A Southern Dinner

Tonight, we're going to a southern dinner. In Fort Collins, there are a few displaced Southerners, and we're getting together tonight to eat massive amounts of biscuits and cheese grits and okra and, best of all dessert. I decided that I'm going to bring banana pudding. Even better - Nutter Butter banana pudding. The Nutter Butters add a nice, peanut butter touch. I got the idea from Southern Living, but I'm using my mom's nationally-renowned recipe. I will let you know how it goes :)


[Picture from Southern Living]

EDIT: The banana pudding turned out really well. It was a big hit. Most people said they'd never had banana pudding with Nutter Butters before. Mom, I had people asking for your recipe. :)

Snail Mail Love

Our day was brightened when we discovered a package on our front steps!!! (Usually, the only mail we get is Netflix). Leanna sent us an awesome box of goodies: her homemade chocolate chip cookies and cheese straws (yum!), Halloween candy, a pretty red and black platter to support our alma mater, good ol' Terrapin beer, and a mason jar of Georgia dirt (my favorite part). I feel like we got a little bit of Georgia in a box!

The Year, In Retrospect

I have the best husband in the whole world. I am sitting here at the table, and he is cooking me dinner for no reason at all. Today has been a very relaxing day. Our church had a women's retreat at Primrose Studio, this precious little lodge out on the edge of a lake. It was such a refreshing, restful time.

Our upstairs neighbors have this annual tradition to welcome the winter. It's called the Review and Brew. They collect several photographs from all their friends, photographs taken over the past year, and put them into a slideshow. Then, the first week of November, everyone gets together and drinks home-made brews and cider out under the winter sky. The photos are projected up on the side of the house, and everyone gets to look at photographs from everyone's year. I thought this was such a neat idea, I decided to post our photo submissions. It's a year of big milestones, that's for sure.

A Little Taste of Home

The other day, we bought a ton of apples. I was in a very autumn-ish mood when I bought them, and I had all these lofty plans to make caramel apples and apple crisp and homemade apple sauce. None of this actually happened, of course, because I ran out of time. But, I did get really adventurous today and decided to attempt to recreate the Marti's Favorite sandwich from Marti's at Midday back in Athens. It's easy-peasy:

I toasted two pieces of nine-grain bread, then melted some sharp white cheddar on top of the bread in the toaster oven. I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top of the melted cheese (it sounds weird, but trust me). Then, I chopped my apple into thin slices and spread out the apple on top of the cheese on one of the bread slices. Put 'em together, and you have a Marti's Favorite. It makes such a cozy and delicious autumn lunch (or snack), and it sort of quenched my homesickness :)



I got this picture from A Cup of Jo, which is one of my favorite blogs. I think she used a different recipe, but it's the same basic ingredients and idea. Yum.

The "A" Trail

Today, Morgan had a day-off, so we hiked Fort Collins' "A" Trail. The "A" Trail goes up into the foothills behind the CSU football stadium. There is this "A" in the side of the hill overlooking the stadium; I think the "A" stands for Aggies, back when CSU used to be Colorado A&M.

Llama?

The "A"

View from the top...

Horsetooth Reservoir

Sadie and Georgie had a good time swimming.

A Snapshot of Fall

Today Morgan and I took a walk in our neighborhood. All the leaves are changing, and there are colors everywhere.






Makes me want to curl up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate and watch Legends of the Fall or You've Got Mail.

Seasons

It's started to get cold here, and I have a feeling that winter is just around the corner. Some people have said that some years it's already snowed in Fort Collins by now. Crazy. It seems like not that long ago, we were frolicking on the beach! I was just looking at these pictures from our May trip to Cape San Blas, Florida, and they made me feel so warm :)




Tonight we had dinner with our sweet upstairs neighbors. We ate outside and then had desert sitting around the chiminea, keeping warm in front of the fire. Wonderful. This was the perfect way to wind down an incredible day. But Georgie had other plans. Literally, as soon as we came downstairs to our apartment and started cleaning up and getting ready to turn in for the night, Georgie projectile vomited all over our bed. She also managed to get a pair of my jeans, our rug, and our down comforter. These are the moments I wished we owned a washing machine.... Anyone want a dog?