Pine Bark

red barn beauty

i visited a new friend and was captivated by his mindblowing red barn.  check out these pics!

pine woods

pine trees are something in a southerner’s soul.  the sight of tall trees against the sky, the spicy smell as you walk near them, the quietness of pine needles underfoot.  here’s some scenes from a rainy pine walk on the edge of a pasture.

bourbon sweet potato pie

for our holiday feast,  my contribution was sweet potato pie.  we ran out of vanilla so i added some

bourbon

.  i think that this will be my new standard sweet potato pie!

there was enough filling for one full pie and another partially filled pie.  glad that there was left overs.

click to read recipe

ingredients

1 pie crust, i used a pre-made crust

2 cups sweet potato puree

4 Tbsp brown butter, click

here

for instructions

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup sea salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

directions

-pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

-blind bake pie crust with pie weights

-remove crust and turn oven down to 375 degrees

-mix the rest of the ingredients together

-pour filling into pie crust

-put pie into oven and bake for 50 minutes at 375 degrees

-enjoy with some freshly whipped cream, sweetened with maple syrup

lovin' the rust

you have to realize, living in the south’s humid climate, you see a lot of rust.  you also have to realize that, for a southerner, the color of rust lies close to the heart.  after all, it’s the color you’re most likely to see in nature: pine needles on a forest floor, or a carpet of fallen oak leaves in autumn; red clay banks and red dirt roads; rusty tin and plowed fields - all that beautiful rust color.  that color speaks to us of old south, and we love it.  here’s a gallery of gorgeous rust to admire -

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crafting in the country

rebecca invited some girlfriends over for coffee, cookies, soup, and eggnog to hang out and do a little crafting.  who can resist colored felt?  she made a bare tree wall hanging out of felt, and everyone had a great time visiting and cutting out things to sew on the tree.  rinne’s mom, lucy, made a white possum hanging upside down.  now that’s a southern tree, for sure.

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baby alpacas

as we all know, the holidays can be so busy!  this sunday we needed to get out to the country.  my friends kat and susan invited us out to their farm to meet their new baby alpaca.  we had fun frolicking around with them.  it really doesn't get much better than that!

winter's bounty

our friend mandy made this arrangement the other day.   we couldn't resist sharing!

the 5 and 10 gingerbread house

our friend shae is the talented pastry chef at

5 and 10

.  every year she makes the most amazing gingerbread house.  take note of the details.  this year she featured the entire kitchen staff including hugh with his uni-brow and radish tattoo.