Bourbon. Leather. Old Books. {Clayton & Crume and Bourbon Ware Product Reviews}
Gorgeous locally-made leather bar products will up your home decor game.
Bourbon. Leather. Old Books.
If you're looking to add an air of sophistication to your home, this is the trifecta. Like Ron Burgandy, you can boast that your apartment has many leather-bound books and smells of rich mahogany. If you want to class the place up even more, add some fresh flowers.
If you want to make your home even more special, enjoy your bourbon and books with locally-made leather goods that celebrate our amazing Commonwealth.
I recently received a couple of gorgeous pieces of local leather goods that, if you can believe it, actually do make your bourbon taste better. Well, at least they make your bourbon look better.
Bourbon Ware is a Lexington-based company that produces gorgeous, Kentucky-themed leather bar goods. The Lexington Rocks Glass in the Kentucky State Line pattern is a stunning, elegant way to sip a cocktail. I love the blue metallic outline of the Bluegrass State and the warm, snug feel of the leather sleeve. This would be a gorgeous gift for a homesick Kentuckian or for your favorite bourbon collector.
Another way to outfit your cocktail in style is with these gorgeous Louisville leather coasters from Clayton & Crume. These are stunning, moisture resistant, and a great way to show your love for the Derby City.
Thanks to Bourbon Ware and Clayton & Crume for providing these gorgeous pieces for review!
Happy Birthday, Muhammad Ali!
Celebrating the 73rd birthday of The Greatest, Louisville native boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
Today marks the 73rd birthday of one of the most fascinating, charismatic, inspiring, and beloved figures in modern sports. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. in Louisville on January 17, 1942.
As a boxer, Ali connected with legions of fans due not only to his amazing feats in the ring (he remains the only three-time lineal World Heavyweight Champion) but also his famous brand of self-promotion. He became known as The Louisville Lip due to enduring statements like "I am the Greatest" and "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." Of course, his talent in the ring backed up his statements. Ali later said, "At home, I am a nice guy, but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.”
Nobody ever mistook Ali for being humble. Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, he was known not only for his boxing successes and outlandish statements, but also for his political and cultural stances. His religious and social objections to the Vietnam War as well as his candor regarding race and political issues made him a counterculture icon. Ali wasn't just a boxer, he was the first true "Sports Personality", establishing the groundwork for modern sports culture. As the writer Joyce Carol Oates said in her work "On Boxing", Ali was one of the few athletes in any sport to "define the terms of his public reputation." Ali's reputation extended far beyond the realm of sports; he is a seminal figure in modern African-American culture, with popularity that has racial lines for decades.
Upon his retirement from boxing, Ali has devoted his time and resources to humanitarian causes and Parkinson's Disease research. He is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor, Amnesty International's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Constitution Center Liberty Medal.
Louisville's Muhammad Ali Center, established by The Champ and his wife Lonnie, is an education center and museum devoted to the six principles established by Ali:
- Confidence: Belief in oneself, one's abilities, and one's future.
- Conviction: A firm belief that gives one the courage to stand behind that belief, despite pressure to do otherwise.
- Dedication: The act of devoting all of one's energy, effort, and abilities to a certain task.
- Giving: To present voluntarily without expecting something in return.
- Respect: Esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of, oneself and others.
- Spirituality: A sense of awe, reverence, and inner peace inspired by a connection to all of creation and/or that which is greater than oneself.
The Ali Center, StageOne, and the Kentucky Center for the Arts are celebrating Muhammad Ali's 73rd birthday on Saturday night with a gala that includes the world premiere of "And in this Corner... Cassius Clay", playwright Idris Goodwin's story of Ali's life.
From all of us at HerKentucky, Happy Birthday, Muhammad! You'll always be The Greatest to us!
Spicy Squash Salad with Lentils and Feta
Dig into this healthy, hearty winter salad!
I originally made this as part of my Thanksgiving series, but my family didn't care for it. Mainly because none of us like goat cheese, and this recipe called for goat cheese so I used it. *smack hand to forehead* I can't tell you what I was thinking when I did that....
So I made it again with feta cheese (still goat cheese but brined to get the strong taste calmed down), and we all loved it much better. This hearty salad is almost a complete meal in itself; you could add some grilled chicken or steak; you could serve it with some more vegetables for a meatless meal.
Spicy Squash Salad with Lentils and Feta
Close up
spicy squash salad with lentils and feta
from smitten kitchen
Serves 6 as an appetizer, 3 as a main
3/4 cup black or green lentils
6 cups peeled, seeded and 1 inch cubed butternut squash (local from about a 2-pound squash)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
4 oz feta cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves (optional; I used this, but added it after I took a photo)
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar, plus additional to taste
4 cups baby arugula (I skipped this because I forgot the recipe called for it--didn't miss much)
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Toss squash or pumpkin cubes with 2 tablespoons oil, cumin, paprika and salt.
- Arrange in a single layer on baking sheet and roast 20 minutes. Flip pieces and roast for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until tender. Cool.
- Meanwhile, soak lentils for 10 minutes in a small bowl, then drain.
- Cook lentils in boiling salted water until tender but firm, about 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and cool.
- Combine lentils, pumpkin, feta cheese, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon oil.
- Season with salt and pepper and extra vinegar, if desired (we felt it needed it).
- Serve immediately by dividing among plates. This salad is not great cold so if you make it beforehand, let it sit out for about 1 hour before serving.
Do you have any hearty salads that you love to make?
Jennifer is the chef behind a girl eats world. Head over for more recipes and tips!
Kentucky Trivia for a Snow Day
Fun Kentucky trivia to occupy your kids on a snow day!
Happy Thursday, y'all! We've got beautiful, crisp skies here in Louisville and it's a lovely January day!
Since we're all looking for some things to do while staying inside, here's a Kentucky trivia game to keep your kids occupied. Visit the Kentucky Tourism Kids' Page to download Kentucky-themed coloring sheets and word searches. Click here to download a copy of the HerKentucky Trivia Game and Answers.
10 Kentucky Trivia Questions
- "Kentucky" comes from an Iroquois word that means what?
- Kentucky was originally a part of what state?
- What is Kentucky’s official state beverage?
- What Kentucky county hosts an annual ham festival?
- Every Kentucky citizen is required by law to take a shower at least how often?
- In Kentucky, it is illegal to remarry the same person more than how many times?
- True or false: Dwarf, Monkey’s Eyebrow, Rabbit Hash, and Mousie are all real place names in Kentucky.
- What Kentucky city is built inside a meteor crater?
- True or false: A horse named Vagrant won the first Kentucky Derby.
- The first cheeseburger was served in what Kentucky city?
Answers
1. Meadowland
2. Virginia
3. Milk
4. Trigg County
5. Once a year
6. Three
7. True
8. Middlesboro
9. False. Aristides won the first Derby; Vagrant won the second.
10. Louisville
Here's to staying warm and learning a little bit about the Commonwealth!
Old Christmas
The Appalachian tradition of Old Christmas; a celebration of the Feast of Epiphany.
One of the holiday traditions that's stuck with me from growing up in Eastern Kentucky is the idea that January the 6th is Old Christmas. I'd always heard that it's the day you take your Christmas tree down, the day that the Magi arrived and, that, curiously, farm animals could talk on Old Christmas. It was always referred to as a custom that the old folks had followed; an old story among Appalachians of an era past.
Image via Dave Berry Photography.
Of course, this celebration refers to Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, the day on which the Magi arrived. The celebration actually predates the observation of the Feast of the Nativity, and is known to have been observed as early as 380 A.D.. The observation of Old Christmas was brought to the Appalachian Mountains by Scotch-Irish settlers; traditions that sprung up around Old Christmas included the idea that animals could be heard to pray and the superstition that anything you lend to someone on this day will never be returned.
Adoration of the Magi, Sandro Botticelli
So many old traditions and old linguistic patterns were still evident in the Appalachia of my youth. I try to keep a little bit of that by holding on to my Christmas decorations until Old Christmas. I haven't heard any cattle lowing just yet, but maybe someday...
Five Fun Facts about the Kentucky Cardinal
Celebrating the Commonwealth's state bird.
Happy National Bird Day, y'all! Now, that's not much of a holiday, but it does seem like a good time to celebrate Kentucky's state bird, the Cardinal.
Here are a few fun facts about the Cardinal.
1. Cardinals have a distinctive color.
Everyone knows that the males are red, while the females are a brownish-grey. In a very rare mutation called bilateral gynandromorphism, a bird presents the plumage of both sexes.
Image via The Huffington Post.
2. Their name derives from a clergyman's hat.
Cardinals were so named because the male's red crest resembles the mitre (headdress) of a Catholic Cardinal.
Common Cardinal Grosbeak, by John James Audubon.
3. They are grosbeaks, which means they have large, seed-eating beaks.
Only here in Louisville do they have teeth.
4. The Cardinal became the Kentucky State Bird in 1926.
A Senate resolution was passed on February 26, 1926; the House of Representatives concurred.
5. A Kentucky Cardinal, published in 1894, was an important story by James Lane Allen, Kentucky's "First Important Novelist."
The Lexington-born, Transylvania-educated James Lane Allen contributed to Harper's Magazine and the Atlantic Monthly. Like many Southern writers of his era, Allen's writing meant to mimic the local vernacular. A Kentucky Cardinal dealt with metaphors of bird species for human traits and referenced great naturalists from Audubon to Thoreau to Transylvania's own Constantine Rafinesque.
Here's to our beautiful state bird!
