Week #1 With Pinterest

I must confess. I have become absolutely fascinated with Pinterest! Maybe even obsessed. Or quite possibly addicted.

Have you been to the Pinterest site yet?

I have never seen so many wonderful, beautiful, useful, colorful, time-saving, clever, creative, cute, funny, thought-provoking, fill in the blank ........ things in one place!

It's a great way to find new blogs and websites that have the kind of things you're looking for -- not just cooking! -- but clothes, decorating, crafting, inspiration, books, music, movies, places to go, people to see and things to do, just to name a few.

Below is just a sampling of some of my favorite pins to my boards from the past week.

You can see all of my boards, including recipes (search:Cora Sedlacek) with pictures of the inspiring ideas I've collected so far, complete with links to websites full of many, many more.

And, of course, new pictures are being pinned while we're just sitting here talking about it!

Uhhhh .... gotta go now!

You can go to Pinterest right now - just click on the red "P" over on the far right column. Be sure to leave a comment, if you find something good I might like too!

Makes me happy just to look at this idea from Such Petty Things! These are my favorite canister jars and several of them sit out on my counter already, but I'm going to fill another one with the jumble of cupcake papers that keep falling out of my cabinet!







A baguette provides endless possibilities for tasty sandwiches, but stuffing it with a mixture of creamy cheeses, crunchy vegetables, savory meats and salty olives sounds just about perfect! In fact, I thought of about six combinations to try as soon as I saw this from Baking Obsession.

I thought I had a pretty good system for preparing salads ahead of time, but this one from Salad In A Jar is even better!

The Wilton website gives this recipe to use with their ice cream cookie bowl pan. I think it would probably work with muffin pans or mini bundt cake pans too, but those little fluted cookie cups are cute enough to make me want that pan!

I found this cute idea and followed the link back to Crystal & Co. If you go to her website, she has a link for the pdf to print these labels for teacher gifts -- or make your own labels for cookouts, campfires or sleepovers.







My friend, Biggie, at Lunch In A Box, shared this neat and nifty idea for freezer hamburger patties so you can just break off the number you need.





Another colorful and clever way to store cupcake papers from Torrie Jayne -- I just couldn't help adding one more to my favorites from the week. Guess I've got cupcakes on the brain!

Lip-Smacking Good Baked Beans

We had only been home a short time from an overnight in St. Louis when Becky called to say she was coming over with something for us to taste -- something I always appreciate! A few minutes later, she arrived with a bowl full of beans. Apparently, Jim  said these were the best baked beans he had ever tasted and she wanted to share them with us.

Everyone should have neighbors as thoughtful as ours!

Dean and I both tasted the beans and loved them. Becky had anticipated that and presented me with Jim's handwritten copy of the recipe. I made a copy to keep, scooped the beans into one of my own bowls, washed and dried Becky's bowl and sent her on her way -- hopeful she was already thinking about her next share-worthy creation.

I like to doctor canned baked beans to make them my own, giving them a little more depth of flavor than the boring tomato sauce and sugar version. If you enjoy baked beans with multiple layers of flavor, then you'll love these too. A little spice, a little sweet and a little heat gives these beans a flavor that is both balanced and complex, all in one bite.

Very yummy, indeed! Thanks again Becky and Jim!

Disclaimer: The light was already dim inside, so I grabbed my camera and the beans to catch the last glimmer of daylight outside for this photograph. Of course, as I opened the door, I realized the lens would fog as the temperature changed from deliciously cool inside to hell's inferno outside. Therefor, the picture is not the best, but you know what beans look like -- right?

We're just here for the flavor!
 

Jim's Barbecue Beans
1 jar salsa (Newman's Mild)
1 bottle barbecue sauce (Gates Bar-B-Q Sauce)
1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles - drained (Rotel)
1 white onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow banana pepper (or choice of hot pepper)
2 large cans baked beans (Bush's Original)
1 can black beans (Bush's) - drained

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a baking dish. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour. For maximum flavor, mix beans and refrigerate for several hours before baking or bake the day before and reheat to serve.

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Oh, Wilber! ... Eastern NC Barbecue Is The Best!

 

This is my favorite magazine -- Garden & Gun. It is about the heritage and tradition of all things Southern and the lifestyle of the New South.

And right on the cover of the most recent June/July 2011 edition is the best barbecue sandwich you will ever taste ... and devour ... and want again ... and again ... and again.

I know this for a fact, because I read it in Garden & Gun.

Oh, yeah! And I've eaten a few Wilber's Barbecue sandwiches myself. OK! I've eaten so many I lost count! But for almost 20 years, I drove past Wilber's every single day on my way to and from town, and if it was time for lunch or dinner, it was always difficult to pass up the best eastern North Carolina barbecue sandwich anywhere.

In case you are not a devoted Garden & Gun reader, then check out the latest Williams-Sonoma catalog. On page 42 is their feature on barbecue, complete with a tribute to Wilber's and a picture of the man himself!

Williams-Sonoma catalog and Wilber

Oh, Wilber!

My Favorite Husband was hoping Williams-Sonoma was going to sell Wilber's Barbecue by mail order, but no such luck! We will have to rely on Bill and Dannie to bring our supply westward when they visit. 

So there you have it! If you already know about eastern North Carolina barbecue, then chances are good you have been to Wilber's, and if not, then what's that about?

If you have never tasted the perfection that is Wilber's slow-fired, pit-cooked, oak-smoked, whole-pig, vinegar-red-pepper-sauced, hand-chopped, served on a soft white-bread bun and topped with a plop of tart-tangy coleslaw barbecue sandwich, then ... well ... Bless your heart! What are you waiting for?

 

Garden & Gun got it right when it put Wilber's barbecue sandwich on the cover of their magazine. Williams-Sonoma even put Mr. Wilber in their catalog. And I've personally eaten more Wilber's barbecue than I can calculate. Three good reasons to hit the road to Wilber's right now!

Just remember -- Sauce is sauce. Barbecue is the slow-cooked, smoked meat. And that's why eastern North Carolina in general, and Wilber's in particular, is the best!

I enjoy all kinds of barbecue, but I love only one -- eastern North Carolina barbecue. And the best can be found on Hwy. 70 East, in Goldsboro, NC.

If you see Mr. Wilber, be sure to tell him I sent you. It might not mean much to him, but it will to me.

And if you see a guy named Eddie dishing up take-out sandwiches up near the register, tell him Cora says "Hey!