muddy buddy popcorn

Basically muddy buddies but with popcorn instead of chex cereal. And let me tell you, it is fantastic.  I opted not to use the powdered sugar and it was perfect. Lots of chocolatey-peanut butter goodness.  And in case you've never had muddy buddies (which is a travesty) here is the (slightly modified) recipe:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter*
1/4 cup butter

*I used chunky peanut butter which added a great crunch to the treat but you can use smooth

Melt in the microwave and spread over popcorn. I popped about 3/4 cup of popcorn kernels and it covered it nicely.  Less popcorn means more chocolate = delicious.  

Chill it for a nice hardened texture! Freezer does it more quickly but the fridge works well too.

Enjoy!

scandinavian festival

In Jamestown, New York, there is a little-known Scandinavian Festival which has been going on for a few years.  The festival is mostly made up of local craftsmen and volunteers who celebrate their Nordic ancestors who settled in the western part of New York.  This year my sisters and I went as our mother's family is from Copenhagen, Denmark.  I have also studied Scandinavian culture and I was excited to learn more.

First on the agenda for the day was the May Pole ceremony where those participating carry in the May Pole and stand it up in its place.  Then those who wish to, gather around and dance traditional pieces.  I was standing too close and so I had the chance to participate. What I thought would be a quick, one dance turned into a thirty minute dance lesson.  It was quite crazy; nobody actually seemed to know what they were doing, but it was great fun and I learned some Swedish dances!

We walked around a bit before settling in to watch a Hans Christian Andersen impersonator who spoke with a "Danish" accent and recounted his stories for the children.  He also did paper cutouts while speaking - something that Hans Christian Andersen is said to have done.  The impersonator did a great job and was a hit with the kids (and the adults).

After wandering around a bit, we stopped and purchased some Danish salt and pepper shakers for our mom and then got some Swedish lunch.  We tried quite a few different things, including Swedish meatballs, kurv (like sausage), boiled potatoes, cucumber salad and rice pudding. We also got some rye bread and lingonberry preserves which were interesting. I preferred the lingonberry drink which we also got to sample.

From there we decided to check out the craft tents.  The main craft going on was ros mal painting of Dala horses which was pretty involved.  Nevertheless, my younger sisters and I did our best and had fun learning and painting small horses to take home.  It was definitely harder than it looked to get it perfect!  Our last activity for the day was the paper cut outs.  The HCA impersonator had some templates we could use so I made a butterfly and then added some more details to make it a little nicer.  It was quite a lot of fun!

My finished Dala horse.

 Fun finds at the Festival:

Dala shaped cake pans

There was a blacksmith who had a forge set up at the festival and some of his wares on display:

Swedish Barbie!

If you're in the area next year, please go have a look around! It's a fun time, especially with the kids, whether or not you're of Scandinavian ancestry!

ice cream

While in New York visiting family, we tested out several different ice cream stands.  Prior to this I had always considered ice cream to be pretty similar, only to find out I was quite wrong. Most of the ice cream stands in that area of New York were either Perry's or Hershey's - both delicious for different reasons.  My favorite in the end was Boxcar Barney's, which happened to be the first one we tried. It was just too tasty. 

The Winner: BROWNIE BATTER and COCONUT, ALMOND & CHOCOLATE. The flavors were amazing and the whole experience was just fantastic.

My second favorite was The Ice Cream Shack.  I got Death by Chocolate and Chocolate Chip Cookie dough. The flavors were great, the consistency was nice and smooth and the ice cream was nice and hard.

Bemus Point had great flavor choices but it seems like they had difficulty keeping their ice cream cold, which is kinda important.  I got white lightening (chocolate with thick ribbons of mint) and cannoli which was overpowered by the mint chocolate but very tasty.

Our last place ice cream stand is:

Big Tree was probably my least favorite, the flavor wasn't all that great. I got Eskimo Kisses which just didn't measure up to the other flavors I tried.  

If I ever get back to Jamestown, I know where I'll be headed back to!