Deep Fried Kudzu

Look at what Av brought home for me on Friday!

He took off in the Volvo and brought me back a BMW X3!

He says it is for being such a great wife and mommy...but really I have a feeling it has something to do with the fact that there's *no* way that the tandem stroller we bought would fit in the S40!

I am crazy about it - Av just went off and bought it and brought it home to me! He said he wanted to put one of those giant bows on it just like in those Lexus commercials that come on during the holidays - but all he had was one of the big blue bows from when Shug was born so he figured that would be funny too!

Love-love-love it. Yay!!

This past week I made a two-tiered paper banner for the mantle for the upcoming Jewish New Year holiday - but these instructions work for any paper banner and any message...

Materials:
Scrapbook paper for background triangles
Scrapbook paper in complementary colors/pattern for stenciled letter
Stencil letters
Stencil brush
Acrylic paint (the little bottles of Folk Art paint are perfect)
Glue - I used Sobo but Elmer's is perfect too
Small-diameter hole punch (mine is 3/4") for making ribbon holes (make sure the holes are bigger than the ribbon you need to run through them)
Ribbon

Directions:
Measure how long your ribbon needs to be to go across your mantle, etc. If you're doing a two-tiered mantle, make sure you figure enough ribbon so there is enough space between the two tiers for the letters to show easily.

Figure how big your triangles can be. In this case, I was able to use a whole scrapbook-paper width - but if you have lots of letters, it may be less.

Take a regular sheet of scrapbook paper - one for each letter:

Cut the paper into a perfect triangle by using the half-way point/length as your 'point' at the bottom and cut diagonally up to each opposite corner:

Next, cut the other scrapbook paper into whatever shape you like - I've used 15.5cm x 11cm for a rectangle (just trying it out here to see how it fits) - just make sure it is bigger than your stencil letters:

Take the stencil outlines and line up centered on the new scrapbook paper that was just cut - and with the stencil brush and acrylic paint on a paper plate, load the brush up with paint and 'pounce' the paint onto the paper through the stencil:
Remove and let dry.

While the stencil letters are drying, take each big scrapbook paper triangle and make two hole punches on each side of the top of the triangle. Make these pretty close to each side, and pretty close to one another, but not so close that the paper may tear. This is what the ribbon will be running through:

Glue on the stenciled letters, run the ribbon through the finished triangles, and the banner is done:
This one reads "L'shana Tovah" which is the Hebrew greeting for "Happy New Year!".

Since this mantle is for Rosh Hashanah decorations, I took some wooden numbers like what are available at Michael's, spray-painted them chrome, and once dry, put them on the mantle. This coming year is 5769:

...and here's the whole thing! The paper banners, on each end of the mantle ledge are jelly jars filled with dried peonies, one side has a shofar (the shofar is blown every morning during the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah, on RH, and to end YK - and is blown as a reminder that the time of introspection is approaching), the other side has a replica tiny Torah scroll (these are often given as wedding or bar/bat mitzvah presents), and in the middle are the 5769 numbers:
I'm trying to make it so that we decorate for holidays so our children can really get into what's coming up and when they're old enough, make their own crafts and decorations to go along with them.

...already working on a new banner - Halloween!

I don't put out our Fall decorations until October 1st each year but have been enjoying *so much* seeing all the beautiful mums and pumpkins available already.

It seems like things are going to be costing a lot more this year! We go to the farmer's markets to get our decorations (sugar cane, dried corn stalks, Indian corn, pumpkins, hay bales, gourds, etc.) but I noticed at Home Depot that they had these giant mums - the ones on the second level that are just about to start blooming:

...and they were $50 each!

And then yesterday when Shug and I went to Whole Foods, we saw (forgot my camera and took this pic with my phone) a big display of pumpkins, but do you see the large pumpkin there in the middle?:
That's right. It's $79.99.

Can you imagine!?

Caramel apples are just a "Fall" food, I guess...I can't imagine even thinking of having one in any other season. Maybe it's because I remember those red candy-coated apples at school harvest festivals and Halloween carnivals - or maybe it's the time of year when I occasionally flip past QVC and they are selling those Mrs. Prindables apples that seem a little expensive (about $33 for six, plus shipping).

Anyway, I've never had one of those Mrs. Prindables apples, but it's so easy to make these at home - and you can do it with any flavors you like...

Ingredients - this is enough for four large apples:
1 bag Kraft caramels (these come with little sticks for making caramel apples)
2 tbsp water
4 large apples (or maybe 5 small ones) - I used red delicious
little sticks for apple handles if you don't buy the Kraft brand of caramels
ribbons for embellishing the cooled finished caramel apples
various toppings: I used Heath bar toffee bits, chopped pecans, tiny M&Ms, and melted chocolate morsels...but you could use anything!

Directions:
Make sure there is room in the refrigerator for the baking pan once these are made.

Put each topping in its own bowl so that's ready to be applied once the apples come out of the hot caramel. Depending on each, you may want to have a little spoon ready for each topping to help put it on. Have these bowls close to where the apples will come out of the caramel because the caramel cools off pretty quickly and everything sticks best while the apple is still hot.

Wash the apples and make sure they are completely dry. Put them on a baking sheet that's lined with parchment paper.

Over medium heat, melt the caramels/water mixture - stir very often:

After a few minutes, the caramel will be completely melted:

Here are the apples, ready to be dipped:

Place each apple - one at a time - into the melted caramel and spoon the caramel over all sides. While the apple is covered with hot caramel, place it into the bowl with the topping(s) you're using for that apple. For most of mine, I just rolled the apple around in the topping bowl to get the best coverage. Place each apple back on the baking sheet to cool:

If you are going to personalize any with writing, wait until the plain caramel apple has been in the refrigerator for a while and is cold. Then melt the chocolate, place in a small ziploc bag, cut off a tiny bit of one bottom corner, and pipe your message. Since I made these for a little pre- Rosh Hashanah treat, I piped the upcoming new year on it - 5769:
It would really be cute, too, to write each guest's name on their apple, or pipe a monogram, etc. If I was doing a bunch like this I would have melted some white chocolate and piped dots all over the apple too.

Once these were ready to serve, I cut a length of different ribbon for each. Here's the M&M caramel apple (oh - and next time I might think about using the regular, bigger M&Ms. These baking M&Ms were so quick to melt while I was placing them on the hot apple, so in a few places you can see where they burst open):

Chopped pecan:

Toffee bits:

Jewish New Year:

I love making cornbread. No matter what, those four ingredients mixed together makes cornbread the same as the hundred times before (whereas with loaf bread I get something a little different every time!).

If you like, you can add things to it - corn kernels, jalapenos, onions...but the basic recipe is:

Ingredients:
1-1/4 c. milk, maybe a bit more if the batter needs it
1/4 c. melted butter
1 large egg, beaten
2 cups cornmeal (I use white cornmeal, Martha White brand)

Directions:
Put the cast iron skillet in the cold oven and preheat the oven to 425*.

Combine all the wet ingredients, then stir in the cornmeal. Don't overmix - a few lumps are just fine.

Once the oven reaches 425*, take a potholder and remove the hot skillet from the oven. Carefully pour in the cornbread batter:

After 20-25 minutes back in the oven, it will have a beautiful golden brown crust - all done!:

What we don't eat with supper, I might take a small slice, cut it horizontally, and fill with chicken salad for the next day's lunch (mmmmhhhh) - you can also take half a skillet of cornbread and make cold cornbread salad, which is delicious too.


Cornbread Salad

Ingredients:
Half skillet of cornbread
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1/2 medium-size Vidalia onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped - plus another 1/4 - 1/2 tomato chopped to sprinkle over the top just before serving
mayonnaise
(plus - you can add in crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, pinto beans, rotel tomatoes, etc etc etc)


Directions:
Crumble the cornbread into bite-size pieces:

Add all the other ingredients except the mayonnaise:
Put the mayonnaise in a little at a time - I think I usually use about a cup of Duke's for this. But you may like a little more or a little less.

Mix gently, and it's ready! I have to admit, it's not the most attractive dish, so before I serve it like this, I'll dice up a little more tomato and sprinkle that over the top - makes a big difference.
Oh - and like potato salad, it really is better the next day!

Av noticed in the paper today that the Elvis is Alive Museum is for sale on eBay. I contacted the owner and he gave me permission to use some of the pics here:

The museum is in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (so when you go, do be sure to have your ribs at Miss Leatha's too).

The current owner, Andy Key, purchased the museum on eBay last year for $8300. Right now it has a starting bid of $15,000 - he says in the listing that he's invested $40,000 including the value that's been added since he and his wife have added content to the museum plus a gift shop and grill.

This 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood Limo is included:

Also included is this "real casket with a wax headed figure, several flower sprays, and drapes to create the funeral scene":
Museum display:
The reasons behind why Elvis is believed to still be alive are there too - this is the version from when the museum was located in Missouri.

...and there are *lots* of other things included in the listing - like:

"Rights to the DNA test results which compared tissue samples from Elvis' two biopsies, to tissue samples from the body autopsied as Elvis, which cost $2,200.00. The two DNA's did not match."

"Several Bradford plates, including an extremely rare 'On Stage from Hawaii" light up plate."

"Over 600 Pages of FBI files that document the fact that Elvis worked with the FBI and DEA."

"One 2x3 and One 3x5 'Elvis Lives' Rug"

...and much, much more...

The eBay listing is here.

I had another ultrasound done on Friday, and this is a pic Av took of Shug watching the monitor, looking at Brother! So sweet!

What is really funny is each night when Shug sits in my lap for his night-night stories. Often, Brother will be awake and will be gently kicking Shug in the back. We tell Shug that his brother just can't wait to come out and play, and wants to let him know that he is thinking of him. Isn't that just precious!? Shug at almost fifteen months now doesn't really have the faintest idea what it means that he is getting a brother but we talk about it and explain how wonderful it will be that he will have a brother/friend for life. Aaaahhhhh.....

This weekend we went to the best festival - the Monte Sano Art Show in Huntsville! This was the first time we had gone to it, but we were really impressed.

This bottle tree was from Nerve Branch Studio in Clarkesville, Georgia:

My friend Conor O'Brien was one of the four featured artists - here is his art:

This rustic furniture was by The Chair Bodger in Gadsden, Alabama:

This was made by Bruce Yadack from Oakman, Alabama:

Wade Wharton was another of the four featured artists - I gave him a big hug and he was so tickled to get to meet Shug this time!:

He wasn't selling any of his art but brought some of it for display:


Some yard art that was really clever was from David Hammock in Arab, Alabama:


...and this great mosaic chair was by Bill Wilson from Huntsville:

The Encyclopedia of Alabama website has been 'live' as of last Monday - there are lots of good articles, and they asked (and I said 'yes') to use a bunch of my pics too. The website is here.

I didn't realize until someone at Auburn had contacted me that universities even did these online state encyclopedias as projects - but Georgia and Washington both have really nice ones.

Av and I both grew up with World Book - and I had to look up just now to see if they still made a physical set of encyclopedia volumes (they do - a set of 2008s is $1089). World Book also made those great Childcraft books too...Av's mother saves everything so I bet we can use his set for our kids. Looooved those. Then there were the ones that were sold at the grocery store. Was it that you had to buy a certain amount of groceries and then you could buy a different volume at a lower cost? Av remembers Golden Book Encyclopedias and I think I remember Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedias done that way. It was *so* convenient if you had your own set of books because back in...you know, the '80s...you'd have to go all the way to the library to look something up otherwise...

Av pointed out an article in the B'ham News yesterday for a woman named Deborah Ballog who is a glass artist. The top pic in the article has this text:

The glass patchwork quilt is inspired by Gee's Bend quilts. Deborah Ballog begins by cutting and using different colored glass into a color block. With a hand-held glass cutter, she slices the color block. Two slices are pieces together following a Gee's Bend quilt pattern and fused to form a single square within each patch.

The article was really nice, and it featured a couple of pics of her "fused patches for a Gee's Bend-inspired quilt" - except really rather than using the word "inspired" they should have also said "pretty exact match, except you can't get it much closer when you're using glass". I mean they are *so close* to the original quilt designs!

Okay, I don't have all the quilt designs she used to show here, but take for an example the Gee's Bend USPS stamps:


...and think of other Gee's Bend designs that are pretty famous, including the ones on these books:

My new friend Janet in Selma has a *beautiful* blog about her city - and told me about the civic project that they're working on right now.

(The pics in this post are from her)

I am crazy about these - carousel horses in Meridian, fishing lures around Montgomery, big fish in Gadsden, catfish in Belzoni, peanuts in Dothan, alligators in Lake Charles, pelicans in Pensacola - but what makes these butterflies completely different from all the others is that they are not being made out of fiberglass and brought in from out-of-state, but rather handcrafted from wood by a resident:

(above:) His name is Nico Giampietro, owner of Nico's Custom Woodwork. He's making more than three dozen of them to be decorated by other residents for display around the city.

Selma is the "Butterfly Capital of Alabama".

The finished butterflies will be unveiled in time for the Alabama Tale-Tellin' Festival (October 10-11...Kathryn Tucker Windham will be there as the master of ceremonies!) and Riverfront Market Day. Here is a sneak peek of one of the painted butterflies that Janet sent me:
Selma is gorgeous anyway so I am looking forward to being there again in October. Maybe we can make a big trip of it and run down to Camden for Black Belt Treasures, and shop for quilts in Gee's Bend while we're in that part of the state! I wonder if all of Tyree McCloud's quilt murals will be up by then...

Well, of course after I did the project framing some of Gramma Honey's cherished family recipes, I *had* to make Av some of her Melt-A-Ways.

I think there are at least a dozen different things that people call "melt-a-ways" but this is what they are to Av's family. It's kind of like a giant (very) buttery, rich, thin cookie that you can personalize a thousand different ways by putting chocolate or peanut butter chips in one section of the pan for people that like those, and pecans in one section for those people, and leave some little part plain, put some M&Ms on or those cute toffee pieces over here and over there...go wild and mix it all together...

...or just use plain chocolate chips and with a knife make a nice thin layer of melted chocolate over the entire thing.

While it's still warm you can cut them into bar shapes or take a cookie cutter and do it that way...

Av remembers Gramma Honey making these when he was in elementary school. Every so often one of a handful of mothers or grandmothers would come in during a school day, go to the school's small kitchen, and make some sort of treat. This is one that Gramma Honey used to make all the time. Her variety was spreading out the chocolate in a thin layer, then dusting it with chopped nuts.

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. flour
chocolate chips, pecans if you like, you could even use M&Ms or some other candy

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350*

Simply mix together the softened stick of butter, brown sugar, and flour - that's it! The dough naturally comes together when you mix it:

Next is the part where you wonder if this is really going to work right. You spread it on a 13"x9" baking pan with sides, which has been lined with parchment paper. Take a spoon and spread the dough out on the paper. It isn't too easy to do because the dough isn't very loose and will stick to the back of the spoon - but the nice thing is that you don't have to be perfect about it, and it doesn't have to look great - you just want it to get a good start on spreading out all over that baking pan:

Bake at 350* for about 15 minutes. At about 10 minutes or so, all of a sudden it will start spreading and rise up just a little:

It will just about cover the whole pan - when it gets nice and golden brown at about 15 minutes, take it out of the oven and immediately sprinkle with whatever sounds good - this one has some chocolate chips, some white chocolate chips, some peanut butter chips...
It's really rich and buttery but it will keep for at least two or three days on a plate covered with foil - and it stays nice and moist too! Yum!