An Unexpected Adventure

If you've been reading Mountain Musings for any length of time, you know how much I love adventures. Well, yesterday I had one!

When the phone rang, it was my long-ago friend, Christine, calling enroute from Williamsburg headed to Augusta Expo for the annual Taste of Home Cooking School. After we briefly caught each other up on family news, she asked me...

"I have an extra reserved ticket to the cooking show, would you like to go?"

Would I like to go? Me? YES! YES! YES!

So we made plans to meet up at the Expo!

Here's the eye-catching Christmasy stage decorated with lots of gift bags from the local Martin's grocery store and 80 poinsettias from Milmont Greenhouses in Stuarts Draft...all a small portion of the tons of prizes ready to be given away to attendees during the show (no, I didn't win a thing!).

Before the show started, my friend Christine, her daughter Rachel, and I had a great time chatting, viewing cell phone pictures, and catching up on acquaintances I knew during our years in Williamsburg. Plus, we enjoyed looking at all the free goodies in our gift bags we picked up as we entered the Expo.

Here are two of the many freebies which were in our bags, and these books were chock full of recipes. The Holiday book on the left contained all of the recipes which would be demonstrated on stage, so we could easily follow along and try them at home ourselves.

These eight dishes were prepared during the two-hour show:

• Sweet Potato Gratin
• Roast Beef Tenderloin with cranberry-red wine sauce
• Almond Puff Loaf
• Italian mini-Frittatas
• Cinnamon Nut Coffee Cake
• Caramel Chocolate Fondue
• Cappuccino Mix
• Fast and Fabulous Sausage Fajitas

And eight folks in the audience got to take one of these delicious dishes home with them, plus the beautiful platter each dish was presented on!! (Not me, unfortunately!)

The show was very informative and entertaining, and both my friends won prizes! Yay! Plus, I spotted other friends in the audience (Hi Jean! Hi Kendra!) when Kendra's name was called for a door prize, too. Yay!

All in all, a wonderful unexpected adventure! And a very special thanks to Christine for making it happen!

Have you ever been to a Taste of Home Cooking School?

~Deb

Comments

[Connie W]

Oh this sounds soooo fun. Lucky you to get to go!

[Mommy of two little blessings]

Hello Deb,
That block in your last entry is beautiful! Great job! And as far as your day out adventure goes I am glad you got to go out with your gal pal and enjoy some fun cooking things. Glad you are home safe and sound. Sincerely, Mommy of two little blessings

[Dorothy]

Sounds like so much fun! I can't believe you didn't win anything because you win things regularly! I have to say that I LOVE YOUR EARRINGS! They are so appropriate for you, Deb! What a wonderful surprise...cooking school and an afternoon with a friend!

[Islandsparrow]

That would be such fun! I have so many Taste of Home and Country Woman magazines. I love them. My middle boy worked for them for awhile - at their call center - and he brought home a number of free magazines. I was sorry when he was through with that job.

[Susan]

How fun! I've never been to a TOH Cooking School, but I've always thought I'd like to go to one. How sweet of your friend to surprise you!

[kathie]

My daughter receives the Taste of Home magazine as a Christmas gift each year. We enjoy anything Reiman Publications produces.

Were you able to see the demos well enough? It looks like you are pretty far back. Even the video looks far. Which of the recipes are you excited to try?

Now for my dumbest question of all ~ what earrings is Dorothy talking about? I can't see any in the pic! Maybe it's middle age.

I've often wondered how the demos are. Thanks for the wonderful post. Glad you were able to get away from your busy life for some fun. You've really had a lot going on this fall!

[victoria]

My husband worked for Reiman Publications (now Reader's Digest Inc.) for many years. I have too many of their cookbooks and books to count. I have always enjoyed their books and magazines. Glad you got to go to one of cooking shows!

Victoria

[Tammy]

Chris loves to cook and he thinks it is neat that you went.

[g.owen]

I've never been to a Taste of Home cooking school, but I have been to several Southern Living cooking schools. I imagine you and Christine had a great time together. I was amazed to see her youngest daughter's picture the other day. I couldn't believe how fast time had gone!

[Deb]

Thank you everyone for the comments! I loved reading them all! Yes, Kathie, the demos could be seen very well. We were on the 6th row and actually fairly close to the stage in the reserved section. Hmmm, haven't decided which recipe we'll try first; we'll be sure to post when we do.

So good to hear from you, Gail! And of course I appreciate all the regular commenters, too!

[Karen]

I went to a Taste of Home Cooking School years ago with my grandmother and sisters. I really enjoyed it, but didn't win any prizes either. I am glad you got to go and that you had such a good time! What a special treat. :-)

[Courtney, Jer.33:3]

Momma, Bethany, and I went to a TOH cooking show several years ago and it was so much fun! Bethany was the only one of us that won anything. :)

[Julie]

I have always wanted to go to a TOH cooking school, but they are always too far away. Like us in FL don't like to cook. LOL

Looks like loads of fun.