Our new niece was born June 20, two weeks early! Taylor Cole Cash is tiny but she's healthy and happy.
We're really looking forward to going home to MN in July to meet Taylor and see firsthand how much Ria has grown!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A new niece!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Coffee snob
Many of you already know what a serious coffee drinker Troy is.
Belgium was tough because their version of coffee is nothing like ours. When you order koffie there, it's served in a tiny cup. It's more like espresso than American coffee. But at least it usually comes with a cookie or a delicious piece of Belgian chocolate!
After a while, Troy found a place in Ghent that roasted regularly. He brought a filter and carafe to Logos, making coffee there every day. Everyone soon became big fans!
Northern Minnesota was even tougher than Ghent. The closest coffee roaster to our hometown is an hour away.
When we returned to Charlottesville, Troy was happy to have his beloved Shenandoah Joe again. But living without freshly roasted coffee for a while got him thinking.
I would probably already have classified Troy as a coffee snob. He's disgusted with me when I grind extra coffee to save myself time later. Apparently, ground coffee needs to be brewed within 2 hours for optimum flavor.
Well, the stakes have recently gotten even higher. He's now started roasting his own. He buys it green and uses a whirley popper (stovetop popcorn maker) over our propane burner outside. I have to admit, it's pretty cool and it is saving us money now that the price of coffee has gone up again.
Plus, he's having fun.
And ... it's good!!
He's perfecting his method and thinking about starting a small batch coffee roasting business with bicycle delivery. Any other coffee snobs out there?
Belgium was tough because their version of coffee is nothing like ours. When you order koffie there, it's served in a tiny cup. It's more like espresso than American coffee. But at least it usually comes with a cookie or a delicious piece of Belgian chocolate!
After a while, Troy found a place in Ghent that roasted regularly. He brought a filter and carafe to Logos, making coffee there every day. Everyone soon became big fans!
Northern Minnesota was even tougher than Ghent. The closest coffee roaster to our hometown is an hour away.
When we returned to Charlottesville, Troy was happy to have his beloved Shenandoah Joe again. But living without freshly roasted coffee for a while got him thinking.
I would probably already have classified Troy as a coffee snob. He's disgusted with me when I grind extra coffee to save myself time later. Apparently, ground coffee needs to be brewed within 2 hours for optimum flavor.
Well, the stakes have recently gotten even higher. He's now started roasting his own. He buys it green and uses a whirley popper (stovetop popcorn maker) over our propane burner outside. I have to admit, it's pretty cool and it is saving us money now that the price of coffee has gone up again.
Plus, he's having fun.
And ... it's good!!
He's perfecting his method and thinking about starting a small batch coffee roasting business with bicycle delivery. Any other coffee snobs out there?
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Are we done moving yet?
We just moved back to our old neighborhood in Charlottesville. I'm looking forward to being closer to a number of our friends and within (safe) walking distance to some restaurants. Our last place was convenient to shopping but not at all walkable. Living in Ghent made factors like living in a neighborhood that is walkable and bikeable even more important to us.
I have now moved at least a dozen times in my life. It never really gets any easier. This time we decided not to ask any of our friends for help with the move. Our last couple of moves in Charlottesville were horrible. We had a crew of incredible friends who stuck it out for some long days with us. Incredible. But we didn't want to put our friends through that again.
We hired a few college kids to help us with this move, and it was amazing how fast that truck got loaded. We also have pared down lately, since the robots now have their own place. We probably we were better prepared this time too.
We've been cleaning out the old place and slowly unpacking what we can--living in disarray.There has been a bit of a stressful saga with our old place as well, since it got foreclosed on. I'll be anxious to have that all over with.
In any case, I think we are going to like living in our new place. Despite the chaos, one member of our household has already completely adjusted. She has claimed her spot under the skylight for long naps every day. I wasn't the only one excited about getting out of a basement apartment!
I have now moved at least a dozen times in my life. It never really gets any easier. This time we decided not to ask any of our friends for help with the move. Our last couple of moves in Charlottesville were horrible. We had a crew of incredible friends who stuck it out for some long days with us. Incredible. But we didn't want to put our friends through that again.
We hired a few college kids to help us with this move, and it was amazing how fast that truck got loaded. We also have pared down lately, since the robots now have their own place. We probably we were better prepared this time too.
We've been cleaning out the old place and slowly unpacking what we can--living in disarray.There has been a bit of a stressful saga with our old place as well, since it got foreclosed on. I'll be anxious to have that all over with.
In any case, I think we are going to like living in our new place. Despite the chaos, one member of our household has already completely adjusted. She has claimed her spot under the skylight for long naps every day. I wasn't the only one excited about getting out of a basement apartment!
Friday, June 3, 2011
The doctors are in!
We recently had the chance to see a number of folks that we have known for the past 5 years graduate with their PhD's from U.Va. There were lots of fun graduation festivities and it was really great to see people who have moved away but returned for the ceremony.
It was also a bittersweet weekend. We've had such a nice community of friends here in Charlottesville. But it's a strange time to be returning to the area, since many of our friends are now leaving or looking for jobs elsewhere. College towns are wonderful in so many ways but the transient nature of places like this can also be slightly depressing. Oh well, I look forward to seeing where everyone ends up. Maybe we'll have to plan a road trip sometime to visit them all!
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| 4 of the 5 graduates - Lee, Wendy, Loren and Alli |
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| Many of the musgrads! |
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| Yay! Congrats for the grads! |
It was also a bittersweet weekend. We've had such a nice community of friends here in Charlottesville. But it's a strange time to be returning to the area, since many of our friends are now leaving or looking for jobs elsewhere. College towns are wonderful in so many ways but the transient nature of places like this can also be slightly depressing. Oh well, I look forward to seeing where everyone ends up. Maybe we'll have to plan a road trip sometime to visit them all!
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