The Buttercreme Baker

“Gourd”geous

We made our yearly trip to Kinder Berry Farm to pick out our pumpkins and gourds. It seems the pumpkins didn't fare too well this year because of the drought. I'm glad we got there early.

I caught one of my favorite shows yesterday, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. This particular episode featured comfort foods-just that name gives me the warm and fuzzies. This show makes you want to travel to every single place showcased but, The Blue Moon Café stole my heart. The owner, Sarah, creates amazing dishes that seem to epitomize comfort. John and I sometimes travel to Baltimore on business and now that I know about this place, we are definitely going to check it out.

Capn' Crunch French Toast is one of the breakfast specialties served at the Blue Moon Café. Wishing for some this morning but, lacking Capn' Crunch, I improvised and used Rice Krispies. Delish!

 

 

Amherst Peaches

John and Madelyn went to the 27^th Annual Albemarle Fair…without me. Not that they purposefully ditched me, rather I chose not to go. I have a real aversion to heat and it was about 98 degrees yesterday. Well, they loved it! I'm almost sorry I didn't brave the heat and go…almost.

They brought back these beautiful peaches from Amherst. I think I'll make a peach topping for the pancakes tomorrow night at Breakfast Night.

The Book Club is one step closer to fruition. I completed the design of the bookmark style invitations today. Now, who to invite? I have a couple of people in mind but, I'd like to have at least four more. Oh well, the hard part of designing the invitation is finally over.

       

I created this display back in February for a Bridal Show. It's a Candy Bar decked in green and brown, like a Milky Way bar-my favorite color combination. For the faux flower display, I filled two urns with Turbinado sugar and placed flower shaped suckers in the sugar. I was thinking of repeating the same color scheme for the Broker Open House-still not sure.

Stratford Hall

We concluded our trip to Fredericksburg with a trip to Robert E. Lee's birthplace, Stratford Hall. What a treat! I've seen a lot of historic homes but, this one was truly unique. The 10,000 square foot home was built in the classic Georgian style with two huge chimney clusters on opposite ends of the roof. All of the brick was handmade on-site by slaves, indentured servants and convicts brought to the plantation, and they were laid in a Flemish bond.

The gardens were alive with beauty, every turn was filled with beauty-there were English boxwoods, crepe myrtles so large they took on tree form, cherry trees, etc.-all navigable by a true-to-period oyster shell path.

This is not the front of the house, rather the rear. The front faces the Potomac River but, the back was the customary entrance when arriving by horse and carriage.

John and Madelyn descending the many, many steps

And of course I just couldn't leave without visiting the Gift Shop…

Can't wait to start reading

A drawing of the Main House

…and something sweet for later.

Fredericksburg & Strawberry Shortcake Cake

The family and I decided we needed a change of scenery so; we packed up and came to visit a friend and colleague of John's, Terry English. He is the General Manager of the Hampton Inn & Suites-Fredericksburg. And although I've seen every hotel known to man, Terry and his staff went above and beyond to make us feel at home. There was even a lovely box of Belgian chocolates in our suite along with a basket of other goodies; now that's hospitality.

Terry also prepared dinner at his home for us. I didn't know that he was originally a formally trained chef but, after our meal, there was no doubt. Best meal I've had in a long time-the filet mignon was so tender. I rarely eat steak without A-1 but, with this steak, I didn't even miss it. He also grilled shrimp skewers, sweet corn and new potatoes-delectable! Desert was a store-bought cake (Johns' idea)-normally, I'm not a fan unless it's from Ukrop's but, this cake was from a grocery store called, Bloom and it was fantastic. The cake was moist, the strawberries sweet and fresh and the whipped cream icing balanced it all perfectly.

The search is on for a duplicate recipe!

The book for my newly formed book club has been chosen: Searching for Virginia Dare by Marjorie Hudson. I can't wait to delve into it; the legends about Virginia Dare and The Lost Colony are fascinating and always leave me wondering…what really happened?