In April

The month of April whizzed by without me even noticin'. In January I wrote down in my calendar that I wanted to go to Asheville in April. Do you think that happened? Naw. As I sit here now, drinkin' my glass of 2-buck chuck, I can't even remember what went on during April.

Let's see if my trusty ole camera can jog my mem'ry. Ah yes...here we go:

For starters we had a 6 month old, and my goodness what a joy he is! So precious, sweet, snuggly, innocent and drooly. I just love him to pieces.

 

It was my little sister's 27th birthday, and she came into town for a visit. I let her have her pick of restaurants for her birthday dinner and she chose "M," which is owned by the same folks who do Mack & Kate's. We were at Mack & Kate's last year for her birthday. I sense a theme here...

 

Anyway, "M" was delicious.

 

 

We started with Crawfish Toast: Cajun Spiced Crawfish mixed into a Veloute cream sauce with Cheddar on Brioche. It was amazing, and after the brioche was all gone (or "big ole croutons" as we called them), we were spoonin' that cheese sauce out of the bowl and damn near licked the thing clean!

 

For the main course, Big Sister had: Chili dusted bone-in pork chop, braised collard greens, chunky apple puree and squash casserole. But surprise - the squash casserole was in an EGGROLL! So it was an eggerole?? Whatever it was, it was so melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Crunchy on the outside, warm and cheesy on the inside. This I know to be true: you can never go wrong with deep fried anything, especially fried casserole.

 

Little Sister enjoyed a true southern classic: Shrimp & Grits. Succulent Gulf Shrimp, Bell Peppers, Sweet Onion, Andouille Sausage and Creole Cream in Wiesenberger Stone Ground Cheddar Grits.

And for dessert (as if we hadn't eaten enough already) I indulged in JACK DANIELS CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE!!!!! And sister chose the cobbler of the day, which I believe was peach if memory serves...

We had such a lovely time together - just the 2 of us - and of course, we stuffed ourselves silly. Such is the life of a Hargis sister, I suppose.

But what could be better than a delicious 3 course meal at a nice restaurant? Why, a homemade meal, of course!!! Our step mom has started a new tradition of making Sunday Supper for all of us each and every month. And boy, she is an amazing cook. Just look at this salad!!! Because it was sister's birthday month, she got to pick the meal. We had bacon wrapped filet, asparagus and loaded baked potato...and nanner pudding for dessert (I think). We enjoyed having sister home with us for her birthday celebration, and we always enjoy getting together with the family. Dad and little brother even gave us a banjo concert in the kitchen after lunch.
 

 

 

I don't have the pictures to prove it, but we also went on hike to Percy Warner park with a group of friends one Sunday afternoon. We even brought the babe along. I'm not gonna lie...I was a bit scared to bring him, but it worked out just fine. He wore our backs out, but he was a doll the whole time (even ate lunch from a squeezy pouch while we hiked!)

 

The last weekend of April brought the ever-popular Main Street Festival to Downtown Franklin. Sean had to fulfill volunteer duties with the Heritage Foundation, but Wesley and I visited daddy at his station. We ran into old friends, enjoyed street food and fun music, and admired all the arts and crafts. It was the perfect way to end the month.