I Scream for Ice Cream

There is just something about summer and ice cream that go together.  My favorite kinds are peppermint, heath bar, raspberry rumble and when on Sanibel - Dirty Sand Dollar.

Last night I pulled out my ice cream maker and fired up my first batch (of many) for the summer.

Making home made ice cream is really easy.  I have a 4quart maker.  First you mix together:

2.5 cups milk
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2.5 cups half & half
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 cups whipping cream

Pack it all in the ice cream maker with a lot of ice and pour some ice cream salt over the ice...

Turn the machine on and 45 minutes later I have 4 quarts of yummy goodness.  I added heath bar bits to some...

And left one container plain vanilla (because I forgot to buy the peppermint pieces). 

Chablis just crumbled some oreo cookies over hers and declared it delicious!

Grab a spoon and come on by!

I'm Going on a Picnic!

I'm going on a picnic and I am going to do it in high style thanks to Tim & Robbin over at Appalachia & Beyond.   http://www.appalachiaandbeyond.com/2011/06/pic-nic-basket-winner.html

I was just telling my daughter that I thought it would be fun to get a picnic basket because I've never owned one.  Not 2 days later I saw a give-away posted over at Appalachia & Beyond for a picnic basket - can you believe that???  I think that picnic basket had my name on it from the start.

It's a beauty of a picnic basket all decked out in festive red, white and blue and stuffed with goodies - just in time for the 4th of July.  I cannot wait for my basket to arrive so I can head on over to my favorite place on Kentucky Lake - Cousin Hill. 

And since we spend so much time on the lake, as well as traveling all over on our geocaching excursions, I have a feeling this pic-a-nic basket is going to get a lot of use.

Hike on over to their site at http://www.appalachiaandbeyond.com/.   They have a wealth of information on East Tennessee and the surrounding areas, they do gear reviews, they have some stunning photos and they have an on-line store at:  http://astore.amazon.com/tandrbird-20.  

So thanks again to Tim & Robin for hosting such a great give-away.  I'll be posting pictures of my picnics soon!

How to Walk on a Fish Hook and Survive!

Ok, now that I've gotten your attention, let me explain that I don't mean a fishing hook.  This fish hook is actually a breakwater wall in Kenosha, Wisconsin that is shaped like a fish hook.  It goes wayyyyy out into Lake Michigan and today we did a geocache that was hidden out on the end of it.  Go here to see a copy of the geocache page:  http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6026342b-bb23-4690-b9bf-22aa516a0f23

Here's Lou and Chablis as we started the hike out to the point...

This geocache has a rating of 3 out of 5 for difficulty and 4 out of 5 for terrain.  I'll tell you one thing - these are some serious rocks out there....

Once we reached the correct location, which we found using our GPS unit, we had to climb down into the rocks to find the cache....

It was like a cave in there....

It was a perfect day to be at the lake - warm, sunny, light breeze....

Afterwards we wandered around the Kenosha Marina and enjoyed the sights...

We walked around the lakefront and grabbed a couple of more caches.  Can you identify them here?

Ok, that last one was kind of easy!  They are really re-vitalizing the lake front area of Kenosha and it is really pretty.  We saw this fountain that I just fell in love with...

We found another fountain dedicated to Christopher Columbus....

And of course we didn't miss a phooning opportunity!

An old time electric bus went flying by!  Believe it or not, this is similiar to the type of bus I rode in Chicago when I was a kid.  See the wires above the bus and the bar connecting the bus to the wires?  That's how they were powered.

We also checked out this beautiful flower garden...

Check out this gorgeous 1972 GTO - the girl posing next to it is pretty gorgeous too!  I want that car!!

This area of Kenosha is really nice.  I have to go back again some time soon because as we were leaving I spotted a Civil War Museum that I didn't know was there.

By then it was lunch time and we were starving, so we headed over to The Brat Stop....

The Brat Stop is famous in these parts for, what else???  Brats!!!  I had mine with red cabbage and american potato salad...  And a nice icy cold beer.

It was OUTSTANDING!
So that was how we spent our day - now isn't that an interesting way to walk on a fish hook?

Thank you Ms. Bake-It and Shellbelle!

A couple of weeks ago I entered a give-away over at Ms. Bake-It's blog.  Don't go to her blog unless you want to leave hungry!  She makes the most delicious looking dishes and her photos of what she makes will cause you to drool all over your keyboard!  Visit her blog here:
http://msbake-it.blogspot.com/

Anyway, guess what??  I WON!!  Insert photos of me doing cartwheels here if I had of photo of me doing cartwheels.

My prize was a $ 40.00 gift card to Shellbelle's Etsy shop.  You have to visit Shellbelle's blog because she has such interesting things to say and show us, like World Oceans Day when she hosted an online beach party.  She had my full attention at the words OCEAN and BEACH - 2 of my favorite words.  Visit her blog here:
http://www.shellbellestikihut.com/

So I won my gift card and I skeedaddled over to Shellbelle's ETSY shop at: 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/shellbellestikihut?ref=pr_shop_more

I immediately picked out a Driftshell heart.  And here it is.  It just arrived and I have to tell you, the photo's don't do it justice.  IT IS GORGEOUS!  I love it.

It is so finely crafted and sturdy.

And while I was browsing her store, I also purchsed this Driftshell photo frame.  Shellbelle makes these beauties with shells that she finds herself.  They are truly works of art!

Since I just got back from our annual "Girls Only" trip to Sanibel Island, I inserted a photo of us phooning on Cayo Costa Island.... You can read about "Phooning" here:  http://snugharborbay.blogspot.com/2011/03/do-you-phoon.html

Doesn't it look great?  Now I have to go buy a shelf for my front room so I can proudly display these 2 new beachy additions.

A heartfelt thanks to Ms. Bake-It and Shellbelle for my win.  You girls really made my day!

Mom's Ham Noodles

Mom makes really yummy ham noodles with the left over ham when we bake one.  Personally, I will make the ham just so we can have the ham noodles the next day.  If you'd like to give it a try, here's the recipe:

First, bake a ham - any size ham, just so you have some left overs!

Here Dad is chunking up some pieces and then throwing them into the food processor.  Grind it up until you have about 2 cups of ham.  It will look like this:

While you're grinding up the ham, boil a box of Creamette's small pasta shells and then rinse them with water and throw them in a large bowl.

Chop up a medium sized onion...

And then fry the onion in about 2 tablespoons of margerine until it starts to brown.  Add the chopped ham to the same frying pan, add about 4 tablespoons of margerine and fry until the ham starts to warm through and brown a little also.  

Toss the ham and onion mixture into the bowl with the pasta.

Then scramble 2 or 3 eggs in the frying pan.  I like lots of egg, so I always scramble 3 eggs, but 2 will do if you like.  Once the eggs are cooked through, toss them in with the ham and noodles, mix it up real good and this is what it will look like....

So there ya go - Mom's Famous Ham Noodles.  This makes quite a bit, but if you're anything like me, it won't last long.  Give them a try!

Grand Rivers, KY.

Yesterday we drove to Grand Rivers, KY. to visit Patti's 1880's settlement.  It's a really neat little tourist attraction complete with beautiful and lush gardens...

with charming little walkways...

A chapel...

Mr. Bill's Rose garden....

plus gift shops, a climbing wall, minature boat races, a miniature golf course and restaurants. 

They also have a petting  zoo where we saw several animals including this turkey who was not shy about walking right up to us...

And these peacocks... I love the colors!

The best part about visiting Patti's though is eating at her restaurant. 

They have the BEST pork chops, extra thick and super juicy.  They also serve loaves of bread at each table that were baked in flower pots and served with strawberry butter.  And if you still have ANY room left after a meal like that, then you can have a piece of her famous "Mile high pie!"

There is also a lovely memorial to Patti and her husband, Mr. Bill, who have both passed away. 

Grand Rivers if at the northern end of Kentucky Lake.  If you are in the area, you might want to stop and check out Patti's Settlement.  You can visit their website here: http://www.pattis-settlement.com/index.htm

After a meal like that we had to go fishing to work it all off...

That was a pretty decent day!