Papa's Salad (with sautéed chicken and fried goat cheese)

I've been making my grandfather's salad since I was oh about 9 years old.

He left a legacy with his salad because I cannot tell you how many people love this salad.

My sweet childhood friend Becky and I would come home from school and I swear every day I made this salad for her.  (well a version of it)

As I've aged (like fine red wine) btw.  I've learned to embellish this yummy salad by adding more contemporary ingredients.  But the base of the salad is the same

LOTS OF GARLIC...FRESH, YUMMY GARLIC.

Now,  If you don't want the chicken and fried goat cheese, just delete!  But, it's really good ;)

So, for those of you my sweet friends who have seen this on Instagram and asked for the recipe, today is your lucky day!

First, start with a good, large salad bowl.

I have my grandfather's salad bowl which is probably 100 years old.

It is wonderfully seasoned which helps with making a good salad...

in my humble opinion.

chop up the ingredients and add FRESH pressed garlic, lots of pepper and sea salt

now, for some reason I don't have pics of the rest of the base of the salad, so I'm going to talk you through it.  Add pre-washed mixed salad greens or iceberg lettuce (gently torn - NOT cut) and a handful of Arugula.  Mix it up really well.  Then add 2 Tablespoons of really good Balsamic vinegar and 2 tbls of really good olive oil.

Mix that up really well.  Add blue cheese

this is the base of the salad.

Here's what cha do to add all those toppings!

get strips of chicken and season with salt and pepper - put aside

for the goat cheese:  These are the ingredients you will need

 (notice the dental floss on top of the bread crumbs)

Using your dental floss, cut the goat cheese.

Coat both sides in a beaten egg

 Dredge in the bread crumbs

press a fresh garlic clove in some hot olive oil

saute chicken strips about 5 minutes on each side until done

 in a separate pan, heat olive oil and add goat cheese.  Cook on one side, very gently turn over with a spatula.  Then cook the other side until brown

Enjoy!!!

Have a wonderful day y'all!

kb

"What Went Wrong"?

I am just blown away by the amount of "Monday Morning Quarterbacking"

that is going on down here in the south.

The press conferences are quite frankly painful to watch.

The reporters are like bulldogs with the officials.

I know you folks up north and in the Midwest are laughing your butts off at us down South not being able to handle "a little" ice.

so

What went wrong?

Well, these are the facts:

"we in the South get criticized if we OVER react and get criticized if we UNDER react"

1) the weather reporters GOT IT WRONG

2) the weather came in really, really fast

3) everyone left to go home at the same time

4) the school officials relied on others to make the decisions to close schools

5) it was not just a little ice, it was ALOT of ice.

6) no one could drive in this....no one.

7) we simply don't have the equipment to handle a storm of this magnitude, since it only happens once in a decade.

8) NO ONE has a crystal ball

These are also the facts:

I have seen so many RAK (random acts of kindness) that I am bursting with pride at being a Southerner.

People have opened their homes to strangers, organized warming centers, gotten on their own "gators" to rescue people in sub zero temps.

There were even two guys who got out in it with Hot Chocolate and went car to car handing it out!

I am proud of my Southern roots.

Where do we go from here?

Well, everything is probably going to be closed today still.

Roads are still extremely dangerous and really stranded cars are everywhere.

Tractor trailers (a HUGE part of the problem here) are still stranded everywhere on our interstates blocking roads.

We just need to have a meltdown.
or.  just relax and have fun on your day off!

brilliant.

********************

I believe people need to just "get stuff done" and then we can break it down and see how better to fix what went wrong.

Monday morning quarterbacking is just anti-productive at this point.

Again, I am proud of my Southern roots!

have a great day y'all!

kb

"Snowmageddan"

my goodness, gracious, alive.

y'all.

What in the world has happened here in the South?

Thankfully, I decided to head home from my studio yesterday around 11:00 a.m.

At 12 it started snowing.

Just a little snow!  No big deal!

Got a pic from daughter in Birmingham of all the kids playing in the snow.

Yippee!!!  Snow day!

Everyone was excited!

S-K-R-E-A-C-H!

Hold on a minute!

Not so fast.

Motha Nature had to pull a fast one on us down here in the South.

I know, I know, people down here don't know how to drive in the snow.

Well, that is a very true statement.

However.

No one in this world could drive in this stuff.

People are stranded EVERYWHERE!

this was the interstate this morning at 5 a.m.

These people have been in their cars since 6 p.m. last night.

"the south is a blanket of ice"

Birmingham was particularly horrible yesterday.

Thankfully both my girls and my grandchildren were safe at home.

The young men in my life not so fortunate.

My son in law was working in Pell City yesterday.

He and two co-workers decided to head back to Birmingham yesterday morning.

They came to a dead stop on I - 20 around 11 a.m.

At 7 p.m. last night I got a frantic call from my daughter saying that they were still stuck in the same place.

After putting a message for help for them on Facebook, all these wonderful people came to their rescue!

We were told that shelters had been opened at different locations and buses were picking folks up off the exits.

They walked 2 miles in sub-freezing temps to the exit.

So, SIL and co-workers spent the night in a shelter last night.

Some folks weren't so fortunate.

My son ditched his car and walked 3 miles home in sub-freezing temps last night.

My future SIL spent the night at his office.

I am buying everyone I know an external battery charger for their phones.

Well.  I will tell you though, through all of this I have never seen such generosity!

People everywhere are opening their homes to stranded motorist.

FB was going crazy with offers to help folks!

I love this!

The outpouring of love.

That is what the south is all about!

 I ate my way through this storm....

this is Birmingham where people just left their cars.

have a wonderful day y'all!

and

stay warm

kb

Monogrammed Ribbon!

Are you still in to monograms?

Well me too....to a certain extent.

I've always been a monogram girl.

That's the "southern" in me.

Born and raised with monograms.

But, enough is enough, y'all.

I am not in to monogramming everything I own.

so...

we are down to the "nitty gritty" with the wedding.

The details.

40 days til the big day!!!

if you would like to see the engagement pictures go to

www.callenandhouston.com

so cute!

okay, back to monograms.

I had Jordan monogram the ribbon on the guest book.

I thought it turned out simply beautiful!

Do you still monogram?

have a great day y'all!

kb

DIY Mercury Glass...EASYBREEZY!

Attention!

This is probably the easiest DIY project I have ever in my life done.

Mercury glass.

Well, I'm not sure if this is called mercury glass or not because it's gold.

But, I LOVE the look, and you could do it with gold, silver, bronze, blue...any color of spray paint you want!

First, fill a spray bottle with 1/2 white vinegar and 1/2 water

Oh wait, you need a clear vessel that you want to paint.

In my case, we want to do gold votives for the wedding.  

But, they needed to be larger than a normal votive, but not too large.

So, I found this small clear vase at Michaels for a whopping 1.00.

 I also purchased this gold metallic spray paint.  It was about 8.00 but I had a 40% off coupon.

first, you spray the inside of the vase with the vinegar/water mixture.  Not a lot, just a few spritz.

Swirl it around and then dump out the mixture.

Then take the metallic spray and spray the inside of the vase.  Swirl that around also and dump out.

Then take a paper towel and dab the inside.

I love!!!

Total cost, oh probably about 1.50

Total time?

less than 10 minutes.

Have a great day y'all!

kb

Sugarboo Designs

About oh I guess 10 years ago, I went to the Atlanta Mart for one of their big shows.

I met a young woman Rebecca Puig who was showing her work in the temporaries.

I was just SO impressed with this young lady and what she was doing.

A graduate from the University of Georgia Art Department, Rebecca has cornered the market on folk art/accessories and developed such a unique style and look.

Comforting quotes, beautiful designs.

She has developed that little dream into a huge business and now has a permanent showroom at the mart.

She continues to impress me!

www.sugarboodesigns.com

wouldn't you love to see this staring you in the face every morning?

oh, Sugarboo Designs now has a beautiful retail store in the Brookhaven section of Atlanta!

have a wonderful day y'all!

kb