Shopping and More…

Let me preface this posting by stating that I am not a guy who likes to shop!  However, from time to time we do run across a retail establishment that I feel is truly different or that is significantly superior to others of its ilk.

This is Vinterest North in Hixson Tennessee.  We’d been to Vinterest Southside near downtown Chattanooga and I thought it was quite superior to most antique/individual booth style operations.  So on a recent day-long drive, I surprised Laurie by taking her to the original Vinterest operation…

Vinterest Antiques was founded by a couple who were already successful in the corporate world.  But Paul and Katherine (Kat) Schurer put it all on the line and walked away from the rat race and gambled on fulfilling dreams of their own business…a business that actually appealed to them.

Vinterest Antiques North in Hixon opened in 2015 in this building…with 16,000 square feet of retail space.  Their new venture now includes Vinterest Southside…and their operation is home to more than 100 artisans and pickers…a big bunch of creative folks.

Good merchants that they are (Kat was a Regional Manager for a major retailer)…food items are right up front.  That’s Impulse Buying 101!  I’m not a shopper and we have too much stuff already, but interesting and quality food items are my downfall…as we proved in this visit. 

One booth just outside offered a selection of metal animals that a local crafts person created.  We do have a couple of small metal birds along the same line… They have character and they’re small.  But if I had a big bar/game room, I’d take a closer look at that buffalo.

When Laurie finds a booth/vendor with kitchen and home items like this one, I always feel lucky to escape with minimal damage to our budget!

Laurie uses Udder Joy’s products every day so we always stop by and replenish her supply wherever we find them.  Udder Joy produces various beauty products included a plethora of soaps, creams, balms and scrubs.  For more information go to https://www.udderjoyfarms.com/.

I just liked this booth because it was so colorful and upbeat.  To learn more about Kendra Joyner, go to https://www.facebook.com/kjoynerart/.

This booth also attracted my attention.  TomKat Kreations specializes in rustic industrial reclaimed wood and pipe furniture.  I was lucky to escape without one of these pipe lamps!  Fortunately, Laurie couldn’t come up with a logical place for it in our home… Check out this craftsman/artist’s creations at https://www.facebook.com/tomkatkreations/.

Vinterest North is located at 2105 Northpoint Boulevard in Hixson Tennessee. (North of Chattanooga) They are open daily.  Phone: 423-551-4790.  Website: https://vinterestantiques.com/index.html.

OK…enough shopping.  On to the miscellaneous part of this post.

Laurie’s orchid in her ‘plant room’ recently began blooming again.  It’s at least 10 years old and it looks great…

We’ve had sporadic severe thunderstorms in the area over the past 3 – 4 weeks.  We’ve had a lot of branches down but the other day as Laurie drove home from lunch with a friend, when she was one lot away from our house, she had to turn around and come in the other way.  The cut up tree in the first photo had come down in the storm and totally blocked our street.  She had to call our public works department to remove it. 

When I went over to take a look at the lot (right next door to our house) I noted that the big tree in the second photo had come down too…laying on an angle across other trees in this wooded lot.  We were glad that no trees had fallen our way!

So…I thought that I’d end this post with a little food.  I’d had a hankering for corn meal mush cakes, Johnny cakes or polenta but I hadn’t spotted any ready to fry in our local grocery stores.

I was thinking corn meal mush but I had to take what I could find.  Cornmeal mush is a type of cornmeal pudding that is usually boiled in water or milk, allowed to set into a semi-solid, then cut into flat pieces and pan fried.  In the Midwest, where I’m from, it’s usually eaten with maple syrup or molasses.  As it turns out, polenta, mush and Johnny cakes are all pretty much the same thing.

So I took my roll of commercial polenta, cut it in slices, fried it in Amish butter, slathered it with more butter, went for some with Vermont maple syrup and then, following Laurie’s suggestion, added some brown sugar on top.  It was very satisfying… Of course, everything is better with butter!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave