Merry Shindig

This past weekend two of my friends (Cynda and Kristen) and I hosted a Christmas Party. I don't know why we never thought of doing this before, but throwing a party with two other people is the best idea ever.

Less work, less preparation time, less money = less worry and more fun!

We spent one evening planning the menu, one morning shopping, and one afternoon cooking, cleaning, and putting on the final touches. In the end we transformed Kristen's house into a very festive space with lots and lots of sugary goodies. Kristen's house is perfect for a Christmas party ever since she painted her walls green.


Our menu: Dark Chocolate cake; pistachio and dried cherry shortbread; stuffed dates; tiramasu; raspberry triffle; candied pecans; candied peanuts, honeycomb, dried apricots all on a plate with three different spicy and hard cheeses; and an apple gallette.


Our drinks: Ginger champagne (champagne served with a ginger simple syrup that is so reduced it is spicey), pomegranate and lime vodka martinis, pinot noir, and winter lager.


We had so much fun cooking and setting up for this party. We left no plate ungarnished and no corner of her apartment undecorated. Kristen even bought a dvd that plays a picture of a fireplace. It was definitely a good conversation starter.



Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you have a relaxing, peaceful, and thoughtful holiday.

Ode to Autumn

"Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods,
And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt,
And night by night the monitory blast
Wails in the key-hole, telling how it pass'd
O'er empty fields, or upland solitudes,
Or grim, wide wave, and now the power is felt
Of melancholy, tenderer in it's moods,
Than any joy indulgent summer dealt."
William Allingham

We leave November in two days and then the countdown to Christmas has started. (I fear it actually started the day after Thanksgiving). This year I am slow getting into the Christmas season. I am still relishing autumn. After living in a second floor mini apartment for 3 years and now moving to a house with large airy windows my senses are awakened. I don't want the rainbow of colors to end.

Our precious sapling that we have been diligently watering for several months turned a brilliant orange right before we left for Thanksgiving. As if it were his child performing in a school play my husband took a whole roll of pictures of this tree. It stands in our front yard: the first and last thing we see as we wake and then lock up for the night. This week however, it's leaves have started to fall. It looks so vulnerable.

I will miss many things about autumn: pumpkins; butternut squash; the bright yellows, reds, and oranges; the sound of leaves being swept into a heap; pumpkin beer; and the brilliant sun set against the crisp air.

Painting and Pumpkins

Deck Building Weekend

Before...

And After...

We are still in the process of putting the finishing touches on our deck, but it is almost complete. What an exhausting weekend, but what fun! Our friends Nate and Jaime flew down from Maine, and the rest of the DC crew assembled at our house each morning to work on the deck. I have never seen the guys work harder. They were awesome. And us girls...well we visited Virgina vineyards, went for a walk at the National Arboretum, and went to a wonderfully relaxing brunch on Sunday that included Mimosas and Bloody Marys.

Pomegranates

So it seems that pomegranates can in fact grow in Washington, DC. Who knew? We have had a mysterious plant/tree/what we thought was a weed growing in our front yard since we moved in. This plant/tree/weed has actually doubled in height since last November. Many a time we have been tempted to chop it down, burn it, or slowly kill it off with weed sprays. However, this past weekend my mother-in-law, who was stopping thru on her way to Pittsburgh, told us it was a pomegranate tree. And sure enough those odd looking orbs once cut open yielded sour yet tasty pomegranate seeds, more technically known as juice sacs.

Washington, DC is about as far north as pomegranates can grow. They are native to the Middle East and grow in hot dry weather. Humidity can have an adverse affect on this plant which is why I think ours has doubled in size and buds bright orange flowers as opposed to scarlet or white.

It is amazing how differently I now look at this tree knowing that it is a pomegranate tree. I once looked upon it with disdain and hatred counting down the days when we could cut it down and plant something in its place. I now feel hip and chic, for I own a pomegranate tree!

Picture problems

There are so many things that I want to blog about right now, but I am so upset because for some reason our pictures are not uploading correctly to iphoto. Therefore, I can post but not with pictures. Who wants to do that? And really, doesn't the picture always make the post?

But in some attempt to recap the last month or so...Tim and I have had a wonderful whirlwind couple of weeks. My parent's came to visit the same weekend as the H Street Festival here in DC. I have great pictures of the fabulous food, artists, and bands that made the festival what it was. I was so impressed by the turnout at the festival, and thought that all in all it was a great event.

We have been back to the Argonaut and Dr. Granvilles (which sits on 12th and H Streets) many more times, and each time I am always suprised by how delicious it really is despite the unwelcoming front door and window. The last time I was there I tried the new moules with tomatoes and they were fabulous! We are so excited about the prospect of great new restaurants within walking distance to our house. The Washingtonian just published an article called "Meet me on H Street" that details some of the new establishments in our area.

Last weekend we traveled to Charleston, South Carolina for work. The city is incredibly complex with little nooks and crannies everywhere you look. We also got a little time to relax and enjoy the beach and sun.

We are off to Cape Charles, Virginia this weekend to check out a new vacation spot: Bay Creek.

That is all for now! Here's to hoping that the temperature dips soon and we get a real autumn. I can't wait for mums, pumpkins, and that tiny chill in the air.

remove ink stain suede windex

Today we found ourselves googling "remove ink stain suede windex". It makes me laugh just thinking about it but at the time I was so upset! Come lunch time, when a friend of ours went to our house to let our puppy Pippin out for a midday pit-stop, we were notified that Pippin (instead of being a wonderful little puppy that sits on our couch waiting for us to come come) had completely torn apart several books in our living room and chewed up an ink pen on our new suede couch. He created a complete disaster.

Specifically Pippin destroyed three of my Barefoot Contessa books (which, yes, drove me to tears), one Black Dog cookbook (easily replaceable I guess) , and one very precious Edith Holden "Diary of an Edwardian Lady". Sorry Mom- this makes me soooo sad! He of course left Tim's "Beer Book" completely untouched. Pippin then found a red pen somewhere amongst my books and chewed it to pieces on our new chocolate brown suede Crate and Barrel sofa. You would think that red pen would not show up on a chocolate brown couch, but don't be deceived. Tim, left to clean up the mess while I was at work, googled "remove ink stain suede windex". Again, it just makes me laugh.

After calming down from the whole escapade, I am once again delighted that God created wonderful, loving creatures that bring joy to our lives. So, would anyone like to watch our dog for two weeks in September while we are away?

Why Mess with a Good Thing?

While most everyone in the DC area had off on Friday, or chose to take the day off, I went to work. I am not sure why...no one else was working so it was impossible to get anything done. But regardless, I was at my desk working away. So, when it came time to go out for our anniversary dinner I was somewhat exhausted: tired from staring at my computer screen all day, gearing up for September madness, and a little rushed from going on a quick run, jumping in the shower, and taking care of our puppy.

Tim and I had 7pm reservations at the Little Fountain Cafe, one of the most romantic restaurants in DC with only 12 tables and a great wine list. However, I couldn't decide on what to wear and I hate to be rushed (who makes 7pm reservations anyway?). I got dressed anyway for this evening of celebration. We were out the door on the way to the car when I looked at Tim, "I hate to say this on our 5-year anniversary but I am not in the mood for a small romantic restaurant." He voiced his agreement. We quickly went back inside, changed into t-shirts and shorts, and started the walk to one of our favorite restaurants, La Loma.

It was such a gorgeous night on Friday night, we wanted to be outside, and we didn't feel like schlepping it up to Adams Morgan. La Loma was our answer. And so we enjoyed a pitcher of margaritas, chips and salsa, and fajitas on the patio at La Loma.

We walked back, burning off our gobs of calories that we had just consumed, and were welcomed home by our 9 month old Welsh Corgi peering through our front window. It somehow all seemed so fitting for our anniversary.

5 years

Tim and I celebrate our 5- year anniversary today, and that means 5 years in this wonderful city we call home. It is amazing to look back at all the people we have met, jobs we have had, places we have lived, and changes that have taken place over the last couple of years. We feel truly blessed.

We plan on spending the weekend trying out new restaurants in DC: one of our most favorite things to do. Tim has also scheduled massages for us tomorrow morning followed by brunch in Georgetown. I hope to report back with some great restaurant suggestions!

Hope you all have a restful weekend. Happy Labor Day!

Catching Up

I recently had some down time at work so I started reading some of my old posts. Wow, I used to write on this blog a lot! And I used to find joy in little things. I want to get back to that. I want to feel alive again. If I am going to be perfectly honest this year has been a difficult one, although I could not put my finger on why. Sometimes I feel like I am in limbo: working hard at my job but really yearning for what is to come (whatever that may be). Other times I feel very content: I love owning a house, decorating, and gardening. I try to chaulk it up to being 27: it is a bland year.

Although it is up to no one else but me to change that.

If I were to be completely honest again, I remember the summer before my wedding as one of the happiest summers of my life. I woke up every morning and walked 2 miles to a Paul Simon cd. I was a lifeguard from 11am-8pm. I swam for more than an hour every day. For two weeks I coached lacrosse at a day camp. And I planned my wedding. And I loved it. How do I get back to that happiness?

Again, I feel a big finger pointed right at me.

I leave tomorrow for a week on the Vineyard. I really hope to spend that time reading and praying. I want to feel content again, feel a certain strength in my faith, a certain gentleness in my heart.

Weekends!

From sun drenched days of weeding, cleaning and reading















To the pastel haze of deep summer nights

Lately, this is how I feel: Attempting to rest and re-energize while trying to keep one eye to work and life. This summer has been filled with long hours at work, graduation parties, family visits, planning for future trips and work retreats, and thankfully a recent week long vacation to the Outer Banks, North Carolina.

While away with family I read a Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I would not recommend this book if you are looking for something uplifting and peaceful. It is a wonderfully told story of tragedy, heartache, loss, and poverty in Afghanistan from the 1970s to the present. Although not non-fiction, this book really opened my eyes to the struggles of growing up a woman in Afghanistan, and the ongoing tensions that exist there. If you liked the Kite Runner, you will surely like this book.

Upon returning from a restful week at the beach I was excited to find that our tomato plant finally yielded one tomato. We also discovered that we have a peach tree and grape vine in our back yard. All very exciting!

I hope that you all are having a restful summer catching up on that reading list, preparing new summer dishes, and dreaming of projects for the fall.

Cape May

Last weekend Tim and I visited Cape May, New Jersey. It was the perfect DC getaway. We ate some fabulous food including lunch at the Blue Pig Tavern. Our lunch was absolutely heavenly! We started with asparagous soup or clam chowder and then moved on to a gorgeous pear and gorgonzola salad or mozzerella, tomato, basil salad. All of these starters paired nicely with either a glass of champagne or the signature Blue Pig Ale.



That evening we went rustic and grabbed two steamer pots (topped full with 2 lobsters, littlenecks, mussels, and from the Lobster House. After adding a beer and cooking on the stovetop for only 25 minutes, the seafood was ready. The pots were incredibly satisfying.

Pippin and Biergit don't quite know what to do with the lobster.

The rest of the weekend, if we weren't eating, was spent on the beach chasing our dogs, or walking around town. There were some much needed nap time snuck in there as well.

Oh, and Pippin had his first dunk in the ocean.

Capitol Hill Roses- our front yard

I think I was about 11 years old when I received my first gardening book. It has always been my dream to own a little plot of land that I could sow. My mom used to give me a small piece of grass and dry dirt on the far side of our house where I could do whatever I wanted. It is kind of funny to look back on it, because I don't really remember ever planting anything. I just remember clearing the area of weeds and staring at it, scheming up what I would plant and where if I had the money and the means to drive to the nursery and buy flowers. I only had to wait 15 more years to have it all come true.
And once again, I find myself staring at our front and back yard and staring at the plants at the nursery. I have been furiously reading my stack of gardening books, and they make every plant sound brilliant and unique. But when I get to the nursery it all becomes muddled.

So my plan is to go slow: buy a few plants at a time, figure out what works aesthetically with our house, figure out what can grow in this awful rocky DC soil, and keep reminding myself that gardening is a process and a means to a beautiful end.

Eastern Market Ashes

* Photo taken from DCist

For those of you who have visited us in DC, I am sure that you went to Eastern Market. Unfortunately earlier this week Eastern Market caught fire, destroying the inside and roof but not the structure. This is very sad news for those of us who often splurged to buy the pricey meats and veggies from the vendors. Furthermore, the fire has once again sparked conversation over the controversial ownership and use of the Eastern Market building. Mayor Fenty has vowed to have Eastern Market rebuilt in 24 months. We shall see...

Before and After

Edinburgh, Scotland

We just returned from our trip to Scotland and England. We had such a wonderful time with Matt and Abi, exploring Edinburgh, and seeing Bury St. Edmunds (where Matt and Abi live).

Edinburgh is such an edgy city. It is certainly a blend of old and new: old cathedrals, monuments, and castles with new hip clothing stores, Starbucks, and updated museums. A view of the city shows the clash of deep rich stone with the lime green of Salisbury Crags, Arthurs Seat, and the Princess Gardens.



The daffodils and hyacinths were out in full bloom. The weather was temperate. What a neat, neat place to explore.



We stayed in a great flat right on the Royal mile, in Advocates Close. My favorite part about Edinburgh is all the different Close's - or alleys leading down the royal mile to apartments, streets, or beautiful gardens. I could spend all day exploring each close. It is said that Sir James Stewart once lived in Advocates Close.


We have made some great memories in Edinburgh, Scotland with Matt and Abi- memories that we will always be able to look back on. Abi posted a bunch of pictures of our visit at 1000 Days in Europe.

It's Spring!

Barefoot Contessa has her new spring recipes up on her website.

Finally! The weather has started to ripen and the air is a little more dense, doesn't quite knock the air out of you as soon as you step outside. The last couple of weeks Tim and I have spent cleaning up our front yard so that we can brick it. This involved clearing away the pond, fish, and a million other gross things that happened to live under the soil.

We have also been dealing with some plumbing issues that we pretty much expected were going to happen in a 1902 house with some handyman past owners. I often wonder and hope that we are not in this alone, that other old DC houses have the same issues.

This time of year has me feeling very cluttery. I am not sure if that makes sense, but I look around at my house, my clothes, my life and just want to clean everything out. Start fresh. This could be lent. This could be spring. This could be that the sun does that to you. There is something so simple, so pure, so non-cluttery about the first buds of spring. Crocuses, daffodills, and soon cherry blossoms. They are so crisp.

I was talking with my sister the other day and we were complaining about the weather this winter. She said, "You always forget how great spring is, and then every year you remember how wonderful it feels."

Capitol Hill Snow

Dog Lover, Who Me?

At the risk of being perceived as an obnoxious obsessive dog lover and owner...




Pippin had his first major trip to the park today. Lincoln Park is a large park in between 11th and 13th Streets, a few blocks from our house. As we approached the park Tim said to Pippin, "You may now enter heaven." And that is exactly what Lincoln Park is for dogs: heaven. Pippin played with every dog who would play with him for 2 hours...his longest outing yet. We met our friends at the park to introduce our dogs. They have a large Swiss Mountain dog. Pippin didn't quite know what to do with him since he couldn't even reach his neck jumping. He also got in a scuffle with a boxer that was interesting to say the least. Tim had to wrestle the boxer to the ground and unclench his jaws which had Pippin's neck in their grasp. I never realized the dog sub-culture that existed on Capitol Hill. We met a ton of new people today, and Pippin met their dogs. We will definitely be making this a weekly event.

Rustico

I know, I know, this blog was going to be about DC, but I can't help it. There is a great restaurant, Rustico, in one of the oddest places in Virgina. If you take the GW Parkway south toward Alexandria and turn right on Slaters Lane you come to a Trumanshowesque sort of town. There you have streets of condos and townhouses, a couple boutiques, a creamery, and Rustico. Once inside however, you forget about your odd surroundings. Rustico is dark yet large and airy. The high industrial ceilings are paired with the comfortable bar seating, several fireplaces, couches, and leather booths. But really, the best part about Rustico is its pages and pages of beer selection, and its wonderful food. We recently learned that Bells Two Hearted Ale is powerful, hoppy, and not for the faint of heart. I decided to stick with the much lighter Brooklyn lager.

The menu is small, but every dish I have had there has been excellent. My first time at Rustico I had the duck confit pizza with brie and arugula. It was superb! Their soup trio is also very suprisingly tasty. This time around at the urging of my friend I had the mussels and a caesar salad. Again, both delicious. In fact, the mussels were some of the best I have had. So, if you every get the random urging to cross the bridge and venture out of DC stop by Rustico, but don't stay too long!

Daily Candy's write up on Rustico: click here

Beef Bourguignon

On Friday night my friend Kristen came over to cook. It was the end of a long work week, and what better way to cap it off with an evening of cooking. DC sure has a lot of great restaurants, but sometimes it is so wonderful to just stay at home and cook. I am not sure if there is anything much more relaxing to me than having a glass of wine while cooking with friends.

We set about making Ina Garten's beef bourguignon (I have been wanting to make this ever since my Aunt sent me the recipe). It is a challenging recipe, so a perfect one to make when you have an extra set of hands helping out. The beef bourguignon turned out perfectly! The sauce is incredibly rich, and Ina's suggestion of pouring the sauce over toasted garlic bread was fabulous. You can get to the recipe by clicking on Ina Garten above. I would highly suggest it for a large dinner party.

While the beef bourguignon simmered we practiced how to actually pronounce "beef bourguignon" and also made Ina's hummus. One recipe makes plenty, so there is no need to double this. Add more garlic and hot sauce for a kick.

We were all so full and happy from the yummy meal, but had enough energy after dinner for several rounds of Hearts.

Despite the warm weather we are having lately, there is no pretending that January and February are hard months to get through. The holidays are over, and the lighter longer days seem very far away. Sometimes, I would just like to hole up in a corner (like our puppy has been doing lately), surrender, and let the time pass. However, that would not be following the mantra that I chose for my blog's header. There must be some good in every season, something redeemable. So, to honor the season I am surrendering to the difficult recipes I have always wanted to cook and to the stack of books by my bed.

I read a quote today by David Viscott. I am not really sure who he is or what he is all about, but his words gave me chills as I long for the dog days of summer.
"To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides." Ahh, what a wonderful feeling that is.