22 September - Charlottesville

Touring Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson



Sampling beer at the South Street Brewery in Charlottesville. Seven glasses of beer. Each.

21 September - Floyd-Charlottesville

Fried green tomatoes for breakfast


Death Valley Chipotle Chips for lunch



a foggy drive



Cornmeal crusted trout with crabcakes, pea and country ham succotash, crispy collard greens for dinner at The Local in Charlottesville.

20 September - Floyd, VA

Tomatoes for breakfast at Little River Bed & Breakfast in Floyd.




Mabry Mill, Blue Ridge Parkway

18 September - Asheville-Floyd

After saying goodbye to our friend Nouf, with whom we'd spent a couple of food and conversation stuffed wondrous days in Asheville, we headed to Floyd...

Friday night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store.

17 September - Asheville

Sorry guys! we were deep down in rural Virginia for a couple of days in a room without a TV or wifi... it was blissfully quiet but now I have a few days to update!



Along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville


Daar zijn we weer! we zaten een paar dagen op het platteland in Virginia, zonder tv en internet.. heerlijk rustig, maar nu moet ik een paar dagen updaten....


The Indigo Girls & Michelle Malone in concert at the Orange Peel, Asheville

16 September, Asheville

Biscuit & gravy at Early Girl Eatery



Egg & Sausage biscuit






BBQ at 12 Bones Smokehouse: blueberry chipotle ribs, brisket, pulled pork, collard greens, cheesy grits, cornbread, corn pudding, smoked potato salad, vinegary coleslaw. Oh, My.

Fortunately:



A great day of eatin'.

15 September, P.S.

Booker's Bourbon: 64%...

mmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

15 September - Asheville

Cataloochee valley, Smoky Mountains





Southern hospitality

14 September: Asheville, NC

Maya Margarita (mezcal, tamarind juice, orange juice, Cointreau, zout) bij Limones

Maya Margarita (mezcal, tamarind, orange juice, Cointreau, salt rim) at Limones.

13 September - On the Road: Staunton - Abingdon

- On the road,
- The perfect coffeehouse in Lexington, VA,
- Another bar dinner - this time in Abingdon, VA. Potato soup, steak salad, beer and wine, nice conversation with the bartender, and back home to another comfortable night at the Super 8.











Onderweg,
de perfecte koffiestop in Lexington, Virginia,
bar-eten... aardappelsoep, salade met biefstuk, een spraakzame barman, en dan naar huis (huis = Super 8...)

12 September - Shenandoah, Staunton

Hiking in Shenandoah NP, and to end the day, a fantastic dinner at Staunton Grocery (which is not a grocery store, but an actual restaurant) in Staunton VA. Vacation doesn't get much better than this.

Braised rabbit, fried okra, lima beans & sqaush, mustard sauce
Buckwheat biscuit, fresh peached, honeyed mascarpone, raspberries


Een lange wandeling in Shenandoah NP, an daarna eten bij de Staunton Grocery in Staunton, VA.
Vakantie is geweldig.

Gestoofd konijn, gefrituurde okra, lima bonen en pompoen, mosterd saus.
Boekweit shortcake, perzik, mascarpone met honing, frambozen.

11 September - Luray, VA

Dinner & Entertainment at Mymlins Inn, Luray VA
Fabulous bananas Foster cheesecake...

10 September: American Homecooking

Lori's tomatoes, Bruce's Crabcakes, S'mores!

9 September - Touring Amish Country

8 September, Philadelphia - Post Scriptum

Dinner at The Oyster House

8 September - Philadelphia

Dennis got a haircut, and roast pork/provolone/broccoli rabe sandwich from DiNic's at Reading Terminal Market

Dennis ging naar de kapper, en we aten een sandwich "roast pork/provolone/broccoli rabe" bij DiNic's in Reading Terminal market.

7 September - Philadelphia

Philadelphia Museum of Art.
French Cloister, Rogier van der Weyden's Crucifixion in the distance.



Nagebouwde kloosterommegang, Rogier van der Weyden's Crucifixion in de verte.

On the Road

Op weg van Washington Dulles naar het eerste motel.

On the road from Washington Dulles to the first motel.

Fly away!

Het is zover! Na een zomer lang te hebben toegekeken hoe anderen op vakantie gingen en weer terug kwamen, gaan we nu eindelijk zelf. Morgen vliegen we naar Washington DC om daar te beginnen aan een drie weken durende rondreis langs Philadelphia, Shenadoah National Park, de Smoky Mountains, en nog veel meer..

Voor het eerst in mijn leven ga ik op reis met een laptop. Ik heb het plan (het is een plan, en misschien komt er niks van terecht, zoals dat wel vaker met mijn plannen gaat) om regelmatig een foto op het blog te zetten zodat thuisblijvers kunnen meegenieten. Als de energie en de wifi verbindingen het toelaten, en anders.. tot over een week of 3.



Finally, we´re ready to go on vacation, after a whole summer of watching our friends go away and come home. Tomorrow, we´re leaving for Washington DC, where we´ll start our 3 weeks roadtrip around Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. There´ll be music, food, meeting friends old and new, nature walks and city trips. And for the first time in my life I´ll be travelling with a laptop.. so my plan is to update the blog daily, maybe with just a picture or 2, to keep the rest of the world informed about what we´re up to.

If it won´t work (not all my plans so) I´ll see you here in October!

Dead of Summer

I know - it's not really the dead of summer any more. Schools have started again, and those blissfully peaceful summer days when all the families and screaming children seem to have departed for France and Italy (there's always just one weekend when everyone is gone all at once) are over. Still, I'm hanging on to the summer, to the sun, to the lazy days, to perfecting my procrastination skills. And I'm in denial about the approach of a new season. For the last couple of days, as I was biking through the Vondelpark very early in the morning (really early - 07:30!) there was this faint, but distinctive smell of fall in the air. A humidity that's no longer just warm and sweet, but slightly spicy. The scent of decay, of rotting leaves - and yes, speaking of leaves, there are speckles of gold among the summer greens.

Usually I embrace the fall. I love the fall. I love everything about it, and it inspires feelings so much stronger and deeper than any summer day can evoke. But this year, it's all different. I'm not done with summer yet, and summer still has a thing or 2 up its sleeve for me - I can just feel it.




I have 2 more Dutch summer weeks to savour before we head on over to the States for yet another American roadtrip, and when we come back, it will October and it will be very hard to remember summer.

Or will it?

Maybe this year, I can take the promises that the summer of 2009 made me, and transport then straight into autumn and winter. I'm facing some challenges here - but if this summer taught me one thing, it's to be less afraid.