Fall has…Fallen?

Well, it’s a cool 65 degrees today with sunny skies and that crisp Fall breeze which means that the sweaters are out (I’m a weenie–below 70 and I start casting glances at anything with sleeves or wool, unless the wool might still be on the sheep, of course) the smell of smoke is in the air and I’m mulling some locally pressed cider this weekend. We are fortunate to have Neal visiting from Baton Rouge right now which has been wonderful. We’re trying to pack as much Charlottesville as we can into his visit before he jetsets on Sunday. Drew is plugging away in school despite battling a little appropriately timed senioritis and we both have our eyes set on the home stretch.
What have we been up to? We went apple picking last weekend (it was 95 degrees…a little premature, perhaps) and had people over for some football. I made chicken wings for the first time (recipe below) and we saw a UVA soccer game. Drew would, of course, want me to mention that the Tigers are # 1 in the country which is great news for Grace and me because it put Drew in such a stellar mood. Other than that, I’ve been thinking a lot about our house and what we want to do next…we are seriously considering buying a house and have been working with a realtor, but I think that we may be putting those plans on hold until Drew is out of school–we’re still figuring it out. I think that now that we know that we will be staying in Charlottesville for at least the next two years we want to be in a home that feels less transient and that we are able to begin to shape into the kind of space that we want to live in. Drew joneses for a place to work on projects and have all of his tools in one space and I am dreaming of space in general for a little more breathing room.
Other than that…well here’s the Amelia’s What-the-heck-do-I-Have-in-the-kitchen-to-make-wing-sauce-with Marinade:
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. dark molasses
1/2 c. honey
2 cloves of garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 TBS ketchup (or lemon juice or vinegar, something to brighten it up)
minced ginger (powdered would prob work fine too)

mix and marinate!

Amazingly, I cooked these at 350 for about 2.5 hours because I was multi-tasking the oven space and I think the only reason that they weren’t little pieces of leather was because they were basically boiling in the marinade and I basted and flipped them about every 20 minutes. They fell right off the bone, but next time I think I will go for lower heat and then just broil them at the very end to crisp them up a little which will be a little less labor intensive. Feel free to send me any great wing recipes that any of you might have as I know that Drew is willing to be a taste-tester!

And finally…I’m hoping that Drew and I get to do a little dancing this weekend…here’s a photo (well, it’s below. Thanks typepad.) of Drew and I dancing to The Hackensaw Boys. Some of you may remember our friend Shawn from our wedding–he was the gentleman kind enough to break the tension for everyone before the ceremony by taking a little tumble over the fence as the wedding was beginning. At any rate, he’s playing banjo with these guys and doing a bang up job.
So there are the random thoughts from the Walton household, our love to all!