Update

Well I bet you have wondered where I have been? Well...I severely sprained my ankle. I have basically been hobbling around, not driving because it is my right foot. So no shopping or cooking really, basically home bound. Good thing I work from home most of the time anyway. But I am on the mend. Using only one crutch and no crutch when there are cabinets I can brace myself on. I can carry stuff too! With the one crutch I can get myself a drink or make myself something to eat. It is the little things that make me excited. I can't carry the pug but I can let her out, feed her and get her water.

I am getting a lot of love from the pug. 

Evident by the pug fur on my ankle brace and everything else around here. 

I can't wait to vacuum. Boy I never thought I would say that ever. 

Did I say that?

Something amazing has happened while I have been missing. Though I have not been able to cook or blog. The traffic on the blog started to sky rocket. The post on Masonables became crazy popular! First on Pinterest and then on Facebook. I am humbled and excited about all this. Thanks to any and everyone who has visited that post and shared on their social media. I really appreciate it! While I started blogging to just pass on family recipes and recipes I never wanted to forget; I really enjoy helping others enjoy food and cooking. The shares and comments I have read really have made me feel like I can help. It just spurs me on to keep cooking and sharing.

Before my injury, I was testing more ideas for those mason jars and fruit cups. It is so frustrating that I can not get around well. I so want to get the new stuff made, photographed and posted. So please be patient and come back in the future for more #Masonable or Fruit Cup + Mason Jar ideas. I have a lot of ideas running around in my head. 

Another post to come is about my love of Baked Eggs. I was a little obsessed before my injury. I was making a new variation every morning. I will post them just as soon as I can. Until then I just want to thank everyone who visits my little blog. I appreciate your time and all the times you share my posts with others.

Have a Safe and Happy Fourth of July!

Snow Feb. 25, 2015

We seldom see snow here in North Louisiana. But it sure arrived today. Ice Monday, re-freeze Tuesday and snow Wednesday. As I type this the snow is melting from the trees. It will be gone as soon as it arrived.

 

Virginia is Beautiful!

Hello everyone! I haven't stopped blogging. I have been busy traveling. So now it is time to catch you up. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We observed most of our Thanksgiving traditions except for the Turkey Gumbo on Saturday. This year the turkey carcass and the leftover turkey went in the freezer. Instead I went on a wonderful trip with my "favorite person in the world". We left for Virginia the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Destination Massanutten Resort located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. We arrived in Charlottesville as the sun was going down. We shopped for a few necessities and drove in the dark to the resort. It was a winding, twisted, snow dusted drive through the woods and up the mountain. It wasn't until morning that we could see where we would call home for the week. It was so beautiful! Just look at our view from our balcony.

We planned a lot of day trips ending up here every night. I would totally recommend this method of vacationing. We had so much fun and really enjoyed going back to our "home away from home" each night. We went to the Walton's Museum in Schuyler first. I picked up a cookbook of the real Mary Ellen's recipes as a souvenir.

The next day we went to Luray Caverns, a Antique Car and Carriage Museum and then drove south along Skyline Drive back to the resort. One of the nicest caverns I have ever visited. Just beautiful as was the drive along the top of the mountain range. Beautiful!

Mirror Lake only 18" deep

Day three was a freezing rain day so we did not drive to far from the resort. We went to Elkton and had an amazing lobster roll and lobster chowder at Lobsta Rollin'. Might have been the best lobster I have had. Delicious!

The next day we went to a cooking demonstration on the resort. We had a wonderful meal of Duck breast and Autumn Squash, NY Strip with a Green Peppercorn Sauce and Bananas Foster. The instructors demonstrated the technique first then served us each course. The take away I LOVE pan sauces made with heavy cream. After filling our bellies we rolled to the car and went to a Brethren Mennonite Heritage Museum.

The kitchen in the Mennonite home

Day five we drove to Washington DC. We took the metro in and tried to see as much as we could in a day. Turns out that is not much. Our old bodies don't move that fast. We went to the Natural History Museum, the National Archives, the National Mall, and the Capital Building. We were actually there the day they were to light the National Christmas Tree. We did not get to attend that event. You have to get the tickets by lottery in advance.

The first thing we saw at the Natural History Museum

That night we drove to Fort Meade, Maryland to stay the night then on to tour the base and a stop in Baltimore for a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives pick before returning to the resort. Jimmy's Famous Seafood was definitely not a dive. It was a nice restaurant. We had an oyster sampler, shrimp bisque and sandwiches featuring their crab cakes. I really enjoyed the oyster sampler. I have never had the opportunity to taste two different oysters side by side. You really can taste a huge difference. The blue point oysters taste briny like the sea. YUM! The Chesapeake oysters were more meaty or oyster tasting. 

Our last day we left the resort and went back to Charlottesville were we saw Monticello, had Midday Fare at the Ordinary at Michie Tavern and a drive by of the University of Virginia. I loved this day. I loved touring Monticello. I had studied it at least twice in school and it was so special to me to finally be there. We both loved our meal at the Ordinary. Great fried chicken, gravy, soup and other colonial fare. I bought another cookbook there as a souvenir. I can't wait to try the recipes. I think I will try the vegetable soup first.

This was an amazing trip. I would go back to Virginia any time. It may have been the first place I could see myself moving to for an extended stay. So beautiful! I recommend you plan a trip there as soon as you can. You will not regret it.

Hayride Bean Soup

from FB page Remember in
Shreveport when...  

I was very young when I first heard about the Louisiana Hayride. I never had the opportunity to see or attend a performance at Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium. I did however frequent the Hayride Kitchen in Bossier City, Louisiana. In fact I thought that was the Hayride. We would go there for dinner and I would see the stage and the sign. That is what the Louisiana Hayride was to me. It was Hayride Kitchen, the restaurant where music played as you ate bean soup served in tiny cast iron kettles, BBQ (I remembered fried fish but the family said BBQ) and drank iced tea in mason jars.


It wasn't until I was in high school that I started to understand the amazing history of both the Louisiana Hayride and the Municipal Auditorium. In high school we learned the auditorium was built in the 1920s, and the architect who designed it was Samuel Weiner. It is admired for its intricate brickwork and as a fine example of Art Deco construction. It is significant for hosting the Louisiana Hayride radio program, from 1948 to 1960. It has been said, that the Hayride is where artists such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, performed and possibly got their careers started. When the Hayride left the municipal, it was later broadcast and kept alive at the Hayride Kitchen until 1987. The municipal remained open all that time as a event venue. As a high school graduate, I like every senior in Caddo schools walked the Municipal's stage to receive my diploma. Still at that age I did not fully understand the importance of this auditorium. 

It wasn't until I got the opportunity to work on the renovations there that it started to sink in. Recently I worked with a team of architects who helped to preserve this fine old building. I got to walk the halls, dressing rooms, basement (not all of it, the basement is one of the haunted areas) and stage. The same areas all those stars began their careers. The halls are lined with photos of all the performers that performed there. There are little closets that have been turned into exhibits showing what it was like in those hay days. 

My little part of the renovations was helping to select new seating to replace some old 60s seating that had seen better times. We choice something that looked more like it had been there from the very beginning. There are still two sections left that are the original wood seats and backs. The municipal staff did an excellent job of restoring these areas with all the original components available. This was one of those jobs or projects that I will always remember. It was an honor to work on a little part of history.

Old 60s Seating

New

Original

Well I kind of got side tracked didn't I? This post was suppose to be about the Bean Soup recipe from Hayride Kitchen. But I had to tell you about the history of the Hayride and the name sake of the soup, right? Anyway, if you want to know more about the Municipal Auditorium and the Louisiana Hayride check out these great links.

Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium

Louisiana Hayride

Ghost Hunters visit Municipal Auditorium

Back to the soup. I really have no way to know for sure if this is the actually soup recipe. I got the recipe a few years ago from a Facebook page Remember in Shreveport when... Since then I have seen other recipes using cans of beans and even soup that claim to be the Hayride recipe. So don't hold me to it. I am more of a foodie and not a historian. I can tell you this soup was delicious. It did bring back great memories of the restaurant. It made me want to go buy some little iron soup kettles. I did make a double recipe and substituted some low sodium ingredients so I could share it with the entire family. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. The only thing I might add next time is a bay leaf. I just love bay in beans. Oh and I really really want those little iron kettles! It just made this soup special as a child. Thanks for letting me ramble on. I hope you enjoy this soup and the history.

Hayride Bean Soup

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients

2 pound Navy Beans

1 package low sodium bacon, chopped

2 onions, chopped

4 ribs celery, chopped

2 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning

4 tablespoon parsley

Directions

Rinse and sort beans. Cover with 12 cups of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat and let stand, covered for 1 hour.

Return beans to a boil and reduce to a simmer; cook beans until tender. Sauté bacon until brown, remove bacon and add to the pot. Remove all but one or two tablespoons of bacon fat. Saute onions, garlic and celery in bacon fat. When veggies begin to soften add to beans. Add more water at this time to desired soup constancy (I added about 5 cups). Cook 2 more hours. Add other ingredients and cook another 20 minutes, then take 1 cup of beans out, mash and return to pot. Cook 10 minutes longer.

Here is the recipe as copied from Facebook:

There is something about the colors in these photos 

that reminds me of my Maw Maw (Dad's Mom). 

Specifically her kitchen or maybe her coffee cups? 

That has nothing to do with this recipe but I just had to share.

Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Love Bakes Good Cakes: The Ultimate Soup Recipe List Linky
Memories By The Mile: Treasure Box Tuesday
Stone Cottage Adventures: Tuesdays with a Twist

Saturday Shopping

This Saturday my friend D and I went out to Ed Lester Farms. She had never been and there is only one more week to enjoy the experience. I walked away with more tomatoes, both ripe and green. A few more peaches which I promptly turned into Peach Buttermilk Sherbet (but that is for a future post). I also bought some yellow squash. D got peaches, blueberries and a watermelon. I am going to miss my trips out there.

Photo from Spice & All Facebook page

Our second stop was Spice & All a relatively new Mediterranean grocery store in Shreveport, LA. I had a blast looking around. I replenished some of my Hummus supplies. I got some great tahini and dried chickpeas. I bought some almonds I plan to turn into almond butter one day. They had fenegreek seeds too. I can't tell you how hard that is to find around here. Now I can make more Curry Powder. I also found rose water for a Greek iced tea recipe I love. I found Maggi Seasoning too! I need this for a Slow-Cooker Braised Brisket (Machaca) recipe I want to try. But the best find of them all was paneer and halloumi. I have never seen these items in the average grocery store. I can't wait to cook with them. This store has so many hard to find items and so much more. The owner told us he will be starting cooking classes soon. I look forward to many more visits in the future.

D and I said goodbye at Spice & All and for some reason my car just drove me straight to Bao Bao the Asian grocery store. Here I found Furikake which is an amazing rice seasoning. I got two flavors. Nori Komi Furikake is just sesame seed, nori, sugar and salt. The second one, Seto Fumi Furikake has bonito flakes, sesame seed, nori, sugar and salt. I open it and it is delicious. I can't wait to use it on a California Roll Salad. I bought some kombu and bonito flakes so I can try making dashi and miso soup. I got more annato seeds so I can make more Sazon. Finally I bought a shredding vegetable peeler. I foresee some fancy shredded veggies in future recipes. Saturday shopping was a lot of fun.

Benton Farmer's Market

Sunday my friend and I went to Benton, LA for their farmer's market. We were still having slightly cooler days, so it was a great day to be out and about. This was both our first time at this market. We made one mistake, we had lunch before we went. This market had many food vendors and lots of samples being offered at every turn. Next time we go hungry. There were some tamales I need to try. This market has a little bit of everything, food, produce, baked goods, preserved items, a demonstration or two. My favorite was the young boy who brought his club shaped gourds to sell. He told us that the native Americans would dry them, cut off a portion of the round bulb of the gourd and make a drinking cup to hang by their water source. Very cute, smart young man.

We walked away with some bread-n-butter pickles, 2 fruit breads, squash, onions, heirloom cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. 

But my friend found the most amazing find of the day, Almond Toffee Butter! It is so amazing! I mean I have had commercial almond butter you purchase at the store, but it has nothing on this handmade butter from Hoover's Seasonal Produce. It is delicious! I love the crunchy texture. It is not to sweet, just perfect on toast. I enjoyed some this morning with my coffee. So good! Thanks D for the treat! What will we do when we run out? I guess we will go back right? The market is open Sunday only from 12:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and continues through Sunday, July 27, 2014. So don't miss out, only one left.

For more about Benton Farmer's Market check out their website here.

For your own Almond Butter and more about Hoover's Seasonal Produce 

go to their website here.

Ed Lester Farms

Saturday Mom, dear sister and I went to Ed Lester Farms in Coushatta, LA. Last year I discovered them on the very last day they were open for the summer. So this year I have been patiently waiting and watching their website for when their crops come in and they open. It was dear sister's first visit. She was so impressed. It is hard not to be. Everyone is so nice and helpful. It is such a beautiful setting under a huge old oak tree. Sister loved the music they play as you shop. They have benches and rockers to sit in if you need to rest. They really do everything they can to make your shopping with them comfortable. We bought more than we could handle, I think. Three kinds of green beans, pinto beans, leeks, new potatoes, turnips, beets, cabbage, creole onions, peaches, and cucumbers. Have a look at some of the photos I took with dear sister's phone and check back later for what I did with all the great produce.

See these posts for more about Ed Lester Farms 

and recipes to use all those beautiful veggies.

First Trip to Ed Lester Farms and Green Tomato Gazpacho

Grilled Caponata Salad