My Last Hot Brown......

.....well, maybe not forever.

My awesome co-workers had a going away lunch for me and served up my favorite!  It was a really nice send-off!  I have worked 'on the road' for several years and it is so nice to have a home away from home and be able to work with such a fantastic group of people from all over the U.S.

Enough of all that - back th the Hot Brown.
If you were wondering - here are all of the healthy ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan Cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano)
1 egg, room temperature and beaten
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 cup prepared whipped cream
8 slices toasted white bread, crust trimmed off
1 pound cooked turkey breast, thinly sliced
Grated Parmesan cheese for topping
1 (2-ounce) jar diced pimientos, drained
8 bacon slices, fried crisp

Yum.  It is so good and SO BAD.  I dream about it.  I haven't even logged it into my calorie counter app - It is so good, I could give a shizz about the calories.  Thank you to the good people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky for this fine culinary invention.

The reason I am paying my respects to the Hot Brown is because I spent my last week in the 'Tucky and am going to miss it.  Other than the fact that I was a timezone or 2 away from all of my favorite people and my commute to Montana was really long, I had a great 15 months in the state and am sort of sad to leave it in my rear-view. 

My family came to visit me on my last weekend and I wanted to share some of Kentucky's finest with you from their visit.  We had a great time and I am happy to have such a great family who is willing to travel across the country to visit me.  Thanks Auntie Val, Dib and Johnna.  Love you guys!

On our first day we ventured to Chruchhill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum.  I had been to Churchhill Downs before for the Derby - it was AHH-Mazeing and so fun!  This time, things were a little calmed down (there weren't 100k people there) so we actually got to see the track!  It was really neat and such an old and classic facility. 

Fun fact:  Did you know that people sneak in at night and spread the ashes of their loved ones on the track? 

After our visit to the Kentucky Derby Museum and Churchill Downs, we took a river boat tour on the Ohio River in Louisville.  We caught it right at sunset and it was really beautiful!  To the left you see Louisville, KY and to the right is Jeffersonville, IN.

The next day we made it to the highest point in Carroll County and over-looked the Ohio River Valley and my cute little town of Carrollton.  General Butler State Park is nestled right in the middle of town and it was my favorite place to go while I was living there.  

This is General Butler State Park in the fall.  Such beautiful colors!  It was really nice to jog there because I got a lot of rest (I stopped to take pictures every 5 minutes - I love excuses to rest)  ;)

This kind of looks like an engagement photo, doesn't it?  If you were wondering, I play the role of the big burley woman who should re-think horizontal stripes. 

Next stop was the Kentucky Horse Park.  While Val was reading every single display word for word in the horse museum, we set out to see the exhibits.  My favorite was the Horses of the World Exhibit.  There were horses from every single country in there.  This little guy was from Norway and was a Viking pack horse.  I especially liked how he styled his mane.  (and that he was a blonde)

The next day we checked out a Tobacco Barn.  This thing was jam-packed with tobacco and smelled just like a cigar.

The picture above was taken a month or so ago - right in the middle of harvest.  This is what tobacco looks like in the field.  I would estimate it at about 6' tall with really big palm-like leaves.  The plant on the right has just been chopped down.  The harvest happens all by hand and looks really labor intensive.  The plant is chopped and left in the field to dry for a day or so and then hauled to large tobacco barns all over the country.  (like the one above)

We took a nice drive through horse-country.  The horse farms are massive and picturesque.  Not a blade of grass out of place.  I am sure they are not expensive at all!  I think the barns are nicer than most houses.

 We made our way to the Woodford Reserve Distillery.  It is a smaller distillery, owned by Jack Daniels (in TN).  We got to see the whole bourbon process from fermenting to barrelling (then tasting!)

Bourbon is intended to be sipped slowly and enjoyed.  Although I still haven't acquired a taste for it - it was nice to share the Kentucky experience with my family!  (Val shot it back really fast and asked for more, haha)

Goodbye Kentucky - thank you for all of your hospitality, I've enjoyed every.single.day!  Thank you to my wonderful family for coming to visit me! 

Cheers to making the most if it, great experiences and moving forward in life! *clink*