Day 18 - Jan Patek of Brannock/Patek

Welcome to Day 18 of the Moda County Fair Blog Hop.

I have fond memories of County Fairs in Harper, Kansas where my brother and I would go spend the summer with our Great Aunt Odell and Uncle Carl Elliot. The fairgrounds was right down the street from their house - Kid heaven!

Aunt Odell and Uncle Carl owned a house in town and they also owned a farm outside of town where we would go for picnics and fishing. Our summers there were a huge influence on my life today. They're pretty well the reason we now live in the country. (Cousins Wayne and Katherine had this great chicken house and my Grandpa Laird who lived in Kansas City had a huge garden and a chicken house in his back yard.)

Lissa Alexander - our favorite marketing guru at Moda asked

"What's your favorite Fair Food"? Caramel Corn and hot dogs.

Since Sandy Klop has already told you about her Caramel Corn, Pep got busy and made our favorite Caramel Corn.

Cranberry-Orange Caramel Corn

12 cups popped popcorn (about ½ cup kernels

1 cup dried cranberries

½ cup whole almonds

½ cup butter

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup light colored corn syrup

2 Tbsp orange juice

2 tsp vanilla

½ tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 275. In a very large bowl combine popcorn, cranberries & almonds. Set aside.

In a 2 qt saucepan cook and stir the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup over medium heat until butter is melted. Stir in orange juice. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Boil at a moderate, steady rate for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and baking soda (mixture will foam up).

3. Pour the syrup mixture over the popcorn mixture in a bowl; stir to coat well.

Transfer to a 15x10x1 inch baking pan or shallow roasting pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring twice. Transfer caramel corn to a large sheet of greased heavy foil; cool.

When it's cool, put it in a large bowl and serve.

And with four grandkids in the house for the weekend, don't expect it to last very long. :)

Do you have a pet? Boy, do I! His name is Spike. He is 6 months old and he's an English Bulldog. And I'm sorry to say that he's getting rather spoiled. He loves sitting on laps - and quilts.

Here he is asking pretty please can he make a bed on the quilts.

And here he is after he's been told "No!". Spoiled or not there are limits. :)

What's your Guilty Pleasure? Climbing in bed at night with a good book and a piece of chocolate. (And please don't tell my dentist - who is also my son. He says that sugar on your teeth before you go to sleep is a huge no-no.) Ah well, that why it's a guilty pleasure - once in awhile.

What's on your bucket list? 1.) A trip to Alaska and down the coast to see the whales.

2.) A tour of the New England states and Maine to see the leaves in the Fall. The 2nd one may never happen because Market is in the Fall.

Now for the Goodies. I have two to give away - (Many thanks to Moda, of course) - a Fat 1/4 bundle and a Jelly Roll of Linda and my latest line "Together". The line has shipped and should be at your local quilt shop now.

Leave a comment, any old thing at all, between now and October 2nd when I get back from the AQS Festival in DesMoines. We'll have a drawing then for two of the names and send out the prizes.

And here's our free pattern to download. It really is from both Linda and I. Years ago she gave me a Pineapple Trivet stuffed with bay leaves. When we needed a County Fair type project for the Blog Hop her trivet came immediately to mind. You can't believe the awesome smell you get when you set a hot dish on it. So from Linda and I - Enjoy!

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