having a plan.

I mentioned the diet goal a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been culling and compiling from a million pinterest pins and things I’ve done in the past in an effort to find something workable that will hopefully not just be something to help me lose a bit of weight and get back on track but be sustainable over an extended period of time (life time habits maybe). Here’s what I’ve got as my guidelines:

• 45 min exercise daily (15 min of strength training and alternating 30 min aerobics one day and 30 min yoga the next, resting on Sunday)
• 75+ oz water and/or herbal tea daily (a glass on rising, before each meal and as often as I need otherwise to reach the total ounces), no sodas, very limited juices
• alternate high protein/high carb every other day-I’ve studied various programs that talk about the way our bodies store different kinds of calories and need varied foods for ultimate nutrition. Basically each way of eating has its benefits. This program acknowledges that and shows that varying your diet every other day ideally keeps your glycogen levels in check and results in longer-lasting success. (If your glycogen levels are too full, as in a high-carb diet, your body converts the excess to fat. In a low-carb diet your body resorts to ketosis, fat-burning mode, ideal for short-term but if not re-balanced leads to fatigue and slowed metabolism. Besides the risks that too much protein often means a lack of necessary nutrients and naturally higher caloric intake.)
• Cut out processed, refined, and convenience foods. ‘High carb’ doesn’t mean I get to eat donuts ;) The goal is for natural, whole foods. My carbs will be whole grains, starchy veggies and beans, sweet fruits (foods with a naturally higher glycemic index.) Low carb days will focus on eggs, lean meats, non-starchy veggies, nuts.
• And because I’ve done a million cleanses and de-tox diets and allergy elimination diets and know what my will power can and can’t handle (plus, I’m not ready to give up baking now that I have access to a kitchen again, especially with all the great fall options on the way!) I’m allowing myself one splurge meal and one dessert each week. 

Hopefully this gives me enough variety and freedom that I can keep it up long-term and not feel as if I’m being deprived of anything. We’ll see if I need to be stricter in order to lose. I’ve fluctuated 5-10 pounds since high school but never really tried to lose weight before so this is all new territory and I know that age is going to play a part in all of this. My metabolism (among other things) just isn’t what it used to be!

The goal is to be down 20 pounds, lose several inches in various places, sleep better and have a bit more energy.  But honestly the biggest one is to be able to fit back into my pants since I’m too broke to buy new ones! I only have 2 or 3 pairs that I can squeeze into anymore and now that the weather is cooling shorts and yoga pants are out. ;) So, we’ll start with the above and see what happens. I’m planning to do a weekly check in and just tell you vaguely how I’ve done and hopefully how many pounds I’m down. I won’t subject you to my food diaries and all the particulars. But if I don’t make some decent progress I’ll probably solicit advice! Any favorite tricks or programs that have brought you success? I’d love to hear about them!

a delicious snack.

One of the great comforts in life is food. I know it shouldn’t be. But darnit, I’m an emotional eater. And when I’m feeling homesick, one of the few things to really make me feel better is a little taste of home. This week I splurged at the import store and bought a box of microwave popcorn. I’ve actually tried to wean myself off of the stuff since it’s full of all kinds of chemicals and who knows what but sometimes you just have to give in.

I’ve also been hording a bag of Reese’s Pieces that my sister brought me at Christmas. I’ve rationed it out pretty well and still have about half the bag left. Since I’ll be leaving soon I decided I could let myself eat two treats at once and I indulged in one of my favorite guilty snacks.

Pop one bag of popcorn and let it cool just a bit. Then pour in some of the Reese’s Pieces. Shake the bag and let things settle for a minute and then enjoy! The salty popcorn balances the sweet candy perfectly and if you time it just right you can keep the outer shell intact but the heat will make the middle all melty. It’s salty/sweet/crunchy/gooey perfection! And if you’re really wanting to walk on the wild side you can throw a few m&ms in the mix. Mmm, good stuff!

What are some of your favorite concoctions? I’d love to add to my list of vices!

By the way, you know you're in Asia when the microwave has an 'Instant Noodles' button but you're on your own for popcorn! :)

time spent on the water.

Several times now I’ve had the chance to dine on the water. The Thais have all these fun little boat house things on most sizable bodies of water and they use them to great advantage. The first place we went was strictly a restaurant. You walk down a long stretch of bamboo walkway with private ‘rooms’ on each side. Your waitress seats your party in one of the rooms and takes your order and you make yourself comfortable on the floor around the little table in the middle. Once the food comes you untie the rope and float your way out into the middle of the water to eat and escape the sounds of the karaoke (they do love their karaoke, participating in it everywhere; loudly and terribly!) from the room next door. When you’re finished you simply tow yourself back to the dock and pay your tab. It’s quite romantic! (the 5 of us girls had a lovely time ;)

The next experience was at a reservoir. The idea was similar but on a larger scale. A group of us from school all went, took a 2 ½ hour drive to a more rural area surrounded by trees and mountains. The lush setting was perfect for our Sunday afternoon outing. The boats here were considerably larger, tall enough for me to stand upright and big enough for the 8 of us to have plenty of space to all lounge about. We placed our order for dinner at the dock and then were towed out to the middle of the reservoir by a guy in a motor boat. There we swam and soaked up the sun until another guy in a boat brought us picnic baskets full of our food. When we decided we needed more som tam (and alcohol for the others) we made a ship to shore call and soon there was another boat speeding our way with the requested provisions. And again later when it was time to leave, another phone call produced yet another motor boat to tow us back to shore. It was quite the setup. I don’t know of anything quite like it in the states but someone should jump on that business venture, pronto.

a road trip.

I decided to take a leisurely trip across the country instead of hurrying from Virginia to Utah. If I'd had a little more money and a little less crap in my car I would have taken an even more circuitous route. As it was I spent nearly 9 days wandering mostly from one friend's home to another, breaking up the drive and doing a bit of sightseeing around this great nation.

First stop was Hodgenville, Kentucky where I visited the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.   Back in 1915 (the 50 year anniversary of his assassination) the public was invited to donate money and all the funds were used to build a memorial on the grounds. Fifty-six steps (one for each year of his life) lead up to a building housing a replica of a log cabin similar to the one where he was born. The cabin itself is a bit of a let-down but the grounds are beautiful and they hold a special sort of feeling, similar to the memorials in DC. It was a beautiful way to start my day and journey.

After leaving Hodgenville I drove a little over an hour north to Louisville where I took the opportunity to visit the historic Brown Hotel for lunch. The hotel had its hey day in the 20s and through the aftermath of WWII before it closed down. City revitalization efforts in the 80s paid off and the building is now on the National Historic Register, has been used in movies, hosted film and political dignitaries, and does a brisk business during Derby week. I treated myself to an amazing hot brown sandwich; an open-faced turkey, bacon, and tomato sandwich drenched in a rich Mornay cheese sauce.  Take my advice, it's worth the trip but share it with a friend!

Next up was a visit to a great friend in St. Louis. We spent many hours catching up, antiquing and eating delicious food (a killer kale salad, a hot pastrami sandwich, local frozen custard and a fresh pastry breakfast among my faves.)  We visited Forest Park, a huge park in the center of the city, larger than Central Park and originally the site of the Louisiana Purchase Expedition. It's now home to running trails, the zoo, a municipal theater, the St Louis Art museum, and a history museum. M and I spent one afternoon in the modern art wing of the art museum and I wandered through the history museum the morning before I hit the road. They're both free and both have pretty great collections. We also took a mandatory trip to the famous arch. It was fun to see the sights through the eyes of a local, to move beyond the traditional list of tourist attractions and venture off the beaten path. And to do it all with a gracious hostess and friend made it all the better.

Forest Park fountain

Andy Goldsworthy piece at the art museum

Part two coming soon. I know you can't wait!

a list.

Some of the highlights of a weekend trip to NYC a few days ago before vacating the East Coast.

1. Naked people in Times Square
2. Men putting on makeup in the middle of church services
3. The smell of chocolate thick on your skin
4. Walking with the masses across the Brooklyn Bridge
5. Maple, cream cheese, and bacon macarons
6. Laughing uproariously in this play
7. Making new friends
8. Thick hot chocolate and a summer fruits tart for breakfast
9. Singing along with the tunes in this show
10. Breakfast eaten while strolling along the Highline
11. Banjo/spoons performances in the subway
12. Random street art
13. Finding out who is buried in Grant's Tomb

a random list of faves.

Some things I've been enjoying lately:

Yesterday's Google Doodle honoring movie title designer Saul Bass and featuring music by Dave Brubeck.  Perfect!

The Spock Vs. Spock Audi commercial.  "Technically we're not inside yet."

Playing weekly games of skee ball as a member of a skee ball league.  Yep, such things exist.  Who knew?! It takes me straight back to middle school and I'm loving it (even though we haven't yet won a game.) :) 

A little salad I whipped up for lunch (kale, mango, coconut, craisins, sunflower seeds, green apples, avocados, cucumbers) drizzled with dark chocolate balsamic vinegar.  Yes, it's as magical as it sounds.  It will change your world.  Try dipping strawberries in it or swirling it in your french vanilla bean ice cream.  Mmmm!

This book.  It's lovely and magical and surprising and I'm eating it up.

And trying to wade through this stack of books in my suddenly diminished reading time. *sigh* so many books, so little time!

The azaleas that are in full bloom everywhere you look right now. So vibrant and fabulous especially against a gray and rainy backdrop.

And planning for my upcoming trip to Germany. Life is definitely kicking my butt right now and I'm looking forward to riding the rails up and down the Moselle river valley, doing a little biking through Amsterdam and eating some chocolate in Belgium. The 20th can't come soon enough!

What's been on your plate?

a great book discussion.

Guess what? I started a book club. I convinced a group of friends that I needed help branching out and discussing more grown-up books (I'd started out using the term 'adult books' and got a few somewhat worried emails back from the invitees wanting to know just what kinds of books I had in mind!) When the terms were made a little less hazy most people jumped at the chance and we held our first meeting earlier this week.

I've been attending a church organized book club for the last few years but several changes in congregational boundaries made it so there were very few people that I really knew. We also had to be a bit more selective on what we read (not that it's a bad thing but several times we chose a book that none of us had ever read before only to get a few chapters or pages into it and decide that we'd probably better pick something else.) Being in charge gives me the opportunity to pick who is invited and have a little more flexibility in what we choose.

I'd also hoped to develop my culinary skills a bit so I decided to serve a light dinner at the inaugural bash. I spent the day before chopping and prepping to make three different soups (this potato soup, a variation on this apple pumpkin, and my fave this tomato basil) a loaf of roasted garlic bread and some pear pomegranate crumble for dessert. (All recipes found via Pinterest.)

Because of so many rampant cold and flu bugs running wild at the moment we only ended up with 8 in attendance but 15 or so that are on the list and hoping to participate as we go on. Everyone was told to bring a few books to suggest (some favorite reads and some they'd hoped to read) and we had some great discussion at the outset. I think it bodes well for future gatherings.

Here are some of the books we discussed:

• The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
• Possession by AS Byatt
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
• The Little Prince by Antione de Saint-Exupery
• Act in Doctrine by Elder Bednar
• The Chosen by Chaim Potok
• My Grandfather's Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen
• Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer
• Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
• Daughter of the Forest by Juliette Marillier
• Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
• The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
• The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
• Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald
• Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
• Savvy Auntie by Melanie Notkin
• Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That by Henry Alford
• 1000 Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are by Byron Katie
• Zhuangze: Basic Writings
• A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
• Quiet: The Power of Intorverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Wild Swans: Three Daughers of China
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosentrach
• The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean

(If I was awesome I'd have linked all of these for you...sorry, I'm not!) Have you read any of these? Which would you recommend? We're each voting for our top 5 and then the host for next month will have the honor of choosing their favorite from the final three.  I'll let you know the winner when it's decided.

To go along with all of this I’ve recommitted myself to making more regular book posts, at least once a week. I'd also like to branch out beyond just book reviews so I'm going to try to include a few features found on actual book blogs such as story time spotlights, author profiles, and literacy news as well as keeping you abreast of our book club choices/discussions. And in an effort to drum up a bit more traffic here I’m going to be trying to comment on others' blogs at least once a week. There’s a great community out there and sometimes I still feel as if I’m peeking in the window watching instead of truly participating.

a taste of fall.

This past week since running my race I've fallen off the wagon as far as my healthy eating/diet is concerned.  I had been convinced that it hadn't made a huge difference. I felt a bit better but I wasn't necessarily getting more sleep or noticing any vast improvements and the emotional turmoil of avoiding so many things I enjoyed (including baking, social invitations and just plain old eating!) didn't seem to outweigh the slim benefits. So, I'd determined to add a few things back in but still eat primarily fruits and vegetables and avoid the processed foods and sugars in particular. Well, the best laid plans as they say...

I think I ate vegetables 3 or 4 times the entire week and let me tell you, it really did make a difference.  I feel super sluggish, I have much less energy and mental clarity and just feel overall bleh (yep, I just made "bleh" an adjective.)

This week will be a little crazy as we'll probably lose power so we've had to go the non-perishable grocery route but as soon as things are back to normal I vow to return to a cleaner way of eating. But, until then I've been enjoying some fall treats and they've definitely pleased my pallet, if not so much the rest of me.

Here are a few of my favorites: *

Roasted Brussels Sprouts I left out the barley 'cuz I didn't have any, but otherwise a winner!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas tonight's dinner, delish
Pumpkin Pie French Toast pumpkin? french toast? what's not to love?! I poured a bit of buttermilk syrup over mine (thanks M, for the recipe!) and it was divine!!
Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies Oh, my, word! There are no words for how delicious these were. Eat them fresh out of the oven when the caramel is gooey or top them with some pumpkin ice cream or dip them in dark hot chocolate....so tasty!

Now I just need to get me a salted caramel hot chocolate and a hazelnut steamer from Starbucks and I'll be ready to purge my system again!

What are some of your favorite fall foods and flavors? Anything I should squeeze in before I launch back into reality living?


*All of the recipes were found on Pinterest originally.  How did I survive before without it? I shudder to think!

a fall hike.

I'd been planning for months to take a trip out to Sky Meadows state park in western Virginia and there was always something that got in my way; an increase in the number of Saturdays I have to work, various social commitments, hurricanes, the usual. This weekend I'd planned once more to try and make it when we got word of the monster storm headed our way and I was afraid I was going to have to cancel yet again.  But the odds were in my favor this time and I dragged a few friends with me to do some hiking. 

About an hour west of DC, the park sits on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains surrounded by horse country and vineyards. Translation: It's beautiful! The drive was unexpectedly smooth (I-66 is notoriously yucky at all days and times) and quick and we were able to spend about 3 1/2 hours hiking through fallen leaves and enjoying views like this:

The weather held, slightly overcast and cool, a perfect fall day. It's nice to know there are little bits of heaven not too far away and places to go to recoup and recover from the grind and perpetual push of day-to-day living.

After we'd exhausted ourselves we decided it was time to venture on to part 2 of the day's outing, a late lunch! We followed some winding, tree-lined roads through the countryside and into a little town called Middleburg where we ate lunch at a fabulous little cafe. (Thanks, M, for the suggestion!)

The Upper Crust bakery served us up some fantastic sandwiches on fluffy homemade bread, a delicious slice of chocolate cream pie, a to-die-for chocolate croissant, and a few cookies for the ride home.  We all left feeling delightfully sated and ready for an afternoon nap!

I now feel perfectly rejuvenated and ready to handle anything Mr. Frankenstorm may decide to throw my way!  Happy weekend to you all!

discovering a new taste sensation.

Those of you who have been regular followers of the blog (are there really any of you? oh well, let's assume shall we?) will know of my struggles earlier this year with some health issues involving my sleep. I had a serious bout of insomnia for a couple of months on top of some exhaustion and things were not pretty. I've always had trouble sleeping and even when I do sleep I rarely wake up feeling rested. Anyhow, this has been an ongoing battle for most of my life but particularly the last few months as I've not fully recovered from the hoopla earlier. What this amounts to is some desperation on my part to try just about anything to get a good night's sleep. I've tried melatonin and various and sundry herbal concoctions. I've used chamomile and other teas. I've taken hot baths and sniffed lavender and even tried my hand at visualization. Everything works a tiny bit for a tiny while but nothing has proven to be a saving grace.

The latest venture is a diet plan that is designed to target your hormones in helping you to lose weight. I'm not too concerned about the weight thing (though who doesn't have a couple of pounds or inches they wouldn't cry to part with) but the hormone thing caught my attention.

Supposedly whichever hormone is out of whack affects where you carry your weight and/or what symptoms you have.  For the first two weeks you focus on healing your liver which regulates all the other hormones in your body. If you can get your liver functioning properly it should improve the other things (for me it would be sleep, skin, energy, breathing) as well as helping to boost your metabolism and lose weight. Basically you eat just veggies and most fruits-no grains, no sugar, very limited protein.  Sugar is the great evil and the body doesn't recognize the difference between a sugar cookie and a bowl of pasta, it all turns into insta carbs and elevates the blood sugar and this strains the liver which then messes up the hormones. Too much protein is hard on the liver as well and so many of them are treated with hormones (meat, dairy, eggs) that they cause their own issues. The goal is to be super strict for 2 weeks and then depending on which hormone type you are you can add a few other things in sparingly but mostly you just stick to the vegetables.

I'm running a 5K later this month and figured that was a good goal line to work towards and a little beyond the inital two weeks. After the run I can gauge how I'm feeling and if I think it's made enough of a difference for me to stick with it or throw in the towel. I'm about halfway through and so far no great changes to report. I'm still tired, still not sleeping well, my skin, digestion and other things are about what they were before as well (and my pants aren't any looser!) but I'm hanging in there. Hoping for the miracle while simultaneously craving bread and chocolate!

But on the upside, I've discovered some foods I would never have given much thought to. Like beets.  Who knew beets could be delicious? I've come across some fantastic (and super healthy) veggie recipes that I thought I'd pass on so you can share in the joy of eating some tasty, healthy foods as well.

• White Bean and Kale Soup
• Oven Roasted Cauliflower
• Balsamic Roasted Vegetables
• Various Spaghetti Squash Incarnations
• Kale Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
• Roasted Beets with Lemon Vinaigrette

I'll revisit this after I've run my race and let you know what the final verdict is. But at the very least I'm practicing some self-control which I don't do often enough in my life. (I've even voluntarily eaten cauliflower three times in the past two weeks. That's huge!) Do you have any favorite veggie recipes you'd like to share?  I'd love to try them!!

having 'smore!

I've got a group of friends that gather every now and then for 80s movie night. Being children of the 80s we've got a slew of great ones to pick from and even more memories tied to them that we hash and re-hash. It's great fun!

Well, this month we had a few suggestions rolling around with a few strong opinions about a not-quite-80s choice. The 80s die-hards won out (Karate Kid Kid is still as awesome as it was 20+ years ago, Mr. Miyagi is the fount of all wisdom!) but we had a follow-up viewing the next night for the other film.

The night was clear with the first beginnings of the cool, crispness of fall perfect for a campfire. Unfortunately all we had was a BBQ grill in the backyard but it was enough to toast the mallows. Followed by the addition of some chocolate (a little peanut butter for the more adventurous among us) and graham crackers we had ourselves the quintessential summer send-off snack…s'mores!

Have you guessed our movie choice yet? You’re killin’ me Smalls!!

Now? Okay, okay I’ll tell you…The Sandlot!

If you’ve never seen it, you’re missing out on a fabulous flick. A group of boys who spend the entire summer playing baseball and trying to get a signed Babe Ruth baseball back from the killer dog that lives over the fence. Yep, doesn’t get much better than that.

And it’s got to be one of the most quotable movies ever…

*Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow your heart kid, and you'll never go wrong.

*I'm bakin' like a toasted cheese-it! It's so hot here!

*I've been coming here every summer of my adult life, and every summer there she is oiling and lotioning, lotioning and oiling... smiling. I can't take this no more!
 

and then after kissing the 'oily' lifeguard...

*Did you plan that?
Of course I did. been planning it for years.

The ultimate of insults...You play ball like a girl!

*For-ev-er!

And in case you’ve never made s'mores (who are you and how have you lived this long?! You have no idea what you’re missing!) here’s a step by step guide straight from the film:

Want some fancy upgrades to the typical s'more? Try some of these ideas… 

And on another baseball note, our Nats made it to the playoffs. Woohoo!

Happiness is...a few of my favorite things recently.

*naps on the beach

*Rita's frozen custard creations
*grilled corn on the cob with rosemary lime butter

*blowing bubbles
*a fabulous sunset (photo stored on my phone of average intelligence, meanwhile this person with equally average intelligence has no idea how to get it off...but just close your eyes and imagine it, it was spectacular!)
*a concert under the stars

*fresh blackberries with mint

*Olympic fever!
*midnight breakfast at the Waffle House

*booking hotels for an upcoming trip
*homemade basil lemonade

*dinners and celebrations with friends

I'm such a slacker on the photo front lately! I'm not sure why but I just haven't been on the ball with all of this so I apologize for the lack of images and documentation. My summer has consisted of more than just food I swear!  I promise to do better from here on out :)

As the end of summer draws near I always feel this rush to squish in just one more quintessential summer memory. I still have a few things to work on from my summer to-do list and a few things that I've added along the way but so far there are no complaints. How has yours been?

Happiness is...a culinary adventure.

I love browsing through farmer's markets and the 'exotic' section of the grocery store.  You find so many beautiful and strange looking things.

This week's spontaneous purchase was this crazy little melon.

A pepino. I'd never seen/heard of one before and I was intrigued so I brought it home with me. And then had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

The skin was smooth like a tomato and I expected the flesh to be similar as well, but it was surprisingly  melon looking when I cut into it; the seeds concentrated in the center like a miniature cantaloupe. But it was basically tasteless, a tiny hint of sweetness with an undertone of bitterness...but only if you tried really hard to find them.

Never having had one before I don't know if that's typical or not but I was determined not to waste it!  So, treating it like a green tomato (which it also sort of resembled) I grabbed some bread crumbs, seasoned them a bit, dipped the slices in an egg wash followed by the bread mix and fried them up in a pan.

The results were actually pretty tasty.  I was only missing a ranch sauce to dip them in!

Have you had any food adventures lately? Tasted something new or created something surprisingly tasty? Eaten one of these peculiar pepinos?  (should I give them another shot or prepare them differently?)  I'd love to hear about it!

Happiness is...a busy weekend.

This weekend was one of those non-stop, go go go, type.  I wasn't home for longer than about 20 minutes at a time other than to sleep. I got nothing done (in the way of laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning or other 'responsible adult' type activities.) But it was a pretty great one anyway.

Friday night I headed into town to visit the Jazz Church with a group of friends.  The Westminster Presbyterian church hosts live performances every Friday (and Blues on Monday) and serves up soul food in the basement. There were plenty of 'amens' and a bit of preaching about how God loves jazz (I'll add my own 'amen' to that!), along with the fantastic music. It was a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday began with a delicious brunch (cinnamon bananas over German pancakes topped with buttermilk syrup, red potatoes and leeks, bacon, orange juice...are you drooling yet?) and then a drive to Annapolis for an Irish Festival.

My great friend K is my musical guru and the one I follow blindly to concerts and bands I've never heard of before.  She has yet to lead me astray and Saturday was no exception.  The goal for the day was to listen to Scythian, a local band that is influenced by everything from bluegrass to klezmer and puts on a rousing show.  It was super hot but they were hotter! We were up and clapping and stomping our feet and Miss M even had a run-in with some wandering belly dancers.

We were also treated to plenty of kilts (though I'm not sure why, only in the US would that fly, everywhere else people would realize that the Irish and the Scots are NOT the same!) and plaid in various forms (check out the pants below!) as well as some bagpipes and LOTS of beer and drunkenness. Good times!

We followed it all up with a stop at  The Queen Vic, a British pub in DC where I had a tasty chicken and mushroom pie, fantastic chips (fries) and the crowning dish, sticky toffee pudding.  I'd never had it before but I became an instant fan! The cake is moist and drenched in a caramel-y toffee sauce and served with a side of heavy whipped cream. I guess it's usually sweetened but ours was salted giving it an interesting salted caramel taste. And it was delicious!

But wait, we're not done! Then it was time to switch friends and drive an hour or so down to Stafford for dinner and a movie night (Five Guys and Goonies!) followed by some homemade ice cream. Does it get any better?  I don't think so either.  And yes, I think I gained at least 5 pounds in the 2 days, but it was totally worth it!
How was your weekend?