After church Chloe and I loved picking the garden...WOW!

I wish I understood Blogger...Chloe took this after Whit
and Stella came over after church, they left in 30 minutes
because it was "boring over here", Stella said.  Chloe actually
was happy with that response so she could quickly get Biscuit
 into this outfit for another IMovie she's working on...
Believe it or not, Biscuit doesn't mind....I'd mind, just sayin....

The Kale I bought at Hay's quickly got in the ground...

We love letting the ladies out ....

I have to say that I have A LOT of Zinnia's coming up late...

The reason I Googled Pickling Jalapenos....too bad I was
missing one ingredient dang it!

Chloe's favorite staple is the old PB&J..

Last week, Kara and I had a post church lunch for Bettie Cooper,
Jackie and Martin's cousin who's spent the summer here writing,
reading and enjoying solitude.  We hardly saw Bettie at all but
we wanted to socialize before her fall departure.  Here's
Bettie Johnston Cooper, Jim Shaver (Winnie Bob's brother), Kara,
Jackie (way back there) August, Martin, Chloe, Whit and Stella.
Not pictured was Harmon

At church today, Dr. Mitze Minor (who baptized Chloe and is
a professor at the Memphis Theological Seminary) was our
guest minister today as the church is looking for a full-time
minister.  This was a BIG and great children's sermon and fun to
listen to as Maggie Neller, who's 3, had a lot to say....
Stella, Trevor Boone, Whit Smith, Austin Boone, Seth Poindexter,
Katie Bradshaw, Linton Bradshaw, Eli Boone, Julia Shepherd and
Maggie Neller....so fun to see so many young people!

The zinnia's I cut after church.  Is it just me or
are there a lot of zinnia's about to bloom this year?
It seems that we have a ton of new blooms, I
just hope it gets warm just enough to let the young
ones bloom.

If only I kept pickling salt on hand...I'd
have had a pint of my own pickled japs
that I could use this winter/spring.  Ken
Johnson gave me a big piece of advice at
church recently, "you've already eaten some
of your pickles?", "Yes", I reply.  "Well
you're not very smart.  They're only best after
many, many months of sitting in the pantry". If
only I got this message way back since I only have
3 jars left....I've made a mental note for next year

Sunday, September 30, 2012

3rd Annual Big Dam Bridge 50 mile Bike Ride yesterday, Little Rock
 Martino, Kara, Jackie, Polly, Cecelia, Bob and Adam.
All members of the BBC, the Birdeye Bicycle Club

Happy Birthday Gary! My step-dad is having a birthday today, he and mother are in San Antonio for the 2012 World Skeet Championships.  I believe they've been going to this world-ranking tournament for 15 years.  I sure hope he had a great birthday and missed NO shots!  His Oklahoma car tag does say, "2ATLOW8" which I think means a really good score.  Obviously, I don't shoot skeet..:)  Gary and I have been close since they got married.  Thanks Gary for being such a great step-dad or DAD! :)

Okay, so we're unpacking from our 3rd Big Dam Bridge Bike Ride, doing the 50 again and I had to snap shots of the garden picking that Chloe and I gathered (and planted) this afternoon.  We had a wonderful service today at the Wynne Presbyterian Church by Dr. Mitze Minor, she baptized Chloe nearly 10 years ago and we were so glad to have her back.  Chloe really wanted to take Julia Shepherd with us to church, so we took her for a Hay's donut and a short grocery list then on to Sunday School.  After church, CoCo and I battled over piano practice and she locked herself in her room.  I think I remember the same type defiance in Junior High and I'm certain it won't be our last head to head battle.  And she plays so beautifully too I might add....

Chloe and I picked about 30 fresh japs out of our garden with the eggplant, tomatoes and peppers.  I was so excited to have such a harvest.  I went online to figure out if I had the ingredients to can all those japs but I was missing one stinking item and a key one, the pickling salt, dang it.  So I've cut them up and are storing them in an airtight container for this week.  I sure hope to have some for canning next year.  I don't think it'll get warm enough this fall for a quart of japs outta my garden.

While at Hay's, they had kale plants on sale so I grabbed three and quickly got them in the garden.  I am looking forward to another fall harvest.  Cecelia Killough had Chloe and I plant garlic this fall (instead of spring) and I added a late garden of tomatoes planted and some spinach and romaine are coming up now.  Yay!

I went ahead and added some photos over the past week too just for fun.  Happy Fall Ya'll! :)

Peels, New York

Our last lunch in NYC, Tammy, Cecelia, Kara and Tanya

We loved Peels!!

Ryan made sure that we had Sunday Brunch at this Regional, American restaurant located on the edge of SoHo.  On the way to Peels, we all enjoyed studying the subway map and realized what SoHo means, it means south of Houston.  There are so many burroughs and neighborhoods in the city like East Village, Little Italy, Chelsea, Tribeca, Manhattan and so on. Our hotel concierge told us to get off the subway at Prince street but Cecelia and I just knew it was going to be quicker to get off on Spring so we did and got to walk right through SoHo and totally enjoyed it but we had about a 10 block walk to the restaurant.  We weren't late believe it or not!

Peels was a really neat and packed restaurant when we arrived for our 11 am reservation.  We were short one person and they tried to cram us 5 in a 4 person booth but we soon got a chair on the end that I quickly took because I was the shortest person in our group.  Since we had such a walk from the subway we were all hot and sweaty and quickly sucked down serveral refills of water.  They had little glasses and gave everyone one giant ice cube per person and left a milk style bottle on the table for refills.  We had that thing refilled I bet 6 times during our brunch.  I was in the mood for lunch and ordered the Veggie Sandwich which was a great decision because of the awesome bread it was served on and the marinated tomatoes, basil and smoked mozzarella made it so good.  I had the house made tasso potato chips that were light and crunchy.  I shared them and they were gone by the time I had my bloody Maria.  Yes, I wanted to try their spicy bloody Maria made with Jalopeno Infused Tequila with bloody mary mix.  A note to self, they don't serve alcohol until noon on Sundays.  So I sipped that deliciously spicy Maria while the others shared 2 large desserts, I think one was banana cream pie and then a chocolate sundae.  I am pleased to say that the ladies room was in perfect shape.  One thing I will say, which is rare on this blog, we had kinda good kinda not so good service.  We were ignored at first and kinda ignored at the end.  Just sayin.

But I loved Peels and its extensive menu and that HOT bloody maria.  They had neat tables outside on the street too that were filling up when we were leaving.  Be sure to get a reservation at Peels, you won't be disappointed!

Peels, 325 Bowery, New York Check out their website: http://peelsnyc.com/

Fuel Cafe, Memphis

Cooper Young 4 miler, Michael, Kara, Martino, Jackie, me

Beth and Stan invited us to their lake house, the kids
had such a great time!  Stella, CoCo and Whit

Katie, Reece and August gettin ready to fish

Whit loved jumping off the dock

At Kara's first 2012 birthday party (yep, there are 2 more...:)) at
the farm, Chloe pointed out the newest addition...a newborn
black miniature donkey...it's the cutest thing!

Friday, Sept. 14, 2012

Oh the Cooper Young 4 miler run is a total blast!  Jackie and I did it last year and we picked up 3 more to do it with us this year, Martino, Kara and Michael Hirons.  Shannon took our pic, she's just gotten clearance to get active again, I hope she'll do the run next year.  I love the community spirit of the Cooper Young festival which was the next day.  The run had about 2,000 runner and the winner finished that thing in under 21 minutes, that's blazing fast!  I did that thing in 41 minutes and placed 1199 for the whole thing, that's a snail's pace I say.

Kara picked the Fuel Cafe on Madison for dinner and it was mighty fine I might say.  When we were leaving the finish line area, we noticed the Soul Fish Cafe was empty, Jackie was sad we couldn't grab a table for our group but we got separated on our way to the car.  Anyhow, the Fuel Cafe was winding down when we got there at 8:30.  They were out of the Scallops, the Vegan special and had one vegetarian enchilada that I was lucky enough to have.  I'd say that's a sign of fresh ingredients and a busy restaurant.  Those enchiladas were one of my favorite dishes, it boasted corn tortillas filled with beans, brown rice, cilantro, queso fresco and chunky vegetable sauce $10.  I loved that thing!  I also ordered an appetizer...yes Kara and I were the ONLY appetizer orderers in the group!  I ordered a small plate of the ceviche tostadas $12 with scallop and shrimp with avocado and romaine.  It was light and really fresh. Kara got a dessert but I cannot remember what it was.  We had great service and the food came out in no time.  And a note to self, the place closes at 9:30 weekdays and 10:00 on Saturdays.   One neat thing about the Fuel Cafe is that they are part of Project Green Fork: Project Green Fork contributes to a sustainable Mid-South by helping reduce environmental impacts, with a focus on strengthening homegrown restaurants.  

I copied that from their website.  Give the Fuel Cafe a try, I think you'll love it.  And the restroom was in perfect shape in case you wondered....

Fuel Cafe, 1761 Madison Ave., Memphis 901-730-1916  http://fuelcafememphis.com/ Check out this website!

Another Birdeye Update 9-9-12

I cannot believe Blogger is uploading these photos this way...
This is Chloe leading today's worship service at her
Memaw and Grandad's house....she did great.

She helped lead everyone with their own
flag with their name on it....so cute!

Stella competing with a fellow Presbyterian in the
Presbyterian Olympics

Here's Whit trying to out run the Boone's...

Grandad bought Chloe and Whit some turkeys and they
got big QUICK...they've also had some murderers in the
pen that they have to worry about...they lost some chickens
 and turkeys 2 weeks ago and a month ago...Which reminds
me to make sure my gate is closed so we don't loose chickens
to stray dogs and so forth...on the left there is a male turkey
 and behind him at your 12 o'clock is a rooster that loves to
strut around the farm....

Sunday morning getting ready to ride...

The Midsouth Kids Triathlon gave a donation to the Wynne
Marlins Swimteam who helped us put on a safe and fun event!

The Boy Scouts and Dr. Trent Beaton also helped with our
kids Triathlon, they were KEY in the transition area and we
gave them a donation as well, many, many thanks!

Chloe had her first soccer game of the season.  She didn't
want to do soccer but it was a choice of soccer or volleyball
and she chose soccer.  I'm sure it'll be a long 8 weeks

I loved that Whit's team was in the next field...he's on an
6-10 year old team and Chloe's on the 11-15 team...he kept
watching her team play, he's so sweet and we're so lucky
Chloe has her "little brother" (or cousin) next door....

When Martin noticed Memaw and I sitting
in between Whit and Chloe's fields he was right
on over with Stella and August who were freezing,
memaw got Chloe's barbie blanket outta my car to
warm up these two who fought over the water bottle
and M&M's...we need some fighting over here!

After soccer, Chloe had a YAC meeting, which
is the Youth Advisory Council for the Cross
County Endowment Fund which I am so
grateful that she was asked to be a part of, then
she had Maggie's 11th birthday partee, we didn't
stay long but Chloe had a good time, she and
Maggie have been sweet friends since
pre-kindergarten.....

Our annual Wynne Presbyterian Church Sunday School Kick
off was today, we try to ride every year to Memaw and
Grandad's which is about 5 miles from our house.  Jackie
was in Chicago this weekend for the Northwestern vs.
Vanderbilt game (which they lost)...here's Martino meeting
us at the four way for the ride to Pleasant Hill....

August was ready for the ride to church...is
that a bottle with a nipple Kara...he's almost
3 right....???? lol!

Chloe's soccer game, she's right in the middle with blue
shin guards that are from the 1st grade (I'm such a bad
mother) with her yellow socks climbing down her leg

Here's Stella, Whit and Kara waiting at the 4 way

Stella had some short legs on the route so I took Chloe
and Whit on to Memaw and Grandad's

Here's church at the farm, Julia Shepherd, Hayes Martin and
Linton Bradshaw in Memaw's sandpile

This is one of the highest hills in ALL of Cross County,
Chloe walked her bike up, Whit walked some of it but
here he is coming up so he can pee on the side of the road,
and I have to say that David Reagler's Pro Flex and I made
it up this hill with ZERO stress and it was SO EASY I had
to brag this morning to Kyle about how easy David's bike
was.  He said his ride on to church at Memaw and Grandad's
was no picnic because he rode his purple Schwinn with one
ring, no wonder Kyle!

This is coming into the farm from Hwy 364..I don't
understand Blogger's photo uploading system

This is along the gravel road right off 364
That's Chloe up ahead....

Here's Julia Shepherd and Katie Bradshaw in the sandpile

Sunday, Sept 9, 2012

I just know all of you would like to know what we did all weekend.  Jackie was in Chicago for the Northwestern/Vanderbilt game, Chloe and I were busy with soccer, Endowment Foundation of Cross County's Youth Advisory Council meeting and Maggie Miller's birthday party then I hosted a bike ride at 4:30 pm on Saturday.  Sunday we rode with Martin and Kara and all the kiddos to Memaw and Grandad's for the service that kicks off Sunday School at Wynne Presbyterian Church.   It was a ton of fun and great for our church, we had 19  kids today!  The future of our church looks great!

9/11 Memorial, NYC

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012

I've been wanting to see the 9/11 Memorial since it opened last September.  It's free but you must get your ticket online with exact names of who will be seeing it.  There is a ton of security guards, xray machines just like airport security and you have to show your ticket 3 times before entering the memorial.  If you get the chance to go, you get to pick what time you are going to see it and they give you 30 minutes after your time to get there, which Kara and I needed since we walked from Peels that morning near SoHo.  (Do you know what SoHo stands for?  South of Houston, thought you'd like to know that little piece of information!)  There's a building you can see behind my photo of the south pool that has some of the steel from the original towers, you can see the steps that looks like it goes down into the basement or parking or somewhere.  It's not open yet but looks to be equally moving.

The pools are really moving with all the victims names around
each pool....this is the south pool

They are rebuilding the towers

There is a huge grassy area with benches and places to
reflect...there is a sign at the entrance that reminds visitors
that it was sacred ground and to view it with respect but
several people around us were telling stories and laughing
and when we were up near the south pool there was a lady
back behind it in tears...it was really moving

There will be 5 new towers, the 9/11 memorial,
a transportation hub and a performing arts center
at the new World Trade Center, amazing!

The Muse, New York

The Muse

Across the street 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Another shout out to Cecelia Killough who found The Muse online and booked us rooms for $130/night.  We loved this boutique hotel which reminded me a ton of the Madison in Memphis.  I may have to use the old Kappa theory of Pro, Con, Pro that way when you debate you start out with a positive then tell a negative fact and end on a positive note.  So for this blog on The Muse:

Pro: Very Chic and new accommodations
Con: No complementary breakfast
Pro: Excellent nightly wine reception

Pro: Affordable rates when split between 3 people
Con: No snacks with the wine reception
Pro: Complementary coffee every morning starting at 7 am

Pro: Very safe area of Times Square
Con: Some light peeks in if your room faces 46th Street like ours on the 16th floor
Pro: We had a spacious corner room

Pro: Excellent restaurant Nios which we had an appetizer before Spiderman and it was divine
Con: No lap swimming pool
Pro: You can print your boarding pass for free

Well I guess that will conclude my critique of The Muse.  Many thanks again Cecelia for picking such a fabulous hotel!

The Muse, 130 West 46th Street, New York, NY 212-485-2400
http://www.themusehotel.com/index.html

New York Trip 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

I took a ton of photos from Kara and I's Labor Day weekend in New York.  I just love the culture, art, museums, food and I could go on and on....I threw in a bunch of photographs that I'll probably repeat when I blog our restaurants we ate at...but here are some highlights.  We met BBC cyclist Cecelia Killough and 
Tammy Beaton and her sister Tonya Carr from Dallas there.

A shout out goes to Wynne native Ryan Lawson, who gave us excellent recommendations of where to go and where to stay away from in the city.  Many thanks Ryan!

I had the not-so-bright idea to get a cheap deli sandwich at the famous Carnagie Deli when we got to New York... Kara and I split the Turkey and Bacon sandwich that looked as big as the Eiffel Tower,  split a french fry and had teas with our Amstale Lights and our  total was $75...I'm not joking!  We died when we got the ticket.  It was good and an experience! Kara ordered up a Strawberry Cheesecake that we thought had about 3,000 calories in it...it was heavenly but our ticket was evil!

The other side of the Muse sits this beautiful old church, there are many of those in the city

The Muse Hotel was fabulous!  A million thanks go to Cecelia who picked it and booked it for the weekend. It reminded me a lot of the Madison Hotel in Memphis and Cecelia got a great deal on the rooms

I had the chance to see the Union Square Farmer's Market Saturday morning while the others were doing the salon thing. This has to be 5 different varieties of eggplant...

The Guggenheim had a photography exhibit that Kara and I loved by Rineke Dijkstra throughout the museum.  Here's a link to her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rineke_Dijkstra

Ahh....Times Square

The 9/11 Memorial was really something... they are rebuilding the towers...

The place was packed, it was well worth it. You have to get tickets online

On Sunday there was a Brazilian extravaganza on our street all day...Kara and I bought Whit and Chloe some soccer jerseys

Jackie and I hiked the Highline back in May and I knew our group would wanna see it.  It's an abandoned elevated railroad in Chelsea that spans several blocks.  It even has a grassy knoll for children to play on, it's family and pet friendly. Here's a link to its website:  http://www.thehighline.org/

Our last lunch in the city....we went to Peels, delish! And I can attest to the fire of their Bloody Maria which is made with Jalopeno Tequilla...it was hot and delish!

I think I can vouch for everyone on our trip that Craft was our favorite!  We heard about it from fellow Presbyterian Elise Barry whose son works there...it was divine! http://www.craftrestaurantsinc.com/craft-new-york/

Here's Kara, Tonya Carr, Cecelia and Tammy We had a great time getting to know each other and one fact that we all shared was that we can all haul tail in flip flops in New York City!  We had to do that to get to Foxwoods Theater on time to see Spiderman...it was a great show!

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Posted By Blogger tokeeli'sculinarytourat 9/05/2012