Brooke comes to the big city

I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe I can finish this blog post without throwing my laptop from the third floor window of my home. It has become painstakingly slow. And I've wiped virtually everything off of it. The time from window to window, link to link, or photo to photo is so broken that I keep a book by my side to read in between the breaks. By the end of August, I will have a new computer, and that is a promise! According to this, I have an extra day, since in ThinkPad time it is currently 9:01 PM, August 08, 2010, as opposed to 9:24 PM, August 09, 2010.

Happier news though... I had my first family visitor of 2010. YAY! Brooke came for a visit Thursday through today, and when she drove in I was giddy with excitement. She arrived after the heavy rain storms on Thursday night in the hot and sticky night air. I gave her the option of pizza or burgers as our options were limited due to the time and our grumbling stomachs. She chose burgers so we headed to Good Stuff for a burger, fries, and a toasted marshmallow shake. And there began the calorie/fat/grease rollercoaster that had my stomach flippin' more than Top Gun does.

Friday she headed off to the metro after I left for work on her first metro trip ever... alone. And, she did WONDERFULLY. I mean, who would've ever thought she was capable of any less. She got to see almost everything she wanted to see while I was at work, which worked out perfectly, leaving us with relaxing "hang out" time mostly sightseeing free the rest of the weekend.

Christina joined us for a Young family brunch around the corner from my house at the fantastic Belga Cafe. <3 We had a delicious breakfast feast before heading to Eastern Market for an afternoon of shopping where Brooke and I picked out our dinner for the evening, grocery-store-free. Once Brooke and I arrived home we rested weary feet while watching some movies and starting some homemade bread and dulce de leche (recipe courtesy of my friend Maria at Capital Chef).

The photos are mostly for the kids enjoyment, and I know some of them are a little funny, but they make me smile thinking about the kids making the same bread the week before.

I look like a caricature here, with a giant head, big eyes and a small body. Makes me laugh...

Brooke's awesome action shot that makes it look like the whole cookie sheet is spinning.

I wish you could smell it...

Can you believe a can of fat free sweetened condensed milk could yield such ooey gooey goodness after a 2 hour boiling water bath? Both recipes are incredibly easy and delicious. They were perfect for our lazy Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was a bit more active as we journeyed to church, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Netherlands Carillon, NGA, and the Kennedy Center. We swung in Iwo Jima and Netherlands on the way back to the house from church.

I hadn't actually walked up to the Netherlands Carillon before, I'd just seen it from afar and above. It certainly yields some beautiful views for such an industrial looking monument.

After grabbing a quick bite at the house we hopped the metro to the National Gallery of Art for where one mother saw a unique chalice that was used in the early Catholic church and told her children it was "The Holy Grail." Brooke and I just looked at each other and laughed. Some people aren't worth correcting in those situations. Speaking of the holy grail, can you name this biblical character?

And Converse ladies, can you name this famous sculpture that bears the same name as something we all hold dear?... NOT a valkyrie (don't you DARE guess that)!

I'm so delighted Brooke and I share common cultural interests, since I've been here almost a year and no one has ventured into the NGA with me. Thanks Brooke!

Brooke did her research and found us a free Latin Jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, which I did not have high hopes for, but I do enjoy occasionally being proven wrong. We were treated to a toe-tappin' and shoulder shakin' good time by Christopher Washburne and the SYOTOS band with special guest and 89 year old living legend Candido Camero. It was fantastic (and I don't say that often about music especially when admitting I'm wrong)!

Stealing a view of Georgetown's waterfront

Thanks for coming to visit, Brooke! It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend visit, with just the right amount of exploring, bonding, and vegging. Who's my next visitor?

Food for thought

My time has been occupied by so much lately that cooking dinner is often low on the priority list, and by the time I get home I'm generally not hungry anymore. However, that does not mean food is void from my life... just my refrigerator. Fortunately, with my move to the house in the city, I'm within a short walk to several places of culinary inspiration. Two of which are owned and operated by the same guy.

Many of you know I'm a huge Top Chef fan, although I've not been able to watch the DC episodes this summer. I've been very delighted to discover that several of the Top Chefs live and work in my new neighborhood. One of them being Spike Mendelsohn, owner of Good Stuff Eatery and the new We, The Pizza. Good Stuff is where I went with Lucy and the girls the 2nd weekend in July, and it is home to some of the best, most mouth-watering burgers you'll ever put in your mouth. That being said... I go there for their salads. :) Seriously... they're delicious. After the gym on Tuesday, I walked the 12 or so minutes to pick up take out. I planned on eating half of the salad and saving the rest for the next day's lunch, but it was so good, and I was so hungry that it didn't ever make it to the fridge.

When I found out that Spike was opening a new pizza place right next door to Good Stuff, I knew I had to call my co-worker and fellow culinary-adventurist Son to go check out We, The Pizza. We had to wait in line for it, but it was worth the wait in the cool Saturday afternoon. All the slices have clever names that I can't now remember.  I ended up with a "For the Greek in Us" slice of deep dish and a slice of Forest Shroomin'. Son got a buffalo chicken and blue cheese and a spinach artichoke slice. We tasted all four and they were each delicious in their own way. We topped it off with the We, The Pizza brew that I actually wouldn't recommend. Next time I'm trying a soda from their soda-jerks. Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Chef Spike in the flesh

Each pizza slice is garnished with fresh herbs and hand-mix oil and cheese.

Take a moment to read the sign if you can.

Now, I'm hungry! That greek slice was sooooo good. So, we ate our pizza and jetted off to Chinatown to watch Inception, which I highly recommend if you've not seen it yet. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It takes a lot for a movie to truly keep me guessing, and this one was.

Friday night Christina, her friend Kate and I grilled/made dinner for ourselves, and enjoyed some fun conversation. We learned we are even more alike than we previously thought. The menu for the night: Chicken breasts on the grill with avocado, tomato, and cucumber salsa accompanied by mixed greens, grilled peaches topped with goat cheese and honey drizzle.

Great food, great fun, and now, I'm hungry so I must leave. xo

16 Notes for 16 Days (and a few more than 16 photos) - Part II

11. Way back in May (Oh, that feels like forever ago), Amber, Melissa, Kara and I decided we wanted to see a show at the Kennedy Center. How we narrowed in on Mary Poppins, I'm not sure, but it was a fantastic choice for all! They all thought it amazing that one of my life goals is to work at the Kennedy Center without ever stepping foot inside. I'm sure you all know my first choice would've been to see an opera or the NSO, but I was in no way disappointed by the show or the company!! Check out Amber's take on the evening here.

We changed into cocktail attire in the 4th floor bathroom, primped, and made our way to Kara's new condo on the metro where we dropped our cars for the evening adventure. The metro carried us into the city for a great pre-theater dinner at Notti Bianchi that was timed to perfection for our show. Our server was great, the food was pretty good, and the atmosphere quaint, but we couldn't stay there much longer than for photos.

L to R: Kara, Amber (Nibs), Me, and Melissa (M)

Kara was excited about the show, and she's even more excited about our plans for Legally Blonde: The Musical at Wolf Trap in a few weeks!

The Kennedy Center was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the restaurant, and we made it just in the nick of time for the Overture. I was in a fairytale land, and not because I was watching Mary Poppins. The John F. Kennedy Center, the epitome of arts and culture in America....

And don't I just fit right in! :) Bright, colorful... LOVE it! Speaking of bright and colorful, I missed the black memo.

How is it no matter where I live, I always have beautiful friends?? 

I got yelled at by the usher for taking photos with my cell phone before the show started, so this is the only photo I could sneak of the theater itself, and it was after the show. We discovered while getting yelled at that a mother/daughter pair was sitting to our right that had been with us at the restaurant. We struck up conversation and learned about Caitlyn and mother Courtney who were at the same quaint (small) restaurant, and ended up on the same shuttle and metro with us. It was all a coincidence, but we had fun laughing with them.

12. True story (as if all the other ones had been fake, right): the metro....not so cool late at night. And no, it's not because it's unsafe, expensive, or difficult. It's because it's stifling hot, extremely slow, and very delayed between trains. We just barely missed the train as we were coming in, and that kept us waiting 20 minutes for the next train in the unbearable heat.

The face that can get us just about anything, and yes, we know it. ;)

It must have been 100 degrees in there, and the air was completely stagnant. To make matters worse, as we're sitting innocently taking photos of our misery and complaining about our desire for diet coke (Nibs) and coke (me), Melissa looks over to the next bench and says, "Ummm... I just saw a mouse." My feet are instantly off the floor, and we all have a good laugh at our disgust. Needless to say, we were all delighted when the train came at last!

13-16. As if my month hadn't had enough excitement, this past weekend was my dear friend Kay and her perfect-for-her husband Greg's wedding. We decided to make it a girls weekend with our plus one's, and were so delighted that we did! Lucy flew in to DCA, and I took my first technical vacation time off from work in the afternoon on Friday to go pick her up and make the 3.5-5 hour trek through Northern Virginia to Blacksburg where the wedding was being held at the German Club Manor at Virginia Tech. Once we all arrived to the hotel, we quickly got ready and headed out to the downtown area for dinner and evening festivities. I was so delighted to see and catch up with Lucy, Danielle, and Margaret, especially Margs since I hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving weekend.

Check out Margaret's fabulous body wave in her hair. <3

A perfect angel...

Between this photo and the next one, a not-so-nice fellow I'd been seeing for the past month tried to put a damper on my evening, but no, no, no, that was not happening. And no, no, no, he is no longer happening either.

Since my battery is about to die, I will truncate my 16 notes here, but I promise to give you more details about the wedding (and tons of photos) and the million other things that have been going on in my life tomorrow. I'm giving up on the notes though, back to normal Faulknerian thoughts tomorrow. xoxo