Month: October 2006

My super-sweet friend Darlene shared her “Martha Stewart Great American Wreaths” book with me and it has some really wonderful ideas (thanks Darlene!!). I saw this swag of Indian corn on page 74 and *had* to make it!

The book’s version was made with miniature Indian corn, but I have mostly the large ones, so I modified it a bit to use those:

I took a bundle of raffia, and from the raffia, took eight or ten strands to make a line, then made knots every inch or two:

Once I had enough on the end to use to hang that side of the swag, I knotted an ear of the Indian corn in the raffia:

When the end of the raffia is near, just take more strands and combine them in the middle of a knot to make a sturdy longer string, and keep knotting and adding more corn:

Leave enough raffia on the other end to use to hang the swag. Once it’s hung, it can be neatened up with a pair of scissors if it needs it.

I put this swag along the front of our mantel – it should last forever (I can’t say the same about the Indian corn I’ve hung outside…seems the squirrels like it too!):

We’re back from Kentuck – and it was OHmygoodness *so* wonderful this year!!!

We spent a long time talking with sweet Myrtice West. We have some of her artwork, and I got to know her better last year when I had a book she was in, that she had lost in the fire she had. She wanted to pay me for it, and I wouldn’t let her, so instead, she sent me (without me knowing she was going to do this) two paintings! The super-nice thing about visiting with her this year is that her daughter and baby granddaughter were there and we chatted with her daughter for a little bit too.

Friday night, we went with a group of friends to see CATS! I had never seen it before, so I had no idea what it was going to be like. It was *wonderful*!

I have to admit…I hadn’t read the program before we sat down, so when the cast started singing, I thought they were saying “angelical cats” rather than JELLICLE cats!! All through the first half, I was singing in my head, “angelical cats, angelical cats….” hahahahaha!!!

Everybody had a great time and we were all *so* happy especially to have a little one with us to see the show. Darlene’s niece, Montana, come along – she was soooo pretty, and I gave her a little cat-ear headband to wear – she was the absolute cutest thing there!!

Ah! This is one of my favorite weekends of the year – it’s Kentuck!

Yvonne Wells, Tom Haney, Glenn House Sr., Black Belt Design, Chris Clark, Jerry Brown, Lonnie Holley, Bettye Kimbrell, Charlie Lucas, Miller Family Pottery, Bernice Sims, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, and sooooooo many more…it’s the Superbowl of Southern art!

The great thing is, my birthday is later this month, so I can always say to Av when I want something, “you can call this my birthday present!” – I can’t wait!

I’ll post more pics after we go!

P.S. My post from last year’s Kentuck is here.

Last weekend, I went to our local Farmer’s Market to try to find the biggest mum they had – this one is a monster-mum! We even had trouble getting it in the car to take home!!

It was mostly blooms when I got it, but it’s flowering out now – the colors are so pretty!

This is Mr. Scarecrow Man (I know, I just don’t have a better name for him and “Mr. Scarecrow Man” is what Av and I always call him!). The first year that Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion was published, they had something like this in the magazine, and I went out and painted a face onto a terracotta pot, then made a hay body and a mum for his hair. I am SO not a painter, but the shapes are really easy:

We put him on the front porch every year. BTW, that gourd is supposed to be him playing the banjo!

Nigella Lawson’s show, Nigella Feasts, is on Food Network now – and for supper tonight, I made a similar version of one of the dishes on the “weekend wonders” episode…sage chicken and (beef) sausage. Ohmygoodness was it ever good! We both just loved it.

Be sure to start this the night before (to marinate).

Ingredients (this will serve 4 people):
1 large onion, cut into 1/8ths
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons English mustard
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon
6 pieces chicken (I used thighs)
1 Polish beef sausage, cut into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, chopped

Last night, I started marinating the chicken. In a large freezer bag, add the cut-up onion, olive oil, mustard, dried sage, Worcestershire, a little salt and fresh pepper, and the juice from the lemon. Make sure that mixes together well in the bag, then add the chicken pieces. Shake very well and put this in the refrigerator overnight.

The next evening, preheat the oven to 425*. Let the chicken mixture come to room temperature, then empty all of it (chicken and marinade) into a roasting pan. Make sure the chicken is skin-side up.

Next, I cut up the beef sausage and placed that in the pan along with a sprinkling of the fresh sage, and a little more salt & pepper, then into the oven for one hour, fifteen minutes:

Halfway through the cooking, turn the sausages over so they’re a uniform color.

At an hour and fifteen minutes, it was *perfectly* done:

It was excellent!