We stopped to eat in Clayton at a fast food restaurant and then headed up the mountain, arriving at Two Holt at 8:00.
It was as dark as I ever remember it being at our little place. We grabbed a few items from the truck, climbed up the steps through the dark rhododendron tunnel, and walked inside Two Holt. 46 degrees inside... brrr! We plugged in two space heaters, turned on the gas fireplace, and even preheated the oven to warm up quickly. Less than a hour later, we were watching television in a 62 degree and slowly warming cottage and talking about our Saturday plans.
The next morning Phil cooked a great breakfast--fried eggs, grits, bacon, biscuits, and coffee.
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes (you will have already baked these), peeled and cubed (not too small--you don't want the potatoes to cook away to mush when you add them to the soup later)
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Toppings to have available for soup when serving: shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, chopped green onion, crumbled bacon
Cook bacon. Remove bacon and excess grease. Saute onion and garlic in bacon grease. Stir in flour, salt, basil, pepper. Add broth
gradually. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add potatoes, cream, hot sauce. Heat, but DON'T boil.
Garnish with crumbled bacon, cheese, green
onion.
Serves 4 to 5.
As we usually do when we're in Highlands, we worshipped with our First Baptist family on Sunday morning. The sermon was from Psalm 133:1--How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
Phil and I took a walk along one of our favorite routes--down Netsi Place, a little road with lots of rhododendrons lining its entrance.
Blueberries
Powdered sugar
Can of frosting (I use the squirt can type)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out crescent rolls into individual triangles. Put one tablespoon of blueberries on the widest end of the triangle, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of powdered sugar, and roll up. Pinch sides to seal completely. Lightly spray a pan with cooking spray and transfer turnovers to baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown (about 12 to 15 minutes). Remove to cool for a couple of minutes. Dust each turnover with powdered sugar. I then squirt the vanilla frosting as an accent on top. Act like you've been slaving in the kitchen for hours and serve to your appreciative family. ;)
We packed up and headed back to Alabama. We stopped at a little antique shop at the foot of the mountain and I bargained a bit with the owner to purchase three of these iron fence pieces. Next spring we'll set these with a bit of concrete footings at the top of the hill next to our sitting garden and plant some lovely clematis to grow on each section.