Bourbon & Chocolate

Do you find short workweeks more exhausting than a full one? Maybe it’s just me. I feel like we’ve tried to fit in as much as possible this week, but then that did help it pass quickly and bring us to the weekend.

What plans await you this weekend?

Saturday appears to be the busy day for us. Keith has plans to play a round at the Renditions Golf Course with some buddies. I think he feels like a pro for a few moments. That is until he snaps back to reality as he’s searching for his ball in the woods.

I’m kicking myself now, but I signed up for a barre class at the new Biker Barre on the Hill. Fingers crossed that I fall in love with this style of strength training and work myself back into some pants. (If you’ve taken such a class and have tips for survival, I would love to hear from you.) After all the hard work, I’m rewarding myself with a mani/pedi using one of the new Essie polishes.

The night wraps up with dinner at Art and Soul. Their fried chicken equals bites of heaven. Guess that’s why I’ll be working out in the morning. I really need to work on more than maintaining.

Who knows what Sunday will bring, but I’m sure it will involve some sort of lazy breakfast.  If only it could be spent with a book and a hammock like this. Enjoy your weekend!

Via Adam Meaney, Flickr

Whenever Keith asks where I want to eat if we go out for dinner, I first answer with Mexican. You can’t go wrong with tacos, guacamole, and margaritas, right?

Perhaps, I’ve gravitated more towards the Mexican because I know Keith can seldom find anything wrong with that choice. But my first love is Italian. Plates of antipasti, good olive oil and warm bread, and chewy delicious fresh made pasta – I’m making myself hungry just thinking about it.

I’ve watched them make pasta on the cooking shows and thought, I could do that. Really how hard can it be? Well, last night I took a pasta making class at one of my favorite little stores on Capitol Hill - Hill's Kitchen. (If you live in DC, like to cook or just like kitchen gadgets, then you definitely need to stop by and check this place out.) This class fills quickly so it’s taken me almost a year to finally make it.

I found the instructor knowledgeable and friendly. The class was hands-on, so my only picture is of the finished product.


For some reason, I thought there was olive oil involved. I was surprised to learn fresh pasta involves just flour, eggs, and salt. And it didn’t come as a surprise when we were reminded to use the best quality ingredients possible. As to it being just three ingredients, I still some how I managed to get flour and egg all over the place making it difficult to get other photos.

The class ran much longer than I anticipated, but then rolling pasta is hard work. Tonight I’m envisioning plates of pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil for dinner; I want to savor my hard work. Fingers crossed it turned out okay. Now the bigger question is do I buy a pasta roller?

Do you make pasta from scratch or perhaps you make pizza dough? I’d like to hear what you find to be worth that extra energy.

Keith and I really took advantage of the three-day weekend. We may have almost taken advantage of it a little too much. It was quite the struggle for both of us to get out of bed.

The weekend involved a little work. Our new blue bed is assembled (thank you, Keith!) and in place with new bedding following an IKEA trip. I’ve decided to share photos once the entire room is complete. Thought I’d go for the dramatic reveal.

We spent quality time with dear friends and their new little man. Who by the way is adorable. Don’t believe me? Check for yourself.

The rest of the time was devoted to becoming reacquainted with our couch and bed. We did absolutely nothing and it was wonderful. The biggest accomplish was making this for breakfast a couple of days.

Did you do anything good with your bonus day?

Since we returned from Georgia, I have felt right down crummy. Within an hour of being home, my eyes became all red and puffy. This wasn’t something cucumbers could fix. I figured this was just part of returning home and dealing with the ridiculous pollen counts.

The remainder of the week has been spent accepting I caught a nasty cold. Wednesday was the worst of it. Thankfully, Keith was there to help take care of me. It’s just miserable being sick when you’re all alone.

As much as I want to tell you about exotic travel plans, the long three-day weekend is devoted to sleeping and basically staying close to home. At most, I plan to venture out to IKEA and Target.

Please tell me your plans are better.

At any given point, you’ll find at least 3 books on my nightstand – more if you count all the books I’ve downloaded to my Kindle, but have yet to read. And if you check out Keith’s side of the bed there is often that many books on his along with the New Yorker and whatever magazine he’s reading at the moment. And this isn’t counting the books he manages to stash around the apartment. He assures me there is a system to his madness, although I can’t always be sure.

The latest book I finished was The Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Journey to Understand his Extraordinary Son by Ian Brown. Ian shares his story about his son, Walker, who has an incredibly rare genetic condition called Cardiofaciocutaneous (CFC) syndrome. Only one in about 300 people worldwide is diagnosed. Walker is unable to speak or effectively communicate, constantly tries to harm himself, and will need constant care for the rest of his life.

I have mixed feelings in recommending this book. Ian is honest and doesn’t attempt to cast Walker as an angel shared with him to teach a larger lesson. He shares his doubts and insecurities with brutal honesty. All of this is done in a chronological progression, taking you through the family’s journey. However, by the middle of the book, Ian shifts to more of a rambling research report with awkward attempts to tie it back to Walker and the family. I often found myself skimming over chapters to get back to back to the personal story.

Regardless, it was a moving story and nothing like the books I typically pick up so it was worth the deviation off my usual path. Do you have a type of book you tend to gravitate towards or do you read a variety of genres?