The last couple of weeks I’ve been recounting what I deemed as my first big girl ride.  With little experience riding I rode the infamous Tail of the Dragon, a road with 318 curves in 11 short miles.  It scared me to death, so much so that we decided to take a different route home, the Cherohola Skyway which ended up being just as challenging and took 3 hours!   It was all exhilarating albeit a bit petrifying also.  Now we head back to Illinois where McGyver says “11 curves in 318 miles”….I think I can handle that!

May 24, 2005

The next morning we got up, showered, packed and hit the road.  This day I rode with a lot more confidence – McGyver knew it too-we rode home at 85 mph and he didn’t hesitate in anything knowing that I would be able to hang.

I had graduated from beginner to intermediate.

That’s all I wrote about the ride home, I guess I figured there wasn’t much to tell in comparison to riding the Tail of the Dragon and the Cherohola Skyway.  I still have a few more pics though that I drug up out of our archives…

Love a man in leather!

Don’t look down….

I don’t know if I was saying “It was this big” or “it was this close”?

You gotta appreciate a sign like this…who cares about the next gas stop?

Finally home.  McGyver’s beard is definitely wind blown!

People would say to me, “things happen for a reason”.   I say bullshit, bad things don’t happen for a reason.  There’s no reason why someone gets cancer or why a child dies.  Of course losing a job isn’t that serious, but it is a bad thing and it didn’t happen for a reason.  What I’ve discovered is that when bad things happen, people pick themselves up, dust themselves off and make the best of a bad situation.  They make lemonade.  Sometimes we even look back and think that the bad thing was the best thing that ever happened.

I’m not saying losing my job was the best thing that ever happened to me, far from it.  As a matter of fact if I still had it, I’d be stressed but perfectly happy going on about my regular Joe life.  Since I don’t have it, I had to do something, I had to make lemonade, which is okay, I love all things lemony

I had set some goals for myself, the kind that you always said “if I have the time, I was going too…” (the list is not all inclusive):

• catch up on yard work
• work on redecorating my home
• keep a spotless house
• diet
• exercise
• clean out the file cabinets
• make all our files digital
• organize, organize
• make jewelry
• sort through our pictures/scrapbook
• Improve my blog
• improve my writing skills
• get more “social”
• Improve my photography skills
• join some cooking clubs
• be a more adventurous cook

Some of the items on my list are still lemons..diet, exercise, organize….I did get more social, joined cooking clubs, improved my cooking and writing, redecorated some of the house and caught up on last years yard work (got a whole new mess this year) and improved my photography.

While I was busy turning my lemons into lemonade I discovered that I really enjoyed the photography.  I found myself reading books about it, taking free online courses, messing around with my camera and seeing some decent results.  I even took some senior school photos and did a wedding (as a guest, not the photographer).  All this led to a couple of things that are about to change my life.

every road in life leads to many paths

One day I got a brochure for the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. They had a 1 week course in food photography that I was seriously Jonesing for but couldn’t afford.  Then I was contacted by a retired USAF Colonel to do some product photography for him, we got to talking and he said I would probably qualify for the Post 9-11 GI Bill education benefit.

That’s all it took (and a lot of family support) and now I can share with you that I’M GOING TO PHOTOGRAPHY SCHOOL!  Not just the 1 week course but a 5 month intensive, cram it down your throat, sink or swim school.  I will be leaving my family for 5 months and heading to Missoula, I’m excited and I’m a wreck!

That leaves me only a few weeks to take care of a few of the lingering lemons, graduate my son (June 2nd) and leave for school (June 3rd).  PANIC has ensued.

I’ve been working so hard to post regularly and keep up socially but I think that I’ll be tailoring back for awhile, it’ll be hard to make changes in my life but it’ll be worth it, I hope, pray, cross my fingers that it will turn out to be the best lemonade ever.

I hope you all are still around to share a tall ice cold glass of lemonade.

Last week I described our journey to the Tail and setting up camp (you can read about that here), today is the day that I ride the infamous Tail of the Dragon, ignorance is bliss.  Had I known that it was such a challenging ride for a novice, I may not have done it.  I put my big girl panties on and took the plunge.  Let’s just say I took it at a comfortable pace for me and probably pissed off every biker behind me…

May 23, 2005

McGyver was of course up before me, got his shower and was getting coffee ready.  After my shower and coffee we put on our leathers, cuz it get’s cool in them mountains.

WOW! The Tail was unbelievable – no kidding 318 curves in 11 miles – speed limit 30 mph- strictly enforced.  I was scared but I made it through, this was a big challenge for me and I made it!

[am I on the wrong side of the road????]

We finished the run at a place called Deal’s Gap.  Once the bikes were parked, McGyver asked me how I felt – I told him “I am still scared” – scared and exhilarated – what an awesome accomplishment for a novice rider.

We picked up a few souvenirs and McGyver asked me if I wanted to go back the same way – of course I said “HELL NO!”  I just wasn’t ready to face the Tail again, so soon.  After a little map checking we decided to head towards North Carolina and cut across the Cherohola Sky way, little did we know that this route would take almost 3 hours and more lives have been lost on the Skyway then the Dragon.

Once again, ignorance is bliss and so we took off.  This has to be some the most beautiful countryside in the U.S. – with the exception of the Northwest.

We enjoyed our ride, watched various motorist (car and bike) do idiotic things [like drive on the wrong side of the road]and made our way back to the camp.

After the ride we thought we’d check out the Rally – I chose to ride behind hubby, I was mentally and physically exhausted from the ride, I never realized how much it could take out on a person.  I had new respect for McGyver and what he went through when we drove through the Alps.

We arrived at the Rally site just in time to catch the wet T-shirt contest; T-shirt being the optional word here.  Darn the luck, true to the mountain girl stereotype most of the girls should have kept their shirts on and dry but I didn’t hear a single guy complain…guess they like them all.

Afterwards we walked around the sight, bought some damn good BBQ, saw some really cool bikes, like the hubless bike built by AMEN cycles – speaking of which he came to the campground (the owner/builder) and we got a personalized poster.  To: “Ronnie and Rhonda”.  Lonnie (that’s McGyver’s real name) said that just proves that no one listens to him .

After knocking around a bit at the rally, which was sparse and had nearly been wiped out by severe rain storms, we decided to get dinner.  We ended up at this local café – I forgot the name “The Pit Stop” or something, anyways they had the oldest guys in the world playing some bluegrass – and they were good!

Oh I forgot, we arranged to meet one of Lonnie’s LGF blog buddies (who lives in Knoxville) for dinner.  So Ironfist followed us to this café.  What a meal, home style cooking and lots of it.  I got liver and onions, which I never get to have since I’m the only one who likes it, and mashed taters as good as my own.

McGyver got the meatloaf and it was okay – you know- just like it is at home.  After Ironfist treated us to dinner, he went back home and we headed back to the rally see Steppenwolf.   They put on a good show but we were wiped and decided to leave a little early – just as we were leaving Steppenwolf breaks into “Born to be wild”, could it have been more perfect?

As I was writing this post, I thought what an adventurous day…I’m exhausted just writing about it.  Next week, it gets wrapped up with our ride back home.

I’d like to do a shout out to Killboy. com.  Darryl hangs out at The Tail of the Dragon and takes photos of motorist riding this curvy challenging road.  He sells his photos and gives you full rights to reprint and distribute as you like, his only request is that if you post them on the web, that he gets credit.  Darryl, you deserve the credit.

It’s tough for biker’s to get action shots of themselves and I for one am grateful for Killboy.com, if any of you ever decide to tackle the Dragon, make sure you check out his site for snaps.

Just a side note, this morning before I was getting ready to post I went to the Post Office and picked up my mail, there was this months HOG magazine and in it was none other than a feature story about The Tail of the Dragon and the surrounding area, so I snapped an instagram shot just to prove it.

Next week: the ride home and a wrap up.

Hola, ¿cómo estás? Feliz Cinco de Mayo! ¿Estás listo para la fiesta? Para esta fiesta mexicana, estoy compartiendo con chorizo ​​y pan de masa fermentada cheddar para elclub de vacaciones recete.

Sorry, I was getting in the spirit of the holiday…In English: Hello, how are you?  Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Are you ready to party? For this Mexican holiday, I’m sharing with Chorizo and Cheddar Sourdough Bread for the Holiday Recipe Club sponsored by Erin of Big Fat Baker.  For this holiday we had choose from one of these three ingredients: dulce de leche, tomatoes and chorizo.  It would have been very easy for me to do recipes with all three (actually I’ve cooked with all three this past week) because I am a lover of Mexican, Mexican style, Tex-Mex, South Western cooking.  They are all categorically different but similar in their flavor bases and well, just darn good.

It takes no genius to guess what ingredient I chose.  My family has an insane passion for salume (only surpassed by cheese of course) and we put the Mexican chorizo right into that classification; even though salume refers to the Italian sausages.  Our weakness for it, is such that I actually had to hide it where no one would sneak in and start eating it.  Yes, we are happy to just slice and eat it.

See, I had a plan.  You don’t know it, but I’ve been working on mastering sourdough for over 1 month now.  I baked my first sourdough bread on March 27th and have been making something every week and not sharing, not a one, till now.

It all started with Karen from Karen Cooks (one of my Montana blogging sisters).  She posted about her sourdough starter and how she likes sour – sourdough.  I’m of the same mind, I like my sourdough pungent.  I’ve been wanting to have my own sourdough starter for awhile and Karen’s version seemed like the perfect one for me.

I dutifully followed her instructions, I even ordered citric acid from King Arthur so I could get maximum sourness (Karen also hooked me up with some free shipping from KA).  After 1 week, it was time.  I also used Karen’s sourdough bread recipe and followed all her pointers (as some of you know, I am NOT a baker, so I’m really stretching myself here), I made the sponge the night before and baked my loaves the next day.

I even took some action photos.  Please take a moment to admire my new backsplash, isn’t it beautiful…thank you, thank you very much for indulging me.

Only they didn’t turn out (the bread not the backsplash).

My loaves were pale, ghostly looking turds.  Yes folks, I mean that, pieces of shit.  They were so dense, and the crust was not thick and crispy.  Actually, I think I successfully made sourdough jerky if that is possible.  My family bravely tried to eat this pile of turds but I couldn’t and I ditched them.

I could have easily given up there but I had a starter now and that meant sourdough redux next week.  I left the loaves alone, saddened by my first go, and ventured into rolls, and other such stuff (some of which I’m actually going to share in the future). Until these little babies.  By now I’ve been working with the sourdough and was getting, shall I say, a feel for it?

I did a few things different this time: I used more flour for a stiffer dough (which I think was my first issue…I treated it like the simple artisan bread which is a bit more wet), I used a whole egg to cheat and get a little more browning (I wasn’t going for authentic style San Francisco bread) and I took a cue from my simple artisan bread recipe and added water in a pan to create steam which helped give me the crust I so adore.

I still would have preferred a deeper golden color on the crust but the bread, oh my was the bread ah-mazing! The texture was nice and even with just a bit of that sourdough chew.  Each bite brought a little surprise of cheese and chorizo, making your mouth beg for more.  It was wonderful toasted, it made great hoagie sandwiches when split in half.  It was the perfect base for ripe avocados spread across it.  And I imagine that it would be the perfect accompaniment to a chili verde or heuvos rancheros.

Note:  I sliced the top of the loaves vertically in hopes to give a hint of what’s inside.  They opened up like a flower, a full bloomed flower and not like the bud I was hoping for.  In the future I would just make a few horizontal slashes.   Also for my HRC fellow club members, I will be at our cabin this weekend (first time of the year, woohoo) but I won’t have internet access, I’ll be catching up with you all after I get back.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo. Tener un maravilloso fin de semana y me pondré al día con ustedes la próxima semana.

(Happy Cinco de Mayo.  Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll catch up with you next week)

By the way, I don’t speak any Spanish except “Dos cervesa, por favor”.  I was having fun with Google translate

Just a quick one, but I wanted to share this brilliant little cookie dipper that I came up with for my class I gave on Wednesday.  I was teaching an easy Cinco de Mayo party menu, the menu included pulled pork tacos, refried bean bake, Spanish rice, salsa & chips, beergaritas  and these cookies.

Dulce de leche is a carmelized sweetened milk, literally.  I learned how to make this from my stepdaughter, who learned the technique while living in Panama.  It couldn’t be easier…simmer a can of sweetened condensed milk forever…okay not forever, only 2 to 4 hours depending on the depth of carmelization you want, this one went for about 3 hours.

I took my regular biscochitos recipe, shaped them into rectangles versus rounds, and poured the dulce de leche in colorful shot glasses for individual servings.  The subtle bacon and rum flavor are a perfect foil for the sweetness of the dulce de leche.  The best part is that you can double, triple or quadruple the dipping because you aren’t sharing.

How fun is that?  Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

When I was flitting around the blogosphere, my eyes landed on Sippity Sups Gnudis  with peas, bacon and mint, these guys have been on my must make list for sometime, after all the main ingredient is Ricotta, and I’m a little freakish about cheese.  As I was reading Greg’s post, I thought to myself, I have the peas and the mint I just need to go out and get some ricotta.

And I did, several days later.  I bought myself the best organic whole milk ricotta we have in the area.  The baby boy was going to be gone so McGyver and I were planning on getting gnudi…brown chicken cow cow (BTW that’s my version of porn music).

Wait, you haven’t heard of gnudis before?  Gnudi (pronounced noo-die) are sometimes called the ricotta gnocchi, and some say they got their name because gnudi, in Italian is just like it sounds, it means naked.; in this case it refers to the inside of the ravioli but no pasta…a naked ravioli.  I explained this to McGyver and he said so a meat ravioli without the pasta is a meatball/gnudi, would that make a cheese gnudi a cheeseball?  No McGyver it doesn’t, I’m the only cheeseball here!

Maybe I should get back to my gnudi.  I’m all set to make them and I brought up Greg’s recipe and went, ugh they are supposed to sit overnight, however after a little snooping around not every recipe called for it.  Right, now back on track, I grabbed my mint and peas and ugh again.  My fresh English peas were swimming in an unappetizing pea sludge.

Well dammit I had my heart set on making gnudi, you know when you really want something you get resourceful.  I had a large bunch of basil that was probably one day away from being an unfortunate loss like my peas, hmmm pesto gnudi..kind of.   I didn’t have any pine nuts and I didn’t have enough basil and I didn’t make a pesto like with olive oil and everything but I did puree the basil, garlic and parsley and there was parmesan already in the recipe that I was basing mine off of…it’s all kind of pesto inspired.

I ended up using Giada’s recipe from Food Network because it was simple.  I took some notes from other recipes and coated my gnudi in semolina so it had a more pasta-ish exterior and I let it set in the refrigerator for several hours somehow sensing that it would make my gnudi have the stick-to-it-ness that it would need.  When all was said and done, it was almost 9:00 that night before we ate.  I snapped a quick shot under the worst conditions and almost didn’t post this because of, the “ugh” factor with my journey and the less than stellar photo.

However, after one bite I decided not to keep this from the world!  A heavenly cheesy, garlicky cheeseball gnudi that is 10 times easier to make than gnocchi and much more fun to say, snicker, giggle, giggle…

So without further a do, crappy photo or not, here’s my gnudi inspired by Greg and loosely adapted from Giada.

Informal Cookery Definitions A to Z

Calorie.  A unit of measurement, that’s used to measure fuel value for food.  This is valuable knowledge to base calorie intake versus what the body needs for fuel.  When the calorie intake does not match the individuals fuel needs for long periods of time there could be an unhealthy weight gain or loss.

Camembert.  (KAM-em-bair).  Is a soft creamy cow’s milk cheese with a thin rind from France, it is named after the village of where it was produced.  It is similar to brie, however it is made in a different region and it is made in small cheese rounds versus large ones like brie.  The smaller rounds means more surface area has the rind and therefore a distinctly different taste.

Can.  The can, an item made of sealed metal to extend the shelf life of food, was invented but not produced by, a Frenchman named Nicolas Appert.  Cans were made of tin, but now are made of aluminum.  The beverage can is a progression of the common can.

Canapé.  (kah-nah-PAY).  Is a French word but has nothing to do with the afore mentioned can.  The word means sofa or couch and is probably used to describe the food sitting atop bread.  The canapé is a bite sized piece of bread or toast topped with small bits of food.

Before I go into the journal part of my trip, I’m going to share a little background.  I got my motorcycle license at the end of the riding season in 2003.  I took my 1998 Superglide, which I had bought from McGyver (it was the bike we fell in love on) out for my first spin and promptly dropped it in a cul de sac.  McGyver was living in Germany at the time, so I decided maybe I better wait until I have someone experienced to ride with.

The following year I did a lot of riding, mostly just putting around the local area and a few adventures (some unintentional).  The bottom line was, I was a inexperienced rider coming into 2005.  Plus I had very little confidence since I seemed to drop my bike a wee bit more than I should have been…grrr those low slow left turns.

McGyver and I planned this trip to go up into the Smokies and ride the infamous Tail of the Dragon.  A hot spot ride for bikers and sports car enthusiasts.  What I didn’t know…let’s just say, what I didn’t know ‘my ignorance’ was probably a good thing, otherwise I would have been scared to death and not excited!

May 22, 2005

First Rally of the year and my first “big” ride.  This past winter we had the SGlide custom painted and chromed out, lowered too.  She looks beautiful!  Anyways, Sturgis is coming up and it’s time to get road ready especially for me.  So, as soon as the weather was decent (and the SGlide too..another story) we jaunted around the local area and the River Road.

We had heard about the “Tail of the Dragon” a road with 318 curves in a mere 11 mile stretch, shortly after hearing about this fantastic road we found out about the “Wakin of the Dragon Rally” and knew we had to go.

It took a lot of planning, i.e. getting child care but after that we were good to go.  We dropped Ryan off at school and then we took off about 9:00 am, it was overcast and cool but just right.  The ride was as well as anyone could want – evidently we were lucky enough to miss the heavy rain.  We’d drive up to areas where the road was soaked with puddles but no rain.

Despite the distance we traveled (550 miles plus in 10 hours with stops), we only got off track only for a short way and ended up taking the scenic route through highway 321 and the Foothill Parkway in the Smokey Mountains.  Once on track we found the Punkin Campground with no problems.

After we were all set-up we hung out at the lodge, drank beer and enjoyed meeting folks.  Lonnie even scored some local Moonshine from a toothless drunk – let me tell you what – it was good!  That is, until the cops chased him off.

We got off to bed at a reasonable time – about 11:30.  McGyver’s pea sized bladder only woke him up once. Minus a few “girls gone wild” we slept well.

Our Camping Site

Yes, we both slept in that tiny tent.

The office and the place to hang out at the end of the day.

I was a little concerned that the bears might clue in on the slow children….

That’s the end of day one, so now I’m there, next week will be all about THE RIDE(s) and the rally.

I got an email from Erin over at Big Fat Baker that announced the next holiday for the Holiday Recipe Club was going to be Buddha’s Birthday.  Whoa, you say….Buddha’s birthday?  That’s right, It just so happens that the Holiday Recipe Club is spreading it’s wings and going international, baby.  Which suits this blogger just fine.  The only criteria for the HRC is that you must use at least one of the given ingredients.  In celebration of Buddha’s birthday we were given a choice of: garam masala, sesame seeds and  tofu.

So I was saying, about the email from Erin; I was telling McGyver about it and I was going, “well what am I going to do”?  A curry came to mind first, I started rambling on and McGyver was giving me the look, like I hear you but…I don’t really care…then just like that, HUMMUS, I should make hummus.  An ingredient of hummus is tahini, that’s right, ground up sesame seeds.  How smart is that !  Oooh and I’ll really be special and flavor it with garam masala, double whammy.

Garam masala is a common Indian spice mix (apparently it’s Bollywood movie also), most Indian people make their own so no two are typically the same.  Me, I get mine from a rare spice purveyor, McCormick’s, right not so rare, but convenient.  Plus I enjoy their flavor mix.  Garam Masala is typically made up of coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves just to list a few.  I could make my own but I don’t use it that frequently.

Another reason I thought of hummus is that it’s Middle Eastern, and where is Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) from…the Middle East.  Oh it makes so much sense to my brain.  The hummus discussion resolved (not that McGyver was really engaged in it), McGyver and I fell into the topic of, “is Buddhism a  religion or a philosophy”.  Yes, we often have those kinds of discussions, we’re deep like that.  Not really I think we had a couple of cocktails, which seems to make subjects more meaningful.

The answer is yes, it is both a religion and philosophy.  Just a little info from Wikipedia (because I found it fascinating).

The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of an Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end ignorance (avidyā), craving (taṇhā), and suffering (dukkha) of dependent origination, realize sunyata, and attain Nirvana…

…The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the Sangha (the community). Taking “refuge in the triple gem” has traditionally been a declaration and commitment to being on the Buddhist path and in general distinguishes a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist.

When I picture Buddha I always picture the fat, jolly Buddha but the truth is that he is the Chinese Buddha, the other Buddha images are of a strong lithe Buddha, why I wondered.  I found the best answer at Yahoo:

You have to understand that Buddhism blends wherever it goes. Although the core teachings remain intact, but the outer bark–the “form” that the religion/philosophy expresses–adapts to the receiving culture. Therefore, iconic representations of ideas or teachings differ from area to area. Tibetan Buddhism has a unique flavor, and so do Japanese Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, Thai Buddhism, Sri Lankan Buddhism, and so on.
You can think of Buddhist teachings as a vehicle, a car. You’d have all sorts of models, parts, designs, etc., but a car is still a car despite all its variable forms to choose from.

Well that was probably more education on Buddha than you cared to have on a food blog, but it’s Buddha’s birthday and he certainly deserves some recognition for all of his good teachings.

To counter the long post, the recipe is simple, consisting of chickpeas, preserved lemons (you can get the recipe for that here), salt, tahini, garlic and garam masala.  The flavor of the hummus is light, full of spices with just a little lemony bite.  Because I left out the olive oil (only used it on top), it’s a little friendlier to the waist, rubbing the Buddha’s belly for luck is one thing, sporting the Buddha’s belly is probably not a good thing (I’m referring to the jolly Chinese version, of course).

Informal Cookery Definitions A to Z

Cake.  Is typically a sweet baked good served as dessert.  Although pancakes, griddlecakes, and coffeecakes are quick breads and potato, zucchini, etc. cakes are all vegetable cakes share the cake name, the only commonality is the term cake.  Some common forms of cake are: sponge, butter, cupcakes, Devil’s Food/Fudge cakes, pound, spice, white, fruit, cheese and chiffon.  Wow, that’s a lot of cakes and I’m not sure if that list is entirely inclusive.

Cake tester.  A thin metal, skewer like tool used to test whether a cake is finished cooking.  The tester is inserted in the center of the cake and then viewed to see if there is batter clinging to it, if it is, the cake needs further cooking time.  A toothpick is a suitable substitute.

Calf.  A cow’s offspring.  Only male calves are butchered for veal, the female calves are raised for breeding.

Calf Foot Jelly.  A jelly made by boiling calves feet as a base for aspic.  However, it has been replaced by commercial gelling agents which is said to not be as flavorful.

Check out all the other recipes celebrating Buddha’s Birthday:

This week I had the pleasure of teaching a class at our nearby USAF base, Malmstrom.   The housing activities director, Amber Gardner arranges for fun activities all through out the month every month , she helps the families settle into the community.

There were 12  wonderful students.

They learned about four basic types of Sushi, eating etiquette and that it’s very easy to over stuff you futomaki (California Roll). They also learned that sushi rice is very sticky.

And they learned that it is art.

Mostly they learned that that it’s not as hard to do as they thought and that it was a lot of fun.

Thank you Amber for taking care of our military community, for making friends and fun out of strangers.  We appreciate all you do for our service men and woman who sacrifice for us every day.

I’ll be back next week to teach an easy Cinco de Mayo party menu (and yes Tequila will be involved).

It’s been an unusually warm past few days, it felt more like the dog days of summer than the usual dreary spring so oft experienced here.  Something about the warmth, the thought of picking a fresh strawberry and eating it immediately, unwashed, made me feel nostalgic.

I don’t have fresh strawberries to pick and eat, although I have my strawberry planter full of 20 plants and the hopes that they will produce, so that I can enjoy the taste of a freshly picked berry, warmed by the sun.  Ever notice how fresh picked strawberries seem more succulent, more strawberry-ish.

I only had my pint of organic strawberries that came with my Bountiful Basket (a pseudo CSA). But the warmth of the day and my not so perfect strawberries, made me feel so very berrylicious.  So I photographed my strawberries, they warmed in the sun and I tasted of one or two or more and enjoyed them as if they were fresh picked.

No recipe to share, just my enjoyment of a plain warmed strawberry.  Also is my submission to Black and White Wednesday, a culinary photography event hosted by the wonderful Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook.