Summer Weekend

This weekend was a blast and a perfect way to celebrate the start of summer. Friday night we went over to our friend Brad's house for grilled burgers, hot dogs and the perfect summer treat, watermelon.

On Saturday, we drove down with Allen and Heather to the much anticipated Fried Chicken Festival in Federalsburg, MD. Allen and I have been waiting for over a year for this and it was worth the wait. The giant fry pan actually cooks a darn good piece of fried chicken.

We felt a bit like city slickers at this festival, but it was nice to see a bit of Americana at its best. Who doesn't get nostalgic at the antique tractor show?

The fun didn't stop at Federalsburg. We drove a bit further to Rehobeth Beach and enjoyed the sun and surf for a few hours before heading to the Dogfish Head Brewery and Pub. A few samplers later I (the designated driver--safety first!) drove the three hours home to the lovely sounds of Allen snores and Bigelow's inane "if" questions.

Finally, our Sunday rounded out with best of all meals--brunch. We met our friends, Sam, Alison, Kellie, Isaac, Allen and Heather at Logan Tavern. Can you believe it took a week and 24 emails to get all of us together in one place? For those who love bloody marys, Logan Tavern has a bloody mary menu. Their caramel pecan french toast is amazing and the prices aren't bad.

Happy Father's Day

Since it's Father's Day I thought I would post about my "papa". Below is a picture he sent me of his near prize winning King Mackeral.

He loves to fish and the past few years he was forced to take a break because of a knee injury. However, this year he's back in full force. He was hunting for the elusive cobia earlier this year and came up empty, but he seems to have conquered the King Mackeral since this picture is his fifth!

Here's to a good year of fishing, papa!

A Nice Day for a Hike

After a long week at work, we decided to get out of the city and head west to Shenandoah National Park. We found a nice hiking trail only a few miles into the park and went for a leisurely stroll. Lelaine disagreed with the classification of our trail as "fairly easy", but she did a good job. There was an early scare when she rolled an ankle coming off a rock, but she completed the entire trail.

CB's eight things

Some people claim I snore, moan, and talk in my sleep all at the same time.

When I was a baby, long before I had the amazing figure I have today, my parents called me the Michelin Man.

I don't think humans should live in regions where alligators live.

Unless there is an emergency or it involves Al Roker, the weather segment on the local news should never last more than 20 seconds.

I once sat next to John Ritter on a bus.

I don't know all the words to my favorite song.

By volume, I have more hair on my back than on my head. Some people call it my sweater.

Occasionally I make fun of the actions of a certain unnamed individual. Said person then guilts me into doing things like posting blog entries.

8 Things About Me

I was reading my cousin's blog and she had a post about 8 things about her. This is much like the forwards we receive, but I found it so interesting because I didn't know a lot of the stuff about her.

I was inspired to do the same thing on this blog, but I am kicking it up a notch (not really trying to sound like Emeril) and make it about things that people might not know about me. After all, it is what intrigued me about my cousin's post.

P.S. This is a great posting to comment on (hint, hint) and either post your own 8 things or laugh at mine.

1. I have a secret love for soft rock.

2. I have always wanted to write a book-- fiction--not anything intellectual. I had this really awesome dream kind of like Neverending Story when I was 7 or 8 and thought every kid would want to read about it. I even typed out a few pages and "illustrated" a cover.

3. I found my first gray hair in the fifth grade.

4. When I was in fifth or sixth grade environmentalism was back in vogue and I started learning about global warming, CFCs, pollution, etc. For weeks, I had trouble sleeping because I thought the world was going to explode.

5. I live in constant fear of being called dumb or stupid.

6. If I hold things in my hand for a long time I tend to drop them and not notice. This leads to losing things like scarves, umbrellas or hats.

7. I honestly believe everything done on the Macgyver show can be accomplished.

8. I have trouble understanding when people tell me the time with phrases such as "half past X" or "a quarter before X".

Etete

Recently, we've come to realize that we have been a bit traitorous to our neighborhood-- neglecting it's unexplored restaurants. In our old 'hood I daresay there's probably just a handful of places where we never ate. One of the reasons why we wanted to move was for change and this very week we went back to Adams Morgan and ate there (sacrilege).

Anyway, since our new neighborhood is famous for it's Ethiopian restaurants, we ventured out to try one. We decided to try a little restaurant called Etete or "Mama" in Amharic.


When you walk in you definitely smell cardamom and other aromatic spices in the air and spying at the tables you see bright green jalapenos dotting many of the dishes. We enjoyed a sambusa appetizer, zezil tibs and the restaurant's special kitfo. All was very good. My favorie part was that the kitfo and the three cheeses that came with it were drizzled in a special Ethiopian warmed butter. The glass to the left of the picture was authentic Ethiopian honey wine.

The best part of the entire night is that it is 1000 feet from our place.

Wedding Shoes!

My wedding shoes came in today! Aren't they gorgeous? Yes...they are expensive, but my dress was a steal, so I could splurge.

They feel so soft on and I did feel a bit like Sarah Jessica Parker walking around in my apartment. I will vow on this blog for Chris that I promise not to buy as many JC shoes as she did (unless I win the lottery).