Virginia

[OldSmoke]

We have been visiting Virginia during the last two weeks getting ready for a wedding. I know there are a few folks on here from there. You certainly live in a beautiful state!

 

[normanaj]

We have been visiting Virginia during the last two weeks getting ready for a wedding. I know there are a few folks on here from there. You certainly live in a beautiful state!

Step daughter lives in the Smith Mountain Lake area and I visited that area for the first time earlier this year. Certainly is a beautiful place.

 

[chef k-dude]

Born and raised, although my parents were from West Virginia and came to Virginia because of economics. I live right smack in the middle of the state for the last 24 years. Transplanted from what has become the hell (in my opinion) of Northern Virginia. That place is insane now...nothing like where I grew up. You can hear 6 languages in one aisle of the Walmarts up there.

I'm on the east side of the Piedmont, beautiful rolling terrain, Thomas Jefferson land of founding fathers...where they chose to live. I live in a mostly blue collar AG district neighborhood of 10 acre+ properties. My land is almost all forest. Many tree species. We are literally an ecosystem with many bird and animal species. The only thing that breaks the peace is the highway sometimes when the atmosphere is just right and the idiots with loud cars and bikes and truck drivers with Jake-brakes mess up the sound of the breeze and birds. Then there is the sound of gunfire sometimes...but a good sound I call "the sound of freedom" as my fellow Virginians are staying "well regulated" with their arms, just like the constitution specified.

But sometimes it's pure paradise. Almost unbelievable. Then comes summer! And winter! We can get African hot...over 100 degrees and Arctic cold in to the single digits and even below zero some winters.

I dont need "vacations". They are more stressful than where I live. Other than seasonal weather extremes, there is nothing to "escape" or take a "break" from here. People would Air-BNB my place to "get away from it all". There is no crime in my neighborhood. I DO lock my house at night but never my pickup in the driveway. I dont lock my shed. My friends and neighbors are always welcome to come and borrow anything I have, including that pickup...and they know where the hide-a-key is to drive it.

My Virginia is a place I really prefer to never leave, but there are places in the state I would never want to be...because too many people live there. There are too many people in this state that dont come from here. The universities, federal government and military industrial complex imports them from all over and they ARE NOT Virginians.

 

[Torch&Tone]

You can hear 6 languages in one aisle of the Walmarts up there.

There are too many people in this state that dont come from here. The universities, federal government and military industrial complex imports them from all over and they ARE NOT Virginians.

When I first started cooking outdoors, it was just the familiar, the usual, what I grew up with: steaks or burgers on a rusty old Weber, using supermarket briquettes and too much lighter fluid. If I didn't branch out, I would not have discovered foods like brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. I would not have found out how good birria tacos, Greek-roasted lamb, and ramen (from scratch, not the packet) could be.

You might not like crowds - everyone has their limit. You might not like birria, lamb, or ramen - that's your right. But you don't get to decide who is or isn't a Virginian.

 

[chef k-dude]

Never said I did. It was an opinion. I should have been more specific, "Born and raised Virginian".

My great grandmother on my dad's side was reportedly a full blood Cherokee. I am a mutt. I have traveled internationally and have been a foreigner. The subject was "Virginia". I can assure you there are "Virginians" that are very specific to Virginia. This includes native Americans as well as people originally of African and other cultures, but they are specifically Virginian when they are raised here. Not unlike a Texan, Ohioan or any other state or region are specifically of their localized culture and recognizable.

Sorry to have offended your clearly superior intellect.