The Kentucky Bourbon Festival-Bardstown, KY

by Sandy // September 23, 2015 // 4 Comments

Right up the road from us, in the heart of Kentucky, is “the Most Beautiful Small Town in America” – Bardstown, Kentucky. Known worldwide as The Bourbon Capital of the World, Bardstown has been voted the best in Fodor’s, Rand McNally, USA Today, National Geographic Adventure, and many more. If you’ve ever been to Bardstown, you know why. If you haven’t been, you should add it to your bucket list.

Bardstown is home to the Stephen Foster Festival, My Old Kentucky Home, Bernheim Forest, 5 bourbon distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

The annual festival, which is 6 beautiful days in September, has been a favourite of ours for years. With concerts, craft vendors, art, food, hot air balloons, and a barrel relay, of course we spent a day this weekend enjoying the festivities.

Our first stop was Mammy’s Kitchen.

We never miss an opportunity for the best bourbon burger in the world! The beef, Swiss cheese, and onion straws are smothered in bourbon sauce that is to die for!

I’ve never seen anyone add any condiments. No ketchup, mustard or mayo! It’s perfect exactly as it is. I’ve tried hundreds of bourbon sauces and none compare to Uncle Marty’s. We expected Uncle Marty to be a grizzled old man with a sharp eye and delectable secrets for making the bourbon sauce. We were surprised when a handsome man who appeared to be in his mid-30s came out to accept our compliments.

After lunch, we walked through the quaint streets of Bardstown to the bourbon festival. It was an ironic surprise that the first sign we encountered stated “No Alcohol”. This is the BOURBON festival, right? I guess they figure that you’ll have such a great time, you’ll save the bourbon for later.

(Truth be told, you can get a nip or two at the ball field, but don’t tell anyone!)

The band was tuning up, and vendors had set up white tents between the shade trees to sell their talented crafts, shirts, hats, and all things bourbon.

Of course, the Bourbon Festival wouldn’t be complete without the distilleries being represented. All of the finest were there!

There’s nothing like Jim Beam for cooking! Brownies, pies, chicken and pork will all taste better with Jim Beam. For a cocktail, I prefer straight Jim Beam Honey Bourbon or a Tipsy Duck made with Jim Beam, coffee, tea and chocolate.

If you’re drink of choice is the Versailles Cocktail (bourbon, lemon juice, St. Germain and a splash of champagne), Four Roses is the bourbon to use.

If you’re craving a good Whiskey Sour or Kentucky Buck (ginger beer, bourbon and citrus), go for the Wild Turkey!

You can’t make a decent Gold Rush or Mint Julep without Woodford Reserve, my absolute favourite.

Of course you’ll also see Maker’s Mark, Bulleit and Evan Williams (Heaven Hill), who our friend, Gary, jokes is his distant uncle.

As we always do, we wandered into the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History . It’s one of my favourite parts of the day at the festival.

There are awesome, inspiring displays.

We were so inspired, we couldn’t resist buying a decanter or two. Regina was drawn to the colour of two beauties.

This guy had my name all over him! Not only did he catch my eye, but he said “Poland” on the back and he was giving me the finger! It seemed to be my style!

A day at any festival wouldn’t be complete without plenty to eat. The Bourbon Festival is no exception! The difference? Almost everything is flavoured with bourbon (no complaints from this camp!)

First stop, our friends, Tom and Josh, Kentucky Gourmet Nuts, make the best nuts ever.

We opted to get a couple of cones of pecans (a Kentucky favourite).

For a Kentuckian, Bourbon Balls are a must have. They are a smooth, creamy, chocolate-covered bite that packs a punch of bourbon deliciousness.

Kentucky Woods offers many delicious bourbon treats. Bourbon Maple frosted cookies, Bourbon Pecan Pie and Bourbon Barrel Cake, a brown sugar cake with chocolate, walnuts, maple, and caramel — oh, and true Kentucky bourbon flavour! They make great gifts and come packaged in wood bourbon barrel boxes. We’ve consumed many over the years!

We can’t forget the Bourbon Fudge. If you’re a fan of grainier fudge, this is not for you. Creamy, smooth chocolate fudge with walnuts and a fifth of bourbon poured in at the end, you can certainly get tipsy while the chocolate fudge melts on your tongue!

The day was beautiful and spent with good friends, good food and Kentucky pride. Join us next year. You won’t regret it!

Do you have a favourite bourbon recipe? Please share it in the comments. We love all things bourbon!

Skin Deep

by Irene // September 19, 2015 // 1 Comment

Over the past three decades, more people have had skin cancer than all other cancers combined. 40-50% of Americans who live to age 65 will have either BCC (Basal Cell Carcinoma) or SCC (Squamous Cell Carcinoma) at least once. This disturbing information, along with the news that two close acquaintances have been diagnosed with skin cancer, motivated me to make an appointment with my dermatologist.

Last week I kept that long-overdue appointment for a full-body exam. Following the exam, I asked if I should make another appointment to have some other “things” checked. As I pointed, the dermatologist sprayed from what looked like the Tin Man’s forearm. “What’s this?” Pssssst… “Does this look strange to you?” Psssst… “Should I worry about this?” Pssssst… “Can this be removed?” Pssssst…“Will this disappear on its own?” Pssssst… Boom! Done! This is sorcery! Where can I get some of this magical stuff?

As we age, we develop all kinds of weird things, such as age spots, moles, freckles and skin tags on our bodies. My dermatologist opted to use cryotherapy, which is simply the use of low temperatures to treat a variety of tissue damage. As you can see from my description, it is quick and fairly painless. No anesthesia is required and several mysterious lumps and bumps can be treated in one session. The downside is the long healing time of 1 to 6 weeks.

Unfortunately, I also learned that getting rid of wrinkles is not quick, easy or cheap! (I guess I’ll become a student of facial yoga).

Your skin is your largest organ. So do it a favor and get a full-body check by a qualified dermatologist once a year. And while you’re there, take care of some those gross, annoying, eye sores.

Pinterest — What? Why? How?

by Sandy // September 9, 2015 // 6 Comments

Years ago, Irene was obsessed with magazines. She had stacks and stacks in the living room, basement, on the kitchen table – everywhere. She loved perusing the pages and tearing out her favourite recipes, hints and tricks, gardening ideas, decorating ideas, places to visit and things to do. Each clipping went into a folder that was marked appropriately. When we came for a weekend visit, she would pull out the “Things To Do In Kentucky” folder and flip through clippings that reminded her of interests. When I needed recipes, another folder was pulled out and rifled through.

Lots of people clipped articles from magazines and saved cherished recipes, but not everyone had folders. Some people put them on their refrigerator with magnets; some put them in a drawer; some pinned them to bulletin boards. Little reminders of things we liked, or wanted to try.

Imagine if you had a separate bulletin board for every category: one for recipes; another for gardening; yet another for places you dream about visiting.

Maybe you’re a fan that would like to keep all things Robert Redford. Maybe you’ve started quilting or canning and would like to keep everything you can find on the subject – in one, easily accessible spot. If this is appealing to you, you need to visit Pinterest.

Pinterest gives you the ability to create a virtual bulletin board (or 2, or 27 or as many as you need) where you can pin “clippings” and pictures that interest you, in groups that make sense to you. You can pin things from Pinterest, out on the internet, or upload them from your computer.

And it’s FREE!!!!

So, when you want a cocktail recipe that includes bourbon, or need an easy breakfast recipe for crowds, or need that tip on how to remove stains from silk, there’s no digging in drawers and closets and files. You don’t have to comb the internet mumbling “Where was that? I KNOW I saw it somewhere!” You just go to your Pinterest board and – voila! There it is at your fingertips! Literally!

Even better, you can view other people’s boards and pin from them. So, you know how Robin makes the best desserts ever? How Regina does all things creative? You can choose to follow them and every time they pin a recipe or new project to one of their boards, the pin will be sent to you.

If you’re looking for something specific (or non-specific), like the cheapest way to clean grout, or words of encouragement for a friend, or just a great picture of a horse, you can search on Pinterest and most likely, you’ll find just what you were looking for.

You can also “share” boards. When Jean and I are planning a trip, we share a board of restaurants, shops, hotels and sites in the area we are visiting. Whatever I pin, Jean sees and visa versa. We can even add a map of where we’re going (or where we have been).

Just as you can view other people’s boards, they can view yours. Have a board you don’t want to be seen by the entire world population? Not a problem. You can make a board “secret” so only you (or people you add) can see it.

Now you know what Pinterest is, and why you would use it. The next question is: How?

A few easy steps and you’ll be pinning like a pro!

Don’t forget to follow sistersfolly for the best pins in just about every category! Just type sistersfolly (no spaces) in the search bar to find us!

How do you use Pinterest? What tips can you share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

A SIMPLE GUIDE TO USING PINTEREST

Step 1: Create a Pinterest account.

Go to pinterest.com (Click the link and it will open in a new window).

A pop-up will appear for a few seconds while they build your customized feed based on your selected interests…. Just wait. It goes away.

Step 2: Create a board.

Now that you have an account, you’re ready to create a board (or 2 or 10 or more).

Your board is created!

Step 3: Follow pinners and boards that interest you.

There are a number of ways to find and follow boards that may interest you:

Search for Friends

Their boards will be displayed.

NOTE: In some cases, you may want to follow individual boards rather than all of a pinner’s boards (that’s not true for sistersfolly!) Instead of clicking on the FOLLOW button in the upper-right corner of their board, simply click the Follow at that bottom of the board you want to follow.

That’s all there is to it. You’ll start receiving new pins in your Home Feed.

Home Feed

The Home Feed will display pins you are likely to be interested in. It will include pins from boards you are following and suggestions from Pinterest based on your interests. There are 2 ways to get to your Home Feed (besides being automatically displayed when you log in).

You’re ready to start pinning!

Step 4: Pin!

Since the board I have created is All About Chocolate, I will use ‘chocolate’ in the following examples. Of course, you can search for anything!

Use the scroll bar (on the right side of the screen) to scroll through the pins. When you see one that interests you, hover the mouse over the picture until the PINIT button appears. Click PINIT.

You can edit the description, pin it to an existing board, or create a new board. Have too many boards to scroll through? Easy. Just click in the board search field and enter any letters/words in the name of your board.

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

If you click a pin, it will open up larger on your screen.
Click the X in the upper right corner to close the large version (if you use the back arrow, it will take you to the top of the previous screen. THAT gets annoying if you looked at a pin 47 feet down!)
If you click the large version, it will take you to the original website. So, the pin may not have instructions, directions, or ingredients, but the original website should.
You can not pin from Facebook.
You can download a Browser Button from Pinterest. Click the link and follow instructions for your computer/mobile device.

It adds a Pinterest button on your internet browser window so you can easily pin from the internet.

You can copy, delete or move up to 50 pins from one board to another. For example, you create a board for Chocolate. After 276 pins and lots of scrolling, you decide to put all pins for Cakes in a new Cakes board. On your original board, just click MOVE PINS then select the pins you want on your new board and MOVE them to the new Cakes board.

You can send a pin to (or receive one from) a friend on Pinterest (fellow Pinner). Just hover your mouse over the pin and click SEND in the upper right corner.

Pins sent to you will appear as a Message. Click the Pushpin icon in the upper right corner of your board to view them.

Yard Sale Diaries (127 The World’s Longest Yard Sale)

by Irene // August 23, 2015 // No Comments

We ventured out to the magnificent 127 Yard Sale, also known as the World’s Longest Yard Sale. The difference this year? My sister was in Michigan selling her house. I was on my own (sigh). I’d given up on going, but my dear, sweet husband volunteered to navigate and keep the car cool.

We packed a lot of bags, boxes (wishful thinking), some snacks and plenty of water before heading out in the early morning. It was Sunday and the last day of the sale. I was excited about what we would find. I channeled my inner American Picker as we took the Owensboro, KY exit. This has been our favorite stop in prior years and it would be somewhat predictable (Bathrooms? Check. Food? Check.) We’ve always come across some remarkable deals and met some wonderful people.

First stop: the Gallatin Fair Grounds. There were plenty of vendors, but it was more like an antique show (complete with antique store prices). And…NO ONE was haggling! Well, I was outta there.

We headed south into the “neighborhoods”. What? The streets were BARE! This was unusual! Talking to a couple of people that have done this for the past 20 years or so, I found out that many had opted out and went to the fairgrounds this year. Rain and a closed highway due to a UPS tractor-trailer running into the median on I-71 kept customers at bay.

The first purchase, a bag of curvy glass stones for a quarter! Yay! The “ice has been broken”!

On our next stop was a “Fill a Bag for $1” sale. I’m on it! Here’s what I bought for $1:

Score!

Sweating bullets, we continued on…and on. I found a pair of vintage, wood, Susan Bates knitting needles for only $2! (I vow to learn how to knit one day).

I also found this unusual oddity.

Not sure what I’ll do with this, but it’s kind of cool.

Getting hungry, Mark and I shared a hamburger that definitely would not be approved by Michelle Obama and/or our doctor. I didn’t take a photo, but imagine curly lettuce peaking out from the delicious bun, an heirloom tomato slice and a whopping, juicy burger (also peaking out of that bun).

While we were eating, Mark showed interest in some neon t shirts just at the edge of the parking lot. I purchased one for him and it is now his souvenir of our first 127 Yard Sale together.

We were sweating so much, it looked like we were caught in a rain storm. We reluctantly called it quits with dreams of next year’s Longest Yard Sale. Although our loot didn’t compare to previous years, we still had a lot of fun.

What grand finds did you purchase at the 127 Yard Sale this year?

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