Week of May 10th

A turkey on its belly
a chicken on its back
anyway you look at it
you'll find her on the map.
She revels in the seasons
shakes hands with the north
hugs the land of Dixie while dancing on the porch.

You think that autumns in New England
are the greatest of them all
but give me sweet Virginia for the fireworks of fall. (Old Dominion – Eddie from Ohio)

Okay, I have a little catching up to do. Actually our state celebrations have been on schedule but finding the time to update this blog has eluded me.

Since my brother and his family live in Virginia I should have been better prepared to honor this state but………. And to make things even worse, I have a really lame snow globe from Virginia. But I plan on making up for these setbacks with great food and music.

As a child we visited Colonial Williamsburg several times. I remember a lot less about these trips than my mother, who is some what of a history buff, but I do have vivid memories of bayberry candles, spoon bread, fife and drum corps and big hoop skirts. Back then it wasn’t surrounded by theme parks or outlet malls but you got to see candles being hand dipped, walk on cobblestone streets and learn how to spin wool. I remember the dinners were quite fancy and I had to dress up every night, yuk.

During my state prep I looked up the summer line-up at Wolf Trap. Wolf Trap must be one of the oldest outdoor concert venues and their summer schedule is quite impressive, including headliners from Tony Bennett to Willie Nelson and Aretha Franklin to Eddie from Ohio. Eddie from Ohio is a group of wacky, irreverent, talented musicians, not from Ohio but from Northern Virginia whose music my brother introduced me to. I figured the extraordinary line-up was worthy of a playlist and, remarkably, I managed to create one from my own iTunes library. Since this music didn’t create the appropriate atmosphere for a Williamsburg inspired feast I saved it to enjoy at another time.

There are so many distinctive recipes from Colonial Williamsburg it was a ready made repast. Equipped with an Evening BILL of FARE, bayberry candles in Paul Revere candlesticks (kind of) we sat down to a meal worthy of our founding fathers. Starting with the King’s Arms Tavern Cream of Peanut Soupe we worked our way through a beautiful Virginia ham dressed with a Shield’s Tavern Applesauce Bread Pudding. This was washed down with a refreshing cocktail, Chowning’s Tavern Royal Apple, made up of apple cider, rum and fresh lime juice. Thanks to my brother our celebration was accented by real Virginia peanuts from the Peanut Shop of Williamsburg.

Pack up your impala - and make your move out West
Past the Blue Ridge Mountains
you'll find you passed the best
and when your dreams have ended
where mountains are concerned
Me and sweet Virginia will await for your return (Old Dominion – Eddie from Ohio)

Color in “Old Dominion” with a trip to the past and a “chicken (oops) on its belly” and “make your move out West”, wwwwway west to the “Aloha State” – Hawaii. 27 down – 25 to go.