Mornings...and some food pictures

A birthday cake we made last week

 We have fun here! It's good to be back at Elk Lake working with Craig and Lerrina and the other employees, Jake and Laurel. Food is obviously a large part of the fun we have here. These pictures are of some recent productions.

 

Yummy!! Craig and Lerrina's famous baby back ribs. Seriously good!

Our morning kitchen routine is something I look forward to. It's a time to work with friends and enjoy their company. Learning new recipes or perfecting old ones is part of the fun. Probably another reason I love it is that it is creating something which people will enjoy (usually!). 

A basket of warm rolls to nibble on as you view the menu...

In the morning we make things for the next day's breakfast. This morning I made Grits, Sausage and Egg Casserole. That stuff is good! We've had grits-hating guests say they liked that dish. I also started a batch of cinnamon rolls. Lerrina worked on our Savannah Red Rice for dinner between answering guests' questions, answering the phone, and keeping the breakfast table loaded. Mornings here are busy but fun!

A Jeep and a boy! Pretty fun combination. Jeeps are gas and tires and noise and hills and a good dose of scare-your-sister potential.

"Anna, let's go up this little hill."

"Ok." (I'm gripping the sides. My bugged out eyes gauge the little hill which is not little. As well as being not little is is also muddy. Not only that but the tires are bald.) The awesome thing about this moment is that my brother is grinning the whole time. His eyes are also glued on the road. Mostly glued on the road anyway. He does keep glancing my way.

I was on a visit home and my littlest brother had come roaring up to the porch with his Jeep. He wanted to take me for a ride. Of course I'd go...

I think my body language was giving him the impression I wasn't in a relaxed state. He was taking me on an adventure and I displayed a shameful lack of enthusiasm. No wonder guys roll their eyes at girls. The Jeep began to bog down a little on the little bit of mud on the little hill. I freaked out and jumped out before the inevitable backwards roll down the hill. Once again Donny was giggling and I was...well...I wasn't giggling. No, my knees were shaking. My goal of being an understanding, fun, easy-going sister was taking a major hit. Donny rolled to a stop at the base of the hill where I met him. He looked at me with a sweet sympathetic smile. "Hop in and I promise we won't do that again." He shook his head, grinning. "It wasn't that bad really, but I can understand being a little nervous."

With my hand gripping my side of the Jeep we puttered and bounced homeward. On my side of the road there appeared a blackberry vine. As we came closer, Donny decided to go around it to avoid my getting scratched in the face. Around meant sidehilling. I don't sidehill well. "Donny. DoNnY. DONNY!" He was giggling out of disbelief by this time. "Anna, this is flat(giggle) ground. You almost couldn't tip over. (giggle) I do (giggle) this all the time (giggle)." Donny got me very safely home. I smelled very much like gasoline. This vehicle gets maybe 2 miles to the gallon. I feel like there's a connection there.

Speaking of which, on another trip home just recently, I was headed out the driveway with another brother. We met Donny walking down the driveway toward home. Marshall started chuckling as he rolled down the window. "Run out of gas up there?" I think he had some experience in this department as well. The noise and the fixing and the rock crawling and running out of gas a mile from home must have a hidden fun quality. Actually, though, I enjoy watching them enjoy it and getting lots of fun out of it. You can't help but enjoy someone else enjoying something. That's how this female sibling can truly enjoy Jeeps. I love you Donny!