Chefs in the Garden

Date: Thursday, September 16th

Place: Botanical Gardens in Fayetteville

Time: 4:00 pm

What?: Chefs in the Garden (aka: having a blast meeting TONS of people)

a live band with about 12 different tents occupied by the funky fun places to eat of fayetteville. the university of arkansas student volunteers set up tables and decorated the area before as well as were paired up with a chef for the evening's event.

each chef had a tip jar out where if you liked what they made, you voted for the best chef by putting $$$ in the jar. all of the food that was there was AMAZING. it was a night of food, conversation, and some dancing (my kinda night)

I was paired up with Fayetteville Country Club. i got to plate and hand out the appetizers for the guests as they would form a line in front of our table. my chef's sister was in the band. she was a BLAST and definately gave us a shout out from the front. we had a very colorful spread with buffalo mozzarella bruschetta AND (my personal fav) spring roll baskets.

these things were simply irresistable. wontons made the basket (formed like a chip) with a chicken spring roll filling/topping. the chicken was infused with ginger tea (genius), and to top it all off was a bombDOTcom sauce (a marriage of plum and chili sauces)... party.in.your.mouth.good 

weekend fun

saturday morning farmer's market dates with the roommate, shana boyd, make my day! we started off with some Arsaga's coffee then headed to a little bakery cart where we had a major decision to make. they had monkey bread, all sorts of scones, pastries, several muffins, as well as loaves of bread lovelies.

after a long debate, we decided to BOTH go for one of our staples: blueberry muffins. they definately did not disappoint with loads of fresh blueberries and a cinnamon suprise on top!

we then walked around the fayetteville square lusting after fresh fruits, gorgeous flowers, and colorful veggies. we just had to get some cute kirby cucumbers to experiment making our own pickles.....

pickles have always intrigued me... how do those light, crisp cucumbers turn into the sour or sweet, bright green thing we get in the jar?? well, my pickles didn't turn that strange green color, but they turned out pretty awesome. thick chips, not too sour (but definately not sweet), perfect crunch.... i could eat the whole jar in one sitting 

(see recipe page for more dets)

that night jules came over and we made chicken fajita meat with sauteed onions and green bell peppers left over from making pickles earlier that day. o. my. goodness. it was stinkin amazing especially with the butternut squash (courtesy of gran's recipe..."no salt, not pepper, just as the Lord made it"). the night's feast ended with a quick drive-thru stop @ braum's to get our ice cream and chocolate fixes mmm...

a little about me

the beach is one of my all time favorite places to be. i love everything about it: the waves crashing, sand between the toes, random animals popping out of the sand, sunwashed colors, salt breeze... all of it. it is one of the best places to CHILLAX (that's relax and chill mashed). mmm the fish that has that "just caught today" taste with a good side of peppery fries (and of course ice cream afterwards) right after a long day of laziness on the beach = my PERFECT day

this summer i worked @ Kids Across America. it's an inner-city kids' Christian sports camp in golden, mo. we had a BLAST! all day every day running, wildn' out, gettin' hype, and just actin' a fool while learning about what God's plan was for us was incredible. miss virginia's cornbread = bombDOTcom. this summer spent working @ KAA was: hard, stretching, draining, crazy, ridiculous, and completely worth it! the theme = "set your mind on things above and not on earthly things" -Colossians 3:2... questions? just ask. i'd love to talk with ya!

another place you will find me all tooo often = orange mango moonberries in fayetteville, ar. this is my home away from home... sad? SURE NOT. try stinkin amazing! imagine: 14 different flavors of froyo (that's frozen yogurt smashed) + all the topping choices you could ever imagine... a girl could die happy here

another little tidbit about me is that i am a texan who found a special place in my heart for the arkansas razorbacks! woooooo pig sooooie... YES i will be the obnoxious one yelling at all of the football games becuase well, that's just how i roll

stay tuned to hear about my crazy, ridiculousness in the kitchen