The Greatest Speech Ever Made

Callaway Gardens Harvest Moon Festival Tickets Giveaway

Callaway Gardens is a stunning 14000 acre garden oasis and resort located at Pine Mountain, GA that offers visitors unique attractions and shows such as the "TreeTop Adventure", a butterfly center, birds of prey show, and the world's largest azalea garden featuring both hybrid and native azaleas.








Callaway Gardens also has a private beach, two golf courses, Mountain View, a previous PGA Championship course, and Lake View, a discovery Bike Trail, five walking trails, tennis courts, plus visitors can enjoy fly fishing, and a variety of seasonal events like the upcoming Harvest Moon Festival.

The Callaway Gardens Harvest Moon Festival is a food and music extravaganza like no other! This family-friendly music festival October 6-9, 2011, features musical performances from The B-52s, The Gin Blossoms and John Hiatt, and multiple Grammy-winning Shawn Colvin and also includes Celebrity chef Claire Robinson, host of the Food Network’s popular “5 Ingredient Fix.” Tickets are $79 for advance weekend passes and Gate price during the event will be $85.

The Thursday evening Harvest Feast ($62 per person) will feature a cooking demonstration by Claire Robinson, followed by a double-bill of Atlanta musician Nic Cowan and popular recording artist Joe Purdy. Friday boasts some big names with The B-52s, Shawn Colvin, Parachute, Dread Clampitt and Allgood among the acts scheduled to appear. Saturday showcases the bulk of the musical lineup, with the Gin Blossoms, John Hiatt, Shawn Mullins, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and Mat Kearney among the biggest names to appear on the festival’s two stages.

The four-day festival is a celebration of the harvest and of man and nature’s fruitful coexistence, combining farm-to-table foods, eco-centric vendors, cooking and gardening demonstrations, fun and educational activities for children, and of course, this unprecedented lineup of big-name bands. For tickets, information and the complete list of confirmed acts, visit harvestmoonfest.com.

The inaugural Callaway Gardens Harvest Moon Festival is definitely something to experience. Plan to stay for the festival and savor every moment. Overnight packages include tickets to the events but space is filling up quickly in the Mountain Creek Inn, Southern Pine Cottages and Mountain Creek Villas. Gather friends and family and call today to reserve a Harvest Moon Festival overnight package.

For more information, visit www.harvestmoonfest.com. For overnight reservations, call 1-800-CALLAWAY (225-5292) or visit www.callawaygardens.com. Keep up with updates for the Harvest Moon Festival at www.facebook.com/HarvestMoonFest and at www.twitter.com/HarvestMoonFst.

If you would like to win two tickets for the Harvest Moon Festival leave us a comment telling us why do you want to attend this festival. Winner will be chosen by a random drawing on  October, 4th, 2011 at 1:00pm.

Drum roll please!!! This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Frankie!!!!! Please use the email button on our site and send us your info. You have 24hrs to respond.

Comfort Meals: Arborio Rice "Albondiga" Soup with Black Eyed Peas

For a long time now I've been wanting to make a "albondiga" (meatball) soup. After reading several recipes I concluded it was best to just follow my gut instincts and stick with flavors I know work well together.

This recipe is not either Mexican, Italian, or southern but more a fusion of different cuisines. For example, the traditional Mexican "albondiga" soup is made with onions and rice.

My version uses arborio rice, and a "sofrito" of minced shallots, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes cooked in white wine that is later incorporated into the ground beef. 

The broth is created by using equal parts of vegetable, chicken, and beef stock instead of just using the traditional vegetable stock. Make sure you have at least 8 cups of liquid.

Add a 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, a few bay leafs, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, one dice potato, some celery and carrots to the broth and you are all set.

 

For the "albondiga" I like using extra-lean ground turkey instead of ground beef in order to keep it light and healthy.

Like a good latina, I seasoned the meatballs with "Sazon Goya with Coriander and Annato", chili powder, cumin, oregano, smoked Spanish paprika, one egg, and of course a dash or salt and pepper.

To assemble the meatballs, in a medium bowl combine fresh cilantro, the garlic-shallots-and-sun-dried tomatoes "sofrito" and 1/3 cup of uncooked arborio (risotto) rice with the rest of the seasoning ingredients and shape the meat mixture into 20 to 22 (1-inch) meatballs.

To cook the meatballs instead of frying them is greasy oil let them poach in the broth. Basically once the broth reaches a boiling point you need to reduce it so you can add the meatballs with the rest of the vegetables and let them play nice ;)

 

This soup needs to be cook slow and gentle so the lower the heat the better.

To dress up the soup I added something that comes from my years living in the south, black eyed peas. I really love how they taste and how they elevate a humble soup from drab to fab. I did not used canned but rather fresh peas. Canned black-eyed peas are loaded with tons of sodium and preservatives so if possible try to keep it fresh.

The soup does not need any type of garnish. It is wonderful just they way it is, BUT since I absolutely love avocados, I decided to go Mexican and added a slice of avocado, multicolor tortilla chips and crumbled Mexican "queso fresco" on top (which I forgot to add in the last picture, my bad. I get hungry and have no patience for pictures lols!).

The wonderful thing about this recipe is that is dirt cheap, is super easy and taste divine. Is comfort food at it best. Even my finicky 9 year old ate the entire thing. He absolutely loved the crumbled "queso fresco" on top. 

This post is NOT about a recipe for a "soup" but rather a re-invention of what a comfort food should be like. I enjoyed this recipe so much that has now become one of my all-time favorite recipes to make at home.  

I really hope you give it a try. This recipe will turn you into a kitchen hero.Trust me, you are going to be amazed of how fast and easy it is.

What Makes a Good Life?

By Liza Cardona

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have 

more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, 

in order to have what you want.  

~Margaret Young

How do you value your life? What makes the life you live a good one? If you could imagine yourself in the distant future, at 80 years of age what criteria would you use to indicate that you have lived a worthy, meaningful, and successful live?

A recent study by the Department of Psychology of the University of Toronto revealed the top 30 indicators for a good life. Religion, surprisingly was given the least importance while having close enduring friendships, followed by having a healthy and happy family made it to the top of the list.

So what does this mean? Happiness is, and will always be, our number one priority. People value friends, health and happiness more than money, or social status. Aristotle was right after all, happiness is the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself.

Top 30 indicators of a Good Life from most relevant to least relevant:

1	Having had a close enduring friendship
2	Having a happy and healthy family
3	Having had a positive impact on others or having made the world a better place
4	Well-being and content
5	Having had a good, loving marriage or romantic partnership
6	A lot of wealth or assets
7	Having had a successful career
8	Having achieved great things
9	Having lived a moral life according to my personal principles
10	Having had lots of fun and other pleasurable experiences
11	Having gained wisdom
12	Good relationships with family members
13	Having taken full advantage of opportunities and lived up to my personal potential
14	Having traveled the world
15	Having had a personally fulfilling career
16	Having raised my children well
17	The respect or admiration of others
18	Financial security and comfort
19	Knowing that I'll be remembered after I'm gone for who I was or what I did
20	High social status
21	Being highly educated or processing great professional skills/knowledge
22	Having had a lot of involvement in my community
23	Having overcome obstacles or successfully taken on challenges
24	Having had children who are successful
25	Having had children who are successful
26	Having lived a free and independent life
27	Having attained harmony with nature or God
28	Having pursued hobbies or leisure activities that were personally fulfilling
29	Power or influence over others
30	Having lived in accordance with my religious faith

"Family life is the source of the greatest human happiness. This happiness is the simplest and least costly kind, and it cannot be purchased with money. But it can be increased if we do two things: if we recognize and uphold the essential values of family life and if we get and keep control of the process of social change so as to make it give us what is needed to make family life perform its essential functions." Robert J. Havighurst

Just a friendly reminder...

Blog Interrupted

Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.
Ayn Rand

 

This month is going to be burdensome for our family. Big changes are around the corner and I am struggling to post content on the blog. As much as I love blogging, I love my family 100 times more so I need to step back and focus on them. This transition, although is a positive one, is time consuming so I won't be able to post as much as I used to. Quality is better than quantity...

 

Funny part is my stats are absolutely insane. Maybe is the improved SEO but search engines are crawling my site more than ever.

I also want to focus on cooking more and posting recipes. This is something I truly enjoy but for some reason I just keep postponing. I want to take cooking more seriously and share my knowledge with my readers. Cooking is very therapeutic to me. It brings me great joy and happiness and I need to embrace it.

So until them I will truly appreciate if you can follow us on Tumblr  http://thebluebirdpatch.tumblr.com/ follow our updates on twitter http://twitter.com/bluebirdpatch or http://twitter.com//BloggingAtlanta (If you live in Atlanta) of like us on Facebook.

Please keep in mind the content of our Facebook page is different from the content on our blog. We dislike posting the same content over and over again so I think you are truly going to enjoy having us on your stream :D http://www.facebook.com/TheBluebirdPatch

Thank you so much for supporting The Bluebird Patch. This blog is and will always be at your service. Feel free to contact us if you are a non-profit organization. We love helping!!