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June 26, 2003

Travel Plans Pt. 1

Okay, I am now finally excited about going to Paris. For the past few days I have been consumed with learning as much as I can. Last night we whittled down our list of must-do's. I underestimated the importance of seeing art, so we have added the Louvre to our destination list, and I am hoping to pop into the Rodin museum for a short visit as well. We are keeping our side trip to one day. I want to sample honey and Cointreau in the Loire Valley, but who knows what will happen once we get there.

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June 25, 2003

Gastronomie

Okay, I am a little embarassed to admit this, but I have been watching the Real World Paris for the past couple of weeks. But, only because they are in Paris and I will be there in a couple of weeks. Since I don't have a firm grasp of the language, I am a little nervous. But that isn't keeping me from focusing on my real goal of eating Paris.

Being an amateur student of gastronomie, if the only thing I do is eat and drink while in France, well, I would consider it to be a successful trip, although I fully intend to take in some cultural activities as well. A side trip to the wine country may give us a glimpse of the Tour de France. My real motive, though, is to do some wine tasting at local vineyards. The owner of my local wine shop was kind enough to show me some wines from the region I will be visiting since the extent of my knowledge of French wines starts and ends in Alsace, and that stems from my love of German wines.

My hope is that my food experiences will far outnumber my mental list of foods to try. Perhaps this will inspire me to learn to at least read in French, given my love of food and wine, and the shear number of books Amazon.fr carries on my favorite subjects.

"the kitchen is oldest of arts because Adam was born with jeun"
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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June 24, 2003

Life in Technicolor

Saturday was marvelous. With much on my to-do list, I crossed the bridge to go to my favorite little coffee shop. Along the way, life was brilliant. After what seemed like months of rain, the sky began to clear and the sun peaked through, selectively shining on a building here and a tree there. Everywhere, saturated colors punctuated the landscape. Airplanes were crisp outlines in the sky, a family of ducks rested under a tree reminiscent of an oil painting and the water had distinct small white caps as if they were tipped with white icing. With nothing but classical music to listen to on the radio, I felt like I had driven into a movie scene.

The day only got better with a visit from my high school friend, eager to check out my neighborhodd. We walked to the market, checking out the beautiful homes along the way and lunched on crabcake sandwiches. My evening ended with the wedding celebration party of a friend recently married in small private ceremony. The food was awesome, the drinks free-flowing and the company top notch. It was a good time.

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June 20, 2003

New Office in the City

Well it's been a week in the new office. My commute is now 15 minutes longer (because of a 20 minute walk each way) which is good exercise (sort of). Office life is a little bizarre right now, to say the least. When you transport an entire office into a completely different setting (from suburbs to city), the dynamic changes. I think starting a new job at a new company would be an easier transition, because everything is new. Since we no longer have a cafeteria in the building, you have to make an effort to go to lunch. Or breakfast, which is my preference for nothing else but a cup of coffee.

All in all though, I actually like the new setting better, especially given the proximity to museums and quality restaurants. The beauty of city buildings is their historical significance. Lunching at one government building is like taking a trip back in time. Marble floors, beautiful reliefs and ornamental elevator cars transport you back to a time when men always wore suits and hats. Plus, the people watching is much better than in the 'burbs. I now have the perfect mix of business people, students and tourists to watch and be watched by as I make my morning and afternoon commute.

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June 16, 2003

Tales from Alumni Weekend

The Setting
It's a hot and humid night. The faint scent of beer and crabs from the afternoon picnic mingled with sweet aroma of the flowers blooming just outside the building. The crowd has spilled out onto the the courtyard but inside bodies are moving and shaking. The band is pumping out loud and funky seventies tunes. You can't help but dance the moment you step inside the room. And that's just what we did. It was hard sell to get my friends up and out of the house but we made it and it was worth it.

The Dance
After a few dances I took a little breather and sat down next my friend Angie. Not a sew seconds later a guy plops down next week.

him: you're a really good dancer

me: thanks

him: so how old are you? you look 16. i'm 13. I came over here to holla at you.

me: i'm 31, the same age as my friends

him: what? they look much older than you but don't tell them i said that

And for the rest of the evening this child tried to woo me and my friends. He told me about his girlfriends, offered to take me for a drive and told me I looked the girls he sees in videos. I must admit getting hit on by a kid not even half my age is a little scary. But it was alumni weekend and well, some folks bring their kids. One guy's daughter was planning on attending the college in the fall. That's what I call "age creep". I didn't think of myself as old until this weekend.

And then She Sang
My friend Angie can sing. Like, if she was on American Idol, easily a top 2. So when she took the mike and sang a duet with the band, she tore down the house. I just wish she would cut an album before she decides to settle down.

The After Party
There were a few more parties that night with more music, more dancing and more drinks. One party host is a DJ on a local radio station. He told us that a few graduates from his year (1980) went on to play music with George Clinton and the P-Funk.

Nothing really exciting happened, which is okay, sometimes it's nice to just get away for the weekend with friends and spend a little time doing nothing.

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June 11, 2003

A toast to good and better days

The weekend before last, my friend and I took advantage of a beautiful, sunny Sunday by sipping and sampling Virginia wines. Not being a huge fan of the Commonwealth, I must admit that they are now producing some pretty tasty wines. The day was filled with rare treats, one being the sunny day and another being the quality of red wines that we sampled. Rough and sulphur tainted merlots have been replaced with soft, velvety and fruity red wine. We sampled 3 vintages of the Amrhein viognier, each different, each delicious. It was a great day.

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June 09, 2003

An Odiferous Evening

In between bites of caesar salad this evening I noticed the smell of burning plastic wafting through my open window. I was so happy to drive home without my windshield wipers on and the first thing I did when I got in was open all of the windows. Well Sanford across the court decided it was a great day too. He took advantage of the wonderful weather by burning trash. One thing you don't do in the middle of the city is burn your trash. I could see him dragging items from a car and tossing them into the fire. He was quickly approached by neighbors, first the older black gentleman who lives a few houses away and then by the preppy neighbors who probably spent 3-4 times what he spent on their homes.

The firetruck arrived quickly and put out the flames. It makes me wonder what state of mind Sandford must have been in to take to burning stuff in his backyard. Who knows? I don't care because now that the flames have been snuffed out, I can finally breathe clean air again.

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June 05, 2003

Let's Eat!

I haven't been eating very well or taking very good care of myself until yesterday. Stress has consumed me over the past couple of months and I forget to do the things I enjoy, things like eating. So, the other night, a food loving friend and I went to a French restaurant downtown for steak frites. While the services was terrible (which is why I won't mention the name of the restaurant) the meal itself was perfection. We started with frisee salad, dressed in a light vinagrette and sprinkled with yummy bacon and roquefort cheese topped croutons. The salad was followed by a tasty, succulent hangar steak with shallot sauce and of course, french fries. That made me happy.

And it gets better. Today I had lunch with Jill and for the first time in over a month it was sunny and warm. We sat outdoors at the Lebanese Taverna sipping wine and munching on the various mezza (small dishes) set before us. We had hummus, tabouleh, mint and parsley salad and my favorite type of kebab - kafta, which is made from ground beef and lamb. It was lovely outside and it was great hanging out and chatting. I am not accustomed to being a lunching lady, so it was a nice break from eating fast food or even worse, cafeteria food.

The car rental company replaced my damaged vehicle with another glaring red car. Since I only need it for a couple of days, I hope I can escape any and all harm to yet another vehicle. I can't wait to get my little green reliable car back.

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June 04, 2003

Friday the 13th? No, it's only Wednesday.

Well, it seems I have no good news. Yesterday my mom informed me that our family cat, Casey, had to be put to sleep. She was fifteen years old and ill with cancer. It was the most humane thing to do. My mom called and told me over the phone. I almost paid a visit to my parents on Monday and I am glad I didn't visit afterall. It would have been more difficult not seeing her there since I knew that she was pretty sick. A couple of friends have also lost their cats over the past month. It's sad because a pet is really a member of the family.

And to follow the string of bad luck that has attached itself to me like a leech, the rental car I have been driving because my car was damaged in accident, was struck by a bus. Yes, a bus. So this afternoon, I need to pick up another rental to replace the rental that is replacing my car that is in the shop. I hope this bad luck story ends soon. I'd like to have something funny to write about or comment on because this negativity thing is getting old.

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June 03, 2003

Happy June! (and why am I still wearing a sweater?)

Well, I am back from a weekend business trip. Overall I think it was a success. But I am glad to be back. Working and being "on" for 24 hours a day is exhausting. I was a little nervous being away from the new apartment for so long. My uneasiness could proably be attributed to the fighter jets that flew over the city the night before I left. I think the entire neighborhood thought we were under attack. I normally don't hear my neighbors talking outside after 10:00pm. The 11:00 news cleared everything up - apparently it was a practice run and nobody really knew about it.

With tons of time to spare at the airport, I started reading Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs. A quick read, this book is sad, twisted and disturbing with the train wreck appeal of reality TV. It brings a whole new meaning to the term disfuntional family.

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