Still Smiling

I have to admit, I was completely overwhelmed by the well-wishes, e-cards, phone calls and visits I had yesterday in celebration of the big 3-4. The day started off snuggling with Rees - then the phone rang. It was my dad. He instructed Scott to wake me up so he could be the first to wish me a happy birthday. After that, there was a steady stream of good thoughts sent my way.

M & K took Scott and I out to lunch at the best new place in town, the Garden of Good Eatin'. I feasted on chicken and dumplings, fresh squash, carrots, cornbread and buttermilk pie. YUM! I guess you could say Southern food was the theme of the day. My mom and dad made my favorite smothered steak with fresh green beans and rice, and Scott made a bananna pudding confection to die for. Then came the presents. The ever-fabulous Lee Brothers Southern cookbook (that includes a chocolate grits ice cream), a book by Madeline author Harry Bemelmans, called Hotel Bemelmans, and the New Yorker Magazine's collection of food writing. I'm set for the summer.

The best present, however was the touching tribute from my sister who lives in China. I'm not sure how to top what she wrote about me...Thanks sis! We are off to Austin to see Jack Kerouac's On the Road scroll at the Ransom Center. Hooray for summer!! Hooray for birthdays!

Knights of the Roundtable

I've been thinking a lot about local food and food-ways lately, and I've been wondering why we don't have restaurants like the Columbia Roundtable that I wrote about a couple of days ago.


From the very un-scientific research I've done, it seems like these places are only found in Mississippi. There is one in Vicksburg, McComb, and of course Columbia.

We barely put a dent in it...

The best fried chicken I've ever eaten...

Sweetie pie

I've heard tell of a new restaurant here in Nacogdoches that serves good, locally grown home-cooking. I'm pretty excited to try it before it catches on and get too popular. Unfortunately for me, it is only open M-F 11 -2.





In the meantime, I plan to attend the Quantity Foods luncheon being made by our SFA hospitality students next week. Next week's theme is local food and 100% of the meal is going to come from locally produced fruits, veggies and Bellebrook farm organic beef. For $10 diners will be treated to locally grown epicurian delights. The luncheon will be held Thursday, April 17 and starts at 11:30. Let me know if you are interested in getting a ticket to this super-cool event.

Hooray!

Well, the SFASU School of Art has made a fantastic decision! They decided to hire our good neighbor (and husband of fellow crafter, Michelle) Neal Cox for a tenure track position! That means that us crafty folks will get to keep Michelle in our group and it also means that the art students at SFA will have a great faculty member.

Check out Michelle's store - she is doing some AWESOME things, especially for little ones!

Hooray!!

March Madness

What happened to March?

The month just flew by and I had every intention of at least blogging once, but you know about good intentions, right?

March was a whirlwind of babies, trips, and Easter bunnies galore. All in all it was a fun (and busy) month. Some highlights:

Welcoming Baby Ava Raye! It was fun getting to know my new neice and hanging out with my 20 month old neice Annabelle. I think my sister and her family are getting adjusted to being back in China after being in the states 6 weeks, but we miss them!

Eating our way through the south:

For spring break, we headed for Hattiesburg, MS to see Scott's grandmother. We took the scenic route through New Orleans so we could take in the National WWII museum. Wow! It was pretty incredible and 3 hours + wasn't near long enough. The day we were there, Anne Frank's step-sister was speaking. I think we all learned a lot and had a great time too.

While Scott and Nick had definite ideas about what they wanted to do, so did I. My main goal was to eat my way through the south. Using the fab website "Roadfood" as a guide we hit some fantastic places.

We started in Natchitoches at Lasyones. This small joint is known for their meat pies but the Red beans and rice aren't too shabby, either.

We stayed in Lafayette and I really fell in love with this cajun community. The night we were there, they were having an artwalk downtown and live music too. We gorged on "plate lunch" specials at Dwyer's cafe, then headed to this super-cool Borden's for ice cream sundaes (me) and double dips (Scott and Nick). That evening we scoped out Breakfast options and settled on Keller's Bakery. Wow! I'm still thinking about the sweet potato hand pies that I had, and I know the boys loved their cream puffs, elcairs and blueberry hand pies too. We washed it down with MelloJoy coffee. A smooth coffee blend exclusive to Lafayette. I'm still sad we didn't get more to bring home, since you can only get it in Lafayette.

We didn't really get to eat in New Orleans. I wanted to check out the ultra-touristy Cafe Du Monde, but the thought of finding a (close) parking spot and navigating downtown was too much for me.

In Mississippi we ate at the most exceptional restaurant - The Columbia Roundtable. This place was really unbelievable..It featured large round tables that sat 20 or more, with a huge lazy susan in the middle. The food just kept coming - fried chicken, spare ribs, beef stroganoff, shrimp, field peas, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, lima beans, beets, corn, coleslaw, greens, baked beans, mac and cheese...and then dessert- chocolate cake, banana pudding, coconut pie, chocolate pie, pecan pie, buttermilk pie, lemon pie, and gallons and gallons of tea.

We somehow made it home in a food-induced stupor...of course I'm paying mightily for it now, but boy was it fun!

Candy Man Can

Okay, so I am pitchng for *another* school fundraiser. But you were gonna buy a chocolate Easter bunny anyway, right. And these guys are guaranteed SOLID silky chocolate. None of that hollow chalky stuff you might find at say a big box retailer. The best part is, they are only $5 . I know this is a little more than you would pay at say, the Dollar Tree, but all the proceeds go to making life better for folks over at Raguet Elementary. I can hook you up, but it has to be TODAY - I'll even front the $5 and deliver them right to your door on March 19th. How can such good service be combined with such a high quality product, you might ask? I've got my own 10 year old CandyMan.. don't say I didn't ever give you a hot tip on a sweet deal!

One last thing.. check out how the bunnies are wringing their hands imploring you to buy them so you can chomp their satiny ears off.. YUM!

Meet Ava Raye

Here is my beautiful new niece! Mom and baby are doing great. She was 7 lbs, 5 oz and 21 inches

Weekend recap

Seems like I am finally just now catching my breath after a whirlwind weekend. Friday night was a blur of good music and seeing good friends at the Pineknot Music Co-ops 7th Anniversary Party. It was great seeing old friends Grey DeLisle and her hubby Murry Hammond, but the best part was meeting Mr. Jefferson Texas Hammond (Tex) 1 year old son of the afformentioned DeLisle-Hammond family. Tex is a cutie pie, and Rees couldn't get enough of him or Murry's harmonium. She finally conked out during Social Bliss.

Saturday we got up early and headed with my dad to Austin to celebrate his upcoming 80th birthday. Rees took in her first UT basketball game (she loved it!) and we had a nice walk through the campus afterward. That night we had dinner with my dad's brother, sister and their families then headed northward to spend the night with our pals A & P.

There are some people in this world that are truly top notch, and A & P are in that category. We've been friends for 15 years and its one of those deals where we may not talk for a while then slip right back where we left off...P made yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday and we all went to University Chrisitan Church (where Scott and I married). The music was beautiful, the sermon inspring, but Rees wasn't up to being quiet for an hour.

Afterwards we made a quick stop back at the aunt and uncle's then headed north to IKEA. IKEA on a Sunday afternoon makes rollerderby look tame - especially when you are with an 80 year old and a near 7 month old. Dad made a pretty good haul- i think we ended up with a package of napkins.

It was good to be back home Sunday night but the morning came way way too early.