Trip To Savannah, Georgia

Being better again has many perks. I am up and walking, I could burn my wheelchair and cane if I wanted to!, I can stand long enough now to cook again, and I can sit long enough now to travel.

As some of you may already know, I love to travel. I love to see places that I never have been. They could be amazingly awesome places or just humble towns. It doesn’t really matter to me because every trip is a learning experience and another place you can say “Oh! I have been there!”

The first trip after my surgery was to Savannah, Georgia. Tybee Island to be exact. I have been wanted to go to Savannah for YEARS…. actually it was ever since I saw the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” (Yes, I let movies influence my life that much… You are looking at a woman who picked her college after watching “Remember the Titans.” My family still makes fun of me for it.) Anyhow, my wonderful Uncle and Aunt presented the opportunity for me to see Savannah and Tybee Island when they came up with the genius idea to have Thanksgiving there this year. The idea was to have a relaxed, low key, holiday to regroup and enjoy each others company. And it proved to be just the ticket! We were in a cozy cottage and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to relax and get my head together after all that had happened over the past year.

Cottage

Though before we departed for Savannah I decided to put together a goodie basket for my hosts to say thank you for inviting me on a much needed vacation. I ended up making homemade apple butter, pink popcorn, peanut butter fudge, chocolate caramel sauce, orange honey butter, garlic herb butter, and apple cheddar biscuits. The kitchen was a mess by the time I finished, but all of the food was a great hit, especially the fudge. I will be blogging the recipes on my craft blog here. (If you look and they are not there…. have some patience with me. They are coming soon! I promise.)

Pink Popccorn

Peanut Butter Fudge

My first long car ride after my surgery went pretty well. I wore that horrid back brace contraption thing I was supposed to wear, and made the trip in relatively good shape. Tybee Island was GORGEOUS and quiet. I got to see all of my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle which made me the happiest I had been in a very long time. My cousins are all super active and we had a great time freezing and playing soccer on the beach (I didn’t play too much since my mobility was still a bit limited), going on a nature hike, and going into downtown Savannah to the River Front to shop and have lunch.

My Cousins and Me

Downtown Savannah was beautiful! It was so nice to see all of the gorgeous statues and gardens. The riverfront was also nice. It was full of shops and restaurants. I discovered a store called The Savannah Bee Company! OMG. That is really all I can say about it. There are tons of different types of honey to try, lotions, lip balm, soap, candles, and much more made from Bees wax. I got some amazing hand lotion and lip balm that I now cannot live without! If you haven’t tried the Savannah Bee Company’s products, you should see if you can find it somewhere! The water was gorgeous and there were amazing ships out on the water.

Ship

Statue

The nature hike was also amazing. I love seeing animals be it at the zoo or what have you. I always want to take pictures and get as close as possible to them. We were able to see wolves, bald eagles, bobcats, a baby raccoon that was taunting the bobcats on the other side of the fence, lots of sheep and other farm animals, cranes, etc. It was a wonderful 2 mile hike and I had a really good time.

Baby Raccoon

Bald Eagle

All in all, Savannah and Tybee Island was an amazing getaway and I would definitely visit again. If you have never had a change to visit and you are looking for a relaxing time away from the troubles of life.. I highly recommend it. 🙂

Savannah Sunset

Poison Apples

I LOVE Halloween!  There are so many cool things you can do craft and cooking wise.

Today I decided to put on “Snow White: A Tale of Horror” and make some eerie Poison Apples! (If you haven’t seen that movie, its pretty awesome.)

So these were super easy to make, and came out pretty awesome looking.

You Will Need:

1 1/4  cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 cup heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon of salt (or less) (Optional)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 -2 cups special dark chocolate chips (Depending on how rich you want it)

5-10 drips of black food coloring (optional)

5 of your favorite apples (I used Honey Crisp apples and they were beautiful and tasted AMAZING!)

What You Need To Do:

1. Add the sugar and water to a saucepan.

2. Allow the sugar mixture to settle on the bottom of the pan. Cook on medium / medium high heat and let the sugar to dissolve. Continue to heat until the sugar mixture starts to turn to a golden color. Shake the pan occasionally to redistribute the sugar on the bottom of the pan. This will help to brown the sugar evenly and keeps it smooth and creamy in the heating process. (You can stir the mixture before it heats up with a wooden spoon but not too much. The sugar has to stay in contact with the heat on the bottom of the pan to brown and dissolve completely.)

3. As soon as the sugar turns a golden brown, remove the pan from the heat and pour the cream into the hot sugar mixture. Adding the cream causes the mixture to bubble up and transform into caramel. Stir to combine until the sauce is creamy and evenly golden throughout. Cook the sauce on low heat for one more minute, stirring occasionally.

4. Remove the pan from the heat, add the vanilla, Chocolate, salt (optional) and stir well with whisk.

5. Skewer the apples to prepare for dipping, and dip them into the chocolate caramel sauce. Evenly turn the apple in the sauce until evenly coated.

6. Place apples on parchment or wax paper and let dry for 2-3 hours (the chocolate will become solid– allowing them to be wrapped easily).

7. Pour the extra sauce into a jar and enjoy another day with ice cream… (well that is what I am going to do)

This keeps in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or so. But I think it will be consumed before it can go bad.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Cookies = Happiness

So…. I know it has been over a month since my last post. I am sorry for that. Apparently my whole “Get up and go” idea from the last post was easier said and done. It has been a month of ups and downs, but I am still going. Everything is just taking much longer than anticipated.  I went through 4 weeks of physical therapy to find out that it didn’t have the results that the surgeon was hoping for, so I am back to surgery. My pain has increased and my mobility has decreased…. how that is possible, I have no idea. Anyhow, I am trying to keep busy and not go out of my skull with a wide range of ailments (boredom, anger, pain, depression, etc).

One thing that has kept me busy has been knitting. I was talking to a very good friend of mine, Ryan. Ryan is my fashion

My Knit tie

savvy friend. He always dresses to the nines. So we were talking and he sent me a link to Ralph Lauren where they had knit ties selling for $85. Ryan really wanted one, but was not completely happy with them.. He is a bigger guy and wanted the tie a bit wider. I looked at it, and said, “It looks easier enough to make”…. the only problem is that I stupidly said this out loud. The response I received was “OH? Can you PLEASE knit one for me?”  How can a girl say no to that? I stupidly agreed. After much procrastination, a lot of failed starts, tiny ass knitting needles pairs with thin yarn, many curses, and a few episodes of flinging the project across the room… I finished knitting the tie…. and my reaction to it is… THAT IS THE MOST IDIOTIC, CRAZY PROJECT I HAVE EVER AGREED TO DO. It was just a tedious project that seemed to go on FOREVER! But the end result I am quite happy with. I mailed it on its way and RYAN absolutely loves it. He is wearing to a wedding tomorrow, so I have requested pictures of it. I will post one when I get it. I am supposed to make two more ties for him, but I need a little bit of a tie break.

For the tie, I used the Pattern Dennis by Kathleen Dames as a starting point. I made a few modifications to the pattern. The yarn I used was ToshSock by Madeline Tosh. The color is called Mourning Dove. (Its gorgeous.. and pictures don’t do it justice.) I knit the entire tie on size 3 needles. You can see my complete modifications written out on ravelry.com here.

Ryan in his new tie

So now on to the title of the Post. COOKIES!!!! So I love food. Its no secret. And I am not ashamed of it. As some of you read in my last post, My favorite cookies are the Samoa Girl Scout Cookies. I even made a cake that was out of this world! Anyhow. Today my mother picked me up to get me out of the house and keep me sane. We of course went to the grocery store. I love going to the grocery store because I now have an excuse to ride that sitdown electric cart thingy. (It comes equipped with a horn!) Any how, as I am cruising through the grocery store at a neck breaking pace of 3mph I take a sharp turn down the cookie isle. I really didn’t want anything… Oreos didn’t sound appealing so I kept on rolling. Then like the holy grail shining the most amazing image popped out at me from the cookie shelves. The picture of Samoa cookies. I stopped dead in my tracks. Samoa

Yum!

cookies on Keebler packaging, aptly names Coconut Dreams. It seemed too good to be true. SOOOOOO we know that I just had to buy them and try them. There was a good chance that they would be nothing like the wonderful Girl Scout cookies I wait for all year long.  Upon opening the cookies and taking a bite, my taste buds starting to sing, and I almost passed out from sheer happiness. And the only thing I could think to say was “Screw You Girl Scouts! I have cookies all year long!” Yes, my friends. They were that good. Lovely with the caramel and coconut. For the first time in a long time, I felt so excited and like jumping up and down. Since that isn’t possible at the moment, I did a little jig in my seat. So I paid $1.98 for my cookies, while the cute little Girl Scouts hose me at $3.00 a box… I am not entirely sure exactly how I feel about that.

So with my dreamy cookies in hand and the fact that Ryan is loving his new tie, I am feeling pretty amazing today. I have a surgery in my near future (hopefully the beginning of August), so we will hope that in a months time I will be operated on and back on the mend…. able to skip down the cookie isle of the grocery store instead of rolling through it in my electric cart.