A Hot Brown at Mammy's Kitchen - Bardstown, Kentucky

 Last week my husband and I took a small weekday trip to Bardstown, Kentucky for a shopping and lunch date. I'm sure I've mentioned before - #willtravelforfood !!

We have dined at Mammy's Kitchen before - but it was many years ago. It truly is the cutest little restaurant. With all the current news and controversy surrounding Cracker Barrel's redesign, it was interesting to be back inside Mammy's Kitchen and paying a little closer attention to their decor. 

The entire restaurant is a decorated with local and family photos and memorabilia, much like Cracker Barrel, but these photos and the stories on the walls have direct meaning to the place.

Of course, I can't blog about this place and not include a picture of their adorable indoor "front porch"! 

I had completely forgotten about their menu being in newspaper format - so I was surprised when our waitress handed it to us. 

You know I ordered my hot brown. In fact, I ordered the "baby brown", the smaller version.

IT WAS AMAZING, and just as good as I remembered it!

My husband ordered the Bourbon Burger and was equally pleased, so much that he said he would order it again.

Once we finished, we popped into the gift shop, and I was blown away with how much they had and how cute everything was! The sold items from one of my favorite brands, Mud Pie. 

I saw this darling cast iron sign that I would have loved to have, but it was heavier than I expected! I wouldn't know where to hang it. Maybe I should have my husband investigate a place for it with his stud finder. I may just have to go back for it!

Overall, we had such a nice day, and it was wonderful getting out on a day trip on a weekday. That doesn't happen often for us!

If you're ever in Bardstown, Kentucky, 

Mammy's Kitchen

 is located at 

116 W Stephen Foster Ave

Thanks for reading!

-Bunny

#willtravelforfood

My Grandma's Hutch has arrived!

SHE'S HOME! 

I mentioned in a previous post that I was inheriting my Grandmother's hutch. My Mama has been keeping it in her very unused family room for many years - it was storing glassware and glass art she makes. It was also starting to collect cobwebs and dust, so she offered it to me!

I live about 3-ish hours south of the town I grew up in, so while realistically moving the piece and getting it to my house wasn't a really big deal, it was something we were dreading! Of course, illnesses in the family, a sick dog, a flooded basement - all these things would put off our truck rental to "next visit, hopefully"....

I made the promise to Mama (and myself) when we made the trip up to celebrate her birthday this year, that we would finally bring it home. I sure didn't realize that her birthday coincided with back to school dorm room move-in times! Rental truck prices were CRAZY! But we went ahead with our plans anyways.

The hutch has now been sitting in my dining room for 48 hours and honestly, it looks like it has always been here. Somehow it is a perfect size for my room, its not too tall, and will provide all the storage I need, and have needed for years. It's a really beautiful piece as it is, but I AM planning on painting it - and my Grandma did give her blessing on that long before she passed away.

The things I am noticing - 

The hardware - while beautiful, definitely not my style, so that will be replaced. I'm saying that now, but who knows, once the piece is painted, who knows?

The glass doors - THE GLARE!! Oh goodness, we have realized just how bad the glare is coming in from our glass sliding door with the sunlight and pool water reflecting on the glass. We will most likely be removing the glass.

We love the feet, as well as these decorative carvings. I had forgotten what the carvings looked like, and for some reason was picturing "wheat" - and was planning on having my husband fill it in. Thankfully, my memory was wrong, because we both really like it!

We have settled on a color - after painting our kitchen walls 'Olive Grove' by Magnolia, we decided that will also be the color of the hutch. The dining room is separate from the kitchen, but we wanted to pull that tone of green into the dining room since we like the color so much. Olive Grove also plays very well with our blue and white transferware. 

With all these shelves and drawers, I FINALLY have a place to store my holiday Spode collections. You always seem to forget what you already have when it's packed away for most of the year, so I am so looking forward to unpacking everything and taking inventory. 

I am so excited to have such a large family piece in my home, and so happy to finally have something on that wall in my dining room!

Stay tuned for her makeover!

XOXO, Bunny

My first attempt at using foundation paper

 Well hello!

Hope you are staying cool wherever you are!

I was able to get into my craft room and turn my sewing machine on! It's been so very busy here with our new best good gal Thelma Lou - lots of training, walks, and pool time! She's an absolute dream! But - sometimes you need to just yell "Tag! You're on puppy duty!" and run to your craft room!!

I wanted something easy - yet challenging, and since I am such a beginner in all things sewing and quilting, I figured a very easy foundation paper block would be quick (under an hour) for me, give me a bit of a challenge, but also wouldn't be too frustrating for me.

I decided to try my hand at the 6'' Economy block paper I recently purchased from Fat Quarter Shop. I went through my practice fabric stash and picked a sewing print, a polka dot, and a gingham print. EASY FABRIC MATCH! I was off to an excellent start.

This was so easy! And oh so very satisfying!

After some quick fabric cuts I was ready to start. Nothing about this seemed very intimidating, as I have watched Kimberly Jolly's videos using these papers about a dozen times! I really am pleased with how quickly this block went together, and how confident I was while using the foundation paper.

Here was my piece after I trimmed it down. This probably took me about 30-40 minutes. 

Here is the back of my piece - I feel like it looks pretty good, but definitely welcome y'all to point out any errors! My newbie eyes may not catch mistakes!

Here is my piece after I removed all the paper from the back and pressed it again. Next time I will "fussy cut" my middle piece a little better. Stay tuned for more practice with my Economy block pad - I'm not sure I'm ready to try the other pads I purchased just yet!

As always, thanks for reading, and your tips and suggestions are always welcome!