Vacation: Day 7 Lexington to Mammoth Cave, KY

Lexington received 2.55 inches of rain last night. My tent tried valiantly to dam the flow of water through our campsite, but gave up sometime before dawn. Chris and I stayed fairly dry, but our sleeping gear had to be dried. Thank goodness this is a luxury campground with a washer and dryer available!

When we got to Mammoth Cave, we were able to dry the tents better in the sun while we were setting up camp.

Vacation: Day 6 Kentucky Horse Park

Chris, Beth and I went on a horse farm tour today. Our first stop was a mare and foal barn at Hurricane Hall.



Then we went to Winstar to the stud barn and breeding shed. We saw Tiznow and Distorted Humor, two of the best breeding stallions at this time. Bluegrass Cat was also there, and I was most excited to see him, as I remember him running second to Barbaro in the Derby and increasing the payout for that race.

Vacation: Day 5 Kentucky Horse Park

We started our day at Kentucky Horse Park doing great things like petting baby miniature horses.



Rain moved in during the late afternoon, so we decided to head into downtown Lexington for some food. We ate at Billy's Bar-B-Q while it poured outside. I had the mutton.



Mom & Dad each got pulled pork, which rivaled any I'd had here or in Memphis. Chris got ribs, which were fine, and Beth got beef, which I found a bit weak and thought it clashed with their sauce. This is a pork joint if I've ever seen one, and I want to go back to find out just how good their pulled pork sandwich is. It has potential to be the best I've had yet. This is a very happy surprise!

Vacation: Day 4 Taylorsville to Lexington, KY

We packed up camp this morning and drove to Kentucky Horse Park. We saw Cigar and Funny Cide in the Hall of Champions. Then we watched a Big Horse Productions vaulting display.



The campground has a pool. Beth and Chris went swimming this evening, while I sat on the deck and tried to keep my book safe from the occasional raindrop.

Vacation: Day 3 Taylorsville Lake, KY

Today we rented a pontoon boat and spent the whole day on Taylorsville Lake.

Vacation: Day 2 Bardstown and Loretto, KY

We had a storm blow through around midnight last night. Our tent was mostly dry, but a few drips hit us through the middle intersection of the rain fly.

Today we visited Bardstown. This is a neat old town with a lot to do in the area. We ate lunch at the Old Talbott Tavern. Chris, Beth and I all had Kentucky Hot Browns, Mom had a bowl of burgoo, which we all found tastes just like Grandma Lee's vegetable soup, and Dad got country ham with red eye gravy.



Then we went to the Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto. I got to dip a bottle in red wax for Dennis.

Vacation: Day 1 St. Louis to Taylorsville Lake, KY

Chris and I met my family in Troy, IL this morning. We drove through rain most of the way to Louisville. We stopped at Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum.





We are staying at Taylorsville Lake State Park in campsite 13.


There are storm clouds threatening tonight.

Neat Stuff

I just picked up this cool decal for Chris's wall.



I wasn't sure if it would work on our textured wall, but I think it looks pretty sweet.



There's a whole catalog of this stuff. We've seen vinyl on the automotive scene forever, but I've not seen it in the home. Cool!

Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee, sweetened condensed milk, half & half.



This one is more grainy since there is so much water in it, but it still scoops just fine.

My cookies are never this witty.

The Bathroom Project Exhaust Phase

My Dad came to help us install an exhaust fan in the bathroom.

Sushi

We went to Crazy Sushi in St. Peters for dinner tonight.

I had cabbage salad, miso soup, green tea and SUSHI!

I had a California Roll and I was just gleeful about the roe on top of it. I think it was flying fish roe, and it pops in your mouth. Fun!

Then there were five pieces of nigiri. The pieces were just too big for me to eat all at once, so I had to be rude and take them in two bites.

It was chef's choice, so I am not 100% sure what two of the fishes were.

The tuna barely had any flavor at all; much less than seared tuna steaks I've had in the past.

The shrimp was my least favorite, because I found it was cooked just a touch too much and was too chewy.

The salmon tasted like salmon - not my favorite fish my any means, but I found I actually like it better raw.

I don't know for sure what my favorite of the night was, but I suspect that it was sea bass. (I had it and another piece that I may have gotten mixed up.) The flavor and texture were just perfect, and this piece of fish helped me understand what sushi is all about.

All of the flavors are subtle, and then the wasabi (I did not add any, just went with the chef's vision) cleared out the palate. It is a very clean sensation.

The Bathroom Project Painting Phase

Our whites are whiter!

The Bathroom Project Continues

Now I'm scraping and sanding the damaged paint


and repairing the place where the big flake came off this winter.


Caulk!

The Bathroom Project

We closed the shower upstairs. We had some condensation issues over the winter, so we are repairing the paint and installing an exhaust fan.

We're showering in our fancy downstairs shower for the next few weeks to give us time to get the project done and let the new paint dry.

We normally only use this after heavy duty yard work.

Watermelon Sorbet

I really can't stop.

Neither Dennis nor I are crazy for watermelon. We both like the flavor of fresh watermelon not fake, but neither of us think the taste is worth enduring the texture.

I put this watermelon through my Magic Bullet juicer*, since my blender carafe split open last week, so there is no pulpy, icky stuff in this sorbet.

It doesn't have any mouth feel to speak of, it just melts into a cool burst of watermelon flavor on your tongue. Cool!

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop
3 c watermelon juice
1/2 c sugar
pinch Kosher salt
juice of 1 small lime
splash of vodka

Bring 1/2 c watermelon juice sugar and salt to a boil. Combine with the remainder of the ingredients and chill thoroughly.

Churn per ice cream machine's manufacturer's instructions.

I did not measure the vodka, but it appears to help keep this sorbet scoopable. I did not have problems with this freezing into a solid mass. This would be a really good place to use some type of mint flavored spirit. I also brought my syrup mixture to a full boil to thicken rather than just dissolve the sugar. I think this may have contributed to the fine texture as well.

*The Magic Bullet Juicer appears to work just fine. Who knew? I'm glad we didn't regift it!

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Cinnamon ice cream and peach pie*.



Pie is 4 cups of sliced peaches, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of tapioca, 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice baked in a 9" pie plate for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

The cinnamon ice cream is made by infusing the milk with cinnamon sticks per my newest cookbook.

The Perfect Scoop David Lebovitz.


I couldn't wait for shipping, so I found that you can search your local stores on Borders.com, find a copy of a book you're looking for, reserve it, and go pick it up within 24 hours.

*We are not eating all of this good stuff at home. The two peach pies and cinnamon ice cream is for the girls at work. I can share :)

Vacation pictures are up

Chris and I took over 300 pictures on our trip to Florida. I put together a quick album for him to take to his Grandma's with him, but I hadn't finished editing the whole thing until today.

I have the pictures up on Photobucket:
Album One
Album Two

I've also broken the trip up into three blog posts:
Florida Day One
Florida Day Two
Florida Day Three

Chocolate Ice Cream

Eight ounces of chocolate in about a quart of ice cream!



I'm causing myself to swoon.

Cuisinart Chocolate Ice Cream
1 c whole milk
1/2 c sugar
8 oz chocolate*
2 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract

Process chocolate and sugar in a blender until finely chopped.

Heat whole milk until just bubbling around the edges of the pan, then slowly add to the chocolate and sugar mixture. Blend until smooth. Allow to cool completely.

Stir in heavy cream and vanilla. Chill thoroughly.

Churn per ice cream machine's manufacturer's instructions.

*I used 6 ounces Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate, 1 ounce Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate, 3/4 of a Hershey's bar, and a few shakes of Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. This ice cream tastes just like brownie batter.

MoBot & Trader Joe's

We went to Trader Joe's to get some lunch. We wound up with some provolone & salami sandwiches, some microbrew root beer, and these heirloom cherry tomatoes.



Then we went to the Missouri Botanical Garden. I haven't been here for a while, and Dennis and I rarely get to go out alone together.

Pig's Ribs

I make a good slab in the oven. I've never cooked ribs outside on the grill before.



I probably won't do it again. I burnt them. I've never had that happen in the oven before.

"Not Secret" Dry Rub
3 T paprika
1 T black pepper
1 T salt
1 T dry mustard
1 T onion powder
1 T garlic powder
1 T celery salt

Mix to combine and pat on meat.

Grizzly Man

I finally got to watch Grizzly Man.

I think it is too harsh to say that Timothy Treadwell "got what he deserved" but I do not think what happened was exactly shocking or unexpected.

I'm really glad to have finally seen this, I've wanted to since it came out four years ago. I was not disappointed!

I can't stop telling my dog "I love you" in his silly sing-song voice and calling her the boss of the foxes.

Groovy

I bought myself a USB lava lamp for $6.00.



It is more of a glitter lamp. It heats up and floats the glitter all around and it has a green, red and blue LEDs that cycle.

Groovay!