matt's visit

Last weekend Matt came out for a visit. When we booked the ticket it was in hopes of him being here for a Caps game in the Stanley Cup, which would have been awesome...had the Caps not gotten eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Fortunately we still had a good weekend.

On Friday, after Lelaine and Jen got back from their roadtrip to South Carolina, we went out to dinner at Jaleo with Doug, Allen, and Heather for Spanish tapas. The next morning, after polishing off some pancakes, the fire alarm in our building went off and we played outside for a bit. After getting the ok to head back inside, Lelaine seized on Matt's like of goat cheese as an excuse to head downtown to Cowgirl Creamery to try a variety of fromage. We also got a cupcake from Red Velvet, a cupcake place that Lelaine likes but isn't near the top of my list. It was pretty hot outside, but we walked around a bit and then took Jen to grab a train to take to the airport.

Next was a stop at the Library of Congress. It is across the street from where we work but I have only been inside the Jefferson Building - by far the nicest of the three - once or twice. The inside was really neat; probably the best looking building in DC. It will definitely be added to the list of places to take visitors from now on.

Although we had been snacking all day, we hadn't had a meal since breakfast, so Lelaine decided to stop off at Whole Foods for a snack before we went out that night. This was a good opportunity for my brother to experience one of Lelaine's "snacks," which consisted of cheese, crackers, soppressata, and steak sandwiches. In her defense, that night we weren't going to eat a full meal, but still, that is quite the snack.

Then came the highlight of the weekend: Savor, aka beer prom. This was the third annual Savor, an event in which the Brewers Association picks 70 craft brewers to bring two of their best beers to DC for a night when you get to pair all kinds of amazing beer with food. Doug, Lelaine, and two friends from work joined Matt and I, and Doug hit the nail on the head when he compared it to Christmas morning when you are a kid. It is pretty much every beer lovers dream. The picture is of Matt and I eating oysters. After Savor we thought it would be best to soak up some of the beer with a jumbo slice in Adams Morgan.

Sunday morning was a little rough, but we eventually made it outside for a little food and drove around to show Matt part of the district. While in Georgetown we stopped at Baked and Wired, my favorite cupcake place. Somehow Matt claimed Red Velvet to be better - he must have just wanted to be nice to Lelaine right before we dropped him off at the airport. Hopefully it isn't 3+ years until his next visit.