In 2010 I traveled to Conway, Arkansas and worked at Conway Regional Hospital ICU. I had never been to Arkansas and noticed from the moment of entering the state line to get fuel, that the people there were extremely KIND. Obviously I didn’t have a southern accent but the people were so nice that at first it made me a bit uncomfortable. I’m not rude by any means, but I wasn’t accustomed to that type of kindness!

My apartment was fabulous, I had a housekeeper who came in every 3 days to clean my place, take out the trash, do any dishes I had if any, wash the laundry, mop and vacuum the floors, it was a type of corporate housing I had never seen before. I was told by AMN, don’t get too comfortable this won’t happen for you every day in the future. This was a ‘special’ circumstance, and I loved it.

My first trip to the grocery store after I arrived was to buy steak,  salad and a bottle of wine. I took my grocery cart up and down aisles looking for the perfect bottle of wine, zipping up and down searching everywhere and I got to the check out and asked “Can you tell me where the wine is? I can’t find it”. I was told “You won’t find any here, this is a Dry county”.  I didn’t even know what that meant but I looked at my husband and thought, you better take me home. In the county of Conway they don’t sell alcohol and I soon learned about “T-totalers” a phrase I had never heard of (if you don’t know what that is, look it up). It didn’t matter so “Sweet Tea” it was for dinner that night.

I became very good friends with a nurse there, will call her Chris H. (she knew where the liquor store was towards Little Rock, AR) HA! She also refuses to have Facebook and I admire her for that! We email ‘old school’ and I love keeping in touch with her that way. I miss her terribly but she made my time there so much fun. I really got into the Arkansas Vibe thanks to her, she showed me around to many places, introduced me to her fabulous friends (fall on the ground hysterical friends) MUST SEE VIDEO,  invited me to her incredible Farmhouse, and I hope to blog about several more places there because one area has so much more to offer than just one restaurant. I am Looking forward to blogging about Toad Suck Bucks in the future as well.

But for this blog, Chris took me to a restaurant called The Oak Street Bistro. SAD to say it has since closed, but the lunch we had there was fabulous. According to this article they may consider a cookbook to provide recipes of some of the local favorites at their restaurant. They DID publish this recipe in a later newspaper article and was given to me by my dear friend Chris! Here it is!

Cheddar Dill Soup

• 1/4 cup Knorr Roasted Chicken Stock Base
• 2 lbs. White American Cheese (cut into 1 inch cubes)
• 1/2 c. FRESH chopped Dill
• 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• Salt to taste

Follow directions on the chicken stock base and bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

Add the cheese, stirring constantly to avoid scorching, and cook until cheese is completely melted.

Stir in Dill

Season with Cayenne Pepper and Salt.

If the soup is too thick or cheesy, thin with additional stock

Enjoy!!