The Pioneer Woman Stole my Life...

I made the Pioneer Woman's creamy herbed potatoes last night for Father's Day, omg, I would eat the cream filling with a spoon, the resulting potato 'casserole' has my full and complete blessing, this recipe is pretty much awesomeness. We had ribeye steakes, fresh Louisiana shrimp en broche', shrimp scampi, grilled asparagus, jalapeno cheese pop-overs, sooo yummy. Buffet pants pants please!

Almost Texas State Fair time!

The Texas State Fair is one of my very favorite activies, I have been almost every year of my life.  I remember being a kid and having to dodge peoples cigarettes because they were near eye level for me when I was running from one ride or concession to the other.
Sweet bf, now fiance, has bought us season passes for this year and although it does not start until September 24th I wanted to post some pictures from last year.
But the evil overlords controlling my company computer are preventing me from doing so. Here is one from 2009 instead.

Wild fruit picking in Palestine, TX

The next morning we woke up to more drizzly weather but to ward off cabin fever we decided to go see what we could see.  The pear trees on the back of the property still had plenty of pears the deer hadn't eaten so we took as many of these big ones as we could get loose without getting hit on the head by them, ha ha.

These were the big meaty pears.

These are the littler, more sweet pears.  These two sets of pears will be what I make my very first attempt at pear preserves out of this evening.  I am so excited, pear preserves are soooo yummy!

We also found huge persimmons on a healthy verdant bush, they were still a little hard, apparently the best time to harvest is right after the first frost.  If you have ever had an unripened persimmon you will never forget it! It instantly removes all the moisture in your mouth and forces you to make the most 'puckery' face ever!

Lots of fruit to pick, I have been looking up recipes and surprisingly have found many. I am sure this fruit will be making another appearance on this blog once they are more ripe and I can make jams, cookie, bars, and jellies.

These are another variety, much smaller but ripe now.  Apparently a favorite treat of raccoons. They tasted almost like a sweet little pumpkin.  They are about the size of a 'super ball' or a quarter.  The seeds take up most of the center of the fruit.

The last treasure we found was fresh figs, this was the last one on the bush and perfectly ripe.  It was given to my bf's father to enjoy for his hospitality.

First Post! Trip to Palestine, TX to Sweet Dreams Winery

This last weekend we went to Palestine, TX for an overnight trip. 

We visited the Sweet Dreams Winery.  They specialize in dessert wines made out of locally grown fruit such as Mustang Grapes, Muscadine grapes, pear, strawberry, raspberry, even jalepeno wine! 
Jalepeno was not the most tasty, very spicy nose, mostly used as a cooking wine.

Wine tasting, they are only open on Saturdays and 'whenever else you happen to find them there'.

Bottles waiting to be filled...

...by the contents of these vats!

They grow Concord grapes on the property. Shhh, don't tell, we each tried one... Very sweet burst of flavor at first then the tanins in the skin were very strong.  I am such a dork, I forgot grapes have seeds until I bit into it and was reminded.

Grapes in three stages of ripeness, the closer to dark purple they are the sweeter.

After our tasting we sat out on the deck and were entertained by a band named Byrd & Street. Very talented musicans from Austin, TX. If you like old soothing acoustic music about life, family, and such they are worth hearing. Very Steely Dan meets Dan Fogelberg-ish.

The winery also makes the wine into cocktails such as this Sangria-Rita.

The wine was a little too sweet for me but Sweet Dreams was worth visiting; the ambiance, cool weather, friendly staff, and time with my boyfriend and his family made for a very enjoyable evening!