Recently in Virginia Category

We are finally getting some cold weather after we had a much too warm Thanksgiving. Last year when we hung the garlands, bows, and wreaths outside we nearly froze to death. This year we could have done it barefoot and in shorts. Much too warm. I am ready for Christmas snow! I don't care for snow at any other time of the year. Thank you. We took Steven to see Santa and he cried. I refuse to have one of those crying ugly photos. So everyone took the photo together. No it doesn't bother Colby at all to still be my baby. :-) This is a major milestone for me and I am not handling it very well. This is Steven's first visit with Santa and Colby's last. She will be twenty in a few months. I guess it is time for some things to come to an end. *sob* Where did 20 Christmas' go? To answer the questions from the last post - Yes, those are real presents. All of my shopping has been complete since before Thanksgiving and much of it is wrapped. The gifts under the children's trees are their gifts to one another and their friends. Time. I make time for what I want to do. The same as we all do for anything we plan. I plan to do certain things at certain times and I don't alter my plans or let anything get in the way. You can too. Learn to say no and don't get sidetracked. Easy. Tomorrow I will try to show you the outside of the house. *When I was a girl I had a crush on Dean Martin. I did! I still think he is sexy sexy sexy. I always thought when I grew up I would marry him. I didn't know back then he cheated and drank too much, etc. Come on -I was just a kid. :-)

I have a new favorite apple. I like it better than the apples in my orchard. It is a Virginia Stayman. The stayman is the perfect all purpose apple I have ever cooked with. Virginia Stayman The photo just cannot show you the detail in the color. This apple is not one grown commercially for grocery stores and the like. The skin it not perfect and has a bit of texture. The skin is also prone to splitting. Gorgeous yellowish white flesh The flesh is beautiful. I picked these up yesterday from a grower down in Nelson County. These are so very juicey. I can't begin to even relate the beauty of the yellowish white flesh. Nor can I even begin to describe the perfect tartness when you bite into it. I have never been much of an apple lover. I like apples and do cook with them but I am not much of a pick an apple to eat kind of person. These have made me change my ways. They are an awesome vintage apple developed from an 1866 winesap from Kansas (I think). Simply delicious. I am thinking about making a batch of applesauce for the baby and maybe some applebutter to have at Christmas. Yummy! Last night I cooked pork chops for supper. As a side dish I sauteed a few apples in butter and sprinkled with cinnamon. It was a perfect addition to the meal. Time to mash the pumpkin I went yesterday and purchased two more cushaw pumpkins like Steve asked. The guy was so very nice and gave me a third one at no charge. I baked one last night and one this morning. Mini bread loaves and a quart of soup I made a batch of pumpkin bread and pumpkin soup. I took him down a quart of soup and a few loaves as a thank you. The cushaw pumpkin soup recipe is very similar to thePumpkin and Potato Soup I made last fall. The cushaw pumpkin bread recipe is also posted over on the recipe journal. Now you know what has taken me so long to get this post published this morning ... errr.. afternoon. Look! A sweet baby pumpkin. Well, that and trying to type with a baby banging on my keyboard. Or pulling my mouse cord. Or wanting to nurse. Or learning how to open the cabinet doors and pulling out a gazzion things. I do mean sweet. But he was so darn cute while doing it I couldn't resist smothering him with kisses and making him giggle. I have to go get ready for the trick or treating tonight. I'll have plenty of photos tomorrow. Happy Hallowe'en to you all.

I drug everyone off with me Saturday to Mount Vernon in Fairfax Co., Va. About a 45 minute to an hour drive from our house. On the front veranda of Mount Vernon.I packed a picnic supper for us to have later in the day. I packed a cooler of drinks. I packed the diaper bag for the baby. There was nothing anyone had to do at any time in the day. It was for once a truely 'free' day. I loved seeing everything there was to see. The house, the outbuildings, the gardens, the farm, the wharf, the washington's tombs, the view of the river. Everything was just as I expected and wanted it to be. Except - To my huge disappointment everything was "General Washington this" and "General Washington that" so much so that only at one point was Patsy Washington mentioned and she wasn't mentioned in a nice way. The historic interpretors only mentioned her contribution to the plantation as the decorations in their personal bedroom suite -and not in a nice way. (FYI - The Washington's bedroom is the most lovely in the house. Cool white walls, pale blue trims, beautiful flowing white bed curtains and linens, the seats of chairs covered and the furniture polished.) My Martha with Martha.I found it offensive that no one thought to mention that George had little personal wealth. It is because Martha married him that he came into the money (her money) to restore and build Mount Vernon into what it was in his life. Martha had great wealth and no need to marry again. She chose to marry him and in his personal writings he is always concerned with her choices and wishes when things were selected for their home. Now for the times, I am sure Martha would have never wanted the spotlight on herself. She would have stood back and let George shine -as she did all the time. In interpreting history there is a responsibility to tell a story as truthfully and completely as possible. At Mount Vernon no one seemed interested in telling the part of the story that was Martha (Patsy). My children on the Potomac River.I had a long discussion with Steve as we walked the grounds. We discussed many facets of her life and what it must have been like to live at Mount Vernon. The day grew late and Steven woke from his nap. He needed to nurse. I headed to a bench far from the foot traffic, tucked inot the wall near the upper gardens. Down at the entrance to the garden sat a woman in period dress. No one approached her. Steve struck up a conversation. Finally someone wanted to talk about Patsy Washington. The living history interpretor did a beautiful job in character and it was the highlight of our visit. Steve and Steven picnicing on a saturday evening.We chose a spot along the Potomac River north of Mount Vernon, south of Alexandria and had a wonderful picnic supper. The wind blew off the river and smelled of salt and the sea. Gracie loved it and stood with the force of the wind on her face and inhaled deeply trying to save the scent for some memory to be tucked away. Steven laughed and squealed. Colby was smiling and happy. Steve was relaxed. We supped on cold fried chicken, cheeses, fruits, breads, sweets and many drinks. I had a wonderful Saturday with my husband and children. How was your weekend?

Today was to be a great day. I was to meet with this lovely lady and this lovely lady and this lovely lady and this lovely lady. However, I had to cancel those plans because the financial institute (of the buyers choice) finally arranged settlement of our real estate sale for the exact same time as our outing. However, 1 hour before the appointment the financial institute dropped the ball. Settlement was changed to tomorrow at 4pm. There was no way I could get the meeting place by the appointed meeting time. :-( How much does that suck? ******* I missed Blackbird's Show and Tell Friday. She wanted to see our handwriting. Here is mine. This is the beginning of the planning list for Steven's Birthday Party on Saturday afternoon. His entire family will be present.

Normally we do not go out to eat very often because I cook better than most restaurants and the cheap part of me cringes at some of the prices for the five of us to have a simple meal. We generally save eating out for special occassions and the odd saturday we are caught in town and the kids need to eat -late dinner/early supper kind of thing. Psssttt ... dinner is lunch. There are three places we like to eat at and one place we like to have carry-out. Those of you in the area would be wise to try these places on for comfort. If you are planning to visit the D.C. Metro area plan to have supper out one night at this establishment. You will not be disappointed. I owe this post to dreaming I was eating duck the other night. LMAO!! I woke up starving and could not get back to sleep so I got up and had a small cup of yogurt. Believe me the yogurt has not cured my craving for dining at this establishment. Today's feature is Peking Gourmet Inn. Peking Gourmet Inn 6029 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, Va. 703-671-8088 First off before you get your heart set on eating at this establishment call and make a reservation. Otherwise you may not get to eat. They are always busy and parking is a little crowded at peak hours. I was introduced to this little nondescript North China style restaurant the first Christmas Steven and I spent together. It is a tradition in his family to have supper there on Christmas Eve. Most of the items on the menu are typical chinese fare and most every dish is delicious. BUT... here's the but ... They make the absolute BEST peking duck you will ever put in your mouth! When the entire family is present we order 3 whole ducks as our appetizer and rarely is there much to call leftovers. The duck is tender and succulent, melting in your mouth. The skin is crip and that delicious first crunch is to die for. When you walk in the small foryer is typical, when you open the door and approach the hostess it is usually busy and crowded but as long as you have a reservation you never wait more than a couple minutes if you have to wait at all. Walking in is like being on a 60's Kung Fu movie set. The wait staff is dressed in black pants and crimson coats. Many of them are very old and very polite, rarely speaking but giving excellent service. I love it when we have Eddie as out waiter. They still serve Shirly Temples (complete with orange slice garnish and a cherry) from the bar to children. Very cool. My kids always order one. The duck is brought out whole to your table and sliced while you watch. It is served with their homemade plum sauce, spring onions grown by the family and very thin pancakes that are steaming hot. Take a pancake fill it with a bit of duck, the onion and drizzle of plum sauce, roll and eat. Your mouth will dance with joy. The plum sauce is like none I have ever had before. We have even attempted to try and reproduce -not happening. They do not give away the secret to their recipes either. Ask for an extra dish of the plum sauce to take home with your left over duck. After you have filled up on the duck and can't possibly eat another bite without being a pig, order the Jeo-Yan Shrimp for your entree. It comes with it's own sauce but ask for the homemade yellow garlic sauce instead. The shrimp are HUGE and tender and perfectly fried. I have no idea what the coating is by it is scrumptuous. There are at least a dozen of those giant shrimp heaped on a platter. When I say giant I do mean giant. You will eat yourself into a frenzy near to the cusp of blindness on the duck and shrimp alone. If you want a cocktail might I suggest the maotai. It is very smooth and goes down in one long swallow. The whole duck is $35. The shrimp is $25. I would say for a couple going out to supper order 1 of each and carry the duck home as leftovers. You will not be disappointed. If your children do not care for this type of eating they are very gracious and understand when a happy meal bag is sat on the table. Other items on the menu are priced at what you expect to pay for the customary dining out supper entree ($12-15). I do believe the prices are on their menu online. If you go for lunch the prices are less. I am not sure if the duck is available during lunch. When we have eaten earlier in the day it has been after 2:30pm and we did have the duck. Dress is casual and you will not feel out of place in jeans nor would you feel out of place dressed more formally. The walls of the dining rooms are lined with photographs of the owners with politicians and celebrities. You never know who you will see there. You might see the president or members of his family, they dine there regularly. You might see any number of congressmen or other politicians. Hollywood types are also noted for dining here as well. Be discreet as you look around at the diners, you never know who will be seated near or beside you. I really want to go this weekend. I am craving the duck and shrimp but it is so close to our anniversary I really should wait and most likely will. It is where we had our wedding supper with all of the family. The photo above is of Gracie on Sunday afternoon. The girls wanted to eat outside in the grill house. J. got busy and set the table properly and Gracie felt we needed flowers to make everything complete. She walked around the yard and chose her flowers, cut them herself, then arranged them in the vase. The red vase was chosen because red is her favorite color. She fretted over the perfect placement of each bloom before she declared it fit to have on the table. Please make note of the lovely pink chandelier earrings -only allowed to be worn at home and the Vanna style of presentation for the camera. One last note - the photo of some of the jam I put up.