Tennessee and some treats

James and I had one last "hurrah!" before school starts back up. We left early Thursday morning to meet up with his family in Wears Valley, TN (the same place as our honeymoon) and spent the weekend with them. For a first vacation with the in-laws, I'd say it was a success. We had a nice time eating at the "Birth place of Kentucky Fried Chicken," hiking in the Smoky Mountains (though beautiful, it is the national park with the worst air quality - mainly due to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville's traffic), caving at Tuckaleechee Cavern, a little shopping at a huge outlet mall, and grocery shopping at Jungle Jim's. Here are a couple pictures from our weekend trip.

Henwallow Falls and a handsome photographer

Tuchaleechee Caverns

Sunday's Dinner
Sourdough from Jungle Jim's, the first tomato from my garden,
and a tasty fruit (at the bottom).

Can anybody guess what fruit it is?
I'll even give you a second view.

Recipe for a great weekend (Almost perfect...)

This past weekend we went on our second camping trip of the summer and this time we were joined by some wonderful people - my family (minus two)! The weather was nice, the camp ground at Summit Lake was pleasant (except the bath houses left something to be desired), and the hiking was alright. We even enjoyed some canoeing on Lake Summit. For a small state park it was a nice experience. (Check out the sunset from the Sunset Shelter on the lake.)


Speaking of experiences, we definitely had a new one on Friday night - a large, ferocious thunderstorm during tent camping. While I certainly enjoy a good thunderstorm every now and then, this one was a bit close for comfort. I was certainly tempted to reenact the panic I experienced on a Smokey Mountain trail during a thunderstorm when I was around six. I remember yelling "We're all gonna die!!!!!" and truly believing it. Luckily we didn't, so we could experience this colossal one as well...minus the panicked yelling.

While camping was the highlight of the weekend, we did have an unfortunate surprise waiting for us at home. Our freezer door was open and most of our freezer items had thawed! We had water everywhere and had to pitch about $15 worth of (previously) frozen items. Fortunately, a lot of the items we had in our freezer included ice tea concentrate, juice concentrate, bread, and granola that we could save. We did lose some homemade ice cream, a little fish, spinach, and some chicken. We've had some trouble with our freezer lately, such as keeping the door shut and water dripping into our refrigerator. We've made a call and hopefully this will be fixed by tomorrow. So while the weekend was wonderful, the ending left a little to be desired.

Caught in the act!

Novice Gardener Files

Case #001

Name: Tomato Horn Worm

Known Alias: Hawkmoth

Culprit description: Green, 4" in length, five sets of "feet," small "red eye" markings, and a squishy body texture

Charge: Tomato thievery (Oh, the shame!)

Verdict: Guilty

Sentence: *Due to the graphic nature of the culprit's sentencing, this portion has been edited out for your stomache's sake.

Today I found the culprit that has been annihilating my tomato plant. Yesterday I noticed that my plant was looking a little sick and that half of my largeest tomato had disappeared as well as small chunks off of my smaller tomatoes (along with the Baby Toes I was growing...but that's a case for another day). I wasn't quite sure who/what the culprit was and I took some preventative measures to insure that this would not happen again. However, today I discovered that more of the tomatoes had been feindishly struck down in the same manner! Apparently, it was time for extreme measures - a stakeout and swift/harsh punishment to the vandal. It didn't take long to locate the tomato horn worm (though I have to admit that he had done a great job of camouflaging himself), a positive identification was made with the help of our neighbors, and the worm was convicted in swift order. In the future, I'll have to be more vigilant against the sneak attacks of the tomato horn worm, but it was a lesson learned. I guess its all in a day's work for this novice gardener...

Aunt Bee's Cooking

I had a bit of an adventure this past weekend. James and I went to a wedding in Danville, Indiana and I happened to see this lovely little place to eat: The Mayberry Cafe. While James was off doing groomsman things, I was off exploring downtown Danville and eating lunch at the cafe. It was adorable and very "Mayberryish." I even watched two episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" and had a good laugh at Barney Fife attempting to foil a bank robbery during my lunch. I was told by a resident that I had just "experienced true Danville culture."

New "Discovery"

James and I had some time off this week so we headed out to visit our families, which has become our "vacation" destination this summer. We had a couple of appointments, haircuts, a family picture, and newlywed items to take care of: consolidating bank accounts and things of that nature. While visiting I was able to go to the shops and eateries that I enjoy, which is easy as there aren't many to choose from in that area. I had a Veggie-Deli Peta Wrap (my favorite!), a true southern sweet tea, the perfect ham salad sandwich, and I even found a new indulgence: YummyEarth Organic Sour Lollipops! They are available at www.yummyearth.com and they are well worth it! (Interesting - I seem to be very hungry when I visit family!)

Independence Day

This past Friday we celebrated our first Fourth of July as a married couple. James had to work most of the day, so it was up to me to find someplace to go. We had a nice offer to go to Conner's Prairie again with my older brother and sister-in-law, but that unfortunately didn't work out for our schedule. Luckily, I did find out that the Minnetrista Center has a free fireworks display and outdoor concert (sort of like a mini-Conner's Prairie). We ended up attending that event and enjoyed it quite a bit even though we were sitting a ways from the band. We took along some yummy pizza popcorn (recipe at the bottom), fresh strawberries, and we ended up buying a BaskinRobbins ice cream cone to finish off our snacks while we waited for the display to begin. The crowd was just the right size, the people were friendly, and the fireworks were timed very well with music from a local radio station. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was certainly worth the trip! Hopefully you all had a wonderful Fourth of July as well.

Pizza Popcorn
Ingredients:

• approx. 2 1/2 quarts popped popcorn (with no added salt, butter, or flavoring)
• 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil (or melted butter/margarine)
  
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese (finely grated - just use the kind you get from the grocery to shake over spaghetti)
  
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. basil (dried from the garden is the best!)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
  
• salt to taste

Place the popped popcorn in an ungreased 13 x 9 pan. Mix the olive oil and remaining ingredients and drizzle over the top of the popcorn. Mix well. Bake uncovered at 350 for 15 min. and enjoy!

According to the Taste of Home cookbook: 1 cup euqals 118 calories with 10 g. fat (5 g. saturated fat), and 18 mg. of cholesterol (But that's using butter...so hopefully the olive oil cuts down on that a bit!)

We've Moved!

The end of June was exciting for us: moving to our duplex in the country (see above picture of the duplex's "garden"), celebrating being married for six months (we ate a nice meal of yummy lemon-basil/cilantro tilapia, creamy coleslaw, and homemade cherry cobbler to celebrate- the first home cooked meal prepared in our new place), and made our first large "married couple" purchase - an LG front loading washer/dryer set that I absolutely love! As for July, its starting off slowly but I'm sure it will pick up soon. I have already completed one project this month: curtains to cover the pantry above the new LG!

When I was younger I honestly thought that I would never sew when I "grew up." I remember having a little sewing machine that I got as a gift one year (at least that's what I vaguely remember), which was the sewing equivalent of the Easy-Bake Oven, and attempting to sew with Mom and Grandma P. I'm fairly certain that I accidentally broke it, and simply thought I was through measuring, cutting, stitching, seaming, etc. and would never have to deal with it again.

Since then I've sewn a handful of items...mostly pillows, a sorority bag for my college roommate as a gag Christmas gift, and my wedding veil (though that was done by hand, so it technically does not count). Aside from the veil, I can honestly say that my sewing skill level hasn't increased a great deal since then. However, I gave it a try once again. This time I used an old Singer (sorry to those born in the 1950s) that we received from a lovely lady who was about to dispose of it. While my sewing skills are still pretty weak, I have to say that I was able to create a pretty decent set of curtains (see the "pantry before"/"pantry after" pictures to follow). They even received James' nod of approval. (As a side note, James is even thinking about possibly sewing some curtains for our new bedroom...perhaps he should give Great Uncle R a call and the two could talk shop!)

"pantry before"

&

"pantry after"