Diners, Drives, and Dans

Happy 2013, everyone!  Before we start the deluge of photos from our East Coast explorations, we'll just briefly note that our new year has begun much the same way our last one ended: after a long drive, at a diner, with a friend named Dan.

Following Christmas (way back last year in 2012), we dipped south from Harrisburg into historic Lancaster County (aka Amish Country).  The scenery is beautiful there, especially inside Gus's Keystone Family Restaurant, where there are mountains of food, rivers of syrup, and even the "2-2-2 Special," which can be had for fewer than $6 (not cardiologist approved for repeated consumption)!

Health shmealth.  It was a great chance to catch up with our friend Daniel, Charlotte's old labmate.

Fast forward to a bit earlier today.  Charlotte and I found ourselves in Albany County, NY (aka the original home of the Shakers) and en route to the world-renowned Latham 76 Diner.  It's got these great Revolutionary-style guys on the roof and a 13-star American flag, but we're not certain what the significance of the "76" in the name is.  We think it's a reference to the "76 Wrap," which costs only $9.95, but is unfortunately not cardiologist approved, either.

On the bright side, we had our friend Dan (Mike's old bandmate and all-around great guy) in tow to test it for us.  He proclaimed it delicious!

Anyway, this will probably conclude our 2-part "Diners, Drives, and Dans" series, but we'll have more updates from our travels soon.  Happy New Year in the meantime!

An Engagement-and Aebelskiver!

Charlotte and I have two very exciting pieces of news to share with you.  We're not sure which you'll find more exciting, so we'll tell you both, and let you decide which you're more excited about.  First off, we're engaged!!!  We took a wonderful trip to Kittery, ME and Portsmouth, NH this past week, and during a visit to our favorite secluded beach, Charlotte made me extremely, extremely happy!

Afterwards, we headed all around Portsmouth and Kittery in a happy fog, trying to avoid making too many people gag.  We're not sure whether we succeeded or not, but this only happens once, so I discovered it's impossible to predict just how ridiculously giddy you'll feel!

Finally, you may notice that Charlotte's hand looks different these days.  Charlotte's grandfather, Bent Gabrielsen, is a Danish goldsmith, and he had very generously agreed to design and make a beautiful ring for Charlotte.  It certainly makes me smile every time I see it : )

Anyway, that's piece of news #1.  Now on to news item #2: Charlotte mastered aebelskiver!  Charlotte and I arrived in Otisville after a wonderful visit in Latham (blog to follow) to find some pre-measured dough ingredients and a well-seasoned aebelskiver pan (aka a task).  What is aebelskiver, you ask?  Think mini-pancakes, but with 2 differences:

1) They're awesome, and

2) They're SPHERICAL!!!

As you can see, it's a pretty standard pancake operation on the stovetop for the first phase, but a THIRD DIMENSION is quickly infused into the process, and that's where things get tricky!

Fortunately, Charlotte is both a true Dane and a genius.  Before long, she was whipping out amazing aebelskivers that would make any chef proud.

With some currants, a little powdered sugar, and a lot of patience, it quickly became a heavenly experience!

Anyway, that's the latest dispatch from this laptop.  Now it's up to you to decide which you personally find more exciting.  As for me?  I'm torn...sort of.

Forging Ahead

Well, it's winter break!  And we're back East doing fun things as predicted!  At the moment, we're in Otisville, NY, where I have elected to catch up on some blog posting, and Charlotte has elected to...well...blacksmith!

Charlotte's father has been taking forging lessons in New Jersey.  He's gotten quite good at it!

Given this, and the fact that he recently came into possession of his own forge here in Otisville, the stage was set this afternoon for a little hands-on learning!

Using nothing but her bare hands and a piece of steel (and a forge, anvil, various tools, coal, beeswax, etc.), she proceeded to make the most amazing hook.

Unfortunately, this humble blogger is on vacation and has dialed back his effort a bit, so you may have to wait for the next update to see the fruits of her labor, since he forgot to take a picture of the finished project.

Late-breaking update: this blogger had a delicious snack, and got sufficiently motivated to take a photo of Charlotte's work of art.  Not too shabby for a first effort, eh?

Signs of the Times

Please humor us and pretend that this was posted two weeks ago, when we took these photos.  What can I say?  It's been busy.  With that said...

Wow!  Can you believe it's early December already?  Well, things are beginning to look very festive here in Laramie, and so we're getting in the holiday spirit and excited to return to the East Coast.  In the meantime, we've done what we can to make our apartment nice and cozy for the holidays!  

Anyway, hopefully the next time we post here, our finals will be done and we'll be back East doing something fun!  Hope all's well in the meantime!

Thanksgiving

Happy December!  We're overdue for an update on here, but not a whole lot of noteworthy stuff is occurring lately.  Let's see: I've written a paper draft, Charlotte has written a grant, and I'm currently developing a pimple on my face.  

Tell you what: how about we tell you about our nice Thanksgiving instead?  

For our first western Thanksgiving, we were delighted that Charlotte's family was able to come and visit us in Laramie!  As you can see, the weather here in Laramie was beautiful: warm and sunny!

Fortunately, we knew how to solve that: drive to the Snowies!  There, things were, well, snowy.  And freezing.

And almost unfathomably windy!

Fortunately, things were also very beautiful, so it was actually a very nice time, and somewhat surreal to see snowplows whizzing about in a near-blizzard, while it was sunny, 50 degrees, and tranquil back at our apartment 40 minutes away.

Anyway, after exploring the Snowies, our next day together was Thanksgiving.  Anticipating a big dinner, we headed to Vedauwoo for a pre-meal hike and some exploration.

We were again treated to 50 mph wind gusts, but also to picture-perfect blue skies, and a very pleasant time exploring together!

A bit later, as the sun set...

...we prepared for a yummy Thanksgiving meal with everyone at the big old Angstadt table.

After Thanksgiving, we were able to enjoy another 2 days exploring our surroundings.  Charlotte had a wonderful time, and we think her family had a pretty pleasant experience, too!

Best of all?  I got to join in on all the fun!  We hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too, and that all is well wherever this update finds you!

Utter Chaos!

As you may know (if you're Wikipedia), Wyoming is the least populous state in the US, and also the second least densely populated state!  With only about 6 residents per square mile, you might be wondering how a scene like this could result.

Simple: have a gear swap!  People here have really nice outdoor gear, so when they're selling for cheap, you'd line up, too!

Unfortunately, since we were newbies, it was a little chaotic for us.  The cross-country skis sold out in a matter of minutes (no joke!), and the whole thing resembled a grunion run (minus the spawning and also minus the beach).  Next spring, we'll be prepared!

Charlotte and Chickens (a conversation)

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of helping Charlotte care for 5 friendly Laramie chickens while their owners were away.  As you can imagine, Charlotte did not particularly mind doing this!  In case you've never dealt with chickens before, I'll briefly summarize the conversation.  

Chicken (death stare): "Hey!  Human overlords!  It's nearly 9 in the morning!  Why haven't I been fed yet?!?"

Charlotte (cheerful as usual): "Hold your horses!  We're working on it!  You have plenty of food left anyway."

Chicken (death stare softens): "True.  Well, I'm kind of stupid, so I didn't know what else to say.  I'm just going to go fluff around in the dirt for a bit, and see if I can make a huge mess."

Chicken (casually): "I guess I'll go lay an egg now."

There you go-it's that simple.  Multiply that routine by 5 hens, and that's how you get 5 yummy eggs a day!  Charlotte and I are very eager to have our own flock, but in the meantime, we enjoyed our day in the life (and our free eggs-mmm!).