Wild Grapes

We have wild Muscadines & Scuppernongs growing along our fence line at the Country property. They have been there for a long time. We decided to build a couple of arbors to try & train them to grow where we can pick them instead of putting a ladder in the back of a pick-up truck to pick them.

We built a couple of arbors on what I hoped was 1 of each. Here's the Muscadine arbor (very basic) waiting for the vine to spread across the top.

I had grapes on it soon after.

But they just didn't ripen very fast.

Greg went to the Country House to mow in preparation for our Labor Day long weekend & harvested some that finally ripened for me.

This is the Muscadine vine which he brought some home for me to have for a snack today.

Here is the Scuppernong one that I had only hoped was the white variety & it seems to be. I will find out this weekend.

After only pulling a few vines from each wild plant, they seem to be taking hold. Cross your fingers that we will have enough to make wine in a few years!

If I knew you were coming I'd a baked a cake.

I can't remember the last time I baked a cake just for the heck of it. I saw this on social media recently & realized that I had almost all the ingredients on hand & decided to make it. It is fabulous! I would make it w/just canned milk & sugar the next time as I am not a huge fan of caramel, but the cake itself is delicious! I couldn't find toffee bits & used Heath Bars candies & that just added a new dimension. It is sooo good!

Brown Sugar Caramel Pound Cake

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups butter softened
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 8oz bag toffee chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Caramel Drizzel:
1 – 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 spray a 12 cup Bundt pan with cooking spray with flour

Beat butter until creamy. Add sugars beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mix to batter alternately with milk, beat until just combined. Stir in toffee bits and pecans. Spoon batter into pan and bake 85 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. To prevent excess browning, cover cake with foil while baking.

Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack. Spoon Caramel Drizzle over cooled cake.

Directions for Caramel Drizzle
In a medium saucepan, combine condensed milk and brown sugar; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently. Reduce heat, and SIMMER for 8 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from heat; whisk in butter and vanilla. Let cool for 5 minutes before using. NOTE: Make sure you drizzle the caramel while it’s still HOT. When cooled the caramel does somewhat harden.

A Quilt Top

I went on an adventure last weekend ... a Quilting Retreat!

I met some wonderful women at the CITR Retreat I went to last year. Like minded individuals who practice what I want to preach. They have their own animals, love to can, dehydrate & generally preserve their own food.  Here's a lovely picture that J took of a quilt top in progress.

Since the CITR Retreat isn't being held as a whole anymore, a few of these women decided to do their own thing & I decided to join them. I have never quilted in my life & didn't get a chance to this time but I did get a quilt top & back built. I was proud of myself considering I haven't even taken my sewing machine out of the box in about 10 years. And, that was for simple curtains for heavens sake. But, one of the ladies posted a beautiful picture of a quilt that I thought I would love to make. My colors weren't the same as what she posted but I had some really cool material I had purchased at an Estate Sale & thought it would work great, and it did!

The retreat was in VA & was associated with a Threads Run Through It Quilt Shop. It is out in the middle of nowhere & was a wonderful place to be for 4 nights & 5 days. They offer a house to rent to do your sewing & is easy access to the shop which has the most amazing fabric choices. The house beds were covered with quilts from the shop & had matching sheets & luxury quality hotel towels to use. Here are a couple of pictures.

I went to my friend's house in SC first & spent the night before heading to VA. She & her husband have a wonderful property located in a rural area & is just beautiful ... the house, grounds & her. In addition to the beautiful & well maintained property, she has several dogs, cats & a couple of horses that she & her husband absolutely adore. It was a pleasure visiting them.

All the women attending were most helpful, patient & kind with the newbie sewer among them. I even learned a few new terms along the way, but messed up a few more. Anybody out there know what a "Fat Quarter" is? I didn't and kept calling it a "Fat Bastard", one of my favorite wines. They got a kick out of it at my expense which was just fine. The lady at the quilt shop (Lori) kept trying to teach me the correct terminology since I was obviously so uninformed.

These women were awesome & very determined in their work. There were 5 of us & three of us all had the same first name (Debbie) which got kind of confusing & humorous as the days went by. Most of them did several projects & all were most beautiful.

Also, there was a very inspiring young lady there who is amazing in her own right. She is the 19 year old daughter of one of the Debbie's & loves all the same things we do. I swear she is a 30 year old in a teenager's body. She made this amazing quilt top which the shop owner quilted for her before we left!

We sewed & sewed but also went on an afternoon trip to a dairy goat farm & then into 'town' to buy T-shirts & then the 19 year old saw a restaurant that she had been for a special birthday celebration recently. It was very very good with Martini's & Cosmopolitan's to boot. The chef/owner had just come back from the coast & had a wonderful grouper dish. Sorry, no pic. Also, had a wonderful coconut cake & key lime pie that was to die for!

Anyway, it was a most enjoyable time away & I am now thinking about what I want to do for next year!