Food Adventures: Jam and Ice Cream

We bought Peaches in Brandy Jam at Smoky Mountain Farms Jelly House when we were in Tennessee earlier this month. The hubby thought it would be good on vanilla ice cream.

We decided to try his idea.

I scooped vanilla ice cream into bowls. 

Then I warmed up the jam in the microwave for a few seconds

Add topped the ice cream with the jam.

It tasted amazing. The jam reminded me of the canned peaches my Nana would make but no one seems to have a recipe for.

This definitely was a good idea. I don't know if I'd like the jam on anything else but it is amazing on ice cream. 

I wonder what other jams and jellies would be good on vanilla ice cream. I'm sure raspberry would taste delicious over chocolate ice cream. I may have to try that in the future. 

7776. Have a moon pie

 I always wanted to try a moon pie. We stopped at the Moon Pie Store in Pigeon Forge where we picked up some moon pies and brought them back home. After a few weeks we decided to give them a try.

I had the chocolate one and the hubby had an original. 

I am not a fan. The graham cracker was soft. There was not enough marshmallow in the middle. The chocolate was good. It could have been so much better and fell flat.

Maybe I am used to crispy graham crackers cookies that a soft graham cracker was too different for the likes of me. I was expecting a crunch and not nothing. With that being said though, there are no crumbs. 

I don't know if it would have made much difference if we ate them in the traditional way with an RC Cola but I don't think so.

Don't let me issues with the graham cracker stop you from trying one. Everyone should have at least one Moon Pie in their lives. It is an American Tradition....

Next American Tradition on my list is to try a Goo Goo Cluster... one day.. 

26 in 2026: Go to at least 1 author talk -- Shelly Van Pelt

 When Fox Cities Reads announced that Remarkably Bright Creatures was going to be the Fox Cities Read for 2026, I knew I had to attend the author talk. I read the book back when it first came out and loved it. I even convinced that my book club to read. Unfortunately my book club meeting was the same day as Shelly Van Pelt's visit. I hoped to be able to do both but figured it would have been doubtful. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a delightful book about an escape artist octopus, an older woman, and a lost soul. Even though an octopus is a main character, it is truly a book about friendship and life. It is Shelly Van Pelt's debut novel.

Shelly Van Pelt was scheduled to speak at 6 at the Appleton Library. Having seen several well known authors as part of the Fox Cities Book Festival and know how many people will show up especially for this book, I knew how I had to get there early. I got there at least 90 minutes before hand. I was not the first person there. We waited outside the room for about 45 minutes before being allowed in. I chose a seat about half way back. By the time it started it was standing room only.

Shelly Van Pelt not only is an amazing author, she is also a great speaker. She spoke for about 45 minutes about how the story developed and the upcoming movie. I loved how she would spend hours at the Atlanta aquarium watching and observing the animals as part of her research. She took questions for about 10 minutes. 

After she was done speaking, she was going to sign books. This is where it got insane. I ducked out while she was still answering questions. There was at least 50 people in front of me. The line snaked from the outside the conference room, down the hall, and into the library. The moved slowly but it was worth the wait.

I got my book signed and even got a picture. I made a comment about it being a long night for her and she was like I get to sit here. You guys have to stand the entire time. She was very personable and nice. 

If you ever get a chance to hear her talk, do it. If you get a chance to hear any other speak do it. They love meeting readers and share their books. 

26 in 2026: Try One New Pizza Place -- Copper State Brewing Company

 The hubby saw a commercial for a pizza place one night. He said the pizza looked good and we needed to try it but he couldn't remember the name of it. He thought it was Copper Rock and I'm like that's a coffee shop. I thought he meant Vault 202 -- the brewery and pizza place next door. Nope it was Copper State Brewing Company. 

Copper State Brewing Company is open 6:30-10:00 Mon-Fri and 7-10 on Saturdays. They are closed on Sundays. It is located in downtown Green Bay over by the Neville Museum. There is plenty of parking.

Just like Cool City Brewing in Two Rivers, Copper State features coffee and beer (hence the early hours). Since I needed to cross of a brewery in Brown County, I opted for a flight. They had enough sours on the menu to do a whole flight of sours. You can do a flight of 4 or 6 beers. Since I was only one drinking them, I went with 4. 

Since they were out of one of my choices, I went with 

Bougie Blue -- I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I wasn't sure I was going to like it since it was blueberry but it was actually quite good.

Sugar Plum Elderberry Tart -- This one wasn't bad. Not as good as the Bougie Blue but still a decent sour. 

Pomegranate Pucker -- I am not a huge fan of pomegranate so it's not surprising I wasn't a huge fan of this one. 

Star Studded Pucker -- This was my least favorite and the one I was looking to try the most. It had a weird spice mix to it that didn't go well with the rest of the flavors. I think the vanilla came on too strong. 

We also obviously got pizza. It is wood fired pizza. We went with sausage. 

The pizza was very good. The hubby didn't like the fresh parmesan on it even though we had it at Cesario's in Georgia. I thought it added a depth to the pizza. 

We would definitely come back for pizza again. We would go early before they get busy to enjoy the quietness like we did this time.

If you find yourself in Green Bay and want pizza or beer, check out Copper State Brewing Company. 

NPS Adventures 2026: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

 I have been trying to get us to Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky for several years now. I always felt it was out of the way of where we were. This year the hubby said that we are just going to go.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is located in Hodgenville, KY. The visitor center is open 9-5 daily. 

Because we spent too much time exploring the Obed Wild and Scenic River, we got there around 3:30 and was told that memorial building closes at 4:30. We promptly headed up the Memorial Building. The Memorial Building is the first Lincoln Memorial in DC and houses the Birth Cabin. The building was constructed between 1909 and 1911 to preserve the historic cabin.

After viewing the birth cabin, we walked the path to Sinking Spring which was a dependable water sources for the Lincoln Family. Unfortunately you can not get close enough to the spring to actual drink of the water. 

Unfortunately due to time constraints, we did not get to the Boundary Oak or follow the Pathway of a President. There is a second segment of the park which is the Boyhood at Knob Creek up the road which we did not see either. I believe is was there as a kid back in the 1990s. 

Even though it was a quick visit, it was a nice visit. It is definitely worth checking out. If you find yourself at Mammoth Cave or in Bowling Green definitely take the time to check it out.

I am up to 67 National Park Sites now. I wonder what will be number 68. Stay tuned to find out. 

NPS Adventures 2026: Obed Wild & Scenic River

I am not one for checking out scenic rivers per se but when there is one along our route it was a no brainer to stop. I was figuring it would be a quick stop for a stamp and we'd be on our way. However, sometimes these NPS stops don't always go as planned. 

Obed Wild & Scenic River Visitor Center is located in Wartburg, TN. The actual river is out of town. The visitor center is open 9-5 daily. There is not much in the visitor center but the rangers were very helpful. They gave us a few places to view the river. They also suggest another National River to check out but it was out of the way. 

We decided first to check out the Nemo Bridge. It used to be a railroad bridge back in the day. It now is bike and walking trail crossing the Obed River. I did not walk the bridge but we saw views of the river and the bridge. Maybe one day I will be back to actually walk across the bridge.

We planned on doing a short hike the Lily Bluff Overlook Trail. We never found the overlook. We got to the right area but I don't think we followed the road far enough. 

We did find a trail head though. From the looks of it was the Bridge Trail which was a .5 mile round one way trail that was moderate to strenuous. We actually had shoes on for this one. We made it about 1/4 of the way before turning around. It would have eventually led us to the overlook I think. 

Despite our mishap with the Lily Bluff Overlook Trail, we still got to see the river and it was gorgeous.

If you ever find yourself on the back roads of Tennessee between Knoxville and Louisville, check out Obed Wild and Scenic River. It's worth the detour.

Next time maybe we will take the detour to check out Big Fork South National River. 

There are  400+ National Park Sites across the US and I've now been to 66 of them. Stay to tuned to see which one is number 6-7. 

NPS Adventures 2026: Manhattan Project K-25 History Center

 The last time we went through Knoxville, I wanted to stop at the Manhattan Project NPS but we didn't have any time. This time I made sure we had a chance to visit at least one of the sites throughout the Knoxville Area. There are many locations including several museums. I gave the hubby the option which museum we were going to visit. We decided on K-25 History Center.

K-25 was one of the gaseous diffusion plant that helped create the atomic bomb during WWII. It was a mile long building where they diffused the uranium. It is located really in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Oak Park. 

K-25 is not really a museum. It is really just a display of history of K-25 on the second floor of this building. 

There is a model of the entire mile long complex.

There are videos, timelines, and diagrams that explained how their diffused the uranium.

You can look out the windows and view the outline of the complex that has since been knocked down. 

It is not that exciting of a place in the typical museum sense. However the science and history lessons presented through video are fascinating. When I saw what little there was too see I was disappointed but it was actually worth our time. I was glad I still went in with an opened mind.

There is still a lot of places we have not seen of the Oak Park Manhattan Project, including the Y-12 plant (which I need to figure out how to actually get a tour of). I know we will continue to knock them off as we find ourselves in the Knoxville area. If you are ever in the Knoxville Area the Manhattan Project sites are worth checking out. 

Stay tuned to find out which Manhattan Project we visit next in the next few years.