And the laughter flowed...

..like a good wine poured into your favorite glass.  That is what happens when you get some AR peeps together.  New to be friends, old friends, throw in some family and good food and you have the makings of a lovely laughter filled afternoon.

As most of you know, I have hosted the MO Midwest roundup for 3 years.  I am very lucky to have had the privilege to meet the people that I have and to become friends with them.  This year not everyone that wanted to come to the roundup could.  When the mini MI roundup was posted for October I thought maybe I should do a mini MO one then too.  Any excuse to get together right?  Hey, I had the best good fortune to go to the October IN mini and surprise the heck out of 2 dear friends.  Even though I wasn't sure how many there would be for my mini I figured it didn't matter.  I was serving 3 soups, bread, my now infamous cheese crackers, my  wannabe Boursin cheese spread and salad.  I had a bottle of Mad Housewife wine so even if no one could make I would be happy and the poor DH, BBQ Dude, could always go to Sonic.  Which he did while we had our luncheon, he doesn't eat soup.

So I cleaned house, worked some in the yard and got food prep underway.  The 26th was our anniversary of 22 years.  We had planned to go out to eat but my dear spouse noted that I still had much to do.  He suggested pizza and a quiet evening.  We would go out the next evening after my guests had left.  The dear man even remember to get me flowers.

So off he went to pick up pizza as I scurried around. Not long after he left my cell phone started ringing.  Thank heavens I found it before it went to voicemail.  It is my dear friend, Magnolia Blossom, wondering how far behind I am.  She knows me well!  After all she knows where the vacuum and various other assorted things are stored here because despite my best efforts I am NEVER done on time.  She says she feels bad there is no one to help me.  Being of the suspicious nature that I am and the fact that someone really got me good at my June roundup, I look out the window at my driveway.  Just in case you know, because while weeding one day the odd thought bubbled up, "Hmmm, Lora is not going to let me get away with getting her in IN.  Nah, an 8 hour drive for lunch, she wouldn't do that."  Oh, yes she would!  I had stepped away from the window but Bane was still looking.  Sure enough!  There was my dear friend sitting at the end of the driveway waiting for me to open the gate.  Much squealing and many hugs later, Lora was back manning the mop and helping get things ready for the next day.  She even brought me flowers which I turned into 2 centerpieces.

I sawed a hole into the birdhouse gourd  & painted it on Thursday and thought I would shove some of my chrysanthemums in it and call it good.

It was a small gathering of my nephew and his family, Magnolia Blossom, Perri Pender and Heidi S.  My niece in law has perused AR so I figured she counted as an AR peep :)  and family is always welcome to come to these roundups.  Perri  and Heidi had wanted to come to the summer roundup but Life got in the way.  Lora is always up for a roadtrip and her DH is quite understanding.

I figured since there was a chill in the air soup would be perfect.  I just had one glitch my niece and her daughter have a wheat allergy something I am not used to dealing with.  Again the peeps on the Buzz came through for me with suggestions and recipes.  I've saved those threads to forward on to her too.  So what did I make for her?  Vegan gluten free pumpkin black bean soup.  I made my own vegetable broth.  Something I have never done but again I looked on AR for recipes and tweaked a couple. Ended up emptying a bunch of veggies into a pot of water with herbs & wine and ended up with a very tasty broth.  The ladies seemed to enjoy it.  It also made a good base for later tweaking on Sunday because my guys couldn't handle vegan.  I turned the soup in to a hearty Taco soup that was well received by the race car watching guys.

I didn't get many pictures this time even when I thought I had and I even forgot some food items.  Stop laughing those of you that have been here before, I know I ALWAYS forget something!  On the right are the bean, afalfa and broccoli sprouts I grew just for the salad we were having.  Left them in the fridge.  Deep sigh.  But hey, Magnolia Blossom and I high fived because we did have lunch ready when I said it would be!  Woot Woot that was a first!

Oh well, as dear Lora said they couldn't miss what they didn't know they were supposed to have.  Like the wine poached chicken veggie soup, forgot to put the pureed cauliflower in it to thicken it.  No wonder it wasn't as thick as the soup I served Mi Being Mi on our recent roadtrip.  Remembered that Sunday morning when checking emails.  Again deep sigh.

Oh, but what does it matter?  The food was good and everyone seemed to have a good time.  That's what really matters.  As I said the laughter flowed like a good wine into your favorite glass.  New people were met.  We had fun talking and just look at this Buttermilk pie Heidi brought. 

I didn't get any of it.  Lora and I went on a mini roadtrip after everyone left to a local winery.  While we were gone my son came home from work and polished it off.  He says it was good. 

Mother Ann, if you get to come in June we are busy looking into the local wineries for you to tour.  The wine MB & I toured was pretty good but I must say the dog there was more welcoming than the owners.  There is more than I thought to do in MO so for anyone that is thinking about coming to the next Midwest MO roundup add a couple of extra days in your schedule for sightseeing.  Yes, the date is already set for the next one, June 21st thru the 23rd 2013.  Again everyone is welcome to come.  Don't worry about fitting in.  It is easy even if you are shy.  Some of us might be seasoned roundupers, but that doesn't mean newbies should feel like outsiders.  Heck no!  Lora and I, after everyone had left, enjoyed a delightful conversation with Heidi.  Look, she brought the neatest planter!

As always with us AR peeps, we talked about all kinds of things.  Everyone can feel at home.  That's the best thing about these roundups be they big or small, you are getting to know other people and building friendships.  Who else would drive 8 hours just for lunch? 

Hugs,
Cat

To those of you on the East coast you are in my prayers.  Stay safe from the storm!

MUUUUAHHHAAAHAHAA!!!!!

NO, this is not another Halloweeen blog!  That is the laugh of 2 peep's planning an awesome surprise!  This is the story of Cat & Mi ouse's (Mi Being Mi) most EXCELLENT road trip/ surprise adventure.  The story starts with Thelma and Louise AKA Magnolia Blossom and Lady Sparkle.  Last year they went to Nashville, IN to a lovely little artsy crafty type of town.  They went in the off season but still had a blast.  So much so they decided to do it again this year and invite others along for their adventure.

Around the time of their shout out for anyone who would like to join them, another invitation had been issued for all the folks in MI.  Well, Mi Being Mi is from MI and really, really wanted to go but it was just a little too much of a drive for her.  So when MB announced their plans, Mi asked me if I would join her on a road trip to Nashville.  Now the last time I went on any kind of a vacation without the family was in ForNever.  I even mentioned this to MB.  She replied that the first trip without her family had her driving on a dark & rainy night to a total stranger's house ( the first roundup held here at my house).

Right off the bat, I said no.  Then I asked for details.  Emails flew back and forth.  The decision was made!  We were to do it.  Jump out of our comfort zone and JUST DO IT!  Reservations were made.  Details were being ironed out.  Excitment was building!  Now MB knew we were coming.  LS did not.  Cue the laugh!

I volunteered to do road trip worthy food as my partner in surprise crime was doing all the driving.  Thank you BearlyBarbie, Allie Geek, Patty Cakes, Nurse Ellen and Emily Nicole for your suggestions when I threw out my picnic "?" thread.  You see why I couldn't really tell you what I was doing but I did need help trying to figure out how to have a hot meal on the road.  Candice and RedNeckGramma knew and thank you for your suggestions.  RNG your hug to Lady S was duly delivered!  I also shared your apple juice technique with her too.

Here's what I took.

A veggie soup with wine poached chicken, fresh baquette rolls with seasoned butter ( I promise Baking Nana I WILL get that blog done on seasoned salt & sugar), hummus, and a nice little assortment of cheeses, mixed nuts, my homemade cheezits (Thank you BigShotsMom and Baking Nana for all those discussions we had about how to get those perfected.  The ladies said they were and again, I promise to get that recipe posted.), fresh fruit from my orchard and water.  I did take adult beverages as well.  More about them in a moment :)  Also note to self, don't put your soup in a small mouth thermos.  While hot & deliciously perfect for that cool rainy night, it was a trick getting it out.

If anyone is wondering what kind of fare I left for my dear spouse who urged me to go on this weekend trip, I thought perhaps he would like to choose his own menu.

Deep sigh!  I try so hard with my two but once the Cat is away this is how they play!

Pizza, little smokie sausages, chips and heat & serve pulled pork.  The DH was proud of himself for providing his own dinners and also thinking ahead to lunch on Sunday for game day with Alan, our dear friend.

Then suddenly, our plans came to a screeching halt.  Mi's work had amped up their workload.  She had hoped to take that Friday off as IN is a bit of a drive from here.  No such luck!  Hopefully, she could leave at noon and I could have someone drop me off in a convenient location to save some drive time.  Things went from bad to worse.  It looked like Mi couldn't leave until 4.  Mind you, she is 1 1/2 hours away from me so that put us coming into IN waaaaay late.  Tearfully, I had to decide whether it was even worth trying to go.  Too little sleep and all that walking around we were to do, I just didn't think I could manage it.  Poor Mi, she felt bad because she couldn't even tell me what would happen with work till the very last minute.  So I said if you leave at 12, I'm in.  If not, I'm out.  I proceeded to pack and make food as if I were going and there were no hitches in our plans.  I informed MB that it was likely I wouldn't come.  I didn't know if Mi would make that long drive at night by herself either.

Then the email came late Thurs.  WE were a GO!  I called Mi, we firmed up our plans and I finished up all my chores here.  However, I decided to not let MB in on our final plans.  Cue that laugh again!

A real quick aside here, I hate traveling.  It always seems like so much work and I hate sitting for such long stretches doing nothing.  With my partner in surprise crimes, Mi ouse, the miles flew by.  We had so much to talk about.  That and she might have been doing about 80.  This is what I have always found so neat about meeting other AR cooks, you have SOOOO much to talk about.  So many different topics, too.  Now I did wonder what she and I would discuss on the way home but again we covered many varied topics, some quite important ones too.  Like why is it you only see one shoe on the side of the highway?  Where is its mate?  How did it come to be on the side of the road in the first place?  These terribly important topics make all those miles melt away.

The excitement in the car was certainly building because not only did Lady S not know we were coming, MB wasn't too sure either.  At our first pit stop, we decided for me to call MB and spin a tale of woe.  Again note to self, keep the camera with you at all times!  Mi ouse was barely containing her laughter as I woefully told MB how late Mi ouse was leaving and that I just couldn't come.  Yes, mauigirl, we feel we did you proud creating that proper surprise atmosphere.  Lie like you really mean it and then laugh your you know what off after hanging up.  My partner felt unable to do this so stuck to texting for her part in our plan.

Our drive was pretty uneventful up until the last 30 minutes.  Truck traffic was heavy and it started to rain.  Poor Mi ouse was getting very stressed with the lack of visibility but we arrived safe and sound.  I was ever so glad I brought a bottle of wine for her.  I'm pretty sure she was ready to uncork that bottle with her teeth if necessary once we settled into our room.

Now for the most EXCELLENT parts.

Maid service was right next door.  Perfect!  A light knock on the door by Mi ouse.  MB opens it with a you know what kind of grin on her face thinking she has pulled off a great surprise on Lady S but the tables were turned!

I do believe she had the same kind of look I had on my face (mauigirl's surprise visit to my roundup) when the recognition that the lady taking pictures was none other then the Cat that was woefully left behind.

Does she look surprised to see me or what?

And look at this smiling face; it is not a beautiful sight?

Naturally Mi ouse and I had to do a little self congratulation on our most excellent surprise.  Then we were off for our trip to Nashville.  It is a lovely little town and there was quite a bit to see.  At lunchtime we were joined by Indiana Peggy.

It was so nice meeting her.  We visited all kinds of shops but I think our favorite might have been the one with the free samples of wine!

Mi and I were very sorry we couldn't meet Lucky Noodles but we thank you and Peggy for those sweet gifts.

Lucky made us all a traveling music CD and Peggy shared with us her rock sayings.

We all had a wonderful day followed by happy hour in our motel room.  The conversation flowed as it always does with AR peeps.  Alas, it had to come to an end but we met up for breakfast the next morning.  Even more conversation followed which included topics like toilets, trumpets and echoing.  Then we had to say goodbye and hug for one last time.  Mi ouse and I had a long drive home to make but our weekend had been so worth it.  I have made another wonderful memory to cherish with the help of my dear friends and met a new friend.

Thank you all so much!  I missed you as soon as I was back home.  Mi and I discussed our next get together opportunity on our way home and as you know the date for the next roundup is already set.  So there is much to look forward to in the future and maybe more new friends to met and make!

So till I see you again! 

(((((HUGS)))))

Love,
 Cat