Merry Noonie!

In honor of Christmas Eve/Christmas, I decided to blog Wednesday's lunch.  Here are some pictures of the sandwiches at Noonie Deli in Middlebury, Vermont.  It's the first thing I want to do when I get to Vermont.  I'd like to say that it's the best sandwich place ever, but since I like so many different kinds of sandwiches, I can't really make that claim.  I can say, however, that Noonie's is hands-down awesome.  I'll avoid a discussion of the super-creepy Esquire peice on the Noonie's Girl, and let the sandwiches speak for themselves.

For my veggie friends, my veggie sandwich from lunch yesterday:

I think the word that best describes this sandwich is huge.  And I could have had more veggies if I wanted them. 

And N's lunch, the Purple's Pleasure, which is very much not a vegetarian sandwich:

That sandwich is crazy.

A Change of Season

After a while, the start of a new school year rolls in with little fanfare...basically, anything that's assigned is manageable and survivable. And while the beginning of the school year means the end of summer (even while summer's still going on), there a few things to look forward to as the fall begins and things start to pick up in their own, though slightly less carefree and tanned, way. While I'm most certainly a summer person (summer being the only season that I'm not cold all the time), I'm looking forward to change. So, here's a brief list of things I'm looking forward to after having survived my first full week of teaching:

1. The new TV season. I've had hints already with the starts of Man Men and Top Chef, but the beginning of school means that soon my TiVo will be clicking on more frequently to add some new episodes of old favorites. Since I got through the week sharing Liz Lemonisms with the other grad students around the Commons Room, you can tell we're all ready for new things.
2. Fall beers. While I'll miss my light summery beers, I'm ready for some darker, warmer October seasonals as I wind down my weeks.
3. Creamy, cheese-based soups. Sometimes, to go with my beer, sometimes to fill bread bowls, sometimes both.
4. Bethlehem, PA's Celtic Classic. Nothing says Fall to me like Highland Games and a parade of bagpipers. Favorite Saturday of the year.
5. Layering
6. Legitimate rain days and afternoon matinees prompted by the rainy days.
7. A more structured framework for my nightly trashy-novel reading.
8. More devotion to my quest for the best buffalo chicken sandwiches and wraps in my area. Actually, more devotion to sandwiches and finding some good ones in general.

That's all for now, though I might include something very loose about looking forward to another Vermont trip, Halloween, and something about brisker air, too, but I'll leave that for another time.