Tales from the 'Noke

I got there on Monday and during the drive down, I took some videos to demonstrate a particular theory I have developed over the past couple of years visiting Roanoke. The theory is pretty simple. The classic rock station here, 96.3 WROV: The Rock Of Virginia, plays more George Thorogood than any other station in the country. As evidence, I present you with the following video, which was taken within the first 30 seconds of me tuning into WROV on Monday. It's hard to hear the song in the background but it is the slide guitar solo from 'Move It On Over', the title track from George Thorogood's second album, released in 1978. As you can clearly see in the video, I am 23 miles from Roanoke and it's already on.

Shortly after hearing this, I also heard the following two songs, here for your viewing pleasure as well.


As for my father's surgery, it went well. It took him a substantial amount of time to wake up after the anesthesia. I guess he had awaken actually, but he couldn't stay awake for more than a few minutes. During this three hours or so, my Mom and I sat in the room trying to entertain ourselves while watching him sleep. I came up with the great idea to make a series of YouTube videos called, "Weekend at Wally's". These videos would be taken at various places around Roanoke with him posed doing various things, such as eating a hot dog at The Roanoke Weiner Stand, enjoying a Cheesy Western at The Texas Tavern, or taking in the view from the Mill Mountain Star. Alas the staff refused to release him before he woke up so this plan did not come to fruition.

My father ate Julia's Chicken Noodle Soup for at least 4 consecutive meals before I left, which means it must have been good. I prepared dinner Tuesday night, but it was just Stroganoff again so no pictures. However, here is a video of Ernie, a.k.a. The Ernie-Man, playing with his favorite toy. He continues his single-handed destruction of anything in my parents' basement after managing to break his ceramic water bowl in half this morning. It was a large and substantial bowl that managed to last through most of the lifetime of my brother's dog, Champ, who was a black lab and a great deal larger than Ernie.

Before leaving yesterday I stopped by The Roanoke Weiner Stand with my Mom and had two "without". The quality of the picture is not great since it was taken on my cell phone, but it's good enough. I believe the hot dog pictured is actually "all the way", which is the one my Mom had. I also helped my grandmother do a few things and noticed the following note pad sitting by her computer, which clearly evidences that she is reading this blog. Keep the comments clean!


We're off to Wake for the last time this season along with Joe from Joe Cooks Dinner and Stuff so see you next week.

Pizza and Chicken Noodle Soup

Julia finally got out of work today and we decided to make a pizza. We purchased pre-made whole wheat crust, canned pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni, ground Italian Sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella, and some goat cheese. You can clearly see the his and hers sides of the pizza below.













After we had the pizza, Julia decided to make some Chicken Noodle Soup for me to take to my parents tomorrow. She followed Rachael Ray's recipe here. I haven't had any yet but Julia just said it tastes pretty good.
I am headed to my parents' house for a few days as my father is undergoing some minor surgery on Tuesday. I will likely be absent for a week or so as I come back on Thursday and then head down to Winston on Friday for the BC game. If we are lucky though, The Newtstress may enchant us with some of what she prepares up in my absence. Check back to see.