I've wanted to try some sepia effects ever since seeing Linda's horse and burro photos a couple of days ago on her blog, The 7MSN Ranch.
I've been missing our old Adobe Photoshop ever since our old laptop crashed, so I thought I'd try out iPhoto on the new Mac Notebook. Very easy, fun effects. Here are my results.
1. Church in Cerrillos, NM, along the Turquoise Trail.
If you have a hankering for some chuck wagon cooking, here are a few of the upcoming cook-offs. You can see more at the American Chuck Wagon Association's website, Chuckwagon.org.
Ever since attending the "Duke of the Dutch Oven" Chuck Wagon Cook-Off, my husband and I have become a big fans. We plan to attend the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium up in Ruidoso this October if we can get tickets for this popular event. It's the site of what they call "World's Richest Chuckwagon Cook-Off," where the contestants are judged on their overall authenticity and their cooking, with prizes totaling $10,000. After all my research on these events, some of the past competitors are starting to sound familiar--the C Bar C outfit, Diamond W Ranch, the J.L. Cattle Company, and the Rocking T. I see that my favorite team, Cocklebur Camp out of Odessa, Texas, won second place in 2006 for their incredible peach cobbler.
The Food Network did a special on the chuck wagon cooking that happens in Ruidoso. You can see information about that episode on their website here, and view pictures of past events on Ruidoso.net.
In addition to all the cooking and eating activities, the symposium will feature storytellers, cowboy poets, horse trainers, and country bands. There will be blacksmithing, rope trick demonstrations, leather crafting, and even some tomahawk throwing!
We had our first cowboy cooking yesterday at the "Duke of the Dutch Oven"--the 1st annual Clovis Chuck Wagon Cook-Off at the Curry County Fairgrounds. It was the best!
Our clothes still smell like campfire smoke and we had our first chicken-fried steak. It was our first chicken-fried anything and absolutely delicious--so were the potatoes and cream gravy, served up hot out of big iron kettles. The yeast rolls were baked in a Dutch oven with live coals shoveled onto the lid. The pinto beans were the best I've ever had.
I think the peach cobbler might have had a little Jack Daniels in it. The wagon boss of the Cocklebur Camp out of Odessa, Texas said that it was a special "vanilla" that was only made in Tennessee. It was so delicious and had such a kick that when I ate mine a little too fast I had to rest in the shade for a while, listening to a young fiddler who was going from group to group.
We met the nicest people, enjoyed the sunniest day, heard the best bluegrass, and watched some mighty fine calf roping. We're heading back this morning for some more cowboy cooking.
