Ok, so I am in Salt Lake with my amazing huzzy, and, of course, I flew here. One of my traditions whenever I fly (which tends to be fairly often) is to get one of two magazines: Food & Wine or Bon Appetit. This trip happened to be Bon Appetit, simply because the gourmet ragu on the cover looked incredibly appetizing. Also, it had a section in it about summer entertaining.
The recipes featured this month revolved around a deep fried chicken. Now, I usually am not much on fried food. In fact, I usually complain when it is my only option. However, summer being on it's way, and potato salad seeming like a perfect hot-weather side, I can't help but want to make this for our next house party!

Jacob and I have found a house to rent, and we can't wait to be in it! It has a back deck, and we are looking forward to having friends over for BBQ, Lo country boils, and, you guessed it - fried chicken! (Maybe with some bluegrass on the side???) So I've been googling the best deep fried chicken recipes, and so far, the Bon Appetit one seems like it would win.

If any of you have incredible recipes for fried chicken, though, PLEASE let me know! It will be Jacob's birthday dinner. Smiles all around.

Get ready for summer guys! Here we go!

Bethany

So, I just got back into the country last evening. So glad to be back on land!

I went on a four day cruise last weekend, on a christian radio-station cruise to Grand Turk in the Caribbean. I played with Glory Revealed (David Nassar, Mac Powell, Shawn and Natasha Lewis, Jason Hoard and Ty) one of the evenings after dinner. I have been on one other cruise, and wasn't too thrilled by it. This one was great as far as the company and friends went...my friend Alicia went with me, since Jacob is in New Zealand, and we had a blast hanging out. But I can't take the flavorlessness of most of the food or being trapped in the middle of the ocean on a rocking boat. I do have to say that the room we stayed in had a beautiful balcony and huge windows in it, unlike the first cruise I went on. I did love that.
The last day, though, I got mild food poisoning, with some kind of hunter orange-looking tomato pasta with overcooked calamari (or as I like to call them, rubberbands), scallops and shrimp and have just gotten rid of the upset stomach today. Gross.

Anyway, I've spent the day baking and cooking and grocery shopping. In an effort to fill my house with some real food again, I s'pose. Banana bread. Wheat bread. Chicken soup. Mmmm.

Well, glad to be back, and the best of luck with any cruises you may have to take in the near future. ha

Goodnight!
Bethany

So, I went and saw Benjamin Button over the holiday, and in the movie (don't worry, this won't ruin it if you haven't seen it) there is a scene where he is in Russia eating caviar. I realized that I've never really tried caviar, except for the orange caviar ontop of sushi. I decided to try out Lumpfish Black Caviar, even though I'd heard it was very salty and fishy. Well, World Market had a bluegrass customer this afternoon, as I bought a small jar of black caviar. I tried it out as soon as I got home, and I don't think I ate it right. I chewed it, and I have a feeling you're supposed to just swirl and swallow like pudding. Yep, it was salty. And, yep, it was fishy. Kinda like the seaweed wrap around sushi. I'll have to try it again a little later, once the first bite that was chewed is out of my taste buds. Didn't like it so much the first bite. Could've been the brand tho, or something. I don't know. Do any of you know anything about eating caviar? Help me out! I want to like it! Caviar and pearls...sounds like a romantic duo. I DO like pearls! haha B

..'Evening friends. I feel like sipping a nice relaxing glass of merlot and having a light heart-to-heart about nothing much at all. So, I..'ll be one heart, you be the other. I..'ve been travelling quite a bit the last few weeks, which is great. I went up to the the beautiful states of Idaho, Montana and Washington to play fiddle and sing with a bluegrass band from Alaska called Bearfoot. It was a short run, comparatively. Nine days in all. But I got to see my parents again (the first time since Christmas) and visit downtown Bozeman, which I loved. We played a show in Sandpoint, Idaho that was super great, because there were a bunch of people out of the audience in the theatre just dancing their bluegrass hearts out in front of the stage! So fun.But now I..'m happily home, in our flat here in Marietta. I went to the market and got everything I need to make some more salsa. I put one whole habanero in it again, like usual, but this one was really spicy, and just smelling the concoction makes your eyes water! mmmm. Gotta be careful, tho, because Jacob made some seriously intense salsa before I left, and it burned both corners of my mouth, and they blistered for a week! Ugly. It was worth the pain tho. He makes great salsa. So, it..'s apple season, and I couldn..'t let another autumn pass me by without attempting a homemade apple pie. I know that I should..'ve made one much earlier, being an American and a Montana-grown-American, at that. But this was my first one. The crust was a little tricky, and I didn..'t have a shortening cutter to use, but I mashed it with a fork pretty well. I am not sure if I rolled it out right, because there was not enough dough left from making the bottom to make a full top. So I cut it in strips and made it a lattice-top. It turned out pretty darn good. Thanks, Betty Crocker! Jacob and I decided that if we were going to eat that much sugar and fat, we should hike to a picnic and eat it there, then hike back. Just to erase any guilt that might occur. We took some chicken fried rice with apple pie for dessert (I know, a bit of a strange combination, but tasty) and hiked up the mountain to a big old rock and sat in the shade to eat our pie. So, now that I..'ve had my apple pie, it is officially fall now. Time to get ready for Christmas!!!!Love,Bethany p.s. My computer is doing weird things. Sorry that there are no paragraphs...can't get it to behave!

Hey everyone! Whew! I hope this blog makes it up without erasing the whole thing. I've written a few to try to talk to you guys, but haven't been able to get it to show up!

Liz and I are busy working on our new project...one track done, 9 more to go! I've been really busy teaching and playing at churches, and on sessions...and Jacob came home!! I love to have him here. We always have turkey bacon and coffee together in the morning.

Anyway, love you guys. I won't write too much, just in case it doesn't even go on the page, but I'll try again sometime if it doesn't.

K...Bye!

Bethany

I played a show in Sweet Home Oregon this past weekend, it was gorgeous as was Portland with a ton of great restaurants. So with per diem burning in my pocket I set out Friday night to find a great sushi place. Well I found sushi not so sure about the great part now...

It didn't happen until Saturday night, we played our show and were shopping in Portland when I started to feel a little nauseated. Luckily we headed back to the hotel shortly because as soon as I arrived in my room I started worshiping the porcelain buddha. ... On my goodness, I have never been so sick, at one point I took my pillow and blanket into the bathroom and just layed on the floor waiting for the next wave to come.
Then around 1am Kristin (who sings backgrounds and I was sharing a room with knocks on the door) saying she wasn't feeling so well either. Well it was ON for the rest of the night, my turn, her turn, little rest, her turn, my turn. It was the most sick either of us has ever been. The ultimate bonding experience.
All we wanted to do was get home, so around 5am with the little strength we had left we packed our bags and took the shuttle to the airport. I was so weak at this point that I could hardly walk 5 feet without having to sit down and rest. But we made it, we got on that plane, and luckily no one sat in between us. (Thankfully for them, because those little white bags they put with the magazines were being used up very very quickly.) :)
The flight attendants were super nice and brought us cups and bags of ice, all while the passengers were looking at us like we must have had the plague. Two of the guys in the band even got us wheelchairs to push us to our gate during our layover in Chicago.
So it is now 2 days later and while I am feeling much better I am still pretty weak, and only have had a smoothie today. Really the thought of ever eating again still disgusts me.
So just thought I would share my wonderful weekend with all y'all. Stay cool, and be careful where you eat sushi!
Love Liz

Well, I guess the recipe swap didn't work so well. :-) We'll let that idea fade off into the sunset!

This weekend has been crazy busy for me, playing weddings and sessions and shows. So fun. I do love what I do, and I"m so excited about the new things that I"m working on. Liz and I have been writing alot, and working alot on tunes, which has been really great. I'll let you guys know as soon as they are ready for an official listen!

I walked the mountain yesterday evening, with a friend of mine, and chilled out last evening. Today, of course, is Monday, and it's finally my weekend! It's time to relax a little. Maybe try a new recipe and get some random contacts made that I've meant to make all weekend.

Happy Monday everyone!

Bethany

You guys are right! Recipe swap is great. And, to the guys, yes, I'm sorry for stereotyping you into non-apron-wearers. :-) Jacob enjoys cooking too...I should know better. Spaghetti sauce from scratch is his specialty. It's so good. I'll get him to put it up sometime. So much better than mine. But, for now, my specialty this week is White Wine sauce. So here is the recipe for Beurre Blanc. I found it online.

1 cup white wine
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. minced shallot
8 oz. (2 sticks/1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cubed

Cook wine, vinegar and shallots in saucepan, and reduce about 60-70%.

Add:
2 Tbsp heavy cream

Reduce for about 2 minutes.

Add butter, 5-6 pieces at a time. Once it's all melted, turn off burner, and salt to taste. Serve with seafood and/or pasta.

Personal touch: I like to saute..mushrooms in butter, then add them to the finished sauce.

'K... Your turn! What recipe can I try this week? (Liz, you'd better post them chile rellenos!)

Bethany

'Evening girls.

My beautiful man is out of town, and I miss him like crazy! But it does give me a little chance to try out some new recipes to see if they turn out so I can make them for him when he gets home. You know how it is... you want to make sure he likes it!

So, last time he was home, I tried this white wine sauce with pasta, without trying it ahead of time, and it turned out pretty dang .... horrible. I tried to substitute apple cider vinegar for white wine vinegar, and let me tell you, it doesn't work! We spent the dinner puckering our cheeks, eating vinegar sauce. He was sweet, though, and told me it was good. He was laughing every time I made a face...I knew better. Tonight, I tried it with the correct ingredients, and with some scallops (which I hadn't tried before), and it turned out great!! So, now that I know how to not mess it up, I will make it for a nice romantic night at home the next time he is home. yum, yum.

Anyway, enjoy your domestic tendencies, and try a new recipe this week! If you try Beurre Blanc (white wine sauce), make sure to use white wine vinegar! It's much more delicious that way!

Luv ya girls. Have a good night!

Bethany

P.S. I was up in Nashville all weekend writing and working with Liz, and she made me amazing shrimp stuffed chile rellenos! Oh my goodness! Must get that recipe! Mmmm.