I love my nieces to pieces!

We're back in Minnesota for a month or so to organize BradFest again. It's been a terribly busy time since I'm not really able to take time off, but I did find a bit of time this weekend for visiting. I finally got a chance to meet my niece Taylor. She's unbelievably tiny and sweet!

 

 And I had a blast with Ria, who is now 19 months old. She's got an incredible vocabulary already and my heart just melts every time I hear her say "Auntie!"

Picking raspberries

Eating raspberries with "Papa"

Peekaboo!

Open Workspace

I obviously haven't gotten around to posting in quite a while. Summers always seem to fly by, but this one has been particularly busy. A few weeks ago Ear Duo (the duo that EMMI recently collaborated and toured with) was in town. It was the perfect opportunity for EMMI to host an open house at their Belmont workspace.

Beer was on tap and Troy's hand-roasted coffee was brewed for the occasion

Loads of friends and supporters came to check out the space and find out about the recent tour. The robot builders were on hand to explain and demo their recent creations and to show a movie that chronicled the tour.

EMMI & Ear Duo outside the workspace

Fourth Fun

Nothing says 4th of July like a BBQ, friends and fireworks. This year we were happy to enjoy all of these things. Thanks to Steve and Aurie for hosting!

Troy made a wonderful BBQ sauce and some delicious (but dangerous) watermelon drinks with rum and white wine.

Troy making dangerous drinks

Ian (who is 4) provided the main entertainment for the night (besides the fireworks). He impressed us with his vocabulary and demonstrated the versatility of a massage brush. He used it in a seemingly endless guessing game and as a dance prop!

Sarah and Jaimee

The party was also a going away celebration for our friend Sarah. She arrived in C-Ville the same year as we did. Unfortunately for us, she's returning to Canada this week. We'll miss Sarah. I'll especially miss her enthusiasm for dancing and singing karaoke. Parties definitely won't be the same without her!

A Brew Ridge Birthday

You probably already know that Troy and I are beer lovers. This region is known for having lots of wineries but in recent years, more and more local breweries are cropping up. We have often ventured to the Blue Mountain Brewery as it's only a short drive from Charlottesville. My birthday was a good excuse to venture a bit further to check out the rest of what has been dubbed the Brew Ridge Trail. Our friends Steve and Aurie volunteered to drive, which was sweet.

We started out at Wild Wolf Brewing Company in Nellysford. Right now, they have a home brew shop and a place to buy growlers for a great price. If you buy a growler, they let you taste the beer. We were pretty impressed with the quality of their beer. Their Alpha Ale features some of the delicious, West coast hops that I love. Their Strawberry Schwarzcake is really good too--it has some serious strawberry flavor, but isn't too sweet. I also enjoyed their Belgian wit (something I don't say often about that style when attempted in the U.S.).

This fall Wild Wolf is opening a brewpub/restaurant and they hired the sous chef from a place called Staunton Grocery, which is well known around here for its food. We'll be happy to have an excuse to go back!

Next we ventured to the Devil's Backbone Brewery. It's a nice building but more reminiscent of a hunting lodge in Montana (with elk and deer heads on the walls) than what you'd expect to find in rural Virginia. The food was tasty (I had a pulled pork sandwich) but the beer was mediocre. I feel like they're trying to do too many beers and they don't really do any of them well. Still, it's always fun to do tastings.

They made me wear the goofy headband

After DBB, the plan was to go to Paul's Creek to cool off and try out the natural rock slide. Unfortunately, the water level was too low. But we still enjoyed the scenery. We even saw a little turtle.

We finished up with the Blue Mountain Brewery, where Sarah, Dave and Laura met up with us. It was a beautiful evening on their patio overlooking the mountains. And their beer and pizza are always incredible. They have an ÜberPils on tap as well as their Mandolin--a Belgian-style beer that actually tastes Belgian!

We were pretty exhausted by the end of the evening, but we topped off the night with a decadent cake that Troy had made for me--buttermilk-chocolate with chocolate ganache, cherry butter cream icing, and blueberry-pomegranite glaze. It was divine!

Good beer, food and friends, what more can you ask for on your birthday?

A new niece!

Our new niece was born June 20, two weeks early! Taylor Cole Cash is tiny but she's healthy and happy. 

Mom and dad are overjoyed. Grandma was thrilled to welcome another granddaughter. And sister Ria (now 18 months) is adjusting to sharing the spotlight.

 

We're really looking forward to going home to MN in July to meet Taylor and see firsthand how much Ria has grown!

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?

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!