The Lucky Buddha

MTH and I went to another restaurant in our neighborhood last Friday. The Lucky Buddha is an Asian fusion place. When we first got there, I was a little worried as the place was basically empty. It was around 8pm. I still haven't learned the schedule of the Richmond crowd but I had thought it was earlier than DC. So, MTH and I thought maybe we were the last ones. We were wrong. As we went through dinner, the place started filling up - especially around the bar. That makes sense as they have a very nice drink menu. Who knew there was such a thing as Chai liqueur? I didn't try it but plan to try it next time. We focused on the food. We started with the Salt and Pepper calamari and steamed spring rolls. We only needed the calamari as it was huge! We then each had a noodle bowl. I tried the BBQ Pork and MTH tried the shrimp and pork noodle. Again, they were huge. The next time we go, we've decided to get two smaller appetizers and just one noodle bowl to share. That will fill us up! And, then, maybe we'll have a little room to try the green tea creme brulee.

Furniture Fun

MTH and I spent yesterday afternoon looking at furniture. We went to La Difference in Shockoe Slip near our apartment. We bought a new bed frame, dresser, chest and nightstand. We also looked at a couch but need to figure out if it will fit in our living room. Then, we headed to a store 2 doors down called These Four Walls. I thought we were just going to walk around. Then MTH fell in love with a red item. It's definitely going to add character to our new home! It may go in our front living room or in the dining room. We have no idea yet but MTH decided he had to have it :)

We then went to Sine for a snack. It's an Irish pub that's just 1 block away. While there, we talked about a writing desk that we had seen at These Four Walls. We decided that it made sense to go ahead and get the desk. Then, it will be delivered with the special red thing.

So, now our house is going to be more ready than I expected when we move in. Now, we just need to order the blinds!

Day Trip Ideas

Since we're still trying to meet people here in Richmond, we don't have a ton of things to do on the weekends (except MTH's working out and working). I decided that I wanted to go on a day trip this weekend. We kind of did one last weekend when we went to Charlottesville to see GT play UVA and went out to dinner with friends after. We came back that night. It turned out to be a nice trip but we were then home for MTH to work out on Sunday.

I found one good resource at www.richmond.com. They called them One Tank Trips. Not sure if MTH and I will do one these tomorrow but we're thinking about it.

If you have any ideas for day trips, please let me know.

Buffalo Burgers?

I went to my new favorite grocery store on Sunday, Ellwood-Thompson's. They have a nice but very small meat department. I had originally planned to buy ground turkey or chicken. They had neither so I decided to try some ground buffalo. I had also bought some goat cheese that was supposed to go with some frozen ravioli. I had the idea to make stuffed buffalo burgers on the way home last night. They turned out quite nicely. Since I hadn't bought any buns, we used pita bread for our sandwich holders. I also had some caramelized onions left over from the previous night's meal (homemade pizza). I heated up the onions with some balsamic vinegar. I also had some hummus on hand. So, our sandwiches had the following in them: buffalo burger stuffed with goat cheese, caramelized onions with balsamic vinegar and hummus. They turned out really good.

The next thing I'm going to try to make is bison bolognese. In Northern VA, one of our favorite restaurants (Vermilion) had this dish. I need to figure out how to make it now that we're no longer in Alexandria.

My Goal

I ran the same route as last week. I was able to shave off one minute and do it in 32 minutes. My goal is to do it in 30 minutes within 2 weekends. I'm going to do a different route tomorrow. Then, next weekend, hopefully I can do it in 31 minutes. Thus, by the following weekend, I'll be able to do it in 30 minutes.

Then, I'll need a new goal.

By the way, if anyone has any ideas for new routes, please let me know.

Wishing I Could Cook

I love to cook. It's one of my favorite pastimes. Of course, I knew this fact about myself before we moved into temporary housing without my necessary cookware but I didn't realize just how much I would miss it. For example, yesterday, I saw a post on Brandon Eats about French Onion soup and thought, I should make that. Then, I remembered that my oven proof bowls are in storage along with my mandoline for thinly slicing the onions. I may have to improvise this coming weekend. For now, I made another big pot of beef stew which has somewhat hit the spot during this really cold weather.

Can you figure out the answer?

Interesting analogy question I saw today:

FOX : OWL :: (a.Saul b.David c.Iago d.Lear) : SOLOMON

What's the right answer?

Phoebe: A Salute to a Spoiled Cat, Take 2

Phoebe stalking up on the "loft" walls



One of Phoebe's favorite place to hang out in the new place

She's such a photogenic cat

The Bottom

As I've mentioned in a previous post, we're living just east of Shockoe Bottom. Or as Richmonders like to say, "The Bottom". Well, today, I decided I would run outside instead of on a treadmill. It's been a long time since I ran outside. I now fully appreciate that we're at the "bottom" of a hill. It was quite a climb to the west towards the VCU campus. I was able to run 3 miles in 33 minutes. On flat land, I usually can do it in about 28 minutes or so. That's still slow compared to most of the runners I know but I was quite happy with that time as I actually walked a few times.

Valentine's Dinner

As promised, here's a description of our Valentine's Day dinner at Cafe Gutenberg.

Course 1:
Watercress Vichysoisse paired with Hazard Hill, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc Blend 2004
It was a nice dish to start the night out with. The wine was a clean flavor that went well with a creamy soup.

Course 2:
Confit Duck Spring Roll with apricot and ginger sauce paired with Dr. Fischer Riesling 2005
These were wonderful. Of course, as they say, everything tastes good fried. The duck confit had some spice to it so the Riesling was a nice choice that held up well to the dish.

Course 3:
Roasted Candy Striped Beets with danablu arborio crust paired with Araucano Carmenere 2005
In case you're not familiar, arborio rice is the one used to make risotto. Therefore, the crust was quite creamy while also have a crunchy texture. The wine is a red from Chile that was strong like the beets.

Course 4:
Miso Crusted Rainbow Trout with red chili aioli paired with Morgadio Albarino 2005
I remember liking this course but as you can imagine, we were starting to get drunk at this point (we also had 2 glasses of champagne before the dinner started).

Course 5:
Mussels Gratinee baked in salt paired with Domain Pabiot Sancerre 2005
The mussels were baked in their shells with Parmesan cheese. The shells must have been placed in a bed of salt that was then placed in the oven for cooking. For plating, the chef put a bed of the roasted salt (it was brown) and then put the mussels on top. It was quite nice to get a few grains of the salt along with the mussel as it added a good crunch.

Course 6:
Pan-Seared Diver Scallops on the half shell paired with Petit M Muscadet 2004
These were not the best scallops I've had but weren't the worst either. The wine was a bit sweet but probably made sense to pair with the sweet scallops.

Course 7:
Petit Salad with fennel, grapefruit and mache paired with Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc 2005
This course was unnecessary. Even so, the wine was a good pairing since it had hints of grapefruit.

Course 8:
Butter Poached Lobster Ravioli with fresh ricotta and sweet pea cream sauce paired with MacRostie Chardonnay 2005
As you can imagine, the lobster was quite nice. The chardonnay was a nice light one that added to the flavor of the dish.

Course 9:
Gianduja Chocolate Shadow Cake with dark chocolate lollipops paired with Paringa Sparkling Shiraz 2004
What can I say - it was chocolate, of course it was good!! The red champagne was a nice touch with the dark chocolate. I'm a big fan of champagne in general so it's nice to change it up a bit and have a dark one.

As I mentioned earlier, we were already drunk by about course 4. You can imagine how hard it was to get up on Thursday! I definitely had a hang over and I think that MTH was worse. It was well worth it though as the food and wine were so good. And, the best part was that this place is only 7 blocks from our apartment so there was no driving involved.

Shocking

Here's what was going through my head this morning:

Freak accident kills woman in Richmond, VA on Saturday. She was running on a treadmill as she has done many times. As she ran, she unknowingly was building up an electrical charge. As she always does at about minute 20, she pushed the button to increase her speed. But, instead of increasing her speed, it gave her such a powerful shock that she fell backwards off the treadmill which caused her to run into the wall.

Ok, so that's not exactly how it happened but the shock was so powerful, it caused all of my hair to stand up (even though it was in a ponytail) and my Ipod to short out!! I will never get back on that particular treadmill.

Upcoming Posts Coming to This Blog Soon

MTH and I went to an awesome restaurant this past weekend, Millie's. I'll write a post about how great it is. We also went to Cafe Gutenberg for their Valentine's Day Dinner. There were nine different plates of food along with wines selected for each one! We were just a little hung over this morning but we made it to work at the normal time. Both of these posts will be written and published this weekend.

Richmond Blogs

I've found a site that lists bloggers from Richmond. I've added some of the interesting ones to my list of blogs that I read. Some are about food and others are about how bad the government is here in Richmond. That is, that things are run by a small group of people. Richmond does have a lot in common with Savannah. People can sometimes be more interested in who you're related to as well as what school you went to. But, I think that can happen in a lot of places. In DC, it's all about working on the Hill or being a lobbyist or being a lawyer.

In the end, I'm being stereotypical and there are lots of great people to meet and get to know in any of those places.

How to Save $$

MTH and I have our own version of the Bank of America "Keep the Change" program. If you haven't seen the commercials, basically they round up each of your purchases to the nearest dollar and put the difference into a savings account. MTH has a pickle jar that he throws all of his change into when he gets home. As you know, we've moved to a new place. Well, that pickle jar was really heavy (mostly with pennies) so we took about half of them to the Chevy Chase Bank. The reason we went there is not because we're customers but because they have a change counting machine that charges no fee. At the grocery store, it charges a 7 cents on the dollar!! We ended up with $100 in change! So, we went out for a nice dinner last night.

Of course, the one benefit of the BofA program - interest.

The House is Empty

The packers came yesterday to pack everything up and the movers came today to put all the boxes and furniture into the truck for storage. We hope to be in our new house by 3/19 or earlier.

It was definitely a little sad to leave our first house forever. It's so final. I'm certain I was never sad about leaving an apartment. And, I'm definitely certain that I will not be the least bit sad about leaving this apartment!!

Richmond's Premier Movie Palace

MTH and I had a fun night last night. We took a taxi over to Carytown. It's a street just west of the Fan that has lots of cute little shops and restaurants on it. It will be about 10 blocks from our new place so we should be able to at least walk there in the early evening. We went to see Flushed Away at the Byrd Theatre. The movie only costs $1.99 per person. With popcorn, Twizzlers and drinks, our total experience came to $9! When I went to see Dreamgirls, just my ticket cost $9! Plus, this theater has character. It was built in 1928. It is ornate down to the water fountain. I didn't check out the restrooms but I imagine they are as well. On Saturday nights, they have an organist perform before the show. It was very cool. He started out with "It's a Grand Old Flag" and they even had a flag that waved over in the left hand balcony. He also played "76 Trombones" and "Over the Rainbow". There were other songs as well. The best part is that when he starts playing he's below the stage and is lifted up. Then, at the end, he goes down back under the stage for the final song. The movie was cute.

The movie was over around 9pm which was perfect for going to dinner. We headed to a place two doors down, The New York Deli. The food tasted good and was cheap. Plus, they had some interesting beers. I think we'll take Pop there when he and Mom come to visit. He loves sandwiches (and beer)!

The only bad part of the evening was trying to get a taxi home. You have to call and then it took 20 minutes for them to show up. Now that we know that, next time we'll call ahead.

Tobacco Row versus The Fan

We are currently living in temporary housing in a neighborhood called Tobacco Row. As its name implies, the buildings here were originally built for the tobacco industry. Click here to learn more.

When we move in the near future, we'll be living in The Fan. It's historically been residential since its beginning. Our "new" house was built in 1910. The houses closer to downtown are even older. It's the original suburb of Richmond. It makes sense. Before there were cars, it took a lot longer to go from the city center to the "outskirts". It's amazing what cars have made possible. Now, more people live in the counties surrounding Richmond than in the city of Richmond. The great thing is that Richmond is starting to come back. But, all of the stores are still a drive to outside the city. My work is 21 miles from my current apartment and will be about 18 miles from my new place!

House Update

Old House Update:
We've sold the house! We listed on Wednesday of last week and accepted the offer on Monday of this week. We did not expect it to be so easy. We didn't even have an open house. We're moving our stuff out this coming Friday or Saturday. I'm hoping we can talk the moving company into only scheduling one day for the move. Our house is tiny. I really don't want to take Friday off when I really don't think that's necessary!

New House Update:
We're going on a walkthrough on Monday. We still don't have our closing date set. We still need to get an appraisal (I believe they went on Friday) in order to finalize the mortgage and homeowner's insurance. We really want to close by the end of February so that we can move in by the first weekend in March. That would give us more time to move in before we travel for MTH's half marathon and our friends' wedding in Las Vegas.

Cafe Gutenberg

As I've mentioned in previous posts, MTH and I are going through a little bit of withdrawal by moving back to Richmond. I don't want to sound too snobby but the restaurants here are just not as good as DC. The fish is not as fresh. The recipes are not as creative. The mojitos are just not as tasty. But, what I've found is that there are a lot of cute little places that in DC, would be mobbed but in Richmond are just "full". One of those is Cafe Gutenberg. I haven't spent a lot of time there yet but it's a cool place so far. It's a wine bar/coffee shop/restaurant/bookstore. They also have free wireless. Plus, it's in an old building that's has an interesting design. It's about 7 blocks from our current place. It's walkable - the reason I point that out is that there's no way I'd walk 7 blocks from our place in the other direction!!!! It would not be a good idea. That's definitely an issue with downtown Richmond as well.

Anyway, once I've hung out at Cafe Gutenberg more, I'll tell you more.

Interesting Quote

Found on the blog L.A. Envie formerly Rue Rude

"Who remembers now...that the Statue of Liberty was initially conceived by her French sculptor as an Eqyptian peasant girl, intended to adorn the entrance to the Suez Canal? Or that the first Zionists to settle in Palestine were in fact American Protestants, who planted successive, ill-fated colonies aimed at "restoring" the Holy Land to Jews, so that their subsequent conversion to Christianity would speed the Second Coming?"

--Max Rodenbeck reviewing Michael Oren's book Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present in the International Herald Tribune, 27-28 January 2007

Dreamgirls

I went to see this movie with my British friend and a few of her friends last Thursday. It turned out to a fun night except that next time we'll choose a movie that starts later. We'll head to the sushi place around 6pm and then to the movie around 7pm. I crammed down some salmon and edamame. It's much more enjoyable if I have time to taste my food :)

The movie itself was interesting. If you haven't seen it yet, you should know that it's a musical. When I say it's a musical, I don't just mean that it has music in it. It actually has songs that are sung that move the dialogue along - like a musical on Broadway. I wasn't expecting that so at first, I thought it was a bit cheesy. Once I figured out that was what was supposed to be happening, I liked the movie a lot better. The only other criticism I would have is that it was too long!

Good Morning

I haven't been as good about posting because we currently don't have wireless internet. I have to sit at a desk in order to use the computer. I've gotten really used to being able to take the computer wherever I want in the house. Anyway, the reason I'm posting right now is that MTH gets up very early in order to get his workout done for the day. I've gone with him once (he just started going in the mornings when we moved here to Richmond). I expect to go a few more times before we move to the new place. Once we move, it won't be as convenient for me to go in the mornings. Since we're currently living in an apartment building, the fitness center is just steps from our apartment. When we move, he'll have to drive to the gym. He'll be able to take a shower there and drive straight to work. I would rather not have to take all of my products to the gym in order to get ready after working out. Also, people in his office don't get in as early as they do in my office so he has more time in the mornings.

Living here in Richmond definitely has some positives. I'm sure everyone is aware that the housing is much less expensive here than in the DC area. Well, just about everything else is less expensive. I bought a tall skim latte at Starbuck's on Sunday. It was three dollars even. In DC, it's at least $3.30. I realize that's a small difference but it definitely adds up. MTH picked up our dry cleaning yesterday. He thinks that it cost at least half of what we were paying before.

Of course, there are some negatives as well. While the grocery store is cheaper, they don't have quite the selection that I've gotten used to. It's certainly not the end of the world but I will miss some things.

It looks like like it's going to snow today. That means I could be home early. I'm definitely not going to stay around at work if it starts snowing. Our offices are out in the woods and I don't want to get stuck there!

Gotta go get ready for the day.

Internet is Back On

We've figured out how to get the internet to work but not the wireless part yet. We'll probably end up waiting on the wireless until we move to our new place.

Quick Update

We've moved to Richmond and are living in our temporary housing. I currently don't have access to the internet at home so will not be able to fully update until we get that fixed. Hopefully we'll get it up and running soon!

Something to Remember

On Monday, I tried to use my credit card but it was blocked. So, when I got home, I checked my home phone messages and sure enough, the credit card company had called me. I called back to find out that my card number had been stolen and had been used for fraudulent charges. One of the charges was for $2100 worth of items from the Coach website. You may laugh since you know that I love Coach but when I though about it more, it's actually not a laughing matter. There are a few different things that those people might have done with the merchandise. One is that they could have just wanted to send it back for a refund. Btu, that's unlikely because these days I think that most companies make you get the refund on the card that you bought it with. The more likely scenario is that they were buying them in order to sell them cheap on the street or on eBay. So, next time you see a street vendor with a great deal on a purse or you think about bidding on an auction on eBay to pay a lower price for an item, remember that it could have been stolen. But, it wasn't necessarily stolen from a store (only affecting the store); it could have been stolen using someone's credit card. That person may not be as lucky as me since the credit card company in my case was able to block the charges and never thought that I was making the charges.

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

MTH and I put a contract on a house in Richmond today. So, keep your fingers crossed that everything will work out. We're really excited about the house. It was built in the early 1900's but has been recently renovated. Hopefully some of you can come to visit and check it out in person. Phoebe should love the place as it's about 3 times the size of our current house. If you've seen our current house, you'll realize that doesn't mean that the new house is going to be a mansion. Instead, it means that the house will be a normal sized one! There will be no bocce ball tournaments in the backyard of this place but there is a park nearby that will hopefully work!

If The World Made Sense

The bowl games would have the following sponsors:

Minute Maid Orange Bowl
FTD Rose Bowl
Dixie Crystals Sugar Bowl
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (that one is real)

National Portrait Gallery

MTH and I went to the re-opened Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery last Friday. That was probably one of my more fun days during my 2 week vacation. As I mentioned in an earlier post, MTH and I had some wellness issues while on vacation. Both of us didn't feel well at different points during our time off which made it not as fun as it should have been. Anyway, we headed down to the Gallery Place area for lunch and then the museum. We ended up having lunch at Fado's. I had a very good beef stew and MTH had a buffalo grilled chicken sandwich. We then spent over 2 1/2 hours in the museum. The President's portrait section was the most interesting to me. There was a blurb about each president. I had this book when I was younger that had a one page bio about each president. It only went through the 40th president (George Sr.). Although I didn't memorize the president's in order, it did help to me actually have heard of all of the presidents. It was amazing how much I remembered from that book. Like I said, not that I could have recited it but it still reminded me of when I would read anything so I would have something to read. Even the president's book for the 50th time!

Of course, the portrait gallery is much too large to see in one visit. MTH and I will have to go back to see the rest. Plus, it has special exhibitions all the time so there will always be something new to see.

Resolution Number Three

Figure out what I want to do when I grow up. I’ve been doing the same thing basically for the past 8 years. It really feels like it’s time for a change especially since we’re moving to a new place.

Resolution Number Two

Get back into working out once we’ve moved to Richmond. I still need to decide what “working out” means. It may be something other than running in order to do something different. The great thing about running though is that there’s no equipment needed except a good pair of shoes.

Trip to NYC

MTH is on "vacation" until around 1/22. During that time, he actually has a lot to get done. Work out as much as possible, ensure the house is ready to be sold, play golf with his Dad, go on a trip with me, find us a place to live in Richmond. Actually, the nice part is we get corporate housing for the first 2 months so will have time to find a place once we're there. Also, since we've lived there before, we know the neighborhoods and already have an idea of what we want.

Well, about the trip to NYC. We had thought about trying to go somewhere warm but for some reason couldn't pull the trigger. I think the reason for me at least was that we've had some travel bad luck over the past month and a half. When we went to Key West in November, we got record low temperatures. When we went to Wintergreen (for snowboarding) before Christmas, we got warm temperatures (along with a sick MTH). Therefore, I'd like to take a lower risk vacation this time. NYC seems like the right place for that. Plus, we should be able to see EE and her new baby as well as MKN and her new baby. Yes, there's something in the water :)

We're also planning on going to see Spamalot on Broadway. We'll check out at least one museum and otherwise, if the weather allows, just walk around and enjoy the city.

Resolution Number One

Do not move anything to Richmond that we will not use.

Happy New Years!

Hope everyone had a great New Years eve. MTH and I had a low key but fun one in Baltimore. I'll share my resolutions soon :)

New Years Cards

Since I didn't quite get all of my Christmas cards out this year, I've decided to send out New Years cards for the rest of the list. I even made them myself.

Big News

We're moving. It's finally official where we're moving. There were times when it seemed like we were moving to NYC. Chicago was even on the radar. But, after all that talk, we're moving to Richmond, VA. Just one hour and forty five minutes south of where we are now. A place that we actually already know fairly well. We've already started looking for a house (online that is). We're planning on going to look at houses next weekend. Of course, I'll already have been in Richmond for work on Wednesday. The one definite upside is no more commuting to Richmond since I'll already live there.

Upcoming 2nd Annual H's Christmas Party

This Saturday night we're going to have our 2nd Annual Christmas Party. It will be a night of food, fun and friends. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I have so much vacation left at the end of this year, that I'm taking Friday off to get ready for it. I'm looking forward to baking lots of cookies and other goodies. I'm planning on giving each guest a goody bag of cookies before they leave. The menu will probably include dark chocolate fondue with orange sugar cookies, homemade marshmallows, pecan brittle and fruit as dippers. There will also be lit'l smokies in bbq sauce, interesting cheeses and olives. I'm still thinking about whether or not to make a few other things like meatballs, some type of bacon wrapped hors d'ouevres and other types of cookies. I'll let you know after the party what ends up at the buffet.

Christmas Decorations Update

As I mentioned in my previous post, we bought a couple more nativity scenes to add to the collection. Here they are:



Since we were at a Christmas store, MTH decided we needed a couple more ornaments. Here they are as well. They're both inspired by The Nutcracker.





Also, here's an update on the how the paperwhites are doing! They're really growing. I have no idea when they'll bloom though. I wish it would be before Christmas but I have a feeling it won't be.

Christmas Decorations

I love this time of year just for the decorations. Here's what we've done in the house.

Paper Whites
MAK gave the container, the river stones and the paper white bulbs to me for my birthday. They are growing nicely. Hopefully I will not kill them any time soon! This table is just by the front door.

Our Official Christmas Tree and Manger Scene Collection
Here's our official Christmas tree. We put it on the highest shelf on our "entertainment system" in the living room. The pieces below the tree are our manger scene collection. We actually bought 2 more tonight but I took these pictures yesterday. I may update later but am too lazy right now.

Tinsel Tree
MTH "won" this tree last year at the annual H Yankee grab bag. It's on the cookbook bookshelf in the space between the living room and dining room.

Rosemary Christmas Tree
I found this tree at the Whole Foods near our house. I couldn't resist. I put it on the wine rack beside the back door. MTH bought the garland last year and now we've found a use for it.

Santa Display
I have a few different Santa Claus items so I decided to display them together on the plate rack in the kitchen. Before our party next Saturday, I'm going to add some fresh greenery above the Santas.

The Best Dessert EVER

MTH and I went to Eamonn's, A Dublin Chipper for dinner tonight. It's definitely a place that you don't want to eat at too often. Along with the traditional fish and chips and Guinness, we decided to have dessert too. The choices for dessert are: fried Snickers, fried Milky Way, fried dough and fried bananas. MTH decided he wanted to try the fried Milky Way. It comes out in the brown paper bag just like the fish and chips. The candy bar has been coated in similar batter as the other food. Then, when it's hot out of the oil, it's sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. When I first smelled the cinnamon, I was disappointed. I wasn't sure how the cinnamon would mix with the flavor of a Milky Way. I was wrong. It was the perfect complement to the gooey melted candy bar inside the crispy outer shell! I highly recommend this dessert at least once your in lifetime.

Grammar Question

Do you see something wrong with the following sentence?

This marks the beginning of ...



I thought that I remembered learning that there should be an object after the word "this". But it seems that is not the case anymore. I know that I don't always write or speak correct English but for some reason this issue annoys me. By the way, that piece of a sentence above is from a letter from the CEO of my company.

It's amazing what some people eat!

This morning there was a guy on the elevator in my building at work. He was carrying a plate of bacon (at least 6 pieces) and a bottle of chocolate milk. I can't even imagine that as my breakfast!

food for my life

That's the name of my new cooking blog. I'll still keep up with this one and will definitely still talk about food here. As the name implies, it will be food that I eat everyday which can include simple but tasty dishes but could also include fancy, hard to make ones. Hopefully you'll enjoy both types and might even get an idea or two for your own meals. Feel free to leave comments!

food for my life .

Enjoy!

Seen in SoBe

Guess who was there at the same time as us?

Easter 2005

I know that was a while ago but I was just cleaning off my cookbook bookshelf (which I know that I cleaned since Easter 2005) and I found the recipe of one of the items that I cooked that day. I had decided to do an Eastern Orthodox menu instead of the normal American one. The certainty is that we would have lamb of some type. I decided to do a little research online and found this wonderful recipe for fresh cheese and honey tarts from Santorini.

***********************************************************************
Pastry
2 - 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup light olive oil
1/4 cup safflower oil
1/2 cup beer
Filling
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese, drained overnight in a cheesecloth lined colander
1/3 cup honey, preferably thyme honey
About 1/2 teaspoon (2 pieces) ground mastic (I didn't have this in my pantry)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
Ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Make the Pastry
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour with the baking powder. Add the oils and the beer and mix briefly with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer until soft, oily dough forms. If it is too soft, mix in a little more flour. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Flatten the dough with your hands. Place it in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and press it evenly over the bottom and up the sides. Line with aluminum foil, and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove the foil, prick the dough with a fork and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until set but not colored. Let cool.
Make the Filling
In a food processor (or using an electric mixer), combine the ricotta, honey, mastic (if using) and cinnamon. Process (or mix) for 30 seconds to combine. With the motor running, add the eggs one at a time, processing (or mixing) until smooth.
Pour the filling into the cooled tart shell and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the filling is golden brown and set. Sprinkle with cinnamon and let cool before serving.

Variation
Instead of one large tart, you can make 30 individual tartlets. Divide the dough into 3 pieces and shape each into 10 1/2 inch long log about 1 inch in diameter. Cut each log into 10 pieces. Work with 1 piece of dough at a time, keeping the remaining dough covered with plastic wrap.

On a lightly floured surface, pat each piece into a 4 1/2 inch round. Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each round and pinch the rim to make a star-shaped crown around the filling. Bake on baking sheets in batches for about 25 minutes, or until light golden.
***********************************************************************

As I said before, I was planning to cook lamb to go along with the pastries. Therefore, I bought some fresh rosemary since that's the perfect spice for lamb. I even went to a gourmet grocery store to get fresh meat. When I got home, I read the label of the package that I had been given after pointing to the meat counter. It was veal! Well, unfortunately, that's not the first time I've chosen the wrong meat but I'll tell that story another time. The issue at hand was what to do with this veal. The rosemary would overpower it. I didn't know anything about wiener schnitzel. I don't remember exactly what spices we used but I do know that we put the meat on the grill and it turned out quite nicely. And, those pastries were wonderful for the rest of the week (30 pastries is a lot for 2 people!).

Once in a lifetime...

MTH and I just returned from a week long vacation to Florida. We were in South Beach the first few days for MTH's brother's wedding. We then headed to Key West for the last 3 days to enjoy some fun in the sun. Well, instead, we experienced two nights of record lows! There was a cold front that hit the East Coast and there were a few flakes of snow even down into northern Florida.

Of, we still had a good time together although probably not in the top 5 of our vacation trips. MTH had gotten a cold after the wedding so that made it even less fun (especially since I got it from him soon after). But, as I said, we did enjoy a few things while we were in Key West. Here's a sampling of a few:

- The Hemingway Home: MTH has decided that when we build our house one day, we will use it as the inspiration for our design. I have to say that I really liked the house so it wouldn't bother me to have the outside look similar to the Hemingway House but the inside would need to change quite a bit.

- The Shipwreck Historeum: An interesting small museum that told the story of how Key West used to make money. The main job in the mid-1800's was to be a "wrecker". A wrecker was someone who salvaged goods from a ship that wrecked on the reefs near Key West. There were huge warehouses built in the harbor area to hold the goods until they were auctioned.

- The Truman Little White House: Who knew that Harry S Truman spent almost 180 days in Key West during his presidency? This tour was actually quite interesting and has inspired us to want to read the David McCullough biography of him. I've read McCullough's bio of John Adams and thoroughly enjoyed it.

- The Lighthouse Museum and Keeper's Quarters Museum: MTH made it to the top of the lighthouse! I was very happy that we both got to see the view together. It's very interesting to be in such a flat place where you can see so far out to sea.

- The Original Ghost Tour of Key West: There were some interesting stories told on the tour but it wasn't worth 2 hours of our time!! Because it got out after 10pm, we ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe since no other places we knew were serving normal dinner food!!!

I don't really have any interesting stories about restaurants visited. None were terrible by any means but none were that memorable either. We were disappointed by that since one of the things that we enjoy most about our trips is discovering new foods and new places.

Our First Anniversary in Toronto

We had a great time in Toronto for our first anniversary. Here's what happened. We arrived around 1pm and headed to the hotel to check in and get lunch. We stayed at the Park Hyatt Toronto which is in the Yorkville neighborhood. We ate lunch at the Rooftop Lounge. Definitely a great view. We then talked to the concierge to get his recommendations for dinner that night. We told him we wanted seafood so he recommended a place called Joso's. The decor is very interesting (if you check out their website, you'll understand what I mean) but the food was awesome. Their specialty is fresh fish grilled whole. We started with a buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad. For our entree, we shared a rainbow trout, tiger prawns, a sardine (the most gigantic sardine I've ever seen) and some fried calamari. The wine was called Cockfighter's Ghost. It's from Australia. It was very good even if MTH did choose it because of its name. Since we had made our reservations at Joso that afternoon, they weren't until 9pm. So, we headed to the Gardiner Museum, a museum entirely devoted to ceramics. It is open until 9pm on Friday nights and is free. If we had been there during the day and needed a snack, they had a cute little cafe on the top floor who's chef is Jamie Kennedy.

On Saturday morning, we had massages at the spa in the hotel. It was a very nice spa and the massage was great. Then, we headed out to downtown Toronto to check out the city. We came back to take a nap so that we could stay awake that night for the theater. We had to eat at 6pm which is very early for us. The concierge again recommended a good place called Opus Restaurant. I had caribou for the first time. It was very lean and interesting but I wouldn't want very much of it. We then headed to the theater to see Wicked. MTH was funny. He bought the tickets before he knew that it was a musical. But, he still liked it although I agreed with him that music was not that memorable. The dancing and the story are lots of fun. I would still recommend this one to people who like musicals.

On Sunday, we had planned to go the Bata Shoe Museum but they didn't open until noon. So, we just walked around Yorkville is 30 degree weather with 30 mph winds trying to pass the time. Finally, it was noon so we headed to the museum but we only had an hour because we had to get to the airport to catch our flight.

It's been a while...

since I posted here. For some reason, I just wasn't in the mood for posting to my blog. Here's what happened since the last time I posted.

1. MTH and I went to Toronto for our anniversary - it was wonderful
2. I worked
3. MTH worked
4. MTH worked out a lot
5. I worked out a little
6. My birthday happened (I took a vacation day!)
7. My mom and sister were here for my birthday weekend

Right now, Phoebe (the cat) and I are sitting on the couch downstairs by ourselves. It's raining outside so it seems earlier than it really is because it's so dark outside. Mom, SM and MTH are still in bed.

I'll try to post more details about some of the things that have happened since my last post.

Shopping

I had to get my bridesmaids' dress altered. Of course, before I could do that, I had to buy shoes. The dress is espresso but I didn't want brown dress shoes. So, I got some burnished gold shoes by Betsey Johnson. Here's a picture:



And another:



Of course, while I was there, I saw some everyday shoes that I decided that I needed as well:



And, to show you the great thing about Cole Haan shoes, here's the soles:

Another Picture

Here's another one from our wedding almost one year ago.

Eamonn's, A Dublin Chipper

In a previous post, I mentioned that I'd be checking out Eamonn's in Alexandria a couple of weeks ago. Well, I did make it there but was out of town right after. I didn't have time to get a post onto the blog. Here's my review:

First, of all, the name is not 'ee-mahns'. I was corrected by my English friend, HS. It is 'ay-mahns'. Of course, when ordering, you never have to say the name of the establishment so there's no worry of embarrassing yourself. As a reminder, the specialty of the house is fish and chips with special sauces. But, according to HS, the only way to eat fish and chips is with homemade tartar sauce and malt vinegar. It turns out they're good together which I had never tried before. I got the small fish which was plenty for a meal. Both the fish and the fries were fried perfectly. This meal is definitely one you shouldn't have very often but is fun when you do. The other thing not to miss at Eamonn's is the candy. They have a wide selection of English ones. HS was ecstatic when we walked into the place because she hadn't seen these candies since she had arrived in the US over 3 months earlier. We bought a chocolate orange and another one I can't remember the name. I was much too full that night to eat them so we ate them another day. After dinner, we decided we weren't ready to head back home so we went to Restaurant Eve. That's the place that is owned by the same guy that just opened Eamonn's. They have the best sour apple martini I've ever tasted! So, that's what we had. We just sat there and talked and had fun. Then, we headed home and had to go to sleep since the next day was a day of work.

Our Anniversary

Our anniversary is coming up. In honor of the one year milestone, I'll post a few pictures over the next few days. Here's the first one that I think is a fun one because you can't really recognize anyone unless you know them.

Food Bank

I volunteered this past weekend at the Capital Area Food Bank through the Junior League. We first saw a video that explained what the food bank does and who it serves. It's definitely amazing. They have a farm out in Maryland where they grow organic produce and bring it to a market in SE DC to sell. There is only one grocery store in that area of DC. It allows those residents access to foods that they normally wouldn't be able to get. The food bank also does the more expected type of work like taking in donations from food drives and cash donations for buying foods. The other great thing that they do is they work with the grocery stores to salvage food. There is a lot of food that doesn't make it to the grocery store shelves because it's not "pretty" but it's still very edible. In the not so distant past, that food was thrown out!! But, now, the food bank is able to pick up that food from at least a few of the grocery store chains in the area. My particular job for the morning was to help create bags of foods that would be taken to Maryland for people to take home and cook. It was an assembly line. I put in two cans of vegetables and then sent the bag down the line. We put together over 600 bags in about 1 1/2 hours!! It was a great way to start the day.

He did it!!

MTH competed in his first triathlon. He has promised to update his blog soon. But, as a preview, here's a couple of pictures that I took while braving the cold :)

While waiting for the race to begin.

He's almost done swimming. The water was warmer than the air!

MTH is off for the run. Yes, he did ride his bike but this picture is better. Look at that great form!

He looks like he could go another 10 miles!

Another Week Has Passed

It's hard to believe that it's almost October. Life just goes by faster and faster. Although I do a lot of things, I still wish that I could do more. There's so many places I haven't seen, so many foods I haven't tasted, so many books I haven't read. I could go on and on. But, I won't.

This weekend will hopefully be a little relaxed. I may actually go shopping tomorrow. I have a facial appt at 4pm and MTH wants to go to the DC United soccer game in the evening. Sunday will be grocery and "cook in day". Then, the week starts again. I do have some excitement for next week. On Wednesday, at work, we're having a "fun" day. We're heading to Boar's Head in Charlottesville where we'll take a cooking class and then eat what we've prepared. We get to have 2 glasses of wine with our meal. Then we head to the Jefferson Winery for a tour and tasting. When I get back to Richmond, I'll pick up HS (girlfriend of BL). We'll be heading to a place called Eamonn's, a Dublin Chipper. As the name implies, we'll be partaking of fried foods! Fish and chips to be exact. They also have fried Mars bars on the menu. I'll definitely post an update after that meal. The guy who opened this place also runs Restaurant Eve. I've told some of you about this place. It's the one with the tasting room and the bistro and is quite expensive but awesome. Two very different places! He's Irish so that explains the second place. The food at the first place definitely has some Irish influence here and there. The interesting part is that Eve is the name of his daughter and Eamonn is the name of his son.

Crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay

I actually got a lot done this weekend even though I went crabbing yesterday afternoon. MTH got up at 6:45am yesterday to go for a 31 mile bike ride! I got up around 7:30am and straightened the first floor, washed all of my clothes, ran 3 miles, showered and packed for our trip to go crabbing. We left around noon to head for Annapolis. SM (MTH's friend) and JR (SM's girlfriend), called us and told us to meet them at Sandy Point State Park. We first tried crabbing from a pier but we had no bites. The reason we started on the pier is that the marina wouldn't rent us a boat because it was too windy. It didn't really seem that windy to us so we were confused. After 30 minutes of no bites, SM decided to go ask again about renting a boat. For some reason, they changed their mind. We headed out into the bay in our little dinghy. At our first stop, we brought in 3 crabs (none for me but 1 for MTH). At our second stop, we got several more of which 1 was by me. In the end, we had 10 crabs with only 1 coming from me. For some reason, I just wasn't very good at crabbing. Then, we headed back to SM and JR's place near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Since we only had 10 crabs, we decided they would be our appetizer and then we'd go out to a seafood restaurant in Fells Point called John Steven Ltd. It was interesting cooking those things. JR and MTH just put them straight into boiling beer and Old Bay seasoning and covered them with a lid. They came out perfect. Then, the fun part - opening them up and finding the meat. We read on the internet that only about 15% of their weight is actual meat! Overall, it was a successful trip as we had a great starter of crab meat and then went to the restaurant for steamed shrimp, steamed scallops, steamed mussels, garlic bread and seafood quesadillas.

Girls' Weekends

I had a great time in Chicago last weekend. In the past, I stayed in the downtown area with the high rises. It's a great place to be and hang out but is definitely different from Lincoln Park where I stayed this time. My friend, AS, just moved there in early August. She finished business school in the spring. She's loving it so far. I met all the people who came to the weekend at some point during my career at my current job. 4 out of 5 of them I met in 1999. 4 out of 6 (including myself) are statisticians. It's amazing that we're all still friends and all still get together. We've been having these gatherings for 3 years now. There have been 4 in total. Two were at my place. The first one when we lived in the 625 square foot condo. The second one in our house so we had a little more room. The third one was in Boston. The only thing missing at this last one was MAK. She couldn't make it since she now lives in SF and travel is much more expensive. Usually the main items we focus on are: food, shopping and spa treatments. This time was no different. We had Chicago style pizza on Friday night. We went to the Urban Oasis on Saturday morning. And we hit the Magnificent Mile on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night we did something different. We went to the show put on by Second City. It was awesome. I definitely recommend that any time you're in Chicago, check it out! It's like being on the set of Saturday Night Live but much smaller with beer available throughout the show.

At the end of the weekend, we discussed where we'll meet next. We had two diametrically opposed ideas: Las Vegas or a yoga retreat. Hopefully, a year from now, I'll be updating you on that trip.

Things I Learned in Iceland

- Hot dogs (or pylsur as they are called in Icelandic) are not as ubiquitous as the guide books imply.

- Even the bathrooms in the national parks are clean!

- Buy beer and wine at the duty free.

- Renting an apartment instead of reserving a hotel is key.

- Just because an Icelandic word sounds like an English word doesn't the food it's describing is the same thing - beikon is not bacon (although it does taste good)

- Definitely rent a car to see the countryside.

- Put conditioner and a swimming cap over hair before going into the Blue Lagoon

- Definitely check out the black sand beach in Vik.

- Need to go back in order to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)

Chicago Follow Up

MKN finally got up at 10:45am. We went together to get coffee and a bagel at the Einstein's conveniently located near the AS's apartment. When we got back, the rest of the girls were getting out of bed. Not sure how they could sleep that long but to each his own. I definitely was missing MAK at the moment as she usually beats me out of bed.

Sunday Morning in Chicago - 10:20am Central Time

There's a cute cat named Chelsea who has decided to get up with me. Of course, her real reason for coming in the kitchen was to eat. She's actually quite hungry it seems. But, she did say hi to me before she started eating. A very polite cat :)

Ok, so I still haven't figured out how to get back in if I leave the apartment. I've decided I'm going to leave here by 10:45am Central time at the last because if I had gone to yoga, I would have been back here by 11:15am at the latest.

Probably will update again soon.

Sunday Morning in Chicago - 10:05am Central Time

There were no dish towels to be found so I used paper towels. It was a first in my life but it worked just fine and now I'm clean so I feel much better. On to my second task of the morning - figuring out how to get back into the apartment once I leave without waking anyone up. I'll check in again soon.

Sunday Morning in Chicago - 9:40am Central Time

I'm in Chicago right now for Girls' Weekend. Everyone else is asleep. I have no idea where the towels are so I can't even take a shower. I was supposed to go to yoga at 9am but when I got up at 8:30, it was raining. I've tried looking for the towels and am now thinking of using a dish towel as all I need to do is dry off - I'm not washing my hair since I washed it yesterday. So, if I'm able to figure that out, my next thing to figure out will be how to go get coffee and then get back into the apartment since I don't have a key. I'll keep you updated.

More Cheesy Stories

Here's some more interesting cheese tidbits.

Did you know:

Gorgonzola, one of the world's most famous blue cheeses, is reputedly the oldest cheese name in history, dating back to 879 AD. Gorgonzola is named for the Italian town near Milan where the cheese was first made and sold. Normally the mold is more green than blue. In fact, the London Stock Exchange is nicknamed "Gorgonzola Hall" due to the greenish marble used in its interior.

The word yogurt derives from the Turkish word meaning "dense" or "thick".

Maybe I'll write more later or maybe you'll have to wait until the next cheese tasting.

All info in this post and the previous one can be attributed to the cheese tasting class at Cheesetique.

Ancient and Historical Cheeses

I went to another cheese tasting tonight. This time the theme was ancient and historical cheeses. It was very interesting. Jill, the cheese store owner and class instructor, talked about the history of old cheeses. The oldest cheese still in production is feta. The original feta cheeses were made with sheep's milk but if you buy your feta at the regular grocery store, chances are that it's made with cow's milk. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's worth the extra money to buy the sheep's milk version. It doesn't just taste like salt like the cow's milk version. The origin of mozzarella is also quite interesting. It was not created in Italy as you may have thought but was actually invented by the Egyptians. They used the water buffalo for doing a lot of hard labor but they also collected their milk. From that, they made the first mozzarella. The story is that when Mark Anthony went to Egypt, he and Cleopatra ate a lot of mozzarella (thus causing their passion for one another - side note: the Egyptian wealthy started eating mozzarella as an aphrodisiac after this event. Mark Anthony then loved the cheese so much that he sent water buffalo back to Caesar along with the recipe for the cheese. That's how it made its way to Italy.

Also, if you like Brie and have only eaten it in the States then you haven't eaten real Brie it turns out. That is because the real Brie is made of unpasteurized milk that is less than 60 days old. In the US, it is illegal to sell such cheeses. Therefore the Bries that we have here are all pasteurized. The same is true of Camembert. So, it seems that the next time I'm in France, I must try a Camembert!

There were many other interesting stories that maybe I'll write later.

Yoga

This week has been interesting for yoga. On Thursday, I was going to my normal ashtanga class that's held in my work gym. But, it seems that the teacher is on vacation for 2 weeks. So, there was a plyometrics class instead. Unless you're MTH, you're probably asking "What is plyometrics?" as I was. Well, it's this workout that involves a lot of jumping. Here's the definition from Wikipedia:

Plyometrics is a type of exercise that uses explosive movements to develop muscular power. It may be used, for example, to improve the effectiveness of a boxer's punch, or to quicken the vertical jumping ability of a volleyball player.

It was very hard while doing it and then on Friday and Saturday, I was very sore!! It was hard to sit down and then get back up.

My next try at yoga was this morning. The interesting part is that MTH went with me. It was an open class which means that the instructor works on what the class wants. So, there wasn't a "flow" like there is in ashtanga but I did learn some new moves. I really enjoyed it and I think that MTH did as well.

Bocce Ball

MTH is a huge fan of this game. I don't remember the first time he played but it was at a party somewhere. After that he was hooked. He happened to mention it to his parents. They decided to then send him a set of bocce balls for his birthday. In between them giving him this present and him telling his parents he wanted them, he bought himself a set. So, we had two sets then. Every time we have a cookout, MTH brings out the bocce balls. Half the people stay down in the yard for most of the cookout playing. It seems that they have a lot of fun. I don't usually join in since someone has to cook the food.

At our last cookout, MTH decided he wanted to try out a new game. He bought croquet. It turns out he doesn't like the game very much. So, they ended up playing bocce ball most of the time. Here's a picture in motion of MTH playing.

Look at them bowl

Here's MTH and me bowling in Denver the night before we drove to Aspen.

MMH

MTH

Look at that form! We should be on the pro circuit.

Here's the picture for ETK

Original Starbuck's in Pike Place Market

The line was too long inside so I can't say that I've had a coffee from the original.

Two of a Kind

Who knew that MTH and Phoebe have so much in common!!

What have I been doing?

This past weekend was full. On Friday night, I went straight from work to an engagement party. It was a great time. I hadn't seen the bride to be in a while. We used to work together but she's moved on to another company. Her husband to be still works at my company and we actually have worked together a lot lately. MTH wasn't able to make the party due to work. Although he had to work a lot last week, he has still kept up with his working out. I'm very impressed! On Saturday, I got up to go for a run and then headed to the Corcoran to get ready for my 2:30 tour on Sunday. The exhibitions keep changing so even if you have your tour together from a month ago, you have to change it. I "stole" the theme of my tour from fellow docent, Tee. The exhibit is of modern and contemporary art from the Corcoran's permanent collection. As you might imagine, this type of art is harder to give a tour on in some ways. It can be abstract and hard to understand. On the other hand, you can do visual analysis on the textures and colors and materials of the piece and actually get a lot more out of it than you might expect. That's definitely one of the things that I've learned through this experience. After finishing up getting ready for the tour, I headed home and then MTH and I headed to NJ for a surprise birthday party. Due to leaving a little later than we should have and massive traffic, we were not a part of the surprise! We had a good time. I played my first game of tippy cup ever. We also played the cards drinking game that is named after the part of the anatomy that you sit on. It's the one where you get different titles like President, Vice President and so on. (I know, I could just come and say the name but decided that my blog is rated G :) Well, it was funny because we played with some early 20 somethings who it seems have changed the rules. I won't go into details but they basically have made the game easier. You may ask, wasn't it already an easy game? And the answer is yes but as they say "kids these days".

We ended up going to bed after 1am. We then had to get up and leave around 7:45am because MTH's Fantasy Football draft was at 11am. Since I had to give my tour at 2:30, we couldn't stay in NJ for his draft and then leave. Once we got home, I had to finish getting the tour together and then go give it. It turned out really nicely. I hope that I get to give the same tour again before the exhibition changes again! Then, the weekend turned mundane. I had to go the grocery store and then I had to work.

So, at the end of it, I felt like I didn't really have a weekend. I'm already ready for the next one!!

I think it will definitely be more low key. Plus, we're going to take Phoebe to the vet!

Forgetful

Not sure what's going on but this week I'm having issues with remembering things. I realized around 11am today that I hadn't made my rental car reservation. I emailed the guy downstairs in order to have a car waiting for me at the end of the day. We have so many people that drive to Richmond, the rental car place is onsite. He then sent me a confirmation number around 2pm. He leaves for the day at 6pm. I remembered at 5pm that I needed to make sure I go downstairs to get the keys but then I promptly forgot until I started to leave the office at 7pm. I was so mad at myself. I now have to drive my car down and put miles on it. That's not really what makes me mad though. How could I forget what I need to do so easily. I was so into getting the last few things done for the day, I guess.

At least I didn't forget to give my tour at the Corcoran yesterday!

Rosy and Grey is Back

MTH has decided to start up his blog again. It had been so long since he updated it that he forgot his user name and password. So, the blog is actually a new one with a different address but you can click on the link on the right and it will take you to the new one. I'll have him put a link on that one that will link back to the old one.

Seattle and Aspen

I've been off working on the other side of the country and then vacationing in Aspen. It was quite a nice week. The weather in Seattle was awesome. Barely any rain - almost all blue skies and sunshine. I bought flowers at the Pike Place Market the first day for my hotel room and they were beautiful the entire time. I also took a picture of the original Starbuck's just for ETK. I'll upload it eventually. Aspen was nice, as usual. Since I had already been on the West Coast for 6 days, I didn't really have to adjust to the new time. That part was nice but it seems that the high altitude still made me tired. We went to the top of Aspen mountain for the first time. It's quite a view although there were clouds so it wasn't as good as on a clear day. We played disc golf which turned out to be much harder than I expected. We also played horse shoes. It was interesting that they had all of these games up there.

As I said, I'll post some pictures later.

MTH is committed

MTH has signed up for the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon that will take place next July. We bought him a road bike yesterday. We still need to get the biking clothes and the wetsuit. I'm sure there are many other things that he'll need. For now, he has to get used to riding this bike. It doesn't have real pedals. Instead it has clips on the bike and he wears special shoes that clip in. The story goes that the first few (or maybe many) times he tries to start riding, he'll fall over. Here's more info. It's very light. It's made out of both aluminum and carbon composite. Based on our research, it seems that we got a fairly good deal out of it. Oh well, it still wasn't cheap :)

I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this Triathlon training in the year to come. MTH is already doing well. He ran 4 miles today in 90 degree weather!

We tried it ourselves

If you'll recall, in my post about Rustico, I talked about this awesome grilled Romaine salad. MTH and I decided to see if we could do it too. Well, we can. Here's the recipe:

"Fake" Caesar Dressing
(It's fake because it doesn't have raw egg or real anchovies in it - instead it has Worcestershire for the anchovies and parmesan and garlic for the egg - it was still a little runny but tasted great - recipe found on www.recipezaar.com)

1 finely chopped clove garlic
1 juice of lemon
1 teaspoon hot sauce (Tabasco)
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt
coarse black pepper
4 servings
Mix everything in blender. I added more mustard than it called for to get more that flavor. You can flavor it however you want. Or even use a different dressing.

Grilled Romaine Hearts
2 Romaine hearts
olive oil
fresh ground pepper
Wash the Romaine hearts. Cut in half lengthwise. Brush or pour lightly with olive oil on both sides. Pepper with the fresh pepper. Grill on high heat for 1 minute on each side. Enjoy with aged goat cheese and Caesar salad.

For the entree, we had mustard marinated pork tenderloin. You mix together dijon mustard, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper in a mini-food processor. Once it's like a paste, spread it on the tenderloin and allow to marinade for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Then, sear the meat on each side for about 3 minutes (the searing didn't work as well as I had hoped but the meat was still very good - we may need to let our grill heat up more). After searing, turn it down to medium high heat, cover and cook for 12 minutes (internal temperature at 145 degrees - an instant thermometer is a great tool to have). I'm thinking you could make this in the oven by broiling it first to "sear" and then turning down the oven to finish roasting. Or you could sear it on the stovetop in an ovenproof pan and then put it in the oven to finish it. The meat was tender. And, the great thing about pork tenderloin is that it's relatively inexpensive compared to other meats of its quality.

Let me know if you try out the recipe or recipes and what you think of them!

Rustico

MTH and I went to a restaurant called Rustico last night. We have been there before The beer list would be impressive to most as it's about 5 pages long (not quite as extensive as Brickskellar but it's much closer to our house). Although it's walkable, due to the high temperatures yesterday, we took a bus. Of course, that included walking a half mile to the metro to catch the bus. The bus ride itself was only about 4 minutes. They don't reservations so you just put your name in when you get there. We had about a 20-30 minute wait. While we waited, we had a beer. I tried one called Allagash Tripel. It's a Belgian style beer from Portland, Maine. MTH had some type of IPA (I don't remember the particular name). Once we were seated, he had another type of beer but I don't remember it either. He had yesterday off because his office is moving to a new building. So, he spent the day playing golf but for some reason didn't have lunch. So, he was especially hungry. We started with a Bavarian Board. As the name implies, it was an assortment of German sausages, sauerkrat, cheese, rye bread and mustard. It was actually quite good. For dinner, I had a grilled Romaine salad. That was the best salad I've ever had. It's exactly what you're thinking - the Romaine salad is grilled so that it's slightly wilted and has a smoky flavor. The menu said that the dressing is a Caesar dressing. It was a little different than most Caesar dressings that I've had. There was a noticeable mustard flavor and no noticeable anchovy flavor. The ingredient that brought it all together was an aged goat cheese that was grated over the salad. Aged goat cheese is different from the normal fresh goat cheese you usually get in a salad. It looks more like parmesan but has that distinctive goat cheese flavor. Overall, it was an outstanding meal. I'm now going to try to make that salad at home. I think that MTH even liked it! He had the mushroom and goat cheese pizza like last time. Since I didn't eat any, we have a nice amount of leftovers for lunch today.

The Book I'm Reading

Yes, I'm still reading that book, Against the Gods: The Story of Risk. The reason is because I haven't actually looked at it in about a month. There's been no time. But, I still really would recommend this book to others. The story is interesting about how statistics and probability were created/discovered. I will one day soon finish it and there will be a new book to the right. I leave for Seattle in a few weeks so maybe I'll finish it on that trip.

A New Car

We are now a 2 car family again. MTH's office is moving to Chevy Chase so our nice little commute together is no longer viable. He'll go northeast to Maryland and I'll go northwest to McLean. So, buying a car was not as bad as I thought it would be. MTH really wanted us to get a used Audi A4 or BMW 3 Series. I wanted the Acura TSX. I've wanted that car since it came out. So, on Friday, we went to the Audi dealership near our house. We took a 2005 A4 out for a spin. It was fine except for the stench of cigarette smoke. That one was definitely out. We looked at another one and it seemed like a possibility. Then, on Saturday morning, we were the first people at the pre-owned BMW warehouse in Pentagon City. We took one of their only manual transmission 3 Series' out. It was a 2 door and had not been kept very clean inside. I wasn't too impressed. Then, we head to the Acura dealership. We take a new 2006 TSX out for a drive. I love it. It's got a navigation system that talks to you. My phone has bluetooth and so does the car. So, now I can call people by talking to my car. Just like Knight Rider!! Of course, I still have to drive the car myself. The color is Glacier Blue. We finished buying the car by 4pm on Saturday. Not bad. That night, I went to the soccer game with MTH. All for love. I'm not really a big fan of soccer but the one good thing is that you know almost exactly when the game will end. Each half is 45 minutes. The halftime is 15 minutes. There's usually a few minutes of stoppage time added at the end but no more than 3-4 minutes. Plus, soccer's not nearly as popular as football or baseball so the crowds when you leave are not enormous. On Sunday, we went to Bistrot du Coin just north of Dupont Circle in the District. We hadn't been there since November! I love that place. They have the best country pate in the US (in my opinion). I also love their spaetzle. They were still decorated for their Bastille Day celebration.

MTH and I are still trying to figure out our fall vacation. We're trying to decide between England, France or Ireland or some combination. We also would like to go to Iceland over Labor Day weekend but since we haven't made any plans yet, I think that one's probably out now.

Almost Paradise

Here's how I started each day when I walked out the door!

The wedding was on the second day I was there. Here's the view to the right of my seat.


Since MTH couldn't be with us, we figured the next best thing to a real lobster dinner was a picture of the tail and his placecard.


There were iguanas everywhere. So, of course, we took a lot of pictures. I picked this one for the hibiscus in the background - an iguana's favorite food.

An Update

I've been away for a while. I know that I promised an update about our cheese tasting. All in good time. I'll give an update of other events. Nothing interesting that following week or weekend except that I had gotten tickets to the Orioles versus Nats baseball game in Baltimore. According to the weather, it was supposed to rain so we decided not to drive to Balto. That was Saturday. Sunday was an ok day. Not much going on. Then, that night, it started raining and it wouldn't stop. MTH and I were watching TV when the dryer buzzer started buzzing but didn't stop when it should. We ran down to the basement to find out what was wrong. But, we didn't make it down the stairs before we saw the problem - water. Our basement had flooded. We figured out later the drain had gotten clogged and thus backed up. Once the rain stopped, the pump got the water out there in no time at all. Then, Monday was spent cleaning and driving to the dump. We felt pretty good and lucky since we had not "brown" water down there. Well, Monday night came and it started raining again. Guess what? It flooded again! So, we spent Tuesday cleaning again. This time, we built a debris catcher just in case it rained Tuesday night. Of course, now that we were prepared, it didn't rain. I'm not really complaining.

As you may remember, we were supposed to leave for St. Thomas on Friday. MTH decided that he was worried about mold. There's a few pieces of dry wall down there. He pulled it out while I was lazing around on the beach. Yes, I went without him. Only because it was my friend's wedding and other friends were going to be there. Otherwise, we would have just postponed the trip. The trip was great (although would have been more fun with MTH there). We went snorkeling, swimming, drinking, dancing. Plus, I flew business class back. The upgrade wasn't that expensive so I decided to take it. These are old planes so they can't really charge too much.

I got back late on Monday, 7/3. MTH's parents' were in town so we met them for breakfast the next morning. Then, later that day, we had a few people over - just a laid back 4th of July. When they first got there, it was over 90 degrees outside. Then, it decided to start raining. So, we ended up staying inside for most of the time. Then, we headed out for the fireworks. We watched the fireworks that are on the Mall from an overpass near our house. Much easier to get home afterwards!

Then, it was only a 3 day work week. Should be easy, right? Well, it seems that everything was compressed into those 3 days. I worked more than normal but nothing too bad.

The weekend was great. I'll post a more in depth update of that later. It was MTH's birthday this past weekend and we celebrated it with a cookout on Saturday. I even went to a movie with him on Sunday night!!

Noah's Ark

It seemed last weekend that we needed Noah's Ark after all the rain that came to Northern VA. I'll give a much longer update in the next few days. Today's the 4th of July and we're having people over to celebrate Independence Day. I'll also give an update on my trip to St. Thomas. I had a great time. Unfortunately, MTH did not make but with good reason. He held down the fort here and cleaned up the basement. He's a wonderful husband.

CHEESE!!!!

We're about to leave for a French cow's milk cheese tasting at my favorite cheese shop, Cheesetique. Will give an update later.

Back from Richmond

We didn't end up going to see Carbon Leaf. We got to Richmond around 2:45pm. MTH wanted to see the USA versus Italy soccer match. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings in the Bottom. Of course, we had a few beers and wings. Then, we went to BL's places and had more to drink (although I did switch to water). Then we went to the Hard Shell for dinner around 8pm. We had a cocktail each and shared a bottle of wine. We took our time and enjoyed dinner. By the time we finished, it was well after 10pm. So, we didn't make it to the concert in time. I was disappointed and I'm sure that MTH was even more disappointed. We did get up this morning and have brunch at the Hill Cafe with BL and Brit Girl. I definitely have a great time hanging out with them. Hopefully they'll be able to make it up for our cookout on 7/8.

Getting Excited

We leave for our trip to St. Thomas is less than 2 weeks. It's going to be such a good time.

Can you believe it?

1. We're going to Richmond today and not for me to work. We're going to visit some friends and see Carbon Leaf, a band that MTH has liked since he lived in Richmond. I also really like hearing them live.

2. We just finished watering and weeding the plants on the deck and in the backyard. The only ones not looking too good are the hanging plants. The issue is that they dry out very easily and I don't always remember (or am not able) to water them everyday. I almost think that they need to be watered more than once a day! If these get to the point of being basically dead, we'll throw them out. Then, I'm not sure what we'll put there.

3. We re-decorated the living room last week finally. We have some nice new shelves and we now even have DVR. MTH is especially excited about the latter. We also cleaned up the basement quite a bit. MTH could have a poker game down there now!

That's all for the amazing things that are "unbelievable" in our lives right now. We finally got up off the couch and got something done.

Memorial Day Weekend

In case you're interested, here's what we did over the Memorial Day weekend.

Friday - The Lazy Day:
My long weekend start early as I took Friday off. I had lunch with a friend in our neighborhood and met a new neighbor. She's very cool. I invited her and her husband to our cookout on Monday and she invited us to theirs on Sunday. That evening, MTH and I headed to Wintergreen. We had a wonderful meal of Wendy's on the road. We arrived at Wintergreen around 10:15pm. Then the fun began. We got our key to the room and headed over there. I walk in the door and flip the switch to the light. Nothing. Sometimes, those switches are attached to lamps which can be turned off locally. So, I walked into the room and found another switch and flipped it. Again, nothing. We walked around the entire room trying all of the light switches and none worked. We used the glow from MTH's Blackberry to see the phone so that we could call the front desk. They sent a repairman right away. He walked around trying to find the breaker box. Finally, he found it. All the breakers were in the "on" position. At that point, he said "the owners didn't pay their power bill". Aside: Wintergreen is a condo community where people buy condos but then use them kind of like timeshares. The hotel can rent out the rooms when the owners aren't there. But, apparently, the owners still have responsibility for power and other "amenities". End of Aside. The repairman called the front desk and told them that we needed a new room. He then proceeded to tell them that we should get comped for a night because we were very angry. In reality, MTH and I weren't angry. We knew it wasn't the front desk guy's fault but hey, if they wanted to comp us, that would have been just fine. But, we did get moved to a 3 bedroom 2 level condo that faced the mountains. Definitely a much nicer pad.

Saturday - The Day of Wine Tasting:
We were picked up at our mansion condo. We went to 5 wineries! Needless to say, when we returned to the room, we took a 2 hour nap and then woke up hungry. That night we went to the nice restaurant and had a nice meal and fell asleep again by 11pm or so.

Sunday - The Day of Games:
MTH and I left Wintergreen around 11am. We met up with some friends in C-ville for lunch at a Mexican place. I was so happy as I'd been craving some cheap Mexican food for a while. We then headed back home. Since we made it back before 5pm, we were able to go our new friend's cookout in the neighborhood. It's not far but for some reason MTH and I decided that we didn't want to walk. Instead, I rode my bike and he rollerbladed. We had a great time there. We ended up playing a game called Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun. There's no board or dice, just cards. But it's not a normal card game either. I definitely recommend this game to others. We go so into playing the game that we didn't pay attention to the fact that it was dark. We then had to bike/rollerblade home in the dark. It wasn't too bad but really is not a great idea.

Monday - The Day of the Cook Out:
The cookout turned out great. People really got into playing bocce ball. The specialty food items were a hit. These included grilled Halloumi cheese, grilled doughnuts and fresh made bratwurst from Whole Foods. We'll be having another cookout around 4th of July so I need to start thinking about what new specialties I'll be offering.

Miami was fun

We had a great time in Miami. All we did was lay by the pool, shop, eat and drink. The hotel was an awesome location and the weather over all was all that we could have asked for.

An Homage to ETK

So, I didn't buy any crazy high heels this week. Instead, I went for comfort. But, of course, they must also be cute and cool. Here's my answer to that:



Again, it was taken with my camera phone so I don't know how to get it right side up. You'll just have to turn your head to see it correctly.

Can you see it?

I had a training at the Corcoran last night. When that was done, I just walked over to the Brickskellar from there. I walked down Pennsylvania Ave from 17th to 22nd. In between, I saw the following:

Can you see what doesn't belong?

Caveat: Taken with my camera phone. It would probably be a better picture if I had been able to take a wider angle view. But, you can't complain with a camera phone.

He's Off to Boston

Last night was one of many "last hoorahs" for AG. He and I were on the same team a few years back. He was always a fun guy to work with and hang out with. Even MTH liked him :) Here's a great picture from my camera phone showing AG after his 3rd or 4th shot last night.



We started at the Brickskellar near Dupont Circle. We all just drank beer. Then, we headed to Buffalo Billiards. That's where the shots began. Unfortunately for you dear readers (and fortunately for me), I have no drunken stories of my own. I've had too many in the past and have learned my lesson :)

The reason for the last hoorah is that AG is headed to business school in Boston at Harvard. He'll be making a 3 month trip home to India this summer and then 2 years of fun.