultrasound technician at Mercy was very nice and as she looked and looked she was unable to find any kind of tumor. Finally after several minutes she was able to locate the clip* but no tumor around it. We were able to look at the ultrasound from August with the big old tumor and then the same area again with NO tumor. How cool is that?? As nasty and yucky (yes that is a technical term) as the chemo was it seemed to have done the job and really gave a heave ho to that tumor.

After the ultrasound we went off to see the breast surgeon, Dr. Molin who explained that the surgery would be very minor and she would just take out the clip and some surrounding cells and then just a few lymph nodes. Now remember when Bonnie saw the first breast surgeon she assured Bonnie she would definitely have to have a mastectomy so she really has come a long way in this roller coaster ride.

With the good news about the tumor Bonnie has had a couple of good weeks and has been very busy getting the new H.B. Cafe 2 ready to open. The Cafe is located at the new Goodall Health/Quest Fitness facility and opened last Monday, it is open Monday through Friday from 7am to 2pm. It is a very nice Cafe and seems to be another excellent business for Bonnie. Back in October Bonnie was looking to hire someone to manage the Cafe and I was looking for a job so she hired me to do the job. Now we plan all the doctor appointments in the afternoon so I can still go with her to all of those. Also we planned the surgery for today because the Cafe is closed New Year's Day and then the weekend so I will be around for a couple of days to help around here while she recovers.

With all this talk about the surgery I should tell you again that it was today and went without a hitch. Everyone was so kind and helpful which made it even better for Bonnie. The surgeon made two small incisions, one for the breast tissue (is this too much information??) and the other for the 4 lymph nodes they took out. She had very little pain and she will take Vicodin every 4 hours until tomorrow and hopefully by then she will be ready to just take extra strength Tylenol and Advil. For now she is sleeping in the reclining couch and has her two dogs sleeping right on her, I will wake her in a few hours to give her more Vicodin just to keep ahead of the pain as was suggested by the nurse.


Presurgery

So as 2009 comes to a close Bonnie has made great progress in stomping out the cancer in her body. She is a real fighter as you all know and has been a champ through all the treatments. She will still have to have radiation but that will not begin until early February so I am looking forward to her healing from the surgery and then feeling pretty good for a few weeks before the next phase.

That's all for now.

Happy New Year!

Helen

*The clip was put in back in August, it is the size of a rice grain and inserted in the middle of the tumor so later they can find where the tumor is or was.