I so very rarely do these meme things, but:

(stolen from E, previously from The Boastful Baker)

metal or non-stick?
Varies widely – I’d like to get rid of my non-stick pans, except for the really nice cake pans I have. The ones I use most often are a stainless pot with a drainer insert, a cast iron dutch oven, two cast iron skillets, a stainless steel skillet, and the larger non-stick skillet for things like fried eggs.

 

cast iron or stainless?
Equal amounts, I think.

 

cutting board: silicone or wood?
I have two wooden cutting boards, a bamboo one and a stunning exotic hardwood one that my dad got me for Christmas – it’s made by hand by someone who also makes guitars for a living. I use plastic (but not silicone) for meat, chicken, fish, etc.

 

knife: carbon steel or stainless?
Both. Henckel (really good Henckel, not the ordinary ones) is my new addiction, I have a really nice, beautifully heavy chef’s knife that is just brilliant.

 

KitchenAid or hand mixer?
Hand mixer – I still insist that I don’t need a KitchenAid, even given how much baking I do.

cooktop: gas, electric, induction?
Gas, fortunately. Although we had a glass top electric at the last house, and I liked it more than I thought it would.

side-by-side, freezer on top, fridge on top?
Freezer on top. We bought a new fridge last fall, and were so limited by the narrow space that is the only place to put a fridge in our kitchen. We can’t have a side by side in this house (or my ultimate dream, a side by side with the freezer on the bottom, which just makes so much sense to me).

apron or whoops?
Apron, dishtowel, and whoops, depending on what I’m doing and what I’m wearing.

mashed potatoes: by hand, ricer, or mixer?
Always by hand. I have a hand masher that works almost like a ricer – it took me years to find it, and I nearly screamed out loud in the store I was so excited.

sandwich or wrap?
Wraps, mostly.

pb & _________ ?
Curry. (Thai curry, not curry powder.)

pancakes: syrup or applesauce?
Syrup. Real maple syrup, I can’t stand pancake syrup. Canadian snob and all.

cake: scratch or mix?
Scratch. Made a chocolate apricot cake for Dan and Sarah over the weekend. Very tasty.

chili: beans or no?
Both are good, depending on the other ingredients.

napkin: cloth or paper?
Cloth.

BBQ: takes the whole weekend to make or take out?
Only at a good restaurant (good in this case meaning greasy spoon, not cloth tablecloths). This part of Virginia has some outstanding BBQ, including the Barbecue Ranch north of town that has so many pig statues, decorations, and other flimflam I can’t believe it hasn’t collapsed.

chicken: white or dark?
Definitely dark. Boneless skinless chicken thighs from the local butcher are my best friend.

ice cream: cone or dish?
Definitely dish – I’ve never liked ice cream cones, they always taste stale.

Dan, Sarah and I ventured to the Farmer’s Market Saturday morning – Greg elected to stay home and mow the lawn before it got too hot. We got downtown, and kept finding every street to the heart of downtown blocked off. We tried like eighteen different routes, and couldn’t get there, and were getting more and more confused. So we finally parked and walked into downtown, and discovered that the streets were blocked because of the Sherry Anderson Memorial 5K Walk/Run. Sherry Anderson was killed by a drunk driver while jogging in the early morning in January – so sad and unbelievably horrifying, especially in a small town like this.

After we visited the Farmer’s Market, we went to the Artful Dodger for drinks, and had italian sodas out on the patio.

(Those are my farmer’s market eggs in the corner – I got the last carton of large eggs, and they were so big the carton can’t close around them. I love non-standardized food.)

The bell tower of the Presbyterian church downtown with the pink puffball tree in the foreground – I wish I knew what these trees were, I want one badly.

Anyway, we went to the spring football game, where I got to meet this gorgeous guy:

This is Duke, the University Bulldog. We have a regular human mascot in a fuzzy suit, but there’s also always a real dog, and yes, he’s wearing a JMU football jersey.

The day finished with dinner on the porch and Trivial Pursuit, and it was fantastic.

We’ve had a lovely few weekends, visiting with friends and family and traveling and other good stuff.

Last Sunday, we drove to DC for Shane’s birthday, and saw a Nationals game (playing the Florida Marlins). The Nationals lost badly, but it was a lovely day. Andy & Claire were there, and Sarah happened to be in town for a conference, so Dan and Sarah joined us as well. I think E & Shane had two of their worlds meet last weekend, which is always an interesting moment.

You remember when I taught Claire to knit at Thanksgiving? Well, she’s going like gangbusters, and this is her first hat. We will make no comments about the fact that she intended that hat to fit her head when she started, none at all. Suffice it to say that it’s an adorable hat, and a very neat first attempt, and an excellent lesson in the value of gauge.

Sarah and Dan, looking adorable as usual. The new Nationals stadium is gorgeous – we hadn’t been to a game since the summer of 2007, and the new stadium is clean and beautiful.

There’s Greg (or, rather, Greg’s chin), Andy & Claire, and the birthday boy perched on the edge of his chair in the Nats jersey and hat.

During the 7th inning stretch, the gentleman who played the national anthem on saxophone came out again and played God Bless America (or America the Beautiful, I can’t remember). His name was Jeremiah – Justin – something like that.

Our tulips are all blooming now – mostly red and orange, with a few other colors, and the last of the daffodils. The lilacs are about to start, too, which makes me happy. (We planted a Beauty of Moscow lilac last weekend – pale pink and white blooms with intense fragrance, but it won’t  bloom for several years.) I’ve never liked this color orange, but that photo above might change my mind. The cherry trees are blooming too – last year, they bloomed and then didn’t fruit at all. I don’t know if it was too dry, or if they’re too young (I’ve no idea how old these trees are).

Bailey with a particularly daft, sappy, goofy look on his face. (I was holding a stick in my left hand as I took this picture, that’s what he’s staring at. One track mind, that dog.)

So we’ve had a lovely productive Sunday, and it’s stunningly gorgeous outside. We went to church this morning, met Sarah and Dan for brunch (more on the rest of our weekend adventures later), cleaned the house, washed the cars, went shopping, watered the flower beds (soaking myself completely in the process, naturally), and were just generally productive and awesome.

So now it’s 5:30, the air is starting to cool, and I decided to sit outside with a glass of white wine for a few minutes before starting on dinner.  I strolled through the garden, imagining a thousand things we could do (arbor, anyone?), and discovered a raspberry bush I didn’t know we had, and then walked on past the daylilies. I was stunned to find this:

We think it’s a luna moth, the giant green gentle moths that are such a rare delight in the summer. I’ve never seen one with purple edging before, but everything else looks right. Greg’s theory is that it’s an immature luna moth, just emerged, and that the purple will disappear as it dries and settles into life.

Look at those gorgeous feathery antennae, and the beautiful purple spots (eyes, of course).

Want another angle? Happy to oblige. (Just so you know, taking this next shot involved standing on my head and hooking my left elbow around my neck and under my right knee.)

Beautiful. If anyone wants to correct me and tell me it’s a Lithuanian death moth or something similar, feel free. Til then, that’s my story. (Sticking to it, yada yada.)

So after having this nifty phone for almost seven months, we finally figured out how to get photos off my camera phone and onto the computer. We’ve all tried this several times, with Bluetooth and cables and SD cards, and nothing worked. Dan tried, I tried, Greg tried, my dad tried — nothing.

And now suddenly, it works (thanks to Greg – still not sure what we did differently this time). So here’s a huge blog dump of completely unconnected photos from my phone over the last seven months.

At about 6am on election morning, the line for our polling place was already incredibly long. Definitely felt like a historic moment - voter turnout in Harrisonburg was extremely high last year. And I'm sappy enough that voting in my second federal election was a big big deal.

On election night, Greg, Dan and I watched the returns at home. This was the first moment things started to shift, when CNN called Virginia for Obama.

And then the final crucial moment. I cried, Dan and Greg both said "Cool."

This was my phone's wallpaper for a long time - silly puppy.

This is Jack, Greg's parents' dog. It's an appropriately blurry photo, since Jack is rarely still (but very sweet).

This is the portrait of Gideon Blackburn, hanging in Blackburn College's Lumpkin Library. Gideon was the founder of Blackburn College, and our cat Gideon is named after him. (They look nothing alike.)

This one’s for Rebekah – for Mr. Pickpants.  I’ve made this for brunch several times over the last year or so, both for just us and for visiting friends, and it’s always been a big hit.  It’s incredibly easy, especially if you have good ingredients on hand (i.e. I wouldn’t try this with “pancake syrup”).

I found it in the 2004-2005 edition of Best American Recipes, and it’s originally from www.dakinfarm.com.  This cookbook series is my absolute favorite (well, ok, second only to the Mennonite More is Less series, which includes a seasonal and an international cookbook, all focused on sustainable eating and living).  But I have the complete Best American Recipes series, and I love each and every one of them.  I re-read these cookbooks more often than any of the others I have.
Baked Eggs in Maple Toast Cups

1 1/2 Tblsp butter, plus more for the muffin cups

1 1/2 Tblsp pure maple syrup

6 slices bread (this is best with a relatively firm crumb, thin-sliced white bread)

3 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and broken into small pieces

6 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 400F. Butter 6 muffin cups. In a small saucepan (or the microwave), melt the butter and add the syrup.
Remove the crusts from the bread. Flatten each slice with a rolling pin. Brush both sides of the bread with the syrup-butter mixture. Pat the bread into the muffin cups and sprinkle the bacon into the bottom of each cup. Break an egg into each cup, and bake until the eggs are set; start checking after about five minutes. [Note: it always takes longer than five minutes for me - I usually start checking around seven or eight minutes.] When the whites are set and the yolks are done to your liking, life the toast cups from the tin and serve immediately, drizzled with more maple syrup, if desired.

I’ll add a photo the next time I make these.

Very tasty.

On Saturday, Greg, Dan and I volunteered in the annual Blacks Run Clean-Up Day.  Blacks Run is the creek that runs through downtown, JMU, and most of the city, then swings south below Massanutten (the mountain we used to live on), joins up with the North River, and empties into the Chesapeake Bay (hence: our watershed).  Blacks Run is filthy, and has been for years; the creek water is dangerously toxic to fish, birds, and plant life. This year was (I believe) the third annual Clean-Up Day, and hundreds of people came out on  drizzly, chilly Saturday to pick up trash. Last year, they picked up two tons of trash, and this year, I think Greg and Dan gathered almost that much by themselves.

We were working on Pear St, about a mile south of downtown, right along the railroad tracks. Oddly, we were nowhere near the creek, but we picked up eighteen bags of trash anyway, cause that’s where the organizers sent us.

Greg and Dan found a ton of tires, as well, buried in the woods and ravines next to the tracks.

And the obligatory picture of Greg making a silly face:

We were filthy and disgusting and smelly when it was all over (Dan found a huge trash bag full of dirty diapers…), and Greg and Dan were both smelling their hats to see if the stink carried that far:

We finally made it back downtown for the volunteer lunch, where we saw this lovely sight:

We were glad they provided hand sanitizer before giving us pizza, but I wouldn’t normally label a table of hand sanitizer as food. Maybe that’s just me.

Just a few miscellaneous photos from the past week or so:

The College of Ed hosted a version of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and this blurry picture shows the mayor and the VP of marketing competing against a class of fifth graders from Mountain View Elementary.

Every spring, these ducks take over the Wendy's parking lot, hoping for stray french fries - soon there'll be ducklings too

Greg sat down and was immediately covered in kittens

Cherry tree against a dark, stormy sky

Andy and Claire are visiting this weekend, and we had a lovely time yesterday out at Cross Keys Vineyard.  My boss and I toured the vineyard a couple of weeks ago, thinking about holding future events there (business dinners, conferences, etc) – it’s an absolutely gorgeous space.  We went back a week later for a Friday night event with a live musician, good wine, and yummy snacks.  And then yesterday, the five of us went to try the full tasting experience, and had a fantastic time in the slightly windy spring sunshine.

Andy has just finished the first level of a wine education program, and so he had plenty of background, history, advice, and comparisons for us.  He was favorably impressed by Cross Keys wines – the vineyard is young, but has some great potential.  We all really liked the 2008 Joy White, which is nearly colorless but full of flavor – lots of peaches, but not overly sweet, and the 2007 Meritage, which was a mellow and rich red.

Andy evaluating the Joy White with his discerning eye

Claire looking gorgeous in the sunshine

The view of the mountains from the terrace - check out that house!

2007 Meritage

The boys, sitting in the shade, wearing sunglasses

Last night (really, early this morning), I dreamed that I was about to teach my first class this summer. There were way more students in the room than there were supposed to be, but I was going to just go with it.  And then I spilled chocolate pudding all over my khakis.

This afternoon, as I was driving home from work, the minivan in front of me slowed as she neared our driveway.  I thought at first she was going to turn into the historic cemetery right next to our house, but then she turned into our driveway and stopped. When she realized that’s where I was trying to go, she panicked.  (Those of you who have seen our driveway will understand why – it’s not an easy thing to get in and out of without some advance planning.)  So she pulled up to the top of the driveway, and we had a mimed conversation through our respective windshields, and I managed to get out of her way.  She backed out, and kept going the direction she’d intially been going.  No idea what happened there.

At 8:15 this morning, I set off a very loud and piercing alarm unlocking the classroom that my office owns.  Never happened before – not my fault.  Very loud.  Deafening, in fact.

Greg and I ran to the grocery store tonight (I told him I wanted coffee syrup – I’ve been on a big iced coffee kick lately, after visiting a WaWa gas station in Richmond – don’t ask. Anyway, he had no idea what I was talking about – but like always, he just went with it.), and took a different route than normal, a winding and very bumpy back country road.  We came across two young deer – teenagers, really – grazing on the side of the road.  When we came around the curve and startled them, they tried to retreat into the woods, but ended up literally running into each other, tripping over each other, and generally looking like fools from a Three Stooges movie.  Hysterical.

So it’s been a day of surprises.