Hi, my name is Stephanie

Yep, that's me.   I have something to confess.

 I LOVE apple cider.  I love the taste, the smell, the idea of it, reading about it in books...I love everything about it.  My very first memory of apple cider comes from this amazing piece of art:

First grade.  Kirk L. Adams Elementary school.  We went to the library for one of our outings, and I got to browse the shelves.  First book I ever rented from the library and read to myself.  I was in love.  Still am, infact.

One of the farmers, Bean, is an apple farmer.  All he eats or drinks is apple cider that has been fermenting in his cellar.  When Dahl described these farmers I think he meant to make them sound disgusting, but I always found myself craving roasted chicken and apple cider.

 The fantastic book spawned a great movie.  If you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out.  It's a fun watch.

When Jeff and I stayed in San Luis Obispo in California this summer, we used Priceline to get our rooms ahead of time.  If you don't know how Priceline works, basically you bid on what you are willing to pay, and then a bunch of hotels look at your offer, and one either accepts or rejects your offer, based on how many rooms they have empty that night.  So, the plus side is you usually get cheaper rooms, but the downside is that you don't get to choose what hotel you are staying at. 

Well, for our night in San Luis, we got to stay at the Apple Farm Inn. Very, uh, quaint.  I laughed so hard when Jeff first told me about it because it reminded us of the episode of King of Queens where Doug and Carrie go with their friends to stay at an apple farm outside of the city.  Well, I won't say much more about the episode but it is sooo funny.  And the place where they stay is really funny too.  Want to get a picture in your head of what it looked like?  Observe our hotel room:

 

It actually turned out to be one of the best nights of the trip.  We got warm apple cider at the Inn, had a gourmet meal of butternut squash risotto, pozole, and a salad of warm chicken, bacon and blue cheese, walked the streets of the quaint town and then returned to our hotel room and lit a fire in the fireplace.  I liked that place a lot...even if it looked like a Grandma designed, built and decorated it.

Anyway, I'm drinking apple cider right now (thanks daddie) and it reminded me of that Apple Farm Inn we stayed at a while ago.  Fun memories.