Sneak Peek: San Francisco

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Emily Hines

I’m still West Coastin’ but here’s a sneak peak of what I’ve been up to! Stay tuned…

Sweet Summer

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Emily Hines

Summer is the sweetest of seasons… growing up I longed for the summer months. No school, long days at the beach, movie matinees, summer vacations, and visits to the ice cream shop. A particularly favorite summer past time for me as a young child was going to the country with my grandparents and picking all the fruit we could possible carry. My siblings and I were quite young and often dragged our buckets along the way unable to carry our found treats. When we had buckets full of peaches, strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries, we would head back home to “put them up.” The majority would be made into preserves and some were used for a cobbler or two.

My grandfather, a surgeon by day, also enjoyed playing farmer and cook in his off time. My grandmother often referred to these hobbies as his golf game. When we were in the kitchen helping him prepare the rewards from his garden, he would move us about the room much like his nurses in the ER. “Hand me that jar!”… “Keep stirring!”… “No, not that pan, hand me that one!” He ran a tight ship in and out of the kitchen, and we were overjoyed to be his sous chefs. Many times, we diligently assisted him in creating some delicious delights for our family and countless friends to enjoy throughout the year.

This summer in particular, like those of my childhood, have been fruitful. Every chance I get, I head outside of town visiting the area’s U-Pick farms filling up as many buckets as I can carry. I love to eat the freshly picked fruit by the handful, and then I take the rest (if there is any left) and make a batch of preserves or bake a sweet summer fruit cobbler just like I had been taught as a child.

friend and berry enthusiast- Dorothy

found the tooth berry

Thomas Orchard Stand

I love all the summer fruits, but the star of the summer for me are blueberries- sweet, a little tart, and delicious. Here’s a simple recipe that has been passed down in our family that is perfect for summer blueberries and sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Hamrick Family Cobbler (does well with any fruit)

Fill a large pot on the stove with approximately 3 cups of washed blueberries. Add as much sugar as desired for sweetness. Cover the blueberries just slightly with water. Cook the blueberries on low heat until soft.

In a separate bowl, gradually mix all purpose flour into a half cup of water until smooth then add this to the berries on the stove. This will thicken, but the mixture still needs to be juicy. Reduce the heat and put to the side.

Grease the bottom of pyrex dish with butter.

Crust:

Use your favorite biscuit recipe. Roll the dough out to 1/4″ thickness and cut four 3 inch wide strips to line the sides of the pyrex dish.

Pour the berry mixture into the dish.

Cut the remaining dough into 3 inch wide strips and cover the top of the fruit mixture. Dot top of pie with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees until brown. Top with vanilla bean ice cream to rock your world.

via pinterest

My husband and I devoured ours before I remembered to photograph it.

This post was previously published on The Southern C

21 Fantastic Summer Blueberry Recipes Perfect for Right Now (diveintogreen.wordpress.com)
Blueberry Peach Cobbler (dynamicmommyduo.wordpress.com)
peach and blueberry cornbread cobbler (backtoherroots.com)
Berry, Berry Good (kristineriddle.wordpress.com)

Friday Five #10

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Emily Hines

It’s National Ice Cream Month people so here are a few of my favorite scoops.

5. Working Cow– Florida

Fav Flavor-Cappucino kahlua. Cappa Kahlua with sweet chocolate chips, and a chocolate swirl blended into our natural coffee flavored ice cream….Oh Yea

4. King of Pops– Atlanta/Athens, Georgia

via Bon Appetit

Not technically ice cream but DELICIOUS! Chocolate Sea Salt and Coconut Lemongrass are my late night vices.

3. Honeysuckle Gelato– Atlanta, Georgia

All of their flavors are incredible but the Mango-Peach blew my mind.

2. Hand Spun Milkshake- from an old school soda fountain

During our summer vacation, my grandmother loved to treat us to a milk shake from the old soda fountain Gilcrist in Mountain Brook Village. Chocolate of course.

1. High Road Craft Ice Cream

I first discovered High Road at Heirloom Cafe in Athens, Georgia. I saw them again at Food Blog South in January…yes it was freezing outside but sample cups of Aztec Chocolate and Vanilla Fleur de Sel seemed like a necessity at the time. To my surprise and delight they were featured at the first Southern C Summit event on Jekyll Island at the oceanside beach luncheon. I have loved every flavor I’ve tried from them and can’t wait to see what flavors they create next! Fav High Road Flavor so far- Sweet Pea and Mint Sorbet. So unbelievably refreshing, sweet, and herbal- makes the perfect ending to a summer meal.

Gelato is a Food Group (convergentjourney.com)
181/365: National Ice Cream Soda Day (eatmywords365.com)
The Southern C Summit goes to Athens, GA (thedailysouth.southernliving.com)

Girls’ Guide to Amelia Island

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Emily Hines

Since returning from my whirlwind girls’ beach trip to Amelia Island, Florida, I’ve compiled some of my favorite spots we discovered. Here ya go!

Fernandina’s Fantastic Fudge featuring Working Cow Ice Cream: Downtown Fernandina

photo courtesy fly fishing amelia island

Locally owned and operated old school candy and fudge shop; also featuring local ice cream by Working Cow…need I say more? I felt weak in the knees just from walking in the shop; the smell of chocolate and peanut butter swirled around me as we stood there trying to maintain consciousness and decide on some ice cream. Naturally, we walk in 10 minutes before they close and begged the high school girl to serve us up some sweet relief. And she replied, “Oh don’t worry; people will keep coming in until after 10pm.” So relived we focused again on the ice cream case, knowing we were going to pick out chocolates before returning home.

Lemongrass

photo courtesy Lemongrass

This super cool boutique is relatively new on the scene in the Fernandina/Amelia area having been open just a few years. I loved the atmosphere is the shop; there was something to see everywhere you turned- beautiful clothes, vintage furniture, travel books, and exotic rugs. They have a great mix of merchandise featuring shoes like Tom’s, Olukai, and Reef; eyewear by Tom’s, Maui Jim, Ray Ban; and clothing from Quiksilver, Johnny Was, One of a Kind pieces, and one of my favs, Free People.

Johnny Was scarves

Sarah, my adorable preggo cousin, taking a load off while we shop.

Eight Flags Antique Market

Eight Flags Antique Market is the ultimate vintage emporium in the downtown Fernandina area. They had vendors with every type of antique you could imagine. Add this to your list of places to go when you visit!

I fell head over heels with this leather chair and kilim pillow.

Vintage soda spritzers

German silver knives with a bone handle. I need these right?

Espana Downtown

This restaurant was recommended to us by several people so we had to try it on our last night. Worn out from another long day of beaching and shopping, we decided to order takeout. We chose a little bit of everything to please everyone, and the person taking our (very large) order was so accommodating and helpful. I must say the stars of the meal were the traditional paella and the calderada de mariscos (portuguese firsherman’s stew).

We were sad to leave our beach bungalow but we had a fabulous time!

Sophie came too!

Indian summer

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Emily Hines

Hey y’all- This is a post I did for the Southern C a few weeks ago but with the heat wave coming, I thought I should share with my fellow bloggees. If you haven’t checked out the Southern C yet…you should! Its a great place to read about all things Southern from a fun and diverse group of bloggers…

Summer is officially here! Why do I love summer so much? It’s the
perfect season for my favorite food: ice cream. Not that I don’t eat
frozen desserts all year round (because I most certainly do), but I
feel like the summer heat makes copious amounts of ice cream eating
acceptable.

I got to thinking about my love affair with these sweet concoctions
and it all leads back to spending a part of every summer at my
grandparents house in Birmingham, AL. My sweet grandmother kept her
freezer stocked with the finest treats “the Pig” (aka Piggly Wiggly)
had to offer- Firecracker pops, Flinstone push-ups, and Blue Bell Moo
Bars. After a long afternoon of swimming in her pool, we were allowed
to pick out a dessert from the freezer…it was always a tough
decision.

In recent years with the food carts craze, I’ve noticed more and more
handmade ice cream and popsicle carts and businesses. Being a total ice
cream addict- I welcome this trend.

One of the major dessert players down South is the King of Pops. This super cool company started by three brothers is taking over the frozen dessert scene (at least in Athens). They have a year round menu of creative concoctions like Arnold Palmer and Chocolate Sea Salt, and a seasonal menu with options like Bluegrass (blueberry lemongrass) and Georgia Peach Basil. They have popsicle carts in Atlanta, Athens, and Charleston and they’re even popping up in local restaurants like The National, Ike and Jane, and Jittery Joes. Check their website for the cart’s location; they’re a must try!

I recently heard about a new local Athens popsicle company called Hip Pops that serve up all natural popsicles named after favorite hip hop stars and rap songs. Who doesn’t want to try a popsicle called Blu Pop Shakur and Kanye Zest? Luckily my friend Julie, another frozen treat fan, spotted them at that the Daily Co-Op off of Prince Avenue and we immediately made plans for a taste test. After a long day of thesis writing for me, we headed out on a brisk walk with her puppy dogs, and headed to the Daily for a pit stop.

Julie and I; Katie is hiding

They had several Hip Pop flavors that looked very appealing….all fruity and sounded delicious. I had the MC Slammer: blackberry, mint and lemonade; Julie had the Kanye Zest: Cucumber, Honeydew, Margarita; and Katie had the Big Peppa: pineapple and cayenne. They were just what we needed….cool, icy, refreshing, and mighty tasty.

The other day I bought a chocolate and sea salt King of Pop downtown, and as I walked back to the office eating my popsicle I realized that I had a ridiculous grin on my face, with melting chocolate was dripping all over my hands. Despite my having to return to work (not to mention I am nearing the age of 30), I licked the melting chocolate off my hands, because God forbid I waste any of my delightful dessert… just like I did when I was 8 sitting on the edge of my grandmother’s pool (don’t judge- you know you do it too). Maybe it has something to do with feeling like a kid again, or maybe its because they taste so damn good- either way is fine by me.

Happy Summer y’all!