Challah

Here are some photos of a marbled raisin and cinnamon challah I made. I forgot to take a photo of the bread out of the oven, so just imagine what it looks like. This is a five strand braid before and after rising.

Warm weather

Here's what happens with November is unseasonably warm. You can't tell from the first photo, but look in the second photo and you'll see that two rows of garlic had already sprouted and grown a few inches. Here's another of a snapdragon blooming and then one of lettuce that I'm hoping will go to seed.

Thanksgiving

Here are some photos from my Thanksgiving party. The menu included turkey, sweet potato casserole, sweet potato orange cups, mashed sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, parker house rolls, raisin challah, cranberry sauce, pasta salad, green beans with cranberries and almonds, split pea soup, roasted root vegetables and squash, sweet pepper jack macaroni and cheese, quinoa and pomegranate salad, horseradish scalloped potatoes, bread dressing, salad, roasted rosemary potatoes, olive hummus, molasses cookies, jefferson davis pie (in photo), and pumpkin pie.

Waffle House Birthday!

The local Waffle House was celebrating its tenth birthday so we made an outing to the party!! w00t w00t! We won Waffle House Santa ballcaps from Christmas 2008!

Morgantown and the couch

Well, the couch finally decided to come downstairs. Here are some photos of it slowly climbing down to the first floor. Also, here's a photo of Mariah playing a graffiti melodica.

Autumn Glory

And the Autumn Glory festival was the only fair I've been to with a Thai fair food booth. It actually looked pretty good...

Cathedral State Park

And now some photos from a hike we took in Cathedral State park, site of 200 - 500 year old giant hemlock trees, strange plants, and lots of amazing fungi!

More Photos from Dolly Sods/Oakland Trip

Here's the men's bathroom in Hellbender's Burritos, my new favorite restaurant in Davis, WV. Apparently a hellbender is a kind of salamander that lives around there. I had just bought 941 postcards for $7.00 at the Blackwater trading post so everyone in the restaurant played "guess how many" (kind of like the jellybean game) and the person closest to the actual number won a sampler of postcards. Anyway, here's an X-files scene in their bathroom. You also see some photos of the smallest church in the lower 48 states.

Dolly Sods #2

Here you see more Dolly Sods photos. This is the first overlook. K-Gerg went camping with me and we both nearly froze. Its great to have another friend who loves the outdoors so much. The third photo is of a bog at the Dolly Sods.

Dolly Sods

And now some photos from the Dolly Sods. October is the best time to go up there - and they had fixed the road since the last time I made the voyage. In one of these photos you can see the one-sided trees that grow because of the extreme winds. You can see how blurry the others are - it was hard to hold the camera steady.

Blackwater Falls

The first set of photos from my storytelling trip this past weekend. Here's the incredibly beautiful Blackwater Canyon from above.

Shoes

Here I am with Don Davis - its a footsteps thing.

National Storytelling Festival

Here are some shots from Jonesborough. Here we see Don Davis's tent - so many people were there that we had to stand outside. That's what happens when they have one less tent this year. Also you see Granny Sue, Lorna, and Kevin as we swap ballads by the ISC.

Harvest Table Food

And here's what I ate. First, a tomato bisque that nearly made me cry (it was that good). Second, a pizza with lamb sausage, peppers, onions, and sundried-tomato cheese. Have you noticed that I write about food a lot on here?

Harvest Table

I stopped in Meadowview, VA en route to the National Storytelling Festival - its the restaurant associated with with authors of the book I'm teaching in my PHIL classes this semester. Here are some photos.

Here you see the kitchen, the creative outdoor seating (which smelled of so much basil), and the storefronts for the restaurant and general store, which made up most of the downtown.

Oktoberfest at the Bavarian Inn

Here are some shots from last weekend's Oktoberfest, one of my favorite days of the year. You can see the Alphorn being played, bell ringers, and dancers. What you can't see is all of the delicious food I ate.

Holla!

har-dee-har-har

Table Update @2

Grouting begins today...