#4: Some Scheduled Fun

It's been almost 4 years since Alex and I started dating and we have yet to go on an actual, scheduled, just-us vacation.  We've taken some weekend trips to the beach and snowboarding with friends but that is the extent of it.  A combination of medical, job leave leniency, and financial issues have prevented us from doing much for the most part.  I'm trying to make this year different.  I want to focus more on having fun and getting rid of some of this stress.  Because I am full of it and turning into a crazy person!

Our first vacation is finally planned (I'll take credit for doing all the planning, ahem.) At the end of May, we are going to Williamsburg, Virginia for a 4 day trip.  I'm planning a day or two in the historical areas, a day in Busch Gardens, and maybe a day touring and tasting at some of the local vineyards.  The hotel is free thanks to Alex's parents generously letting us use their timeshare credits.  Although the timeshare has locations all over the country, I wanted to find a location that was driveable and accepted Saturday check-ins.  (I'm still trying to use as few vacation days at work as possible.  I'm stock piling for future plans.)  Our options were Williamsburg or the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania and we ultimately chose Williamsburg because there are more options in the area.  The Poconos sounds fun, but the only thing you can do there in May is hike and I don't think I can take four days of intense hiking in a row.  My butt hurt enough after one afternoon of hiking.  And what if it was rainy while we were there?

I'm still wishing for a week somewhere warm and tropical but I'm hoping we can do that sometime next spring. I haven't gone on a vacation like that since college! And for those who are counting, that was just about five years ago.  Man, time really flies.  I need some all-inclusive resort fun.  We also might finally take a trip out to the San Francisco area together later in the year.  If that doesn't work out, it might just be me again.  Oh well, I'll just eat In-N-Out burgers for two!  That would not be a problem at all.

Down at the Bay

Last Saturday we packed up our crabbing gear and headed down to the Chesapeake Bay for the day.  Our intentions were to catch enough crabs for a delicious dinner, but the weather had other plans for us.  It was a beautiful day but the wind was against us and we lost a lot of crabs to the waves.  We didn't come home with any but we had a great time outside!

Alex was kind enough to do the chicken prep (ughh) while I took pictures and organized our supplies.  For anyone that doesn't know how to crab, there are a few different ways but we use the crab line method.  Chicken is left out of the fridge until it's a little smelly, then you tie it onto lines and attach the lines to a pier.  When the lines are tight or moving against the waves, you know that a crab is eating the chicken.  Then you slowly pull in the line and scoop up the crab with a net.  Usually the crabs have no idea that they're being lifted to the surface.  In our case, the waves were strong enough to disturb the crabs and cause them to drop off before we could net them.

We did end up catching a few crabs.  Our first crab was just a baby so we threw him back.  We'll return for you in the spring, crab, so eat up!  After that, we caught a huge crab.  It was much larger than any of the ones we caught over the summer.  There were no other people out crabbing so I guess the crabs have had time to grow since no one is out catching them.  We lost a bunch of crabs in the waves for the next few hours so we decided to take a break and come back a little later.  I'm the meanwhile, we headed over to the big pier to try to get a glimpse of the bay bridge in the distance.  No sighting.  Alex claims that it's there, but I think that's all a myth.

We went back to crabbing but after a while I got tired and we still weren't catching anything.  We decided to let our lone crab go because what's the point of cooking just one?  Plus, I was starting to feel a little bad for the guy.  He looked so cold in that cooler.  So we put him in the shallow end of the water to warm up before swimming out into the deeper water.  Once he had set off, we dropped the chicken into the water and cut off our lines.  As we were pulling out one of our last lines, what do you know, we caught another crab.  Another HUGE crab!  If only we hadn't let the other one go... but what are you gonna do.  I guess it was just their lucky day.

Crab #2 was also thrown back but you better believe that we'll be back for them soon.  We're hoping to be able to spend more time down by the water next year now that we have more free weekends.  Once we get some work done down there, we'd love to have friends come down for a barbecue and maybe i'll also be able to serve some freshly caught crabs!

Grape Stomp!

A few weekends ago, I planned a day out in the farmland of Montgomery County and I really wanted to include a wine tasting at Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyards.  Alex had never been to a real wine tasting before because he was medically not allowed to drink every time we went to vineyards over the past two years.  I was a little disappointed to find out that the vineyard was hosting their annual Grape Stomp event that weekend.   I prefer more intimate and in depth tastings where they don't have to rush you because of the line of people waiting.  However, we decided to go anyways.  I wanted to try the wine!

We had lunch beforehand at the Comus Inn restaurant right around the corner from Sugarloaf Mountain.  The lunch menu at the Inn is very small and I LOVE that.  Everything is done well.  You don't need a lot of choices because you won't go wrong.  A simple soup and grilled cheese combo was just what I was looking for, although I ended up taking half the sandwich with me.  Don't get me wrong, it might just be grilled cheese and butternut squash soup, but it's special.  You know they put more than just a little thought into it.  I've been to the Inn a few times and I'm pretty sure I've ordered the same meal every time.

From there we headed to the vineyard and were surprised by a booth that engraved your wineglass!  I've never seen that before and I thought it was pretty cool.  I thought long and hard, and came up with something really creative to write on mine.

Yeah baby, that was all me.  Except the grapes... that was the engraver's idea.

We did a few tastings of the red wines and I was more impressed by their offerings than I was by the Virginia wines I tasted at the Vintage Virginia Wine fest earlier this year.  Maybe I chose the wrong wines at that time, but I felt like they all had too much residual sugar.  If a red wine is sweet enough to chill, there is a problem.  I don't enjoy sweet wine which is why I don't really drink white wine.  The majority of the wines I tasted at Sugarloaf were not sweet so I was happy!  We spent the rest of our tasting tickets on a glass of Evo, their premier (most expensive) red wine.

I ended up buying two bottles to take with me.  The Comus, a Bordeaux mix, and the Cabernet Sauvignon.  I'm definitely a cab sav person, the more flavorful the better.  I think I've been a little spoiled by cabs from Napa Valley but this one is pretty drinkable at a decent price.  Besides, you can't go to a vineyard without buying some bottles, right?  

We finished up the afternoon with a hayride tour of the vineyard.  I missed harvest season again (grr!) but there were still a few grapes left on some vines that out tour guide let us taste.  I would love to do a wine tasting where they also let you taste the grape that the wine was made from.  I should probably actually find out when those kinds of tastings are offered so I don't miss them next year.  Do they even do them in this area?

If you look closely at that last picture, you'll see that there are some grapes on that vine!

Now we're all geared up for our trip to California in a few weeks.  You can bet that we'll be visiting Napa again.  Alex hasn't been there yet and it's always a must-do.  If you're ever in the area, you really should do a tasting at Duckhorn up in St. Helena if you want a really long and personalized tasting.  It's a bit out of the way but it's the best tasting I've ever been to.  You get your own table, snacks, and perhaps a 20% discount on any purchased bottles (if your umm... wine tasting person... happens to be from Maryland as well.)  They don't skimp on filling your glass and my tasting there was easily 7-8 glasses.  Keep them in mind!

Now, back to what I was originally talking about.  As we left the vineyard, we had to grab a cupcake!  We chose the red velvet one that was dipped in the vineyard's own STOMP red wine (it's a sweet one.)  It was delicious!

The Annual Pumpkin Farm Trip

Last weekend, Alex and I made our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin farm.  This time we decided to return to the Homestead Farm for my FAVORITE trip of the year.  The drive was about an hour for us and we didn't intend on buying any pumpkins (we already cheaped out and bought the <$5 supermarket pumpkins) but there are a ton of fun things to do at this farm!

There are obviously a ton of pumpkins available for purchase... or photographing.  There is also a pick-your-own pumpkin field but I've found that those fields never really have anything good.  Or maybe I just get there too late.  The farm was decorated for the season and it was a beautiful day, so we were feeling pretty festive.

Homestead has a petting zoo so we spent some time checking out the animals.  They are constantly being fed by all the kids visiting the farm and yet they never seem to get full.  The goats formed a pile trying to get the food the kids were handing out and nearly stomped each other.  Crazy goats.

In the chicken coop was the fluffiest chicken I have ever seen!  If I ever happen to own some chickens, they will definitely be this breed.  My chickens won't have feathers, they will have fur.  The farm also had cute baby pigs and a turkey this year. Mmm, i'll be seeing you again in 1-2 months turkey.

Even though we didn't partake in the pumpkin picking, we did pick our own apples.  We missed the honeycrisp harvest but filled our basket up with plenty of pink ladies and some mystery apples that Alex had to climb a tree to pick from the very top.  I'm going to need to start researching some apple recipes after this.

Thanks for all the hard work Alex!

We ended the trip in the farmers market and invested in a few piles of vegetables.  The eggplant was so pretty that I really loaded up on them, including the weird orange ones.  The only problem is, I rarely cook eggplant and don't really know what to do with it.  What even are those orange ones? Time for more research!

I'm glad we were able to spend such a great afternoon at the farm!  I'm already looking forward to next years trip.

On an unrelated note, the leaves are starting to change in our backyard! Autumn is here!

Cold Enough for a Fire

Finally!  We tried using the fire pit a few times this summer but something just didn't feel right.  Perhaps it was the 100º heat.  Or maybe it was all the rain.  Either way, Friday evening had the perfect chill in the air to relax around a fire and roast some marshmallows.

Alex got the fire going for us, and then once it went out a few minutes later, I got it going for the rest of the evening.  It was my first time lighting a fire but it turns out I'm a fire genius.  The second picture is my roaring fire!

We had chilled a bottle of Chateau Jiahu that we picked up at the Dogfish Head brewery a few weekends ago and settled in for the night.  On a side note, not one of my most favorite beers.  I love Dogfish Head, but it tastes a bit like a beer and wine mix.  Or wine that someone barfed.  I guess that's what you get when you buy a beer that's finished with grapes.

A fire pit wouldn't be complete without a bit of old fashioned marshmallow roasting.  And let me tell you, marshmallows that may or may not be a little hard and old roast just as well as fresh ones.  I can't always keep on top of our marshmallow supply you guys!

So please, everyone make a little time this fall to relax, burn a few things, and roast up some junk food.  Because things like this are good for the soul.

(Excuse the paint splattered sweatpants, they just happen to be my warmest pair and have been with me through the painting of this entire house.  You can't just get rid of such a good friend.)