Cane syrup...the best breakfast condiment ever

My family has a long tradition of making cane syrup, a most delicious substance that is far better than any other type of syrup, especially maple.

My brother, father and some family friends continued the tradition over Thanksgiving weekend. My dad sent the photos below, and I've simplified each step greatly, but the general idea is to: 1. Grow sugar cane 2. Cut it down. 3. Grind it 4. Cook it. 5. Bottle it. 6. Eat it on homemade biscuits, waffles, pancakes and more. 7. Repeat step 6 often.

One of my favorite meals was eating cane syrup with my Papa's homemade biscuits and pork sausage. It was divine.

Another important job is supervising, a task my mom excels at, in addition to delivering pizzas and brownies to the workers. 

They made 7 gallons of cane syrup, and I hope they saved a bottle for me. 

Here's a great shot of my dad, brother and the newest little syrup maker, my nephew Judson. He's already looking up to his Grandpa. :)

Update from Sammie and Cash

Hi everyone,

I'm using my mom's computer since she and dad are at my club (Sam's Club) shopping for Thanksgiving. Cash and I have settled into living in Lexington. My mom says it's funny how a lot of folks ask about us and want to make sure we like the new place. They seem more concerned about us than my parents. That's very thoughtful of you, so I thought I'd share some photos my parents have taken this fall and let you know we're doing well in the Bluegrass. I'm also working on writing my annual holiday letter, so you can expect to see that on here next month.

Before we left Knoxville, I decided to jump on top of the fridge one last time. Mom couldn't find me any place in the house and was concerned until she looked up and realized where I was hiding. 

The paint was so cheap in our Knoxville house that when Cash and I ran behind the bed, we actually made our mark on the wall. My dad says that all you had to do was look at the wall, and it would leave a mark. We don't miss the cheap paint.

On the afternoon we left Knoxville, Cash and I decided to explore the back of the Jeep Liberty as Dad loaded it. We had no idea that we were about to ride in a car for almost three hours to arrive at our new home. I wailed a lot, and Cash whimpered, but once we arrived and had special canned food for dinner, we got over it.

One of the first things we found in our new house are the stairs. Cash runs up and down them more than I do. I prefer to sit on them and look at everything below.

We spend more time sleeping on the couch next to each other up here, and I'm not sure why. I think Cash is still a little scared when my parents are gone, and he wants to stay close to me. My parents often come home after being gone all day and find us sleeping the day away.

My dad must be a great chemistry teacher because his students nominated him to attend a faculty appreciation dinner on campus last week. He wore a tie to work that day, and Cash decided to try it on when Dad got home.

My parents say the nicest feature about our new house is the gas fireplace. It took several weeks to get it working since water had gotten into the gas line outside, and a plumber had to flush it out before the gas company could install the tank. However, it was worth the wait. Cash enjoys lounging on the floor in front of the fireplace.

We're looking forward to a visit from Grandpa Sam for Thanksgiving. It's going to be very cold next week with highs around 40 and lows in the 20s. Hopefully he won't wear his jacket in the house like he did in Knoxville last Thanksgiving. We're going to stick him in front of the fireplace and give him a cup of hot coffee. Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Sammie and Cash

Dinner in a pumpkin

I had never heard of making dinner in a pumpkin until I saw a recipe for it online last month. I thought it was a unique idea and decided to try it. After searching for recipe variations, I developed my own list of ingredients. The hardest part was finding a smaller sugar or pie pumpkin in the grocery store.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground pork sausage (I used the sage-seasoned package)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 1 1/2 cups long grain and wild rice mix
• 1 sugar or pie pumpkin
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 2 (4 ounce) cans mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can French cut green beans

 Directions

• In a large skillet over medium heat, brown sausage and chopped onion. Cook and stir until evenly browned. Mix in salt and pepper, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar.
• Drain meat, and mix in chicken stock and rice. Cover, and cook 25 to 30 minutes, until rice is tender.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove and reserve top of pumpkin. Scoop out seeds and stringy pulp.
• Mix soy sauce, cream of celery soup, cream of mushroom soup, mushroom stems and pieces, and green beans into the sausage and rice mixture. Spoon mixture into the pumpkin, and replace pumpkin top.
• Place pumpkin on a large baking sheet, and bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until pumpkin is tender. Scoop out portions of filling and parts of the cooked pulp to serve. 

The sausage and rice mixture was great, but we couldn't taste much of the pumpkin even after we baked it. I'm glad I added the pumpkin pie spice since it helped bring out a pumpkin flavor. While it's fun to bake it in the pumpkin, the sausage and rice mixture would be a great meal on its own. 
 

Fall Colors and Smells

I promised there would be a part two to my post earlier this week about the fall colors. There is a gorgeous tree we've found in Knoxville, known as the Ginkgo tree. It has gorgeous yellow leaves that bloom during the fall and make wonderful photos. When the leaves fall softly to the ground, they illuminate the path, and make it seem as if Dorothy will suddenly appear and starting following the yellow brick road.

The Ginkgo tree is dioecious, which means there are male and female trees. The female tress produce a fruit, which UT's Forest Resources Research and Education Center describes as having "a strong, malodorous odor." Malodorous is putting it mildly.  Because of this atrocious smell, males trees are normally planted, however there are several female trees on UT's campus and Pellissippi State Community College's campus, where David and I both have held our noses.

I didn't make the connection between the tree and the smell until this year. Every summer, I've noticed the fruits blooming and wondered what type of tree produces these round green balls. Every fall, I've noticed a strong smell near the parking garage on campus, but I always thought it was from a dumpster with rotting trash after a football game or some other event. I never realized it was from the trees growing near the garage.

Finally, I discovered these fruits that fall to the ground are causing the odor, especially when they are crushed by people's feet and cars driving on them. We were actually at a friend's house a month ago and when we got back in our car, which was parked under a tree with yellow leaves, we noticed the strong smell. It stayed with us in the car until we got home, and then we noticed our shoes carried some of the crushed fruit on the bottom. I started researching what type of tree and found the Ginkgo, which is seen and smelled in many states.

The fruits are gone now, and all that's left are the yellow leaves on the trees and the ground. I guess the strong odor is a small price to pay for the brilliant color they produce. (Thanks to David for snapping some of these photos during his visit to Pellissippi's campus yesterday. You can tell which ones are his since they look a lot better than mine! :))

Fall Colors Part 1

The leaves have fallen from most trees in East Tennessee, thanks in part to all the rain. I did snap a couple of shots recently near where we live, and there's a smelly (yes, smelly) tree on campus with beautiful yellow leaves that I'll write more about once I take a photo of them. I have my camera with me, but I keep forgetting to use it!

I haven't written about Sammie and Cash in a while, so here's an example of how we found them one evening when we came home from the grocery store. Sammie was sitting in the chair when we left, so Cash decided to join her. She's trying to teach him how to use my computer. In fact, she's been using it to write the annual holiday letter, a tradition Dolly started. One problem she's encountered so far is accidentally hitting the caps lock button...she must get that from her Grandpa Amos! :)

Climbing Clingman's Dome

On Saturday, we visited Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The leaves have already changed color and are starting to fall off the trees in the mountains, but it's still a beautiful site to see. It was a clear day with hardly a cloud in the sky, so we decided to drive up to the highest point in the Smokies, Clingman's Dome.

We then climbed the steep half-mile walk to the observation tower and were able to see more than 100 miles in each direction because of how clear it was, which is rare since it's often quite cloudy at 6,643 feet. It was the perfect day for such an experience.

The road to Clingman's Dome is closed Dec. 1-March 31 due to the winter weather. It was a cool 35 degrees up there Saturday afternoon, and we saw ice and some snow since it had rained the night before.











The above photo shows Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge down in the valley. Look for the small white structures, and those are the towns, which tells you how high up we are!












This is what Gatlinburg looks like from a bit closer. We stopped at an overlook on the Gatlinburg by-pass on our way back home.








The shots below were taken while driving through the park.






Just another reason why we LOVE living in this gorgeous area!

Fun Family Fall Visit

Last weekend, David's family visited us. His mom, Jean-Paul and Grandma made the long journey from hot and humid Winter Haven, Florida to the mountains of East Tennessee. It was unseasonably warm here though with highs in the upper 70s to low 80s.

On Saturday, we joined hundreds of other tourists at a popular driving site during the fall and all year round, Cades Cove.



It's probably the most popular spot in the Great Smoky Mountains. The leaves are starting to change to bright red, yellow and orange colors, but they definitely haven't hit their peak, which will probably be at the end of October.





Bumper to bumper traffic. If you're driving through any part of the the Smokies during the fall, be prepared to go slow and stop often.



Views from the sunroof!




We saw quite a few deer during the drive, and they were very close to the road. Most of the photos I took were blurry since we were moving, but I promise there's a deer in this one. I just can't find it!



We didn't see any bears, but it was a lot of fun though to ride through the one-way 11-mile loop, which I haven't done since I was a child. Just another reason we love living in this part of the country.