Wine, Chocolate, Music, Friends and Painting............Life is good!

So far, this weekend has been all of the above.....perfect. I have even taken advantage of being at my brother's and sister-in-law's house for taking photographs of the port and chocolate.

Yesterday I delivered the cakes and pistachio truffles to the winery. I will spend several days in the next 2 weeks, preparing lots of chocolate things for Valentine's Day.

Chocolate and Port are meant to be together, that is all there is to it.


Pick up a bottle of Our Ruby Port and some of my Chocolate and see what happens to your evening!

I am so excited about Judy Witts Francini's upcoming visit to Kansas City!

Judy was the our guide on the trip to Sicily in October. She is a California girl who decided in 1984 to take $4000.00 , hop on a plane and fly to Italy to see what she could learn. She decided she loved it so much that she stayed! She married an Italian, Andrea, and then opened a cooking school in Tuscany. Please check her Blog, http://divinaacucina.blogspot.com/.

You can find a link to her in my list of blogs that I follow. Read her bio....amazing!

I will definitely keep you posted on her itinerary. I would imagine there will be a Slow Foods

event, maybe something at Jasper's. I should know soon! In the meantime, check her out on the web. You can even Google her!

Speaking of Slow Foods, the updates on Mike and Christine Hursey's new Casa Somerset, a neighbor of the winery, have been picking up now that the construction is nearing completion. It is going to be beautiful! Mike and Christine were married there in November amongst the concrete and 2x4s. It was lovely a way to bless their new home.

Go to www.casasomerset.com/blog or follow the link in my list of favorite blogs.

Genealogy

I am beginning to feel very guilty about my genealogy projects. They are being ignored due to my Blogging! I usually spend the winter months doing research in preparation for the spring when I take road trips to find old cemeteries and interesting documents in small libraries and city halls, etc.

This winter I seem to be blogging, facebook, text messaging, and the cell phone, I can't seem to settle down to my usual routine! I am always in contact with someone. I'm feeling like I need to have a little private time, just me and Rudy, hanging out, watching All My Children. Heaven only knows what disasters Erica Kane has cooked up since I've been busy!
Napoleon Boneparte Ogg (1840-1883), don't give up on me, I will return to genealogy soon. Last spring, my friend Carlene and I drove to Ray County, Missouri and found my Great Grandfather John Stone's grave, the year before that, I found my other Great Grandfather Napoleon Ogg's grave. It is definitely satisfying to complete a search. I knew which cemeteries they were buried in, but didn't know the location in the cemetery. You get out and start walking the rows. Some cemeteries are listed on the internet with the names and locations of the headstones, but some cemeteries are so old that the headstones are worn away due to weather, broken by vandals, or just simply missing.

My dream is to go to Aberdeenshire, Scotland and research both the Johnstons (my Dad) and the Oggs (my Mom). But before I can do that I need to go to Kentucky and find where the two families settled in the early 1800s, then to Virginia where they settled when they arrived in America from Scotland. I find working backwards is easier. Of course, the first thing I have to do before I can take any more trips is WIN the POWERBALL!

Speaking of Kentucky.....

Fried Chicken sure sounds good right now! But today's recipe is for a very old Kentucky soup/stew. It is called Kentucky Burgoo. Now don't let the name turn you away.

They have been making this in Kentucky since before the Civil War!

1 pound mixed cooked meats, (beef, lamb, pork, chicken and game if you have any!)

1/2 gallon chicken stock

1/2 gallon beef stock

1 cup Somerset Ridge Chardonnay

(okay, so that is a more recent addition by me)

1 ounce Worcestershire sauce

1 cup diced tomatoes

1 large red potatoe, peeled and diced

1 large onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen or fresh okra

1/4 cup frozen or fresh lima beans

1/2 cup frozen corn

2 teaspoons minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

(hint, try to dice all your veggies the same size)

Simple directions....combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer very low and slow for 2 hours.