Week 39

They are gorgeous in the shell, sweet and tender raw, and delicious when prepared properly. No, I'm not talking about Darien. I'm talking about crowder peas. I had never heard of crowders until Amy included them in our last CSA share of the season. Maybe I have seen them in the market. They are the type of thing you can overlook because you don't know what to do with them, or think they are only good for some exotic Asian dish.

I hope we can find them at the store. I'd hate to eat them but once a year. Darien prepared them using a recipe I found from the Richmond Food Collective. They are worth giving a shuck.

In a subtle attempt to divert attention, a secondary front was opened.

Week 38

This was the last week to pick up our CSA share from Amy. We had some marvelous vegetables all summer. This last share had a bit of a surprise in it -- three ears of pop corn. Feeling all back-to-nature and wanting to follow in the footsteps of the country's pioneers, we put one ear into a paper back and placed it in the microwave. In a jiffy, the corn had popped off the cob and was waiting for us. I think our original plan had been to add butter and salt, also just like the pioneers, but we couldn't wait. The corn was a lot denser and nuttier than what we usually get. I'm looking forward to the other two ears.

Oh-oh. Only 102 days to get that counter cleaned up.

Week 37

It turns out that on the hike last week, Darien contracted a case of poison ivy. I am clear. We had been hiking in shorts and had to go through a stretch of the trail that was being encroached upon by vegetation. I have her on a regimen of "summer gel" (a concoction mixed up the a local pharmacy) to try and minimize the irritation.

The fact that I escaped the rash is an amazing feat, definitely worthy of being chronicled. I had a bout of it earlier this summer, so maybe Nature decided that I had suffered enough.

No better, no worse.

Week 36

We decided on the spur of the moment to go see Peter in Harrisonburg. He said he would love to go hiking with us, but for us not to leave the house until 11:30 so he wouldn't have to get up so early. Turns out he was up at 9 AM anyway.

We dropped in on Alexis to see her bitty house, then picked Peter up. We headed south toward Furnace Mountain, dodging camels wandering along the road. The hike was uphill the whole way, about two miles. Peter said the first time he came up here it was 11 PM during a blizzard. They also missed the trail head and hiked a mile farther up the road than they should have. When they got to the camp site, Peter said he failed at making a fire, which is good, because fires aren't permitted. Who needs a fire during a blizzard?


I listened to Darien and Peter chatter the whole way up, something they are both good at. The trail was rocky. We kept our heads down most of the way so we wouldn't twist an ankle. There were some nice vistas of the Shenandoah Mountains, as well as the remnants of a spectacular rock slide. We reached the summit with few breaks, then hung around on an outcrop and ate our trail mix. (Note to the curious: chocolate covered coffee beans are an excellent addition to trail mix.) We could see a sliver of Skyline Drive across the ridges, five miles away, pretty much at the same elevation.

The hike down was easy and quick. We rewarded ourselves for stellar accomplishment with an excellent dinner of Ethiopian food at The Blue Nile.
C-minus?