Pumpkin Mania

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Fall means pumpkins, and we all love pumpkins! There’s just something about them — I’m not sure what. Maybe that they’re only around for a few weeks. Maybe because they smell so good and taste even better. Maybe because they just instantly make me happy. Who knows? But I’m always glad when the air gets cooler and the leaves start to turn and I can go all pumpkin, all the time. Bath and Body Works has some great-smelling pumpkin things, such as Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin lotion and scrub. Fragrance oils and sprays also come in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin as well as Perfect Autumn Pumpkin. This past year at Bath and Body Works, I bought some autumn potpourri that has stones, beads, glass leaves and wooden pumpkins in it and a Perfect Autumn Pumpkin travel candle, although I haven’t seen those items in stores this year. A few drops of oil refreshes the potpourri and everybody who comes in says, “Oh, your house smells so good.” Be careful, though, that somebody doesn’t think the potpourri is Halloween candy and tries to crunch a rock. (Who would do that, Lizzy Jane???!!!!!) And of course, there’s pumpkin you can eat. Pumpkin Spice Flax crunchy granola bars from Kashi are my favorite emergency on-the-road food — although they are, as advertised, quite crunchy. But delicious! Fresh Market sells a pumpkin pancake and waffle mix that’s easy and perfect for cool crisp mornings and fun breakfast-for-supper fall evenings. I’m also a big fan of pumpkin seed oil, which I’ve only found at Tria Market in Birmingham, Ala. (in Soho Square in Homewood, http://www.birminghammenus.com/tria/) It’s a rich and green oil that flavors bread and hearty vegetables with a woodsy taste of fall. But the best fall flavor is the pumpkin dip Connie Carpenter does at Jack O’Lantern Farms, the hydroponic greenhouses in Muscle Shoals, Ala., http://www.jackolanternfarm.com/. The Carpenters have the best selection of pumpkins for sale in northwest Alabama. Connie makes a dip by roasting pumpkins (quarter, brush with oil, roast and remove meat) and then combining the pumpkin with cream cheese, powdered sugar and spices. It’s absolutely October in your mouth!

Losing Stylishly

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Ouch! Football fans all over the SEC are shaking their heads over sad and unimpressive — but predictable — games on Saturday. Vanderbilt lost its chance of a perfect winning season — and who ever thought we would read those words? — to Mississippi State, Tennessee continues to limp its way to a perfect losing season after a trip to Georgia and Auburn demonstrated its lack of defense as well as offense in a loss to Arkansas. Alabama fans are happy, of course, since Texas picked off top-ranked Oklahoma* and made room for the Tide to move up, thereby validating coach Nick Saban’s multi-million-dollar contract. To fans, at least. And as is the way in the South, football drives fashion. An AP story today reported that Alabama’s rise in fortune has meant a rise in Tide merchandise sales. There are still some brave Auburn holdouts, however, such as Collage Designer Consignment in Birmingham, which had this display at the front of the store recently. Adorable, stylish and loyal, all at the same time. Because true fans never give up, so why not look cute while you’re supporting your team? Even if you’re not shopping for football, Collage has some great buys and a diverse inventory, with jewelry, evening, bridal and plus-sizes. I got a like-new top there for at least a third of retail. You can’t beat that. Now, if only some of that luck would rub off on Auburn. Check out Collage at http://www.shopcollage.com/

* My husband, sports editor of the Tupelo, Miss., Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, pointed out that Alabama this weekend performed the near-miraculous feat of winning twice without even playing, riding to on-paper victories with Oklahoma’s and Auburn’s losses. Is there nothing Saban cannot do???!!!!!!

Yard Sales

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My mom and dad recently had their Super Incredible Mega Yard Sale in Manchester, Tenn. They do a massive cleanout every year or so and sell the results at the Ponderosa, their farm on nearby Old Tullahoma Highway where my dad grows nursery stock and my mom has her antique “shed” — it’s smaller than a shop.”  They did most of the toting and packing and moving things around, but I helped a little bit — mainly by telling customers, “I’m not sure what that is. Let’s ask my mom!” Anyway, the weather was perfect and we had so much fun, especially when my daughter and son-in-law brought Cutest Baby Ever up from Huntsville, Ala., for a visit. And I loved watching my parents in action! My mom knows her antiques, and she arranges things so creatively: Linens in an old suitcase, plates in a dish drainer. Everything in the sale had a story, from the wooden lobster trap they brought back from Maine (“They don’t make them like this anymore,” my mom said. “They’re all plastic now.”) to my grandmother’s decades-old mixer — which my mom sold to a young woman who seemed to appreciate it. But it wasn’t all selling. My dad met a couple tractor collectors, which led to deep conversations about … well, tractor stuff. And he also ended up giving away some bed railings that weren’t even in the sale to a woman who was helping a disabled friend of hers set up housekeeping. Profits from the two-day sale were only about $250, but I took away much more than the $15 I got for some pots and pans.

This is where I was when I found out my younger daughter had mono — and I had shared her soup and sandwich at lunch earlier that week. Yikes! She already was feeling better by the time she got her diagnosis but of course I convinced myself that I was feeling worse. Read about the happy ending at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20081010/ARTICLES/810100302

Demos’ in the Shoals

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It’s really going to happen! The new Demos’ (pronounced “dee-mus”) Restaurant going up in Florence, Ala., should open in mid-December, co-founder and owner Jim Demos said this week. This family-owned restaurant began in Murfreesboro, Tenn., almost 20 years ago and quickly became a Middle Tennessee favorite for its emphasis on fresh homemade food and exceptional customer service. It was the go-to place for my husband and his mom, who lived in Murfreesboro, and I knew I was an accepted member of the family when they invited me to come along. The Demoses are expanding and chose Florence for their first out-of-state location. Amazing! My husband and I cannot believe our luck in having one of our favorite restaurants open up practically in our backyard. Go to the Web site http://www.demosrestaurants.com/ to learn more. Now, I’m craving a Blackened Chicken Stuffed Potato.

Beer in the Garden

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Miss Annie’s Rustic Park Restaurant and Beer Garden in St. Joseph, Tenn., finally is reopened! It’s been a long four years since the owners had to close and move their restaurant back from the roadway to make room for U.S. 43 widening. They took advantage of the break, though, and remodeled and redid so that Miss Annie’s has returned better than ever. Definitely worth the wait. The renovated building is spacious and gleaming, while the beer-garden courtyard is clean and welcoming. What is Miss Annie’s, you ask? Well, it’s a restaurant, with sandwiches, steaks, chicken, seafood, BBQ and pasta. It’s a bar, with plenty of beer and appetizers such as hush puppies, stuffed mushrooms and spinach/artichoke dip. It’s a landmark —  Miss Annie’s has been welcoming thirsty travelers and locals off and on since 1928. And it’s an unexpected surprise to find such a fun place in what everybody cheerfully admits is close to the middle of nowhere. Miss Annie’s is about 12 miles from Killen, Ala., — 1.5 miles north of the Alabama/Tennessee state line on U.S. 43. This is the sort of place that makes you happy as soon as you walk in. On the recent crisp fall evening my husband and I went, there were families, couples, groups of friends and folks getting off work, all enjoying a place to linger and relax. Now, this isn’t a place to explore new breweries since the beer menu is pretty limited or to worry about your cholesterol level — although the house salad is fresh. Just go and enjoy yourself. Check out the Web site first, at http://www.missanniesbeergarden.com/, and learn the history of the venerable and much-loved Miss Annie’s.

Pirates Can Be Cute, Too

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Arrrggghhhhh ... it's Pirate Baby! Grandson, Nolan Thomas Behel, practices his Jack Sparrow impression.

Arrrr! It's Pirate Baby -- or grandson, Nolan Thomas Behel, practicing his Jack Sparrow impression.

Recycling the Recycling

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You know you lead a sophisticated and exciting life when the arrival of new recycling bins is a highlight of your week.

What can I say? My husband and I live on the edge. Taking our paper/plastic/cardboard recycling to the center in nearby Florence, Ala., is a weekly chore on our to-do list, and the status of the aging and always overflowing bins there is a hot topic of our conversation. So naturally we were overjoyed to see that the city of Florence recently replaced some of the old and creaky bins with larger and shinier ones. The question, of course, is: Did the city of Florence recycle the old bins? Inquiring minds want to know.

Rick and Bubba and Friends

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Yes, this is my friend Bonnie. Standing on a car. It looks as if she’s miraculously balancing on top of a huge Rick and Bubba sign — and if anybody could do that, it would be her — but she’s actually standing on top of her car, which is holding up the huge Rick and Bubba sign with help from assistants Jana, left, and Cheryl. And this was 5:45 a.m. In the morning. I’m there, too, taking this photo. And why were we in this Birmingham, Ala., parking lot at 5:45 a.m. standing on a car holding a huge Rick and Bubba sign? Of course, it was all Bonnie’s idea — and it was a good idea. The whole thing was a surprise birthday party for our other friend, Cathy Layne. Cathy is a huge fan of the Rick and Bubba radio show, which is broadcast from studios in Birmingham, where Bonnie and Cathy live. So Bonnie concocted an elaborate scheme to surprise Cathy with tickets to a broadcast. She couldn’t get tickets for Cathy’s actual birthday — the closest was almost a month later — so of course she was hoping that would really throw the birthday girl off. Then she told Cathy that Jana, Cheryl and I were stopping in Birmingham to spend the night on our way to Florida and we had to get up early the next morning to make it to Pensacola by noon and we wanted to go to Panera Bread (love their Cinnamon Crunch bagels) for breakfast before we hit the road. Cathy was suspicious but went along with it. She met us — along with Angela and Karen, a couple of their other Birmingham friends — and by the time she walked into the parking lot, she said later, she had it figured out. But we all had fun anyway. Who wouldn’t with this crew? And the sign? It had hung at Rick and Bubba’s former restaurant, where Cathy’s son had worked. He rescued the sign when it was thrown out after the restaurant closed and kept it at his mom’s house. Bonnie thought it would be fun to take the sign to the studio and give it back to Rick and Bubba, but she was frantic when she found out Cathy’s son had taken the sign to Auburn for a recent ESPN Game Day, although it didn’t get on camera. So she had to devise some complicated maneuvering to secretly get the sign back so Cathy wouldn’t know — and, of course, she succeeded, because if Bonnie puts her mind to something, she’s going to do it. I’m so glad we’re friends! Actually, she and Jana are long-time friends since they practically grew up together. But Jana is so generous that she even shares her friends, so we northwest Alabama friends of Jana luckily get to be friends with her Birmingham bunch, too.

It was so much fun to sit in on the Rick and Bubba show. Even if you disagree with their politics, you have to admit that they are master entertainers and so good at what they do. I also admire Rick’s strong faith in light of the accidental death of his young son. They were hospitable hosts, and it was fascinating to watch the behind-the-scenes proceedings of a radio broadcast. Visit their Web site, http://www.rickandbubba.com/, to learn more about their show. I think they were tickled about getting their sign back, although they assured us that we really didn’t have to go to all that trouble!

Fire and Ice

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Fire and Ice is a new restaurant in Birmingham, Ala., and some friends and I checked it out a couple nights ago. It’s in Five Points in the building where a Gap was several years ago — and it sure doesn’t look like the place where we used to buy blue jeans. Fire and Ice is a sort of do-it-yourself stir fry/grill restaurant. You don’t cook it yourself, but you create your own bowl of ingredients from a well-stocked buffet and then take it to a huge round grill where cooks sizzle your creation to perfection. That’s the “Fire” part. The “Ice” part is the bar, which is decorated in cool shades of blue to contrast with the red decor of the food part. Here’s how it works: When the waitress seats you, you get a complimentary bowl of chips and salsa and you order drinks while she explains the process and even takes you on a tour. The buffet has a salad bar with the usual items and then a section with ingredients for your entree, although you can mix and match. The entree bar has a wider variety of vegetables such as bok choy and sweet potatoes — some cooked and some not cooked — along with uncooked meats such as scallops, salmon, shrimp, BBQ chicken and tenderloin plus tofu. You can do your salad first and then go back for your entree, which you build in a bowl as high as you wish. Of course, we five experienced moms sort of cringed at the thought of adding raw meat to a pile of vegetables and letting it set for a few minutes, but our waitress assured us it would be OK, and of course it was. The really fun part, though, is figuring our your sauce. There are about 1o or 12 to choose from, with flavors such as Cajun, Asian and Southwestern. I really liked the Roasted Garlic with Honey and then a pineapple-ginger one. You can stick with one or mix some together. So you put your sauce in little cups and take your bowl of ingredients plus your sauce over to the grill, where the cooks deftly arrange your ingredients in a line, do their magic, add your sauce and in a few minutes you’ve got a hot and yummy personalized stir fry. You can take your drinks to the grill while you watch and go back as often as you like. It was lots of fun, but it can be a little intimidating if you feel pressured by the thought that a good meal is up to your own skill at combining ingredients. After all, relying on somebody else’s expertise is one of the reasons we go out to eat. But there are no bad choices, and the sauce redeems all. If you’re uneasy at first, start out small with only a few ingredients — although if it’s crowded and there’s a line at the grill, this approach might slow down your evening. And if you don’t want a stir fry at all, do a hamburger or veggie burger at the grill and get a big basket of fries to go with. Yum! The salad/entree bar is $15.95 for dinner and $9.9 for lunch. There are also appetizers and a dessert, including a fondue for more do-it-yourself eating, but these are extra. As long as you’ve got folks along who are willing to try something new, this is a great place. It’s also good for families like mine, where everybody likes different things. According to the Web site, http://www.fire-ice.com/, Fire and Ice is a chain that started in 1997 in Cambridge, Mass., and now is all over the world. It’s fun and different, so try it.

Pear Honey

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My daughter’s mother-in-law, Sharlie Behel, of Tuscumbia, Ala., is one of the best cooks I know — she can feed a dozen people without batting an eyelash and frequently does. In the summer, her garden overflows with fresh vegetables that she generously passes along to friends and family … and luckily she considers me both! And then she cans the extras, like these green beans and her “pear honey,” which is a delicious combination of pears and sugar that literally tastes as if she’s dipped pear slices into honey. It’s perfect on toast, biscuits or pancakes, and I could eat the contents of a whole jar with a spoon and bypass the whole bread thing. Not that I’ve ever done that, of course. I can’t even keep a jar of it at the house, because as soon as somebody tastes it, they’re begging to take some home. And I share, because that’s what Sharlie does with me. But I share so much that it gets gone quick. So maybe Sharlie will read this and “share” some more pear honey with me, if she has any extra left!