And I bring to you New Englanders: Peanut Butter Pie.

OK, I'm finally getting down to writing about my field trip to New Franklin, MO. I stayed with Slim Trim Uncle Jim for three nights. I arrived all wound up from the Easter holiday and left a very relaxed woman, filled with peanut butter pie, 80 degree weather, and fun times with my Midwest family!!

I flew to St. Louis via New York on Monday, March 28. From STL, I took a two hour shuttle trip to Columbia, and then drove with Jim about 45 minutes to New Franklin - gives you an idea about how far away from a major city we were! New Franklin has a population of about 1000; my cousin Rachel's graduating class was about 35 people. It only took me 45 minutes to traverse every street in town -- the main drag had a post office, a senior center, a meat smoking facility, a band, and a gas station/general store. Jim and Terre's gorgeous country home:



Jim was kind enough to cook me a monumentally awesome dinner consisting of Pork Diane, asparagus, and yummy yummy new potatoes. We drank of wine as we drank in the summery scenery from the porch, and later, we watched an Elvis video whilst enjoying Muscat, a sweet dessert wine which Nancy introduced to me at the cheese and chocolate party.

Elvis rules!

On Tuesday, we took a trip to the retreat, a small home on about 60 acres of land, where Jim and Terre go to get away from it all (for me, New Franklin was already lightyears from Cambridge, but once at the retreat I understood the draw!).



Complete with pond!



Jim surveys his land from the John Deere Gator:



We drove all over the property, and Jim gave me a chance to drive the Gator. We also walked around the creek a bit -- totally beautiful and serene:





Eating cashews, drinking wine, and knitting, I found bliss on the porch. I also found a very odd facial expression.



Apparently, funny faces run in the family: here's me and my cousin Ethan later that night at Emmet's, a yummy cajun restaurant in Columbia:



Yeah, we're two twenty-something adults, one of whom is married. I'll give you a clue: it's not me. And here's Dylan, my cousin Rachel's son, following in the time-honored family tradition!



Not to be outdone, Rachel strangles her son:



That's Lou, Rachel's husband, with us. Emmet's was lots of fun (ribs! onion rings! jambalaya!) and it was wonderful to hang out with part of the family I rarely see. Visit Ethan's website to check out his band, Three Headed Moses. I'm not the only musician in the family! And Ethan probably rocks harder. Oh well. Therein lies the difference between electric guitar and flute. I try, though. I play Stockhausen and stuff.

Yay for Jim and Ethan! And me! At Emmet's!



The next night, Jim and I went to a SUPER AWESOME wine bistro and restaurant called Les Bourgeois
on the Missouri river. Believe it or not, Missouri produces a lot of wine. Jim also told me that MO produces a lot of pot and meth, but we won't get into that right now.




Man, was that food good! Almost as good as the Pork Diane! We started off with an unbelievably delicious gorgonzola cheese cake, served with garlic toast and pesto. I had a smoked chicken for dinner, and Jim had salmon with risotto. And then for desert... peanut butter pie. I had never had any before! And now, I'm an addict. I found a ton of recipes online and tried one earlier this week. Very yummy... but not as good as what I had in Missouri. I'll keep trying.

Many thanks to Uncle Jim for having me out. Missouri = very relaxing. Very. I'm back to the daily grind now, but I can think back to sitting on the New Franklin porch, listening to the birds and feeling the warm breezes, and I instantly feel calmer.