Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Yowzahs!

Two days ago I was excited to see that we finally had one little zucchini growing that might be big enough to eat by the end of this week. I went out to check on it tonight, and I swear, the Zucchini Fairy must have come by and sprinkled some pixie dust on it, cuz this sucker is HUGE! So begins our month of zucchini. Fittingly, as it is almost August recess (two more days, baby!), we are going out of town for two weeks starting Sunday.

(Apparently the Zucchini Fairy trampled the beans on her way through, because they were completely stripped of both leaves and beans this evening. The Zucchini Fairy, or maybe rabbits.)

In other garden-related news, while the zucchini has been scaring us and the four tomatoe plants have literally become one gi-normous, tangled mess (also scary), the cucumber has been surreptitiously taking over the yard. I suddenly find that it has crawled completely out of the garden and into the grass, in addition to creeping halfway up the fence. Yet, despite my regular searches, we've seen nary a cucumber growing. Until tonight, when an 8 inch long monster practically jumped out and attacked me. This after we ate a rather crappy store-bought cuke for dinner.

It is so inconvenient that vacation corresponds so perfectly with harvest.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Cole's DC Adventure

Our house is awfully quiet this afternoon with no boisterous singing of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or "I Have a Different Kind of Sunshine." We had an absolutely wonderful week with Shaanti, Adam, and Cole. I always love when our families come to visit, but there is something really special about having our siblings and their own little families come stay at our house. It is fun to be grown-ups together with the same people with whom we spent so much time being kids. They say you can't pick your family, but of all the friends in the world, I would pick my sisters and brothers any day. Plus it is especially delightful to see time repeat itself a bit, as Cole learns the same songs that Shaanti and I sang as youngsters.

We had a crazy fun week. It was Adam's first trip to Washington, DC, so they spent a couple of days visiting the White House, touring the Smithonians, and climbing to the top of the Washington Monument. Then Friday I took the day off work and we packed up a picnic and went to the zoo so that Cole could see the pandas and the elephants.

All this touristing was great fun, but the highlight of the week--and the one thing Shaanti wanted to do while they were here--was Friday night at the Korean barbeque. We ended up trying a new restaurant, as we discovered when we pulled up that our old place is tragically now a Chinese restaurant. I say tragically, but in reality it turns about we've been eating at the wrong Korean restaurant for years. Il Mee is definitely the place for Korean in Northern Virginia! All of us, even Cole, ate until we were happily sick to our stomaches. Ahhh... (Btw, I love the above picture of Shaanti and I at Il Mee, because as soon as the picture clicked, we both deposited the uneaten tofu right back in our bowls with matching looks of disgust.)

Saturday morning we went downtown to Eastern Market and came away with some tasty peaches and cherries. And we spent the afternoon at the pool, where Cole and Uncle Jason practiced blowing bubbles in the water for hours on end.
Other highlights of the week include:
        • Finally getting a taste of those famous blueberry pancakes (and french toast!) at Eastern Market...after a loooong wait in line;

        • Eating peach cobbler every night until it was gone;

        • Teaching Cole to sing the Batman song;
        • Watching "Five Mile Creek" with Shaanti--flash back to Sunday nights in the Johnson house during high school--much to the chagrin of our husbands;

        • Reading "Pedro the Brave" and other books with Cole every night.
        As I've been anxiously looking forward to this week for months and months, I'm a bit sad now that it is actually over. But in just one week, I'm headed to Idaho and, as my parents will be out of town, I get to stay with Shaanti, Adam, and Cole this time. AND meet Baby Troy, whom Cole has assured me is both "so teeny" and "so cute." Plus, Shaanti and Adam should find out this week whether it will be nephew number three in December. I think it's safe to say that nephews are pretty nice to have around!

        Monday, July 21, 2008

        On Faucets, Soft Foods, and Holes in My Mouth

        We had a pretty quiet weekend, filled with applesauce, lots of episodes of "Friends," and a few vicadin. I had to get two of my wisdom teeth out on Friday, so we laid low for the rest of the weekend. Shaanti, Adam, and Cole drove up to Pennsylvania for a family wedding on Friday morning, leaving me with nothing to do but eat ice cream and oatmeal until tomorrow, when they come back to spend the rest of the week with us.

        Jason, who is a darn good nurse and jello-maker, spent the rest of the weekend (when he wasn't pushing pain pills or antibiotics or preparing cold compresses) finishing installing the faucet in the guest bathroom. Our house is over fifty years old, so any plumbing project comes with a vast array of unexpected problems. For example, it turns out the 1951 era shut-off valves on the sink don't work. At all. And they literally "don't make them like they used to," so replacing them was a three-day project.

        After multiple trips to Home Depot and a specialty plumbing store, innumerable calls and phone-pics to his dad, lots of unexplained pipe sawing, and the purchase of some sort of torch (!), however, he succeeded! Not only do we have a beautiful faucet in our spare bathroom, but we have functional shut-off valves as well. Two thumbs way up!

        Wednesday, July 16, 2008

        Visitors

        Yippee! Cole is bringing his parents to visit today! I told him on the phone earlier this week that we would be going to the zoo to see the monkeys--his response? Monkey sounds over the phone. Can. Not. Wait. So I've been getting ready. We now officially own a baby gate, a box of fruit snacks, and washable markers. Oh, and this:


        Harvest

        So, it turns out that Jason isn't the only one who is afraid of the zucchini. If the tomatoes are a wild jungle, the zucchini is a deep, dark, terrifying forest. Oh, and I seriously bought the tallest tomato cages when I recaged the plants, but the plants are still spilling out over the top, and it's only mid-July. Yikes.


        On a less nightmare-inducing note, all the plants are heavy with baby fruits and vegetables. Apparently I am a future farmer after all. Check out our first real harvest! (Oh, and it is pure accident that this picture looks a lot like cover of this book. Ironically, although said book has certainly influenced my thinking and eating, I only remembered what the cover looked like as Jason was snapping the picture.)

        Monday, July 14, 2008

        Dancing Queen

        We ended an otherwise pretty darn good weekend with the DC finale of the fabulous "Mamma Mia!" They say that by the end of the show you'll be dancing in the aisle, and I swear, if we hadn't been so high up in the balcony that one poorly planned step would have sent me tumbling hundreds of feet to the stage, I would have done so. I already had an affinity for Abba, thanks to Janie, my junior year roommate, and pretty much knew all the words to the songs, so it was difficult not to burst out and sing along...of course, we were sitting with colleagues of mine so I tried not to embarrass myself. You run a risk hanging out with professional colleagues on the weekend...

        (Any other embarrassing stories about lip-syncing to Abba should remain respectfully entombed in our little Corlett apartment.)

        Good, good times, my friends. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

        In other weekend news, any Saturday morning that starts with a lazy conversation about what we should have for breakfast and ends with said breakfast being eaten with tea on the sunny deck has to be at the top of my "to-do" list. We spent a few hours on Saturday at the kick-off for a Habitat for Humanity project that our church is partnering on, then spent the rest of the day:

        • visiting the pool for the first time this summer;
        • installing a new faucet in our guest bathroom (Jason);
        • accidentally sleeping on the chair while Jason worked in the bathroom (Missy);
          eating Lebanese; and
        • watching WALL-E at the theater. Also good times, also highly recommended. And "Batman" is only a week away!

        Monday, July 07, 2008

        Fireworks in Mid-America

        While we wait patiently for Jason to get around to finishing his blog post on his trip to the Orient, I'll post on our Independence Day adventures. We spent the Fourth in Ohio with Jason's family. I like the small-town, mid-western Fourth of July. There is something so nice about the local fireworks show and the red, white, and blue bunting hanging from centuries-old farmhouses. We had a grand time grilling with Jason's grandparents and celebrating America.

        Mount Vernon, Ohio's, fireworks display was something to write home about. The county is celebrating it's bicentennial and we had great seats for the show! I know that pictures of fireworks don't ever turn out (I don't know why the camera bothers with a "fireworks" setting), but if you didn't get a great show this Fourth, here's a taste of ours. (Minus, of course, the post-game show, which starred Jason and Justin and a large pile of old bottle rockets on the driveway...)


        Saturday morning Jason, Lynda, and I walked down to the Square in town to peruse the weekly farmer's market, then George joined us for a visit to the state capitol and the German Village in Columbus. It was a gorgeous day, and we really enjoyed walking around the quaint old neighborhood, but Sauerbraten und Gravy at Schmidt's Sausage Haus was definitely the highlight. Actually, let's face it, this picture was the highlight. Javoll, alles gut!

        On Saturday night we joined Justin for the Apple Valley fireworks display, then we packed up and left after church on Sunday morning. It was a grueling trip home, what with holiday weekend traffic, but even so we are so glad we were able to go!

        Tuesday, July 01, 2008

        Jason goes to China

        Doesn't sound quite as cool as "Nixon goes to China," but it was a first for me (and the Chinese) nonetheless. More later.