WHAT It's August

And its actually closer to the end of August - summer has certainly been on the move to go by fast.  So what the heck have I been up to since we lasted chatted back on June 20th - seriously if I waited two days it would be two months since our last visit.  Life has been busy here at the Farmhouse - enjoying lake life with family and friends.   Oh did I mention Mr. Farmhouse and I took a little trip across the pond to Norway for 3 weeks in July - yuppers we did.  A trip of a lifetime that I will never forget.  Partly meeting up with family hubby found through geneology and a beautiful cruise up the Norwegian coastline.  I'll share a couple of my favorite pictures a little later in this post.  We returned the last day of July and re-entry was a little bit hard with the time change but we adjusted.  A week later it was the annual summer quilt retreat here with the peeps - that's always lots of fun and with plenty of inspiration.  Which brings us to this week and fun things going on as well.  Being gone for most of July really took a bite out of summer but the time frame was dictated by the cruise line not by us lol.

I did manage to make this ice cream pie for the fourth of July weekend - lordy it's sinful.  Its been a long time since I made this and when we enjoyed it I'm wondering why it's been so long.  I ripped the recipe out of a magazine back in 1994 - that's a long time ago lol.

Peanut Butter Fudge Pie - Low Calorie It's NOT -but worth every bite

• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup hot fudge sauce
• 6 tbsp. corn syrup
• 1 to 2 quarts vanilla or vanilla fudge swirl ice cream
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
• 1 cup fudge sauce

For crust in a medium saucepan melt the 1/4 cup corn syrup, brown sugar and butter. Cook over medium heat until it boils.  Remove from heat and add rice cereal - gently stir until combined and press into the bottom and up the sides of a 10" inch pie plate that's been buttered.  Let cool

In medium saucepan combine the peanut butter, the 1/2 cup fudge sauce and 6 tbsp. corn syrup. Heat and stir the mixture over low heat until its smooth.  Spread the mixture on top of the cooled cereal crust.  Place the crust in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours or till it's firm.  Scoop the ice cream into the pie and spread as well as you can.  You can let it soften a bit before adding to the crust.  Freeze for 4 hours or overnight.  Sprinkle evenly with half the peanuts.  Spread remaining 1 cup fudge sauce over the chopped peanuts and then sprinkle with the remaining peanuts.  Store in freezer and let it soften slightly before cutting and serving.  Hang on to your hats it's rich, gooey and yummmmmmmy.

So next up is - the retreat with the peeps.  Usually they stay for a couple of days and nights - but this year we did it a little different for various reasons and everyone went home at night and came back in the morning - worked out very well.  Here's a little bit of inspiration from what the peeps worked on

I had a prep retreat - meaning all I did was prep wool blocks for stitching.  If your on IG you've seen the Vintage Halloween from Buttermilk Basin that I prepped but for some reason I can't get that to load onto my computer from my phone - grrrrrr. I'll share another time.

A few pictures from our trip to Norway.  This all came about because Mr. Farmhouse made contact with relatives over there during his family ancestry.  So with a year of planning we got the trip figured out and took off the first part of July for across the pond.  Our first week was spent with family members seeing some beautiful country and talking family history.  This was taken at one of the towns we spent the night at - this was taken about 10:45 at night - crazy twilight

another little beachside town - so quaint and beautiful and the flowers were amazing

After our time with family we flew to Amsterdam where we hopped onto our little ship and started a two week cruise up the coast of Norway.  Our hotel was right next door to where we boarded the ship and this photo was taken from our hotel room - not bad service lol.  This ship was gorgeous and only 8 months old and full of everything a person needed or didn't need.

While visiting all the ports on our trip we saw amazing and beautiful country - the fjords were without a doubt my favorite part.  One of my favorite views is this one taken from one of the ports we visited -  our bus halfway up the mountain to our final desitination on this excursion - a loooong way up and that's our boat way down there in the fjord.  Seriously I wasn't sure we would ever get to the top lol.

 

Mr. Farmhouse was so excited to have lots of fresh seafood to eat - he was in heaven

I on the other hand was thrilled to eat waffles the Norwegian way - OMG I could have eaten them every day lol.  Jam and sour cream - slap me they were so good.

oh and let's talk about the gelato I made sure to have every so often on the ship and a discovery of coffee with cream and raw brown sugar - yummmm and a glass of wine with Mr. Farmhouse at dinner didn't hurt either.

Ok this won't rotate but I even got Mr. Farmhouse to play bingo during the time we were at sea for two days.  Of course a little wine didn't hurt either

After dinner if you were interested besides the many musical shows available on the ship to watch - you could pull up a lounge chair that they put blankets and pillows on in the evening to watch a movie on the big screen in the pool area with the retractable roof rolled back.  Not sure you can see the big screen but it's to the right of the picture up high

Sorry I can't get this waterfall photo to rotate - but it was amazing and just a sampling of what we saw in the way of waterfalls.

Beautiful sites all around us both land and sea and I know we will never forget this trip and how wonderful the people of Norway are.  These are just a few pictures from my phone.  I have over 800 pictures on my camera to download and sort through.  That could take awhile. 

See you next week to share some garden pictures and an etsy site update of what's coming up.

Have a great weekend - summer time is ticking away quickly.

Comments

[Thimbleanna]

Wow. Oh Wow. Now I'm going to have to move Norway to the top of my list. Between you and my little friend who goes to the fjords every year to jump off of them, the pictures have made me have severe travel lust! It looks like you had a wonderful time and my, oh my, that ship is HUGE! Thanks for sharing your pictures!

I'm thinking you took the summer with you because someone stole it -- WHERE has it gone? How can it be almost September??? SOOO glad you're back -- keep posting! ;-D

[Paulette Doyle]

WOW!! The trip of a life-time!! Thanks for sharing! Beautiful country!

[sandy]

What a great time you had. Pictures are absolutely beautiful! Thanks for shring

[San]

Yeah, you're back. We've missed you. Wow, what a great trip. Will definitely have to add Norway to my bucket list. Thanks for the recipe.

[Connie]

Lovely pictures Karen and glad you are back posting. Anxious to see what's going to be up on Easy. That recipe looks very good.

[Kris]

I enjoyed the trip on IG, and again here! What beauty!
That pie though....... Gotta make it!!!
XO Kris

[Debi]

I am so glad to see your post! What a wonderful experience! Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures! My grandma used to make an ice cream pie with German chocolate and butter mixed with Rice Krispies for the crust, French vanilla ice cream and shavings of German chocolate all over the top. Your pie reminded me of that recipe! Thanks! I can't wait to see your pictures of your fall decorations. I need some ideas!

[Melanie]

What a great trip....Any quilt shops?

[Melvonna]

Glad you are back. Have missed your posts. Glad y'all had a great time on your trip. 😀

[Tammy]

What wonderful pictures of your trip to Norway...how exciting! Hope you found some time to relax in your busy summer...can't wait to see what else you're up to!
Tammy

[Taryn]

I am blown away by your Norway pictures. Was the light as fantastic in "real life" as it is in your photos?