Dreaming about Blackberry Farm

/0 Comments/in /by

I woke up around 3 am on Saturday morning from a dream that I can’t remember but with the idea in my head that it would be a fantastic birthday present for Corby and his best friend Hank (their birthdays are just a few days apart) to go to Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.  Blackberry Farm is a luxury hotel, food mecca, garden of Eden, paradise that I have only heard about from a few friends that have been very lucky to get to go through their work.  It sounds so fabulous and delicious that it is clear why I am dreaming about it.  So, in my 3am daze, it was all planned out in my head perfectly.  Hank and his wife who live in Houston with their two adorable little girls would fly to Memphis where they have family to drop off the girls and then drive over to Blackberry Farm.  Corby and I would drive up from South Carolina, and Hank’s wife Katherine and I would cleverly devise some meeting where Corby and Hank would be so surprised that we were all there together, and we would have a phenomenal weekend with glorious food and wine.  I thought about our upcoming trip (their birthdays are not until February- maybe getting a little ahead of myself) all weekend and rushed into work this morning to google Blackberry Farm.  The website www.blackberryfarm.com promised everything I was imagining.  The scenery is breathtaking, the accommodations look heavenly, and the food, well almost too good to be true.  With a little more digging, I soon discovered that it would take a lottery win for my literal and figurative dream weekend to happen.  But still, here is another amazing thing about this farm- they have truffle dogs.  Yes, that’s right, dogs that hunt for truffles.  Apparently, most of the truffles in the world come from Spain, Italy and France, but a few years ago, they discovered that truffles grew exceptionally well in the hills of Tennessee, so of course, truffle dogs are in order.  And, they are adorable!  This is a picture from an article Garden & Gun wrote a while ago about the truffle pups, and here is the article http://gardenandgun.com/article/gold-diggers.  In addition to the truffle pups, Blackberry Farm has a wide variety of activities to make your stay even more unforgettable.  Anything from fly fishing to fox hunting to horse back riding to yoga and to cycling with on occasion George Hincapie WHAT!!  Check out their Tour de Smokies in October (dreaming dreaming dreaming)http://www.blackberryfarm.com/events-manager/tour-de-smokies.  Not only that, the resident chef is Joseph Lenn who received the title of Grand Chef by the Relais and Chateaux organization.  And, he studied and worked in Charleston with Chef Bob Carter at the Peninsula Grill and assisted Chef Sean Brock in opening the Heritage Hotel in Nashville- it is destiny that I go.  So, while I work on my lottery win, I will continue to dream about one day going to Blackberry Farm, meeting some truffle pups, being surrounded by gorgeous scenery, and salivating over the food and wine.  One day!

Garden & Gun: The Southern Food Bracket

/0 Comments/in /by

I am not into basketball.  I did not go to a Division I college, except that we were Division I in squash.  In fact, Trinity holds the longest collegiate winning streak in history- 252 matches in 14 years.  They did not lose for 14 years.  I mean, that is amazing.  Maybe I can get a little geared up about Trinity squash, so I guess I can understand how people who went to these colleges still left in the March Madness thing, tournament, I don’t even know what you call it, can get so excited about it.  However, according to an article on CNN.com, March Madness could cost American companies $889.6 million in lost work because people are so preoccupied by the basketball and everything that goes along with it.  All the talk of the brackets is making me tired.  It was such a relief to read on the Garden & Gun (love!) website and see a fun take off of the whole bracket situation.  Here is the link to the article http://gardenandgun.com/southern-food-bracket.  I am a little late to the game on this because first round voting is already complete, but the gist is you get to vote on your favorite Southern foods in a bracket style- super fun!  So while I might be losing my company money (not really though) being preoccupied by a bracket, it will not be based on basketball.  That being said, I hope Kentucky wins.

All done skiing- its time for Spring!

/0 Comments/in /by

We got back from Vail last night to 80 degree weather- a very welcome change despite the fact that I was still wearing my wool socks and my feet almost melted off walking to the car.  Vail was amazing!  I have not been to Colorado in over 20 years and never in the winter, and it is breathtakingly beautiful.  It certainly helped that the weather was excellent- it was in the 50s by mid morning of the first three days we skied which made the snow like mashed potatoes, and it was spring skiing at its finest.  The last day it was about 20 degrees, and I had not packed for 20 degrees.  Lets just say that Corby spent the majority of the last day skiing by himself while I walked around Vail village looking for a present for Walker and then hunkered down the awesome coffee shop the Yeti’s Grind (www.yetisgrind.com) which has the best cupcakes.  On St. Patrick’s day, we went in there before we hit the slopes and got an Irish Carbomb cupcake- holy amazing Batman, that cupcake set me right for the rest of the day.  One of other fun places we checked out was the Red Lion (www.theredlion.com).   This is probably the most famous apres ski place in Vail, and it is not to be missed.  Phil Long puts on a fantastic show while you are indulging in their GI-NORMOUS plate of nachos and sipping on your favorite cocktail.  It might be worth getting of the mountain early just to grab a seat.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we spend one day skiing at Beaver Creek and had lunch at the Ritz Carlton.  This place is kind of silly it is so nice.  We had lunch on big couches (the couch in the picture is the one we sat on) in front of a huge window watching skiers come down the hill, and we sat next to Joe Kern from CNBC (I had no idea who he was, but Corby is a big CNBC watcher).  Corby and I spilt a turkey club and a bowl of tomato parmesan soup. Honestly, I am not sure it it was the setting or the relief of taking my ski boots off, but that was the best damn soup ever!

Now we are back in Charleston- it is full on Spring with the azaleas blooming everywhere and tank tops and flip flops have taken back over, and to put the ski season and winter behind me, I found this very spring time recipe on www.GoodHousekeeping.com for a Lemon Ricotta Cheese cake.  Enjoy!!

Lemon Ricotta Cheese cake

Ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons butter or margarine,  softened
3 to 4 lemons
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 packages   (8-ounce)  reduced-fat cream  cheese softened
1 container   (15-ounce)  part-skim  ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half or light  cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with heavy-duty foil to prevent batter from leaking out during baking.

In a springform pan, with fork, mix graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. With hand, press mixture firmly onto bottom of pan.  Bake crust 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack, about 15 minutes.

Reset oven to 325 degrees F. Meanwhile, from 2 lemons, grate 2  teaspoons peel and squeeze 1/3 cup juice. In small bowl, stir together sugar and  cornstarch until blended. In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat cream  cheese and ricotta until smooth, about 5 minutes. Slowly beat in sugar mixture.  Reduce speed to low; beat in eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, and lemon peel and  juice just until blended, scraping bowl often with rubber spatula.

Pour batter onto crust. Bake cheesecake 1 hour. Turn off oven; let  cheesecake remain in oven 1 hour.

Remove cheesecake from oven. To help prevent cracking during cooling,  run a thin knife between edge of the cheesecake and pan as soon as the cheesecake comes  out of the oven. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate cheesecake at least 6 hours or overnight, until well chilled.

To serve, remove foil and side of pan and place cake on plate. From remaining lemons, with a sharp knife, cut 8 very thin center slices; use to garnish the top of the cheesecake.

 

Fun with Velveeta

/8 Comments/in /by

We had an engagement party on Sunday for my sweet friend Kendall and her fiancé, Robert.  It was a very casual backyard cocktail party, and we had a blast.  Since we had gotten back from Disney World the night before, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to get ready for the party, especially losing an hour thanks to daylight savings.  My friend Patricia and I were throwing the party together- she was bringing half of the food, and I was making the other half, which included a bread wreath and brie, veggies and ranch dressing dip, spanakopita, cheesecake strawberries, and a spicy sausage queso dip.  My darling angel Walker was the best helper.  He decorated the backyard with streamers and flags and pretty much every other party decoration he could find at the Dollar Tree.

I was browning the meat for the queso dip on the stove and hollowing out the strawberries, and Walker wanted to help, so I asked him to cut up the big block of Velveeta into little squares to put in the crock pot.  This is the easiest recipe ever- big block of Velveeta, 1 lb of ground beef browned on the stove and then drained, 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes- put in the crock pot until melty cheesy goodness, and serve with Fritos.  So, I finished browning and draining the meat and took it over to the crock pot where Walker had cut up about 3/4 of the Velveeta, and the rest he made into a cheese family watching TV.  This was just too funny not to share!

Disney Surprise and Profiteroles

/0 Comments/in /by

We surprised Walker with a trip to Disney World this past week.  Corby and I have been planning this since before Christmas, and I was looking forward to his reaction more than to the trip.  We had it all planned out- we would pick him up from school and tell him we were taking him down to a plantation (he is doing a year-long project on plantations), and then we would surprise him when we got somewhere in Georgia.  Of course, last Tuesday night, Walker woke up with 104 fever and did not go to school on Wednesday but to the doctor, who pronounced that Walker had strep throat.  Fortunately, his fever was gone and we got him on antibiotics immediately, so we were still able to leave on Wednesday afternoon.  We still told him that we were going to a plantation, and finally, somewhere south of Savannah, Walker asked when we were going to get there- here is the video of his reaction- so fun- click here to watch disney video!!  Thursday morning we went to the Animal Kingdom, where Corby and Walker rode the Yeti Mt. Everest ride 3 or 4 times.  I sat and waited as I don’t do roller coasters.  We went back to the hotel for some lunch and pool time and then headed over to Epcot for some more roller coasters for Walker and Corby and more waiting for me.  Then we went to Les Chefs (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/les-chefs-de-france/) for dinner in France at Epcot.  I don’t actually remember what I had for dinner because I was so excited to order Profiteroles for dessert.  I had read Les Chefs was known for their Profiteroles, and I was beyond happy when they arrived, as they were so delicious.  I have found a recipe on www.joyofbaking.com that looks very good, and when I get more than 5 minutes of free time, I can’t wait to try to make them!  The rest of the trip was fabulous- lots more roller coasters and waiting.  Walker’s reaction and the profiteroles were definitely my favorite parts!

Choux Pastry

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs lightly beaten

Egg Wash Glaze:
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

for Choux Pastry:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven.  Lina a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, and salt.  Set aside.  Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and with a wooden spoon or spatula, quickly add the flour mixture.  Return to heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about a minute of two).  Transfer the dough to your electric mixer or hand mixer and beat on a low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough.  Once the dough is lukewarm, start adding the lightly beaten eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth sticky paste.  Spoon or pipe 12 mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing them a couple of inches apart.  Beat together the egg and salt for the glaze.  With a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the dough.  Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.  Bake for another 30-40 minutes or until the shells are a nice amber color and when split, are dry inside.  Turn the oven off and with the door slightly ajar let the shells dry out for a further 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wore rack.

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:

4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate cut into small pieces
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Chocolate Ganache Directions:
Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth.  Use
immediately. (The ganache can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.)

Filling:
Vanilla ice cream
To assemble- split the pastry shells in half, fill the bottom halves of the shells with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and replace the top.  Drizzle each profiterole liberally with warm chocolate ganache.  Serve immediately.

Heirloom Book Company, The Lee Brothers and Callie’s Biscuits Makes for a Perfect Night

/0 Comments/in /by

I went to a party this past Thursday night at Heirloom Book Co. for the Lee Brothers.  I worked for the Lee Brothers for a week in September while they were doing all of the food photography for their new cookbook.  I love the Lee Brothers- they are the best, and their cookbooks are amazing.  I pass the Heirloom Book Co. every day on my bike while I am riding to and from work.  How I had never been in this awesome bookstore that is “dedicated to the literature of food” is beyond me. But now I have been in, and I love it!!  First of all, the space is truly beautiful- here is a picture from their website (www.heirloombookcompany.com).  They have delicious cookbooks from all over and wonderful artwork that just makes the shop a place you don’t want to leave.  I took Walker with me to the party, and he thought the curtain rods, which were big, long rolling pins, were the neatest thing ever.  Not only was the space really fantastic, and the Lee Brothers were there, but Callie’s Biscuits (www.calliesbiscuits.com) was catering, so this was basically the greatest party ever.  I really can’t say enough good things about the bacon biscuits that were offered.  They had bacon, which just makes everything better, but also cheese- clearly a winner, and this cracked pepper and other seasoning dusting around the biscuit that made the biscuits (and I won’t tell you how many I ate) absolute perfection.  But, not only that, Callie’s Biscuits makes the world’s best pimento cheese.  So between all of these things and the super tasty gin and tonics they were serving, it was a very fun party.