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.

It's going around...

ETK posted this on her blog and I think she expects at least some of us to do the same. So, here are my answers.

Put your name in the subject box.
The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about your friends.
It is fun and has 50 easy questions to answer. Try it; this can be fun and interesting.

1. FIRST NAME? M
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My father - his middle name is the masculine version of M
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? I'm sure it hasn't been too long ago but I can't remember exactly when
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Turkey
6. KIDS? Phoebe
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOURSELF? Certainly.
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? I've had several but never kept up with it for more than a month at the time.
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I think so.
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Yes
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Cheerios
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Depends on what you mean by strong. I'm not physically strong but otherwise, yes.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate
16. SHOE SIZE? 8 or 8.5 for regular shoes; 9.5 for running shoes
17. RED OR PINK? Red
18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Slightly crooked top front teeth
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandma
20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Of course but no one will.
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? Khaki cropped pants, blue and green t-shirt and black hoodie
22. WHAT DID YOU EAT LAST? Brown rice cake with peanut butter and glass of milk (afternoon snack)
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Green
25. FAVORITE SMELL? J'Adore
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? MTH
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes
28. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes
29. FAVORITE DRINK? Red Wine
30. FAVORITE SPORT? Football (American)
31. HAIR COLOR? Brownish, reddish, blondish
32. EYE COLOR? blue-green
33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No
34. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate
35. SCARY MOVIE OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Not sure - I don't see very many movies
38. SUMMER OR WINTER? Definitely Summer!!
39. HUGS OR KISSES? Both!
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Hot chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream (sharing it with MTH at Evening Star)
42. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? MTH
43. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Against the Gods
44. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Laptop when I'm at home and in Richmond; Black with wrist support in my cube
45. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Nothing
46. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SOUNDS? Never thought about it
47. STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles
48. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? France
49. HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? It seems like I should but not sure.
50.WHERE WERE YOU BORN? North Carolina

Halloumi

MTH and I discovered another cheese. This time it's not from France or California. It's from Cyprus. It's called Halloumi. I first read about it in my biweekly Whole Foods newsletter. There was an interesting recipe included in the email. When we were in Cheesetique and MTH remembered to ask about it. She had it. (ETK should note that we did NOT buy it from evil Whole Foods - of course, we bought the rest of the food we cooked at Whole Foods). If you clicked on the recipe link above, you'll have seen that it says to grill the cheese. Somehow it's magical cheese. It doesn't melt! Then, you get to eat it. It's awesome cheese. Maybe on the salty side but definitely a nice change. For our first foray into it, we ate it by itself but I think I'll try it with some veggies next time. We also read that in Cyprus, they eat it for breakfast after sauteing it in a pan. I'm thinking we'll try that soon too. I also read that it's good on kebabs. So many possibilities!

Pictures of our Deck

In case you're interested, here are some pictures from our gardening work!

Purple ones are verbena and pink ones are non-stop blooming begonias

Rosemary, Chives, Sage and Oregano

Hanging Plants with Geraniums and a Purple Flower that I Don't Remember the Name

More pictures to follow of the actual gardening in the yard.

Chili Cook Off

MTH and I went to the DC 101 Chili Cook Off yesterday. We've figured out that we're too old for those kinds of things. Not the chili cook off portion - we definitely love eating chili. The crowd part is what we're too old for and the lines!! We had to stand in line first for our arm bracelet and beer tickets. Then, we had to find our way through a sea of people in order to find the tasting booths for trying out the chili. We figured out that we were too late for quite a few of the tastings :( But, of the 3 or 4 that we tasted, they were all very good. I definitely wish we'd been able to taste more. After we finished with the tasting, we listened to Better than Ezra. Then, since we hadn't gotten our fill of chili, we had chili nachos from Hard Times. They were definitely good but we can get Hard Times' chili any time since there's one just down a few blocks on King Street. At least they Red Hook beer (and not just watery Bud Light!).

The Love Boat

I went out to dinner on Thursday night with a friend of ours, Marky. MTH was out of town in NYC for work. Little did I know that I'd get the privilege of hearing the them from "The Love Boat" sung in karaoke. Marky is definitely a good singer. Of course, good singing and the Love Boat probably don't normally go together in a sentence. His performance was right on with how you remember the song when you were little. Very low, lounge singerish, just all around cheesy. There were other songs sung that night (none by me since most of you know that I can't carry a tune) but the only one I'll remember from that trip to karaoke is "The Love Boat".

Dinner Last Saturday

Yes, I'm behind. I meant to post about this one earlier this week. But, the food we made was so good, I have to share :)

When SM visited, she had mentioned that she grilled some tuna. So, I decided that we could do it to. Using my Bobby Flay's Boy Gets Grill cookbook, MTH learned how to sear the tuna on the grill. I made an Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce to go on top. It consisted of grilled tomatillos, a grilled jalapeno, lime juice, honey, avocado, onion, cilantro and oil. You mix everything together in the blender except the avocado, onion and cilantro. So, it's like a vinaigrette with chunks of avocado, onion and cilantro. For the side dish, we made Grilled Asparagus and Rice Salad with Goat Cheese and Spicy Vinaigrette. The original name is actually Grilled Asparagus and Quinoa Salad with Goat Cheese and Spicy Black Olive Vinaigrette. I didn't own any quinoa and MTH isn't a big fan of olives. It still turned out great! I'll most likely be making it at our next cook out (which happens to be on Memorial Day in a little over a week).

Once we sat down to eat, we were very pleased with the meal that we put together. MTH was an integral part of the preparation as he did all of the grilling while I put everything together. Unfortunately, it was too cool to sit outside. Hopefully tomorrow night we'll be able to enjoy all of the gardening we've done by sitting out on our deck.

Gardening

It seems that I'm now learning about plants. Over the past two weekends, we've "transformed" our yard. We planted lots of different plants in the front and back yards. Begonias, non-stop blooming begonias, alyssum, angelonia, daylilies, coleus, verbena and petunias.

It's nice to accomplish something. Plus, now we can walk out onto the deck and look at a much prettier yard. There's still some work to be done. A couple of our azalea bushes died so there are now a couple of holes where they used to be. We need to find something to take their place. Maybe we'll figure that out this weekend.

We have a cookout coming up on Memorial Day so that gives us even more impetus to finish.

Paris

It's been a year since my last trip. Based on all the jokes people tell about me, that's a long time. I didn't go to the City of Lights with my then fiance, MTH. Instead, it was a girls only trip with MAK. We tried to get EE to come too but she has to procure visas so it's much more of a hassle. Plus, she was changing jobs at the time. Anyway, MAK and I had a great time. Here's a picture that will prove my point.



We were reminiscing a little through email this past week. We've decided that we must keep up the tradition of taking a vacation together. Several years back, she and I took a long weekend trip to Cape Cod. It was a great time. We both enjoy eating, drinking wine and walking around places exploring things. We also took a short bike tour one afternoon. I went out and bought a bike after that. I've been pretty good about riding it (of course, it now needs a tune up so I haven't ridden it yet this year). Here's my favorite picture from that trip.



Back to the topic at hand, Paris. MTH forwarded me an article on CNN yesterday about the many things to do in Paris. He's also ready to go back. For some reason, we really like Paris and France. I'm sure it's more that we love the idea of Paris and France. If we lived there, I think we'd get quite frustrated and fed up. But, by just going for a week or so at a time, we just whet our appetite for all things French (especially the food and wine!). Maybe we'll find a good deal and take a trip over there soon. I hope so.

Of course, I should expand my horizons. There are many other places to see in this world. We did enjoy our time in Dublin and Barcelona for our honeymoon. I've heard that Prague is an awesome place. I'd also love to see Slovakia. My great-grandmother was from there. Although I basically know nothing about the culture, going there would be a great way to learn.

Another Party Disguised as a Horse Race

We've been invited to a Kentucky Derby party this Saturday. It should be fun but I still have to find a dress and a hat! Hopefully tomorrow in Richmond I'll have some luck at the Nordstrom's. I'll keep you posted. SM comes to visit starting on Thursday. She'll also be going to the party with us. She already has her dress and hat. I'm so behind. MTH can just go into his closet and get something together at the last minute. It's so unfair. Of course, I shouldn't complain - it gives me an excuse to buy a new dress! I think we'll cook out again on Sunday. I love this time of year. The weather is wonderful and so far there hasn't been too much rain but it's also not extremely dry. The only complaint is that there are a lot of caterpillars on our back porch. Our neighbors' trees on both sides have the nests in them. It's interesting, we actually have no trees in our backyard. They're all around the perimeter of our yard and give us great shade but aren't ours.

Foxfield

My first time going to Foxfield was yesterday. It's a big party disguised as a horse race. MTH and a couple of friends and I got in to Charlottesville on Friday night. They went out but I went to sleep. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it through the day (from 11am-6pm out in the sun) on Saturday if I stayed out too late. They got in at 2:30am. There's definitely no way I would have been able to function on Saturday if I'd stayed out with them. They had fun though so that's what counts. Plus, they were able to function on Saturday. Although MTH did not go out to dinner with us that evening after Foxfield as he was fading fast. The races themselves were actually exciting to watch but there's a lot of down time in between. Thus, there were snacks and drinks. Plus, we all stand around talking and catching up. It was quite fun. Then, this evening, a couple friends came over and we grilled out. We had those homemade brats from Whole Foods again. They're awesome. I also grilled some sweet potatoes. I brushed them with a fresh herb mixture. Then, we had Thin Mint milkshakes for dessert. It was a great meal and overall a great weekend.

I'm back...

but just for the evening. I'll leave for Richmond for 4 days tomorrow. I was in Macon for the weekend for my Wesleyan college reunion. It's been TEN years since I graduated. Definitely hard to believe! It was fun to see people I hadn't seen in a long time. Some it had only been a couple and some it had been the entire 10 years. The weekend was well planned and the weather cooperated for the most part. I also got to see ETK, KS, MD, LS, ETK's husband, Jason and Jason's friend. We went to brunch at Einstein's in Midtown (at 12th and Juniper). I enjoyed my cheddar shortcakes although I couldn't even eat half.

This week at work is all training. The first 2 days are the All Stat conference. It'll be 100 statisticians in one place :) Then, the last 2 days are an actual training where we dicuss some theory as well as policy. I'm actually presenting a 45 minute presentation so I'm a bit nervous.

Next weekend, MTH and I are going to Charlottesville to Foxfield. I've somehow never made it to this annual event. I just hope it doesn't rain.

Back from Sin City

Yes, MTH and I went to Las Vegas on Easter weekend. Everything was open! We had a great time. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so unless MAK and/or PT give me permission, there will be no picture story. Nothing else interesting to report from the nation's capital.

Cafe MMH

Instead of going out for dinner last night, I cooked dinner for us. The menu was as follows:

Warm Arugula salad (without the croutons)
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sour Cream
Skirt Steak with Cilantro Garlic Sauce

If you clicked on the recipes, you'll notice that I changed the first two. They still turned out good. The recipe for the salad would have taken close to 2 hours if I had followed the recipe. Instead, I did some of the things at the same time and omitted the croutons. The only thing that would have made the salad better is if Whole Foods had better arugula. It was on sale for a reason!

For the sweet potatoes (or yams as they called them), I wasn't able to find creme fraiche so I substituted sour cream. Plus, it didn't seem worth it to buy a whole pack of chives just for a topping.

For the skirt steak, I basically followed the recipe. We really enjoyed the flavor of the cumin spice rub with the cilantro garlic sauce. These would be good in corn tortillas (like fajitas).

As you can see, I was the chef. MTH filled in as the sommelier. My mom gave us a wine fridge as a wedding gift. The wine we drank from a Bordeaux Grand Vin. It was a gift from our flight attendant on the flight from Atlanta to Dublin for our honeymoon. We had upgraded to Business Class for that leg of the trip.

After dinner, we listened to music and played Chinese Checkers and Scrabble. I won every game. I only tell you this fact because MTH already gloated about winning the last Scrabble game on his blog.

Our Town is Smaller Than I Thought

MTH and I decided to check out a new restaurant, Rustico, in our neighborhood. It's about 1.5 miles away. Originally, when the weather forecast for Friday was good, we were going to walk over and then take a taxi back home. The reason we didn't want to drive is that one of the restaurant's specialties is beer. We wanted to be able to try out a few of the brews. But, the weather didn't turn out as we had hoped and there were thunderstorms. So, we took a taxi there. The driver seemed nice. He had a clean taxi and didn't talk on his cell the entire time we were in the car. That's a big deal around here as most cars are very dirty and the driver will be on the phone the entire time. He dropped us off and we went to the restaurant. The restaurant doesn't take reservations so we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. While waiting, we had some beer. I had a Dominion Oak Barrel Stout. MTH had a lighter beer to start (I can't remember the name - will add later) and then a Breckinridge Avalanche Ale. At dinner, we decided to have some wine. It was a nice rioja from Spain. My dinner consisted of salad and pizza with roasted wild mushrooms, spinach and goat cheese. Both were very good. The pizza has a crispy thin crust that's been baked in a pizza oven. It has that nice smoky flavor. MTH tried out the asparagus fritto misto as an appetizer and pizza with Italian sausage, pickled red peppers, smoked mozzarella and smoked tomato sauce. His pizza was much richer in flavor due to the meat. The pizza's are quite large so we have lunch in the fridge.

To get home, we needed to take a taxi. So, MTH called the taxi company and then we went to wait outside - it had stopped raining by this time. We waited a few minutes and then the taxi shows. We get in and I notice that the seat cover that the taxi driver has looks very similar to the one who drove us to the restaurant. MTH and I look at each other thinking the same thing. Then, the driver says "Back to your house, then?". It WAS the same driver. He knew exactly where to go since he'd already been there once before that night. In the grand scheme of things, our town is not that large but there are at least 200,000 just in our city and the region has several million. So, it's not like we live in Baxley where there's probably only one taxi driver.

Proof that I Ran the Race

It's a terrible picture but here's the proof. It's interesting - I look like I'm walking.

MMH at around Mile 3

The Weekend is Here

No real plans but am definitely happy to have the weekend here. It's our last one at home for 4 weeks. Next weekend is the trip to Vegas. I'm looking forward to my hot stone massage! MAK and PT get there Friday afternoon. We'll probably go to a low key restaurant that night and hopefully out to a club. On Saturday, MAK will definitely hit the shops while PT and MTH hit the tables. That night we're going to Bouchon, a restaurant that has been touched somehow by the guy who runs French Laundry in Napa. I'm definitely hoping that I'll make it to that restaurant one day soon. MAK also wants us to go to a buffet on Saturday. I wanted to go to one last year but the lines always looked horrendous. I just have to suck it up and stand in line. Then, we leave pretty early on Sunday. I've decided I can't deal with red eye flights anymore. I need my bed. So, we'll get back Sunday afternoon and it'll give us some time to adjust back to the East Coast. Then, that Thursday, I'm off to Atlanta. I'll see MTH's parents Friday morning - I'll be getting to their place very late that night. Then, I'll be off to Macon for the weekend for my 10th year college reunion - yes, my age is finally showing. Should be a fun and entertaining weekend. The last weekend of April will be spent in Charlottesville at the world famous steeple chase horserace called Foxfield. You haven't heard of it? You're so out of it! (JK).

So, as you can see, MTH and I need to get a few things done this weekend or everything will fall apart. The first thing on the list are taxes. Yes, we're lazy. The second thing are a few more thank you notes. Again, yes, we're lazy. The others are just normal, run the house kind of things like wash clothes, wash dishes, clean out the litter box, etc.

Now, the weekend's doesn't seem quite as fun as it did when I started writing this entry.

A Sinful Delight

I've found a new cheese to recommend: Pave d'Affinois. It's kind of like a brie but richer. Also, if you clicked on the previous link, you'll see that it says if the cheese ages for a few weeks, it'll become runnier, more like a brie. I don't think that this piece of cheese will around to find out! Maybe next time.

One note of caution, if you don't like eating the rind on a brie, you will NOT like this cheese. It's small so a large portion of the cheese is made up by the rind. I like the flavor that it adds to the cheese but realize that not everyone agrees.

MTH is the BEST husband!

He got up with me at 5:45am (felt like 4:45am due to the time change) to cheer me on for the 10 mile run!!! I was able to see him at miles 2 1/2, 3 1/2 and just before the finish line. Unfortunately, the way the course was set up, those were the only feasible places for him to see me. He's not a crazy cheerleader but seeing him as I'm running up gives me that extra bit of energy to keep going - especially at the end. I was VERY tired. There was no way I was going to stop running but after seeing him, I was able to speed up for most of the last part. Overall, it was a successful race although I didn't meet my goal time of 1:30. I ran it in 1:36:53 (updated with official time). I can make excuses (time change, too many people in the way, etc) but next time I just have to train to go faster so that I can make up that time.

I don't have any specific races picked out yet but some possibilities are: the half marathon in VA Beach, the Army 10 Miler again, or the Chicago Half Marathon. I do want to do a half marathon. I just need to do some more research on what ones are coming up.

The Taunting Squirrel

Today, I was sitting in the living room with the doors and windows open filling out a survey for the JLW and looking over the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile course map. I kept hearing this really weird noise that didn't sound like anything Phoebe had ever done before. But, I figured it must be her and just ignored it. Finally, I decided to investigate. It turns out that it was a squirrel. I didn't realize that squirrel's could be so loud. Also, I've never seen one be so brave. It was probably 10 feet away from the door where Phoebe was sitting looking at it. The only thing I could figure is that the squirrel knew Phoebe couldn't get outside and eat it. So, it was taunting her - "I'm out here and you're not (sticking tongue out)"

Squirrel after it jumped up on the railing when it saw me - it still made that noise even after I showed up

Daniel O'Connells

A new Irish pub has opened in Old Town. It's about 2 blocks from the waterfront in the building that used to house Bullfeathers. I never went to this previous establishment so I have no idea what it was like. The new place seems pretty cool. It has 4 bars (some are extremely tiny but the point is that each of them serve drinks). It's also a fine dining restaurant. That was the reason MTH and I were there last night. We finally had our date night (he stood me up last week to go to the Wichita State/George Mason University game with some colleagues - I've forgiven him).

We arrived late for our 8:15pm reservation but they were still able to seat us right away (although without any menus - I guess they're still figuring out how many they need). We sat at the table for probably at least 10 minutes with no menu but we did get water and bread so that made the wait not so bad. The waitress finally stopped by with our menus. The menu was VERY short. Everything on it looked good but there was virtually no choice (only one chicken dish for ETK - at least it wasn't on the bone). We ordered cocktails - kir royale for me and a Guinness for MTH (so a Guinness isn't exactly a cocktail but we were in an Irish pub!). We decided on what we wanted to order: beef tenderloin for MTH and seared tuna for me. MTH also ordered a side of macaroni. We both ordered a glasses of wine. I had a shiraz blend and he had a cabernet sauvignon, I believe.

The food arrived in what seemed about the right amount of time. The taste of the tuna was wonderful but it was lukewarm. Although seared tuna is basically raw, it should not be lukewarm. This must mean it was sitting out waiting on MTH's tenderloin. His was very good and the right temperature but he thought it was a bit big (I think he would have rathered had a smaller piece of tenderloin and more side dishes that came with the meal). The macaroni and cheese was nothing special.

We decided to share a dessert. It was called mini-doughnuts with semi-freddo espresso. I didn't understand what the second part meant until it was served - coffee ice cream (semi-freddo must mean something about frozen). The idea of the dessert was awesome but the mini-doughnuts were a bit doughy. I think they need to turn up the heat on their fryer.

Overall, we enjoyed the restaurant will definitely go back. Hopefully, next time it's on a Saturday and we'll feel like checking out one of the 4 bars after dinner.

Phoebe: A Salute to a Spoiled Cat

Pictures downloaded from my camera phone.

Grants from the JLW

I went to a meeting for the JLW tonight. Due to the fact that many of our functions are to raise money, one of the committees is devoted to giving out money. They solicit applications from non-profit organizations through DC. After a lengthy process, 2 are chosen for the league to vote on. If approved, each organization will receive $20,000. The first organization is Turn the Page. They do programs with underprivileged parents to help them understand the power of reading and communication with their children. The second organization is the Washington Middle School for Girls. They're mission is to help vulnerable young girls in SE DC get a good start in life by intervening around the 4th grade.

The other thing that the league offers is volunteers. We also give grants of people's time. The recipient this year is called Jubilee Jobs. It's an organization that helps vulnerable people (i.e. ex-convicts, immigrants, undereducated) find jobs. I'm thinking of working with this group next year. The specific program is called Move Up. It's for people who have been able to find entry level work and keep the job for a certain amount of time. Then, we'd help them with their resume and basically mentor them in trying to "move up" to a higher paying job with benefits.

A Productive Sunday

Yesterday turned out to be a great day. On Saturday night, we went out to dinner for a friend's birthday. The reason I start with that is that normally if I stay out late on a Saturday, then Sunday turns out to be at least a partially lost day if not a fully lost day. I did listen to that voice in the back of my head that reminded me I had been training for the upcoming 10 mile run and that my most important training run was on Sunday. So, I didn't end up going out dancing with them although we didn't end up leaving the restaurant until after 11pm (and remember, I'm old now!).

So, on Sunday, I was supposed to go running with my running group but the trail was 30 minutes away and the run started at 8am. I decided that I didn't want to waste an hour of driving so didn't get up until 8am and went for my run at 9am. I ran 8 miles in 74 minutes. I can't help myself - I have to brag a little. I'm so proud that I ran close to 9 minute miles (if there were no traffic lights, I was on pace to finish in 72 minutes). So, I actually have a chance of reaching my goal of running the race in 90 minutes!

After the run, I headed to the Corcoran to take another docent's tour. I give my first real tour next Saturday so I'm putting togehter what I'll say. The two main exhibits just opened within the last month. Therefore, I don't know them all that well yet. After the tour, I sat at Cosi eating my lunch and reading through the Cooking Light to figure out our dinner menu for the week. I've been horrible about cooking lately. With MTH working 10-12 hours per day EVERY day of the week, I don't have much motivation for cooking just for myself.

After creating my grocery list, I took a few pictures.
The main exhibit at the Corcoran is by Robert Bechtle. His art is very interesting to me. It's like looking at someone's family album. He paints mundane and ordinary scenes. The paintings are mostly based on photographs. And, they're so detailed, that photos of the paintings look like photos themselves. Even some of the paintings look like photos in person from a distance.

The Renwick Gallery (part of the Smithsonian)

The Corcoran Gallery of Art from afar

The Lion that meets you at the front door of the Corcoran. It's an interesting pose. The lion reminds me of Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia. He's laying down and gives a sense of stillness but in looking closer, his face is scary. He looks like he could pounce at any moment.

After the pictures, I headed to Whole Foods to pick up the groceries. Then, back at home, I cleaned up a little, talked to MAK for over an hour and cooked dinner. MTH made it home around 8pm and we were able to actually eat a somewhat normal dinner.

Then, I was in bed by 10:30 and asleep soon after.

Young Women's Leadership Forum

Today was an interesting day. It's a Saturday but I got up at 6:25am to go to Richmond to volunteer as a mentor for the Young Women's Leadership Forum sponsored by my company. It was an inspiring day. Since my role was to be a mentor, I sat at a table with 5 girls ranging from 10th grade to 12th grade. We talked about what their plans were for the summer all the way through what they want to do in the future. It was very eye opening to hear about what some of these girls have already accomplished or want to accomplish. For example, one wants to put off her first year of college to live in Italy for a year. I would have never thought that possible when I was graduating from high school. Certainly, all the girls at the conference hadn't had these types of experiences. The key note speaker was a person named Liz Murrary. As a little background, she had a movie made about her life and it aired on Lifetime. You can read more about her here and here. The main theme of her message is that each day we need to listen to what she called the "what if" voice in the back of our heads. That is, what if I did what would really make me happy today (that is if you're not happy with what you're doing now). Her message was that life is about choices (I know, we've all heard that one) but she made the point that it's about all types, not just the big ones. I don't want to bore you with the entire story of her life. With that background, you'd understand better about what's so inspiring. So, I'll just say, try to see the Lifetime movie. In the afternoon, the girls went to workshops about leadership, budgeting and finding their paths. The mentors went to a networking session, a discussion about differences in communication between genders and a feedback session. All in all, it was a great day.

NYC Timeline

3/17
5:30pm - Arrived Penn Station and head to 49th&5th to drop off my bags at EE's office
6:15pm - Headed to Saks to try out the hot chocolate in their new chocolate cafe on the 8th floor. It was wonderful - not too sweet, not too rich.
7pm - Sat down for dinner at Morrell's Wine Bar
8:30pm - Headed to Edgewater, NJ and turned in for the night
3/18
8:00am - Woke up
9:15am - Ate breakfast at Panera - tried out their new egg souffle pastries - nice change for a breakfast item
10:34am - Caught the bus to go into the city (it actually was late and didn't arrive until after 10:50am)
11:45am - Sat down for lunch at "good" - of course, EE and I weren't hungry since we'd just had breakfast at 9:30am!
12:45pm - Checked out KS and MDH's apt in Tribeca - very nice place with a view of the water and it's convenient to many subway lines
2:00pm - Arrived at the box office to find out that they don't open until 3pm - we decided we didn't want to stand in line for an hour so we head to the Whitney Museum
2:30pm - Arrived at the Whitney Museum to find a line out the door and we also realized that we were hungry so we decided to go to lunch - yes, we didn't plan this part of our day very well
3:00pm - Happened upon a wonderful place called Payard - I had a wonderful entree - Potato Tourte Layered with Goat's Milk Brie, Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions and Walnuts. EE had the three Mini Lamb Burgers in Olive-Fennel Fougasse Bread, Vegetable Bayaldi, Arugula Salad and Harissa-Yogurt Dipping. We were content after that meal.
5:00pm - Headed to Saks for shopping
7:00pm - Headed back to Edgewater after we figured out that we were very tired
8:30pm - Ordered Italian food from Noni's Italian Bistro - everything but the Eggplant Involtini was very good. We had discussed watching a movie but somehow ended up watching the story of Beyonce on E! It was interesting. We also watched a Chris Farley SNL Memorial show. I couldn't believe how many of the skits I remembered. That's KSD and MD's fault. We must have watched them when we lived together in Atlanta. They loved that show. I'm sure 2.718 must have watched it with us too.
11:30pm - Asleep
3/19
7am - Drank my bottle of water so that I could go for a run at 7:30am
7:45am - Left a little later as SA and EE decided to go for a walk while I went for my run
8:45am - Returned from my run
9:34am - EE and I caught the bus - very impressive that we were able to take showers, get dressed, dry my hair and both put on make up and walk to the bus stop in that short amount of time!
10:15am - Arrive at the Port Authority - there was traaffic in the Lincoln Tunnel so it took longer than on Saturday
11:00am - Arrived at Le Pain Quotidien
12:00pm - Shopped at the Lincoln Jazz Center
2:30pm - Headed to Penn Station
2:55pm - Arrived Penn Station
3:06pm - Train left on time for DC and my trip to NYC was over

As usual, the theme of my trip was eating. That's not a bad thing although ETK was very adamant that we should have eaten at least one Turkish meal. I guess that EE has enough Turkish food at home.

Am I Boring?

So, ETK hasn't posted for a while because she was told her blog is boring. Personally, I didn't find her blog boring but even if it was, who cares is what I say. I figure that more than half the people who read my blog probably don't make it through the entire posts because they're not very interesting. I guess you have to ask yourself "why am I posting to the blog". Is it for venting (getting out your thoughts), is it for gratification or something else? Whatever the answer, it's for you and that's what counts.

American Goat Cheeses

I went to another cheese tasting this past week. It was on Thursday night. The theme was American goat cheeses. Some of you may be crinkling your nose right now because you think of goat cheeses as pungent and weird tasting. It turns out there's a reason you may have tasted goat cheeses like that. The owner of Cheesetique explained that goat's milk is very delicate and must be made into cheese almost immediately after it comes from the goats. If it's not, the cheese does not taste very good. Thus, it means that the cheese is from a lesser farm. The tasting included some very interesting cheeses. There was a hard cheese called Midnight Moon that's aged for almost a year. It did not taste like any goat cheese I'd ever had before. The Purple Haze does have that goat cheese taste but it also has an interesting flavor from the added lavender and fennel pollen. There were many others but I won't bore you with the descriptions. Basically, my favorite was the triple creme. We will have that one at our next party for sure.

The Grill Still Works

Due to the great weather, we were able to test out the grill this weekend. Originally, a group of us were going to a St. Patrick's Day festival in Arlington but it turned out to be so crowded that we would have had to wait at least an hour to get in. So, instead, we headed back to Alexandria, picked up some fresh made bratwurst at the Whole Foods and grilled them to perfection. It turns out the Whole Foods is the place to be on a Saturday afternoon. There were cheese tastings, wine tastings and even a beer tasting. The cheese tasting was for Irish cheeses. So, we ended up buying an Irish brie. It was really good. When I say "we" went to the grocery store, of course, that was the girls. So, what were the boys up to while we shopped? Bocce ball, of course. They played until they could no longer see the ball due to there being no sun or moon. All in all, the day turned out to be a lot of fun.

Tonight, MTH and I will have some chicken burgers and grilled asparagus. We'll probably just play Scrabble, no bocce for me.

Beautiful Weekend

We've had wonderful weather this weekend. Friday it was in the 70's. I worked from home in the afternoon with the windows and doors open. It was great to get so much fresh air. Yesterday, it was again in the 70's and today is more of the same. I'll write more later. I've got to go take advantage of the wonderful weather.

The Weird Cheese

QY was definitely interested in the new cheese I brought up this past weekend. She was very worried about the ash in the middle of the cheese. So, I took a picture of it so that she could see what it looks like.

Mobay Cheese just before MMH finished it all!

The part of the cheese on the left is goat's milk and the part on the right is sheep's milk. The blue line in the middle is the ash. You can eat all of it and it tastes wonderful. It's not pungent like you might think of a goat cheese tasting. It's milder like a sheep's cheese but with more robustness.

Yes, I know, I'm crazy about cheese. It's my new chocolate.

If a tree falls in a forest...

I was reading an article earlier this afternoon about the "millenials". Haven't heard of them yet? I hadn't either but it seems that people who were born between 1980 and 2000 have been tagged with that title. I guess I'm considered a Gen X-er but I'm actually not sure.

Anyway, the point of the article is that these people are extremely connected. They download their TV shows so that they can watch them at any time. They instant message, email and text message more than they talk on the phone. One of the people being interviewed summed it up very well - "It's like, if you don't check your email and you turn off your phone, it's almost like you don't exist"

That blurb definitely struck me. If you don't see a lot of the people that you email or text message very often, it is like they no longer exist if they stop.

Another interesting tidbit: It also said that only 9% of 30 somethings read or have blogs. I guess MTH and I are in the minority.

Spring is peeking through

In mid-February the daffodils in our front yard started peaking through the ground. Now, they've bloomed.

Close up of a daffodil bloom - Note that picture was taken with one hand with cell phone

Early St. Patrick's Day Celebration

The 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day Brunch was a success. People stopped over for brunch yesterday morning. We enjoyed coffee, leprechaun breakfast and cinnamon rolls with mascarpone cheese mixed with orange marmalade. MTH made some great pots of coffee. And, of course, we had mimosa and Guinness - no green beer though.

Then, we headed out to Old Town to watch the parade. We missed part of it because we didn't leave the house when we should have. The next part of the day was supposed to have been spent in one of the Irish pubs in Old Town. We had decided to go to Murphy's. It has traditional Irish music and several Irish beers including Guinness on tap. But, it way too packed - we would have been miserable. So, we went to House of Klaus instead. It's a dive bar right beside Murphy's. They had Guinness - in a can. We spent the afternoon there - playing darts and hanging out. It turned out to be pretty lazy day. MTH and I arrived back at the house around 6pm where we promptly fell asleep for a few hours. We then ordered out pizza and went to bed around 11:30pm.

Here's some pictures of the day.

MTH and MMH before the party started - Yes, MTH's shirt says Made in Ireland and yes, my hair looks funny

Everyone wanted to pose with MTH before we headed out to the parade (look at those nice legs on MTH)

QY winning at darts

My New Favorite Cheese

I went to my favorite store, Cheesetique this evening. I was buying items for the St. Patrick's Day Brunch tomorrow but decided that I needed a snack for tonight. I tried a cheese called Mobay. You're probably asking yourself - what kind of cheese is that? Well, it's from Wisconsin (shout out to Loud). It's made from both sheep's milk and goat's milk but they're not mixed. It's actually two different cheeses separated by a very thin layer of ash. You eat them together along with the ash to create a new flavor. It's so awesome. I definitely recommend this cheese to everyone!

I also bought some Cashel Blue cheese in honor of St. Patrick's Day since it's an Irish cheese. Also a very nice cheese. MTH likes blues better than me so I actually bought it for him.

Why cats are like husbands

Phoebe and MTH have a lot in common. They can be needy. For example I was on the phone with ES of Baxley. Several times during my conversation, MTH would yell upstairs about something he needed. If hadn't been on the pohne and had wanted him to listen to something I had to say, he would have easily ignored me. Phoebe has this behavior down pat as well. Just a few minutes ago, I was trying to type on the computer. Phoebe decides that I really need her in my lap. Since this computer is a "lap"top, that means Phoebe was actually on the computer that I was trying to type on. Of course, if I wanted to pet her, she would run away and possibly even hiss at me.

I've been informed...

by MAK that the theme of my blog has morphed into "MTH working too much". Since that's not really supposed to be my theme - ok, ok, not sure what my theme is but I don't think that's a great theme - I'll put a moratorium on that talk.

Blog Improvements

I have stolen an idea from Loud. She has a calendar of upcoming events in her life on the sidebar of her new blog, Too Twisted for TV. I really like that idea so I've added one too. Now you can find out what MTH and I are up to over the upcoming months. Note the cool colors for each of the months. March is green in honor of St. Patrick's Day. April is pink in honor of the Cherry Blossom Festival. May is yellow in honor of Cinqo de Mayo. June is blue in honor of the fact that I'll be at the beach twice that month. July is red in honor of Independence Day.

Accomplishments

I accomplished a lot this weekend. Yesterday, I got the wireless on our computer fixed, I sealed the granite countertop, I washed clothes and I planted some pansies in the front yard. I know it's a little late for the pansies but they should last until May and then we'll plant some begonias and impatiens. I also planned our menu for the 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day brunch tht we're holding next Saturday. Today, I ran with my new running group, I organized my scrapbook/card making stuff, I polished the granite countertop, I re-organized the countertop and threw out a few things and now I'm cooking a beef brisket with Guinness, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions - in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

This past week, I made a lot of reservations for some upcoming trips. I've already mentioned that MTH and I are meeting MAK and PT in Vegas in early April. I'm also going to Macon in late April for my 10 year reunion at Wesleyan College (yep, I'm officially old). Then, in early June, I'm heading to Miami to meet up with EE and MAK. Hopefully, CLM can hop over and hang out with us. I'm definitely excited about that trip. We'll be staying at the South Beach Marriott because I had received a nice gift certificate from work for being part of a market research panel. Our cost will be less than $100 per person to stay there for 2 nights. Then, in early July, a friend is getting married in St. Thomas. I've reserved our hotel room but not the flight yet. That will be done soon though.

The thank you notes are not something that I can say are an accomplishment. I did at least write up in Word the wording for a good number of notes. I sent that document to MTH for his thoughts. He wrote back that he had some edits but didn't actually send those edits yet. Therefore, it looks like my updated resolution of finishing the notes by the end of February may not happen. When did I get so lazy!!!!

How did it come to this?

Well, MTH and I stood up our friends last night. I was very disappointed and upset. One of my personal pet peeves is people not following through on commitments so when I'm the one doing it, it doubly upsets me. Of course, I have to explain how it came to this. MTH is very very busy at work right now. He's worked the past few weekends and if you've kept up with my blog, you'll know that he didn't go to SF with me back in January due to work. Anyway, last weekend, there was a party at QY's and MTH wasn't able to make that either. I did go without him but it definitely wasn't as much fun. So, QY was nice enough to have a small get together this weekend with just KK and his wife and us. We were going to have Chinese Hot Pot and chocolate fondue (a melting pot of cultures - ha ha :). But, the long story short, MTH was delayed at work until past 7pm instead of being able to leave at 4pm as expected. Since QY lives about 30 minutes from our house and MTH had to work today (he's there now and who knows when he'll be home), it was too late for us to go out there to eat, play foosball in their basement and watch a movie in their brand new home theater. QY even rented the movie that I wanted to see (and if you know me, you know there aren't many movies that I want to see). She got the Wallace and Gromit movie!!! I feel extremely bad about not making it. I think at this point MTH and I can't make any plans with anyone. It's not fair to them.

I will be so much happier when he's not quite as busy at work. I'm sure he will be happier than me!

4 Things Updated

This post has been updated. All updates are in red.
ETK had the good idea of replying to CLM's email in her blog so I'll steal her idea:

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Senior Statistician
2. Teaching Assistant
3. Math Tutor
4. Secretary

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Wedding Singer
2. Steel Magnolias
3. Fried Green Tomatoes

Four places you have lived:
1. Alexandria, VA
2. Richmond, VA
3. Atlanta, GA
4. Macon, GA

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Pretty much anything on Food Network
2. Myth Busters with MTH
**that's it, I really don't watch much TV

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Barcelona, Spain
2. Dublin, Ireland
3. Paris, France
4. Honolulu, HI

Four websites I visit daily:
1. washingtonpost.com
2. gmail.com
3. yahoo.com
4. blogger.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Goat Cheese
2. Seared Tuna
3. Grilled Salmon
4. Eggplant Involtini

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Relaxing with a fun drink on the beach with MTH
2. Shopping for some new shoes
3. Massage
4. Anywhere as long as it's with MTH - I'm not really that needy, I just haven't seen MTH very much lately!!!!

Online Again

While MTH was online Wednesday night, the wireless connection died. When I got home Thursday afternoon, I couldn't figure out how to fix it. So, in order to work from home that day, I had to lay in bed becuase that's where the DSL router is located. I took the Apple computer and wireless router to the Apple Store this morning. He couldn't find anything wrong with it but he did change the channel that we're using for the wireless connection. Who knows if that's what fixed it but one of the by-products of that change is that I can now be on the phone and the internet at the same time!! Our 2.4 gHz cordless used to interfere.

So, unless we have another freak outage, I'm back!

Day Off Update

Things haven't worked out quite as planned. I met TV at her house in order to see her kitchen renovation ideas. She has some good ones but I'm so glad it's not me. MTH and I already dealt with renovating a kitchen and it's really no fun at all. Then, we headed for St. Elmo's get a muffn and some coffee. Our plan was to then go to the National Gallery to check out the new Cezanne exhibit but we decied that it would be mobbd due to the holiday and so we would go to the new Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the Phillips Collection. We get over to Dupont and walk to the museum to find... it's closed on Mondays!!! So, we walked to Connecticut Ave and just checked out a few stores. She then dropped me near Georgetown and I walked the rest of the way to meet AL. We met near Wisconsin Ave and then headed to Cafe Bonaparte - a little creperie several blocks up Wisconsin. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table at 1:45! People were definitely enjoying their day off. We didn't leave there until close to 4pm. We had a nice lazy lunch and all we ate were crepes! Then, we went to Banana Republic, Coach and White House Black Market. I found a nice pair of pants and a sweater for MTH at Banana (I had a 15% discount card so I had a good reason to spend money :)

Now, I'm finally back home and still haven't made it to the grocery store or the airport to pick up my rental car for the drive to Richmond. I have to leave in a few minutes or they'll take away my reservation for the car. I may write another entry again tonight since I'll be gone until Thursday night.

Running Update

Last week was a good week for running. Even though I wasn't able to go on 2/12 due to the snowstorm, I got up that Monday morning and ran my 4 miles on a treadmill. Then, Tuesday night before my girls' Valentine's Night out, I ran 3.7 miles (time was short as I had to take a shower and meet AL in the hotel lobby at 8pm). Then, I did my Thursday run on Friday morning as I had plans on Thursday night. Yesterday, I did my long run (5 miles) with the new running group. I'm so glad that I joined the group. I would have had a really hard time getting myself up normally since it was 15 degrees outside!!!! But, since I was meeting people there, I had that extra push to get out there.

This week is shaping up to be good. I'll be able to run Tuesday night and then my Thursday night run will have to be on Friday morning again as I'll be driving back from Richmond that night. Then, I'll meet up with the group again on Sunday morning. I've also been doing my Pilates DVD here and there. I'll try to do it Wednesday night in the hotel room - I can use my laptop as a DVD player.

My Day Off

I've already gotten some things done today and I have more planned. So, today should be a productive day. I've planned our dinner menu too - we'll have Creamy Bean Soup, Grilled Marinated Pork Chops (flavored with rosemary and sage and maybe I'll even go outside and use the grill) and Asparagus or Broccoli with Parmesan and Butter. I'll be in Richmond until Thursday so the rest of the week will be frozen meals for MTH.

Before I head to the grocery store, I'm going over to a friend's house for a late breakfast and then we'll head to the Cezanne exhibit at the National Gallery. Then I'll meet AL in Georgetown for lunch and shopping.

I'll give a running update later today.

Coffee at Brooklyn Bagel

I had a nice coffee and egg/cheese bagel with EE this morning in Court House in Arlington. It was nice to catch up. I haven't seen her since the wedding. I'm hoping to go visit in NJ the weekend MTH is in Las Vegas for the NCAA tournament opening. Then, she may come back down to cheer MTH and me on for our Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run. That would be really awesome.

Here's a picture of her new hair cut. It looks really good! Remember, this picture is from my phone so that quality is not the best.

Valentine's Day

Since I was in Richmond on Valentine's Day, I set up a "date night" with other commuters. We went to Metro Grill. MTH and I had our first date there. It was fun to go back. That first date was over 5 years ago! The food was pretty good and the price was awesome. They had a special called the "date night special". Basically, for $39.95 you got: 2 house salads, 2 entrees, a bottle of wine and a dessert. So, for 5 people, we paid about $130 before tip. I don't think you could find food as good as this for that price.

Also, we had a lot of fun hanging out and gossiping.

Another Long Weekend That Doesn't Include MTH

How is it that his work decides he needs to work extra hours the weekends that I have time off? At least this time we didn't have plane tickets that would then be wasted. But, it looks like he won't be able to make it to QY's cooking party. And, tomorrow I'll probably be on my own as well. Not that I can't find things to do but I'd like to spend some time with him. During the week, we're busy and don't see each other all that much.

I guess that's life. We have to make a living in order to enjoy ourselves when we aren't working.

Snow Man

MTH built a nice snowman after he cleaned off the sidewalk. We definitely got a good amount of snow but thank goodness it's already stopped snowing. The sun is even out now. I'm sure that MAK is happy not to be in Boston anymore. It looks like they'll get the worst of it. I guess that EE and SA are not able to go out and enjoy the weekend since they're up in NJ now. And, ETK is keeping her fingers crossed that she won't have to go to Boston until Tuesday but according to her comment earlier, it seems that she may have to go.

Dinner Tonight

MTH and I stayed in to watch the Olympics so we decided to cook dinner as well. For some reason I was really craving salmon (even though I had it last night). Even though I've always thought of fish as a hard thing to cook, salmon is actually quite easy. I just cooked it in the oven with olive oil, roast peppers, capers, garlic, salt and pepper. The side dishes were steamed asparagus and capellini with olive oil and garlic. As an appetizer we had a cheese called Drunken Goat with bread. The wine was one I had bought back in the summer on one of my wine tasting trips :) It's a Zinfandel from the Coppola winery (now called Rubicon). Such a great wine. It's bad to drink those wines because then our $6 wines are not nearly as good.

21 P

We went to a new restaurant last night called 21 P. As you can guess, that's also the address. I really enjoyed my salad with goat cheese dressing but the salmon entree was the highlight for me (that is, until they brought the check - I'll explain later). With the bread, they brought olive oil that was steeped in some sort of spicy flavor. It was very good. MTH and SM (MTH's friend, not my sister) both got the pork tenderloin. I think that they liked it. I would say the only bad thing about the dinner was the lighting. One set of the lights wouldn't stop flashing. It was weird and annoying! They did have a nice wine - Luis Felipe Cabernet Sauvignon. Luis Felipe is a Chilean vineyard. MTH and I first tried their carmenere. It's an inexpensive but good wine. I would recommend trying out any of their wines if you happen to see them in the store.

At the end, when the waiter brought the check, he also brought walnut brittle. SM (MTH's friend, not my sister) and I loved it. SM (MTH's friend, not my sister) even asked for seconds - I was so glad that he did.

Since I don't really rate restaurants, I don't know how many stars to give it but instead I'll rate restaurants as to whether I'd go back again or not. In this case, I give it a thumbs up!

Running Update

The training is going much better this week. I followed my training plan starting last Tuesday. I also think that my back strain may have been partially due to running. I don't think I'm holding my lower/abs correctly when I run. So, today I did Pilates and will try to do it at least once a week. I'm supposed to run with my running group for the first time tomorrow. It looks like it's still on even though it's currently snowing outside. I'll show up and hope that others are there too. If not, I guess I'll run by myself. MTH was good and ran over 5 miles today. It wore him out though. But at least he should be ready for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run.

Update: The snow has put a dent in my plans for running today. My fitness center at work is not open on the weekends. I tried going to the YMCA as well as the city recreation center but they're all closed for the snow. Today is supposed to be the long run so it's one that I really can't miss. I'm hoping that MTH's fitness center is open later today!

Weddings

Now that MTH and I are married, I'm looking forward to attending other people's weddings and just chilling! It looks like we'll be going to St. Thomas in early July for the wedding of SY and JS. Then, I've heard from MTH that MDH and KS have set the date for 11/18 in South Beach at the Palms. I absolutely love South Beach so I'm excited that MTH will finally get to see it. Plus, going for a wedding should be awesome. I'm supposed to go with EE an MAK in early June. The three of us have got to on the planning soon. Looks like lots of beach time this year. I better buy some sunscreen. I'm sure I'll need some new sunglasses, sandals, bathing suits, etc! Plus, MTH still owes me a Christmas present. I found out that he actually had picked something out for me but that he then couldn't find it. It was a Coach bag I had asked for earlier in the fall. Since he's a boy, he didn't understand that it was a limited edition and he should have bought it as soon as I sent him the email!!! Oh well, I'll take him shopping this weekend and we'll finally rectify this no Christmas gift issue!!

I'll stop typing now since it seems that I'm going crazy with the exclamation points for some reason.

PS ETK - I don't think I'll be able to talk MTH into buying me a Gucci. Maybe you'll be so lucky.

Valentine's Day is coming up

So, although I sent out cards and gifts, I don't really buy into the "commercial holiday". It's a way for stores to make money. But, I'll admit I did have fun making cards and sending out chocolates to friends and family. Hopefully, they'll enjoy it. I'll be in Richmond next Tuesday so MTH will have to celebrate without me :) He and the cat can spend a romantic night at home. Maybe he'll buy her some canned food as a special treat. On second thought, we don't want to get her addicted.

Anyway, about Valentine's day. What makes it special? What's the point? Aren't we supposed to love each other every day of the year? I guess other holidays could be summed up the same way though - July 4th, for example - aren't we supposed to cherish our independence and freedom every day. But, we still have a special holiday just to do that. It's usually a lot of fun too.

So, maybe Valentine's Day is a good holiday after all. The stores just need to stop stocking Valentine's candy BEFORE Christmas. I'm not kidding, I saw bags of Valentine's candy prior to Christmas Day!!!

Will I ever officially change my name?

MTH is wondering if I'll officially change my name. Of course, I will eventually. The problem is that the government makes you go in person to the Social Security Administration. It makes sense to have to go in person but the problem is the long lines. Work has been pretty busy lately so I haven't felt like I had the time to do it. Then, I'll still have to stand in line for my passport and then my driver's license. The only reason MTH hasn't pushed it too much is that he knows he would never take the time to do this if it was his responsibility. He still hasn't even sent his groomsmen's gifts!!!

I think I should have included this one in my resolutions. I'll add it now. My resolution is to have my name changed officially by the end of March.

Olympics

It's almost time for the next big sporting event - Winter Olympics. I love watching the Olympics although I really hate the "human interest" stories that NBC must show every 30 minutes. I just want to watch the sports with commentators who speak in "facts" not in opinions that are so pro-American, it's embarrassing. I realize that each athlete is there to win the Gold but I do think that they are mostly good sportsmen and don't go around rubbing the other countries noses in their wins.

My favorite events are: skiing, figure skating and ski jumping.

I like the Summer Olympics better but it's still fun to watch this one.

I don't actually know the date that it starts but I'm sure MTH will let me know :)

He's been pushing for a new flat screen TV. I'd rather wait a little while. We need new shelves so it would be better to wait until we got those and could "fit" the TV in.

New Drink - French 75

French 75

Crushed ice
1 1/2 ounces dry gin
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
6 ounces chilled champagne

Half-fill a 14-ounce collins glass with crushed ice. Pour in the gin and lemon juice and stir in the sugar. Pour in the champagne.

It may sound weird but it's very refreshing. It would definitely be good at one of our cookouts. We'll also have to try out the variations.

Variations:
French 95: Use bourbon instead of gin
French 125 Use brandy instead of gin.

Steelers Win!!!!

It was definitely a good game. It never was certain as to who was going to win until the last 3 minutes. It's unfortunate there had to be some bad calls to make it not quite so clear cut but I guess the score at the end is what matters.

MTH and I had fun eating our "healthy" food. I made bean dip, guacamole, baked tortilla chips and oven fried buffalo chicken. He even bought a beer called Steelhead - in honor of Pittsburgh, I guess.

Well, no more football til next August.

The Weekend

MTH and I went to the Caps game last night. This time we got the tickets from his company. I'm just not a hockey fan. We left a little early, thank goodness. We headed to the District Chophouse. They have this oatmeal stout that's aged in bourbon barrels. It's so smooth. Since MTH and I had already eaten "snacks" at the game, we shared a burger and fries. Today, I was planning to do my Pilates DVD but MTH didn't set up the DVD player. Hopefully I'll get him to do it before next weekend. This afternoon I bought Valentine's gifts. They'll be in the mail on Monday!

Tonight, MTH and I were supposed to go to see "Walk the Line" at the Old Town Theater but MTH was under the weather this afternoon. He slept for at least 2 hours. So, this evening, we ended up staying in and cooking dinner here. It turned out nicely. Then we played Scrabble and drank Kir Royales.

Tomorrow's the big day - Super Bowl XL!! We still haven't figured out our menu yet. We're going to try to go for a "healthy" menu but I have a feeling that'll be hard to do. I'll update tomorrow.

Bon Jovi

The concert was fun(ny). QY and I enjoyed the music and the food. They played the expected songs: Shot through the Heart, Livin' on a Prayer, In a Blaze of Glory - reminded me of being in high school. It definitely would have been a lot of fun to go at that point in my life. But, now I'm spoiled. Our seats were in a suite. It's so nice to have all of that room and free food and drinks! I'm hoping to upload some pictures from QY soon.

Almost There

MTH and I still have a few gifts from Christmas that we haven't sent out. I'm finallly getting it all together today and will send it from work on Monday. One of our perks is being able to send personal packages from the mail room. So, anyone who knows that they haven't received a gift from me should be getting it soon.

I guess getting all of my gifts out by the end of January should have been a resolution but waht's the difference, its status would have been RED .

Resolutions 2006

Let's revisit my resolutions and get a status update

Take vitamins and eat more veggies Yellow - I'm doing better than in December but not near what I'd like to do
Write all of our thank you notes by the end of January RED - We haven't written one yet and it's now February
Finish all Christmas shopping and card writing by 12/15/06 (I know it’s a bit long term but I was frazzled last year with work and Christmas so I’ve got to plan better this year) Green - Can't be less than Green until next December!
Continue running – MTH and I are signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run Yellow - hurting my back cut into my training time this week but I did run for the first time again today

My plan is to continue eating more veggies and to actually buy a multi-vitamin - I can't take one if I don't have one.

For the thank you notes, we just have to sit down and do them. My new goal is to finish them by the end of February.

As long as I have no more injuries, I feel good about the running. That one will be in Green.