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.

How did that happen?

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Last week (and the week before that too actually) got completely out of my control.   Although I managed to stay on top of my to-do list and handle all the kinks that got thrown in, there wasn’t much time for things like goofing off, or picture taking or blogging…….    I could sit here and list what’s kept me busy, but it’s not very interesting.  Being PTO secretary, a Girl Scout Leader and a soccer mom took up most of my time, which then leads to me to navel gaze and wonder how the heck that happened to me.  I swore I was never ever getting involved in the PTO….and here I am…..And soccer.  I’ve whined a few times on here about how I really can’t stand soccer.  How I refuse to be a so-called soccer mom and yet I hear I’m actually one of the worst ones out there.   I comfort myself with the  fact that at least I don’t drive a mini-van. 

I blame motherhood for all of these developments in my life.  And a husband who says, “We are those sort of parents.”.  Sigh.  What can you do?  Not be that sort of person? I don’t know how, it’s hard wired into me.  I see something that needs to be done and I work to make sure it gets done, even if that means doing it myself.  That’s at least my excuse for PTO and Girl Scouts.  Soccer?  Well, Edie loves it.  So I just grin and bear it.  And try to not let her know how much I don’t like it.  Clearly, I’m pulling it off.

Already this week doesn’t look quite so busy.  For starters, Edie is sick again.  Her strep test at the doctor’s was negative this morning, but you can look at her and tell she doesn’t feel good.  And it’s my birthday, so I’ve already decided things we’re not doing because we need to have more fun instead.

And if it’s not fun, I really don’t think we should do it.  Sure, there are things you have to do that aren’t always fun (cleaning bathrooms), but you can always find a way to make it fun, yes?  So, this week, we are going to have more fun.  Just for kicks, I commissioned myself a custom crown from Royal Revolution.  I think I’ll wear it while I clean the house today…. That will make it fun, yes?

Saving Greenleaf Park.

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Living across the street from Greenleaf Park, we sort of think of it as an extension of our yard. 
Once upon a time, there was a ‘sprinkler’ there.  Not the fancy spray park that’s there today. In fact, there are no remnants of that today, just a field of grass.  The old sprinklers were two metal poles with 2 showerheads stuck on top, on opposite sides, on a concrete pad.  You needed a ‘key’ to turn them on – a tall, heavy, metal pole that is used to turn water on and off at the main.  You could borrow a key from the city, although a neighbor had one, and after a time, Pat decided that since we lived across the street, it was only fitting that we have one as well.  So, two of us had keys to turn the sprinklers off and on.   On hot days in the spring, before the pools would open, the call would go out, and all the kids in the neighborhood would run under the sprinklers – we would block the drain hole and create a wading pool for the babies and the big kids would run around with cups and have a water battle.  The parents would sit on blankets, in the surrounding grass with beverages and snacks and when the water throwing battles got heated and someone would run our way hoping to be protected, we would yell at them “THIS IS A DRY ZONE!”.  It seemed the babies would prefer to be naked (at least, this was the case for mine, who was for at least 4 years running, the first naked kid in Greenleaf Park for the year) and it was lovely.  When the kids got bored and wandered off to the playground, we’d turn the water off to conserve it.  It really was quaint and sweet and would bring the entire neighborhood together.
People who didn’t live in the neighborhood that would chance upon these times would ask how to get a key.  We always referred them to the city.  Some of our friends from outside the neighborhood would know we had them and would come to borrow them, but we tried to keep it as quiet as possible.  We’d hear that the sprinklers at Greenleaf Park were the best kept secret in town.  And we liked it that way.
Over time, the old sprinklers started to deteriorate.  Badly.  We knew they needed to be more than repaired, they needed to be replaced.  There were many fierce debates about how to handle this – the city had a history of taking out equipment that needed to be repaired and just well, taking it out.  Not replacing it.  We lost the big slide that way, the digger, the merry go round…..We didn’t want to see that happen to the sprinklers.  Meanwhile, Belmont Park on the other side of town had just gotten a really incredible new spray park.  What if we asked the city for something like that, but not as big and fancy?  The Belmont sprayground had a water recycling feature we really liked, and bonus, it was touch pad activated and timed, so there would no water running for hours on end (as would sometimes happen when people from outside the neighborhood would get a key.)  That was a pet peeve of ours – going to the park and the sprinklers running with no one running around under them.  A few of us neighborhood folks would see that and take it upon ourselves to turn the water off if there were no kids using it. Oh yes, we would get into arguments and oh yes, we heard we had a reputation around town.  We saw ourselves as the stewards of the park, since we all lived around it and used it, daily. Over time, we watched a hill erode from the water pouring down from the sprinklers.  We knew something had to be done.   
So, the two of us with keys approached the city about replacing the sprinklers at the park.  It was actually an easy sell.  They put in the recycled water feature, they put in a touch pad for the kids to use, they even put a pad under it that was much softer than concrete.  It completely changed the nature of the park and the park, already a very popular park, became THE most popular park not just in town, but in a multiple county area. 
Greenleaf Park was already a birthday party & end of school year picnic hot spot for sports teams, preschools, as well private schools in the area, but suddenly, they were all there AT ONCE. 
It became so over run that the neighborhood kids stopped going.  Fender benders and near misses at the entrance of the park became a regular affair.  When the small lot in the park filled up, people would park on the street around the park, with little regard for driveways.  Heck, some of them would park in people’s yards.  Those of us that live closest to the park got used to picking up garbage and dirty diapers that got left behind.  (Never mind that there’s a restroom with a changing table in the park, apparently, a stranger’s front yard is a much better spot for that activity.).  I find myself constantly asking people to get their kids out of my yard.  I’ve had to ask people to please not let their kids urinate in my yard.  It’s really just ridiculous.
There is a pavilion at the park, that is on a first come, first served basis.  There are generally no less than 10 birthday parties a day on a weekend there.  Parents fight over the pavilion.  They show up at 6 am and will rope it off, for a party at 4 that afternoon.  I’ve heard tales of fist fights over use of the pavilion.  The park is not big enough for this kind of use, nor does it have the parking.  Some Saturdays, we leave our house to go to a soccer game, and cannot park within blocks of our house when we get home. 
Last spring, I witnessed 2 preschool picnics, a group from the city upper elementary school up the street, as well as two busloads of children from the county’s public schools, all using the park at the same time.  It was wall to wall people.  The park was overrun.  And that was just one day – try that amount of traffic every day for most of April, May and into June. Our neighborhood was being overrun.  
I attempted to contact the city parks & rec department, as well as the entire city council, trying to get them to address the situation.  Trying to get them to come see for themselves how this was degrading the park.  Degrading our neighborhood.  I couldn’t get anyone to return a call or an email.  Frustrating.
The other night, city council had a town hall meeting for our neighborhood.  I showed up and started my statement to the council by telling them how many times I had tried contacting them, as well as parks and rec about this.  I’m pretty sure that got their attention.  As I spoke about the problems at the park, I noticed alot of other residents nodding.  When I mentioned that busloads of Albemarle County kids are still getting dropped off on a regular basis, that made them sit up.  They assured me they would change the pavilion usage policy, to now require reservations. They will not allow large groups to use the park. Hopefully, this will help slow down the number of parties over there.  Hopefully, it will get enforced. 
 It made the front page of the paper the next morning.   A few neighbors have told me thanks and how proud they are that I was not willing to let it go.  I figure, I was responsible for changing the park, for making it as popular as it is today, so I need to continue to take responsibility for the park.  My own child may have outgrown the park on a daily basis, but living across the street from it, we are still affected by the use of the park.  I like to be able to park in front of my house.  I don’t want to pick up other people’s garbage.  I really don’t like having to pick up dirty diapers.  I especially don’t like people yelling at me about how they and their children are entitled to trample my flowerbeds and my vegetable garden.  I wonder how they would feel if I were to do that to them, and frequently ask that.  That usually shuts them up and makes them leave.  Just because we bought a house near a nice park doesn’t mean our property is public property. 
I was proud of myself for getting the sprinklers replaced, even if I don’t always like the end result.  It was better for the park in the long run. What I like the most about being in the paper for speaking up at Thursday’s meeting is that I now have a public record of city officials saying they will address the issues.  I’m proud of myself for going and speaking up.  I hope this means more good change for the park.

SWAP!!!

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If you know me at all, you know I have a tendency to can or freeze everything in sight.  You know I’m pretty devoted to knowing where our food comes from. When I first heard about these food swaps going on around the country, I thought, oh cool.  Someone should organize one here, because I’d like to check one out.   And then my friend Vikki emailed me and said WE should it. 

That does make sense.  I mean, I do have a tendency do that sort of thing too.  Like start a knitting group, a girl scout troop for my daughter and her friends, the list could go on….. 

So, we got together and brainstormed where to have this thing.  I talked to a few folks and found a space for us to use, The Garage, and we came up with a name, Cville Swaps.  We have a Facebook Page and I’ve created a page on this blog for it.  (See it up there across the top?  I’m pretty impressed with myself for figuring that out.).  We plan on holding our first event on Sunday, November 13, from 2-4 pm.  Everyone is invited, so if you are in the area and interested, please let us know!

All manner of items that you make, grow and forage for are acceptable to swap.  The lists I’ve read around the web are pretty cool.  I might borrow Edie’s body scrub recipe and make some of that to swap.  I’m also thinking some of my watermelon rind pickles would be a good swap.  I’ve thought about bringing some Amish Friendship Bread starter too.  Ever since I found out I could freeze it and always have it on hand and seen all those recipes on their website, I’ve been a happy girl.  I’ve made the orange cranberry muffins, the triple chocolate muffins, the double chocolate muffins, and the pumpkin spice ones.  Mmm.  Oh, sorry.  I’ve wandered off topic….

So, Sunday, November 13.  See you there?

Update – I created a blog just for the swap.  I’ll have some things about it on here as well, but look on the Cville Swaps blog for more updates.

Better than it looks.

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My kitchen just does not have light conducive to taking fantastic food pictures.  No room of my house does really.  I suppose if I had something other than just a fancy looking point and shoot, I’d be fine.  Or if I would take the time to photoshop my pictures.  But, I’m lazy and quite happy with my camera otherwise, so you will just have to take my word for it that the above brunch dish really looked and tasted better in person.  (I did do a nice job of capturing the actual hotness of the dish with the steam though, don’t you think?)
Since we had a 3 day weekend, I thought I’d step up and make brunch one morning.  I found this recipe for Mexican Baked Eggs on Closet Cooking and made it a few weeks back, to much applause.  I was told to ‘keep that recipe’, so I thought I’d roll it back out and use up some of the really ugly looking tomatoes I keep picking that are quick to go downhill as they sit on my counter. 
It’s quick, easy and yummy.  My favorite kind of recipe. I had some goat cheese lying around I threw in and then topped it all with Jack cheese. I also used this smoked salt I picked up at Whole Foods the other day, as well as served it on a bed of grits, just to add some umph to it.  The smoked salt definitely added a nice flavor to the beans, made them a bit meaty.   It was a good, hearty breakfast and one we will definitely be having again.  I’m thinking next time I might try serving it on tortillas.  Good thing I put up an extra case of tomatoes this summer – we’re going to need it, as this recipe is going next to chocolate waffles in the “feel like cooking on Sunday morning” rotation.

Girl Power.

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I’ve had my Girl Scout troop working on a small business badge in which they’ve learned about starting a business.  This week we had a panel of guest speakers,  Martha Stafford of The Charlottesville Cooking School, Robyn Jackson of The Civility School and Alana Woerpel of Alana’s Interior Decoration come talk to the girls about their experiences in being self employed.  Most of the girls already know them as mothers of friends and classmates, but I think they saw them in a new light at our roundtable discussion.  It was a great meeting and it wasn’t until halfway through that at least one of the girls (mine of course), realized my ulterior motive in working on this badge.  (I’m not sure anyone minded though.)  They had empowering things to say to the girls,  telling them that by nature, women multi-task and so therefore are perfectly suited to running their own business, among other things.   They all started by working from home, and in this, I realized I have an advantage in Pat working from home most days.  The three of them talked about how when you work from home, you tend to miss officemates to bounce ideas off of (and just chat with!).   While being home with your significant other all day every day can have it’s challenges, there are some pluses, and we certainly bounce ideas off each other.  Poor guy has to taste test everything for me and make sure I put enough salt in.  (I always seem to forget the salt.)

My troop can at times, be a wild pack, but I have to say, they sat there and listened for the better part of an hour, with their fidgeting kept to a minimum.  If you had seen them just a few weeks ago, you’d understand what a feat this is.  Last year Mrs. Jackson helped us earn our Manners badge, so I credit her presence with their good behavior.  She really rubs off on them.  (Don’t you want to come help with my troop every other week Robyn?)  I got great feedback from the moms who dropped in for the meeting, as well as moms that let me know afterwards how much the girls got out of our working on that badge.  Some of the girls even let me know, they are ready to take that knowledge and make it happen – can’t we please start our businesses?  I know if I let them loose, they will do it too.   I’ve not yet told them the timing of the food drive I’ve committed them to, which is the same time one of them wants to do a market, over the holidays.   I somehow suspect some of them might actually be able to do both, but I may drive their parents crazy in the process…. a compromise may be in order, with their market to be in the spring perhaps?

I love my girl scouts.  Some weeks, yes, I cannot wait to get home and have a glass of wine and decompress from our meetings (There was the time that not only did I forget to drop someone at their house, but I neglected to even shut my car door, in my rush to get home and have a nice glass of wine.)  Some weeks I’m pretty sure none of them regard a word that comes out of my mouth.  But then we have weeks like this past one, where they hug me goodbye and let me know how much I’ve inspired them.  And it makes all the other weeks worth it. 

Adventures of the local sort.

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Sunday we went to the Fall Fiber Festival up at Montpelier.   Every year, Edie likes to sit and watch the sheepdog trials (I think she’s waiting for Babe, the sheep pig to show up.  Sort of like Linus and the Great Pumpkin.We even watched Babe Saturday night as a warm up).  This year, a knitting friend told me she had signed her daughters up for a felting workshop, so I signed Edie & a friend up, and we had TWO child free hours left to wander.  It was quite glorious. 
I swore I was not adding to my stash, and I did pretty good with that.  I fell in love with some recycled silk yarn that was yummy orange, but as I already have a scarf I knit myself out of recycled silk yarn, I passed.  I found some equally yummy orange bamboo yarn for a third of the price, so I grabbed a few balls of that instead.  I really feel the need for a new orange scarf.  I also got some ideas to use up the stash I have acquired – mostly through friends sharing theirs, as I do not need a yarn stash.  I have quite the fabric stash and we simply do not have room for it all.  Pictures of all that to come, as I came home and started some new projects last night. 

After they finished their workshop (I have not yet been allowed to photograph her finished product. Someone is practicing hard to be a teenager these days.), we had lunch and watched a wee bit of the sheepdog trials.  It was cold, damp and windy, so we didn’t stay too long.  Babe, the sheep pig, did not make an appearance.  There’s always next year, right?

Today I headed out to Virginia Wineworks for a tour, in the name of research for my monthly column, Beneath the Cork  for In the Kitchen Magazine.  (The October issue is up – you should definitely go check it out!).  Philip Stafford was kind enough to spend some time with me, showing me around.  I got to see some of their brand spanking new packaging equipment and definitely got inspired for more than a few articles to come.  Thank you Philip for taking time for me today.  If you have the chance to go hang out at a winery during harvest, I highly recommend it.   I don’t want to give too much away from the articles I plan on writing from today’s visit, but they are doing some really great stuff for the entire Virginia wine industry down there at Virginia Wineworks.  It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I love to drink local as much as I love to eat local. Should I ever get inspired to plant my own grapes, I am definitely taking them to those guys to turn into some tasty wine.