This Week at the Herdic House
Oh, such a lovely weekend it’s been! The weather nearly adhered to that line from the musical Camelot “by law it never rains till after sundown”, which was a delightful twist in what’s otherwise been a rather wet summer. The weekend was made even lovelier by two spectacular celebrations: first came the twins’ fifth birthday on Sunday afternoon, and then on a lingering Sunday evening we celebrated the nuptials of our server Kym with her now-husband Chris. We’re so happy for them, and feel so lucky that we were able to be part of the party! And fortunately, because we’re closed Mondays and Tuesdays, by the time we open up to serve you the Blue Plate this evening, our hangovers will be long gone. Speaking of the Blue Plate, it’s particularly in keeping with this evening’s evening warm and sunny weather: an Elysian Fields’ lamb taco salad with cattle beans, Sam’s pico de gallo, avocado crema and crumbled feta. It’s $18 at our House, and $20 to go, like always—but, per usual, our number of to-go orders will be very limited. And Liz is making blueberry buckle for dessert this evening, which will be delicious with a scoop of our lemon and lavender ice cream…
And then the rest of our week this week will be a little off playbook, thanks to the fabulously raucous Fourth of July holiday on Friday. Per usual, we’ll be closed on 7/4, so that we and our employees can celebrate with our families, with the gaggles of folks downtown, or in whatever way we choose. But tomorrow, on the other hand, on Thursday, the Third of July, we’ll host our annual reading of the Declaration of Independence.
We apologize that this year’s readers will be perhaps slightly less experienced than our usual guests, but, since they’ve both learned to read this year (and then become perfectly ravenous readers in short order), we thought this would be an excellent moment to help them use their skills to learn about America’s history, and the remarkable people and principles that founded our nation. All of this is to say that Teddy Wood and Daisy Miele will be helping Liz to read the Declaration of Independence on the Herdic patio on Thursday, July 3 at (approximately) 7:00 pm, with an introduction by Liz (Teddy’s dad Cutter is off vacationing in Crete, the lucky dog), and ample mocktails from the bar as recompense for a job well done. But the reading is just one part of a night focused on American culinary history and creations, and so our classic menu also bears mention:
- New England clam chowder
- Fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with housemade ricotta, parmesan and basil and served over a tomato coulis
- Misty Mountain Farm cheeseburgers served in the garden on a housemade bun, with a dijon aioli, and accompanied by broccoli salad and local corn on the cob
- Washington’s favorite sour cherry pie, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
P.S. The Fourth of July is the peak of summer for some (though we’re partial to the plethora of veggies that unfolds in August), but the fireworks on the Fourth are only part of the show. Driving home from Eagles Mere last night in the gathering dark, Daisy was watching the fireflies rise like errant stars from the fields at the edge of the forest. “It’s like fireworks,” she said, “but quiet ones.”
This will be a great weekend to get out and observe that other remarkable Eastern US phenomenon that peaks right around the Fourth of July—galaxies of fireflies, seeking one another out in our limnal spaces (field edges, roadside verges, backyard lawns) in the dance that perpetuates one of the constellation of species that help to make our paltry human lives so rich…