Weekend Recap

Busy Weekend!

Friday night we had dinner with the neighbors. They shared delicious halibut they caught on their recent trip to Alaska. We also had mac and cheese and caesar salad, and I brought Cherry Pineapple Dump cake and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Saturday we loaded up the neighbor's truck with tailgating supplies and 6 of us headed to the K-State/Missouri game. We snagged a parking spot in view of the jumbo tron, set up the canopy and enjoyed the game from the comfort of our camp chairs with plates full of smoked brisket (oh yes, even the smoker came along), potato salad, spinach and cannellini bean dip, guacamole, taco bean dip, sugar cookies shaped like footballs and Powercat heads, chocolate chip cookies and smores bars.

This was my second tailgating experience ever with last week's catered meal at Walt's company's tent being my first, and I must say I'm hooked. There is something so festive about sitting under the tent watching footballs flying through the air and seeing so many people out enjoying themselves. I am quite enjoying K-State's signature purple. It makes this girl happy to see the parking lots, people, vehicles and everything else you can imagine blanketed in such a lovely color as purple.


Stadium, jumbo tron and lots of purple visible in background!

Sunday Walt went fishing with a neighbor (can you tell that we landed in a great neighborhood with fun people?), and I used the morning to relax with some tv. In the afternoon I walked the 2.6 miles to Radina's in Aggieville for a fancy coffee drink. Only when I got there I was so hot and thirsty that I couldn't stomach the idea of a coffee drink, but water and a raspberry lemonade granita sounded just right. I pondered the idea of walking 2 miles any time I feel the need for a treat; this could be the beginning of a great workout plan. Walt picked me up on the way home for a total of 4.86 miles walked.

We rounded out the day and the weekend with a couple German beers with the neighbors to start our Oktoberfest mini tour at Old Chicago and pizza and pepperoni rolls from Hy-Vee's Italian Express.

Adventures of a goat wrangler or my life in crime: Part 1

(Photo credit: chromatophobe on flickr)

I feel a need to share some of the situations in which I've found myself during the course of my life. Maybe I need to clear my conscience. Mainly I hope to make you laugh. In any case here we begin one of those stories.

Hubs and I had been involved with a community organization that helps animals (I'm leaving all names out to protect the innocent) for about 4 months when the group received word that, through an unfortunate turn of events, a herd of goats in a neighboring town found themselves with no caretakers. They had broken through their fence and periodically wandered around the neighborhood wreaking havoc, and I guess eating things that didn't belong to them. Our group was led to believe that the town would appreciate our help with the goats. We decided to see what we could do, and hubs actually located a family, we'll call them Dave and Leeane, with pasture land who would be glad to have a free herd of goats. We told the family where to find the goats; they borrowed a trailer and met one of our group members at the site one morning a day or so later (a Wednesday I believe and the day before Valentine's 2008) and between them got 14 of the 30 or so goats loaded up with the idea to drop them off and return for the rest of the herd. That's great! We were so excited to have helped so quickly!


Evidently when Dave returned later in the morning for the rest of the goats some person stopped to talk to him; the details of this are fuzzy, but whatever happened it kicked off a day full of more entertainment than strictly necessary. Just after lunch I received a call at work that there were policemen waiting for Dave and he was told if the 14 STOLEN (!!!) goats were not returned by 5 pm that day he would be LOCKED UP! I should stop here and say that I was highly suspicious of the lock-up story, but had no way to get to the bottom of things before the 5 pm deadline (I was at work for goodness' sake). Later I heard from a different source that some member of the police department lived down the road, noticed the trailer go by, and dropped by to inform Dave that these particular goats were wrapped up in a probate court case and could not legally be removed from the premises. Supposedly this guy was off duty and just informing Dave of the facts of the situation...which wasn't quite the SWAT team scenario I was first given, but who knows what really happened. In any case it turned out that our group had been misled as these goats had not actually been eligible for assistance. Antics ensue.


I felt strongly that hubs and I needed to help Dave and family get those first 14 goats returned since we were the reason they knew about the goats in the first place. Just shove the lot in the trailer one more time and dump them back in their field, right? Wrong. I guess Dave in his panicked state imprudently shared the story with the owner of the trailer who, fearing some sort of trouble for himself through indirect involvement, decided his trailer had best stay safe at home with him. Now needed: one trailer.


I have lived in small town South Carolina my whole life, so you might assume I know something about livestock. The sum total of my involvement with farm animals consists of driving past pastures containing horses and cows and goats (and maybe rolling down the window to moo at a cow every now and then. Don't lie, you've done it). I hope to own some goats and chickens one day, but at the moment the approximately 160 pounds of dogs running around my yard is as close as I get to the barn yard. I don't have a trailer, and I don't know anybody who has a trailer. I called any and everyone I could think of. I called our local farm supply store to ask if they knew of trailer rental places and was told "No..." in a tone that suggested the employee felt there was something wrong with my brain function. What was I thinking asking the farm store if they knew where to find some farm equipment?!?!

I was at the end of my ideas, so I called hubs (who had taken the day off work) and said, "I can't find a trailer anywhere; what are we going to do..." And my man came up with it: U-Haul. So simple, so unexpected, yet...it just might work! When he said that magic word all worry went out of my head. Hubs can do anything, so I knew once he settled on a plan our lock-up fears were over.


Crisis management team Hubs and Co. sprang into action. I called various members of our group to see if anyone could help us return the "stolen" property. I called Dave and Leeane to coordinate when we would arrive (hubs and I had to plan around the play practice we had immediately after work. We were Auntie Em and Uncle Henry in our community theater's production of The Wizard of Oz...we may not be farmers, but we play some on stage...God has a sense of humor, people). Hubs secured the truck. Yes, truck. 14 ft moving truck to be specific. I wondered if we could fit 14 goats in the truck...I felt royally stupid later when I saw the goats and realized that even though these were BIG goats we could have fit about 50 of them in there.

To be continued...

Hmmm

Saw this in a feed and seed store...

I live in small town South Carolina, so there's a lot of huntin' and farmin' that goes on around us, but I have never in my life seen a product like this, and it amused me greatly. "Wild BEAST Attractant"...have never heard that combination of words in my life. And I love that hogs can't resist "crushed berry and molasses flavors". Heck, berries and molasses sound pretty good to me. Hubs, please keep tabs on me next time we're tromping around the woods. If I start sniffing the air and running around scratching at the ground you'll know I'm looking for the "BEAST FEAST".

Good Eats

Before we rush headlong into the Christmas season after the turkey leftovers are put away in a couple days I have to share a delightful dinner Hubs and I had one fall evening at a great little place called Grits and Groceries.

First, take a look at this menu:
Starters:
Butternut Squash Soup
Stuffed Oysters
Roasted Pears with Prosciutto
Celery Root and Beet Salad

Main:
Pumpkin Muffins
Cornbread
Broccoli
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples
Stuffed Pork Loin
Beef Ribs

Dessert:
Pear Walnut Cake with whipped cream and caramel sauce


Welcome to Grits and Groceries, a little restaurant in the middle of NOWHERE. Seriously. And so worth the drive.

Oh, the memories...of food so ridiculously good. There's the celery root salad in the back on the left, the stuffed oysters in the back on the right and right up front there are some luscious roasted pears with some luscious prosciutto...luscious, I tell you.

Just one more look...

I went back for seconds on this soup, and that's a big deal because I was rationing myself big time so I'd have room for dessert. It sounded so simple, but it was so warm and fragrant and comforting...yummmmm

I think this was called something much more fun than "Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples", but I can't remember...all I remember is that it was GOOD. There are some raisins in there, too. So simple and lightly sweet.

The ribs, oh the ribs. I even skipped the pork loin because those ribs demanded my attention. They were lightly spicy and tangy and tender.

This is Tephanie! She waited on me the very first time I went to Grits and Groceries almost 2 years ago, so she is my favorite of all the great waitstaff. She's so sweet, doesn't meet a stranger and is not shy with the menu recommendations. (There is a bit of a funny shadow on the right side of her face because the sun was setting off the left side of the frame when I took this picture.)

And here is Six Chickens and A Beer "THE Upstate Band for Celtic, American, Honky-Tonk and Swing"! They were GREAT and added so much to the evening. The music was easy to listen, too and you couldn't help but tap your toes or bounce your leg or something. At some point during dinner I looked around at my sweet hubs, my plate full of delicious food, my ears full of music and was so glad to be alive.

You can listen to a little bit of the great music and see me chowing down in this video and this one, too (which is a little dark as the sun was almost gone).

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I am so grateful to Grits and Groceries for creating such a relaxing and inviting atmosphere. They don't just feed us full of yummy stuff; they make the soul feel nice.

Pink Saturday!

Happy Pink Saturday! This Saturday I am sharing some photos of the pink church you saw in some paintings I featured in a previous Pink Saturday post.

This is Trinity Episcopal Church in Abbeville, SC. This little church is 145 years old. It is open to visitors, so drop by if you are ever near Abbeville.

This is part of the archway over the front door.

You can see that the years have left their mark on the exterior. The pink is still there and going strong!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Pink Saturday!

I am so excited about today's pink stuff! I live in Abbeville, SC where there is a wonderful little place called Trinity Street Market & Gallery run by the dynamic duo of Kristin and Pat. They feature the work of over 30 regional artists, and there is always something new and inspiring to see each time I stop by.

They just finished a show with an artist who signs her works with the name Pink Earth; does it get any more Pink Saturday than that??

Kristin and Pat generously let me come in and take me take pictures of Pink Earth's (real name: Jeanette Ross) work to my heart's content; I told them I had some ladies who needed to see these paintings!

This is called Humble Beacon, and it shows part of Trinity Episcopal Church just down the street from the gallery. Yes, this 145 year old church is actually pink! It is not quite this bright; Jeanette uses a distinctive color palette in her works that is heavy on pinks, purples and aquas. I'll show you actual photographs of the church in an upcoming episode of Pink Saturday.

Here we see part of Trinity Street. That's the ice cream parlor on the right side with the aqua beams and banisters (best potato salad ever). The gallery is right across the street, but not shown in this painting. Don't you just love that pink church!

Just can't get enough...its beautiful inside, too.

The Rough House has been an Abbeville institution for over 75 years (back in the day, women weren't even allowed in here). They have a little dance floor called the Side Pocket and one Friday a month a DJ comes in to play beach music for all the shag dancers. We stop by their lunch counter so my husband can get his hotdog/moon pie/RC Cola fix every once in a while.

Even hot dog joints can benefit from a little pink.

Yummy pink bricks. The Rough House is actually not pink, but it's fun to pretend.

Here we see the Abbeville square and some excellent use of pink. I used to live in an apartment overlooking this square. If the square were actually pink, I don't think I ever would have moved.

One more view of the square; the building in the background is the courthouse where my husband and I got our marriage license.

Lovin' it, Jeanette.

More of our favorite color on the postcard advertising the show.

I hope you enjoyed the art! This only scratched the surface of the pink there is to be found throughout the Trinity Street Market & Gallery; hopefully I can go back and collect more pink specimens to share with you. Click here if you'd like to visit the gallery's site.

Happy Pink Saturday and thanks for dropping by!