P'nut Butter Ribbons....

Last weekend I was involved in a baking contest that was put on by the Historic Mordecai House in downtown Raleigh. This was my first year participating and their second year hosting it. I made my Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies as, I believe they are the best, richest, most decadent cookie in my stable of recipes. There is a peanut butter buttercream in the middle of two of the oatmeal peanut butter cookies and for this competition, because appearance was part of the grading, I ribboned the top with melted dark chocolate. They looked gorgeous....and tasted lethal. Out of 60 contestants, my cookies took 2nd place! Yay!

The grand prize cookie and 'best of show' as well, was a pumpkin cookie that I unfortunately did not get a chance to taste. I'm hoping to snag a copy of the recipe from the Mordecai folks so I can taste what beat me out of that blue ribbon! I did get a letter from the organizer of the event yesterday telling me that mine was her favorite and that my cookie lost the grand prize by only 2 points. Ouch. She did request my cookie recipe for their holiday cookbook that will be sold in their gift shop. Pretty cool...I'm gonna be published! And I will go back next September and get that Grand Prize.

What this has done is whet my appetite for competitive baking and cooking contest. The North Carolina State Fair is coming up next month and there are loads of baking events to enter there so that will be next up on my roster.....

Shades of Gray.....

My travels delivering breakfast to church on Sunday mornings are usually greeted with blaring morning sun. Not so today. It was a very, very foggy start to the day. Landscapes take on a completely different and equally beautiful look when they are fogged in versus when they are blanketed in sunshine.

three lone trees...

I love this old store. I understand that road widening
in the near future will take it down. I can't imagine
this intersection without it....

the sun tries to break through....

the fog begins to lift on the ride home....

Fall Creeps In....

The last of the summer tomatoes....

Yesterdays weekly trip to the Farmer's Market was very nice for a couple of reasons. 1--we hit it earlier than normal, so we beat the crowd, and 2--Fall time produce is starting to show up. It was kinda sad to see that all the fresh corn from summer is gone. Last weekend, there was corn in every booth. Not anymore. There are still plenty of tomatoes and okra and peaches, but those will soon be phased out too.



Apples have arrived! Every type you could ever want is there and cheap too! We bought 3 varieties yesterday from one farmer for .89 a pound. When the grocery store is selling 'Imported from Chile' apples for $1.89 all the way up to $2.29 a pound, WHY wouldn't you by from the farmers???? Local and fresh is always gonna be better....and cheaper!


The Mums are starting to show up too. I love Mums! I'll wait a couple of more weeks and then I will load up the truck with pots of gigantic mums and place them on the steps leading up to our front door. Ahhhh....there is no doubt.....Fall is coming.....

Mum buds....

Mum-face

(This is so not my photo. I don't have
the camera to get this detail. This
is gorgeous.
Thanks, PDPhoto.org!)

The Daily Casper....

One of my favorite blogs is The Daily Coyote. I found it a couple of years ago and it's a daily destination for me. Shreve Stockton is a 33 year old woman who lives in Wyoming on a farm with a cow, a horse, a dog, a cat and a coyote. The coyote--named Charlie--found her when he was orphaned as a little pup after his parents were shot for killing sheep. Charlie is as much a part of the family as any other dog. Shreve takes daily pictures of Charlie living life on the farm. The pictures are gorgeous. Not only because they feature Charlie, who is beautiful in all his wildness anyway, but she catches him in the Wyoming wildness.

It made me giggle to think if I posted daily pictures of my cat, Casper. He is strictly a house cat, so his 'prop' possibilities are trimmed down quite a bit, but none the less, here is my experiment after one week.

The Daily Casper:

Squirrel Whisperer....

Contemplating Trouble

Hours of Fun

Cool Ceramic Hammock

Bed Stealer....

I have to say that I was shocked at all the different poses I got of Casper because I always see him only doing 3 things --laying on the bed, sitting at the food dish or digging to China in the litter box (I'm not taking pictures of that, sorry). Hard as I try I can not get a picture of him playing with his toys because as soon as he sees me coming with the camera he stops and rubs up against the lens. All that produces is a bunch of blurry, black face shots. Maybe The Daily Casper wasn't as unadventurous as I thought it would be. Thanks, Shreve for the inspiration. And thanks for sharing Charlie with me everyday!

Foodscapes.....

Food Landscapes by Carl Warner
comes out Oct. 1st

On Food Network's "Challenge" some weeks ago, they had the competitors create big, monster landscapes out of nothing but food. These are known as foodscapes. But no one can do foodscapes like Carl Warner. He does Foodscapes with a capital "F"! Carl Warner is the master of both the creation but also the photography of said 'scapes and he has his first book of his Foodscapes coming out October 1st. (hello?!? Christmas list for this year!). He hopes that the book encourages kids--and adults for that matter--to eat healthier.

I find these pictures so fun and soooo mesmerizing. Remember that everything...everything in the picture is a food. It's a foodies version of "Where's Waldo" to see how many different foods you can find in each one. Carl has also reminded us all that, yep, it is ok to play with (and photograph) your food!

(These pictures are completely and totally the property of Carl Warner)

a salmon sea and potato rocks....

An Italian-style home make of nothing but veggies and fruits....

This boat of watermelon, peas, olives and asparagus plows
through a stormy radicchio sea....

This is his books cover: the castle is made out of rice
and cheese and the wagon wheels are mushroom caps....

Mountains of bread....

A Winter Wonderland of Cold Cuts
(and lots of bacon!!! yum!!!)

Carl Warner: photography good enough to eat! NICE!!

Come On Mornin'.....

Driving into the sun....

In my opinion, there is but one reason to wake early on the weekends. To see the sunrise. On Sunday mornings I deliver breakfast to the volunteers at my church and my route includes the most glorious stretch of road through horse fields and farm land. As soon as I make that left turn, I see the first rays of the day spilling over the fields in bucket loads and every time, I pull off and take pictures. I'm the only one out there, so I think of it as a private show just for me. It is God at His finest moment I do believe.....

first dawn at the horse barn & pond

almost there....

Ta-Da!!! Finally above the trees....

Warming the horses in the field.

I stood upon the hills, when heaven's wide arch
Was glorious with the sun's returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales....

"Sunrise on the Hills" ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

Beans and Leeks and Peaches, Oh My!!

Humongous, bright pink Hibiscus at the
Farmer's Market this morning....

Yet another gorgeous Saturday morning and another fun visit to the NC State Farmer's Market. I'm so thrilled that my husband now joins me for these little trips and seems to enjoy it as much as I! It used to be only me who would go, which is fine, as I can walk around the market for a couple of hours with no problem. (our Farmer's Market is 75 acres big, so there is plenty to see!) Sal is more a 'get what you came for and leave' type of a shopper. I do coax him through the other buildings though and he'll usually find something new and yummy to try like homemade Chow-chow or jam or two. Either way, it's a fun morning out for hubby and wife. Wife especially likes it because it gives me a chance to snap off some photos. Today they are courtesy of my phone, which I have to say, does a pretty darn nice job in a pinch. You sure can find some gorgeous shapes and colors at the Farmer's Market for sure......

There are loads of peaches still....(new recipe below!)

a sea of peanuts....

green beans....

turnips--I don't eat them, but they take
a pretty picture!

With peaches in such abundance right now, I've been searching for new ways to use them. Peach Bread, anyone?! Try out this recipe!! It is super delicious eaten alone with coffee or with a little cream cheese on top or try it lightly toasted with butter.....ok, I'm drooling now....

Peach Bread

1 1/2 cups sliced fresh peaches
2 cups chunked fresh peaches
6 Tablespoons sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place 1 1/2 cup sliced peaches and 6 Tbls sugar in electric blender and process until pureed. Mix with the 2 cups of chunked peaches.

In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside. Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar and butter; cream well. Add eggs and mix well. Add peach puree, peach chunks and dry ingredients, mixing only until ingredients are moistened. Stir in pecans (if using) and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 well-sprayed 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in pans; turn out onto rack and let cool completely
Makes 2 loaves

Riding The Storms Out....

Hurricane Fran (1996) from space

I've been through 4 hurricanes. The first was Hurricane Floyd in 1987 when I was living in Ft. Myer's, Florida. The next three were here in Raleigh: Hurricane Fran in 1996; another Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Hurricane Earl is doing his thing out on the North Carolina coastline as I type this. I'm about 3 1/2 hours inland from the NC coast, so I think all we're getting from Earl tonight are lots of clouds and little extra breeze. Thank goodness.

It is very humbling to sit inside your house looking out your windows at full-grown trees, bending toward the ground like they were made of rubber. You hear things crashing into and against your house and you can't go check on it because of windows possibly blowing out or something coming through your house. You are pretty darn helpless. It's gotta be what it's like for the midwest states when they deal with tornadoes. You do all you can to prepare, but there is only so much you can do except ride the storm out and then wait for the silence.......and it's an eerie silence. In a hurricane, this is the eye. Then part two cranks up.

The first sound you'll hear the next morning are chainsaws as some neighbors will already be out cutting trees that have fallen on houses or across roads and driveways. Everyone checks on each other and you help who needs it. Then you survey your damage. We've been soooo lucky through all of these to not have had any major damage done to our house. Lots of debris to pick up, but no damage. I hope the NC coastline and all my buddies out there do ok tonight.....I'm thinkin' about you!