Weekend Fun!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  Stud and I sure did.  We went and saw Hangover 2 on Friday night, camping on Saturday night, and spent Monday at the track eating crawfish!  It was a little hot, but we maximized our time outside.  

Our camping excursion was into Red River Gorge, our favorite place to hike/camp in Kentucky.  Beau tagged along with us, his first overnight camping experience!  He was a great camper.  We made him carry his own food and he really did not seem to care in the least.  He also got to play in a creek, chase wildlife, bark at hikers, and eat tons of sticks.  I think he is confused as to why we aren’t always hiking.  

We were worried it was going to be packed and we would have trouble finding a camping spot, so we started our hike around 2:30 to make it four miles.  Our favorite trail has a long stretch along some cliffs and we wanted to set up camp on the ridge for a) a breeze, b) the sunset and c) so we would have a short hike out in the morning.  We had plenty of time to get to the ridge, set up camp, and eat before the sunset.  There were some clouds, so I was worried we would miss the sunset.  But I was so wrong.  It was one of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen.  We sat on the ridge for an hour watching the sun go down and enjoying some bourbon we had brought along.  It was so relaxing and so nice to be outside on such a beautiful night.

Heat Wave

The only redeeming part of this horrendous summer --

The awesome mid afternoon thunderstorms.

A KY Weekend

This weekend, Stud and I decided to take advantage of the below 95 degree heat and one of his few remaining free weekends. On Saturday, we packed up a day pack and drove the two hours to hike in Red River Gorge. It’s part of the Clifty Wilderness. It’s pretty amazing. So off we went to spend the day with nature. We hiked about nine miles with Beau and our hike included getting lost, being mauled by a spider, some cliff climbing, and some views. You can see the "trail" we were on while lost below.  It was a little tight.  Every time we go, we do one trail, and then always end with a four mile hike that takes you to Courthouse Rock and back. It’s always where we sit, relax, eat some snacks, and become one with the trees and all that woodsy nature-y stuff. We are tree people.  And I am now proudly sporting some massive blisters.  And chigger bites.

And then we spent Saturday night on the river. Forecastle Festival was this past weekend on the waterfront, and we were lucky enough to cruise down and appreciate some of the music from the River. For free! Days like these, I can’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else.

And I spent Sunday by the pool - gooood weekend!

Classic Benedictine

Benedictine is yet another delicious local creation.  It was created by a woman named Judy Benedict and it is a spread that consists of cucumbers, onions, and cream cheese.  How can you go wrong?

Benedictine

2 large cucumbers

1 small yellow onion

1 8oz. block of cream cheese

Salt
Mustard Powder
Chopped fresh dill

Peel and remove the seeds from the cucumbers and then grate them using a box grater.  I actually chopped them and I don't think I like the chunky texture as much.  I am also going to try making it all in the food processor, but that might make it too smooth.  Set the grated/diced/chopped cucumbers in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and let drain for a few hours.  Stud and I only did about twenty minutes and now our benedictine is soupy.  A shocking amount of moisture will come out of the cucumbers.

Once they have drained, throw the cucumbers, finely chopped onions, cream cheese, dill, and pinch of mustard powder into a bowl and combine.  Add salt to taste.  Easy!

Now, you can serve benedictine in many ways.  The easiest is a basic benedictine sandwich.  It is often paired with bacon (better, duh).  So a benedictine and bacon sandwich or wrap is common as well.  I like to throw some tomato on the sandwich as well.  I have also had benedictine as a dip, with crumbled bacon on top.  That was pretty aaamazing.  You can also just eat it with a spoon.

I would like to credit Haudge with the basis for this recipe.  I made a few changes.  Obviously my recipe is an improvement.  He also wanted his picture on the blog.  So here he is. 

Oh and I finally made more Benedictine using my Cuisinart and actually letting the cucumbers drain for a few hours and I like it even more.  I prefer the smooth texture, but it's a personal choice.  Others (ahem Haudge) might prefer chunkies.

Good weekend

This past weekend was great - three days long and full of great activites.  Remember when I talked about the backside of Churchill Downs being the best place?  I went on Sunday to enjoy some crawfish, and it was amazing.  There was tons of food, beer, and horses.

And I offically can eat a crawfish like a professional now.  There was a stable guy who was rather skilled at eating crawfish.  I now know how to get all the meat out of the body without "fighting" with it as I was doing before.  All you do it twist the body off, pinch the end of the tail, bite the meat and pull.  Voila!  I also am not quite comfortable with eating the brains.  A little too National Geographic for me.  But the crawfish were big enough that you could eat the claw meat.  That I did do.  So good, such a relaxing way to spend part of my Memorial Day weekend.  And we were such good eaters we have a standing invitation to all crawfish boils at this barn.  The Maids and I can really put away some food.

Soon I am going to learn how to have a crawfish boil myself since I love them so.  All I need is a turkey frier, some spices from Louisana, and crawfish!  Who wants to come??

I Heart KY

One of my favorite drives in the state... US-60 in Lexington.