A Peachy Way to Spend the Day

A perfectly peachy way to spend the day in N.C. My yield from that peck of birthday fruit we picked at Farmer's Market in Asheville. Six golden, glorious, globes! And they are truly delicious. We be jammin' now  :)

 

 

 

Happy Birthday from Asheville, North Carolina!

July 1st was a beautiful day for a birthday... mine!

 Lunch at the very cool Early Girl Eatery in Asheville, N.C., a stop at Farmer's Market for fresh peaches for jam I'll enjoying making. Our yearly dinner at the Jarrett House in Dillsboro. Saving the best for last, Bruce wrote a classical piece for me "Lynne's Largo." We savored his song on our deck back in Sylva at twilight.  I'm grateful for a full, rich b-day!

 

 

Abraham Louis DeMoss, Founder of Bellevue, Tennessee Grave Marking Ceremony

Along the trails of Tennessee today, in Bellevue, The Tennessee Sons of the American Revolution held a ceremony at the Old DeMoss Cemetery marking the grave of it's founder, Abraham Louis DeMoss. The TSAR Color Guard presented a three - volley musket salute, author/historian, Ridley Wills, gave a wonderful account of the DeMoss family and even held a Justice of the Peace book by Judge John Haywood - owned by Louis DeMoss, circa 1811. It was fitting salute to a solid patriot on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Bruce and I sang a song we wrote with Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver "Our Patriot Dream." We were honored to be a part. Bruce is playing his father's mandolin.

 

 

 

 

 

Playing "Our Patriot Dream"

 

 

With Ridley Wills and Nina Tackett

 

 

 

Awards Ceremony at Nolensville Elementary School

 

     Along the trails of Tennessee, on a clear sky day, May 15th, I presented The Declaration of Independence to Stanley Barnes, the third grader who won State and S.E. Division ( AL., FL., GA, MS., S.C., N.C., and TN.) in the Junior American Citizens Short Story Contest for his rendering of My Day with Ben Franklin. Stanley and his mother, Andrea, had already received the Certificate of Award(s) in a presentation at our monthly Fort Nashborough luncheon, May 8th. The Declaration of Independence was something extra to be presented again.

 

My friend, and Stanley's teacher, Jane Lauer (pictured below), is a good example of  a teacher who truly cares about her students. Teaching, to Jane Lauer, is more than just a J-O-B. It was a pleasure to be able to encourage the 18 other students in Mrs. Lauer's classroom after the school assembly by presenting each of them with a Junior American Citizen Certificate of Award for writing exceptional stories. All the children show amazing promise and imagination. It was a joy-filled event!

 

 

 

Nolensville Elementary School Principal, Paula Waits, reviewing Stanley's awards.

 

 

Andrea Barnes, Stanley Barnes, and me at our Fort Nashborough luncheon The University Club at Vanderbilt University, May 8th.

 

Springtime in Tennessee!





 

 

 

 

 

 

     The lines from the poem In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb certainly ring true over hill and dale in Tennessee.  

April, laying aside the pollen which so easily besets us, is beginning to show signs of life; a patchwork quilt of colors spread upon our once shivering state. S'wonderful! I am grateful for every robin, redbud, and leaves and blades in shades of green. I know Our Creator, God, reveals Himself through newness of life! S'marvelous... and so like the Lamb...that He should care for me!

 

All of this...and more in store along the Trails of Tennessee...!

  

Tennessee Society Daughters of the American Revolution (TSDAR) George Washington Birthday Celebration Luncheon

     Middle Tennessee is ever so slowly, with slightly clenched fists, sleepily brushing snowflakes from her eyes as she yawns and stretches and awakens from her long, winter nap. Thus, February 22nd was the picture perfect day to celebrate George Washington's 282nd birthday in a luncheon with Tennessee Society Daughters of the American Revolution (TSDAR) at Hillwood Country Club in West Nashville.

     As a proud Daughter and member of The Fort Nashborough Chapter, at the invitation of our Tennessee State Regent, Susan Thomas, it was a pleasure and privilege to be invited to share my National Society DAR award-winning song, " Be Like Abigail (Ode to Abigail Smith Adams)" with almost 500 hundred Daughters from the Cumberland District.

 



    While in the mountains of North Carolina over the summer I was able to read several books: George Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, 1776 by David McCullough (second read), and John Adams by David McCullough. Although I prefer David McCullough's writing style to Ron Chernow's, I found Mr. Chernow's book on Washington informative and well-researched (of course.) I came to admire George Washington's sense of destiny as he set forth working to become the husband, soldier, and man of integrity/leader of our fledgling country.

     In my research, I discovered George Washington's wife, Martha (see my earlier blog entry on Martha Dandridge Custis Washington), was kind and quite gracious to John and Abigail Adams - the first "power couple" to live in The White House (1800's.)

 

 

              I believe everyone enjoyed singing along with the chorus of "Be Like Abigail."

 

Although we do not have a photograph, I led the Daughters in singing The National Anthem, accompanied by my handsome husband and classical guitar virtuoso, Bruce Patterson, who arranged the song (and other partriotic pieces) for classical guitar.

 

At the risk of being redundant, I simply must show an up-close photograph of my brand-new, custom- made, patriotic guitar strap. I told them I needed it by February 22. Check out www.coolstraps.com

I love my new strap!

                                              

                                     Happy Birthday, President George Washington!

 

                                       We salute you along the Trails of Tennessee!

 





The Perfect Biscuit

 

In the spirit of thanksgiving, before I begin my blog, I want to acknowledge and thank every man and woman who serves in our millitary and every WWII veteran for their sacrificial love of God, home and country in remembrance of December 7, 1941, a day which will live in infamy.....Thank you, all.

 

The Perfect Biscuit

      I love biscuits. I love to make biscuits. Ask anyone who knows me well and they will tell you I have long been in pursuit of making that perfect biscuit. Along the trails of tennessee you'll find biscuit recipes in books, magazines, online, included as part of  King Arthur, Martha White and White Lilly (all southern soft winter wheat flours) flour bags, etc. Yet, isn't the very concept of "the perfect biscuit" an oxymoron? You say "potato" and I say, "potahto?" We all have our individual tastes (if you'll pardon the pun.)

Webster's Dictionary defines "perfect"  as: having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be. Yes! This is what I've been looking for in a biscuit! Yet, I discovered the answer to making the perfect biscuit lies where it does in any art form, be it cooking, baking, writing, and learning a musical instrument. Remember the reply to the musician who asked, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" The answer was simple, but not easy. The answer was - and is -'practice, man, practice!' So, you'll find the perfect biscuit... not in a recipe (although a 'tried and true' recipe helps.) You'll find the perfect biscuit by actually making biscuits. Like life, it's a process.

I have been too busy to blog regularly. One of the reasons is that I've been 'doing' instead of 'being.' With Thanksgiving a pleasant memory and Christmas a much anticipated celebration, I do want to post a delicious recipe for Salt-And-Pepper Biscuits included in my Thanksgiving Day Menu. This menu yielded some of the most delicious dishes we've experienced - including some Salt-And-Pepper Biscuits!:

Our Thanksgiving Menu

 

Roasted Turkey with gravy

Classic Dressing

Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans Almandine

Salt-And-Pepper Biscuits

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Blackberry Lovers Biscuit Cobbler

Bourbon-Maple Pumpkin Pie

 

 

Salt-And-Pepper Biscuits

      I am a long-time proponent of healthy ingredients; in what I eat and with what I put in my food.  Aside from our occasional "date-night" search for a fun, new restaurant (and Nashville has plenty of these!), my husband, Bruce, and I much prefer dining at home to dining out. This way we know what's in our food...namely, no lard in our biscuits, or hydrogenated ingredients in our food. In short, I would rather pay the farmer than the doctor.

 

      I started cooking the Monday before Thanksgiving Day but made the biscuits "the day of" because I was trying a new recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine... and planned to tweak the ingredients slightly.

 

One of Bon Appetit's ingredients in this biscuit recipe calls for all-purpose flour. After much "biscuit-making trial and error," having already given up on all-purpose flour with its varying measurements of baking powder and baking soda, I choose King Arthur's Self-Rising Flour. King Arthur Flour is a trusted name, a good, healthy product...and it works! I found sour cream an interesting approach in making "the perfect biscuit."

 

Salt-And-Pepper Biscuits

 

3/4 cup sour cream

4 Tbsp. heavy cream, divided

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp.sugar

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

2 cups King Arthur's Self-Rising Flour

6 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into pieces

 

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Whisk sour cream and 3 Tbsp. heavy cream in small a bowl. In a large mixing bowl add flour, salt, sugar and butter and, with finger-tips, combine butter until it's resembles the texture of coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Using a spoon, mix sour cream mixture into the flour, then gently manipulate (knead lightly) a few times until a shaggy dough comes together. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about 3/4 inch thick. Using a 2 inch cutter, cut out the biscuits. Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush tops with remaining 1 Tbsp of heavy cream; sprinkle tops with more kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve. Slather with butter, or, I use Earth Balance, an organic buttery spread made from plants.

*These biscuits were tender on the inside and just short of crunchy on the outside. The kosher saltiness made them interesting - along with the tang of coarse black pepper. I must admit, though, I like my biscuits with a little more " rise." Wish I had taken a picture...

                                                                      
                                                                             Happy Baking!