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A la Carte Editor: Sally Scherer, (859) 231-3303. A la Carte Writer: Sharon Thompson, (859) 231-3321. E-mail: hlfeatures@herald-leader.com INDEXCONTACT Weddings | Engagements . . . . . . . . . . . J3

A LA CARTESUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2005 | WWW.KENTUCKY.COM | LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER SECTION J

FOOD | DINING | ENTERTAINING | CELEBRATIONS

SPANNING THE YEARS COOKBOOK — J2

AT THE INN

PHOTOS BY FRANK ANDERSON | STAFF

The dining room and living room area at the inn evoke instant feelings of nostalgia. “It’s just like my grandmother’s house shouldhave been,” said one guest from Los Angeles. The homemade biscuits, left, are from a recipe of Barbara Napier’s sister.

Owner Barbara Napier demonstrated the art of rocking on the porch, one of themain activities at Snug Hollow. More often you can find her cooking for guests.

Farmers marketsas meat marketsRestaurateurs brag about buying

fresh vegetables at farmers markets,but the Kentucky Department ofAgriculture is hoping more of themadd local meat and seafood to theirmenus.

It is encouraging restaurateursand chefs to use locally producedmeats by offering cooking demon-strations Saturday in Owensboro,Aug. 20 in Ashland, Aug. 27 inLouisville, Sept. 1 in Erlanger, and

Sept. 17 in Paducah.Chef Nancy Russman will prepare

beef, pork, catfish and freshwatershrimp as well as specialty meats,such as pastured poultry and goat.Russman is former director of theKids Cafe program for the Dare toCare Food Bank in Louisville.

“We hope restaurateurs will seenot only the demonstrations but thevariety of food available for them atfarmers markets,” KDA farmers mar-ket coordinator Janet Eaton said.Meat and fish aren’t sold at marketsin the demonstration cities, as theyare at farmers markets in Lexingtonand Frankfort. “We’re trying to getthem open to selling this kind ofproduct,” Eaton said.

Every producer who agrees to sellmeat or fish at farmers markets willreceive a free trailer and freezer for

supplying the KDA with sales data.“Participating producers will be

giving us information we can giveback to potential producers,” Eatonsaid.

This cheese stands aloneCheesemakers from around the

country gathered in Louisville lastmonth for the annual AmericanCheese Society conference. Theybrought along their finest cheeses forcompetition, and Uplands CheeseCo. of Wisconsin took top honors fora farmstead cheese it has been mak-ing for five years. Pleasant Ridge Re-serve is made from May to October,when the cows can graze on pasture.A listing of other conference winnersis posted at www.cheesesociety.org.

SHARONTHOMPSON

HERALD-LEADERFOOD WRITER

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TIDBITS

By Cleora HughesKNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

ST. LOUIS — Most of us would glad-ly sail away with Shirley Temple on her“Good Ship Lollipop” with its bonbons,peppermints and chocolate bars. In short,we love our sweets.

But many people must cut their sugarintake because of medical conditions ordiet restrictions. Artificial sweeteners canfill the void.

The best-known are saccharin (sold asSweet’N Low, among other brandnames), dating back nearly 100 years,and its newer counterparts, aspartame(Equal) and sucralose (Splenda). All canwork well in homemade pie fillings,cheesecakes, sauces, marinades andglazes.

However, artificially sweetened home-made candy might have a coarse texture,

You can indulge yoursweet tooth, sugar-free

See SWEETENERS, J2

NICK KOON | KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE

Sucralose, sold as Splenda, ismade from sugar, but in its pureform it’s 600 times sweeter thansugar and has no calories.

Name: Snug Hollow Bed &Breakfast in Red Lick Valley inEstill County.

Owner/innkeeper: BarbaraNapier; she also is director ofEstill Development Alliance,which recently organized the Es-till Chamber of Commerce.

Family: Jack Russell terriernamed Hillary, sons Todd andMike Childers, three grandchil-dren.

The inn: The two-story farm-house and log cabin are on a300-acre farm, 20 miles east ofBerea, and a mile or so off Ky.594. The three bedrooms in themain house reflect the comfortsof a genuine mountain home;the restored chestnut log cabinhas a downstairs living room,upstairs bedroom and partialkitchen.

The farmhouse’s living room,dining room, sunroom, libraryand porches are open to guests.There is no air conditioning ortelevisions.

“People call and say, ‘What isthere to do?’ I say ‘Nothing,’and there’s this long silence, and

they kinda laugh,” Napier said.“Then I say there are manyporches, 10 rocking chairs, twolibraries, fireflies, shootingstars, and bats and birds.

“This is one of the lastplaces where things grow wildand roam. I can give my guestsa flashlight, and they can seedeer bedded down in the yard.”

The meals: Breakfast is pro-vided, and other meals are op-tional. Napier’s meals are vege-tarian, but few people noticewhen they eat homemade bis-cuits and gravy, smoked cheddarfrittata, oatmeal pancakes, oat-meal cornmeal waffles, stuffedpeppers, corn on the cob, cornbread, peach pie, eggplantparmesan, macaroni and cheese,fried apples, fried potatoes,fresh-baked bread, and chocolatetarts.

“Cooking is a full-time job. Icook before I go to bed. I cookin the morning. I cook all day inorder to get things ready fordinner. We like to serve it fresh.In winter I cook right before

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Unless you count eating, rocking,reading, daydreaming and stargazing

GOOD FOR‘NOTHING’

See NAPIER, J2

GOOD FOR‘NOTHING’