Brewgrass 2009

We went to Brewgrass 2009 in Asheville. Tom and I drove to Asheville to attend our third Brewgrass festival. This year we were nervous about the weather. All week the forecast was a 50% chance of rain. When we got there Friday afternoon, it rained. Saturday morning we woke up to partly cloudy skies. We went to the festival and the sun came out. Lucky for us the rain held out all day. We tried some really good beer from some brewers we had not tried before. My favorite was the Red Devil from Pisgah. It was a cherry flovored beer that was great. It was not too sweet. Tom tried a lot of dark beers. The music was good as well. We set our chairs and enjoyed some good brews and good music. I hope we can go next year. This year tickets sold pretty quick.

Brewgrass is a great beer tasting to go to, because you can try beers that we cannot find around Raleigh. The crowd is great and not there just to get drunk. The festival lasts 7 hours, so you can take your time and enjoy the beer and music!

Dash for Diva Triathlon

One week after the C'ville 4 miler, I became a triathlete My friend Mary Charles talked me into signing up for the Dash for Divas Sprint Triathlon at White Lake. This was an all woman event that was composed of a 250 meter swim, 7 mile bike ride and 2 mile run. It is a nice small one to get your feet wet in the world of triathlons. Training for this thing, I learned that swimming was not my thing. I tried and tried, but I think I was a little afraid of the water. 250 meters = 0.15 miles, so I figured I could fake the swim, which is what I did. We went to a clinic and they said to do whatever you had to to finish the swim, this had been my strategy all along.

We arrived the night before to check everything out. I did learn that a triathlon is a lot of prep work. You have to pack stuff for all three events. The big secret is to be organized.

The morning of the race was gorgeous and lucky for us the water was not too cold. Lucky for me I was able to walk to the first buoy. I swam the best I could to the second one. Took a break and went from 2 to 3. Right before buouy 3, I could touch the bottom and walked in. Everything felt like slow motion. I thought for sure the swim took about 20 minutes, but I did it in 8:27. Unfortunately I was last in my group and this kind of played on me mentally.

Bike ride was not too bad. I think I would do better with a road bike, but my mountain bike did just fine. We saw bikes of all shapes and sizes out there for the race. The run was not too bad either. I had a few difficulties in the transition area which cost me some time, but overallmy time was not too bad. My goal was 1:00-1:15. I did it in 1:13. I learned a lot and I know I can do better. My first thought was I will never do this again, but now I am thinking I want to do it again, because I know I can do better.

Thanks MC for talking me into this. It feels good to be a triathlete.

C'ville 4 Miler Number 2

Hi everyone,

Two days after my day as a Chef, I ran some of the calories off in the C'ville 4 miler. My friend Lisa and I ran the 4 miles. This is a great race. The town of Charlottesville really gets behind it and supports it. The proceeds go to breast cancer. It is an awesome sight to see 3300 women show up to run and walk this race. The day was beautiful. It was a little cool in the morning, but warmed up nicely. Lisa and I had a lot of fun. Her husband and kids were out there cheering her on and my husband and nephew were out there cheering me on. I love the crowds that come to cheer people on and the signs made for survivors and family members lost is so inspiring. I love to run when it is for a good cause. Lisa and I ran the whole race and cut 7 minutes off of our time from last year. Good job Lisa, I am so proud of you. Hopefully I will be able to run it next year.

Chef Kat

Hi everyone,

I was a Chef for a Day. In June I won a gift certificate to the Siena Hotel and Il Palio Restaurant where I became a Chef for a Day. I even got my own chef's jacket with Chef Kat embroidered on it. The day started at 11 am when I met with the Head Chef. We came up with two menus. There was 4 of us so we did two mneus so we could share. Then we went to the kitchen. He gave me a tour and explained some things to me. After that I met with the Pastry Chef. We came up with my desert. We decided on chocolate souffles with chocolate cherry ice cream. Let me tell you, they were wonderful. The cherries we used were the best cherries I have ever eaten. After Chef and I made mussels which we were having as an appetizer. They were wonderful as well. Then I worked with the sous chef. We made pasta from scratch, risotto and the muse. Muse is an appetizer the restaurant makes to give to all of the tables beofre they have dinner. The muse had mayo in it and I actually liked it! The chefs were happy. The challenge for a chef is to take something someone does not like and then have them eat it. After all of the cookng, I met with the sommelier and tasted all of the wines we would have with dinner. He picked some very good wines. He also picked some beers for my husband who is not that keen on wine.

Dinner was wonderful. The staff of Il Palio treated us great. We had so fun and the dinner was delicious. The best part was we had a free room, so we didn't have to drive home after all that wine. I can't believe I won this prize. It was definitely a wonderful experience and I did learn some things about cooking.