"This time I'll be better I want you to know"

Big doings! Wanted to fill you readers in on our happenings... Oktoberfests that run out of beer, Hurricanes, air-sickness on flights, and a big month of challenges.

Addressing the above in order:

Oktoberfest was so much fun this year. I did not get blotto and managed to avoid all shots of any kind. Jaeger. is. evil. You'll never have me believe otherwise. The food was amazing, especially the hunter's stew and apple dumplings. Seeing friends... it's just so nice. We miss you guys so much and it's so strange trying to squeeze in months of updates in such a short time. If only there were more time. :-/ They did indeed run out of beer, but we all managed to survive somehow! The day after Ed took me on a tour of Roanoke and his old stomping grounds. We drove by his old schools, his old home, and Texas Tavern. He had some incredible hills around his home with some amazing views of the changing fall colors, along with some hilarious sledding stories. I think seeing where people spent their lives really helps you see them a bit better.

Our view of the Oompah Band. Blocked by Michelle's wine bottle - no, no glasses needed thank you!

Glad we caught the leaves still on the trees on the drive down to Blacksburg!

You know you want a giant plate of hot, freshly pulled pork... right off the carcass :) Even got some cheek this time!

A little taste of the views from Ed's old neighborhood and it's craaaazypants sledding hills!

An how about that hurricane? MD was spared a bunch of the damage but obviously not everyone was so lucky. It was very sobering and surreal hiding out at home with family, knowing full well that a giant tree could come crashing down in those crazy gusts. I couldn't get over how loud the gusts were even through closed doors and windows. All the family is fine on our part. Our flight was delayed a couple days. The con: the poor kitties were left home alone, (thankfully taken care of by our very sweet pet-sitter Carol at the last minute), and Ed missed some work. Pro: Got to spend some much appreciated time with my Mom and Ken and even managed a quick trip to Omi's house! Knowing that we will not be home again until January, (even then it'll be a very quick trip), we enjoyed the extra time. It was the first visit spent just hanging around with family instead of running from place to place to see everyone. Of course we missed seeing friends that were not at Oktoberfest, but I know we'll catch up with you all soon. :)

Man, good thing I bought this boots and the coat for the possiblity of rain on my wedding day... who knew a hurricane was in my future?

I forced him out into the aftermath on Tuesday :)

Probably the fullest I have ever seen Sligo Creek in my entire life.

Air sickness. Ok so I'm gonna blame Chipotle at Dulles for this one. Suffice it to say, I've been ill on 3 flights in my life and every time, it is the worst. You're trapped in those tiny seats with bad air flow, you feel guilty every time you force the person in the aisle out of the way, and there's no good way to interact with the flight attendants as you turn green waiting for the bathroom. Although after being ill in the bathroom the attendant sweetly complimented my skirt saying I 'looked really cute for a sick person.' Well, thank you miss.

Challenges! Remember my challenges post? Today is day one of the first week of 'as much as I can' challenges, specifically walking and running. After being so sick yesterday, I did not run today but I did walk 1 mile so I'm putting that in the win column. November 5th marks the start of the Chopra meditation challenge. I think Ed is doing the Movember 'challenge.' And just in case I didn't find enough to challenge myself with this month, check this out:

National Novel Writing Month!

A friend of mine just posted her finished book on amazon, which I of course bought because if any of you out there write a book you know I'd be behind it all the way! Unless it's about spiders... then we'll see... Anyways, her post had me feeling anxious to actually write something less tangent-y and more coherent. Then today I found out it's National Novel Writing Month? I mean, I don't need a bigger sign. I don't promise a finished novel at the end of the month, but I'm sure gonna try!

Side note: the new Robbie Williams album comes out in two weeks and I cannot wait. Everyone in the U.S. should get on liking him as much as I do so he'll finally come tour here, save Ed the plane tickets to Europe to see him :)

His current single that is doing stellar across the Atlantic:

An acoustic version of his next single:

"I'm gonna smile when I take your life"

Like I said in the last post, I have been cooking up a storm my friends! I figured I'd show you a bit of what I've been up to...

The one thing I was super excited about was the chicken fricassee. It just sounded so very.... Julia-Childs-y! It almost sounds as good as saying I've made a souffle (I have not). I love having lots of little pieces to prep and sort out like I'm on my own personal cooking show, and then throw it all together. I recognize this will never ever happen after children come and I'll have to learn how to make things in a hurry with 2 ingredients, but for now, I'll enjoy all this ridiculous prep time.

Yeah, I loved making that little herb bundle.

The cajun supplies in the background, the seasoning and green pepper and beans, are all for the red beans and rice soup I made alongside the fricassee. I was feeling ambitious.

Mirepoix ALWAYS makes me feel like I'm at Omi's house. It would smell like mirepoix even when she wasn't cooking! Maybe she has some perfume I should know about....

It really is a bit ridiculous how much enjoyment I got from this little herb bundle. It just looked so.... professional! I don't mean in that it's neat or perfect, but that, here I am, the girl who used to eat peanuts and cheese sandwiches because no one was home to feed me in high school (high school!!), making a dish that has a bazillion steps and calls for tempering, an herb bundle and mirepoix. 

Amazingly, despite being so proud, I do not have any pictures of the finished product. But to be honest, my plating skills? Suck. Suck a LOT. Food looks terrible when I put it together. I wonder if there are classes on how to make food look good. It seems to be a running joke in the blogosphere and pinterest that people post tons of food pictures and they all look kinda terrible to everyone except the poster. Even my own mother has commented that some of the people we know that she follows on Instagram are guilty of yucky looking food. (Aside - why is there not a webpage dedicated to terrible looking food and pins??? I found this earlier this week: http://www.pinterestyouaredrunk.com/ but there should really be one where you can call people out for posting hot mess dishes! Someone get on this. And immediately post all the pictures I take of my own dishes for examples) And that my friends, is why I will always post food in the process of being cooked, and rarely post finished products.

Excellent example. Zucchini ricotta shells in tomato sauce. Looked ridiculous when done, but it's state of messiness in this picture can be chalked up to 'hey I hadn't baked it yet!'

A rare finished product sight! This was a bit ridiculous - a 'lighter' chicken cordon bleu. The lighter part being chalked up to baking it instead of frying. I thought it was delicious, but it was also a bit large... 

Oh the things you learn when you get married. One thing you learn is that you may not have an accurate grasp on particular words. The word in question here is: Salad. I believe salad is anything from a kitchen sink salad with eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna, carrots... to lettuce with some salad dressing on it. Ed believes this is blasphemous. Plain lettuce? That is not a salad. That is lettuce. With dressing. A salad, according to Ed, has other stuff on it. So... my 'salads' which I suppose are akin to my cheese sandwiches of high school, have mutated into the riot of toppings you see below:

Is no one else here in my camp? Do you all call lettuce plain lettuce? Do you say I would like a side of lettuce if it has nothing other than dressing? I mean, I think Ed is right about this not actually being a true 'salad,' but.... who says I would like a side of lettuce. I mean really. :-P

Fun fact? Peeling and de-veining fresh shrimp is GROSS. It is a pain in the butt and gross and the apartment still smells like shrimp. I made this dish, cornbread stuffed shrimp, on Friday and it is the smelly gift that keeps on giving. At least it was delicious!

And when it all gets too much and you need a break from the world or a place to find something that may make your home more perfect than it has been seeming, where do you go? IKEA! I love Ikea. I love Ikea so much I even have a bag that matches their color yellow exactly. I also love pickled herring apparently. Ed was brave enough to try the pickled herring in sour cream and it was mind-blowing good. So we grabbed the marinated herring with onion and the plain pickled herring to see how they taste. Verdict? Sour cream is still the best. Onion takes second place and is delicious. The 'matjes' herring will never be purchased again. It's like... herring in a fall-spice cider-y seasoned sauce. No bueno. 

(Side note: Omi - "Mmm I love pickled herring. So, what's the deal with all this pickled stuff hmmmmmmmmm?????" Me- "Ah, no. Not pregnant, Omi.") 

:)

And since it's fall, I must of course inundate our apartment with fall related products. Gazillions of apples, teas, pumpkin butter, ciders, and my favorite - apple crisp! I wish we had more friends to share it with out here... wait what am I saying! No way, I ain't sharing this deliciousness with any of ya! :-P

Truly though, what would fall be if not for Oktoberfest time? We are anxiously awaiting our time at Mountain Lake, but until then, we'll settle for our local events. The one below is at a restaurant called Naglee Park Garage which was on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. Next week is downtown Campbell's Oktoberfest (and a 5k on top of that!).

Ed and I's personal tradition is to attend as many Halloween activities as possible. We've already done Goat Man's Hollow and the Haunted forest in MD, the Forest of Fear in Tuxedo Park, NY, and now we can add Great America's Halloween Haunt and Fright Night at Winchester House.

Unlike many, I've never done an amusement park fright night before. I think... there were parts that were really awesome. Like riding roller coasters and flume rides at night. There were some elaborate cool mazes built up over closed rides like one that circled around the rapids ride... But all in all it really takes away from from the terror when it's flooded with teenagers and teeny tiny kids. I wish there were more people who wanted to be scared instead of judging the actors and trying to 'be cool.' Although, a group of pre-teen boys trying to be cool led to my favorite overheard (shouted) quotation of the night: "Abraham why you holding me like that man?!?!" Poor teenage boy. He may not live that down.

Winchester House... was. INCREDIBLE. So, incredible. I mean, I jumped feet off the ground, screamed til I was hoarse.... It was so scary and so good. I've been to Winchester house with friends 3 times now during the day. The night activities includes a flashlight tour of the house, but it goes in reverse, so for those of us who feel like we 'know' the house, it makes everything fresh. Especially with all the lights off... creepy. There are kinda longish lines, but they have food trucks out - that had tater tots, so automatic win right there - and if you do the preview nights through Groupon and LivingSocial it's not too crowded. And the maze? The maze! It was amazing. So frightening and disturbing and shocking and just... everything you want it to be. I had nightmares for sure. So basically I loved it. Anyone wanna come visit us so we can make an excuse to go again????

The famous doors that never let anyone in... or out! Muahahaha!