Last weekend...more fun!

Ok, ok…so I forgot to update the both of you on how my last weekend went. In all honesty, I didn’t forget…I’ve just been really busy with work and trying to get stuff done at home. It’s kind of interesting, I guess, how much work there is to do in a place when you aren’t there much to do it normally. Not that I mind one bit, you see. If I had my way, it wouldn’t be an issue at all.

Ok, so…I flew to BWI on Thursday of last week and got there around 5:35 or so (a full 15 minutes before I was supposed to be there that was spent standing near the wall looking for groovy in an attempt to see her before she saw me so that I could surprise her or something which, of course, failed miserably because I only had about 3 seconds to surprise her before she saw me (what a delightfully long sentence!)). We got in the car and went to eat at this Italian place in the ball in Baltimore. Yes, there is more than one mall in Baltimore, but I neither remember the name of the mall nor the place that we ate, so I’m being intentionally vague! So there! We had this thing that was supposed to be a panini sandwich or something, except it wasn’t. It wasn’t that it was horrible or anything, it just wasn’t what I was expecting at all…but that’s ok! We got back to the apartment around 8:30-9 and just kind of hung out and talked for a while.

Friday morning, we went to Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast. It’s been YEARS since I had Dunkin’ Donuts! They were, of course, better than I remember them being (then again, that could have something to do with the coffee and being too hyper to realize what the food actually tasted like…who knows!). After that, we went to this place called Costco (it’s a non-Wal-Mart version of Sam’s…or something like that) and got all kinds of stuff there (gum, book, food, detergent to last a lifetime…you know, the basic necessities of life, and all in sizes that were sure to make your dwelling seem smaller than it actually was!). We ended up cooking a chicken casserole thing for supper that was especially good (it’s the one that my mom used to cook for us when we were kids with the tortillas and stuff), except we did some slight modification/experiments with it. Instead of using canned peppers, we got some fresh jalapenos and diced them up as well as adding a small can of corn to the mix for color. We decided that it needed some more color (as if orange, yellow, green and white weren’t enough), so we got these red peppers that were in this jar of stuff that she had and put a couple in there. It was, in a word, really, really good. Ok, so that’s 3 words…so sue me. We also made one of those cherry cheesecake things that you don’t have to bake at all. It was also good, even if we didn’t wait long enough for it to set up (laughs).

Saturday, we woke up and made pancakes for breakfast. Pancakes…that has to be an American tradition for breakfast on Saturday mornings or something. Then again, it’s also pretty dang good just about any other day of the week, for just about any other meal of the day…so I guess it’s just good all around (and the crowd yells, “Get on with it!”). Ok…we were trying to think of something to do during the day because we were going to head to DC that evening to go to this area of DC that groovy had never been to (I’m getting ahead of myself). We decided that we would try to go to a winery or two that just happened to be in the area. I, having never been to a winery, really had no idea what to expect except for glass bottles, oak casks and maybe some cheese. We ended up going to 3 different wineries that afternoon. If you’ve never been to one, I highly suggest you go sometime…they are really pretty interesting. After we left the last one for the day, we made our way (as you could guess if you were paying attention) to DC.

We parked groovy’s car at her work and then rode the Metro to the Woodley Park Zoo/Adams Morgan exit. Now, for a little background on Adams Morgan, go here: http://www.beyonddc.com/profiles/adamsmorgan.html . I can sum it up real quickly, though, by saying that it’s probably one of the most ethnically diverse places that I think I’ve ever been to. There are places to eat from just about every continent (sans Antarctica, of course) as well as several dance clubs and other “night life” areas. It was a really interesting place to visit (18th Street NW is exceptionally cool if you like seeing interesting restaurants). The walk to Adams Morgan was really cool too because you cross this bridge over a park (the tour guide in me forgets the name of the park, sorry…Rock Creek, I think), and then you make your way through this area of VERY nice looking apartments/houses (pictures located at that site). Anyway, we went there and decided to eat at this Ethiopian place called “Meskerem” which is Ethiopian for “A tasty restaurant with interesting foods.” No, no…I’m just kidding (about the name). The food was interesting. I mean, it was definitely NOT American (duh). You aren’t given utensils, but rather this “bread” called “Injera” that you pick up your food with ( http://www.meskeremonline.com/ is the site for the restaurant). It was interesting. While we were there, we also tried this stuff called “Tej” which is an Ethiopian Honey Wine (supposedly). To be honest, it tasted more like Vic’s 44 to me than anything I’ve ever had. It was a chore to finish it off, I can tell you. Anyway, we left there and walked back to the Metro (OH! The escalator that goes down to the Metro there is the longest escalator that I’ve ever seen…it’s EASILY 50 yards long!) and then drove back to the apartment.

Sunday morning, we kinda just hung out and read the Washington Post and drank coffee for a while. Then, we decided to go to this other winery that was located in Maryland (the others that we went to were in Virginia). As it turns out, the one we went to was the “largest” one in Maryland and produced 60% of all the wine produced in Maryland (that’s equal to over 100,000 gallons (or was it liters?) of wine annually). The tour through that one was really cool and we learned a lot of stuff (for instance, there is an acid that forms on the sides of the vats/casks in the wine-making process that is crystallized, powdered and bleached, then sold under the name “Cream of Tartar”…how about THEM apples?!) and “sampled” several different types of wine including a Dandelion Wine that tasted, not to sound weird, exactly how a dandelion smells (when it’s yellow, of course…if you smell a dandelion when it’s white, well, you’re liable to sneeze a lot). On the way back to the apartment, we stopped in this little town (the name escapes me) that is known for its antiques (“The most antiques in all the world…or is it all of Maryland?”). We went through this one place that was old…you could tell (I hit my head on the doorway on the way in, and the owner said that there was a doorway upstairs that was only 5’4” tall…sheesh!) and when we asked how old it was, she said something about the 1700’s. Can you imagine?! Anyway, it was a really cool place to visit and if I could remember the name, I would suggest you go there. Erm…yeah.

Monday, as is usually the case, was a bad day. I never like leaving groovy. We ate lunch at Panera (yum!) and got to the airport with 2 hours to spare. As it turns out, we got there with 3 hours to spare, but we didn’t realize that the plane would be delayed further than it already was (which caused me to have 15 minutes to make my next plane in Houston (yeah, I hate that place)). Anyway, all in all, it was another excellent weekend…I can’t wait to go back for good.