Trip

On Friday night, elections reps called on us, we have a Provincial election coming up on October 6, and I have now signed up for Matt and I to work at one of the polling stations. I quite enjoy doing that and the pay isn’t bad.

A friend who lives out in the country dropped in to pick up her Avon and brought me two fresh cobs of corn which I cooked and ate for supper on Friday evening. Pigging out as Matt isn’t interested. Deeeelicious.

Got away extra early for us on Saturday and surprise, surprise, didn’t get held up at the border at all. Not particularly crowded although we probably had the surliest customs officer ever, very unfriendly type . We didn’t stop for lunch at our usual spot as it was only 10 am – ended up at a Wendy’s in Pennsylvania later on.

Not sure where, but a couple of things; we saw a motorbike and the rider’s jacket had a skeletal hand on it, flipping the bird, I thought that was funny. For my UK readers that means the same as two fingers up, and I don’t mean the victory sign. The other thing I spotted was a few most attractive birds at the side of the road, I am not sure if they were wild turkeys or not, their feathers sparkled, only saw them for a few seconds of course and I am not that familiar with such birds, Glenda Larke could tell me, but she ain’t here.  They looked a bit like this picture, but I don’t know that wild turkeys have such pretty feathers as I saw, so don’t know how to id them. Of course, Googling wild turkeys brings up pictures of Wild Turkey Bourbon.

Part of our journey runs through the Allegheny river area and then into the mountains. The views are absolutely spectacular with rolling hills, which are actually mountains, shrouded in trees as far as the eye can see. Then you see the mists in the mountains too which can look very beautiful. Virginia countryside is also very beautiful, until you start driving anywhere one doesn’t realise how much vacant land there really is in the North Americas. A lot of the Virginia area is horse country too and you can see miles and miles of rail fencing indicating horse farms. To get down south we traverse New York State, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia before entering NC. We stayed in Winchester, Virginia, which seems a nice town but we have never stopped there long enough to find out. We stayed at the Best Western where we have stopped before, but I have been complaining about their beds which are like boards. I had an email with me from one of their executives assuring me that they did have softer beds and giving me 25% off. However, the young man who checked me in couldn’t really have cared less and assured me he personally had slept on wooden pallets. Bet he didn’t pay for it though. I became pretty annoyed about this, but not til later, in the end I booked another hotel for our return trip. Neither of us slept well that night. The beds really are like sleeping on the floor.

One thing we did notice driving the interstates in particular, the very intense police presence, there were cops everywhere, not just hauling over bad drivers, but just cruising or watching all along the roads. Luckily so far there has been no terrorist occurrence although it was momentarily expected by most Americans, however 9/11 passed its 10th year anniversary without incident, big sighs of relief all round.

Eventually we got to North Carolina; we have to drive Hiway 70 to get to the coast and actually found some roadside stands selling corn, tomatoes, peaches, etc. so we stopped and I spent a few bucks. We had brought something down for a friend so we pulled in to see them on our way to the cottage and were invited back for supper later, great. Got our keys and unloaded the car, about 3 weeks worth, and unpacked. We went back to our friend’s and had a fun evening, our other Canadian friends were there too. Had some delicious sausage balls which are made with Bisquick but I don’t have the recipe yet, I will.

I thought this would be a great thing to make.

Creamy Artichoke Dip

By Dana Treat
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com
The original recipe says to serve this with pita chips (it is excellent that way), but I have also served it with fresh baguette slices along with carrots and celery.

Ingredients

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
3 6-ounce jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained, coarsely chopped
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 tsp. minced seeded jalapeño pepper

Instructions

Using electric mixer, beat first 8 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Fold in artichokes, mozzarella cheese, green onions, and jalapeño. Transfer to a 11 x 7 x 2-inch baking dish. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake dip until bubbling and brown on top, about 20 minutes. Dip is best served warm.
Adapted from Bon Appetit.
Total Servings: 12
Have a great day