Added this feature to my site so I can keep you all posted on where I'm going, where I've been and the status of your pictures being posted. See you soon! -Lynne (aka Green Girl)
Now that it's officially fall...loving that cool front that came through on Saturday...it seems like a grilled cheese and a bowl of soup should be a mainstay on the menu. The other day, I made grilled cheese with sliced avocado and chicken noodle soup for Haley and myself as there wasn't too much in the fridge or cupboards and it was easy. When I went to the grocery store I stocked up on a few cans of soup with one being tomato/basil.
Made me wonder how people prefer their grilled cheese - cheddar/American/swiss/provolone/brie (my younger sister Sarah once made a grilled cheese on homemade bread, brie and apricot jam - OMG it was good) and are additions acceptable like avocado/tomato/bacon (I think this one should be a given cause who doesn't love bacon) and the butter...salted, unsalted, with olive oil or not...so many decisions.
Of course then there's the bread - white, wheat, specialty? Or is it basically what's available in the fridge?
And then there's the soup - it's kind of like the bread in some ways - what ever is in the cupboard, but I think I prefer tomato - and tomato-basil is all the better. May have to get my cookbooks out and make some soups this fall - nothing better than smelling up the entire house with the smell of something cookin'.
I had kind of a colorful college career and one of those colors was Maroon - as in Aggie Maroon.
In the fall of 1987, LSU showed up at Kyle Field for the first time in about 20 years as they had stopped playing all those years earlier because the rivalry had gotten so heated. That was my first experience with LSU fans. They are a different breed. After spending most of my high school and now college career rooting "for" my team...LSU fans were all about rooting "against" the other team. I remember not seeing one banner that actually said "Go LSU". Now it's not like we Aggies don't want to "BEAT the HELL out of" whoever we are playing that week but it feels different.
For those who don't know, the grass around the Memorial Student Center (the MSC) is a living memorial to all the Aggies that have died fighting for our country. So we don't walk on the grass. Of course the LSU fans thought it would be fun to do it anyway...except when several of the Senior Corpsmen pulled their sabers to get them off, it got a bit heated. No one was impaled but it was pretty tense for a few moments.
So now that the Aggies are in the SEC and will be playing LSU for conference points it's certainly upped the ante. So I have to say I was really rooting for the Georgia Bulldogs today to knock the Tigers off their pedestal a bit...and they did in fine fashion. Yes we lost to Alabama in a hard fought game with lots of points, but we'll be looking to with the game we didn't win last year.
So I LOVE my morning coffee. I love the smell of freshly ground beans, the process of boiling the water and pouring it over the beans, pushing the plunger down to reveal the rich dark brew, the ritual of it all. I usually try to restrict myself to one (large) mug but sometimes need two...like today. I use a french press - have for years. Grind my beans every morning - sometimes I'm sure to the dismay of my sleeping roomie on a Sunday morning.
But sometimes when on the road, my schedule gets disrupted and my coffee choices are limited. Like Thursday morning. I had a cup, in my truck but with my commute to the range only being 10 minutes and needing to hit the ground running as soon as I got there, I only ended up drinking a few sips.
Fast forward to my drive home. I battle 5 PM traffic in Houston - no joke for those that have done that - and about 7 PM start getting a headache. A bad one - right between my eyes. I take a bit of medicine thinking it was just the heat and the long day outside. Wrong! At about 8 I stop for a drink and bathroom break and suddenly I realize that it's from my lack of coffee that morning. At this point I am just about nauseous from the headache but drink my coke to alleviate the pain. As the caffeine permeates through me I feel better...ahhh feeding my addiction.
I'm sure it will be a while before I "forget" to get my morning fix but I'm sure it will happen again...and I will pay. And for all of you who think you can quit it any time you want - be it coffee, diet coke or whatever it is that gives you your "fix" - try quit it for 24 hours and see how you feel...I'm a total wimp and just succumb to the power it has over me.
So I grew up on an apple orchard in Eastern Ontario, Canada until I was 9 years old when we moved to Texas. We mostly picked up grounders (freshly fallen apples) and shined them on our shirts and ate them. We even had 1 single pear tree that every once in a while we would venture into the orchard to find...usually without much luck. We had Macintosh, spies, red delicious, I think we had granny smith's too as it would be inconceivable to have an apple orchard without having really good apples for making pies!
That being said, I love apples. Always have. These days, I really like the Gala and the Fuji flavors, and for a little while this summer, they were all that were available...so I settled.
But yesterday I was rewarded with my new ultimate favorite. Honey Crisp. OMG - They are the perfect combination of sweet, tart and especially crisp! But oh are they expensive! Holy mackerel! I had a checkout girl confirm with me one time that I was buying $10 worth of apples...and there were only 4!
So now I try to buy smaller ones and get 5 or 6 but it's still usually close to $10...but I figure that's cheaper than the doctor bill! Be bold this fall and try something new...and if you're into apples, try the Honey Crisp! They're delicious!!
Have you seen it on the menu?? Have you heard someone say something about Strawberry Rhubarb lately?
Well it started last summer when I asked Buddy what his favorite pie was...and being from Georgia I was certainly SHOCKED when he said Strawberry Rhubarb. I would imagine most boys/men from the south are not even familiar with Rhubarb, let alone it being a favorite. When I left London through Heathrow after the Olympics/World English, there was a restaurant in the terminal called Rhubarb...
Then not much for a while but then a few weeks ago, one of my FB friends Sara, made the comment that "At least I had Strawberry-Rhubarb pie for breakfast" which I took to mean that no matter what her day threw at her...she could handle it.
So then that same day I get a magazine in the mail...just one of those 15-20 page things that you haven't signed up for but looks interesting so you flip through it before you toss it into the recycle...and low and behold...a recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb pie!
And that's not the end of it...I went to Nashville at the beginning of June and Carolyn, Patrick and I went to dinner at "The Southern - Steak and Oyster" at the bottom of the Pinnacle building (highly recommend if you're in town) and there on the dessert menu...Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake!
Of course it was delicious - and something that I wouldn't have expected was a bit of basil...yes basil...that gave it just one more level of complex flavor.
Then into Central Market which is like foodie heaven and as I am a lover of all things jam...found this too!
Then last night Carolyn...who was with me in Nashville, and I have clued her into the S-R Trending, sent me this from the French Restaurant she was eating at...check out the Chocolate Semi Freddo...yummy!
So now that you have read this...even if you haven't seen anything Strawberry Rhubarb...I'm sure you will see something within the next week and the trend will continue.