DC weekend

Oh gosh, was it really so long ago? Early this month. Wow. So long ago. Can I go back?

Geoff is a former Smelt. Not for long, but we got to know him and Kent in their time in Chicago and have gotten to know them better since their return to DC. Last year we spent a very fine weekend with them in the spring, and the recent Computers in Libraries conference trip for me gave us the opportunity to see them again.

I'm giving them short shrift by posting this one entry (though I did mention their dog, I recall), and I am sorry for that. In truth, my famously sieve-like memory means that I struggle to remember some of the fun we had. Let me try.

Conrad and I had an easy flight, were picked up at DCA, and headed to Jaleo in nearby Crystal City. We'd been to the Bethesda location with Geoff and Kent, and given our love for Spain and Spanish food, we were delighted. And it was good food, good wine. A weekend starting well.

The next day was as perfect a spring day in DC as we could ask for. Mild temperatures. Trees all in bloom. After an easy start to the day, we all walked Maggie - gorgeous girl that she is - down to a nearby park for some play, some photos.



Lunch next. I think we were in Maryland by this point - my sense of direction can be poor - and we moseyed into The General Store. Down home cooking? Soul food? Southern food? How do we classify it? I'll give them this: good fried chicken and onion rings, tasty buttermilk chess pie. Oh, and in homage to Todd (and because I was in the mood for it): sweetened iced tea. Iced tea, not ice tea. I'm learning.

Right by the restaurant are the remnants of the National Park Seminary. Geoff's mother was part of the last class at the college before the military commandeered it in the Second World War. The military never really used it, apparently, and now it is in a state of long neglect and disrepair. Well, save for the rehabilitation of some buildings as part of a condo development. There's some interesting potential there, in fact, and we did wander around the grounds, into a few show condos, and on to the restored ballroom.










No meal out that night. I took over the kitchen (with two helpers/spectators)(well, three if you count Maggie)

and set to work on a fairly easy meal: fettucine with shrimp and a chipotle peanut sauce. A salad on the side, some wines to enjoy. Not my best effort ever, but I think it was tasty enough, and certainly the food was much improved by the company. We had a terrific evening of chat around the table and in the living room.

And Maggie? Mostly quiet, but the lucky girl has a bounty of toys to play with.
A happy dog, really.

I wonder if Geoff and Kent will let us turn this into an annual weekend visit...




More photos from the weekend are over at Flickr.

more to come...

You know, I didn't do a half-bad job of blogging last week, all things considered. And I here I sit, having got some dinner in my belly and some housework done, all set to catch up more.

Well, except, I'm a little lazy.

:-)

I will blog more in days ahead, assuredly. Conrad is in LA/Honolulu for 10 days, so I will have time to add to the blog. Why, there's more on

the DC weekend

the wine pairing dinner at Frontera Grill/Topolobampo

the weekend past in the UP and outlet shopping!

Stay tuned. Meanwhile I will get to work on the Flickr photos...

National Licorice Day

I've written and re-written this post in my mind. How to celebrate the best Monday I've known with my best friend? How to share it with the 3 or 4 of you who read this and yet not go overboard with it. Not easy. A list, of course, was the way to go.

What follows, then, are things I treasure from my first non-conference visit with TK:

1. C&B. Coney and Buster. I cannot understate how much I love these dogs, truly. Monday morning we walked them around the lake. Sunday night we spent chatting with Michael as well, stroking C&B as they demanded. Two perfect jewel-like memories.


2. Michael. I was a little intimidated to meet him. He's the partner of my best friend, so he looms large in my life. And in the end, he was a gracious host, a good cook (mmmm... asparagus), and someone I'm glad to have met.


3. Their home. TK and I chat often, and I hear many things, so I was thrilled to be able to see what I'd heard about, add that context. Now, when Todd mentions his Bromley Estate iced tea, for instance, I can picture the box of tea bags in the cupboard.


4. Chicken and waffles at Miss Shirley's. Tasty. Very tasty. We sat outside, watched the neighbourhood, and ate well.


5. The man himself. Look, I'm not going to get all treacly on this blog (well, no more than usual). Quite simply, I had a visit wherein I was able to talk to my best friend face to face, or not have to talk and just ease into companionable silence. I miss that part most of all. June, a possible visit then, is a long way off.

I rave a lot about TK lately, and it's justified. I have had many good friends in my life (Kendall, Allison, CG, Martin, Jeph among others), and I am glad to now have TK close. An overnight visit to Baltimore, coinciding on the Monday with National Licorice Day (I'm rather fond of licorice, and TK knows it!) is now set in my memory, small perfect recollections of conversations (and silences), dog walking, and meaningful contented friendship.

National Licorice Day 2010: best Monday ever. Thanks TK.

these are two of my favourite things

I actually had it in mind to cook scallops for Tuesday night dinner. Season them, sear them. Serve them with rapini, some other things.

Darn them for being a not very good price.

No matter. There are many things I love greatly when it comes to food. Rapini is one. It's right up there with asparagus in the pantheon of vegetables I enjoy. Oh, and parsnips. And fava beans. I'll stop.

I ended up picking up some mussels. I do like scallops for the way they take a sear, but mussels are about the easiest thing imaginable to cook ever. Conrad likes them, too, so we were good to go.

I gently sauteed diced red onion, garlic, red pepper, salt, pepper, and saffron. When is was softened, I turned up the heat and added sherry (note to self: buy more sherry). Reduced that a little, then added chicken broth. Brought it to a fast simmer and added in the mussels. Simplicity.



I was pleased. Conrad was pleased. All in all, perhaps not an expected combination, serving the mussels (a Spanish hint to them) and rapini (more Italian), but it worked well for us. Cookies aside, I haven't been very pleased with my cooking lately. This was a step back in the right direction for one night.

poblanos rellenos

One small reason why I haven't blogged cookie much lately is because, frankly, it's been a series of mediocre efforts from me as of late. Not horrible food, but not food I'm especially proud of or care to post photos of. Perfunctory food.

That, sadly, is kind of what some friends got from me a couple of weekend back when I cooked a small dinner party while Conrad was out of town.

We haven't entertained much at all lately. Weird travel schedules, cozying up in the domesticity of home without others. We've been bad about seeing people. A couple of weeks ago we were going to finally - FINALLY! - see Allan, Paul, and Bryan. Weird struck again, though, and Conrad ended up being in Hawaii instead. Poor him.

I was pleased with the warm chips and guacamole I made - I've been on a Mexican kick lately, I admit. I also rather liked the simple mango sorbet that I served for dessert: fruity, light, refreshing.

The main course? Meh. The refried black beans were fine. The simple red cabbage slaw was colourful and fine. The chiles?

Well, at least one was decent enough to photograph.
I had made a turkey filling, poaching thigh meat and shredding it for sauteeing with some seasoning. Tasty, really. But the chiles were fragile, the filling heavy for the fragility, and the batter was a nightmare to work with.

I was not entirely happy.

Good company made a real difference that night as it all turned out very happily. So nice to see the guys again.

The other thing is, I was rocking the four-way apron. Totally adorable, if I do say so myself. ;-)

CiL

I'm not going to write too too much about last week's Computers in Libraries conference. This isn't a work blog, after all, and I do not make a habit of reading all the brightest and most prolific minds out there in the glamourous world of librarianship. I hope they will all forgive me that transgression.

I'm torn, though, on the conference, and it may take me time to process. Funnily enough, I actually think I may want to go back next year. We'll see.

Big names there, or names who think they're big. A few of the egos need a bit of a pin prick, I'm sorry to say, and there was more than a faint whiff of cliquery and, well, male cattle feces. The Puritan in me also has some small scorn not for the rampant drinking itself but for the idiotic pride people took in being hungover the day after. Let that be an end to my scathing critique.

Still, there were some great presentations. I unabashedly point to my roommate for the conference, Brian, as the lead example. He spoke on e-books, and he was head and shoulders above so many others. I was very proud of him.


His good friend Bobbi (the redheaded woman in the shot above and in several other shots) spoke a few times, and I was impressed by her content, her manner, and her outfits. Great shoes, but I think Jodie won that contest.

There were good people to dine with - I found the Brussels sprouts at Zaytinya memorable among the dishes the group

of us had, and the entire evening at Jaleo on the last night to be quite fantastic.





I think the take away I really got from the conference was being able to talk about libraries and library technology with people outside the usual ALA bubble. That much I appreciated. And Brian, whom I had known virtually thanks to the magic of Twitter and then Facebook turned out to be a very engaging and sweet young man. Martin and Todd are safe - they are my set ALA roomies - but Brian is a good candidate for other conferences, or so I hope.