Bear Creek Lake State Park

Several months ago, on a post Parisian trip high, Kelly and I earmarked the week of June 23rd for a return trip to Paris. Our host with the most is soon departing Paris and we wanted to squeeze in one last trip . . you know, Paris in the Springtime la dee dah.

Sadly, as fate would have it two trips to Paris in one year just wasn't in the cards. Wow, just attempting to plan that sounds rather decadent. We resigned ourselves to not going but didn't totally abandon some sort of get away. Instead of gai Pari we settled on a camping trip in central Virginia. Decent trade off don't cha think?

After more research than necessary for this sort of a trip I selected Bear Creek State Park (http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/bea.shtml#contactinfo). It was my first time in a Va State Park and according to the sign on the way into the park we were in for a spectacular time as the sign decleared "Welcome to Virginia State Parks, Voted Best in Country". By whom? I have no idea. When? Also no idea? Were there other State Parks on the ballot? Again, we'll just have to take the sign's word for it. In any case, Best in the Country or not, Bear Creek State park is a delightful little get away.

Its about a 2.5 hr drive from DC, if you don't hit any traffic, and it offers such ammenities as lake side campsites, boat rentals, sandy beachy area, decent trails to wander around on, and some great fishing . . . so long as you don't consider actually catching anything a requirement of great fishing. We were lucky enough to get a campsite right along the lake, which really would have been perfect if the people in the adjacent campsite weren't camping with a toddler that cried in 20 min intervals. And why I say cry, I mean wailed like someone had just dropped it from some great height. And when I say in 20 min intervals, I really mean it. Now I really am all for bringing your kids camping. My brother and I were hauled all around the German wilderness at relatively young ages and I think we're all the better for it - even if my brother never sets foot in a tent again. But seriously, either that kid hates camping or he has only one method of communicating.

Anyway, aside from the wailer they were pretty good campsite neighbors. The husband even came over one evening to tell us that he had just been chased out of the back of his truck by a 6 foot opossum. He seemed rather calm about the whole affair. We were decidedly less calm.

Other highlights:

1. we did get two nibbles while fishing but I was actually rather happy we didn't catch anything since we didn't have the tools to do anything about a fish stuck on a hook at the end of our poles. we did "catch" other things.



2. we got to see a cute little family of turtles sunning themselves as well as a little baby turtle breaking out on his own. yes, this is a highlight.



3. we took a hike/stroll in the woods to go see a swinging bridge crossing the Willis River and when we arrived it was currently under construction as the result of wood rot. Not to be deterred we set off in the other direction to see the other swinging bridge crossing another part of the Willis River. this one was decidedly not under construction but should have been. I skittered across it while Kelly wisely waiting on shore - at the ready in case she had to find some long log to drag me out of the river when the swinging bridge collapsed.

Under Construction

Should have been under construction


4. on the way home we stopped at Chubby's and got gas for $3.82 and a Chubby Cherry Chiller.


All in all it was a nice little get away despite not being Paris.

In case you were wondering, I recently took a ride in an envirocab and it was a delightful experience. Money meet mouth.

This Just In . . .

. . . Envirocab proves to be a reasonable option.

Ok so within 48 hrs of learning about envirocab I was able to get some "front line" reporting of the envirocab experience. This is either because my brother loves me very much, because I have mastered the art of persuasion, or because its easier to just give my suggestions a try than listen to me argue and sigh. Or perhaps because he is also interested in being a good steward of the earth. Regardless, here's what came to pass. . .

My brother needed a cab to pick him up at my house, conveniently located in Arlington, and trek him to Union Station. I suggested envirocab and he obliged. On his return trip he decided to take one of the zillion cabs awaiting him at Union Station. Below is his compare and contrast of the two experiences:

"A Thursday afternoon cab ride in the envirocab went like this. I called the number and asked that the cab pick me up at your house at 4PM and take me to union station. The deal with them is that the trip has to originate or terminate in Arlington in order for them to come get you. Around 3:50, I got a call from the cab driver who was informing me he was on his way. I got in the cab, he had the A/C cranking, it smelled, but it was a new car, I think it was the cabbie that smelled. His name was Gebbeheyui Maskeratakal… the cab is $2.75, and 30 cents per 1/6^th of a mile, and 30 cents per 48 seconds of waiting time. I’m not making that up, its 48 seconds. They have a pretty cool navigation system in the car that the cabbie explained to me, and near as I can tell, what he said was, when I called to get the cab, they sent him the address to get me and the destination through the system, so he can basically follow the directions to get me there. It tells you how much further and what not. A pretty nice system. So in closing on the envirocab, it was a newer car, a clean car, and a friendly nice driver with nav. The cab fare was $24.50 not including tip

On Saturday night I got into “World Cab” Lincoln town car from the late 80’s. I noticed on the window a sticker that said “Warning: Do not Slam the door” so I didn’t, I just closed it, but it popped back open, so I pulled it shut again, and it popped back open again, the cab began to depart the station and I said “ummm, the door is not shut” and so he said “you have to slam it.” I promise this is a true story. I said “ok, but the sticker says to not slam it” and he said, it won’t close otherwise. So I did and it stuck this time, I immediately put my seatbelt on... just in case. This cab was old, not really smelly, but the leather was torn and old, and it had no A/C, and no window controls, so I had to ask the cab driver to open my window. I noticed on his console it said “Dist. To Empty – 3” and I said, ummm you have enough gas to get there and he said “that’s not right, its about 10 miles off, so I’ll get you there, or at least close” I was like, ummm ok, well do you have a contingency if we run out of gas, clearly a rhetorical question cause he didn’t answer. At idle the car rumbled like we were doing 30mph off roading… We did get there, finally after 68403 speed humps, each of which I swore was going to cause the gas tank to fall out from under the car. The cab fare was $19.50 not including tip.

My vote, its worth the extra money to not have to ride in a total clap trap, and save the earth a little. "

As fate would have it, another opportunity to test out envirocab came along Friday night when an out of town friend needed a cab to get back to my house from a local Arlington watering hole. Around 1:00am said friend dialed up environcab and requested a pick up. Unfortunately, envirocab wasn't going to be able to get to her for 25 min. In contrast there was a Red Top cab right in front of her available for immediate transport.

So, we've got a few questions answered:
1. envirocab seems to be a bit more expensive but safer, cleaner, and more likely to get you directly to your destination.
2. envirocab is licensed to take you anywhere in the Northern Va area so long as your trip originates or terminates in Arlington county - including National Airport.
3. envirocab does not seem to force you to listen to liberal news sources or bad hippi music
4. you're likely to have to wait for an envirocab at 2:00 on a Saturday so call ahead.

Clearly more research needs to be done and envirocab has a long way to go before it can reasonably compete with the other main cab companies in the area. However, I got it on good authority that Red Top is now replacing its retired cabs with hybrids. So, maybe all envirocab has to do is steal a little of the market share to spur on change. I'd call that a success. Of course given the conditions of my brother's World Cab one might wonder if cab companies ever actually retire old cabs.

In case you were wondering, I just went to pick up my weekly veggies and an envirocab was there dropping off one of my fellow CSA'ers.

Arlington PSA

If you happen to live in Arlingon and ever find yourself in need of a cab ride might I recommend EnviroCab (http://www.envirotaxicab.com/) soon to be the first carbon-negative taxicab company in the world.* This makes me so very happy because its a "no duh" type of thing that can be easily and locally done to ease our impact on the earth without relegating us all to self propelled vehicles. It just makes good sense.

*pending Arlington Transportation Commission's final approval of their taxi licenses.

Now I don't know if the cost of the cab is greater than normal, I don't know if they service National Airport, I don't know if they can travel into DC, I don't know if you'll be forced to listen to NPR or sing rounds of Koom By Ya, and I don't know how long you'd have to wait for one at 2:00am on a Saturday night. However, I have programmed their number into my phone and I am trying to convince my brother to give them a call for his upcoming trip. So I intend to give them a try.

If you live in Arlington, you should too. I mean normal cabs aren't so great that it isn't at least worth a shot. If nothing else they'll smell like patchouli instead of BO.

Ok so, sorry if you don't live in Arlington because I realize that this isn't much of a Public Service Announcement for you BUT it is helping to save your earth and perhaps there is something similar in your neck of the woods.

In case you were wondering, another way to keep up to date on Arlington news is the Arlington Alerts mailing list: https://www.arlingtonalert.com They just emailed me to tell me that the Orange line of the metro is experiencing significant delays. Boy I bet those commuters would love to know abut EnviroCab.

Bull Run Farm

Yesterday marked our long awaited inaugural CSA pick-up. Yessireee, yesterday Kelly and I got our first 'peck' of veggies from our Bull Run Farm CSA. For the past two weeks, Farmer Leigh has been sending some very detailed emails about the process of veggie pick-up. Turns out its pretty simple:

Grab a canvass bag, form a line with your fellow CSA'ers, evesdrop for tips being handed out by "the veterans", walk by a bunch of crates all containing vegetables you've never seen in your life, grab your assigned portion, move to the next crate of unknown vegetables, go home and stare at your bounty with wonder and confusion.

So here is what we came home with:

Pac Choi - yes I mean Pac not Bok although after extensive google research we cannot discern the difference between the two.
Broccoli - ok we recognized this one
Garlic Snapes - totally had to google this one and its worth doing b/c they're apparently tasty treats
Baby Onions
Salad Mix
Calendula - apparently its an edible flower that is a good addition to salads. personally I think it is not tasty
Oregano
Chives
Sorrel - looks like spinach but with bigger leaves

I have to say the entire event took 10 min and was really pretty fun and rather gratifying. I did finally get to meet Farmer Leigh and he's not nearly the character that his emails would lead you to believe. And he has "very nice blue eyes" according to Kelly. I didn't notice, I was too busy trying to figure out what in the world to do with this . . .

Scapes

A lifetime supply of Pac Choi

Calendula - better as a flower than a food

In case you were wondering, my own garden is doing quite well too. . . despite being pillaged by squirrels and rabbits. Before I left for Anna's wedding I had two lovely little squashes, now I only have one . . .

But so far my tomatoes are untouched and looking quite delightful . . .

In the Eye of the Beholder

Anna and Jody got married this week-end down in Kitty Hawk, NC. It was a beautiful intimate beach ceremony that even the 101 degree, burst into flames temperature couldn't make any less lovely.

This morning I was doing the post event picture review to see what sort of gems I managed to capture. Being in the wedding made it a bit difficult to get pictures of the actual ceremony or some of the reception traditions but I did the best I could. I was pleased with some, entertained by some, and down right confused by others - sometimes I am just not sure what I think I see when I press "click"

Anyway, at the end of the batch were two of my favorite pictures. I didn't take them so I can say that. They were taken by Kayla, the 3 year old granddaughter of the proprietors of the B&B hosting the reception. She was quite an unexpected bundle of entertainment all week-end long . . . running around in her underwear blowing bubbles, following the bridesmaids around parroting "pretty dresses, pretty dresses", and sneaking into the Dywer family photo.

She's not a shy kid and at one point during the reception while I was sitting on the porch steps taking a breather she toddled over and said (arms outstretched channeling Oliver Twist) "camera please". Of course I obliged and then attempted to show her how to use the camera properly. She had absolutely no interest in this lesson and pried the camera out of my hands and started snapping away. After a few minutes of this I managed to convince Kayla that a camera of her very own was way better than my camera and I traded her for one of those disposable wedding cameras. She looked at it suspiciously for a moment or two and then toddled off to fill up 24 frames with pictures that I would bet look a lot like what she left on my camera . . .





In case you were wondering, Anna and Jody left this morning for 2 weeks in Thailand. I think they're going to keep an online journal of their trip and if they do, I'll be sure to share.

How to Bake a Steak

A while ago my brother's grill was hurled off his deck during one of our crazy thunder/wind storms. As a result he has had to get creative with his cooking techniques and in his quest for grilling alternatives he stumbled upon a rather interesting way to make a steak. He imparted this recipe on to me and I am now sharing with you . . . b/c its GEWD!!

There is a blog that Liz and I frequent for new recipes and the "author" takes a show and tell approach to her cooking blog. So, I have completely poached her style for this blog. All credit goes to: The Pioneer Woman (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/)

But now back to baking a steak . . .

Necessary ingredients (portions for 2):
1.5 lbs of dry aged NY Strip Steak (my brother has also used Rib Eye)
Sea Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
Vegetable oil (sorry, you can't use olive oil b/c you need a high smoke point)

Prep:
Prehat oven to 275
Place a large piece of tin foil perpendicular across a cookie sheet. Place a cookie cooling rack on top of the foil covered cookie sheet. Set aside

Step 1:
Liberally cover each side of the strip with sea salt and cracked pepper.


Step 2:
Put 3 tblsp of the vegetable oil in a large heavy skillet over high heat. You want the oil heated to the point of a light smoke rising out of the skillet . . . it looks a bit more like a mist not a black smokey smog. Once the oil has begun smoking, carefully place the steaks in the oil. 90-120 seconds a side.




Step 3:
After you have seared each side of the steak, remove them from the oil and place on the cooling rack on the cookie sheet. Place in the oven for 18-24 min. 18 min for rare, 22 min for medium rare, 24 min for medium. This of course can vary by oven but probably won't by more than a min or so. Keep in mind that the meat will continue to cook once you've taken it out of the oven.


Step 4:
After you've baked your steak for your desired time frame remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Tent the steaks with the layer of tin foil for about 5-8 minutes.


Step 5:
Remove from tent and devour


In case you were wondering, I had this with a side of steamed asparagus, roasted red potatoes, and a glass of Estancia Pinot Noir.