Southern Blondie: 2012

Africa: Animals, Sunset and Victoria Falls

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Hey Look! I went to Africa. 

During a day break between work trips I decided to...


Made new friends... 



See a pretty sunset...


Hang out with an elephant...


See a 'dry' Victoria Falls


And then got back to work...
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Africa: Sunset on the Zambezi River

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Africa: Never Drink Too Much Water Before A Car Ride

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Today was my second full day in Africa and we went to visit the Kabiyet region outside of Eldoret, Kenya. Did you know that all of the famous runners come from Eldoret? True story. The landscape of Kabiyet was absolutely gorgeous. Because it's the rainy season, the grass and tress were green, the mountains were beautiful, and the sky was filled with clouds during the day. 


 Today we went to visit field projects in the Kabiyet region. The stories that I heard were really amazing, but I need to save those for the Heifer blog...


I did meet these three little boys who were so curious as to what we were doing in their village. All they wanted to do was pose for the camera. Pros these young men are at posing. The youngest was a character and kept making faces, so of course, we had to keep clicking.


And then this happened. In my effort to not get dehydrated, I become overly hydrated and had to use the facilities that were available. So I did. After all, I am a girl from an Arkansas small-town. There have been times that I have done the exact same thing, just without three walls and a door.

This was a breeze.


Say Hi to the new momma cow on the right - she just gave birth about three days ago and she's already up and walking around. Ain't no rest for the momma cows...

Today's blog is short - It's 8:35 p.m. here and I've been up since 4 a.m. This little heifer needs some sleep.
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Africa: The Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya

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Kenny (my co-worker) and I had most of today off from working to rest and make sure we weren't too jet-lagged. While we had a little free time, we went to the Giraffe Centre just outside of Nairobi. I took my new, good camera to practice a little and make sure I get a picture that I can be proud of. The giraffes were really, really pretty.


Here is the entrance of the Giraffe Center. It costs about 1000 shillings, which equals to about $12 US dollars. 


Their vision and mission of their centre. You can walk up stairs to a balcony area to get up close and personal with the giraffes. Since it was Friday afternoon, lots of school children were running around enjoying seeing the giraffes.


When we first got there, all of the giraffes were out in the field. You can see one of their little heads. Except it's not to little when you get up close...


They needed a little persuasion to come to the balcony area. But if someone was carrying a bucket of food around in front of me, most of the time I could be persuaded to walk as well.


There they are! Hey guys! The one on the left is Willie. The one on the right I think is Fred.

Or I named him Fred.


Willie was the first to come up to the balcony, of course, there was more food for him there. I really feel like Willie would stop just so people could take his picture. Every now and then he'd turn his head a little to the right, then the left. He knew what he was doing. 


Oh... more food you have for me?


Such a lovely creature, and so tall!


Strike a pose! 


Then this little fella came running up. A hogwart. Maybe not the most angelic creature, but it had a really good time running around. 


Though this trip really hasn't started, I am going to keep reminding myself...

Always see the Giraffe through the trees. 

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Africa: On My Way

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Packing for Africa was a lot easier than I thought it would be. In 16 days, I'm visiting three countries: Kenya, Zambia and South Africa. All which require different clothing. Why am I going to Africa? I work for an international nonprofit that works to end hunger and poverty. On this trip, we're going to see projects in Kenya and Zambia and go to a conference in South Africa. 


Here's the chaos...



Now it's somewhat organized. 

I did well, I didn't pack like a girl like I usually do. Once everything was packed it was just time to wait to go to sleep to wake up Wednesday morning to leave.


After leaving Little Rock, we flew to Atlanta where we had about a four hour layover. During this stop, I watched a family all in matching shirts and sunglasses. I'm not really sure how I feel about families who travel with matching t-shirts. 


Sometimes when all you can do is wait, all you can do is wait.


After a nine hour flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam, we only had about an hour in the airport before the next flight to Nairobi. The airport has tulips all around and even a shop to purchase the flowers. 

The picture is blurry because I was walking. I"ll get better at this one day. 


There is also a museum in the airport with a local exhibition called, "Dutch Boys." Renaissance art really isn't my favorite, but I try to appreciate it for it's history. 



As I was waiting for the plane for Nairobi, I pulled out a kit-kat in my purse. Poor thing didn't make it that well, however, it was still delicious. 

Stay tuned... more travel stories coming soon. 
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Packing for Africa

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In one week I leave for Africa - here is what I have packed so far...
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Southern Apple Dumplings

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Here are some words for you ... melted butter ... sugar ... cinnamon ... crescent rolls ... ice cream. How does that sound? It should sound like heaven if your mouth because it is. After I went apple picking and bought my apples I realized that now I had to do something with all these apples. Don't get me wrong, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but if the doctor is cute, then screw the fruit!

I kid. Sort of.

Anyways, a while back in the Twitter world someone mentioned that I should make Apple Dumplings. At the time I had no idea they would be so delicious, but boy do I wish I had made these sooner.

This might be the easiest recipe you will make besides a boxed brownie mix.


Here are the main ingredients for this delicious apple recipe. 

I did leave one out by accident, but we will add that in a little bit. 

Betsy, my kitchen cow snuck into the picture. Silly little cow.


Take two apples.

Captain obvious with this picture, huh? 

And remove their out-beings. 

They're naked! 


Now, really get personal with your apple and remove its core. 

This should make 8 wedges. The exact number you need from one apple.

So if you do the math, and you have two apples and need eight wedges from each apple, then you will end up with 16 wedges! 


Now it's time to make friends with your butter. 

Mmhmm.

2 sticks of butter into a saucepan.


Melt those butter sticks down until it looks like a pool of richness.


Once the butter is melted, add your sugar. 

Then if you have a sugar, go give him/her some sugar.

In my case, I turned the music up louder and did a dance around the kitchen.


While you are keeping a CAREFUL eye on your butter/sugar, you can get to roll up your apples in your crescent rolls. Remember to place the apple on the smallest part of the triangle and then roll to the largest side. (Yes, there are words for these things, but what fun is that?)

Somehow in my hurry, I forgot to take a picture of the crescent rolls - but I'm sure you know what they look like. Long triangles. I've always loved opening up the crescent roll container. I like the pop it makes when it opens. 

Back to the recipe. 


Look! It's a dumplin'! 

That's what you have when you roll small to big.

A sweet, raw apple dumplin'.


Now, because you've continued to stir your butter/sugar mixture without burning it, it's time to add the cinnamon. This is when your kitchen will smell like a delicious treat. 

Then, after you stir in your cinnamon, you add another ingredient.
(Sadly, I forgot to take a picture.)

Vanilla!

Once you remove the butter/sugar mixture and mix in your cinnamon, then you will add some vanilla and mix it well.


After you spray your baking dish with cooking spray, or butter, you will place your 16 dumplings in the 9x16 baking pan. 


Your mixture is all ready to go.


Then you just pour the sugar/butter/cinnamon/vanilla mixture all over the apple dumplings.


Pop that Mountain Dew and also pour it all over the dumplings. 

This feels weird to do, but it's right. So, so right.


Into a pre-heated 350 degrees oven they go for about 35-40 minutes. 

I baked mine for exactly 35 min and then removed the pan from the oven and they were still 'cooking' in their juices. 



Then you get an apple dumpling (or two) on a plate with some ice cream on the side. What more does anyone need in life? I know! The recipe.

Southern Apple Dumplings Recipe

Ingredients: 

  • 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
  • 2 (8 each) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough 
  • 2 sticks of butter 
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar 
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
  • ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract 
  • 1 can of Mountain Dew 
Directions: 
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F 
  2. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray or butter. 
  3. Peal and core 2 apples into 8 wedges. 
  4. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. 
  5. Begin by rolling each apple piece in the crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end towards the largest end. 
  6. Pinch the sides of the crescent roll to seal in a dumpling shape and place in the dish. 
  7. Melt two sticks of butter in a small saucepan. 
  8. Stir in the sugar until dissolved then add the cinnamon. Once combined, add the vanilla extract. 
  9. Pour the sweet mixture over the apple dumplings. 
  10. Next, open the Mountain Dew and pour over the dumplings. 
  11. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the top has browned. 
  12.  Serve with ice cream and enjoy! 
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Sunday Funday: Arkansas Apple Orchard Farm

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If you're ever looking for something to do in Arkansas, then I have a suggestion. Apple picking! Sunday afternoon became an adventure road trip. A week ago at work, Falguni (my frand & co-worker) was talking to another co-worker where they were discussing apple orchards in Arkansas. She had never been to an apple orchard (I don't think) and hadn't been to one in Arkansas (or anywhere else that I can remember). She came up with the idea to take an afternoon road trip to Guy, Arkansas, to pick some apples! She also enjoys photography so we decided to load up the cameras (I still need practice) and get to apple pickin'! 


Now these are all pictures that I took - I'm still learning how to use this new camera and new lens. 
Forgive the mistakes you see, for I'm still learning.




We had no idea what it was going to be like to pick apples in Arkansas. 

But it's just like picking anything else in a garden. But the garden is full of trees. 





 This is the first row of Arkansas Black.

It's the easiest apple to pick from the others. Why? Because it's red. 

All the other apples are green.



Here's a brief description about the Arkansas Black apple: 

The skin of the Black Arkansas apple is waxy and vivid red to dark purple in color. Its flesh is golden hued and juicy with a fine-grained and crisp texture. Its highly aromatic and sweet-tart flavor mellows and becomes more palatable with storage. The flesh as well will soften with storage, when first harvested the Black Arkansas apple is extremely hard, almost to the point that many would find it difficult to eat out of hand. 

Being hard to eat out of your hand is very correct. 




This apple had already been taken by the slug. 

Couldn't blame him, it's a good apple.


When they aren't selling apples in the fall, the orchard also sells peaches, strawberries and grapes when they're in season.

Falguni made a friend while we were doing some apple pickin'. 

I'm not sure what this dogs name is, but I named her Rusty.



A tree full of honey crisp apples




The best part about picking these apples? She let us try one to see how good they were. Which is smart - because that just made me buy more apples.



We even found a small patch of leftover raspberries.




And some grapes! These were delicious. 




When we were leaving there was a field full of cattle just looking at us. 

Wonder if they wanted an apple?




A little photoshop fun!




Thanks cow! We will be back in the spring to pick some peaches. 

Stay tuned - guess what the recipe this week will be based on?

I'll go ahead and tell you. Apples! 
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