Category: another day in the life

January is not quiet here. Not at all.

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While that first week in January seems like an abrupt change from the quiet pace of the week before, it’s also the week you realize that you haven’t done much of anything for oh, the better part of a month, that wasn’t holiday related. At some point in that week, I start to remember that the other two people that live in my house have birthdays this month, although at that point, they feel like they are at the end of the month and still so far away, despite the fact that at least one of the birthday people is highly bothered you haven’t done a thing about her birthday party yet.

Which leads me to the second week in January, when I sort of have an ‘Oh Shit’ moment and realize those birthdays are NEXT WEEK and I really need to get my act together.  I tend to approach their birthday week the way I do Christmas, with a menu & baking plan – after all, there are cupcakes to be had for her class, something for her actual birthday dinner, something for the party she insists we have in her honor and although he says he doesn’t need anything, something for Pat.  Edie came home from the hospital on his birthday and for the first few years of her life, I’d point to her as his gift, stick a candle in what was usually the last piece of her cake and call it a day.  Really, I need a plan, otherwise the week just spins out of my control and Pat’s birthday gets overlooked. Again.  Which is so not fair to him.

This year, they are both having milestone birthdays (She’s 10!! and he’s 10 years older!) and after all those years of neglecting Pat’s birthday, I want to do something to celebrate him.  My sisters & I have birthdays the same week and my mother was able to pull off 3 celebrations in one week, every year, not to mention an actual party for at least one, if not two of us on top of that.  Surely I can do two birthdays in a week, yes?   I think what gets me is that it’s just after the holidays and I’m ready to give up desserts and eat rice & beans for a few weeks and curl up with a pile of books and watch lots of bad movies, while these two birthdays smack dab in the middle of January means the party keeps on rolling….

And it’s not like I’m just working on birthday celebrations.  Putting things off the month of December into January means I also spent the week meeting with people and beginning the process of taking the business to the next level, which is exciting and scary all at the same time. I have my next wine column due in a few days and while I have topic in mind, I have a slew of research to do, not to mention writing the thing.   I had volunteered to chair Bingo Night at school for the PTO back in November, thinking, oh, it’s not until January.  Which turns out, is this month.  The one with all the birthdays.  At one point Pat looked at me and asked what I was thinking when I took that on.  I’m not sure.  One of these days, “January” will click with me as actually very busy.

I think this is why I don’t do resolutions – because January is just as crazy as December is for me and after the lull of the first week, when I think I can just settle into winter coziness comes the realization that I need to continue to keep it in high gear for just a few more weeks. 

I’m really looking forward to February.

Out with the old.

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This past year has had some big changes in our lives- Pat changed jobs after thirteen and a half years with the Bay Foundation.  I lost mine, and then decided to go out on my own.  That’s had a pretty big ripple effect and we’re still figuring out what the new normal is around here.  I imagine the new year will be continuing along that path.  I have a few things in mind that I’d like to see happen in the new year, but I don’t count them as resolutions as much as I do the effect of taking the last few weeks off.  Many of them are actually along the lines of what my friend Erin wrote the other day.    I really couldn’t say it better myself.

Happy 2012.

Our Holiday.

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Betty’s home for Christmas. Actually, Betty’s home for good. NYC was great, but Charlottesville called.  And so all is right with my world.
Somehow, Christmas Eve,  I ended up completely re-doing the Christmas lights on Betty’s tree (oh, my Christmas OCD kicking in….) while Edie came down and helped her put the tree up. 
And Pat came down and helped decorate the rest of her house.
  
I can’t remember a Christmas eve, or a Christmas really, that wasn’t punctuated by ‘check-ins’ with Betty of all sorts.  Phone calls, walks down the street, helping each other do last minute    decorations/wrapping/santapresentbuilding/baking/shopping/just visiting with breakfast/lunch/dinner/drinks/just visiting always happening at some point…..And to have her home after months of being away, knowing she was home to stay?  
There was much joy and merriment.

The ladybug hat was a hit. 

And for the first time EVER, I managed to make some pretty kick-ass looking cinnamon buns for Christmas breakfast.  I started them way ahead of time and let them rise Christmas Eve, before I popped them in the fridge to bake in the morning.  It made a big difference.   
Pat made me that for Christmas.  Isn’t it cool?  I told him I wanted a floor lamp for the dining room – it gets no direct natural light and therefore is unbearably dark this time of year. So he made me one out of a poplar tree branch he found on the ground at the park.  And the lampshade was an old one lying around that he redid.  He asked me for fabric – I was sort of consulted every step of the way of his creation, so it wasn’t a surprise, still it was fun to design something with my honey.  I love how it turned out.  He’s awesome.
The fabric is a knock-off Lily, with embroidered palm trees.  It was in the stash and I was torn between that and a darker, heavier linen.  The palm trees are good.
It was a lovely, lazy Christmas day, with friends & neighbors popping in & out.  I hadn’t put a menu together, but when I did, I found my notes from last year and realized it was exactly the same.  I remembered thinking to myself last year, it was the best menu ever.  Clearly, it was.  I think we have this Christmas thing down.  We have spent the days since lazing around, eating leftover chocolate cake and popcorn.  Other leftovers too, but to be honest, that was dinner the day after Christmas. 

It’s About Community.

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Yesterday, my Girl Scout troop wrapped up their food drive at school.   It was part of a earning a badge I wanted them to work on, called Food Power.  As most of our activities at take place at school, I asked the principal of our school if we could do this food drive there.  She answered with the request that we do it for the upcoming holidays and make the recipients families in our school community that needed a little help getting through the season.  Which was perfect, because while I knew I wanted the girls to have some connection with the recipients, ideally other kids, I had no other ideas in mind.
We teamed up with the Daisy troop at school.  (My girls are Juniors.  Girl Scouts are broken up by age into different groups, with Brownies being the age group inbetween.  I get asked about this alot.).  We also had some big help from the Student Government Association, teachers and administrators at school.  This was, in every way, a group effort.
Yesterday was the big day of sorting and packing the donations that had been collected over the last month. 
We were told there were 55 families that had signed up to be part of this effort.  We started with a bag for each and when we filled them, we started a second bag for families with 5 members or more.   In just over an hour and a half, we sorted & packed what amounted to about 80 bags.
As we wrapped up, we got all the girls and leaders to pose for a group shot.
(Most of the Daisies had their uniforms on, my girls, not so much.)
I’ve received several thank yous on behalf of the girls for this.   All our girls did was make a few posters and then sort and pack donations.  The school community donated the items.  There were a few very generous donors who stepped up and made sure we had enough for every family to receive a bag of food as well as gift cards to area grocery stores.  Credit also goes to the incredibly supportive parents (and grandparents) of the girls in both troops, many of whom came to help out yesterday.  Most of all, credit must go to the school administrators, who gave us the idea, encouragement and support to make this happen.
The girls worked beautifully together.  They all jumped in so enthusiastically and with very little direction, knocked it out. I loved seeing the big ones working with the little ones in such a seamless way.  I don’t know if the girls truly understand the impact they had on their world yesterday.  I know mine doesn’t.  What I think matters most though, is that they made a difference in their community.  Because when it comes down to it, we’re all in this together. 

When life hands you apples…….

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I have written before about my love of apples. It’s deep.
I have been an apple a day girl as long as I can remember.
They store well. You can throw one in your purse and carry it about until you are ready to eat it.
In fact, if you were to ask me what I always have in my bag, you’d find my wallet, ponytail holders, chapstick, a water bottle and an apple.
Those are my essentials.

Mollie asked I bring some apples when we came for Oysterfest. I used this as my excuse to head out to Henley’s Orchard and grab a bushel of seconds. I also thought I’d get some non-seconds, and I printed out the coupon from the website that said, buy a peck, get a free gallon.
She’d also asked for some cider and I’d heard Henley’s made some good stuff. 
Now, I know everyone in Charlottesville goes to Carter’s Mountain for apples.  Yes, the views are great.  But it also can be completely overrun.  And as much as I love the cider donuts, the cider they sell is not made from their apples – at least, the stuff I’ve seen there the last few years wasn’t locally made. And I’m stickler for local.  So, when I heard on good authority that Henley’s had good, local cider, I decided to check them out.  I can say, I will never again go to Carter’s for large amounts of apples, nor cider.  The prices and the varieties at Henleys are far better. Oh, and that cider?  Heavenly. 
But I digress.
I went to Henley’s for apples and got a bushel of seconds, a peck of non-seconds and a free gallon.
I got a mixed bunch of varieties – heavy on my beloved Black Stem, but also some Fuji, and thanks to the suggestion of the young man working at Henley’s that day (who encouraged me to pick up an apple and try it), some Cameo and Mutsu apples.  I think he threw some Granny Smith into the seconds bushel as well.
I thought I’d get non-seconds to have on hand for eating.  But as I looked through my bushel, I noticed there were a number of small apples, which are actually my favorite, as well as Edie’s favorite.  Turns out they are considered seconds.  Next time, I might not even bother getting the non-seconds, because the difference between the two were slight in the selection I got.
Again, I digress.
A bushel, a peck and a gallon. 
That’s what they looked like on my kitchen floor.
I filled a 5 gallon bucket and took it to Mollie last weekend.  Barely made a dent.
We have eaten fried apples for dinner almost every night for 2 weeks.  I made a pie – actually two, because Mollie & I made one last weekend and since I got only a bite, I came home and immediately made another one.  This morning for breakfast, we had a pan of baked apples.  Snack time around here is, can you guess?  Apples.
I finally got around to trying my hand at apple butter.  I didn’t add as much sugar as is called for, so I’m wondering if that is why it took 3 full days in the crockpot.  It’s good though.  I definitely think I’m going to start another batch.  I also keep meaning to throw some pies in the freezer.  And I promised my husband some apple crisp. I am considering making a batch of applesauce too, although that will require me to go get more canning jars, as I’m out.  I have used every last one of them in canning and pickling this year.  And I added an extra 4 cases or so to the stash this year. 
I’ve realized that a bushel, a peck (which is half a bushel) and a gallon (which is half a peck), adds up to be one and three quarters of a bushel.  Not quite two bushels.   As soon as I got home and unloaded them, I realized I may have gotten too many apples.  Okay, the fact that they took up ample space in the large trunk of my car was a clue.  And full disclosure – I didn’t unload them, my dear husband did.  Without questioning the amount of apples I had just dragged home.  Which is precisely why, he will get an apple crisp tomorrow.
After all, I did make him baked apples for breakfast…

Oh what a festival it was!

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It’s that time of year again.  Oysterfest.
One of the best festivals that ever was.
Where we eat lots of yummy oysters.

And I do mean lots.  There were multiple coolers full of oysters for the grilling.

And we can’t forget the fried food that line the streets of town and scent the air.
Everything you can think of is battered and deep fried.

 What’s the other 4%?  Dare we ask? 

Best sign, hands down.

Footlong Corn Dogs for everyone!
Well, not everyone.  I decided an oyster po-boy was the way to go.

You know, to break up the grilled oysters. 

This year, we went a whole day early because our girl Abigail was in the Miss Spat contest and we had to be there to see her on stage, answering her question about what was her favorite part of being in the Miss Spat and Oyster Queen competition.  (“Being with her friends and spending time with her queen, Emily”.)

I have no good shots of Abigail on stage because we were so excited for her. So when she was named “Miss Spat”, some of us (Edie), went nuts.  (Edie says this was the highpoint of Oysterfest for her this year.)

As soon as the crowning was over, Edie had to run backstage to congratulate her friend and get a good shot of our very own Miss Spat.
Then it was back to the house for celebration.  This was about the point this year’s festival was deemed “Epic” by Anne.  The celebration was big.  There was a lot of shucking going on. 
Mollie made Abigail a Miss Spat pumpkin pie, complete with crown.

Friday night is the Fire Truck Parade. The most fun parade, ever.  I took a few videos of it this year that I’ll get around to posting.  It’s the loudest parade you’ve ever heard.  60+  firetrucks, with their sirens blazing. 

Saturday morning we woke up to Miss Piggy on the grill.  (Look back up at the header of this blog.  See that pig?  She’s on the grill.).  Ryan said he got 350 pounds of meat back from the butcher when he took her to slaughter.  Edie kept patting her belly saying “Miss Piggy died and went to heaven.”.  We had bacon, brats and a few types of sausage.  She was tasty.

One of these days, I’m getting the oyster necklace.
The lone funnel cake I had all weekend.  Shared with Rieman and maybe some of the kids.

Saturday’s parade saw Abigail riding the Oyster Queen float.

By this point, our crew was large.  With a sign.

That Edie spearheaded and let the boys help.  I’m not sure that Teddy, Owen or Gus really followed instructions and I’m pretty sure at one point they really interfered with her artist vision.  But, she was a trooper and rolled with it.  It was a fantastic sign and it kept the four of them busy most of the morning.

The mom and grandparents lined up to get pictures of Miss Spat as her float came through. 
(Part of the epicness was Mimi & Woodpop and Paw & Dodie coming for the festival to see Miss Spat. There was also a grill of epic set-up proportions and an RV thrown into the mix.)

Parade was a popular game the rest of the weekend.  Here Teal gets her turn on the ‘float’.
The kids even had some personal time with a Shriner clown. 
Chocolate covered frozen cheesecake on a stick. 

Bucket of shells from Saturday afternoon. 
We ate some oysters.

Oysterfest is always a good time to catch up with friends.

And eat oysters every way you can imagine.
Those were some of Ryan’s Rockefeller style, with cheese.

It’s also a good time to try new liquors.

And to be handed mini’s by complete strangers in the drug store, as you are getting your kids ice cream at the old soda fountain counter because you might look like you need a drink.

One more run to the field of fried food for that last corn dog.  That particular one was hands down, one of the best corn dogs ever. 

Not just the best sign of the festival, also the best fried food of the festival. 
We went through 3 bags of those pork rinds, cajun flavor.
Melt on your tongue goodness.  Don’t say you don’t like pork rinds until you’ve had Sparky’s.
We made a few converts this weekend. 

Sunday morning was the Bloody Mary table, for which I contributed pickled radish, pickled peppers and of course, my green bean pickles.  
Funny thing is, I’m not that wild about pickles or Bloody Marys.
But I make good ones of each.

Abigail decided to build her own float and have yet another parade.

Meanwhile, the rest of us stood around and watched Nick assess what needed to be done to fix the steps to the back door.  Nick, I’ll be needing you at my house next.  Thanks.

We decided we weren’t quite done with oysters, so we went down to the waterfront and grabbed some more.

On the dock at Christ Church.
Look at that one.  Mmm.

Meanwhile, the children played on the beach.  Despite our motherly attempts to get them to wear seasonal clothes, they insisted on stripping down and rolling around in the sand.
Although really, can you blame them?
It was a beautiful day to be on the water. 
We stretched the already long weekend out one more day, to have some quality time with our dear friends.
I think that’s really the best part of Oysterfest.  While endless amounts of fried food, oysters and pork in just about every way possible (bacon, sausage, pork rinds, pork tenderloin and boston butts were just some of the ways we ate it at every meal), not to mention lots of beer, wine, bourbon, vodka, moonshine and the occasional mystery liquor, all help make for fun and merriment,  the time spent with so many kindred spirits makes you remember why you are all friends in the first place.
Thanks for hosting Will & Mollie.  We’ve already started the list of what to bring next year.
We can’t wait.

End of the season.

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It was bound to happen – the first frost of the year, putting an end to bounty from the garden.  I still have some greens and herbs out there, but the days of fresh basil, peppers, tomatoes are over until next year.  Sigh.
I ran around Friday and harvested.  I filled a garbage bag with basil and Saturday, I made a few batches of pesto and froze it.  I also froze a few bags of tomatillos, picked a bowl of tomatoes and a huge bowl of peppers.  I think most of them will get pickled.

I picked every last flower that was blooming and threw them in a vase.  I meant to go back and ‘arrange’ them, but then realized I really liked them just the way they were.  And I loved how they looked on the coffee table next to my Aunt Anita ‘family’ sculpture.
It was also the end of birthday week.  Edie had a slumber party, which meant we were kid free for a night AND the next morning.  A dear friend suggested we go to dinner and so in the process of tossing about places to go, we found ourselves agreeing to at least begin with a margarita from Continental Divide. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too crowded and we thought about staying for dinner.  But as we toasted my age and I joked that I was now “Two 21 year olds”, I looked around realized that I was easily twice the age of oh, more than half the folks in there.  And suddenly realized that the C&O option sounded way better than Continental Divide.  So, away we went.  We were lucky enough to walk right in and get a cozy table in the bistro.  A bottle of wine was ordered and I had the rare delight of not being involved in the selection!  That right there was a gift.
Having worked at a few variations of wine bars on the downtown mall, as well finding myself writing a monthly wine column, people seem to think I know wine. As a result, I am often consulted about what to drink.  I loved being surprised by a bottle of Haraszthy Zinfandel, that had to be retrieved from the shed.  Apparently that’s where they store wines that are not frequently ordered, which was quite exciting for the staff, as well as myself, I have to admit.  It was a nice, big red to go with the cold evening.  The fellows had the trout, which was about the most perfect fish I’ve had in I don’t know how long….and I had my usual C&O standby of rabbit, also wonderful, in a house made Boudin Blanc.   I also had a glass of the Knight’s Gambit Petit Verdot.  I mention them in my upcoming November wine column, so I couldn’t resist.   For dessert I had the chocolate bread pudding, which is better than I make.  And that’s saying something.  They use brioche, making it incredibly light and dreamy.  A Baileys and coffee was ordered for me and the two paired just wonderfully together.  A fabulous cap for a fabulous evening.
Sunday morning, Pat & I headed out for the last birthday hurrah – brunch at The Villa.  We hadn’t been there in ages and other than a name change (From the Italian Villa), it hasn’t changed much.  It was parents weekend at UVa, so the place was filled with college students and their parents, as well as a few Zombies from the Zombie run that took place in the morning.  It was a lovely finish to a good birthday week.
Next up, candy season.  Happy Halloween!

A perfectly lovely day.

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Tuesday was my birthday.  Pat knew he was going to have to be away for meetings all day that day.  And I do mean, ALL day.  He left here about 6:30 am and returned about 10:30 pm.  Considering we both work from home most of the time and so therefore spend most of our time together, I told him it was okay.  It’s a day.  It’s given me an excuse to spread the celebration out over a week.  Which I’m inclined to do anyway….
Tuesday was beautiful.  In the 70’s, sunny, a beautiful fall day.  Pat made coffee before he left, so right there, the day was off to wonderful start.  It was nice to have the day to myself.  I got showered with lots of birthday wishes from Facebook friends.  I got a few phone calls, the mail brought cards and friends dropped off gifts. I went to the gym, then went and got my favorite cookies (snickerdoodles. I simply cannot make them as good as they do.) from a local bakery and surprised Edie and her pals at school with them for lunch.   I sat in the yard, soaking up sun and reading in the afternoon.  (While doing that, I realized my save Greenleaf Park move made The Hook.  Go me!).  A friend called and said she was at the park, any chance we want to come over?  So off we went….

Where Edie modeled my new crown and declared herself “Queen of the World”and our friend Phoebe “Princess of the World.”  It was a lovely afternoon to be at the park.  Thanks for calling Mo!

Another girlfriend came over, with a bottle of wine in hand.  Her husband has a wine distributorship and he apparently spent some time going through his collection looking for a bottle that I was sure to have not had before.  And indeed, I had never had Georgian wine.  It was nice.  Quite dry, but I love dry wine.  A little bit jammy too, which is another favorite quality I like in a wine. Thank you Ted, it went nicely with…

the chocolate cake yet another girlfriend came by with. 
Yes, I’m a lucky, spoiled girl.  And yes, I did happen to mention to a few friends that my husband wasn’t going to be around on my big day, so don’t they want to come have a glass of wine with me?
Of course, I used that excuse to have friends over for an ‘early’ celebration last Saturday night.  And I’m using it a few more times this upcoming weekend.  I told you I’m good at stretching out the celebration….

So this cake.  Teresa knows the sort of cakes I bake.  She was well aware the bar was set high.  And she did well.  I’ve been calling it a chocolate praline hazelnut mousse cake, which is shorter than the actual name.  It had a crunchy chocolate bottom crust, a cake layer and a mousse layer.  Seriously yum. 
Also, I love that when I asked where she got the recipe from, I was able to reach in the cookbook cabinet and pull out the exact issue of Bon Appetit that featured it on the cover.
All in all, it was a perfectly lovely day.  I did miss my love, but he was home by the time I was ready to crawl into bed.  And he had gifts for me to open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  And I hear there’s more to come this weekend, when we celebrate again. 
I’m a lucky gal.