A Very Good Daughter

Well, peeps, I did it and am reporting back, as promised! I made me a Farmer's Daughter cocktail and, I have to say, it was pretty damn good.

I followed the You Tube recipe exactly, however, there was no guide on the amount of ginger beer to add so I added about 6-8 oz. It was very tasty, but I think just a TAD heavy on the ginger beer. Or the ginger beer I have may be just a TAD more potent than the one they used at Woodfire because it was a little more gingery than I remember.

I will say, however, that anything you make yourself never tastes the same as the original. Like dishes my mom and Grandmother made. Maybe it's the little extra this or that. Maybe it is a different brand ingredient that's a little more or less intense. Maybe it's the love (esp. when it is a family dish). It's just never QUITE the same. But my version was quite good, and I think this drink will be quite the refresher on a hot summer's eve. It's sorta like a gingery Mojito. PS, the little green specks floating in it? Crushed mint leaves.

In other news, it may be March 17 today but it's more like May 5 up in my house! We have been on a Mexican kick this week and are having Mexican again tonight. Last night, we had the BEST nachos:

I roasted a can of whole kernel corn in a little olive oil then added a can of rinsed black beans to warm in the pan. On the sidelines, I diced up three small tomatoes, 1/3 a ginormous red onion (why does it seem red onions are always ginormous?!?!) and a handful of cilantro then mixed it all with a generous squeeze of lime (about half a lime), a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Then I mixed in the corn and beans then GENTLY folded in two diced avocados. I did use cheese on the chips, but the hubs and I agreed we didn't need it because the other topping was SO. GOOD.

I had started marinating some chicken for these same nachos, then decided I didn't need it, so tonight we are going to have chicken tacos and I will probably make some more of the corn-bean-tomato mixture, as well.

In other news, I am craving EGGS for some reasons--omelets, frittatas, egg salad, poached eggs--but, alas, my hubs does no longer love eggs which greatly impacts my culinary egg creations. He also does not like olives (craziness!). I, on the other hand, could (and may have) eat(en) a whole jar of olives. It's the only reason to order martinis. Tapanade with fresh brushchetta in the summer makes me want to live. Guess I will have to get a sister hubs who loves egg and olive dishes.

Well, I am off to start that dinner soon. Hope you all are having a great weekend. Poured like mad here this morning; now it's sunny and beautiful. Crazy spring weather. Later! B.

A Lesson in Shrubbing

I is **SO** excited. Today, I received my box full of shrubs in the mail. No, not the green things you plant in the ground but the culinary shrubs that you can use as drink mixers and for other foodie delights.

Specifically, I purchased ginger shrub, which is grated ginger that has been steeped in apple cider vinegar. You can make it yourself but the thought of grating ginger made my head hurt. And I found it online for a great price. But, let me back the story up to the beginning.

When we went to Woodfire Grill, you may remember I had THE. BEST. cocktail called The Farmer's Daughter. The bartender at Woodfire created it--and has won numerous awards for it. It is a sublime mix of muddled cukes and mint with vodka and ginger beer with a secret ingredient--ginger shrub. And the BEST part?? There is a video on YouTube where the bartender shows how to make. the. drink. Seriously. So, bitches, it in on like Donkey Kong. I have my shrub, my muddler is in the mail and I WILL be mastering that bitch.

BUT, when I first saw the video, I was like "W.T.F. is GINGER SHRUB?!?!" So I started searching on the Internets and read up on fruit shrubs and their uses. Then I found Tait Farm Foods who has a whole line of fruit shrubs!! BOO-YA!! I ordered three bottles of the ginger. That's how sure I am I will LOVES it.

Apparently, you can add shrubs to tea, sparking water, wine, and a whole host of drinks and dishes. You can basically make your own ginger ale with ginger shrub. And (read here LMSS!) the ginger, at least, is low in sugar. BOO-YA!

So, this weekend, I will be setting up shrub shop and making me up a Farmer's Daughter. Of course, I will be reporting back on how it goes. If it goes well, it's a spring cocktail party at Casa Bunny for all! You bitches bring the appetizers, I will supply a bathtub full of booze. Cheers! B.

Looks Like We Made It

Whew! I made it to the weekend peeps. And there are no bodies. Nor was there any alcohol poisoning. But I will admit that I had a drink every. single. night. last week. Not drunk. But a smooth-the-edges-of-my-frayed-nerves cocktail. And it was lovely. And kept me sane.

I also did a wee bit of new cooking this past week. The following meal contains two recipes I found on Pinterest: Slow Cooker Cube Steak with Gravy and Butter Dip Biscuits.

Let me just say upfront that both of these dishes were a semi-fail, but only because I did not follow the recipe. First, the steak, while very tender, was slightly overcooked and salty. I could not find the low-salt versions she calls for in the recipe and I amped up the Crock Pot because I gots a late start, but apparently I didn't need to because it gots all dark crusty around the edges. As far as the biscuits, I did not have buttermilk but proceeded without it which made the biscuits a wee bit dense. But they were tasty-ish. I will be remaking both of these recipes, properly, and will report back about what happens when you follow the recipe rules.

Today, since it was Daylight Savings Sunday, and I thought we could use a treat for losing a WHOLE HOUR of sleep (ridiculous! the whole thing is ridiculous!), I made cream cheese stuffed French toast, which I made up in my head. First, I bought some of this at the Publix recently:

It is Philadelphia Cream Cheese's new Indulgence line which is chocolate cream cheese. They have dark, milk and white chocolate flavors. It was on sale at the Publix and I had a coupon so I thought I would give it a whirl. Folks (no, I don't know who, just folks) are saying it is the "American Nutella." So, anyways, I had a shit ton of loaf bread, so I pulled out a few pieces and schmered one side fairly heavily with Milk Chocolate Indulgence and I schmered the other half with whipped (read: spreadable) regular cream cheese and smooshed the pieces together.

Next, I melted a few tablespoons of butter in my All Clad skillet, and whipped three eggs, two tablespoons of sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of milk in a pie plate. I soaked the cream cheese sandwich in the egg mixture, both sides, and placed in the hot skillet, cooking on both sides until golden brown.

Here it is plated, topped with sugared strawberries, and it was DEE-LISH-US. If you don't know what sugared strawberries are, basically you dice up fresh strawberries, toss them with granulated sugar, and let them sit. The sugar draws out the juice, and makes a syrupy liquid. Great over waffles, French toast, angel food cake, pound cake, ice cream, etc.

Other than that, this week was mostly about keeping my sanity so not a whole lot else to report. I am off to try to get the rest of my chores done so I can head to bed early and make back up some of that lost sleep. Hope you all are doing super-duper. Love and kisses, B.

Whiskey. Tango. Tuesday.

Good, Lord, you know what a BITCH of a day this was. I mean a we-overbooked-spay-neuters-and-didn't-finish-and-lost-a-public-dog-and-our-vet-tech-quit kinda bitch of a day. A my-boss-wasn't-there-so-I-had-to-handle-it-and-I-didn't-get-home-until-7-pm kind day. And I-am-on-my-second-but-not-last-cocktail kinda day.

Luckily, I am still clinging with both hands to the great memory of Saturday night when my wonderful hubs treated me to my Valentine's Day gift of dinner at Woodfire Grill in the ATL. I have been wanting to go to Woodfire every since Top Chef 2009 when Kevin Gillespie, Woodfire's executive chef, was on the show. He was wonderful. A big ol' ginger-beard, bacon loving, teddy bear.

2009, you may remember if you have been visiting BGR for a while, was the unfortunate year I was unemployed. Always a home cook, Kevin inspired me to up my game to home chef of sorts. Cooking classes. Better equipment. Trying new recipes and techniques. Not that I would even BEGIN to compare myself to KG, but he showed me that good cooking did not have to be fancy, just flavorful. It was about putting your heart into it.

So my hubs gave me the best gift because I have been wanting to go to Woodfire for 2+ years. And I was not disappointed. First, the signature cocktail....the Farmer's Daughter, a sublime mix of muddled cukes and mint with vodka and ginger beer. Must figure out how to duplicate. Then, the brussell sprout salad with prosciutto and pork belly. The salad was great; the pork belly I was glad I tried, but it was just like fancy, fatty bacon.

For entree, I chose the pork tenderloin, which was from happy, free-roaming piggies, served over smoked collards (slap your mother, good!) and grits. The hubs had fish which was cooked perfectly and served on a fennel-celery root slaw. Also fabulous. For dessert, we had the make-your-toes-curl Toffee Sticky Pudding. SO GOOD. 

Though the meal was not cheap, and I felt a wee bit guilty, I realized it's not about the meal itself, but the memory, which will be with me a long time. A good meal with a wonderful husband who choose an extremely thoughtful gift he knew I would love. And I did. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to meet KG proper.

PS, I took photos, but they were on my phone and not terribly good, so sorry I can't share those with you. For now, I am off to bed, and hope I will have good dreams after a bad day. Hope you all are well. XO, B.

Lawd, I Survived Leap Month

Y'all. February about broke me. So here we are, on the last day of the month. Well, for leap year, anyway. And I have made it. So much for March being the most cruel month. But I will tell you, if March is half the raging bitch February was, sign me up for AA now. Because I will be curled in a fetal position, drooling and clutching my vodka bottle by March 30.

First, right after my last post, I gots the flu. And, holy mother of pearl, was it NOT fun. I am not sure I have ever had the flu, but let me tell you, it is NOT fun. And I didn't even have a full-fledged flu. I had a like mini-flu. But I was still out of work three days and felt bad for another week.

Then, right on the heels of my flu, I rushed headlong into our shelter's (now) second biggest fundraiser of the year, which I had been working on for months. The good news is we raised $19K+, more than doubling last year's take. The bad news is I am too damn old for 19 hour days. I felt like a Mac truck had hit me for about three days.

THEN, right after that, I started getting a cyst. In a VERY sensitive place. I won't go all TMI, but let's say I finally went to have it lanced today and it was, by far, one of the top three most painful things I've ever experienced. I was freakin' keening, for God's sake. My lack of control was somewhat embarrassing, but it was excruciating.

So, you can see, NOT a fun February on the health and wellness side. But on the "count my blessings" side, there are some highlights from the month. First, I made several new recipes including:

Homemade Chicken & Dumplings

Individual Lasagnas

Chocolate Cobbler

All of these were dee-lish-us. Sorry the photos are crapola quality....I took them all on my phone. I also finished the final two books of the Hunger Games trilogy. I wish the ending had been a wee bit happier, but my sis and I have already made plans to see the movie opening weekend, and I am excited about seeing the movie.

Valentine's Day also was a great day....the hubs got me a beautiful set of costume jewelry and reservations to FINALLY go to Woodfire Grill, which we are doing this Saturday. SO excited. I gave the hubs two pieces of artwork:

I took this photo of a peony in our garden last year and my local folk artist friend Suzy Smith made the frame and did this special mounting/treatment to the photo. LOVE how it turned out.

And my folk art friend from Alabama made this custom piece for me...it's a bunny and monkey and has other special details to it, as well, that relate to our romance. Also LOVE how it turned out.

Well, peeps, that's all my catching up for now. I apologize for being gone so long and will try to do better now that February is behind me. I hope you all had a good month and are doing well. Peace and Bunny Love, B.

Pictures Speak Louder

Well, my photo taking has been shoddy at best of late, but I thought I would share some random photos of things from the past week that seem to be collecting on my cell phone. Here we go!

I have really been off drinking wine for quite a while. First, there was the disastrous gallbladder episode post-holiday season 2010 when I gorged on pinot noir. But, even more damning to my vino drinking, it is hard for me to drink a whole bottle before it goes bad (yes, really) since the hubs does not drink. And it is a sin to waste wine. However, I have had a hankering of late and decided to buy a bottle last week. It was this Toasted Head Cab. And it was quite tasty.

Encouraged and still having a hankering, I indulged this week in this Two Vines Cab. This one was good, but not as tasty as the Toasted Head. Now I will tell you that I choose my wines based on 1) price ($8-10) and 2) the label/name (has to be appealing to me). Yes, I also completely judge a book by its cover. I don't know why I have suddenly started going cab. Pinot noir is like a summer red to me, and I just ain't down with merlots right now. Any recommendations? Give me a shout in comments.

I have been driving my mom's SUV this week because we have had car problems. Charlie has been sans car seat. I took this photo of him last night on the way home. His chin resting on the door frame, looking wistful. I am totally going to have to wash the dog boogers and slobber off that window. But I love my boy.

 

This photo totally sucks but the recipe was new and delish. Cheeseburger flatbread melts. These are ridiculously easy to make and you can vary them with a Mexican version or Italian version....endless options. I served with iceberg wedge (bacon and ranch) and the whole meal cook time, start to finish, was about 20 minutes. Winning!

The shelter where I work is having a benefit auction fundraiser in two weeks (signal my panic attack). The benefit focuses on art and I went to the ATL today to pick up a piece of art from a folk artist I met at Folk Fest last year. I wound up having lunch with her and a friend of hers who made this necklace. I was admiring the necklace (it is impressive...about 2 inches square and quarter inch thick and just funky and cool) and the lady took it off and gave it to me! WOW! BTW, that's a print of a pig she painted in the background. Very kind gesture. Knocked my socks off. We had lunch at the OK Cafe!

I had not been to the cafe in YEARS but the food was as yummy as I remember. It's a retro diner vibe. They have been a staple in the ATL for about 25 years. Love the attention to detail on the pot pie crust.

Lastly, this was the sunset over the lake last night near my home. I took this on my camera phone. While driving. Pretty.

Well, I am off. I have to go read some Hunger Games and I am going in to work tomorrow to knock some stuff out for that auction I mentioned. Hope you all have a great weekend! Smooches, B.

Three Things I (Currently) Love

Okay, so since life is so boring around Casa Bunny, I figured I would think up three awesome things to share with you that I currently love. Ready?!? Here we go.

I love my new memorial necklace. After Pepsi passed away, I thought I would like something I could wear to remember she and her sister, Savannah...sort of a mother's necklace for those kids I have lost. I searched around on etsy and found a store called MuseKraft who makes these perfect little stamped charms. They were also a great price. When I received, I was extremely pleased....one is copper, one silver (color is off a little in the photo) and they are a perfect size (slightly less than a dime) ...delicate-y but not too prissy small. Just what I wanted.

I LOVE this newly discovered cleaning solution! I found out about it on Pinterest. I have espoused my love of Pinterest here in the past, however, I must admit that I was more than a little skeptical about this one. It was touted as a wonderful cleaner, esp. for soap scum. And, let me tell you, I have one of those crappy plastic showers that just seems to grow soap scum. The only way to get it passably clean is to use stuff that would practically melt the plastic and cause the hairs of your esophagus to burn off. But not now! Because this shit?!? WORKS!! And all it is is a mix of regular blue Dawn dish detergent and white vinegar. That is all! But it is fabulous. They call it Tub & Shower Magic. And IT. IS. MAGIC. And cheap. I had some Dawn I scored for $.50 and a $.89 bottle of white vinegar from the Publix so I though W.T.H?? Best decision ever. The only downside is your shower may smell slightly like a pickle factory.

I am currently reading The Hunger Games and loving it. I know these books have been out for quite a while, and I haven't avoided them because I had any real problem with them, but they just didn't show up on my radar. In part, because my TBR pile is so ridiculous that it has to be a special book to get in the TBR line. But in a short period of time, three people whose opinions I respect (my sis, a friend and a fellow blogger) all mentioned how they had read this book and how much they enjoyed it. AND since the movie is coming out in March, I thought if I was ever going to read it, now was the time. I am not that far into the book, but I am already hooked. My sis and I have already made plans to see the movie. 

I hope you have enjoyed my Three Things. I think I covered a good variety. :) I hope you all have a great week, and I will try to be back sooner rather than later. Smooches, B.