Luscious Fibers, Food and Life

dinner with friends

Last night Greg and Kyla came over for dinner and to watch/discuss the Florida returns.  We also celebrated their recent engagement - yeah!  We had veggie pot pie and spinach salad for dinner. It was a cozy, relaxed evening and we all had a really nice time.

Tonight I'm getting my haircut and then I'm going to try and watch the rest of Lost Season 3 (I think I have 6 more shows!) on ABC online for FREE, so that I'm all caught up for the season 4 premiere tomorrow night.  I'm not sure I can pull this off.

look at that face!

I got a visit from little Eli yesterday. He has grown so much and is smiling all the time. It's amazing how much he has changed.

Yesterday was the first gathering of my crafty friends on an afternoon. We've been getting together when time allows during the week, but with busy work and baby schedules, we decided to try an afternoon meeting and Kate named it "Crafternoon." I think it was quite successful...very cozy and relaxed.

Amanda, Sarah and Eli came over a little before crafternoon started and we visited for a while, which was nice because we hadn't seen them in a couple weeks. Then we were joined by Amanda and Marcella and then Kate and her co-worker Amanda (lots of Amandas.)  We spent the afternoon catching up, knitting, sewing and scrap-booking. It was really nice time and I think we'll probably stick afternoons, especially because we love the name so much.

You can see more crafternoon pics here.

a nice saturday

Wüsthof ®  - Oh My!

Today I used one of our new knives and let me say...OMG! So I've been using the same knives that I purchased in Seattle, a $115 set, over 13 years ago and lets just say, I'm surprised I haven't chopped off a finger by now. Well, my knives were probably too dull to chop off a finger, but I was definitely needing to put a lot of pressure on my veggies in order to cut them...not the safest prep I'm certain. Well no more! This knife cut through my veggies like butter. It was amazing and beautiful. I didn't know what I was missing.

So this morning I was cooking up one of my favorite recipes, Sarah Kramer's Veggie Pot Pie, for our  friends Amanda and Sarah who have a new little one, Elijah. I cut out a panda for the crust, just for him...ok, really for Sarah. I thought it was pretty cute, but you know I love pandas.

Grant and I brought them some eats and visited for a while today. It was nice to see them all and to finally hold Eli for an extended period of time.  He even smiled and laughed for me. He was sleeping, but I like to think he was just having such a good time hanging out with me. Or maybe he was laughing at me. I'm not sure, but he was very cute.  Grant held him too...first time holding a baby...EVER!  He did a really good job and Eli was completely quite for a good minute or so :)

Oh and last night we got our Christmas tree. A little early this year, but since we're both traveling at different times this month, we thought it would be nice to have a tree for some of the time that we're here together.  After much frustration and event a late call to my dad, we did finally get the tree to stand up.  It should be fine as long as you don't blow on it.  It's funny, even though we live in a much bigger place this year, we still got a smaller tree...I guess we're just used to it.  We're decorating tonight, more pics tomorrow.

 

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Yeah....we're married!

Suz's Wedding 193, originally uploaded by dcjay64.

Just a quick post to say that we got hitched!

It was the most wonderful weekend with family and friends. Our ceremony and reception was exceeded all expectations and we were incredibly happy the entire time.  We couldn't have asked for any to be better.  We are so incredibly grateful to have such supportive family and friends. 

I'm sure I'll post more soon, but you can check out family blogs here, here and here...and pics here.

Meet Elijah

Our friends Amanda and Sarah had their baby Elijah on Halloween.  He's a beautiful baby boy and Grant and I are looking forward to meeting him very soon.  Check out the little feet! I can't believe the booties are actually a little big.  When you're knitting them they seem so small and I have to say I wasn't sure they would fit, but babies are smaller than you think. 

Invitations and Babies

Last night Amanda and Peter came over and helped finish putting together our invitations.  Peter actually hung out with Grant and Amanda and I worked on the invitations.  They are pretty much done and most of them are going out today - yeah!    I didn't take a picture of the invitation itself but will do that tonight. I think the came out very nice and thanks to my mother for letting me use her scrap booking supplies!  Thank you Amanda for all your help!!

Also, last Sunday night a few of us got together to celebrate the moms to be, Amanda and Sarah. Amanda is due at the beginning of November and we're all getting very excited.  Amanda P. did a fantastic job hosting and everything was lovely.

Margaritas with Friends

There is a small group of us that tries to get together once a month to check out a new, or new to us, restaurant. The group has been getting together for a number of years and I joined them about 2 years ago.  For the ease of scheduling in my calendar, I refer to it as "dinner group."  Well last nice was dinner group and Sarah, Nathan, Jolene and I got together and had dinner at Casa Oaxaca (pronounced wa-HA-ca, which we all enjoyed saying) in Adams Morgan.

It's  always nice catching up over drinks and yummy food. Last night our dinner started out with jicama slices with a little paprika and lime juice. Then we order a pitcher of house margaritas and for my entree I had soft tacos with veggies, beans and rice.  While there were not a lot of vegan options on the menu, this dish was very good and I was definitely satisfied.

Next month we're thinking about going to one of the new restaurants in Columbia Heights. James, any suggestions?  Tonight Grant and I have reservations at Vegetate for restaurant week. We're very excited and I know they'll be lots of vegan options to choose from :)

Take Out with Friends

Tonight Grant and I had dinner with friends, Amanda and Sarah and Amanda and Peter.  We ordered dinner from Mr Chen's, a local favorite, and had a nice visit.  The sesame tofu and seaweed soup were yummy as usual.

It seems this will be our last get together for a few weeks as S&A are heading to a lovely-sounding bed and breakfast in Vermont and Grant and I are going to Savannah mid-month.

It was great to see everyone, as I've been away the past few days, and it was wonderful to see the two Amandas looking very happily pregnant.

High School Reunion Fun

So I attended my high school reunion on Saturday and it was amusing to say the least.  I have to say I was dreading going to this event, but thankfully I had the support of some wonderful friends to help make it a very special night.  Even though we had to stay at an econolodge, our 1998 limo was white (and the best feature was a VCR),  and Johnny sliced his thumb with our in-room bar utensil, there were many laughs to be had.  Overall, I had an excellent weekend with my favorite high school chums as we reminisced, perused the yearbook, and just enjoyed being together. 

Our yearbook, The Coniad, offered a space next to your senior picture to recount some fond memories and tributes. It was called the "Leaves Behind" section. On Friday night we each revisited that section of the yearbook and found that much of it didn't make sense or we couldn't recall the importance. Perhaps it's because we're 20 years older, but it doesn't help that everything was written in code so that peering adults and teachers wouldn't know about our secrets and mischievous behavior.  In keeping with yearbook format, I'll recount some of our reunion antics with cryptic wording.  It may not make much sense to many of you, and it probably won't make sense to any of us who attended, 20 years from now.

Leaves Behind:
Does this room have A/C?; Big Sexy Hair; I'd like my next drink with a slice of lemon and a splash of blood; my husband John; The power of nine; Seriously, is Dave in control of the radio?; Did anyone bring a video cassette?; Strong; It's so frosted; What's a degan?; That sucks, I'd like a Bud Light?; A conga line of two; Kiss! Kiss!; Everyone, jug it up!; Strong; The treadmill; Ed, that's not yours to drink; The mistress; Sorry, we can't serve you; Rick, take us to Tommy's Bar; The Stalker; Strong; The kiss good-bye; Amazing cardboard pizza; The power of 4, in bed; The light - it hurts; Just shut up about it; I need to snuggle; Hair of the dog; Italian bread; Suzanne, didn't you move away senior year?; OJ to go, please; Strong; Hugs all around.

To anyone from the power of nine, feel free to leave me comments of other moments you'd like to "Leave Behind."

Some Ice Cold Fun

Any thoughts on what this is?  Keep reading, full disclosure to come.

Last night I went to my friends Rob and Mandy's celebratory party. Rob has completed school for the year and Mandy left her job of a number of years.  Let me start by saying Rob and Mandy's parties are always a crazy blast. They have lots of friends and encourage lots of fun. Good drinks, good grub, and good fun.  There are always many great people to meet and talk with, which is cool, and there's always games to play.  Whether it's beer pong, flip cup (which I'm actually good at!) or liquor luging...there are smiles and cheers all around.

The liquor luge is fantastic. So shiny and slick. It's great how by the time the drink hits your mouth it's nice and cold.  It can be a little messy, but if you use your tongue to gauge the flow it all works out and of course there's always a towel handy.

All in all a good night!