Sisterhood of Dreamers Into Doers Shelter Event

This is the official logo for our wonderful Martha Stewart Dreamers Into Doers trip to New York.

It was designed by Michelle Biondolillo of Schuylark Designs 

Those of us who were there on Monday evening went to a neat little restaurant eighty 8 for drinks or dinner.

Emily and I went there for drinks and to get a chance to get to know some of the ladies.

It was the beginning of the wonderland trip.

More Dreamers Into Doers  Kim McCool, Terry Grahl, Sue Koons

      GiGi Page and Karen Keller-Eyer

After visiting for a while at eighty 8, Emily and I went for a wonderful dinner at

Gramercy Tavern.

  It is my favorite restaurant in New York city.

When you enter the foyer these flowers are there to greet you.

These are the flowers along one wall and below is a close up view of the end of the table.

We ordered a bottle of wine that was very good.

Our waiter brought us an amuse-bouche. I love these little surprises.

On the left is a vegetable skewer, in the middle a little bruschetta, and on the right is a foie gras terrine.

This is Emily’s first course

Shrimp Salad with Carrots, Sunchokes and Apple Cider Vinaigrette 

My first course was Butternut Squash Custard with Quince and Pine Nuts.

It was to die for!

   My main course was Poached Lobster with Turnips, Radish and Lobster-Squash Sauce

Emily had Spanish Mackerel with Foie Gras, Savoy Cabbage, Mussels and Sunchokes.

This was our pre-dessert

  For dessert I had ice cream Caramel, Pumpkin Spice and Milk Chocolate Coconut.  Emily had Peanut Butter Semifreddo with a Chocolate Macaroon. These are the flowers (peonies) in the ladies room.

Roses and Hyacinth in the ladies room also.

I don't know what was in the men's room.

This fabulous mural is above the bar in the Tavern area. I think it is fabulous!

Such great graphic design with wonderful colors.

  After dinner we met Emily’s friend Tien Ho.

We went to a little champagne bar called Flute that is next to Gramercy tavern.

Tien is chef /part owner of restaurants in the Momofuku group of restaurants.

There will be more about Tien and Momofuku later because we ate there on Tuesday night.

It was a fabulous first day in New York.

My friend Barbara and I spent several days in Savannah, Georgia

on our way home from the road trip to teach in Florida.

We stayed at the Mulberry hotel. It was very old and quaint.

We walked around the entire city and ate at some really good restaurants.

The first meal was lunch at Mrs.. Wilkes’ Dining room.

There was a line to get in and the seating is common table for ten.

We sat with two ladies from Alabama and 5 students from Penn State.

This was their first taste of truly Southern Food.

The tables were brimming with wonderful things to eat.

Fried chicken, barbeque pork, chicken and dumplings, okra,

beans, grits, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, greens, etc. etc.

It was all wonderful.

There was ispiration for quilting designs everywhere we looked. This is the ironwork on a window.

An opening filled with iron work under a staircase.

A beautiful planting in one of the squares.

I will show you more of our stay in the days to come.

Batik Stars, Abilene trip & a Wind Farm on the way

It is a glorious Saturday morning here in north Texas. It is only 73º so far. Can you tell I am ready for fall? Yesterday was a very full day for us. In the morning I worked on some batik stars for a new twin size quilt. The batiks are Dreaming in Color by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda fabric. I really like the cheery blues and yellows.

In the afternoon we went to Abilene, Texas for some business but then we had to have some fun. We drove to the small town of Buffalo Gap, Texas

 where the famous Perini Ranch Steakhouse is.

The grounds are peaceful.

The decor inside is very eclectic. This is 7 foot rattlesnake ski tanned on a board.

Have you ever seen a jackalope?

This bison head was watching us eat.

Our appetizer was Jalapeño Poppers. Jalapeño peppers stuffed with cream cheese wrapped in smoky bacon and grilled. Second course was a blue cheese salad with roasted pecans. We split a 16oz rib eye steak with ranch potatoes and still brought some home to enjoy today. We did save room for desert by bringing home some of our steak. Strawberries with sugar biscuits and real heavy cream poured over it all. This was not a heart healthy meals but it was wonderful! They also raise a few pump jacks on the property.

There were some very interesting buildings in Buffalo Gap

I took pictures of the wind farms on the way home.

These windmills are huge!!! It is kind of freaky when you first see them.  

This shows the wind farm with the sun setting behind.