A Visit With Carla and David at Rock'n K Farm!

 Louis Dean and I were up early this Wednesday morning and drove to Gause, Texas to visit our friends, the Kennedy's.

This is their Rockin' K Farm!

Both Carla and David are retired now and they are doing it up BIG!

We met them back in 2012 while Amber was still pregnant with the quads.

Or maybe it was even BEFORE that!

Mike and David worked together and Carla peeled the very first crawfish I ever ate!

We partied together many times and, yes, it was WAY before the quads!

Carla and David gave the going away party when Amber and Mike moved to Scotland for a year in 2009. So we go way back!

They are an amazing couple and so much fun!

This is what they called the 'Little Mansion' which was where they headquartered on the weekends while they were building their 'Forever Home.'

Carla's home is so interesting!

So much to see and all done in pure TEXAS style!

As was our lunch!

The BBQ was from a cow they raised right there on the farm.

They sent us home with all those beautiful veggies!

We had the BEST visit!

Carla and I both share a love of wine!

The photos may be a bit out of order but this is David's amazing garden.

And THIS was what he picked earlier that morning.

(Most of which is now in our fridge here at the ranch!)

Meet beautiful Lilly!

I do believe she is the prettiest dog I have ever met.

The Kennedy's run a working farm complete with cattle and farming.

Here comes Jerry......

He's like the rock star of Rock'n K!!

Here's Carla looking all glamorous!

She does love her Jerry!

And I love him, too!!

We arrived around 12:30 and left about 3:30!

The hours simply flew by!

It has been over 5 years since Carla and I have seen each other.

We keep up on Facebook and we each have a blog.

But this in person visit was such a blessing to me.

Carla and David were so good to Amber and Mike while they lived in Katy.

We formed a friendship that has continued all these years.

I have wine cozies Carla made for me and while I was visiting today, I saw the wine light I made for her. Friendship is a beautiful thing and can survive and bloom if you give it a little attention.

We have already made plans to get together in October.....

As we were going back to the ranch, we got a little bit turned around.....as is our custom...

but we stopped to take this pic of these gorgeous sunflowers!

We passed through Calvert on our way to Gause and stopped on our way back.

My eye caight this coffee place and my son, Jesse, dearly loves a good locally roasted coffee.

I talked to the owner and she recommended a 'flat white' for me and an Americano for Louis Dean.

The lemon pound cake was my idea!

What's the Difference Between a Flat White & a Latte?

Ah, the Flat White. 5 years ago, you’d struggle to get one outside of Australia & New Zealand, but now it’s everywhere - the very definition ofthird wave coffee. Smooth, velvety & strong - it’s a lovely drink; but exactly what makes it different to the humble Latte?

On the face of it, there’s nothing to separate a Flat White from a Latte.

Both drinks consist of either a single or double measure of strong espresso, topped with a good helping of steamed milk - so where’s the distinction? 

Size Matters

The first thing you’ll notice is the difference in size. A Latte normally comes in at around 240 ml - whereas a Flat White should only really be around 160 ml(this can change depending on what country you’re in, but works as a general rule of thumb). 

Now, you have to remember that both drinks have the same amount of espresso in them - this makes a big difference when it comes to the strength and flavour of each drink - making the Flat White a much stronger, coffee-heavy drink because of the higher proportion of coffee to milk.

It’s all in the milk...

Now we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty. The meat of the matter. Now, a Latte is served with steamed milk with an added layer of foamed milk(around 5mm)sitting on top. The Flat White, in contrast, is topped by a very thin, ‘flat’ (hence the name) layer of steamed milk, and nothing else.

It goes deeper than that though. The steamed milk used in a Flat White is more accurately referred to as ‘microfoam’, and whilst we could go into a ridiculous amount of detail here, it effectively means the milk has a much more velvety texture and glossy finish that is brought about in the steaming process by allowing tiny air bubbles to form in the milk.

So there you have it.

Carol, my New Zealand friend, now we have a wine AND a coffee in common! Cheers!

I came home to find these two sweet sister kitties curled up together on the girl bunk.

I am so glad we got TWO kittens this time last year!

We enjoy our evening campfires.

Counting down the days until we go home.

Four more campfires....

and I intend to do a good bit of art during the time we have left here!

I'm late - it's after midnight.

Carla has been an angel and sent me instructions on downloading the list of subscribers to my blog by email. That 'follow by email' option is going away soon.

Hopefully, I will figure something out.....or maybe you who follow will copy and paste the blog address and follow along on purpose.