Monday, October 28, 2024

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

Good Monday morning. We had a nice low key weekend here, and I hope yours was the same. I'm linking with Holly and Sarah today for their regular Monday morning weekend blog hop. Here's how ours looked-

Thursday evening we had friends here for dinner. I made the crispy baked Boursin appetizer which is always a hit, and if you haven't tried it I recommend. It's easy and delicious and I make my own hot honey. Here's the recipe I use-

Crispy Baked Boursin With Hot Honey 

I'm a slacker in the picture taking department, but my excuse is my phone is an older model with a so-so camera and my Canon needs a major repair which may not be worth doing. Also, I'm usually just enjoying the moment and don't remember to snap a pic, so there's that too. 

Our guests brought the cutest hostess gift. Hey look! A picture-

I'm going to bake some pumpkin bread in this as soon as hubs works his way through all the Reeses.  Which will be any minute now. 

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day. Really the past couple of weeks have been perfect weather wise and we've spent a lot of time outdoors. We did our civic duty and voted on Friday morning.

Hubs says he looks annoyed in this picture and that's because he was lol. We have not mastered the selfie, but still we try. Normally we vote on Election Day, but not taking any chances we can't get there for whatever reason this year, so we voted early. There was a long line but it moved quickly. 

It was too pretty not to do something fun and fallish, so hubs and I drove into the nearby mountains to one of our absolute favorite towns for lunch-Highlands. 

We've been curious to see how the road going over looks since Helene wreaked havoc and cleanup and recovery are still ongoing. The news cycle and our attention span for it is short, but know there are many people and many businesses struggling and grieving still. 

The scenery on the road up was a bit messier than usual, as there were a lot of trees down in the woods. There were also quite a few leaners and many that hit the road during the storm, but have now been cut and moved to the side to allow traffic to pass.  

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Still the color was pretty and we didn't run into any issues. 

I live in SC, but very near the NC border and we absolutely love the little town of Highlands (NC). It was bustling on Friday which was good to see. We lucked into a parking spot just off Main and walked to Wild Thyme Gourmet for lunch. 

There are so many wonderful places to eat in this town you really can't go wrong. Hubs ordered their special, a grilled Mahi sandwich and I had their crab cake sandwich which was superb. We're crab cake snobs (blame it on nine years spent living in Annapolis), and I can say these are the real deal. Hubs ordered a cup of their chicken chili soup too, and it was delicious. 

After lunch we wandered through town, browsed the shops, and soaked up the sunshine. Look at that sky! 

This town is so cute. If you've never been and love a mountain town, Highlands is a good one. It's walkable, filled with great shops and restaurants, beautiful views, lots of fabulous nearby hiking and plenty of Airbnbs. Or you can splurge on The Old Edwards Inn and Spa which is an institution here. 

We stopped in Kilwins as we were getting ready to leave.  I wanted an iced coffee for the ride home, but their coffee machine died just as they were making mine so no coffee. 

As a result I had a nap in the car on the way home. We stopped at our usual overlook to snap a picture and it was gorgeous as always. This is the lake just above ours and she's a beauty too-

We came home and regrouped before heading to a local Mexican place where our friends were playing. They play a lot of what I guess you'd call 70's soft rock, a little bit of country, that sort of thing which I like. Music and margaritas make for a fun Friday night, and we saw a lot of our neighbors there (one of the musicians lives in our neighborhood) so that was fun too. 

Saturday I had to make a return which involved boxing up the item myself and taking it to UPS and also paying for it. I dislike when companies make returns a bother. This was a grill cover we'd ordered that was supposed to be domed to fit The Green Egg, but was flat so didn't fit. 

We had to log in, email a request for a return which was met with a 'we'll get back to you soon' reply, then a couple days later another email saying 'yes you can return it and we'll email you a shipping label 'soon', then a couple more days go by and we finally get the label. 

Amazon has us spoiled. 

I needed a few groceries so made a stop there before heading home. At this point it was after noon and 82 degrees felt more like summer than fall. I changed in to shorts, packed a light lunch in the cooler, then hubs and I motored out for a boat ride. The lake is always pretty, but I especially love a boat ride this time of year when the leaves are turning and the water is mostly quiet. 

We found ourselves in a couple of coves we've never been in before and that's always fun. We like leaf peeping and also house peeping. We love to see what people are building and also what sort of landscaping projects are happening. 

We came home and spent the rest of the day watching college football. Our team (the Vols) and our hometown team (Clemson) were both off on Saturday so we could relax. I'd made twice baked potatoes for our company and we had a couple left over so hubs chopped and fried them and scrambled us eggs for dinner. It was so good. 

Sunday we were lazy. There's really no better word for it. We synched our calendars through December and we have a lot going on. A lot. We've learned when there's a down day to embrace it, refill our sleep tank, and just generally recharge. 

So we did. It was gray and cool (for SC) and we watched football, played a game of chess, and I made a big pot of chili for dinner. I've been craving chili but when it's 82 degrees chili doesn't feel right. It was 57 on Sunday and we'll take it. 

I don't really use a recipe. I sort of follow Robert McIlhenny's recipe from my Tabasco cookbook, but I make a few changes. His calls for cubed beef and I usually just use ground beef which is fine. While I'll eat chili any way you want to make it we like beans in ours so I add both kidney and black beans, along with a can of diced tomatoes. 

I always make my cornbread in my cast iron skillet, and this recipe is foolproof-Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

So were you lazy, productive,  or a little bit of both this weekend? 

11 comments:

  1. Your weather really shifted- it was nice that you took advantage of the warm day and the cool one! Love all of the pictures from your weekend. Highland looks like a lovely town. For some reason I thought you lived in NC but now I know it's SC but near NC. I like both of those states a lot- so much natural beauty and everyone I have met in either state has been super kind. Amazon does have us spoiled! Have a great Monday!

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  2. you all make retired life look fun and social! I think you had a perfect weekend! We also got out on the boat and i wish I had had time to pack a picnic. We are getting tired of our overpriced stop on the river but then we will miss it over the winter.

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  3. I wish I were more productive this weekend! We did ride our bikes but mostly just did fun stuff. Your fall foliage shots are awesome; we don't get too much of that here. I just bought a 3 pack of Boursin cheeses at Costco so I am definitely going to make that!

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  4. Oh my gosh what a fun and delicious weekend! Thanks for sharing :)

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  5. Thanks for the recipe, I do love that cheese. Cute Halloween dish. Way to go on voting. I love all of your Fall photos. We don't get any Fall colors here. That soup looks delicious. Sorry about your coffee but that shop looks amazing. What a fun Friday night. Sorry that cover didn't work and we should not have to pay for a return. What a fun boat ride. Your chili looks delicious. Sounds like a nice Sunday.

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  6. Your days were good for all the senses! The Highlands looks worthy of visiting and staying! So fun to see you live life! Glad you got a break on Sunday.

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  7. My weekend wasn't lazy or very busy. A combination, I guess. Your photos are so great. The colors "up north" are beautiful right now. Thanks for sharing the recipes. I'm going there next!!

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  8. Oh those fall colors are beautiful! It has been a while since I have been to the Highlands area. I love western NC though. Now we need temperatures to match the fall colors!

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  9. I agree with Amy in the previous comment...you make retirement look fun! It looks like such a nice weekend.

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  10. Wonderful photos, I like the colours of the trees, it does sound like you had an enjoyable time

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  11. You know... just saying but pumpkin bread is really good with chopped up Reece's in in too! LOL. That is an adorable hostess gift. That sounds like a really wonderful weekend. That Highlands area sounds wonderful.

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