I Hate Autumn

I love autumn, really, the low-angle light and dramatic skys, the changing colors, the cool crisp air, beautiful. It's probably my favorite season.

But I hate autumn.

We northern hemisphere homosapiens are genetically programmed to add insulation in the fall for the upcoming winter. The number on the scale gets larger every time you get on it. What doesn't help are the holidays: Kevin's birthday (cake), Halloween (candy), Thanksgiving (pie), Christmas (luncheons, cookies, more pie), New Year's eve (chips and dip), Super Bowl Sunday (more chips, more dip), and Valentine's Day (chocolate). You don't get a break until March, and by then the damage has been done. The hips are larger than ever and you're on the brink of having to buy yet another wardrobe.

So I've decided I'm cutting out carbs now. Well, actually, I started Saturday. No pasta, no candy, no bread and butter, no cereal. I plan on getting a jumpstart on counteracting this weight thing.

As I type this, I can hear the guys in the next cube talking about the bagels that were brought in today. Sheesh.

I can do this. Who's with me?

Dinner at Blue Pepper, Amsterdam

This is thee courses of our five-course dinner at Blue Pepper restaurant. I forgot to take pictures of the other two before they were gone.
First course was duck, fish pâté, and crab with mango.

Second course was seafood soup served with lemon.

The third course was lamb satay and chicken satay.
The fourth course was the main entree, the Rijsttafel. The first picture is of the condiments, the second one is the selection of curried meats and seafood.

The last course was dessert with fermented rice pudding with coconut ice cream, pear cooked in blue curaçao, and mango salad.

The Rest of the Story

Now that it's been a couple days since our amazing dinner, I'm ready to tell you more about it. Overall, it was a wonderful meal. It lived up to the five-plus months of anticipation since I had made the reservation.

Dan, Ann, Mark and I went to Volt, Bryan Voltaggio's (made famous by the reality show Top Chef and recent James Beard Award nominee) restaurant in Frederick, Maryland on Friday and at ate at 'Table 21,' where you are served a chef-selected 21-course dinner.

Table 21 is not a table but really a counter with seating for eight around the edge of the kitchen. Our view for the three hours we were there was of the prep area for our dishes as well as dishes for other diners. We got to observe Chef Bryan and his staff create some of the best looking food I'd ever seen. The kitchen was quiet, not like any yelling matches you might see in the movies or on Hell's Kitchen.

The cuisine was new and high-tech, not the family staples your grandmother made. Each of the dishes were planned and executed with great care, even the garnishes, from fresh local products. At one point I stole and ate a leaf from Dan's plate. Chef Bryan caught me. We were then treated to a lesson about how he chooses the garnishes, they are meant to be eaten, enhance the dish visually and provide an element to the flavor profile of the dish. The sorrel leaf I nicked had been soaked in red liquid (I forget what kind, beet juice maybe) so the veins turned red, very pretty, very tasty.

Chef Bryan used a lot of things that were unexpected, such as macaroons made from vegetables and 'dippin' dots' made from tomato sauce. When they melted on the hot chicken and noodles, it blended into his wonderful take on Chicken Parmesan.

One of my favorite dishes was the goat cheese ravioli with the 'soy air,' foam made from soy sauce. The first fish dish was also up there on the favorite list, the hiramasa. It was delicate and moist. Then favorite list gets cloudy, I cannot rank anything after that. Except for the sweetbreads (at the bottom) and the seared lamb, which I didn't even try. I've got major texture issues, and it was very raw.

Save room for dessert. There were five dessert courses, the cheese cake was probably the best and the strawberry noodles were probably the most unusual.

We were offered coffee and tea with our desserts. I chose tea. This is the part of the whole affair I was disappointed with. I asked for Earl Gray and received a tea that was so strong I couldn't drink it, and it wasn't even Earl, it was Lapsang-Souchong. I really dislike people who presume they know how I like my tea better than I do. Please, let me brew it myself. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, literally. The waiter brought me another pot of tea, but it wasn't any better. There were enough tea leaves in the basket to brew about 8 cups of tea.

Dinner at Table 21 is $121 per person plus drinks, tax, and tip. Yes, I would eat there again, I'd love to try other dishes as the seasons change, but I wouldn't drink the tea.


 

Dinner at Volt - Table 21

What follows are pictures from our twenty-one course dinner. I only forgot to photograph #11, the veal sweetbreads. (yuck)

Can I add any more links to this post?

It was such a lovely evening last night, after the the frigid rainy mess we had last weekend, it was a delight to walk around Capitol Hill with my kids and drink in the balmy air.

I have a guy who cuts my hair, and has been, on and off, for nearly 25 years. I did cheat on him with Nick Arrojo a couple of times, but I'm not going to let that bother me. I love catching up with Evan, hearing about his wife and kids, wow, they are getting so old now, but I guess we all are. I've kept with him from shop to shop, wherever he worked, and now he has had his own shop, Randolph Cree, on Capitol Hill near Eastern Market for many years. I'm please for him it's going so well.

I've needed a haircut for a while and Fern's been bugging me, too, she wants her hair cut also. So I finally remembered to call and made simultaneous appointments for us. Kevin went with us and sat still with a promise of a burger from Good Stuff Eatery afterwards. He'll do pretty much anything for a burger and fries, even sit in still in a hair salon for an hour. (Kevin could have stayed home with Dan, but my ulterior motive was to keep him from crashing in my bed at 7:00. I hate that.)

Good Stuff, or "Spike's" as we call it, is several blocks away down Pennsylvania Avenue. It's run by the Mendelsohn family, but Spike is most famous because of his appearance on Top Chef a couple seasons ago. The burgers are great and the Village fries are to die for. You should stop by if you're ever by there.

But I still couldn't believe how pleasant it was out last night, folks were dining outside and I hardly needed a jacket. Except for the fact there was homework to be done and Flash Forward to watch, I really didn't feel compelled to hurry home. I'm gonna miss this when winter rolls in.


 

Randomness

Eight days until the premier of Project Runway on the Lifetime channel. Wonder if my DVR will find it?

I'm collecting MyCokeRewards points, those codes on the inside of bottle tops and cartons. If you're not collecting them yourself but are a coke (or related product) drinker, email or text me your codes. I'd appreciate it. It's like collecting S&H green stamps, remember those?, except I don't have to paste them into booklets before cashing them in. I'm saving up for a shiny new mixer. No, wait, that was for the green stamps.

I've volunteered to bring in bagels to the office tomorrow so I had the secretary take everyone's order so I don't have to stand there in the morning trying to decide which ones to order.

I'm in need of a large table or clean floor so I can finally baste my mother's quilt. I can't find a 9 x 9 foot table. The tables in our conference rooms are 5' x 10' but there are too many people around and I'd need to drag in tables from another room to make it big enough and there are too many people around.

I'm still so far behind with girl scout badge sewing, probably about eight or ten vests in the queue. This summer has been full of activities and when I do have evenings at home, there is Top Chef Masters and Better Off Ted to watch.

The fabric shop where I bought my sewing machine is closing at the end of September. The repair guy there has a fabulous reputation, I'd like my machine to have its annual cleaning before he's gone. I called Monday about machine service. At that time, there was a line of 35 machines waiting for service, they would stop taking machines on Saturday. I asked if there was a waiting list so I can bring it in when it's my turn. No. Fabric is 40% off though, might need to visit the shop anyway.

School starts in a week and a half. Both kids will be out of the house by 7:30. Unless buses are missed. I'm not sure about the stress levels of getting two teenagers up and out at the same time. Which saint covers things like that? Probably St. Jude.

I learned about remote-controlled golf carts yesterday. I want one. Look here and here for examples. Of course I really don't need one, but wouldn't they be fun? But why stop there, I could go to the grocery and Fern could drive this to school. If I let her.

I think I need a snack. And maybe a coke.


 

Coconut Chicken Curry for Dinner @ Kim Son

After-dinner edit:
The sauce was fabulous, absolutely wonderful. The chicken, on the other hand was grisly and tough. I finished off most of the rice with the sauce, well past the point of being full.

I hate lunch. I mean I like to eat it, but I'd rather just have someone give it to me than to have to think about it and plan it and prepare it and remember to take it to work with me and then remember to eat it.

I tend to not think about food until I'm hungry. (I think this is one of my major faults as a wife and mom—meal planning. I said one of my faults)

I went grocery shopping last night for the family, we were out of a lot of things since we were away for the weekend. I even put on my list "lunch stuff for mom" and aisle after aisle, nothing interested me. I forced myself to purchase single serving microwave soups and salami, but if I don't plan, I'm scratching my head at 1:45 every day wondering why I'm hungry.

---

We went to Birmingham for Dan's friends' wedding over the weekend. We stayed over an extra day and went to the DeSoto Caverns. The cave was the main attraction, but they built other things to do. Dan said it was kinda like what he imagined Grubby Gulch to be, if you remember your Lizzy McGuire days. I had more fun than I expected in the squirt-gun maze and ran out of water too quickly. I need to do that again.

The mini-golf was brutal. There was a creek that ran under the course and every hole gave you the opportunity to lose your ball in the drink. I did pretty well until the 8th hole when I lost my ball and didn't recover it until I ran back down to the 3rd hole. I wondered if I was supposed to play back up the hill again, or just walk. It was a good day even though it was HOT!

Teenage Attitude

Bride and Groom

hand-held shot of the light show in the cave

Kevin and Fern enjoy the pedal go-carts

Remembering

February 15th is not etched onto my brain the way July 7th or November 16th are. I missed my own blogaversary on Friday, two whole years, thank you very much. Maybe next year I'll remember. Three-hundred and ten posts in two years, not very many.

I'm thankful to of all you who stop by and see what's up in my little world. I'll try to post more often for you.

Retreat

The retreat is getting so far away, I'm having a hard time remembering specifics. But, I'll try. This year I arrived the earliest I've ever gotten there, about 1:00 Friday afternoon. A and L and I got our work space set up, three of us on two tables arranged in an 'L' formation, and I settled in on my first task: Girl Scout badges, I wanted to get my latest vest out of the way, so I could concentrate on other things.

This was A's first year, a retreat "freshman" as she called herself, and L's second year there. I was "Post-Doc" at 12 years. One of the so-called traditions is to make quilt blocks with the year's fabric, usually some hideous floral print that is hard to match and this year was no exception: a purple print with large blue and peach flowers. When all the blocks are made they are sorted into groups and "winners" are drawn, each person taking home a stack of 12 or so quilt blocks featuring fabric de jour.

Friday night's main activity is the Brown Bag exchange, which I was asked to run. Everyone brings a gift in the $10-$15 range in a brown bag, something a quilter would love. Everyone takes turns choosing a gift from the pile or stealing someone else's already opened gift. I brought a quilted tote bag I made with chili pepper fabric and red trim. I was thrilled when the person who drew my bag from the pile liked the tote and even more thrilled when someone else stole it away from her. One gift that got stolen a lot this year was a picture puzzle of a quilting scene. Who would have thought?

Saturday morning the mystery quilt team presented the mystery quilt directions. I'm glad I didn't participate this year. There was a lot of sewing. The people who did participate created beautiful tops, but I just wasn't in the mood this year. I, instead, worked on birthday blocks, several of us promised each other a quilt block of the birthday girl's choice and I finished and delivered two. Both were received well, owners thrilled, and my ego was pleased.

Saturday evening we have an auction, selling patterns, books, fabric, partially completed projects and abandoned supplies, anything we have lying around that we no longer need or want. I did very well this year, there were a lot of bargains to be had: I didn't buy anything.

Sunday is usually pincushion day. Each year we make different design. The first one was a chicken, and we also have made a crab, mouse, turtle, strawberry and a few others. This year was an Asian-inspired flower. Someone had a magazine with a duck pattern in it and that's when all the craziness ensued, I helped A put a thong bikini on Pinky (red ball head pins held the pink buttons inside the bathing suit top) and the Professor ended up with a necktie and crystal tie tack after we realized a speedo didn't look good on a duck. Even if it was enhanced a bit.

I haven't even mentioned the food table yet, long kitchen work table covered in all kinds of snacks, health and junky, salty and sweet, twizzlers and chocolate. Enough to feed a snowed-in army for a week, which it did a couple years ago, but not this year. I did my share of eating too much of the snacks and am over the Mendoza line to show for it.

Sunday night and Monday I worked on a small quilt and got a lot done. It is made from 6" squares we exchanged at our 2005 retreat. I had finished it into a top either last year or the year before and started quilting it this year. It's in the picture in the foreground on the table. I would have had more pictures to post if someone hadn't forgotten her camera.... Ahem.

Looking at this picture I just realized a lot of the projects people were working on had been taken off the walls already and walls are not as lively as they usually are.

Now it's back to the real world and putting away my projects until I can find inspiration to work on them.

Another day, another diet.

Yesterday I attended CG's Memorial Day picnic/pool party. And I ate too much. A lot of it was CG's sister's mango salsa. Great stuff. So I'm telling myself I had a lot of fruit yesterday. And the chips were corn, therefore, vegetable. I just need to walk more and eat better. I'm not liking the number I'm seeing on the scale recently. Clothes are tight again and my watchband is snug. It's funny how and where five pounds can make a huge difference - before spring break my watchband was comfortably loose. I don't like being old(er), weight is harder to remove than it is to aquire.