Blue Cheese Burger with Tart Cherry BBQ sauce

To read about a wonderful beer paring follow the link to the examiner website

ROASTED ONION BURGER

Serves 2

Ingredients:

6 ounces 93/7 ground beef

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

2 tsp worchestershire

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

 4 slices roasted or grilled sweet onions

2 slices blue chesse or smoked cheddar

2 pieces natures own deli thins

Mix everything together and form into 2 patties. Put in the refrigerator while the onions roast

To roast onions you will need 1 onion sliced into 1-inch slices. Heat oven to 425 and brush a baking sheet with olive oil, then brush the topside of the onion and season with salt and pepper put in the oven for about 20 to 25 min. they should be soft and caramelized on the pan side.

ROASTED SWEET POTATO “fries”

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

2 sprigs thyme

1 clove garlic

Heat oven to 425.

Cut the potatoes into desired shape and put in a bowl. Mince the garlic and thyme together and put in bowl toss together with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Lay out on a baking tray and bake about 20 to 25 min (you can bake at the same time as the onions on the same tray).

Cherry BBQ sauce

Yields: 1 cup

Ingredients:

3 strips bacon (diced)

½ Onion (diced)

1 clove garlic (chopped)

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp smoked paprika

¼ cup sorghum or molasses

1 cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup ketchup

½ ounce dark chocolate

Directions:

Heat a heavy saucepot to medium high and add the bacon, cook until bacon starts to brown and the fat is rendered out. Add the onions and garlic, cook until they start to brown, add the spiced and sorghum and cook about 1 to 2 minutes to allow the flavor to develop. Add the vinegar and cook down to ½ cup and add the ketchup cook about 10 minutes. Put in a blender with chocolate and blend till smooth. You can strain it through a fine sieve or leave it chunky. I prefer to strain it.

West Virginia: Wild and Wonderful part 2

the overlook at coopers rock

    

 Well, once again it was time to head to West Virginia, duty called. My little sis needed a ride home from college. So I headed out about 4 am on Tuesday morning. I was headed for Coopers Rock State Park, which is on the way to West Virginia Wesleyan college where my sister was waiting. I only had about 2 hours sleep so I decided to stop at a rest stop and sleep for about an hour. I quickly found out that I stopped 1 exit from the park. The regret subsided shortly after I began running. Last time I ran here I brought my phone to take pictures, I decided to leave it this time due to the fact that last time photography slowed my run down considerably, equalling less distance covered and less of the park enjoyed. This is a decision that I would and still do, and may always regret not bringing it.

Cheat River

         I arrived at the parking lot so tired it felt like my face was swollen and like I just got punched. So I did what any respectable trail runner would do,  got dressed, filled my fuel belt and headed onto the XC ski trail. My plan was to head to Clay Furnace and link up to Scotts Run to create a loop and see where that gets me. I was feeling very stiff and sluggish, but i pressed on. Once I got onto the Clay Furnace trail this feeling went away. At this point I am kicking fast on this 2 mile down hill. The trail had nice flow while being rocky and technical(maybe that is where I preform better on rocky and technical, probably because I learned how to run trails in Little ROCK). Now for the camera regret, here I am kicking hard and fast with extreme concentration I was hitting 7 to 7:21 minute miles, then BOOM, my brain kicked in with a thought, STOP, Quickly following with JUMP UP AND BACK. I abruptly did so and figured out why my brain put me in this stressful contortion. What I found in front of me was a sun bather, not a nude human being stretched out on the trail, more of the dangerous venomous type of sun bather. Respectfully I backed up slowly to drink in what was placed in front of me. I was faced with a beautiful four and a half foot timber rattlesnake. Luckily the snake allowed me to get closer and have a look. I have never seen a rattlesnake up close in the wild. Needless to say I was very excited, promptly followed by a sad feeling. Of course I did not bring my phone, then oh sh%*, what if.... I don't want to think about that 2 mile uphill hike back to the car with a rattlesnake bite. Thankfully this was not the case. After a 15 or 20 minute stand off he let me by, but not without letting me know that he was still there and he is the boss. He slithered up 2 feet off the trail and turned around to face me in a slightly defensive position.

      The rest of the run was more alert than normal but awesome. I had no specific direction in which I was traveling, I went for the steepest trails, they usually bring you to the best parts of a park. I descended down to Cheat Lake, then climbed back up and then farther about 1500 feet over 2 1/2 miles. I ended up making a lollipop with a big loop on the end of the stick. Included in the run were; overlooks, small waterfalls, lakes, grueling climbs, fast flowing downhills, rattlesnakes, and vibrant green foliage, All in two and a half hours. What a day! After aiding my sick sister with moving her into a storage unit I rewarded my self with some good brews from Mountain State Brewing Company, Magic Hat, and Rogue and I pared that with what Allburgars restaurant called the sunny side up burger.

On our way home we stopped back at the park to take pictures at the overlook so I hope you enjoy the pics.

Wild and Wonderful

    

    Recently while sitting in my parent's living room, I over heard my youngest sister on a phone conversation. The conversation did not seem so to go so well, upon hanging up she sorrowfully lets me know she will be heading back to school the following day at 1 pm. Now as a big brother I couldn't have this. She clearly did not want to go back 1 day early. So I swooped in with a plan in mind. You see, my sister attends school in West Virginia. Trail runner in training for 50k with a good bit of mountainous climbing and a sister in need of a ride to mountainous West Virginia. Not mention my cousin also lives in Morgantown. This plan seemed to be working out beautifully, I could stay on a couch and not in a college dorm room.

      The only set back is that my wife and I were set to go to a party, where it was sure to be the pre tapper steam blow off that I seem to be making a habit when training. I assure you, that is exactly what it turned out to be, and what a great time it was. Before we headed out to the party we did make sure to get in a nice 16 mile loop at a local trail, so feeling good about my self I let the kettle boil for as long as I could. The next day brought moms famous gravy and pasta with meatballs and sausage. This on top of the two hours left of moving furniture my dad and I did left next to nothing in the tank. So after several cups of coffee and a long personal debate weather or not to leave at 9 pm or the next morning at 3, I went to bed, where I laid wide eyed and tossing until 3. Then off we went as scheduled at 3:16 in the morning.

      Working on no sleep we finally made it to Morgantown, West Virginia and had breakfast at the Eat and Park(by the way I find this request of the restaurant pretty impossible, I would much rather park and then eat. Call me old fashioned if you like). I knew that I was planning on running shortly there after, planned... right? I had some mediocre at best, whole grain pancakes and egg substitutes, what could I have possibly expected? After a hard last hour of driving with the window down hoping that the mountain air would keep us awake, we arrived and I napped for two hours. I said my good byes and headed back to Morgantown. My cousin and I  tinkered with her car bit and finally by 4:30pm i was arriving at the Cooper's Rock State Park. I guzzled a G1 aka Gatorade Prime, and i was off with no clear map or direction.

     I started my run on the cross country ski trail. That little quarter mile stretch ended up at a three way intersection. Advanced cross country ski trail.... Tempting, a trail with no name, and the road side trail, which sounds boring but underneath that sign was another that read Cooper's Rock overlook 2.8 miles. Sounds good,  at least we have an overlook and 6 miles of trail running as a start. I headed down the road side trail feeling surprisingly good fueled on a G1 and 2 hours of sleep following a night of partying. The trail ran along the road of course, just as described. There were a good amount of climbs as one would expect on the way to an overlook. Once at the overlook, I paused for 5 minutes or so to take some photos. I love an overlook with a river running through the valley.

Being that this is a run and not a day hike i put away the Droid and stopped pondering the meaning of life and back tracked out to the road were I noticed a few other trail heads. I went with the most dangerous sounding one. The Rattlesnake Trail. This was by far my favorite trail it shot down below the overlook and climbed up just as quick through the rocks, and back on to a trail. By far some of the most technical running I have done, considering I was trying to keep a 10:00 minute mile going.

        This is the point where I have no idea where I ran but I got some amazing pic's. I believe I was on the ridge trail for a while, as well the eagle, rock city, a couple of places that were not blazed and the raven something for a short out and back. All of the trail was beautiful and I would say a great excuses to visit family or vise versa. This was that kind of trail run that brings out that internal music that you hear when all is good and you cant help but to grin from ear to ear. It is an experience you can only get out in the woods all alone with your internal mp3 player making songs you've never heard but that sound good. I passed a few people and over heard one of them say, "The air is so fresh and crisp up here", thats right and it cause all the gates in the park are locked and only the people who are willing to hike or run in are up here and from the looks of it, that is not many people. Thankfully for us, right? I had to write about this because it reminded me of a run in Little Rock that inspired me to start this blog in the first place. I think I forgot why I started it and this brought that back. So onward and forward with more running entries. Now its out the door for a light run. I have 9 days until the Terrapin 50k a part of the Beast series of trail running. I am hoping to beat last months 50k time of 6:20:14. Enjoy the pic's and Happy St. Patty's day. For more pic's follow the link

TUNE IN TONIGHT

Hey everyone, just a heads up i will be posting the first BEER:30 segment. 
I will be reviewing the Spoetzl brewery's holiday seasonal Shiner Cheer .