Alabama Firecrackers (8 photos)

There was food galore as we tailgated at the Georgia Steeplechase. One of the newest in our Red Hat chapter, must own a magic cooking spoon. 

She prepared much of the food and it was ooooh soooo delicious. Her Alabama Firecrackers were a big hit. They had a tart, sweet and just  the right amount of heat flavor. I'd never had them before and asked for the recipe which she freely gave.

I tried out the recipe about 10 days later.

The recipe. I wrote it in the same Steno pad my mama wrote her recipes in. Do they even make Steno pads these days?

Gather the ingredients

Mix the ingredients in the bag  by "smooshing" them.

Add the saltines to the mixture . Zip the bag and gently flip it back and forth a few times so that the mixture can coat the crackers. Allow the bag to sit for an hour. Go back and turn the bag on the opposite end for an hour. I did this one hour flipping 4 times. Finally, I allowed the crackers sit overnight.

I couldn't wait to try them the next day.

HOT!!!!!!!

They looked just fine, but too hot for me. Soooooo...

                        I started over 5 days later after reluctantly throwing the first batch away.

Take 2.

I did the same as above in a reduced amount for two sleeves of crackers, AND, when I got to the pepper flakes I used 1/4 of what the recipe called for. This time they weren't too hot for me. 

I even shared with friends who said they liked them. I plan to make them again. 

There's the magic spoon

and  there's the 

                                                                        

tragic spoon.

                                                    

END***

Cinnamon Apple Spice and Lemonade mix

Yes, I use my coffee maker to also make tea. I'm not someone who likes a lot of gadgets that do only one thing. I'm a minimalist.
Celestial Seasonings is one of my favorite tea brands.  I'm known to add a little lemon and sugar or honey to my cuppa. I'm not a fan of the British way of just drinking it "naked".

But! when I tasted the rich strong flavor of the Cinnamon Apple Spice, I didn't need to add anything. The spice is robust leaving a memory on the tongue.  That's when I got the idea to add instant lemonade to it.  This concoction is tasty hot or cold.

Hot or cold it's flavorsome.

That's it ***

RED HATTERS

It may have been 97 degrees or higher outside on Saturday, but this didn’t stop the Red and Pink Hatters from dining al fresco at Vulcan Park.






This was my first Red Hat Society event.  Queen T. did a fabulous job of planning the event

The picnic area we were in required going up and down steps a few times but once we got settled the Queen had us do an icebreaker game. We were divided into two teams. There were two paper bags with their tops rolled down. Inside were a pair of garden gloves and peppermint stars. A person from each team had to unroll the bag, put on the gloves, unwrap the cellophane candy and put it in her mouth. Once that was done, she was to remove her gloves, put them back in the bag and roll it back down whereupon the next team member took over. The team to finish first would be winners.  Each member of the winning team was given a small red and white or pink and white flowered tote bag.

Before eating a business meeting was conducted. I have to hand it to the Queen, she had a calendar of events all the way up to February 2013. I just love organization and timeliness.  This particular chapter has only been in existence for a year.

 I’m looking forward to the camaraderie and activities. I guess I’ll be accumulating a lot of red and purple.   

Another Festival

Artwalk

 Yep! Another festival. I've been attending quite a few because I plan to be a participant at one that is being held in December. Since this will be my first I'm trying to get some ideas as to how to make my presentation inviting.

 

Last weekend's exhibit spanned several downtown blocks. It was hot but I got out early. If you consider 12 noon early. That was when  things began last Saturday. It didn't take me long to maneuver because I really wasn't in the mood.  I think I was there about an hour. SOme exhibits were housed inside various buildings.
The shot above is from Morris Avenue.  You can't see it here but the street is  cobblestone.  I'm unsure regarding the original history of the street.  During the week few cars have access to this street.  In the 70's Morris Avenue was revitalized into something similar to the old Underground Atlanta. We called it Underground Birmingham.  It was a great place   to party and take out of town friends. As with anything it eventually died out. There are mostly lofts, attorneys offices and of course the Peanut Depot.  They roast peanuts the old fashioned way and the smell is delicious. Getting the hot roasted peanuts can make you hurt yourself eating them.

This  was a project that attendees were invited to participate in. There were three panels . On the left is a clear plastic sheet that volunteers are asked to write "You Are Beautiful" in various ways. This is something that has been going on all over .  On the opaque white shower curtain in the middle the facillitator wanted a landscape.  I don't remember what the theme was for the clear plastic panel on the right. I choose the landscape theme.  If you enlarge the photo you'll see my impression of mountains. As other people come along they add to the drawing.

You can see that I didn't take  lots of pictures as I usually do.

I went back to my car and drank the ice cold water I had waiting for me. That's it above. I reused a quart bottle that formerly held sparkling water. I filled it almost to the top with water, laid it on its side in the freezer and let it freeze. When I'm ready to go someplace I take it out, sheath it in a clean gym sock and I'm on my way.  The sock keeps it cold a little longer and also absorbs the condensation as it melts so that I don't have a puddle after it unthaws.  I freeze it on its side so that when I open it water doesn't spew everywhere.  That's also why I leave some head space before freezing.

I'm familiar with the latest about not reusing plastic because of carcinogens. I'm going to die of something anyway and I don't like the idea of buying bottled water.  But that's just my personal opinion.
THAT'S IT***