Ramblings
Strawberry Muffins
I have been on a Strawberry Kick as of lately. It must be the time of the year.
Strawberries are everywhere and ripe for the picking!
“There’s umm Strawberries and Cream, Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Tartlets, Strawberry Pancakes, Strawberry Cake, Strawberry Ice Cream,
Strawberry Creole…………………..”
SAY WHAT??????? Sorry, had to throw in a little Forrest Gump there.
My latest is Strawberry MUFFINS! SO GOOD!
These little things are ridiculous. It’s best not to be alone when you bake these because others may never get one! They are that good!
The best part or possibly the worst part is that they are very quick to make! This may or may not cause you to bake them all the time, not being the best thing for your waistline! LOL!
They have a pecan streusel topping that is AMAZING!
I always add more strawberries than the recipe calls for. Because of this, I bake them a little longer to make sure the filling is done.
Definitely give these a try and if you manage not to eat them all yourself, try giving one to your child’s teacher or better yet, YOUR BOSS! You might just get that raise you have been wanting.
However, if your boss is allergic to nuts, might want to skip that one……………. OR not……………….. YOUR CHOICE! I DON’T JUDGE!
XOXO,
Esther
Recipe: Strawberry Muffins
– 3/4 cup Skim Milk
– 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
– 1 Egg
– 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
– 1 1/4 cup Chopped Stawberries
– 1/3 cup Sugar
– 1 tbsp. Baking Powder
– 1/4 tsp. Salt
Direction:
– Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 regular size muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.
– Mix milk, oil and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredients except Pecan Streusel Topping , just until moistened.
– Make Pecan Streusel Topping , Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling two- thirds full. Sprinkle batter with Pecan Streusel Topping on top.
– Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Pecan Streusel Topping:
– 1/2 cup chopped Pecans
– 1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
– 1/4 cup All- Purpose Flour
– 2 tbsp. Melted Butter
Mix all ingredients in large bowl until well blended.
Pecan Streusel Topping (recipe below)
Guess what happened on Mother’s Day?
Aint no party, like a Wall Family Party , ’til a crazy lady comes out to play!
That’s right!
How was your Mother’s Day? Did you have your family over?
Did you go to your own Mother’s house and spend time with her and tell her how much you loved her?
Did you travel out of town to do that? You did?
Me too!
I love my Mommy very much! So much that I travelled 3 hours to get to her to my hometown of Raleigh.
Did I mention how much I love Myrtle Beach now? Not to say I dislike Raleigh……… that much. LOL!
You see, it’s just because I was reminded of how CRAZY Raleigh can be when I visited.
Now I know every city and town has their own kind of Crazies running around. I know this.
However, I didn’t even have to leave my parent’s doorstep to see the next Showtime for the Crazies in Raleigh.
Would you like to hear the story? You would! Ok, let me clear my throat.
In fact, I’m not going to just tell you the story…… No way! Instead, I think I will tell a poem.
Here it goes.
To Mom on Mother’s Day:
Mom, we love you so much, this you can plainly see,
We fixed you ribs, yummy desserts, and even homemade sweet tea.
We all gathered in your honor to rejoice and give thanks,
‘Til a crazy lady showed up next door to bust in and break thangs!
Her eyes were red with rage, she was barefoot and all sweaty,
But we didn’t pay much attention to her until she pulled out her BIG FAT MACHETE!
So daddy got “ole trusty” and even though it was dusty, starting waving it around in the air,
Things started to shatter and we were all lookin at her when she decided to come out of there.
Daddy yelled “Call the Cops!” cause I’m gonna shoot me somebody if that crazy lady comes over here!
She took off in her little red coupe and high taled it out of there, I’m guessing purely just out of fear.
So the cops showed up, about seven or so,
They asked us what she looked like and asked “which way did she go?”
Then they called CCBI up in there and hung around a little bit longer,
See, there was a real bad smell coming from in there and it was getting a whole lot stronger!
Not sure what they saw in there or if they ever found that lady,
I’m not one to talk, but if you ask me, it all looks shady!
Whether she left because she was done or because my daddy was waiving his gun, I guess we won’t ever be quite sure,
I guess the bottom line to the story is even though my parent’s street is crazy, one thing it will never be is a bore.
Happy Belated Mother’s Day!
XOXO,
Esther
The Brentwood Restaurant
As you may know, it our my 11 year Anniversary a couple of weeks ago. I know what you are thinking, “Wow! 11 Years? How could someone who looks as young as you be married for 11 years?”
NO?
You weren’t thinking that?
Well, who asked you anyway?
Well, we like to call ourselves “foodies” around here. (*Not to be confused with the term “food snob”. Though, I have been called that a few times.)
I had been wanting to try out a local restaurant called The Brentwood Restaurant in Little River. It was a farmhouse that had been turned in to a restaurant and they concentrate on “farm to table” cuisine. Not to mention the Chef and Owner is French. Stir in a little Low Country with that and you have yourself one heck of a meal!
Here is a pic of the Restaurant. I love everything about it. It’s country home feel, the greenery,
the gazebo…………… We used to have one just like it when I was little. Everytime I see a gazebo, I think of my mom. I remember the house we lived in at the time and even though we were renting, my dad decided to buy her one. Then we moved to another house 30 minutes away and even though I don’t remember seeing my dad move it to the next location, I imagine he did it in True Redneck Style, perhaps hanging off the end of a small pick up truck going down a back road. (Love you Daddy!)
My parents were in town for the weekend, so they offered to keep the “babies” for us. SCORE!
Since I like to stay in hotel rooms that are close to where I plan on eating…. (More on that later),
we decided to get a room for the night at Prince Resort in Cherry Grove.
I was one Happy Momma! LOL!
The Restaurant was only a few miles away, so it was perfect!
We decided to do the Chef’s Tasting Menu, which was a seven course menu. They have 3 different ones you can choose from. There is the Silver, Gold, and Platinum Fork.
Since it was neither our Silver nor Golden Anniversary, we decided to go with the Platinum! Hey! You only live once! Right? 😀
I even brought my camera with me anticipating I might blog about it. (If Z was embarrassed, he hid it well). Some of the pics came out ok and some didn’t due to the light.
The first course was a Smoked Salmon dish. It was sooooo good! I’m just going to warn you. The Platinum had a few courses of Seafood, so if that isn’t your thing, you can always try another one.
They are very accommodating too. They were more than happy to substitute a few dishes for us as well if we didn’t like a particular item.
Next, we had White Sturgeon Caviar with Warm Blinis and Chive Cream. I originally turned my nose up to this because of a bad experience I had as a child with Caviar. I even told the Chef’s wife about it and after I finished the story, realized how much I SHOULDN’T have told ANYONE that story! Since I never learn my lesson, I’ll tell you too.
As a child, we met a family at the beach while camping at The Outer Banks. We decided to go to the Mountains and camp with the same family. (*First MISTAKE) Looking back on it, what were my parents thinking????
Then, the dad of the other family, decided to bust out a can of “Caviar”…………. with Saltine Crackers…………. did I mention we were camping in the Mountains?????? Oh yeah….. So, they asked me if I wanted to try it and being the daring 12 year old that I was said, “SURE!” ………. You might as well have poured Table Salt into my mouth because that is exactly what it tasted like………………………. AGAIN! Did I mention we were CAMPING IN THE MOUNTAINS?????????
Anyhoo, when I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to try the White Sturgeon Caviar at the Restaurant, I ultimately decided to give it another shot.
I’m so happy I did. It was so Fresh, it didn’t taste like Salt at all! It had arrived the day before and had been harvested the same week. White Sturgeon, ironically enough live in The Mountains! 😀
I’m not sure where the “other dad” got his, but it wasn’t from the same place! Haha!
Our next course would have been Seared Duck Foie Gras, which is basically Duck Liver. *Don’t you love it how the French make it sound that much nicer? I have had it before and I don’t really care for it, so they were sweet enough to let me choose whatever I wanted from the Appetizer Menu.
I chose Lobster Risotto and oh man, was it good. RidONculously good!
I love Lobster and I love Rice, so naturally this was a great choice! It was cooked perfectly and the risotto was so creamy!
This was our “Palette Cleanser”. It was a Fresh Mango & Spicy Rum Sorbet with a Hazelnut Wafer. Z kept trying to turn up his glass and proceeded to tap the bottom of it so he could get all the Rum out that was teasing him on the bottom………. I can’t take him anywhere! (*Love you Baby!)
This is where my camera started to act up so I had to resort to using my phone instead.
This was our Main Course, which was Lamb. It was AMAZING! Not sure if you can tell, but there are also Grapes and Spinach in there and it is over a Bordelaise Sauce. The sweetness from the Grapes complemented the Spinach so well. The sauce was rich and thick. It was very Yummy!
Our next course was Cheese.
My computer has acted up and lost my pic on this. It was a Roquefort Blue Cheese on a Toasted Baguette with Poached Pears and a Honey Candied Pecan. It was really good. It was a very Strong Blue Cheese and the Pears and Pecans all paired really well with it. I layered everything everytime I took a bite!
And last but surely not least, THIS WAS DESSERT! Another stinky picture taken by my phone, but oh my….. SO GOOD!
Up until now, I had never had a Caramel Cage! Sure, I had seen it on TV and even tried to be so ambitious as to try to do it myself with NO LUCK!
Other people from other tables were asking what we had gotten. It is very impressive in person.
Our dessert was a Belgium Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Ice Cream, the Caramel Cage, and was garnished with Fresh Mint.
Enough Said! 🙂
We had a Wonderful Anniversary! One that we will never forget thanks to Chef Eric and his staff!
Here is a link to The Brentwood Restaurant’s website.
Next time you are in town or in Little River, give them a try! You will not be sorry!
But be careful, it is know to have a few extra ghostly guests from time to time as well. So, you may not be “entirely” alone at your table.
XOXO,
Esther
Galvanized Bucket Planters
I love Galvanized Buckets, don’t you? They are perfect for so many uses and they just scream “Southern” to me.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of them are Bobbing for Apples. In fact, when I went to the hardware store to buy them, that is exactly what the old man said to me. “Somebody’s gonna be bobbin for some apples, aren’t they?” he said.
“Actually…………… no,” I replied.
“Whatcha gonna use em for?”
“Well, I’m gonna make some holes in them and make em into planters.” (Yup! My grammar is just as good as his)
Then he said…….
“Alright now. Don’tcha be plantin any of dat there MARIJUANA, now!”
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?
“Ummmmm, NO SIR! Don’t you worry about that, now!” (Yes, this is a true story and it happened yesterday! LOL!)
So, like I said folks.
I bought a couple of the galvanized buckets.
Flipped them over and made my “Brawny Man” poke some holes in the bottom for drainage. We used a nail and hammer.
They weren’t big enough, so I made him go back and make them bigger. 🙂
Then, I poured some drainage rocks into the bottom of the buckets.
About 2 or 3 inches high.
I filled it up with the same type of soil that I put in my vegetable beds and planted some herbs and a regular annual in them. (From back and going clockwise: Rosemary, Chocolate Mint, Annual, and Sweet Mint)
Em, my chocolate lover is very happy with me and cannot wait to help me with recipes using the chocolate mint.
I’m so happy with the way they turned out.
I did the same thing to the second one, except I planted some diffent things in there. You can’t really see it from the pic, but starting in the back and moving clockwise again is: Onion Chives, Citronella Plant (also known as a Mosquito Plant), Annual, and another Citronella Plant. The worst thing ever in the summer is trying to work in your vegetable garden and getting eaten up by Mosquitos. Let’s hope this helps a little. If it does, you might just see these EVERYWHERE in my backyard!
Since the Vegetable Bed post, which you can see here, we made another bed and used it for our Cucumbers. We also made it big enough to allow me to plant some more herbs in there as well. I planted Flat Leaf Parsley, Oregano, Sweet Basil, German Thyme, Dill, and one Okra Plant (I ran out of room in the other bed).
I am SOOOOO happy with the way everything turned out!
I personally think it is Beautiful and I cannot wait to do updated posts as the vegetables get bigger. We already have small clusters of tomatoes and I am proud to announce………..
NOT ONE SINGLE MARIJUANA PLANT in sight. 😉
HAPPY SATURDAY Y’ALL!
Go play in your yard!
XOXO,
ESTHER
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