Dining Out Here and There – Omaha Nebraska

During our visit last May with our family in Omaha, the weather wasn’t the greatest so much of what we did for entertainment was at the family home.  Upon arrival, it was ‘taco night’.  However, our son and daughter-in-law do it up right!  We construct our own tacos…working from grilled skirt steak, chicken and ground beef along with a plethora of add-ons.

From a fun activity viewpoint, my favorite activity was when Laurie and I played the original version of Trivial Pursuit with David II and our 21 year old grandson, David III.  Frustrating for David III, to say the least!  Old sporting events and athletes, world happenings and entertainment…were all pretty much foreign to him…but great for yours truly…da winner!

Other than our adventure at Lauritzen Gardens, most of our ‘outside’ activities revolved around dining out…

One of our first dining stops was for lunch at Block 16.  The couple that started this restaurant met in a college culinary program.  Much of the food they feature was learned/passed down from family members.  This restaurant likes to combine items not usually combined…therefore the menu is always fresh and different.  They own a 100 year old family farm and the majority of their ingredients are preservative free and come from local producers.

This is the big menu board at the service counter at Block 16.  As has become more common wherever we travel, customers place their orders at a counter and then the food is delivered by a server or is picked up by the customer.

A close look at the big menu verifies that the owners of Block 16 are willing to take risks and mix food items that sometimes seem contrary.  Not too many casual restaurants offer Salmon Tartine or a “3-Happiness Burger…with crab Rangoon cream cheese, stir-fry slaw, sweet and spicy chili glaze and wontons…   

The first photo shows the service counter where customers place their orders.  It’s sort of organized chaos when it’s busy…and I felt rushed when trying to figure out what to order.  The family didn’t have that problem as they’d been there before.  The second photo shows the primary dining area, certainly basic or 'bare bones with minimal décor, which works for a sandwich shop, even a fancy one.

This was a special menu item on the day we visited.  This is the “Breakfast Burger”.  The sandwich was constructed with half Wagyu beef and half Berkshire pork, maple and brown sugar, grilled onions, Nashville hot bacon, a fried egg, jack cheese, pickle and sago mayonnaise.  It came with a side of French fries. ($14.95) All taste buds were engaged!

This was a Blockburger.  It consisted of 1/3 lb. of ground beef, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle.  With fries and a drink, it cost $13.50.  No complaints on this sandwich…but then again, it wasn’t exactly ‘out there’. 

Now this creation…not a great photo as you can't see the ingredients in the wrap…is quite creative, if 'not my cup of tea'.  The Dragon Wrap is made with grilled naan wrapped around pickled vegetables, spicy slaw, hummus and arugula, with French fries and ‘dragon sauce’ on the side, along with a drink. ($14.00) Amy seemed quite happy with her choice.

This one was a dandy!  It’s Brooke’s ‘Chickenwich’.  This large hunk of dill pickle marinated fried chicken was seasoned with house-made Tajin seasoning (chili peppers, lime and sea salt), house pickle, lemon-honey aioli and dill slaw on a sesame bun… It was $14.45 with fries and a beverage.

Block 16 is located at 1611 Farnam Street in Omaha Nebraska.  Phone: 402-342-1220.  Website: https://block16omaha.com/.

This is the “Mouth of The South”.  It's described as a Southern Restaurant and scratch kitchen which is bringing southern flavor to Omaha…ranging from Southern Cuisine per se to Cajun Food.

The bar at Mouth of the South was attractive as was the dining room…with simple but eye catching décor and a semi-industrial look, warm without the ‘cold’ and sterile look that is so common these days.

We talked ourselves out of ordering appetizers, mainly because not everyone liked mussels, gizzards, Boudin balls or crab cakes… However, we didn’t have any problem selecting our entrees for the main course!   

I went for the Kickin’ Chicken Pasta as my entrée. ($17.00) It was a relatively simple dish with blackened chicken in a roasted jalapeno sauce over pasta with a bit of parmesan sprinkled on top.  I asked for more parmesan and Tabasco sauce and, for a little while, all was right with the world.

There was a lot more food with this entrée than was expected!  This was the Smokepit Sandwich…created by combining pulled pork with beef brisket, adding Abita turbo BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, house slaw and ‘comeback’ sauce…with that stack of onion rings on the side. ($15.00) Just that side of onion rings would more than satisfy the appetite for most diners!  That sandwich required 2 hands and a number of napkins…

Then there was the Cajun Burger with an optional up charge for Gumbo as a side. ($16.00 + $2.00) This Angus beef burger was topped with Tasso, (a slice of fatty smoked, spiced and cured pork from the hog’s shoulder), andouille sausage, gruyere cheese and rémoulade sauce.  The gumbo was house made with chicken and andouille sausage.  Another fine meal!

Well, we were all stuffed after all this food…but I’ve never passed up a chance to find and enjoy a nice slab of bread pudding. ($10.00) Although I was stuffed and $10.00 seemed a bit pricy for bread pudding, my bride knows my affinity for this dessert and she encouraged me to order it.  I agreed but only if it could be shared.  FYI, it was a very nice version of this popular southern dessert item…

Other Southern or Cajun offerings at Mouth of the South included: Jambalaya, Chicken Fried Chicken, Voodoo Shrimp and Grits, Crawfish Etouffee and Andouille Crusted Redfish…along with a plethora of Po Boys.

Mouth of the South has 2 locations in Omaha.  This particular suburban restaurant is located at 16909 Lakeside Hills Plaza.  Phone: 531-375-5399.  The menu is found at https://www.motsomaha.com/main-menu and this location for Mouth of the South is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mouthofthesouthsoutherngrub/.     

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Our Tour of a Botanical Garden…and an ‘Adventure’

Whenever we visit our family in Omaha, our son always seems to have a plan to keep us entertained.  As a consequence, we’ve seen a lot of historic buildings, visited multiple museums, gone for some interesting drives and eaten in many restaurants offering a variety of cuisines.  During our visit this past May, these area explorations continued.

The family, Laurie, myself, David II, Amy, David III and Emmett Lee loaded into the SUV and we were off to Omaha’s Lauritzen Gardens.  This expansive botanical garden, located near the Missouri River and close to the center of the city, is really a living four-season museum of plant displays.  The huge glass structure in the photo is the Marjorie K. Daugherty Conservatory.  This giant greenhouse cost $20,000,000 to build and it was opened in 2014.

Group photos are obligatory, at least from my viewpoint.  We took these photos shortly after we entered the greenhouse/conservatory.  The first photo features David II, Amy, Emmett, David III and Nana, aka Laurie.  The second photo features ‘just us guys’. 

On to select photos of the plants and flowers as well as occasional features noted in Lauritzen Gardens.  This eye-catching fountain flanked is flanked by a handsome pair of ‘Agave americana ‘Marginata’.  Native to Mexico and Texas, this plant is cultivated worldwide as an ornamental plant.  It lives from between 10 and 30 years and near the end of its life it sends up a tall branched stalk with yellow blossoms.  These stalk can grow to 25 feet in height or even more.  Shoots from the base of the plant continues the plant’s growth.

Agave Americana has been used in traditional medicine to treat various ailments.  Other uses of these plants include agave nectar, rope, matting, coarse cloth and 3 different alcoholic beverages – pulque, mescal and tequila.

I didn’t know that the Bird of Paradise flower/plant was native to South Africa.  It belongs to the plant family ‘Strelitziaceae’, a genus named in honor of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Queen Consort of King George III.  This plant’s popular name, ‘birds-of-paradise’, came from its resemblance to birds of that name from South Africa.

In South Africa, it is commonly known as a crane flower and it’s featured on the reverse of the 50-cent coin.  This flower is also the floral emblem of the City of Los Angeles. 

The `7,500 square foot conservatory is loaded with luxurious flowers, foliage, plant life, water features and dramatic views.  With its tropical gardens, palms, bamboo trees and stunning floral displays…not to mention scenes like this pond with its glass ‘water lily’ fountain and that elephant getting a drink…there is more to meet the eye than one can comprehend in a short time.

Bananas anyone?  By this time, the family was far ahead of yours truly as I stopped to take lots of photos.  But it wouldn't be long, thanks to my independent exploration, before they really would be going 'bananas'!  

Orchids, orchids everywhere!  I was drawn to this yellow variety but there were many others on view.  With about 28,000 currently accepted species, orchids comprise one of the two largest families of flowering plants.  This number is about equal to the number of bony fishes, twice the number of bird species and four times the number of mammal species.

I wasn’t aware that Vanilla is the product the dried seed pods of an orchid genus of the same name.  Of course, vanilla is widely used in baking, perfume manufacturing and aromatherapy.

This large tortured looking cactus looks like I can feel on a bad day… This is a Peruvian Apple Cactus.  This cactus is also known as the ‘giant club cactus’ or the ‘hedge cactus’.  These cactus can grow to reach a height of 33 feet.  

It produces large, cream-colored nocturnal flowers that only stay open for one night…but they are of vital importance to pollinating bats.  The fruits are thornless and vary in skin color from violet-red to yellow.  The edible flesh is white and it contains small, edible crunchy seeds.  As the cactus grows in arid regions and it fruits in the dry seasons, the fruit is an essential source of food for birds in its native range.

Now onto the outdoor portion of Lauritzen Gardens…  

Time for a couple of family photos before ‘the adventure’ begins.  This is David II standing by one of the many ponds and water features found throughout the gardens.  He’s the larger of the two figures in the photo…

In this photo Laurie posed next to an attractive ‘Manchurian Lilac’.  She wouldn’t pose for me for the rest of the visit to the garden…details to follow.

This particular species of lilac is native to Korea and China... Lilacs belong to a genus of 12 species of flowering woody plants (bushes or small trees) in the ‘olive family’.  This genus is native to southeastern Europe and eastern Asia…but, as anyone knows who has ever lived in the eastern half of the USA, they are commonly cultivated in many temperate zones.  As popular as lilacs are, it should be no surprise that there are several lilac festivals held in the USA and Canada every year…

This is the entrance to the Robert H. Storz Family Rose Garden.  Dedicated in the early fall of 1997, this formal and colorful rose garden contains almost 2,000 rose plants of many varieties.  

But, I really didn’t explore the Rose Garden…and this is actually where the ‘adventure’ began!

There has been some debate as to what was said or agreed to.  David II and Laurie wanted to walk over to check out the Japanese Garden that was under construction and I wasn’t interested.  According to some, I agreed to stay where I was until the two of them backtracked to my location.  Of course I don’t recall any such agreement…and that’s how the ‘adventure’ began!

Right after Laurie and David II headed for the Japanese Garden, a fellow passed who told me that he was in charge of Lauritzen Garden’s outdoor train operation and exhibit.  I looked at my map and I could see that it was close to the rose garden right next to the main path leading back to the Visitor’s Center.  If you follow me at all, you know that I’m ‘into’ trains, depots and transportation in general…so on down the path I went!

Look what I discovered!  Cleverly constructed buildings and bridges complete with life action G-scale model trains!  Lots of fun and lots to look at!  Seven model trains were in motion… The model railroad garden surrounds visitors and it features miniature communities and landscapes.  Structural elements are made with leaves, twigs, bark, berries, pinecones, gourds and cinnamon sticks…all scaled to size.

…and then I continued on along the path toward the visitor’s center, calculating that Laurie and David II would catch up with me as I’m not walking too fast at this stage in my life.

Beyond our miscommunication or misunderstanding at the Rose Garden, I proceeded to make one ‘little’ error in judgement, making my first 'error' quite a bit more impactful.  I went left when I should have gone right…thrown off by a tram parking spot on the main path.  I ended up wandering in a big loop through the Arboretum and Oberman Bird Sanctuary.

This 4-acre site features 7 regional plant communities: prairie, savannah, oak hickory forest, maple linden forest, farmstead windbreak plus marsh and flood plain river margin.  Located along the Missouri River flyway, this area attracts many migratory birds.  Feeders and nest boxes are located throughout the sanctuary.  By now I realized that I'd made a wrong turn...but I figured I'd just keep moving along and taking photos.

This restful scene in the photo above is titled “End of Day”.  The bronze sculpture of sand hill cranes was completed by artist Dee Clements and it was installed in the memory of Pauline Ruth Roberts Seaver by her family. 

Dee Clements is based in the Cleveland Ohio area.  He has works on display in at least 13 states and the District of Columbia.  Plus he’s completed many private collection sculptures as well as commercial works.  His website is at https://deeclements.com/.

So while I was 'lost' and wandering along the arboretum/bird sanctuary trail and getting my exercise for the day, stress was setting in for Laurie and David II.  Since I wasn’t at the Rose Garden waiting for them, they naturally followed the pathway back to the visitor’s center…but I was nowhere to be found!  Concern and a bit of understandable panic set in!

In the meantime, I kept taking photos as I moved along ‘the garden path’ in an effort to find the correct road ‘home’… I had never seen red feather clover before and it is truly striking!  However, when I looked it up on the Internet, I couldn’t find any clover…red feather or not…that had red leaves.

While I was taking this photo of Mountain Bluet, all the real action was taking place elsewhere in the Gardens.  By now, Laurie was showing my photo to folks at the visitor's center and the family was spreading out to search for me…

The mountain bluet is a popular medicinal plant in Central Europe.  Also known as the perennial cornflower, mountain cornflower or montane knapweed it is endemic to the southern mountain ranges of Europe.  It escapes from gardens readily and has become established in the British Isles, Scandinavia and North America.  It has already been declared to be an invasive species in British Columbia, Canada.

My personal 'adventure' as well as the family’s search for me continued even as I completed the wayward loop and neared the main path back to the visitor’s center.  I captured this photo of a spectacular ‘white fringetree’ along the way.  By this point in time, I figured I was in big trouble!

The White fringetree is native to the savannahs and lowlands of the southeastern USA…from New Jersey to Florida and west as far as Oklahoma and Texas.  In the Appalachian Mountains these trees, which can reach 36 feet in height, are sometimes referred to as ‘Grancy Gray Beard’ and ‘Old Man’s Beard’.

The dried roots and bark of these trees were used by Native Americans to treat skin inflammations and their crushed bark was used to treat sores and wounds.  Of some concern is their apparent ‘use’ or infection by emerald ash borers where the range of ash trees and white fringetrees overlap…

It does seem appropriate that these wild turkeys were in the last photo I took during my ‘adventure’ down the wrong path.  We have plenty of these birds wandering around our neighborhood, forests and nearby farm land in East Tennessee and there are estimated to be over 7,000,000 of these birds in North America.

Speaking of wild ‘turkeys’, that would have been the kindest thing that Laurie and the family search team could have called me when I ran into them as I finally neared the Lauritzen Gardens visitors center.  They had visions of me lying prone along some path in the gardens.  David II, Laurie, David III and Emmett had all gone down ‘the garden path’ in search of yours truly.  Well, we finally ‘found’ each other…  At least one of us got to explore the arboretum and bird sanctuary and I did get a lot of exercise! 

After a bit of righteous abuse, our family ‘adventure’ was over…but now I’ve had to commit to always carrying my cell phone with me whenever I’m not with someone who has one.  Bummer!  I hate carrying that dang thing with me but then again I don’t want to stress out Laurie and the family any more than I already do!

Except for my special adventure, the family enjoyed our visit to Lauritzen Gardens.  The Gardens are open 362 days a year.  Their website is found at https://www.lauritzengardens.org/.  

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

On to Omaha for a Major Family Event!

Once again, it was time for a road trip…this time it was all about spending time with and celebrating family!

Near the end of May, we got up early one morning and headed for Omaha, and our first visit with our son’s family in about a year. 

We don’t follow the Interstate System any more than is necessary.  In this case we followed I-40 from Knoxville west to I-24 north from Nashville.  It joins I-57 north in Southern Illinois and we exited it at US Hwy 50 west at Salem Illinois and followed US Hwy 51 north followed by a couple of state highways all the way to our overnight stop in Springfield Illinois.

I had researched the area near our Hampton Inn on the south side of Springfield…looking for a likely place for us to have dinner.  That was when I discovered a small restaurant chain called “Sweet Basil Café”.  What really attracted me was that the menu was huge and featured a number of Greek inspired offerings…much like the local Greek owned restaurants that we love and frequented so often when we lived in Chicago.  At this point, we were really hopeful...

Laurie decided against the Greek offerings, instead ordering one of her favorites, a “French Dip Sandwich”. (Slices of roast beef on French bread served with Au jus for dipping) For her side, she ordered the “Tri-c0lored Pasta Salad.  Her other choices were French fries, Orzo Pasta Salad or Fruit.

Laurie was thankful that she ordered the pasta salad…because it was the best thing she was served.  The ‘beef’ was flavorless as was the Au jus, sad because a good Au jus will usually ‘cover up’ less than quality beef.

One of my favorite entrees in a Greek Restaurant is the Greek Chicken Dinner.  As is the standard, it includes a half chicken roasted Greek style with lemon and roasted potatoes.  As a side, this entrée came with a small Greek Salad. 

Due to my medications, I can’t eat salad so I asked for the soup instead.  Our waiter proceeded to bring out a huge order of French fries, that despite the roasted potatoes that came with my entrée.  We told him that we hadn’t ordered French fries and he said, “Oh well, then they’re free”.  I once again requested my soup…but it never came.

As for the ‘Greek Chicken’, despite the fact that it was floating in a flavorless broth or sauce, it was overcooked, flavorless and dry.  The potatoes were terrible examples of roasted Greek style potatoes.  If there was any lemon or garlic anywhere, it must have still been in the kitchen.  Even those ‘free’ fries were just OK.  Even the presentation failed to appeal...

Our waiter was untrained plus he was…to put it politely…an idiot.  He did nothing right… In addition, despite the lack of customers while we were in the restaurant, the kitchen was painfully slow and we waited what seemed like forever for our food.  To top it all off, when we went up to the counter to pay our bill, the 2 young ladies at the register were just chatting with each other and no one asked how our dinners were…probably a good thing.  The final item of discontent was that their printer wasn’t working so I couldn’t get a receipt. 

Somehow, this little chain of restaurants has 4 other locations in Illinois…Skokie, Glen Ellyn, Rockford and Peoria.  They have to be better than the Springfield location!  Taking everything into account, our rating for this dining experience is “Horrid”.  I will post my review with TripAdvisor...

Sweet Basil Café’s website is at https://www.sweetbasilcafes.com/.   

The next morning we headed west on I-72 and then, once in Missouri we followed US Hwy 36 west to I-29 and then north to Omaha.  It was time to celebrate and party!

The rest of this post is all about Emmett Lee.  At 18 years of age he is the younger of our 2 grandsons.  As you can see, given all those medals, cords and sashes, he was not only graduating from high school, but he did so with a variety of honors!  I’m not sure what all of them represent but when comparing his ‘regalia’ with others, he was part of a select group of seniors!

The graduation ceremony was held at the Elkhorn Public Schools Stadium.  This photo shows the group as they were assembling at one end of the field.  In total, there were 282 members of this senior class.

Here are some of the members of the Class of 2022 from Elkhorn South High School in Omaha (Elkhorn area) Nebraska.  With his height, Emmett was easy to spot!  At this point, the seniors had been given a white rose, which was the class flower.  It was presented to their mothers or key family members a bit later in the ceremony.

This photo shows all members of the immediate family…parents, grandparents and of course, his older brother.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get out of this photo by being the photographer…as another graduate’s dad volunteered to take the photo.

This view toward the ‘business end’ of the field shows just a fraction of the graduating class.  However it does show the big screen showing the seniors and where the speeches were made and the diplomas were handed out… 

Then of course, we all had to have photos taken with Emmett.  Here he is with his proud parents, David II and Amy.

This is David III with Emmett.  It was only 3 years earlier when David III graduated from Elkhorn South High School… Time flies!  There were too many people taking their photo when I snapped this one…as neither of them were looking my way.

Of course I had to take a photo of Emmett with 'Nana', aka Laurie, my better half.  We are both very proud of Emmett and his many accomplishments!

Emmett Lee posed with yours truly at his home before the graduation ceremony.  There are times when even I want to have my photo taken and this was one of those occasions. 

So what’s next for Emmett Lee?  He was accepted to the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, a school within the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.  This school accepts no more than 45 students each year… On top of that, much to his parents and his personal delight, he got a full scholarship… In addition, he’ll be close enough to home that he can drop off his laundry at home from time to time!

Congratulations Emmett!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Independence Day in the USA!

 Happy Fourth of July!

Commemorating America's Declaration of Independence!

Staying Local…

In my next post to the blogsite, I’ll begin describing the ‘adventures’ we enjoyed as we headed west to visit family in Omaha Nebraska and St. Louis Missouri.  However, for this edition, I’ll be staying close to home.

Our neighbors, Sherry and Mike, decided to have a yard sale and they invited others to add items that they didn’t want or need any longer in order to enhance the interest and increase sales.  We kicked in a number of items and were able to sell a few odds and ends for a bit of spending money. 

They included: a few security badges that I’d rescued from the trash when Montgomery Ward went under; a mink coat that Laurie had been given but only used once; a metal porch sign that read “Welcome” and a few other odds and ends.  Items that didn’t sell included another old mink coat…my mother’s; an old fashioned muff; 3 golf clubs/woods, and some Halloween ceramics.  Time to start building our inventory for the next yard sale.

While I was at the yard sale, I noted that I’d never really looked at our home from the neighbor’s front yard so I took the first photo shown above.  At least we still have an intact forest on the other side of the house…for now.  A bit later I took the close up photo of those eye catching yellow day lilies….

Our favorite chicken wing joint in Farragut Tennessee closed some time ago and we are still looking for a restaurant that can fulfill our ‘need’ for great chicken wings with lots of spice and flavor options.

It had been quite a long time since we’d visited Big Kahuna Wings on US Hwy 11 aka Kingston Pike in Farragut.  One of our problems with this restaurant used to be the small dining room area.  It was too small and too cramped.  They recently expanded the restaurant and we ‘needed’ a wing ‘fix’, so we stopped by to give it a try…

The first view of the interior is from the front entrance to the back of the restaurant.  Basically, the new space goes from the front edge of the painting on the left wall and the last 2 windows on the right to the back wall.  While not a huge addition, it does make a significant difference.  The second photo is a view from our table to include the bar and the reception area.

Question… From an ‘older’ patron’s viewpoint, what’s with the current rage for high tables and stools/tall chairs?  They don’t work well with a crowd of a certain age… It wasn’t a problem in this instance.  With plenty of open tables upon our arrival, we were seated at a ‘normal’ table.

We ordered just 5 wings as we this was our dinner…and we had decided that wings would make a better appetizer than an entrée.  Big Kahuna’s wings aren’t breaded and they are quite ‘meaty’…decent sized.  Still, $8.95 for 5 wings or $1.79 each seems a little pricy, even in these supply chain challenged days.  We accompanied our wings with the ‘spicy garlic’ dipping sauce but there are 20 different sauce options on the menu.  The wings and the sauce were both very satisfying…

Laurie decided to double up on the chicken with her Chicken Salad Sandwich. ($11.00) This creation includes shredded grilled chicken seasoned with a mild Cajun rub and blended with mayonnaise, celery, carrots and cabbage…all together on a warm ciabatta roll with lettuce and tomatoes.  For a beverage, Laurie ordered a Vodka and Tonic…with Tito’s Vodka. ($5.50)

All sandwiches come with a side and Laurie chose the Fresh Pasta Salad.  Other choices include potato salad, Kahuna fries, bacon cheddar mac ‘n cheese, spicy kale slaw and BKW chips.  Laurie enjoyed the sandwich but didn’t care for the pasta salad.

For my sandwich, I chose the Jalapeno Bacon-Cheddar Burger. ($12.50) A locally sourced Black Angus beef patty on a grilled bun was topped with a homemade cheddar cream cheese blend, Applewood bacon, lettuce, mayonnaise, tomato and jalapeno slices.  I asked for some spicy ranch dipping sauce (75 cents) to accompany the BKW homemade potato chips.

The burger was quite tasty if a little messy.  The chips were OK but were enhanced by the dipping sauce.  Service was competent and the waitress was pleasant.  Our problem with the expanded Big Kahuna’s is that once the restaurant was about 40 or 50% filled with customers, the space was far too loud…enough so that we had a hard time enjoying our meals. 

Big Kahuna Wings in Farragut Tennessee is located just east of the Knox County/Loudon County Line at 12828 Kingston Pike.  Phone; 865-288-7891.  Website: www.BKWings.com. 

On another weekday, we made the drive out to the High Order Mennonite Community and their farmer's market near Tellico Plains Tennessee.  We made quite a few purchases.  The first item shown above is a bag of Laurie's favorite granola... She mixes it in with her yogurt for breakfast.  I don't recall the price we paid for this big bag of granola. 

We also bought a package of “Chewy Sorghum Raisin Cookies” and “Gingerbread Blondies”.  I believe that there were 8 cookies in that package and there were 7 ‘blondies’ in their package. ($4.00 per package) We decided that the cookies weren’t our favorites but we really liked the gingerbread blondies.   

We also picked up 2 cinnamon rolls for breakfast the next day. ($2.00 each) They were fairly good but they were a little dry around the outside ring…solved by applying butter and 22 seconds in the microwave.  Other items not pictured included 2 bunches of large radishes which I use as a snack food, a loaf of sourdough bread and a loaf or whole wheat bread.

…and I’ll end this post with a photo of a recent addition to Laurie’s garden in our back yard.  This is commonly called a raindrop, rain flower or rain lily.  There are a wide variety of these flowering plants and they are native to North America.  These plants have been widely used in traditional medicine for a variety of issues but the leaves and bulbs are considered toxic.  It was obvious that the flowers are toxic as some critter, probably a deer ate this flower the day after Laurie took this photo.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave