Owls

I am a Chi Omega Alum and that means I love owls.  I painted this canvas for a sweet new initiate.  I had to share it with you.  I thought it turned out kinda cool.

A Mother's Day Made of Food

My Mother's Day was actually a weekend full of eating!  My mother, sister and grandmother came into town to visit.  I shall take you on a journey of amazing food...it's worth reading simply due to enjoy dreaming about the deliciousness of what we savored.  We indulged...we were gluttons.  I confess.

Saturday we decided to go for what I consider to be one of the ultimate places for lunch in our joyful little town. Hammon Trees.  This is a locally owned restaurant in downtown Fayetteville.  It's all Dickson Street.  That means you will see all that this precious city offers.  The quirkiness of the city...people who are silly, people who cool....  You can sit outside on the patio on a gorgeous Northwest Arkansas day and enjoy the breeze, drink a Boulevard and eat!  We didn't enjoy a beer Saturday...but we did the next best thing...we...ate...the BLUEBERRY GRILLED CHEESE!   Let me explain. 

First, I ate my usual turkey salad.  Yes, I am easy to please for lunch.  I want their turkey salad with their homemade ranch.  It's yummy, simple and fresh.  But, I want to convince my sister (who is a chef) and my mother to order one of their amazing, gourmet sandwiches. I've had most of them at one point and time on the menu.  They both chose the caprese.  My grandmother had the ham and cheese.  Starling had a cup of black bean tortilla soup and Virginia nibbled on a classic grilled cheese.

The menu at Hammon Trees is super cool.  Here's a link!  http://hammontreesgourmet.com/ They have funky sandwiches, but their claim to fame is their grilled cheese.  You keep seeing a common theme...the word cheese?  It's on purpose.  Check out their menu. 

We all shared a blueberry grilled cheese for dessert.  I got two teeny bites...TWO I TELL YA!  It went lickety split before I could reach for more!  This dessert is layered with buttery pound cake, honey, blueberries, cream cheese and mascarpone cheese.  It's so good.  We should have ordered two...maybe three.

That evening my sweet husband grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for us.  What a guy! 

Sunday morning was the best meal of the entire weekend. 

My grandmother is one of the reasons I love to cook.  She is a gem in the kitchen and can just add a little dab of this and a little dab of that and it all just comes together. She got up Sunday and made us homemade biscuits and chocolate gravy.  If you've not ever had chocolate gravy, don't gag at the thought.  It's not an acquired taste, it's amazing...give it a try.  Unfortunately, I can't share the recipe with you on here, because I don't know hers.  She just tosses this and that in a small pan and makes it work.  The times I've tried to make it, mine has turned out to be more like warm pudding than gravy.  I'm convinced she just holds a secret Billie cooking power.  (The same thing happens when I try to make her fried chicken.  I follow the recipe, but it NEVER tastes like hers does.)  I do know that it's mostly made up of cocoa power and sugar. 

Her biscuits are heavenly.  They're made with self-rising flour, by hand and she uses an old soup can to cut them out.   They're light and fluffy, but crunchy on the outside.  I always go for the ones in the middle of the pan. 

The photos are of her and my girls making biscuits together.  I hope her love of cooking rubs off on them.

Since we had a big breakfast, we ended up eating a late lunch/early dinner. 

We splurged!  It was Mother's Day.  I'm milking the event for all it's worth. 

Our last stop for the weekend was Noodles Italian Kitchen.  http://noodlesitaliankitchen.com/ Noodles is locally owned in Fayetteville.  We've been coming there for years.  It opened back when I was a sophomore in college.  (I'm really telling my age here.)  My girl's love it because they can color on the table tops and eat bananas foster.  My husband loves it for the fettuccine alfredo.  I love it for a few reasons...my number one reason (I sing loudly here) THE HOMEMADE LASAGNA...the other is the artichoke spinach pasta.

The lasagna is made fresh every day and it shows.  Enough said.  Nothing more to say.  The meat sauce is perfect.  Not spicy, not too tangy or sweet.  It's perfect. 

I am not a chef.  I am not a food critic.  I like to eat. I like a place with a great atmosphere where I can sit back and laugh. 

I just wanted to share what we ate so you might go there if you are ever in Fayetteville. 

Do you have a hometown restaurant you savor?  Noodles and Hammon Trees are just two of Fayetteville's gems.  There are tons more.  Gosh I love this town!

A Jeep & The Memory of Mike

There is a window from my childhood I don't remember.  It was tragic and sad.  My father died suddenly when I was 8 and I guess his death was such a dark time for me that forgetting was a way for me to just move past it.  I don't remember a lot about him, mostly what I do is from family and friends telling me; but over Easter weekend, I had a vibrant memory from my childhood awaken within me that helped me remember something extremely special I had shared with my father. 
         I was able to see it through my own children.  It all happened with a Jeep.

My father was an outdoorsman.  Not just the kind that occasionally hunted or fished.  It was a way of life for him.  My mom says he would take off for camp...weeks at a time.  He didn't spend Thanksgiving with the family.  He spent it at Starling Camp. 

He anticipated deer season, turkey season, muzzle loader season, bow season...you name it...he knew when it was.  There are three distinct smells I recall from him: 1. diesel fuel 2. pine trees and 3. the smell of gun powder.  He drove 2 prized rides: a white Ford pick-up truck and a 1976 burgundy Jeep.

Daddy passed away in 1986. 

My mother gave the jeep to my uncle Roy shortly after daddy died and thankfully he kept it in excellent condition. 

Last Saturday while we were down visiting over the Easter holiday, my girls were playing outside with Roy when he offerred to take them for a ride in the jeep.  I didn't think anything of it at first.  Roy walked over to the shop, started the jeep and drove it out for us to see.  It took my breathe away.  I hadn't seen it in that condition since daddy had been alive.  He had gotten new tires on it, recovered the seats and had replaced the top and doors.  My girls rushed over and hopped in with huge smiles on their faces. 

One of my best memories of my dad, was riding in that jeep with him...just the two of us...no top on or doors...he was wearing an old black cap with his crazy hair curling up out from under the cap (that looks exactly like my sister's today)...and a black work shirt and dirty jeans.  We were headed into town on the highway just passed mammaw's house.  As we came around the curve into Sally White's house, his cap flew into the air out into the pasture.  I thought that was just hilarious as a 7 year old!  He stopped the jeep and ran out into the field to fetch the cap. 

As I saw my girls ride away with smiles on their faces with Roy behind the wheel last weekend, I felt my father watching us.  His spirit was with us that day.  He was happy we were sharing this part of him with my girls.

The Story of Sada

My mother tells me she originally was going to name me Sada. So I came up with the idea one day to tell my girls stories about a little girl named Sada, each night before they go to bed. Let me just say that this has become a HUGE PART OF THEIR DAY. My daughters have their own ideas and independant views about a little girl named Sada. I am tickled at how excited they are about her stories and adventures. Let me tell you how it all began....

It started 4 months ago. Each night before they go to bed, I tell them just a little bit about Sada. They have their own room, so I usually share the exact same story and they're only a few minutes long. Sometimes I don't even have anything planned before I walk in there and sit down beside them...the story just comes to me as I tell it....about a little girl....who was a lot like me as a kid...with a few exceptions.

Sada only wears dresses. She doesn't wear shorts or pants, only dresses.

She wears socks with sandles. Her sandles are white, with flowers on the toes.

Her socks come to her knees. She wears them pulled up to her knees on Mondays.

She wears her socks folded down to her ankles on Tuesdays.

She wears her socks rolled down to her ankles on Wednesdays.

Her skin changes colors, depending on her mood.
When she's happy...she's blue.
When she's angry....she's green.
When she's sad...she's yellow.
When she feels shy....she's red. Her skin is kind of like a mood ring.

Sada's favorite food is spaghetti. Her mother always makes it for her on Monday's. Sada eats it in a big bowl and with a slotted spoon. She likes for the noodles to slip through the holes. She also likes to slurp her noodles. Now Sada knows that it's not good manners to slurp...BUT...her mother and father allow her to slurp her noodles because Sada has extra good manners on everything but noodle slurping on spaghetti nights.

She helps set the table.
She puts her napkin in her lap.
She waits until everyone else at the table gets their food before begins to eat her own.

Before she leaves the table, she asks to be excused.

Enough about the fictional Sada. You want to know how this has affected me? Now my girls use good manners at dinner! But they also want to slurp noodles every chance they get. They talk about Sada all the time. "Mom...would Sada wear this?" My 4 year old asks me in the morning. It's my own fault I told her about knee socks with sandals. What was I thinking?! I must be more careful when designing a fashion-forward character...right?!

I told one story last night about Sada taking a bath with her swimsuit and goggles on, in a bathtub full of bubbles...and tonight, Ginny Grace came into the living room ready for bathtime in her pink swimsuit and green goggles! ** Note the cute picture to your right.

Motherhood is the most fun thing ever. There is nothing that can top it. There is nothing I would rather do or be. Adding Sada Stories to the journey are an unexpected addition for us Ledbetter girls. I'll let you know where we end up.