this betty crocker has given up on grammer

So I've been cooking...or more specifically, baking...

now keep in mind I have an eleven week old...child that is.

so this will not be extravagant...or exciting...

in fact, if you're into exciting...you may want to stop reading now...

<but please don't!  I love when people read my posts!  especially when they comment on them! -yay LISA & JESSICA!!!> 

as you can see I've given up on grammar...and to think I scored a perfect 36 on the literature section of my ACT...oh well...you know what they say..."if you don't use it you lose it"

I took my ACT before I moved to Mississippi...

...it really is like home & you know...there is no place like home (I poke fun but I do love my dear old Mississippi!)

moving on...

After a relaxing dinner trying desperately to console the aforementioned wailing eleven week old  and scarfing down stuffed flounder and a Yuengling, the hubbs and I hurried (seriously hurried) home to put said baby down to sleep.  (And Thank You Jesus it worked!)  

Hubby went out for an hour or two leaving me alone at last!  (We do love each other we just work together..."ahhhh I see-" you say.)  So I took advantage of my alone time to do one of my favorite things- cook! (or as I mentioned before...bake.)

<you see the grammar...its all so unclear now!>

Last night was gingerbread men (and women, and candy canes and trees, and stockings and...)

and wine...there is always wine...

and then the tasting...my previous recipe was very flour-y tasting (darn grammar again)... but these cookies- Oh Heavens!  they are divine...well pretty dang good anyway!  

Along the lines of grammar insecurity, I also have "unsure about copyright type things" insecurity.  However, I will tell you that I believe the key to my success here is with the 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp of fresh ground ginger.  Yep.  We love ginger.

by we I mean I.

The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  And I will add that true to form, she is a real pain in the "donkey" with this recipe as well- hence the fresh ground ginger.  However, I have very much enjoyed this cookbook and have made several delicious recipes from it (all P.I.D.s- pain in the "donkey"s but WELL WORTH IT) 

<and by donkey I mean ass...as in donkey of course...>

Tonight was the Cinnamon Sugared Pecans for baby Caleb's nursery teachers' Christmas gift- recipe courtesy of my Momma 

I honestly have no idea WHERE this recipe came from (other than Momma) so what they heck here it is:

Cinnamon Sugared Pecans

 1 Cup sugar + 1 tsp salt + 2 tsp cinnamon combined... set aside

1 egg white, beaten until frothy + 1 Tbsp water ... mixed well

4 Cups pecan halves

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1-Add pecans to egg white & water mixture and stir until well coated.

2- Add sugar mixture and butter slowly to pecans.  Mix until well coated.

3- Spread on parchment covered cookie sheet separating nuts.

4- Bake at 300* for 25 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove from oven and allow to cool before breaking nuts apart.

Enjoy!

Tomorrow...hopefully decorating gingerbread cookies, making mini glazed gingerbread cakes and finishing Caleb's Christmas stocking!

Wish me luck!

...ohh, and as an addendum to my previous Dear Santa post...

all I REALLY want..

my baby boy in my arms!!!

and another bear...

or two...

My Momma brought him back from Switzerland!

Sweet little honey bears!

Sweet dreams!

I'm goin' to Jackson and that's a fact...

I do sooo love Johnny Cash!  (And Joaquin Phoenix)

The hubby & I took off a day of work, slept in and then hit the road this past Friday to go visit some of my very best friends that I met in undergrad at Mississippi State.  The destination?  Jackson, Mississippi...well pretty darn close to it.

We took a quick break in Starkville (the home of Mississippi State University) to grab lunch at The Grill (yummy steak on a stick) with a friend then headed south.  We spent the weekend catching up, visiting and for three of the four of us girls, meeting each other's babies!  

That's right, four women, three babies and a two-year-old all in one house (at least one of the days)!  We ventured into Jackson for lunch at THE best place to get a gyro in town...Keifer's!!!  It took two trucks and a LOT of organization to get there and needless to say...we were a sight parading through the extremely crowded Saturday lunch crowd to our 8-top table!  

Caleb, Lily & Hadley waiting for the tables

After lunch, we took one more stop to a architectural salvage shop in downtown.  Although Caleb and I didn't find anything we couldn't live without we enjoyed practicing taking pictures with our new camera!

 Beautiful salvaged stained glass windows

Old doors from North Africa (left) and Cairo (right)

Sunday we slept in and met another friend for lunch at Beagle Bagel in Madison and then headed northbound on the Natchez Trace toward home.  It is an absolutely beautiful drive with many opportunities for sightseeing and tons of walking trails between Natchez, Mississippi & Nashville, Tennessee.  As we passed Kosciusko (yep thats where Oprah's from) I began looking for the little white house in which my grandfather was born and raised, in Ehtel.  You can actually see the old homestead from the Trace!  It has been vacant for about 30 years but up until the last year or so the property has remained in our family.  We stopped to look around and of course snap a few pictures!

My Daddy says that when he was a child, his parents would drive him and his sister all the way from Lepanto, Arkansas to Ehtel about once a year or so- most of the way on gravel roads!

I was told the story once about how during the depression my Granddaddy's parents were one of the few in the area that had a radio.  I'm told that people once came from all over the county to sit and listen to the world series on this very same front porch!

The chimney says 1901- the year this chimney was added onto the house.

One of the outbuildings- there were several, one for canned goods and a root cellar.  There also used to be an old barn on the property.

   

The old truck my Daddy's uncle drove.  This is where he parked it and after he died it was never driven again.  It is gone now but my Daddy took this picture a few years ago.

All in all it was a great weekend!  When we arrived at home Caleb opened an early Christmas present from his Grandmommy- as you can see he loves it!

And finally...another ornament: