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Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

Grocery Life August 28, 2014

Posted on August 28, 2014 by pwpadmin

Grocery Life August 28, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from Butler and Bailey Market. I hope everyone is having a good week. We have had a busy week at the store.

We got our new produce furniture in last Friday and started installing it Monday afternoon. By Tuesday afternoon the job was pretty much completed. I am really pleased with how it has turned out so far, and we have had a lot of positive feedback from our customers. I think it makes the department a lot more spacious and easier to shop.

We had two guys from our produce wholesaler that helped us with the job which made it a lot easier on us. When they left Tuesday, they left me a list of things I needed to order to really finish out the project nicely; so it looks like I am going to have to spend another few thousand dollars to really complete the job. The price of progress is expensive.

My electrician was in yesterday. We are looking at replacing some of the lighting in our refrigerated cases in the store with LED lighting. The price of this kind of lighting is finally affordable so he was showing me my options with it and giving me the pricing. The great thing about LED lighting is it lasts for years instead of months before it needs to be replaced and it is super energy efficient. Our KUB bill here is averaging about $12,000 a month so we are always looking for ways to be more energy efficient. We have already converted all of the lighting in our freezers and most of the overhead lighting in our produce and deli areas. Hopefully, in the next few months, most all of our refrigerated sections will be converted also.

My kids will be glad to know we are trying to go green at the store. That apparently is a big teaching emphasis at schools now. They always remind Erica and I when we are doing things that hurt the earth like turning on a light or running the water.

They both seem to be having a good start at school. Every night at dinner I ask them how their day was and so far they have answered enthusiastically. Last night, neither one of them made any effort to tell me when I asked. When this happens I try to bring up things to provoke them into talking. Based on their reaction, I brought up the wrong thing last night. I told them I was thinking about getting rid of our televisions. Instead of starting a conversation, they both just started welling up with tears and were pretty much speechless. I did get a “way to go dad” from Erica. Well I pretty much screwed up our supper. I was only half serious when I told them this and figured I would let them explain to me why we should keep our T.V.’s. Nope, they just kept looking at me and looking at their mom with tears streaming down their faces. I don’t think Tyson was that upset with it, he was just sympathy crying for Lauren. She was devastated.

Well we finished up supper and the kids started getting ready for bed. I stayed in the kitchen cleaning up and a few minutes later Lauren came out to talk to me. It turns out she wasn’t worried about not watching T.V; she was worried about people at school finding out that we didn’t have a television. I asked why and she said they will make fun of her. She said they already make fun of her for not having her own Iphone and if they find out we don’t have a T.V., it will just get worse. I had no idea this was going on with her at school, so it gave she and I a chance to talk about it. We had a great conversation about what’s important when choosing our friends and how we shouldn’t get caught up in material things. I told her these issues will be around for the rest of her life and that her mom and I deal with them ourselves.

I guess this stuff went on at school when I was a ten year old, I don’t really remember. I do know with social media, making fun of people can get out of hand a lot quicker today. After our talk, Lauren went on to bed.

Once the kids went to bed, Erica came out and said, “I guess that didn’t go the way you thought it would.” I told her it didn’t at supper but that it did produce a great conversation between a daughter and her dad. I don’t know if I gave her the right advice or if she will try to apply it, but I do know we know and understand each other a little better which was worth all the tears. I am finding out it’s tough to be a ten year old girl.

This should be a big weekend at the store. The Vols play their first game Sunday, Boomsday is Saturday, and Labor Day is Monday. It is the perfect storm.

We will have plenty of things prepared for your tailgating and picnicking. Ashley will be smoking chicken wings, ribs, pulled pork, and beef brisket. The deli will be frying chicken, making salads, as well as, their famous guacamole dip. The meat department will be cutting great steaks for the grill. If you would like to preorder any of these things feel free to give us a call.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday weekend and GO VOLS!!!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

Click here to view past blogs

Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

Grocery Life August 25, 2014

Posted on August 25, 2014 by pwpadmin

Skillet Buttermilk Biscuits by Colleen Cruze Bhatti

Grocery Life August 25, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from Butler and Bailey Market. I hope everyone had a good weekend. We had a busy weekend here at the store. Friday and Saturday are always busy days but most people are surprised when I tell them that Sunday is a busy day. Sunday is usually the second busiest day of the week for us, just behind Saturday.

We have been open on Sunday’s since we started here twenty-five years ago. Back then Sunday business was not that good so we were open just a few hours. I think it was from twelve until six. Now we are open from ten until nine which is about like the other six days. We just start two hours later in the morning.

I am not sure why Sunday has become such a big day, but I think it may be because more and more households have two people with careers instead of one. This really limits the time families have during the week to shop and if you have children, Saturdays and weeknights fill up quickly with their activities. This leaves Sunday to get ready for the week ahead. I am sure there are other factors involved, but I think the changing work force plays the biggest part. Regardless of the reasons, we will continue adapting to accommodate the changing habits of our customers.

This afternoon and tomorrow, we are going to be changing our produce department. I ordered some new fixtures for the department that have finally arrived. My hope is they will help us merchandise the produce better as well as make it easier for you to shop in the department. I am always hesitant to change things around the store. Changes are always expensive and I never know for sure if we are going to get the results we are looking for until after the fact. Most of the time I think we get it right, but I have had my share of expensive blunders. One thing I do know for sure is if you do nothing you will eventually go out of business. I have seen that too many times with independently owned grocery stores. Time will tell about this decision but I am already working on the next one. Hopefully, I will not have to look back.

I did do a little cooking over the weekend. Actually I did a lot of cooking. We had a cookout at our house Saturday night for nineteen people. As usual, I was in charge of the meat and the other folks brought sides and desserts. Since I didn’t know what everyone liked I cooked chicken, pork, and beef. In hindsight, I should have had the store do it but since I was off Saturday, I figured I could handle it.

I wanted to slow cook everything on my grill but short of buying three more grills, that wasn’t going to happen, so I adapted. My biggest concern was the baby back ribs so I did them a different way which was a lot easier and still turned out great.

All I did was salt and pepper them and then brushed a little BBQ sauce on them. I then wrapped them tightly in foil, put them on a pan and stuck them in the oven at 215 degrees. I left them in for four to five hours while I was doing everything else on the grill. When the company showed up, I took them out of the oven, unwrapped them and brushed BBQ sauce on both sides of the racks. At this point they are fully cooked, but I wanted to put them on the grill so they would have the smoked flavor. I put the racks, unwrapped, on the grill on low heat and kept turning them until the sauce started to char a little on both sides. This probably took ten to fifteen minutes, and they were ready to serve.

I think they turned out juicier and more tender doing them this way instead of strictly on the grill so you may want to try them this way.

Something else I tried for the party was making biscuits. I have never tried to make biscuits, probably because my mother has always said she couldn’t make good biscuits. She is a good cook so I have always figured if she can’t cook something there is no reason for me to try.

Well in this month’s Food & Wine magazine our friends at Cruze Farm Dairy are featured and Colleen Cruze showed her biscuit recipe. They looked and sounded good in the magazine so I wanted to try to make them. Something didn’t go just right because I ended up making a big pile of goo. I kept trying to add flour to help roll the dough out but knew that wasn’t going to work. I ended up just using my hands, grabbing a wad of the goo and putting it in the pan. Surprisingly, they turned out great, especially when we add Carnathan’s local honey on them. I just left the mess on the counter while we ate which was probably a mistake. Later, after everyone left, I saw Erica over there trying to chisel the dried up goo off the countertops. Luckily I own a paint scraper.

I am going to try them again when I don’t have so many to feed and if you would like to try them, here is the recipe.

I would also try to pick up this month’s Food & Wine magazine. There are a lot of great farm to table recipes in there.

Have a great week!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

Click here to view past blogs

Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

Grocery Life August 21, 2014

Posted on August 21, 2014 by pwpadmin

Grocery Life August 21, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from Butler and Bailey Market. I hope everyone is having a good week. After some strong storms yesterday, the weather so far today has been beautiful.

It has been business as usual at the store this week. I think everyone is starting to acclimate to the start of the school year, and we are adjusting to the changing traffic patterns of our customers due to the school schedule.

This time of year we always have a lot of turnover with our part-time employees. Several of them that worked this summer have gone back to college, started a fall sport, or have too many other school activities to work. We are in the process of replacing them so you will probably start seeing some new faces when you are in the store.

Speaking of employees, Scott, one of the butchers in the meat department got married yesterday. Scott has been with us for several years and he married Heather, who worked here up until about two years ago. The wedding was last night at seven and it was outdoors on a farm in Rockford. I thought there was zero chance of getting through the wedding without getting stormed on, but we all stayed dry. Thank goodness the reception was inside because right after the ceremony it poured down the rain.

It was a really pretty wedding in a beautiful setting, complete with horse drawn carriages.

What made it special to me was seeing so many present and past employees in the wedding party. Three of Scott’s groomsmen were Ashley, Rick, and Alex who work in our meat department and two of Heather’s bridesmaids had worked with us in the past.

I sat and watched with pride at all the relationships that started right here in the store. Obviously, Scott’s and Heather’s turned into marriage but some of their most valued friendships also started here as well. We are a pretty tightly knit group of people here at the store and I hope that reflects in the way we build relationships with our customers. I wish the best for Scott and Heather and look forward to another one of the store romances turning into a wedding.

Getting back to store business, I hope all of you are taking advantage of the locally grown products we have in produce. We are still getting a good variety of things right now but as the seasons start to change, they will no longer be available. Our peach man told us South Carolina peaches will only last a couple of more weeks and I would say the beans and okra will be ending soon after that.

I saw Doug Carnathan the other night. He is a local beekeeper that supplies us with honey. He told me his supplies are still good. We have sold a lot of his honey so I hope his bees continue to keep up.

Our leafy greens from Ecorich Farms in Greenback are really selling well. They are grown aquaponically indoors so supplies should remain good all year. They are growing some kale greens for us that aren’t quite ready yet. Since I eat kale every day, I am looking forward to getting theirs. All of their products are great and I bet their kale will be also.

Erica and I were at a couple of social events this last week and on more than one occasion when we were introduced to people they said “you all are the ones with the Kurobuta pork chops, we love those!” I am not sure Erica wants her identity to be attached to a pork chop, but it just goes with the territory when you are married to a grocery man. She loves those pork chops too so I don’t think it should bother her.

The farmer’s market is still every Friday at Lakeshore Park. I hope all of you are taking advantage of this. I have gone a few times and all of the growers seem really nice and have great looking product. I always see some of our customers when I am over there. They look surprised to see me. I am usually not there to shop; I am there to recruit growers for the store. We have found some great local producers this way and are always looking for more.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

Click here to view past blogs

Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

Grocery Life August 18, 2014

Posted on August 18, 2014 by pwpadmin

September 2014 Cooking Classes

Grocery Life August 18, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good morning from Butler and Bailey Market. I hope everyone had a good weekend! Our website was down towards the end of last week so we couldn’t get the blog up on Friday. We also had September’s cooking class schedule to load but could not. We finally have all the problems resolved so the cooking class schedule is now up as well as our new two week ad which started yesterday. You can find both of those by clicking on these links.

Weekly Ad August 17, 2014 through August 30, 2014

We finished up our beef tenderloin sale to benefit Hugo and Garrett this weekend. We ended up selling 1,026 pounds of it. I had no idea how this would go but am thrilled that we topped 1,000 pounds! I sure appreciate the support all of you gave this fundraiser! Both Garrett and Hugo are going to get a check for $513 because of the generosity of this community!

Some of you have asked me how you can donate to these boys directly. Hugo has a link on his Facebook page where you can do this. Garrett’s Facebook page is not set up to do this, but you can email me and I will give you the address where you can send a check.

I have been enjoying the cooler, dryer weather we have been having the last few days. The mornings have been so nice I have actually gone on a few runs before work. I am not a good runner but try to do a little of it to stay in shape. My neighborhood is full of hills so I don’t have to run very far before I feel like I have done enough, turnaround, and run back home. I guess if we lived on flat land I would have to come up with a different excuse to not run very far.

I always listen to music when I run. It seems to make the time pass quicker and takes my mind off of my aching body parts. This week I have been listening to the music my friends and I listened to in high school. My thirty year class reunion was last weekend and at every event the music of the seventies and eighties was playing. It was good to hear some of those old songs. It seems like every song that was played reminded my friends and I of something that happened in high school.

In those days my friends and I listened to bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Allman Brothers Band, Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Hank Williams Jr. If we thought girls were going to be around, we would always have James Taylor and Journey albums ready. We always thought the quickest way to a girl’s heart was playing James Taylor or Journey records. I am not sure it ever worked but it wasn’t for a lack of trying on our part.

I did see the girl I took to prom at the reunion the other night. She liked Journey but I don’t think that’s why she went to prom with me. I think she was afraid this real nerdy guy was going to ask her to go so I guess she agreed to go with me so she could give him a reason for saying no. That’s kind of how things worked in high school. Most decisions were made because of peer pressure or because we didn’t want to be associated with “uncool” people.

Prom night was quite the experience for me. It all started out fine. I rented a tux, borrowed one of my parent’s cars, and even got a haircut. I was all dressed up and ready to go on time but one of my friends was taking my next door neighbor to prom. When he came to pick her up, we all had to go out in the yard to get our pictures made in our fancy clothes. This made me a little late leaving to pick up my date so I ran inside, got the corsage my mother had picked up for me out of the refrigerator, and took off to pick her up.

All the way there I was a nervous wreck. I was running late, I didn’t really know her parents and how they would react to me and the whole thing was just too formal to begin with.

corsage in clear box — Now they put corsages in clear containers

Well I get there, grab the corsage, and head to her door. When she opens the door, they were all three standing there. I apologized for being late and told her we needed to get going to make our dinner reservation. Her parents wanted to take some pictures of me presenting the corsage so they got the cameras ready and I open the little white box to get the corsage out. When I look in, the box is full of chicken salad not a corsage. I thought for a moment of how I was going to get out of this, meanwhile my face was turning five shades of red. I figured I had two options, hope for the rapture or present her the chicken salad. Well the rapture didn’t happen so I said, “Here’s your chicken salad.” I think they all thought it was a joke and gave a nervous laugh but then realized it wasn’t when I was having trouble breathing. Once I gathered myself, I told my date we would have to run back to my house and get the corsage and everything would be okay so we took a few pictures and headed back to my house. I am sure her parents were really impressed with me.

disappointed-parents — We’re letting our daughter go with him?

Upon arriving at my house, I went storming in muttering a lot of choice words, my mother asked why I was back and what was wrong. When I told her what had happened she couldn’t help but laugh. It turns out when she picked up my corsage; she had also stopped by Ham ‘n Goodys and bought some chicken salad. Both of them were put in white boxes and I had grabbed the wrong one out of the refrigerator in my haste. Before I even got out of the house with the right white box my mom was on the phone calling all her friends to tell them what to her was a funny story but to me a nightmare.

The rest of the evening went much better but for the longest time I was known as “The chicken salad kid” around all of my parents’ friends as well as my own.

Well we have several varieties of chicken salad we make from scratch here in the store. They all sell really well so if you haven’t tried any of them, you might want to. We always pack it in clear containers. As a matter of fact, everything we make is packaged in clear containers. To this day whenever I see a white box, I get queasy and start to sweat so we will always use clear containers.

If you want something in a white box, you will have to go to Ham ‘n Goodys.

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

Click here to view past blogs

Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

Click here for Guardians for Garrett page

Grocery Life August 11, 2014

Posted on August 11, 2014 by pwpadmin

2 Comments

Grocery Life August 11, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from Butler and Bailey Market. I hope everyone had a good weekend. We had a busy weekend here at the store. Business has been good this summer for us and I have talked to several other business owners who have said the same about their businesses. It seems none of us can ever pinpoint exactly why business gets good or for that matter business gets bad. If you asked ten of us you would probably get ten different answers. We would all agree that good business makes it a lot more fun to go to work.

I had a busy weekend outside of work. My thirty year high school reunion was this weekend. Wow, that was a fast thirty years. We had an event Friday night and another one on Saturday night. All of my close friends from high school spent Saturday afternoon together reliving and retelling events from our high school days. Based on our behavior Saturday, we have not matured much since 1984. Thankfully, we all have wives that have continued to mature and be responsible over the last thirty years.

Erica did not get to join us Saturday afternoon. She and the kids helped out at a dodge ball tournament to benefit Guardians for Garrett.

garrett dodgeball picture — Garrett with his dodge ball trophy

Garrett is a five year old boy who was diagnosed with Sanfilippo Syndrome type A (MPS III) last January. MPS III is a rare disease that attacks the body both physically and neurologically. Presently there is no cure for it and life expectancy for a child with the disease is usually between ten and twenty years. I have known Garrett since he was born. He is my nephew. He is the son of Erica’s brother. Garrett has really had a tough go of it since birth. While he was just diagnosed this year, the symptoms started showing up much earlier in his life. He has seen more doctors and had more surgeries than most of us will in a lifetime, but he still wakes up every morning happy and eager to do all the things that five year old boys do. As the disease progresses, this will become harder and harder, but he has two loving parents and a big sister to help him with his journey as well as a big network of friends and family.

I have another little friend who is going through a tough time. His name is Hugo. He is the son of Chris and Marianne Canada. I take guitar lessons from Chris at his home so that is how I have gotten to know Hugo.

Hugo is a one year old boy who was just diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Since his diagnosis, he has been receiving care at both East TN Children’s Hospital as well as in Cincinnati. His treatments have had some positive results, but Hugo has a tough battle ahead. We all know how difficult cancer is to treat and how hard the treatments themselves are on the body of an adult much less a one year old.

Hugo also has a big sister, two loving parents and a huge network of friends to be beside him on his tough journey.

Here are some links to Garrett’s and Hugo’s facebook pages if you would like to learn more about their journeys and the diseases that they are battling.

Click here for Go Hugo page

They have also have both been featured on WBIR.

Click here for Garrett’s story

Click here for Hugo’s story

Both of these boys have been in my thoughts and prayers, especially recently. Yesterday at work, I decided I wanted to try to help them financially also. I know their parents have had to put their jobs on hold while they tend to these special little boys so I am sure they could use the help.

Starting tomorrow, Tuesday, August 12, 2014 through Saturday, August 16, 2014 whole beef tenderloin will be on sale for $10.99 a pound. For every pound we sell in the next five days the store is going to donate a dollar to be split between the Guardians for Garrett fund and the Go Hugo fund.

I hope you will come in this week and buy a tenderloin to help out Hugo and Garrett and if you have a prayer list, I hope you will add them to it. They are two special little boys that are inspiring all of us that know them with their strong and positive spirit. Go Hugo and Go Garrett!!!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

Click here to view past blogs

Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

(865)691-8881

Grocery Life August 7, 2014

Posted on August 7, 2014 by pwpadmin

Grocery Life August 7, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from butler and bailey market. I hope everyone is having a good week. I am way behind on the blog because I have been on “holiday”. Our friends from London, England are in the states for a few weeks and wanted us to go on holiday with them. The timing wasn’t that good for us since I have a job and the kids are getting ready to start back to school, but we did manage to get away for a long weekend.

I would never think of calling a vacation “going on holiday” but apparently that is how the English refer to it. It makes me wonder how they refer to actual holidays. Maybe they call them proper holidays instead of just holidays. They seem to like to use the word “proper” a lot. It turns out I am not very proper in the eyes of the British. I think maybe they are just overly proper at least in the eyes of an East Tennessean.

Having us all together is certainly an interesting combination. Even though we speak the same language, we use a totally different vocabulary with a totally different accent. I guess since the English invented the language they use it a lot more properly than we do. I have already noticed my children starting to speak with a British accent. They will be properly cultured now and our friend’s daughter might have a little twang in her accent when she returns to England. My contribution to showing them southern culture was convincing them that you eat barbecued ribs with your hands instead of with a knife and fork. I should make them a list of all the things it is okay to eat with your hands like fried chicken, corn on the cob, French fries or an apple.

We had a lovely time with our friends on holiday. Lovely is another word they use a lot. Maybe we will be able to go on holiday with them in England sometime. Erica has always wanted to go to Wimbledon and I wouldn’t mind playing a little golf over there. I would also like to circle around Big Ben in a car with my children and say, “look kids it’s Big Ben”.

I am glad to be back to work. This is an exciting time for us at the store. School is starting, football season will begin, the weather will cool, and the holidays are just around the corner.

We will have a lot more offerings this fall compared to last year, mostly in the prepared foods category. The addition of fried chicken, all the smoked meats, and many new salads and cheeses will be great for tailgating and holiday parties.

Our annual holiday open house will be in November. This is when we prepare lots of holiday dishes, using our favorite recipes and sample them out. We have never really advertised our open house but through word of mouth it has grown into a really big event.

Last but not least the first annual Rocky Hill Christmas Parade will be December 6th. The organizers of this are doing a great job of putting it together. I can’t believe how big of an event this is going to be. We have another meeting next week about the parade so I will have more details to pass along to you soon.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

Click here to view past blogs

Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

(865)691-8881

Grocery Life August 1, 2014

Posted on August 1, 2014 by pwpadmin

knoxville skyline mike berry — Knoxville Skyline by Mike Berry

Grocery Life August 1, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from Butler and Bailey Market. What a great week of weather we are having! Between the cooler weather and school getting ready to start, it seems like summer is over. Well it is going to get hot again and we still have the whole month of August to go. I think I liked it better when school started the day after Labor Day and ended the first week of June. The way it is now seems to keep my internal seasonal clock messed up.

I saw Joe Parrott in the store a couple of weeks ago. I have known Joe for many years and his son worked for us while he was in high school. My dad always thought Joe was a great painter and I actually bought one of his paintings several years ago because it reminded me of the houses on Baxter Avenue where my grandparents lived and my mother grew up.

At that time, Joe just painted as a hobby but now he is doing it full-time. When he was in the store I asked him how the painting was going and he said I should come down to his house and see what he was working on. I finally got to pay him a visit Wednesday. Not only did I get to see hundreds of his paintings, but also a bunch of his woodworking projects. He is a heck of a woodworker also. One of my hobbies is woodworking so I always enjoy seeing other people’s creations. After seeing his stuff, I should probably give it up.

Joe had several paintings that I am hoping to get. They are all of local landmarks including one of Duncan’s Boat Dock.

duncan-boat-dock-series-6 — Duncan Boat Dock Series #6 by Joe Parrott

I figured I better take Erica back with me before I started bringing paintings home without her approval. So we will go back soon.

gay-street-at-summit-hill joe parrott — Gay Street at Summit Hill by Joe Parrott

If you would like to see some of his work, you can go on his website, click here, or to The District Gallery over in Bearden.

Another artist that lives right here in Rocky Hill is Mike Berry. You probably see his work about everyday because Pilot commissioned him to do their billboards around the area.

6_pilot50th mike berry — Pilot 50th Anniversary by Mike Berry

I know Mike from here at the store and our children went to the same daycare so I would see him at drop-off and pick-up there. He also was at the same local art shows my dad showed his work in. Mike has a very unique painting style and his paintings are very vibrant. I love the way he interprets local streetscapes and landmarks.

6_strechioil mike berry — Sterchi Lofts by Mike Berry

Mike did a painting of Northshore Drive with our shopping center sign in it that I was going to buy, but one of my old Rocky Hill friends got it before I could. Erica knew I was bummed that I didn’t get it so she secretly commissioned Mike to do a painting of the storefront and gave it me for my birthday one year.

Butler and Bailey Storefront by Mike Berry

If you would like to see more of Mike’s art you can click here to visit his website.

Both of these artists have become really successful at their crafts and their works are in galleries throughout the southeast. I am proud to have some of their works hanging in my home. I love having the art of people from right here in our community that I have become friends with. One of the great things about my job is I get to meet so many talented people that live in Rocky Hill and find out about the unique things that they do.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

Click here to view past blogs

Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

(865)691-8881

Grocery Life July 28, 2014

Posted on July 28, 2014 by pwpadmin

Grocery Life July 28, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from Butler and Bailey Market. I hope everyone got through the storms alright last night. It was a little scary here as well as at the house.

Keith was in charge at the store last night. It is always a tense situation at the store when storms are coming through. We always try to keep the store open but we also have to consider the safety of the employees and customers. Thankfully the power stayed on here throughout the storms which makes it a little easier but they still ended up taking cover back in our storage area during the worst part of the storm. Once the storm passed, it was back to business. They did close a little early to get home before the next wave came through.

I was at home last night. Our friends, Joseph and Kathryn, came over for dinner and Erica and I were really looking forward to spending some time with them as well as eating a great meal.

Joseph is a pretty good cook. Erica and I were in charge of the flank steak and rice and Joseph was going to do everything else. I was going to document how everything was prepared so I could put it in the blog but about ten minutes after we started cooking the power went out. The rest of the meal was prepared by lantern and flashlight under tornado warnings so my plan to get Joseph’s recipes as well as how to prepare them will have to wait.

To be honest, I am not really sure what all we ate since it was so dark. I do know we had mushrooms he had found in the woods up at Blackberry as well as a lot of other vegetables from the gardens up there.

I think we finally sat down to eat about nine-thirty or ten when the storms had calmed down. It was a delicious meal so I will have to find out what we ate. After dinner we sat around telling grocery store stories from the days when Joseph worked here so they didn’t leave until about midnight. Well they were gone about five minutes before they were back. Trees were down across the road out of our neighborhood so they couldn’t get out. Kathryn needed to be at work early the next morning so Joseph and I loaded up the chainsaw and headed out to clear a path with another storm cell bearing down on us. We managed to cut away enough to fit a car through and headed back to the house. They loaded up and left again hoping to beat the next storm home. Erica and I went to bed and waited to hear that they made it okay. They did and then the next storm hit.

It was a fun but scary night but I told Erica if it had been our last meal at least it was prepared by the chef at Blackberry Farm.

Our power was still out when I came to work this morning but I am thankful that’s all that happened at our house. I am sure others were not as fortunate.

I hope everyone has a great week it looks like the weather is going to be a lot better.

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler

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Butler and Bailey Market

7513 Northshore Dr.

Knoxville, TN 37919

(865)691-8881

Grocery Life July 25, 2014

Posted on July 25, 2014 by pwpadmin

Grocery Life July 25, 2014

By Tom Butler

Good morning from Butler and Bailey Market. I hope everyone is having a good week. My family and I got back from Montana late Wednesday night, so it’s back to the real world. This was our kids’ first visit to Montana so Erica and I were a little apprehensive about how they would like it. I think it took them a day or two to realize it’s not like going to Disney World, but once they did, they seemed to really enjoy it.

Lauren says her favorite thing about the trip was riding horses. I don’t really like riding horses especially for four hours straight. My body apparently is not designed for a horse. I am still sore from the waist down.

Another concern for me was how Tyson would do on a horse. Anytime he rides on anything that moves he will fall asleep. This is nice on long car or airplane trips, but when riding on trails with steep drops off either side it was kind of scary. Every time we got in that situation, I would start asking him questions to make sure he stayed awake. I think our guide was concerned also because he kept telling Tyson, “no siesta, no siesta.” Well Tyson managed to stay on his horse as did the rest of us and we saw some beautiful scenery along the way.

Tyson’s favorite thing was the zip-line/ropes course. We had no intention of doing this, but when we were leaving Yellowstone Park, Tyson spotted it from the car window. I was tired from two days of driving around Yellowstone but since Lauren got to pick horseback riding, we figured it was only fair to let Tyson pick an activity. This is another thing my body is not designed to do. I don’t mind the climbing and zip lining; it’s just the harness you have to wear to do this. It wraps around your waist and between your legs in these crisscross patterns and then is cinched tight.

I think the lady that fitted mine must have just come out of a bad relationship with a guy. She cinched mine really tight and when she asked me how it felt I told her it hurt. She just smiled and said that’s perfect. When she wasn’t looking, I loosened them enough to where I didn’t talk in a high pitched voice and climbed and zipped with the kids for the rest of the afternoon.

Erica’s favorite thing in Montana is Jim Allison, our fishing guide. I often accuse her of loving him more than she does me and she has never denied it? The way I figure it as long as she loves the fishing guide, the more I get to go fishing in Montana. Marriage is all about compromise.

It was great to spend the week with my family in Montana. The kids got to do and see a lot of things that only Montana and Yellowstone have to offer. If you ever get the chance to go, I would. It’s a special place.

Well back to business. The store did fine while we were gone. It always does. Sometimes I think it runs better when I am gone. Business was good and has been good all summer. I hope that continues. All the new things we have started offering seem to be really taking off. The fried chicken is really doing well and also all of the meats we are doing on the smoker. The South Carolina peach quality is improving every week and the new line of fresh local leafy greens we are getting from Eco-Rich Farms are really selling well.

The August cooking class schedule is out and several of the classes are already full. You can find the schedule on our website if you would like to look at the dates and menus of the classes.

Beef prices continue to go up. Usually in the summer months they trend down, but they continue to increase this year. This is a bad sign for the fall and holiday season. They have always trended up in the fall months, so there is no telling how high they will go. I have noticed several of our competitors are starting to promote lower grades of meat trying to combat the high prices. We are going to stick with the same grades and quality we have always used. In the short run sales may slow down, but in the long run quality and consistency always wins out.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,

Tom Butler