"...and they ate with gladness and simplicity of heart"
My 1883 copy of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, found for $5 at The Friendly Bookstore in Rogers, Arkansas I have waited so long for this day. It is here, it is finally here! Les Miserables is in theaters! Trailer after trailer I have watched for months. Taunting me of what is to come. Don’t mock me by a quick cameo of Russell Crow without him shouting/singing “My duty’s to the Law, you have no right, come with me 24601…” It’s frustrating. I want to hear it all, see it all. I ...
It’s cold outside and I thought you needed something to warm you up. How about a good belly laugh? You know the kind you want, that deep down kind of belly laugh that makes you forget everything else. The one where you laugh so *snap-bang* at something because you-get-it, you’ve-been-there, and you-want-more! THAT kind of belly laugh. You want it. You can taste it. You can get it. How? Pop on over to amazon and check out my pal Lela Davidson’s hot-off-the-press ...
Once upon a time, in a lazy mid-summer day filled with warm breezes and a belly aching for the deliciousness that was soon to come, I stepped into a dream world. A world filled with charm, character, and stories that made me want to never leave. Begging me to stay in this magical place forever or, at least until the dinnertime bell chimed. That dream world was the historical home, dining room, and kitchen of food blogger and friend, Beth Stephens,The Food Adventuress. Three hours of bliss ...
photo courtesy of David Gottschalk/NWAONLINE And it’s getting so arrogant and hoity toity and demanding that I replenish it more often. Shesh. Every Saturday the Arkansas Democrat Gazette highlights a favorite personal space in their HomeStyle section and my pantry (along with yours truly) was in the latest issue! It was a blast to be interviewed by Arkansas Democrat Gazette reporter Tracy Rogers and then photographed and filmed by nwaonline photographer David ...
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with traditions, joy, laughter, and a bounty of special foods. Best of all, I hope it was a special day of giving thanks for the blessings given to all of us, small and large. May we live every day with thanksgiving. Today marks one month since my last post. Sorry about that. I realized that many of you may not be following me on my Facebook page and may not be aware that my days are recently filled with a very sick dad. Every moment with him ...
For six months now we have temporarily lived in a rental while we determined whether to build or remodel after selling our home. The final answer was remodel and we are just days away from a home that makes my heart sing. For these six months our poor little ol’ freezer has not had the opportunity to make ice cubes for us. No water outlet = no ice cubes for us. Six months ago I remedied the situation by purchasing these silicon molds at Williams-Sonoma for super-large ice cube trays. I ...
Good morning! Remember when I shared with you the inside of my refrigerator? Don’t judge me but I believe a fridge is just another location in a home to decorate, reduce clutter, and even admire. Yes, a clean fridge and freezer can be an inspiration. I like to make mine look pretty and inviting. Do you? Did you know that Anthropologie opened up a shop in Utica Square in Tulsa? If you have never been, hurry (after reading this) and head on over to their website and browse for ...
Happy autumn! This is my favorite time of year. Is it yours? Thanksgiving dinner is right at one month away. Are your plans in place? This is going to be the first year we will not be hosting Thanksgiving in our home since, well, almost forever. Perhaps. My brother and sisters-in-law are adding an addition to their home and are excited about hosting their first family Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately, the remodel is taking longer than expected so we may end up hosting after all ...
Yeah, it tastes even better than it looks. Prepping these medjool date appetizers and grilling them until they are bubbling with fragrant aromas is so quick and easy it is almost a sin. The hardest part is stopping yourself from devouring them all yourself. Do you have a party with friends or a family get-together coming up soon? Why not make these? Grilled dates wrapped in {fake} bacon appetizer Source: nwafoodie (inspired by Table Mesa) Serves: 10-12 ...
For the past two months, life has looked like this for me: house purchase, remodeling, traveling, working, remodeling, working, planning a food blog conference, working, traveling, remodeling… wait… did I just say planning a conference? Yes! Actually, a half-day #FoodieFriday food blogger conference addition to an already fabulous blogging conference called AWBU (Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged), developed by the seriously light-hearted yet truly professional Beth, Julie, and Stephanie ...
In May I went to NYC to attend the TECHmunch conference for food bloggers. I was super-psyched to meet one of my favorite bloggers, Marissa from foodinjars. Marissa's site is dedicated to preserving and canning foods. If canning is on your one-day-I-want-to-do-that-list and you haven’t canned before, start reading her blog to get inspired or purchase her first and newly released book. I highly recommend both. Next, do something about… start canning! The time is now. Back in July ...
That's me, food styling a plate of white-colored and boring-looking food. That's Beth in the back... she has the fun plate of colorful fruit! Food. It engages our senses and most often simply the sight of a beautiful image of food hooks us. It doesn’t matter whether you are a food blogger or someone who just happens to eat. Think about it. Turn on the television and observe all the screaming ads for Wendy’s, KFC, breakfast cereals, and chain restaurants. Surely I am ...
Okay Northwest Arkansas, are you ready for my 2012 recommended list of the best local food bloggers? I have 5 repeat sites from 20ll’s list and 5 new sites for you to explore, discover, and fall in love with! Here they are {drum roll, please}... Our Everyday Dinners. Congratulations Amy, you are a repeat! Amy gave her site a complete overhaul this past year and it is smashingly beautiful! If you haven’t visited her everyday meals and healthy recipes and checked out the new look, go ...
I am so ashamed. Shamefully I scoffed at this kitchen gadget for years. Years! “Silly, silly, silly strawberry gadget,” I would smugly muse to myself. “Look how corny-campy you are, trying to be all look-at-meeee-I-am-a-strawberry.” Let me redeem my shameful self by letting you in on a secret. This strawberry huller, the StemGem, from Chef’n rocks. Yes, ROCKS! Recently we were at Alicia's, my sister-in-law, house. “Hey, Lyndi, want to use this strawberry huller and prep the ...
*** #6 Alicia, you are the lucky winner of the #BlacklistedFromThePTA autographed book or free kindle download! Congratulations *** Ready to celebrate? Independence Day is merely two days away, summer is in full swing, gardens are flaunting their abundant bounty and let’s face it -- every day in July is a reason to celebrate! July brings us another reason to celebrate because it is birthday month for Blacklisted from the PTA, a humorous essay book from local Arkansan blogger and ...
We hit the turn signal at Wagon Wheel Road off of Hwy 540 in Northwest Arkansas, dreams of freshly-picked peaches from Vanzant Fruit Farm dancing in our minds. Will they have white peaches? Free stone? Will it be air conditioned in this triple-digit weather? My anticipation was growing as fast as the growling in my stomach. Once on Wagon Wheel Road, we headed east, staying on Hwy 264 for a measly two miles. Two miles! Yes, it only took two miles off the highway to indulge in freshly ...
Roasted soybeans were the snack of choice in my household, growing up. I have fond memories of my mother driving to downtown Raleigh to Noah’s Food Coop in our 1972 white Toyota station wagon. In lieu of membership fees, Noah’s allowed members to work in the backroom. My favorite part was scooping out bins of wheat, soybeans, and brewers yeast into little plastic bags and securing with twist ties, as my mother penned the weight amount on the little white labels. It was a ...
