The International [Made for Me] Biscuit Festival

Though the Biscuit Festival is now several years old, for some crazy reason last year was my first chance to go, and let me tell you, I fell in love.  One of the first things I did when I found out I was coming home in May was to check the dates of the 2014 Festival.  Because life is grand and America is amazing, my visit coincided perfectly.   If you’ve been around me very long, you know that Biscuits and Gravy rank right up there will pickles and chocolate as one of my favorite foods, and ALL THREE of those things were to be found and eaten at the Biscuit Festival.  I was obviously in food heaven. 

My dad, Sadie, and I made sure to get to Biscuit Boulevard on Market Square early, but even then it was insanely crowded.  Apparently lots of people love biscuits.  So this is how it works: You buy a $10 ticket good for 5 samples and you have your choice of over 20 vendors.  The only thing that keeps you from buying more tickets is your rapidly expanding belly, because thankfully most of the vendors don’t take the term “sample” too seriously.  It was a tough choice, and certainly line length played into the biscuits I got (who can wait?! I WANT BISCUITS!) but here are the 6 I tried.  If you’re smart you’ll commit to teamwork, because then you can sample DOUBLE the biscuits.  Unfortunately it took until our last sample for Sadie and I to figure that little trick out…

1. The best came first.  This fried steak with tomato and arugula biscuit was southern with a twist, and I was a 100% fan.  It was one of those biscuits that as youj were eating you would hear people say, “Hey, where’d she get that one?!”

2. The Chocolate and Bacon Biscuit.  I’m a chocolate fan, but this one just didn’t do it for me.  It seemed like they just took a mediocre biscuit and drizzled some chocolate sauce on it, which was a little sad. 

3.  The Pickle Biscuit.  If you’re curious, you should check out Southern Living, because they were the providers of this delicious creation.  I only regret spending a sample on it because they were giving unlimited free biscuits later on.

 

4. Some-Fruity-Delicious-Thing-That-May-Have-Had-Pineapple.  Recommended by a friend, this one was a winner; I just wish I could remember the details. 

 

5. A decent but nothing special bacon biscuit with some delicious jams.  That pretty much says it all about this one.

6. Honey-Bourbon Ham Biscuit.  Yep, it was as good as it sounds. 

 

While reflecting on it, I just had the most terrible revelation that I’ll be missing the 2015 festival.  So, some may consider it to early to say, but I can pretty much guarantee I’ll be in attendance in 2016.  That’s only 22 months, right?

Great Smoky Mountains + A Bit of Gatlinburg

Panama is a beautiful, ecologically diverse country that I constantly feel blessed to live in, but man, there is just something about being home.  The Great Smoky Mountains, less than an hour from where I live, are both one of my favorite things about East Tennessee and one of the things I find myself loving even more with each passing year.  The Smokies are full of beautiful sights and activities, and while I was home I was lucky enough to visit not twice, but three times.  Each one was magical, seriously. 

Sadie and I were on our way to the Cades Cove Loop, Sonic milkshakes in hand, less than 24 hours after I arrived in the States.  We took in the crisp Spring weather and took many an instagram-worthy shot before calling my dad to place our orders for BBQ.

Next was touristy but necessary stop in the neighboring Gatlinburg, TN.  Though the town generally avoids the ridiculous getaway antics of Pigeon Forge, it still has some pretty interesting attractions.  If you visit Gatlinburg, you’ll need to visit one of several (legal) moonshine distilleries that line the main road.  Each one offers free tastings of some of their many flavors- Apple Pie may just be my favorite, but I might have to taste again to be sure. 

Since I obviously have a thing for free samples, I also make sure to visit the Old Smoky Mountain Candy Kitchen for some delicious taffy, fresh off the roller.  And because I just can’t let go of some of my childhood favorites, I’ve made a tradition out of their delicious candy apples.

True to form, Natalie and I headed straight for beautiful backdrops, still in our wedding attire from a few hours earlier.  Though it took us a little bit to get back into the photographer swing of things, before I knew it we were back to old ways.

And what would the Smokies be without a bike ride ‘round the 11 mile Cades Cove Loop?  Maybe a little more leisurely, but that didn’t stop Andrea and I from tackling it.  If you haven’t yet sensed the theme here, we also gallivanted around the beautiful fields for some fun pictures, but sadly I don't have any to post.  

Coke Factory

It’s no secret that I’m addicted to Diet Coke.  The taste, the carbonation, the slight burn at the end of a satisfying gulp: I love it all. And no, Pepsi just doesn’t cut it. 

So I guess it’s also no surprise that I’ve managed to make a trip down to Atlanta specifically to visit Coca-Cola’s World of Coke almost every year since my first visit in 2009. 

Having had so many good times (and tastes) in years past, I made the day trip this year with my sister, Tiffany, and college roommate, Sadie.  I’m pretty sure Tiffany’s favorite part was the 4D Movie, while Sadie loved getting familiar with the history of advertising and branding.  In my opinion though, the tasting room can’t be beat.  For my third time, I tried ALL 65 flavors available for testing, plus a handful of make your own coke flavors.  Sadie and Tiffany might have suffered a slight Coca-Cola bellyache afterwards, but not me.  

And now that I’m several weeks and way too many miles removed from that delicious experience,  where can I get a Coke?

Oh, America.

Thanks to my mom (thanks again, Mom!) I was able to spend an incredible two weeks in Tennessee. However, as usual, I'm leaving internet and heading back into site with an online to-do list still incomplete. I'll be back out soon though and can't wait to share about my trip home!  

Until then, here are some pictures of food, dogs, and Tennessee beauty.  We all love those things, right?

 Guys, do you even realize how great our peanut butter selection is?!

The Day I Almost Died (But Escaped Perfectly Fine)

A Very Zoomed In Photo of my new Enemy- He's in black with the huge horns

Though statistically Peace Corps is incredibly safe, that certainly doesn’t stop parents, friends, and even volunteers from worrying about the worst-case scenario.  For my parents, it was that I would become the victim of a violent crime.  For my friends, it was that I would catch some terrible jungle malady.  As for me, I still cringe at the thought of the poisonous snakes that slither around the monte surrounding my site *shiver.*

All of those things considered, it seems a bit ironic that the one thing that almost got me was not only incredibly common, but was even raised my some neighbors back home.  What was this menacing thing?  The torro (bull)…

In an effort to get to know my community, I spent a large part of the first three months hiking to various homes and visiting with the families that lived there.  Since I have a rural community, it’s not uncommon for me to walk through fields or forests unaccompanied.  It was during just one such visit that Señor Torro set his sights on me. 

It all started when I approached the barbed wire fence that surrounded a house I had yet to visit.  In my usual visiting voice, I loudly called out to greet the family, and was informed that I would need to walk about 50 feet to my right to get through the “gate,” which was really just more barbed wire that was tied to the post instead of being nailed to it.  Having made less than two steps toward the gate, a bull from a small group about 20 feet away suddenly started to charge.  What was my genius response?  To scream and run.  Thankfully, the family quickly admonished my reaction and loudly instructed me to freeze.  Freeze I did, but for about 2 seconds too long.  This time, I had a moment of warning as my newfound enemy began pawing the ground and snorting his disapproval.

At this point, it was instantly evident that staying frozen would only get me mauled by my gigantic foe, so I chose Plan B: Run like the wind and pray to Heaven that my little legs could leap the barbed wire fence.  (At this point, who had time for the 50 foot trek + untying a fence post?)

I expected to find myself face-first and bloody on the other side, but surprisingly I cleared that fence Summer Olympian style with only a teeny-tiny nick on my ankle.  After assuring that I was okay, the family took a moment to stare in complete silence before questioning the utterly obvious- “You just jumped that fence?  You just jumped that fence….”

It’s safe to say that I now take Bull Safety quite seriously, as my awkward yet terrified behavior shows.  Before entering any field in which the torros reside, I search for the largest sticks (bordering small trees) that I can find, and enter slowly while attempting to demonstrate that I have much, much larger “horns” than they do. 

So far, so good. 

Makin' Banana Pancakes (and also Banana Bread)

Don't you just love it when you find an error on an already public poster?  The only thing worse is seeing a blatant and simple Spanish mistake in an email to the country director... will this ever end?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've recently formed a women's baking and business group and this past week we had our second delicious class, this time making banana pancakes and bread with a few of the bananas that are grown in incredible quantities around here.  

Always eager to learn a new way to cook an old favorite, the women had been asking for this class for awhile now, and even though attendance was a little lower than last time, I'm so glad we finally got to do it.  

 Eager taste testers

We used a campo-friendly version that substituted oil for butter and powdered milk for the fresh stuff and then we even threw in a few cacao nibs and shredded coconut at the end (both local and essentially free ingredients for them).  Not only did it taste delicious, but we also had enough batter to make 1 loaf, 6 muffins AND banana pancakes.  They liked the variety and I liked the excuse to keep snacking on warm moist banana dulces.  

A big part of the class is figuring out exactly how much the ingredients cost and then how much profit could be made if we were to sell x number of batches.  Sometimes we round the numbers a little bit and they're not always encouraged by seeing a potential profit of less than $5, but as I tell them, thats $5 more than they had before AND they get to eat the leftovers.  Sure seems like a win to me.  

Campo Banana Bread

3 Very ripe bananas

3/4 Cup Milk (can be powdered)

1/2 Cup Oil

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 Eggs

1 Cup sugar

2 Cups Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Mash the bananas and blend all wet ingredients together.  In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients and then combine with wet ingredients.  Pour into a greased pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife can be inserted and removed without any batter on it.  Enjoy!