Yogurt Update

In case you were wondering; no you can not freeze yogurt; it does not end well.

Food Connections

I have come to believe that having a connection to your food is the most incredible thing you can do for your family.  Breakfast this morning; nothing spectacular, but chock full of connections.  Eggs: from our chickens. Blueberries that we picked from a local farm less than 24 hours ago.  Toast with honey that we bought on our trip to Virginia.  Simple breakfast, chock full of memories.  A great way to start the day. 

Budding Chef

Cooking with Little Man is so much fun.  It has been a great motivator to look for healthier substitutes for family favorites.  We have been substituting coconut oil and apple sauce for butter and shortening.  So far all the recipes have tasted OK (some have been amazing!), however, there are other times when that buttery goodness is missed.  All the more reason to keep cooking.

Eating The Yard Away

My yard is one big tasty adventure after another.  When we first moved in, our small plot of land had a severely overgrown perennial bed and some raspberry bushes we uncovered (apparently also some blackberry bushes we uncovered this year). Over the past five years, we have added some wonderful edible features, along with cleaning out the perennial beds and making them beautiful again. 

 

So far this year, we have enjoyed a few strawberries (we have a pesky chipmunk that has gotten to most of them) that we planted last year, lettuce from our original garden plot, garlic scapes (see picture below) and of course my raspberries. The best part is there is still more to come.  I love summer.

Monticello Wine Trail: Revised

While neither Andy nor myself are heavy drinkers by any means, I have to admit we are a bit particular about our wines and beer in various ways.  I tend to prefer local wines from vineyards I have a connection to.  As far as beer is concerned, we both lean heavily on micro-breweries.  Since we were spending a few days in Virginia wine country, we had to check a few places out.  Don't worry, we are not becoming drunks, although Andy did begin to refer to the trip as the Fat Drunk Tour.  We only visited two wineries and one brewery over the course of four days.  Although, I will admit when the person serving you wine tells you you're going to sample 21 different wines, for a lightweight that is a frightening thought.  Needless to say, we took advantage of some wonderful restaurants (that also serve local food) and the tours when available.   The places we went were beautiful, and I am beginning to think that there is not an ugly winery out there, the food was good and I don't often say this; we had an excellent tour guide at one.  So, where did we go you ask?

 

For starters, we stopped at Barboursville Vineyards.  The vineyards are full of history and worth the drive just to wander around the old ruins and take in the sights. Which is good because the tasting menu consists of 21 different wines and if you are a lightweight you will need the time to recover.  This also happens to be the home of an amazing tour guide.  I actually learned a lot about wine making and now somewhat understand the difference between an $11 bottle of wine and a $60 bottle of wine.  In addition to this, if you are traveling with someone who is worried he won't fit in with the wine crowd (he doesn't), the first server we came to, had enough hardware on her face (think "pincushion")  that it put him right at ease.  That, and she was really good at dumbing down the description for those of us that have not traveled the world over in search of the best wine.  I would definitely recommend Barboursville if you are out that way. 

 

Our second stop was chosen solely on the fact that Andy loves Dave Mathews(the owner) and we were close to the Vineyard when we went to Monticello.(Well, he likes the Dave Matthews Band's music. It would be slightly incorrect to assign a man crush where one does not belong...) It is a beautiful winery and a nice place to sit and relax, but nothing like the others we have been to.  A simple tasting room with five wines to sample.   

Lastly we made our way to Blue Mountain Brewery.  Awesome burgers, which is a good thing when they bring out 9 shot glasses for you to sample (It's called a sampler flight - the glasses are double shot size, but who cares when you're tasting great beer?!).  The mushrooms on Andy's burger came from the farm across the street. The beer was great was great and Andy was much more comfortable with the beer crowd then the wine crowd.  I will admit though, I think I freaked out the waitress at this place a bit.  I had an organizational system with the little shot glasses to remember which beers I liked the most and freaked her out a little when I would not let her clear the glasses until I was at the end.  Other than freaking the poor waitress out a bit, it was a great place that I would definitely recommend and it is right at the base of the mountains where the Blue ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive/Shenandoah National Park meet, for those who enjoy a good beer and burger after a long hike/bike ride. 

 

 

  

  Of course then there is my other obsession, picking fresh fruits while on vacation.....That's a story for another day. 

 

Thank Goodness

When my garden was swamped just before we left, and then again while we were away for a week, I was a bit worried about what I would return to.  I was not sure if my flowers could withstand being under water so much, and worried that I would not have any color in my backyard this summer. 

Thankfully we returned home to lots of color and happy flowers.