|
|
July 25, 2010, at 10:00 pm
It’s a fact of life that Austin is a cool city. It’s consistently ranked as one of the best places to live and retire, which is exactly what my parents are doing. We went to visit them this weekend and Austin forever secured its placed in my heart with its cupcakes.
Oh sure, every city has cupcake boutiques these days, but it seems like most of these designer cupcakes are small in size and high in price. Austin’s goodies satisfy and can be had for a mere $2.50. Could I make my own for even less? That is not the point. The point is instant cupcake gratification.
If you haven’t already concluded that I probably brought a few home, then I’m afraid you just don’t know me at all.
Excuse me, I have some eating to do.
July 22, 2010, at 10:00 pm
No time to blog, big plans for the weekend and it starts tonight! My sister is flying in at this very moment, and after Mark and I pick her up we’re planning to stop by the Houston Museum of Natural Science for a midnight visit to Lois. The rest of the weekend we are having a little Lone Star State family reunion with our parents, who sold their house in under a week and are now posted deep in the heart of Texas (clap-clap-clap-clap).
How about you? Anything exciting lined up for the weekend?
June 20, 2010, at 4:00 pm
Attention, Dad: it’s today!
He knows why that’s funny and he can’t be upset about it, because I got my sense of humor from him. Much to the chagrin of all who know us, and especially those who have been in the same room as both of us when we were on a roll.
My dad is one of the kindest, most ethical, smartest people I have had the privilege to know. And he can string together at least a dozen terrible puns on any theme before you can get your wits about you enough to beg him to stop (marine life puns were always popular on nights when Mom was cooking fish. Or anytime, actually. He just can’t kelp himself).
Thanks for everything, Dad. And just because I don’t have a copy of the picture of you in my She-Ra Halloween costume:
May 9, 2010, at 8:34 pm
Nobody makes [favorite food] like Mom does. Nobody fixes booboos like Mom does. Nobody reminds you that you’re special like Mom does.
Here’s to mothers, because nobody will ever love you the way your mama does…
(Except maybe Dad, but he’ll get his day next month!)
April 29, 2010, at 10:00 pm
(mouse over photos for descriptions)
My hotel room (minus a couple cards that arrived after I took this shot):
 My kitchen:
 My dining room table:
‘Blessed’ is not a word I use often, but I can’t think of any that would be more appropriate. Except perhaps ‘grateful.’
April 25, 2010, at 10:00 pm
I’ve been on a business trip in the Lake Charles area of Louisiana since Tuesday night. When I left, I wasn’t certain how long I would have to stay — the estimate was about ten days. How do you pack for ‘about ten days’ when you know that everything could be permanently stained, and that you probably won’t want to rewear anything but your jeans? The fortunate fallback is that nobody can smell you in a refinery, and they especially can’t smell you through your Nomex astronaut suit.
My family surprised me by helping make my stay a little more homey — my parents sent a card and my sister sent these:
It’s really nice at the end of a long day to come back to a vase of beautiful flowers. The vase itself even matches the room! Is she good, or what?
April 20, 2010, at 10:00 pm
We got home from our visit to the Tidal Basin just when the light is prettiest. My mom started preparing dinner, Mark and my dad sat on the deck and (I presume) talked about manly things, and I took one last stroll around the yard where I spent countless hours as a child:
Doesn’t my mom look like she belongs on a cookbook cover? She made a lasagna from scratch. It smelled amazing and we were all pretty hungry from the two-mile trek around the Tidal Basin. It’s not the mileage that wears you out, but the slow trudge of the clueless at a crowd density of approximately three people per square yard, and double that on the Metro platform where half of the escalators are inexplicably shut down. But anyway, the anticipation of dinner was so great that there may have been some celebratory dancing while the table was being set.
Finally, one last meal in my childhood home:
That house is full of good memories — I hope somebody special buys it.
April 8, 2010, at 10:00 pm
On Easter morning, my mom got us hopped up on sugar and bacon, and then we all climbed onto the Metro and joined a couple hundred thousand of our closest friends at the Tidal Basin (I managed to crop the teeming masses out of most of the photos). We saw lots of great outfits and a bride & groom. I’m still kicking myself for not getting a shot of the man with the white newsboy cap, pink Peeps shirt, white knickers, and striped pink kneesocks. You’ll have to settle for these outrageously good-looking people and some flowers instead:
April 6, 2010, at 10:00 pm
My parents have spent the past year or so remodeling their house so they can sell it and move to Texas. That time is approaching, so Mark and I took one last sojourn to the house where I grew up. We planned to see the Cherry Blossom Festival, of course, but there were a few other things I needed to do.
First I needed to fly into the One True Airport. Hadn’t been there in years, but I love the swooping mid-century modernness of the main terminal and the fact that they have kept the same font and color scheme that they have used my entire life. The shiny new terminal is impressive (even if the moving walkway did make obsolete the people movers that have always reminded me of Star Wars walkers), but I really felt like I was home when we reached the pea gravel walls of the main terminal. More than just flying out of Dulles, I associate that terminal with the countless times that I went with my mom to drop off or pick up my dad from business trips.
Once we got to VA, I needed to visit my favorite barbecue place (well, favorite before Beaver’s came into my life). I needed to visit the site of many, many late night meals shared with Jes, where we would laugh about either the shift we’d just worked or that night’s takeover of the DC punk-shows-and-driving-around-lost scene:
 The thing about Amphora, other than being open 24 hours, is the dessert. They have this cake called ‘chunky chocolate mousse.’ They used to have a photo of it in the lobby, with all the awards it has won over the years at the Fairfax chocolate festival. It has been my birthday cake a year or two. If you ever find yourself in or near Vienna, VA, you absolutely must stop by and order it. It was as good as I remembered and I was so swept up in the moment that I forgot to get a picture, but this is the entree I used to order on the rare occasion that we ate more than dessert:
 It’s the world’s tastiest grilled chicken on the world’s softest, fluffiest pita bread. There is a restaurant here that has a chicken kabob that tastes just like it, thank goodness, but I doubt I will ever find a replica of the chunky chocolate mousse cake. I can, however, show you the cake that my mom made:
 That is a full-size cake with a creamy filling. It has approximately 20 sticks of butter in it and tastes like heaven. My mom knows what I like.
After we’d gorged ourselves on some nostalgia food and oreo cake, we sampled my parents’ Wii. Mark was not impressed by my fancy bowling technique:
But he perked up when it was time for boxing:
The boxing is hard. It’s a little too much like real exercise. When I realized I was sweating, I decided to box from the couch:
And as long as I was revisiting childhood, I found this outside my bedroom door on Sunday morning:
 I hope the Easter Bunny can still find me after they sell the house.
(P.S. — we visited the Peeps store! It was awesome.)
April 1, 2010, at 10:00 pm
My mother has greeted every April Fools Day since I was little by excitedly telling me, “There’s a unicorn coming down the street!” Now April 1st would be incomplete without talk of unicorns. A conversation by text message today:
Mom: There are unicorns all over our yard!!!!
Me: I have one in my cubicle!!
Mom: Are you going to keep it?
Me: Yes. The leprechaun and I are going to ride it to the easter bunny’s house for lunch!
Mom: I hope they all get along! That could spell trouble!
Mom (later): How was lunch at E.B.’s house?
Me: Delicious, I had a Cadbury omelette with sprinkles and a side of ice cream
Me (on my way home): I am on my unicorn!
Mom: I’m riding one into the grocery store right now!
Mom (later): Never take your unicorn into the store. They want weird things!
Mom: It wanted skittles and rainbows.
Sometimes I wonder whether Mark had any idea what he was getting into.
 Photo by David Wolfe
|
|