The most beautiful small town in America has a dark side.

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Nestled in the heart of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a beautifully swanky town voted in Rand Mcnally and USA Today as the “Most Beautiful Small Town in America”.  Bardstown, KY is known for its beauty, its bourbon, and its history!  Coming straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie, Bardstown not only has lush history but somewhat of a dark history as well.

There are several places in Bardstown that are claimed to be “haunted” and have a vast amount of paranormal activity.  The Talbott Tavern, located right in the heart of Bardstown, has been deemed the most haunted tavern in America.  Based on that, this was the choice to investigate.

The Talbott Tavern has a lengthy and interesting history.  Dating back from the opening of this tavern in 1779, this place also serves as a bed and breakfast with rooms that Jesse James and Daniel Boone have stayed in.  The Talbott has seen several wars, the most impressive that has touched Kentucky is the War of 1812, in which some people call The Second Revolutionary War.

Stories told by employees range from having felt things, seeing things on a regular basis, and hearing strange sounds like barfights when nobody is around and sounds of laughing children running around the tavern.  The employees also share tales of soldiers haunting the rooms, as well as bandits from the Old West playing mischievous tricks on guests.  Additionally, there are Youtube videos of a strange “Shadowman” that lives and crawls in the hallway and the old ballroom.  Unexplained occurrences seem to happen on an everyday basis there.

When talking to Amanda, a waitress at the tavern, she divulged some tales that she had personally experienced.  One such tale was significant enough to clearly see her have full body chills as she revealed the story of how she served late at night and witnessed a man come in when they were closing, and no others were around.  She saw him in the reflection and noted his long brown coat and blonde hair.  In the reflection of the glass she saw him come in to sit but when she turned around there was nobody there.  She spoke of another event, where in the concord, which is the old ballroom, she saw a man standing in the corner with dark hollow eyes staring at her until she did a double take and he was gone.  Several stories about flying kitchen utensils and people being pushed down the stairs were told by employees.

When speaking to Kristina Brooks, one of the managers of the tavern, she spoke of the history of the old west and Jesse James.  The story goes that Jesse had a jailer relative that worked next door at the Old Jailers Inn when it used to be a jail and the hangings of many inmates were public for anyone to come and view.  Jesse was a wanted man but that didn’t stop him from frequenting the tavern, and since he had a relative that worked next door, he got away with a lot.

There is a room dedicated to Mr. James called the Jesse James room.  In this room is a giant wall mural.  It is said that Jesse was so drunk he thought the birds from the mural were flying out at him and he shot up the mural.  You can plainly see the bullet holes in the mural that had even survived the fire of 1998.

Kristina also tells the story of paranormal activity that is a constant in the part of the building that was ceiling before the fire.  She says there have been guests that claim there is some sort of portal there.  This area is now the stairs that lead up to the rooms and the same place where many have felt a shove as if someone or something is pushing them down the stairs.

Are all of these stories real, or are they conjured up the active imaginations of the staff and the guests?  Can the video on YouTube be a fake?  John Shandor, a Bardstown regular and skeptic does not think the video is faked but that it could be the image of a possum or some wild animal let loose in the upstairs that the light caught just right.  He also states that while staff believe what they are saying, they could be imagining certain shadows since a lot of these claims are happening late at night when people tend to get tired.  He claims that the weary mind and tired eyes are capable of hallucinations and hearing things that are not there.  He believes that people will see what they want to see and with the age of the building any creak or settling sound can sound like an unexplained phenomenon.  He is sure that a building that old is certain to have a few critters poking around.   When asked what he thinks about the sounds of children’s laughter mysteriously appearing in the hallways (story in video) he answers, “The sounds of children are a joy in this world which carries in sound and could easily have been made by children outside of the building.   A building 200 years old is sure to catch the occasional echoes.”

Is there paranormal activity happening in the Talbott Tavern or is it the imagination of staff and guests worldwide?  Come see for yourself.

 

The Doctor, Sherlock, and Queen Victoria walk into a bar….. Doctor WHO?

“You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world!”
— The Doctor, Season 2, Episode 2

“In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important”
— The Doctor, Season 6, Christmas Special

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Some of the best actors in the world are British.  The best most intriguing television series, movies, and live theater take place in the United Kingdom, or at the very least are performed by actors in the UK.  The problem is that there are only a limited number of actors it would seem.

If you are a fan of the BBC or British films, then you have undoubtedly seen the same barrage of thespians playing similar or even very different roles.  Even American film and television have picked up these players and taught them how to speak in American accents so that they can better play our roles.

This only proves that they are better actors than Americans.  Actors such as Ian McShane, Andrew Lincoln, Hugh Laurie, Hugh Dancy, and Thandie Newton, just to name a few, all are from the London areas and speak generally in British accents yet play characters with American accents in American television and film.

Actor Andrew Lincoln attends the AMC premiere of “The Walking Dead” at ArcLight Cinemas Cinerama Dome on October 26, 2010 in Hollywood, California. AMC Presents The Premiere Of “The Walking Dead” – Red Carpet and After Party ArcLight Cinemas Cinerama Dome Hollywood, CA United States October 26, 2010 Photo by John Shearer/WireImage.com To license this image (62211478), contact WireImage.com

British television series such as Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Sherlock, and Victoria are just a few of Americas favorite television and are the best of the best when it comes to what you should be watching on television.

Yes, you are going to see the same characters appearing again and again in different roles but do yourself a favor and Netflix and chill to some British telly.

Luscious Strawberry “Pound your Lover” Cake

“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Chocolate is the most obvious aphrodisiac, but who wants chocolate in the hot late spring and early summer?  In Kentucky is can get to temps as high as over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and at that point the only real aphrodisiac is the succulent squirting of a juicy strawberry.

The following recipe is a sure way to get to your significant others’ heart as well as other areas 😉.  The one ingredient you need to use while making this delectable recipe is mix it with care, love, and any other feelings you want to inspire within your lover!

First you need to make the strawberries, so they have time to cool and thicken.  You need to take:

6 cups of either freshly picked strawberries

oh, who are we kidding, who has time to go do that.  Just got to Kroger and buy 2 of the large strawberry packs and it should make about what you need.

¾ to 1 cup of granulated sugar

4 tablespoons of cornstarch

½ cup of water

In a small bowl, mash up all of the strawberries.  Make sure you hull them first.  Or make your kids do it for you if you got em’.  After all they make great apprentices in the kitchen for doing the boring stuff.

 

In a saucepan, whisk together the cornstarch and the sugar.  Stir in the water and the strawberries and constantly stir while it is on the stove top on medium to medium high heat. I mean basically just stir the heck out of it slowly but don’t even stop and eventually it’ll get super thick. 

 

Once that happens, pour in glass bowl or some other bowl that’s handy and put it in the fridge. 

 

Did you remember to mix in all that love, lust, and hot sexy feeling to what you are cooking?  DON’T FORGET

For the whipping cream

 

Large container of heavy whipping cream.  The heavier the better.

½ cup to 2 cups of powder sugar.  Just keep tasting it and see how your partner likes it.  It’s your partner, you should know.

Whip cream with electric mixer or stand mixer for about 5 minutes.  Slowly add sugar and keep mixing until super thick.  Scoop up in Tupperware and throw that stuff in the fridge.

 

 

For the cake base:

3 cups of flour

1 tsp baking powder

Couple little pinches of salt

2 ½ cups sugar

2 cubes of butter.

DO NOT USE MARGARINE OR YOU WILL DIE A SLOW AND HORRIBLE DEATH FROM SOME TOXIC CANCER!!  INSTEAD USE REAL BUTTER!!!!

1 teaspoon of almond extract OR BOURBON OR RUM

5 large eggs

1 cup milk

 

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour bottom and sides of 2 loaf pans. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with milk on low speed, beating just until smooth after each addition. Pour into pans and bake for 55 minutes or until WHEN YOU FORK IT, IT COMES OUT CLEAN.

 

Let cool on wire racks, take out, slice into slices.  Pour strawberry mixture on top and then top with whip cream.

Serve to your lover and then seduce them!

 

 

Serve to your lover and then seduce them

TRIGGER WARNING: The following blog is about SEX

If you go to Tractor Supply, or any type of farming store in the spring time, you will be in there just about the time they get in massive quantities of baby chickens.  And if you are new to farming or just want to have chickens for breeding, egg laying, and eating, it’s a pretty easy set up to get started even if you live in the city.

 

 

Depending on if you live in the city or the country on property, you may only want to get about 15 chickens.  In the country you will want to get a lot more.  The reason for this is because often times not all baby chickens make it past the first month or so of their life.

It’s important you know exactly what you want.  For example, what type of chicken, what breed, and most imperative what sex.  You do NOT want to come home with 30 roosters!  Roosters are mean creatures and you should only have one rooster per ten females.

Where you purchase your chickens are important.  You need to make sure you have a qualified person know exactly what the sex of the chicken is or no eggs for you!  Tractor Supply has been known for sending people home with many roosters and it’s not that they are trying to punish you, they just really have no idea what they’re talking about.

 

So, watch a YouTube video to determine for yourself how to check the gender of your new chickens or find someone you know and trust.  Remember, roosters are extremely territorial and if too many roosters roost the hen house, there could be some scary cock fights.

Get Paid to Drink Beer!!!

College is a challenging time to juggle homework, jobs, and every college student favorite past time, BEER!!  No not juggling beer but drinking it.

 

 

One of the many awesome things that Louisville is known for is we have some of the best and largest craft beer festivals in the country.   Louisville’s beer festivals are a combination of local food, local businesses, and most importantly LOTS and LOTS of local crafted beer from local breweries that come over to get rid of all of their beer to locals who pay the entrance fee.  Attendees typically get a card that allows certain number of punches (2 oz beer tastes) which are enough to give one a REALLY good time.

Tickets for these festivals without the VIP upcharge (which can be well worth it in some festivals) can run upwards of $60.00 a person, sometimes even more.  What is a student to do when they really like to drink beer but can’t always afford the exciting drunkdom of Louisville’s own many craft beer festivals?  Volunteer!!  Once you are on the list as a really great beer pourer you move up the ladder.

 

You can drink all the beer you want as long as you don’t get belligerent.  In turn, you make many connections with all of the right people and eventually you can end up making a couple hundred extra bucks a weekend just for tasting beer, pouring beer, and engaging with people who like to drink beer.

 

 

League of Thespians

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a personal assistant to a celebrity?  To wait on them and delve into the lifestyle of a movie star?  Is it as glamorous as the movies make it seem?

Well the short answer is NO.  It is extremely hard work and sometimes very little pay and very little time for fun, family, or even the remnants of a somewhat appealing social life.  However, if this is what you enjoy then there are places you can start.

There are several conventions that bring celebrities in, in the Midwest or southern states.  Even right here in Louisville.  There are comic book conventions, horror conventions, and Star Trek conventions, just to name a few.

If you want to get some experience, your first step would be to volunteer at these conventions.  If you have zero experience as a celebrity handler then you probably have to build a reputation with the convention showrunners in order to try your hand at celebrity handling, as that is the toughest most time-consuming job of a convention, and typically have to volunteer every shift a convention is in town to your assigned celebrity.

 

Sometimes the higher up the alphabet of the celebrity, for instance A or B-lister, the more demanding they are and the harder you must work.  There is a plus side to it though.  There are quite a few perks.  After all, with the fun party going celebs, you usually get to hang out with them and party after.  If you are more of a non-party goer than you at least build a reputation with the agents and the celebs themselves if you do a really good job.

 

 

There are many companies that hire celebrity agents and fly them all over the country and even the world, put them up and start paying them.  The pay is very little but if you enjoy it than you hardly notice.  So, put in that hard work, get the attention of some big-time agents and make yourself memorable to them, be loyal and thorough, and you got yourself your dream job.

Where you can go to work AND get HIGH!

 

If you are in the military and are lucky enough to get chosen for a special mission, you might be put into a small squad where creativity is rarely permitted to flow.  Once a week, usually towards the end of the week on a Thursday or Friday, part of a day is dedicated to “Sergeant Training Time”.  Typically, this is the most boring part of a week where soldiers are creating death by PowerPoints and teaching a subject they are familiar with.  If you get into a special mission where things are not done as routinely as a larger platoon, you can exercise some creativity and do more hands-on learning projects.

 

 

 

Hands on learning is the most beneficial way to learn and retain information.  In South Korea, army soldiers are sometimes stationed in Camp Stanley, which is near the DMZ (the section of land that separates North Korea from South Korea).  Not the favorite of the camps unless you have a very cool mission and are separated from the typical soldier.

 

At the base of the post is the back-end entrance to the Suraksan Mountains which has an extremely steep and rocky elevation of over 600 meters.  This is one of the tallest peaks in the Seoul area.  On the way to the rock formation is a much harsher path to climb.

 

To reach the rocks you need to follow a hiking path and climb almost 900 steep steps.  There is also a lot of off trail hiking and climbing you must do, so although the very narrow, intimidating, and extremely steep steps are brutal, they are welcome compared to the non-trails you must fight through.

The climb is definitely worth the two to three hours of hiking and climbing.  You can see so much beauty including some ancient Buddhist temples, vibrant colors from the land beneath you, and the trip to Korea alone is worth it for these views.

Going Down a Rabbit Hole with Serial Murderers

 “All too often, the rabbit hole is as deep as you have dug it.” “Once you go down the rabbit hole, don’t expect anything to make sense.”

If you have not yet read John Douglas’, “Mindhunter”, I highly recommend it.  John Douglas is the FBI agent that Silence of the Lambs’ Jack Crawford was inspired from.  Netflix also has a series inspired by this book and it is binge worthy.  John Douglas is a profiler who coined the term for serial murderers, “serial killers”.

I almost have a degree in criminology but really I just took the classes because I loved the subject of true crime and I completely changed my degree when I decided I don’t want to work in the field, I just enjoy the material.  I can and often do go down a rabbit hole with the website Murderpedia, The Charley Project, and Reddit.  I loved Unsolved Mysteries, Forensic Files, and all the raw court material on Court TV which then turned into TruTV.  I never have been able to sit through Law and Order or CSI or any of those types of shows because it was just too ridiculous and fake.

What sparked my interest could have been that I have had run-ins with some serial killers.  When I was little we lived next door to a guy who murdered at least a couple of women.  His name was John Gasser and he worked in the same field my parents did, government workers for the State of Washington.  Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, Wesley Allan Dodd, these were all serial killers in my area during my time.  I even went to the same Christian summer camp in Washougal, WA that Wesley Allan Dodd preyed on kids at.  Fortunately, I did not attend when he worked there.  A serial killer not as known was a guy we called “Cowboy Mike”.  Michael Braae ended up being convicted of murdering four women.  When I knew him, my friends and I were early to mid-teens and he was in his twenties.  I have had other dealings with murderers in that area and I think that is where my fascination and disgust for serial killer’s stem from.

 

 

If you are like me and obsess over crimes of the factual nature, I would highly suggest listening to podcasts in that subject.  Some fantastic ones are Dirty John, True Crime Garage, and Sword and Scale just to get started.  You too will fall into a rabbit hole.

 

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here.

 

Ever Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight?

“I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.” ~ The late and great Freddie Mercury
 

I am madly in love with the series Downton Abbey and television around that era.  I have always been mesmerized with history.  Downton Abbey was a time when the Victorian Era was leaving us and the days of the sinking of the Titanic, the flapper movement, WW1 and leading up to the golden twenties and the post-Edwardian era came about.  So, when I received an invitation to a charity event by Lexingtons KET “A Royal Affair”, at Spindletop Hall, I was ecstatic!

Tickets for these types of events are around $150.00.  This may seem steep for some people for dinner and some drinks, but it is for KET public television and public television is actually the most important channel on television.  I don’t subscribe to cable or any other television outlet, so I don’t get it, but it is the only channel I miss.

I was overjoyed to go out with three other girlfriends and just hang out all night drinking and dancing with other people who have a fondness for history.

 

We met all kinds of different people and even the “Captain of the Titanic”.  This guy was a private investigator who kind of creeped me out in the following weeks as he got ahold of me, of my personal information, and said some very sweet but creepy things to me.  Enough to wear I made my facebook profile so private that I even took my last name off.  I haven’t been serial killed so I’m good!

Maybe I was too flirty?

 

We ended up cabbing from our hotel to Spindletop Hall and back.  Apparently, they were quite taken by us, our craziness, our outgoingness, that we got an entire disc of the pictures they had taken for free.  Which they sell on their website.  As well as several other tokens and gifts.  It was a lot of fun and we had a great time.  I am looking forward to other charity events by KET.

 

My Food is DRUNK!!

BOURBON SOAKED BUTTER PECANS

I love to incorporate bourbon into food. When I am grilling or cooking meat, or any non-sweet recipes I like to use a rye bourbon due to its spiciness. The rye bourbon I regularly cook with is Buffalo Trace. When I am baking or making treats that are on the sweet side, I enjoy using a wheat bourbon, typically W.L. Weller Special Reserve. It has some delicious sweet notes and with the charred oak flavor and the maple undertones, it pairs rather well with nuts. Another rule I follow when baking or cooking is I will not substitute butter. If a recipe calls for butter or if I create my own recipe or version of a recipe (which is usually what happens) I NEVER use margarine. Always butter. The chemicals in margarine are disgusting and I can make a whole different blog about that.

This bourbon pecan recipe is fairly simple and easy to make. Prep time is about 5 to 10 minutes and baking time about 8 minutes to a few more minutes depending on your oven and when you start getting the smells of deliciousness. Other than that, there is about a 12 to 24 hour wait soaking the pecans. So Bourbon, Butter, Pecans, and LOVE ……. YUM!

 

Ingredients:

16 oz bag of whole pecans (or crushed, I like to crush them myself …… it’s fun)

1 cube of BUTTER – NO SUBSTITUTES!

2 cups of wheat bourbon (W.L. Weller Special Reserve or Maker’s Mark)

Large mason jar and parchment paper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375o. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

If you have whole pecans, pour into Ziplock freezer bag and smash to bits with rolling pin. If you would rather you can use a mallet but you may get holes in the bag and then pecans fly everywhere. So keep it clean and use a rolling pin. Or be messy.

In microwavable bowl (glass is best) melt half a cube of butter, 30 seconds or until butter is completely melted. Pour crushed pecans in bowl and mix. Add the other half cube of butter on top and microwave for another 30 seconds. Consistently mix butter all over pecans. Evenly spread pecans over parchment paper and set in over for 8 minutes. You may want to stir around after 8 minutes and set back in for another couple of minutes. Let cool completely. Once cooled, pour pecans into large Mason jar and fill with the bourbon. Seal it properly and swirl around until every bit is coated. Tip upside down. After about 12 hours later, turn right side up for up to another 12 hours. If pecans have not absorbed all of the bourbon or if you are feeling fancy and decided to add much more bourbon, the left over bourbon makes a great coating for cakes or even cookies. Just brush it on and YUMINESS! These go amazing in chocolate chip cookies or carrot cake!