The Tale of a Christening Gown

Towards the end of my time up north, our son's girlfriend Haley asked if would make and smock a christening gown for her sister's baby who was due the end of October. That's an opportunity that any smocker would love to have. I was in a dilemma - the timing wasn't good for me. I was in the process of going back to Virginia, less than a month later our daughter Lisa was getting married and then 2 days after that I was leaving for Atlanta for the smocking convention. After spending some time talking with Haley and thinking about what I could do that would alleviate any stress on me, I proposed a solution. My friend and fellow smocker/sewer Judy from Alabama would sew the gown for me and I would smock it. Haley jumped on it and thought it was a great solution - after all I would STILL be smocking it and it would STILL be handmade and become an heirloom. Judy and I conferred about the design, a basic square yoke dress, and the size, able to fit a newborn. It would be made out of a drapeable silk with insertion laces and entredeux. There would be smocking on the short sleeves and mother of pearl buttons on the back. We ordered the fabric from Jan at http://www.bessiemary.com/ in Texas who was such an immense help with her suggestions for fabric (which we purchased from her) as well as the laces. She shipped it off to Judy and then Judy began sewing. As she was sewing, I was helping to finish up last minute details for the wedding. It was finished and mailed to me just before the wedding. I was able to bring it with me to show Haley and her parents, although still unsmocked at this point. When I returned from Atlanta, the smocking began. The silk was ivory in color and I smocked in tone on tone with a goldish color for accent, very rich looking and gender neutral. Finished it up, mailed it to parents and received the day before she went into labor. Mother, grandmother and aunt were ecstatic and loved it. Can't wait to see pictures of the still unborn baby in the gown. News flash----baby boy born Nov. 2nd at almost 10 pounds!!

Tapas Anyone?

Always looking to expand my culinary skills and new dishes into our household, I thought I would try making a tapa. Darrell and I went to a tapas bar in Frederick, Maryland a year ago (I think it was Isabella's) and we tried a few tapas. One in particular was outstanding. I have been on a hunt for that recipe ever since. Well I found one that came close to it - found it in a cookbook at TJMaxx for just $2.99. I grabbed my prized possession and headed home with it. The recipe I am referring to is an Asparagus with Aioli Sauce.

First you need to make the aioli sauce. I did mine in our blender but you could use an electric beater as well.

1 egg yolk,
2 garlic cloves (less if you don't like garlic because it is very garlicky)
1 tbs lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Blend well. Add in, drop by drop, 5 tablespoons of olive oil while you are blending or beating. Once it starts to thicken you can add in a steady stream. Then add in 5 tablespoon corn oil the same way. The sauce should be thick and smooth. If it is too thick for dipping, you can add in 1 tbs of water so that it forms the consistency of sauce - your call

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put 1 tbs of olive oil on cooking sheet (I put down aluminum foil first - easier clean-up). Snap end of asparagus spears - don't use too thin stalks, they won't hold up. Don't use too thick ones, too tough. Now, you can wrap the spear with half a slice of proscuitto (I didn't). Put the spears in the pan and cook at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

My variation was to bread the spears first. Don't use regular breadcrumbs. See if you can find Panko breadcrumbs, they are not as fine. I use the egg white, beat it up, rolled the spear in it, dipped in crumbs and then repeat it. Then I put the spears on the sheet to bake.

My spears were thin so I couldn't so what I wanted which was to put the sauce in a wine glass and then have the cooked spears sticking out. What I ended up doing was to lay the spears on a plate and then drizzle the sauce over.

These were gone in about 5 minutes. An easy to make yet delicious and different appetizer. Stay tuned while I make more tapas in the coming weeks.

Cuban Dinner

What to make for dinner....a dilemma that we all face. I get bored with the same old stuff and love to try out new recipes. Since I knew that I would be busy and it was chilly outside, I thought it would be a perfect day for a crockpot dinner. Now to find the right one. I wanted one that didn't have cans of cream of ___________ (fill in the blank) soup. I'm trying to eat a little healthier so that was a consideration as well. After flipping through different web sites I found it! Eureka...it seemed to fit my criteria. It is a Cuban chicken crockpot dish called Mojito Chicken. Looking over the ingredients I saw that it took a half cup of rum....hmmm, I don't drink much, was this going to be too strong or just the right punch. I decided to give it a try.

MOJITO CHICKEN
Ingredients
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
2 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon paprika
3 Tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic
2 shallots, thinly sliced
4 limes (used for zest and juice)
1/2 cup light rum
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 Tablespoons fresh mint, chiffonade
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
3 cups cooked rice
Garnish:
Fresh lime wedges and fresh sprigs of mint and the thyme.
Method
Season chicken breasts with cumin, cayenne, salt, and paprika. Place chicken breasts in 3-4 quart crock pot, add butter, garlic, shallots, 2 tablespoons lime zest, 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, and rum. Cover and cook on medium for 4-6 hours. Stir in cubed bell peppers, mint, thyme, and tomatoes. Cover and continue to cook for an additional 1-2 hours. Remove Mojito Pepper Chicken to serving platter with rice and garnish with fresh lime wedges and sprigs of mint and thyme.
Notes: If preparing this dish prior to work or a full day of activities, you may prepare the bell peppers, tomatoes, and herbs in advance. Then upon returning home, just stir these in to complete the preparation of this entree.
Number of Servings: 6

It was absolutely delicious and so easy. Of course, I had to make some Mojitos to drink to go along with this recipe. As far as the taste of the rum, there wasn't any and from what I understand the alcohol is cooked off. Let me know if you liked it.

Blue Ridge Parkway

After visiting Atlanta, we headed home. We wanted to take our time and enjoy our trip. So often we just drive from point to point and don't stop along the way. We left on a bright and a little cool Sunday afternoon. We drove out on Georgia and at our first exit in South Carolina, we got off the beaten path. We went on the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway. Stopped off at an Oktoberfest where we listened to an Oompa Band, ate kettle korn, a funnel cake and then walked around. We then went on a short hike to a waterfall that was a little disappointing because there wasn't much water. That evening we got as far as Henderson, North Carolina. What a neat little town that is. We went downtown and poked around looking for a restaurant to have dinner in. Believe it or not, we had 3 good choice for us. We ended up eating at an Irish Pub. I had Bangers and Mashers and Darrell had Irish Pot Roast. Both were excellent.

The next morning we got up and drove to Chimney Rock. I didn't climb up to the chimney, though Darrell did. I took the 26 story elevator up. I didn't ventured too far once at the top on the wooden planked bridge. Hey, there was nothing but air under the bridge and you know, heights is one of my many phobias. I sat and looked, a little. I did climb down the stairs back to the parking lot. We walked on a few of the hiking trails. It was in the 60's, warm, sunny bright blue sky and the leaves were in full foliage. Just a perfect day. As we drove along to get to the interstate, we passed a small little area that had a few shops and people sitting outside. We turned around, parked and looked around. We had found that we were in a little planned community of condos in an area called Black Rock. What a great, almost hippie type community this was. We had a great lunch to boot. Darrell had a blackened chicken, spinach and garlic mayonnaise wrap sandwich and I had a Shrimp Po Boy Sandwich. Then we were off again. While driving through Hickory we stopped at a Furniture Mart - not too impressed but we understand that there was a 20 mile stretch of furniture stores just a few miles away. We decided to skip it and keep driving.

Our stop for the night was at Mt. Airy. Now if any of you grew up in the 60's or are a fan of TV Land, then you know why Mt. Airy is important. It is the actual Mayberry of the old Andy Griffith television show. I kept whistling the theme to the Andy Griffith tv show and was excited to be there. We ate dinner at Goober's and although we did not go downtown, there was a Lucky Diner and Floyd's Barber Shop. Trivia Question: who was Barney Fife's girlfriend - character name- on the television show?

Up bright and early the next morning, drove to the North Carolina/Virginia border and hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway. My memory of it from decades earlier was that it was very windy and around many dangerous curves. NOT! It was a very nice road and the leaves were just so beautiful. I was so glad that we got off the interstate and made this drive. We drove by the famous Mawby Mill and took lots of photos. Got off the parkway in Roanoke,, had lunch at Panera and then were only 90 minutes from home. A great trip home.

Smocking in Atlanta

After the wedding Darrell and I went to Atlanta so I could attend my first every SAGA convention. For those of you who are wondering what is a SAGA, it is Smocking Arts Guild of America. I began smocking almost 25 years ago when Lisa was only a few months old. I smocked most of her dresses until she reached third grade and then she just didn't care for the clothes I made her. I accepted it and moved on to other things. About 10 years later when I was working in the schools, we had a lot of young pregnant teachers. Rather than throwing $10 into a pot to buy the teacher a gift, I decided that I would get a yard of fabric and smock them a dress instead. They all loved a handsmocked dress. I realized how much I missed smocking and how much I really liked it. I've never been real sure of my skills of smocking or sewing - it was fine for me but how was I really doing. The purpose of convention was to further the tradition of smocking and learning new skills. I promptly signed up for convention and on May 1st signed up for the classes that I wanted during the five days of convention.

I asked Judy to be my roommate, she agreed and it was now waiting time for October 13th to come. Darrell drove me down and then he went camping for a week while I was holed up in the Peachtree Westin (gee, sorry about that Darrell!!!). I took two classes with Gail Doane, a class with Judith Adams, and a class with Vaune Pierce. Some classes I felt that I was way ahead of the curve, others were just perfect and one I was behind the curve. The best part of the convention was meeting all the Delphi ladies. One of the groups on Delphi is for Smocking and Heirloom Sewing hosted by Robin. I have been a member of this board for about 7 years having only met two members in person. Although I didn't know most of the ladies in person, I felt like I knew them, and they of me. It was great putting a face and personality to a name on the board. They were and are a great group of ladies and I look forward to more conventions with them! If you want to "lurk" and check it out, here is the link: http://forums.delphiforums.com/Heirloom/start

The Wedding

What can I say about our daughter's wedding? As a parent you hope that it is all that your child wants it to be but realistic to know that something always goes wrong. You try to prepare them for that possibility. In this case, nothing went wrong and it was a fairy tale wedding.

Lisa was radiant in her dress and the big, broad smile never left her face. As she walked out of the Willow Manor Country Estate house, she locked eyes on Nate. No one else existed for her. Her father became very sentimental when he gave her away with love. They were surrounded with family and friends as they exchanged vows. As they were pronounced man and wife, there was a jubilant cheer among all of us. They walked back down the aisle to the strains of "All I Want is You" from the movie Juno. A little corny but just so perfect for their wedding.

Following pictures, the reception began. Willow Manor could not have looked any more beautiful as it did on this warm October night. The white table linens topped with navy blue table toppers with the silver plate chargers and the china looked beatiful with the hurricane lanterns and the large candle pillars with navy blue ribbons. They were on top of mirror squares with small votives surrounding them. Along the pool were many luminaries in white bags and then we floated candles in the pool. Picture Perfect!

Nothing makes a wedding a hit as much as the food and most importantly, the DJ and boy, did Rodney rock. We were all out there dancing as much as we could either by ourselves, our partners or anyone we could grab. At the end of the evening when the reception was just about over, everyone wanted to take up a collection and have Rodney stay and play more but the bride , after a long day preparing for the wedding, the entire wedding party and parents were tired and anxious to rest a little. We could not have asked for more for Lisa and Nate's wedding. Thank you Margaret, the owner and wedding consultant at Willow Manor Country Estate in Providence Forge, Virginia.

Getting ready for the Wedding

I went to Richmond on Friday to have a chance to go over some wedding details with Lisa and to take her shopping. We hit Short Pump Mall running on Saturday morning.We had a successful and tiring day. That evening we waited for her brother Chris to drive down; he was coming down to take photos of her at Maymount Park in Richmond - casual and fun wedding photos. When he arrived we went out to eat dinner at a wonderful Cuban restaurant called Kuba Kuba. Their Cuban pork with rice and black beans were delicious and enough to have several more meals from your doggy bag. Sunday morning we picked Chris up and drove to the park. Lisa put on her wedding gown and off we went. Thank goodness it was her brother taking the photos; I don't think she would have done half the things he asked her to do (can't tell you because I'd give away the secrets). We finished just before the rain drops began. After that, we had a marathon meeting at Willow Manor where the wedding will be. We thought we were on top of things but the wedding coordinator gave us lots to think about. We left on overload but do have a list to work through. I just can't believe the wedding will be in 10 days but more important - I can't believe our daughter is getting married. When did she become old enough to marry? What happened to playing make believe on a blanket in the back yard with Angela, tea parties with her daddy, wanting to cuddle with us at night. It really does seem like yesterday though going through all the different stages it seemed to last forever. We have been very blessed with our daughter (and all of our sons too).