2 posts tagged “food talk”
Yesterday a bunch of us got together to throw our friend Ali a surprise graduation party. She's just finishing up nursing school and definitely deserved an awesome day of fun. We decided to have it at Tydings Park, which is lovely and right near the bay/boardwalk... and conveniently only 2 miles or so from my apartment. Here's the view from our picnic table:
All day long it was looking like rain, and when Jane and I ran errands to pick up the cake and other party goods, it was misting. We didn't really have a plan B for rain, but it eventually all worked out, and the sun even came out for a while. We grilled burgers and chicken:
We also had salad made from lettuce my mom picked from my parents' garden, kimchee and chicken fried rice made by Jane's mom, buffalo dip Lisa made, guacamole that Jesse made (Jane's mom loved it, and also -- he just happened to have a molcajete -- how awesome is that?), and fruit salad Fred made. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I know I tried and loved everything we had. The cake was awesome too:
It was an awesome time. After some bocce and clean-up, Jesse, Ali and I walked the boardwalk. Ali headed home, and Jesse and I kept on trucking... straight to Bomboy's for some ice cream. Ha ha. Later that night, all of us went to see a friend's band play, and I had a few gin and tonics. Jesse and I fell asleep on my living room floor.
Oh, and Friday Jane, Ali and I took my Mom to a Shins concert! It was my Mother's Day gift to my Mom this year. It was sooo soooo good. It was at a smaller venue, Ramshead Live in Baltimore, and we got front row, right in the middle. The show made me love the Shins that much more, and I also love how much the singer looks like Kevin Spacey (photo stolen from Jane):
It's been an awesome weekend. I've lost 8 lbs. since last Monday doing Weight Watchers. I read a whole New Yorker, cover to cover, for the first time since... last summer. I finished up another semester of grad school. I've been knitting -- a lot. My next blog will likely be about all of the yarn I got from the Webs sale... and a few FOs.
MMmm: Cardamom/Saffron Sweet Tea Loaf
$@&*! It was completely hollow. COMPLETELY. I could have fit a skein of yarn inside. Or 4 and 20 blackbirds. So embarassing. The worst part is that this happens EVERY TIME. I can not get bread right. I even bollocksed up the No-Knead Bread. I don't get it at all... I can bake any type of cake imaginable, but bread is my downfall. Blast.
I baked that, along with my ol' trusty stand-by, the Roasted Butternut Squash Tartlet, for last Sunday's Spinning Day. My friend Ali's Mom used to own a yarn shop, and gave spinning lessons. So when Ali told her I was interested in spinning, she sent over a Clemes wheel (I love that hippy painting on it, I think Ali's Dad did that):
We learned a LOT, particularly that Jane does not like spinning, and that I do (no real surprise there though). Also, spinning kills your thumb muscles, moreso than knitting. Yeouch. It is a lot of fun though, and a great way to escape from frustrating knitting projects. I spun a skein of roving Jane had purchased on Etsy from Moonlight Baker, and am now turning it into a lumpy-bumpy-first-attempt-at-spinning style hat:
What else? I finally got a hair cut! I decided that I wasn't ready to grow out my bangs just yet:
It was the first time a guy's ever cut my hair. It was great, Ashley-Ryan was good, and explained in great detail how I should style it (I must have looked a hot mess walking in there or something... )
We went to restaurant week in Baltimore last night, and finally hit Roy's, this upscale Hawaiian fusion place. For $30, you get a 3-course meal. So I had some kind of braised duck/lotus root soup (yum... lotus roots have the perfect texture... like beets!), mahi mahi (meh, I think it had been frozen) served on top of glass noodles in lobster broth. Those noodles were amazing. Dessert was some kind of lady-finger fruity thing, but I was jealous of Jane and Myrick's choice... the macadamia nut crunch bar. It was two chocolatey colored bars with the consistency of chunky peanut butter, maybe a little firmer... but soooo much tastier, too. God I love restaurant week.
This week it's back to classes... the semester starts Monday, actually. I'm looking forward to it a little, but I'm still not ready to give up my free time. I hope I don't neglect my friends again, because when I get stressed, I tend to avoid social situations. I need to remember my New Years' resolution: no more half-assing. I'll try.
