Foodie Chickie

Happy Fall. Hope everyone had a good weekend. Niel and I celebrated the first few days of Autumn with a trip to Washington D.C. to visit the Squilky's(no not their real last name) and to tour our nation's capital. I had been to the surrounding area's of D.C. such as Maryland years ago and Virginia, but never D.C. Sites we saw were the Washington Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, The Vietnam Memorial, The Korean War Memorial, a cool statue of Albert Einstein Statue and the Smithsonian. The city is beautiful and of course very official feeling and also a bit sad. All those memorials are a reminder of how many people gave up their lives.
Niel and I had stayed at the same hotel as the last time we were in the area since it is close to the Squilky's and we liked it alot. The hotel doesn't have frills but they do have a complimentary breakfast daily, internet access and an outlet mall across the street. The hotel also booked us into a handicapped room. I don't know why. But the bathroom was huge. We also had a terrific time visiting with Mike and Rachel (the Squilky's). Their new home is gorgeous. They did a great job renovating it. The first night together we enjoyed dinner together at Chada Thai. A lovely Thai restaurant. I ordered Pad Thai. My favorite Thai meal. For dessert we went to a custard place. I had never had custard before and it was pretty darn cute. Plus the shop had neat treans, toy cars, and a toy penguin in the freezer. Then we watched The Longest Yard back at their place. I thought it was going to be more comedic but the film was very serious but good. I recommend it. They also gave us a vase of pretty Halloween silk flowers, which adorns our dining room table. We also had decided to meet up the next day to go apple picking. It was my first time and their first time for the season. But first we had a yummy breakfast at Bob Evans. I love going to restaurants I've never been to before. It was a really cool experience picking apples right off the tree and tasting them. Fresh apples are a gazillion times better than store brought. We have half a bushel of apples for our families and us. Rachel had a good trick for getting the flies away from our faces. We stuck a hand or both hands in the air and the flies would buzz on over to that and leave our faces alone. Afterwards Rachel drove us to a second orchard for some apple butter. Niel also brought some Apple flavored BBQ. Both orchards were so picturesque. There were lots of animals roaming around both orchards. There were cows, sheep, horses, donkeys. We also took pics on a tractor we thought did not work. Lo and behold later on Rachel pointed out the tractor was being driven by a farm hand. Then it was off to Shenandoah National Park for our picnic. We got caught in a rain storm. The rain stopped long enough for our picnic lunch of sandwiches which Mike and Niel picked up that morning and were stored in the cooler Rachel and I borrowed from her parents. Her mom also gave us some home made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They were good! We also took lots of pictures of the mountain in the park and saw lots of deer. Mike and Rachel were quite patient and stopped the car a lot. We appreciated their hospitality and had a great time. There was much laughing that day. The last day we were in D.C. Niel and I decided to go to the Smithsonian. We took the train into D.C. and much to our surprise there were two events on the great lawn. The National Book Fair and a protest against the war. We went to the Natural Museum of History (of the Smithsonian) and saw a lot of neat exhibits. On the way back we ate at the Waffle House. Man it was good to eat there again. Saturday evening when we returned to NYC we saw The White Stripes in Coney Island. Now that was a cool concert. They had two opening acts M. Ward and The Shins. Both good. But The White Stripes were just awesome. For two people they can make some noise. Niel brought tickets near the stage so we were pretty close. Although I had to ask some people to move over. Hee Hee. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed, so we could not take pictures of that. But I will not forget it. When we got home after the concert we were disappointed to see our front windows still not replaced. Our landlord has been promising for three years. Maybe she will today while we are at work. Sunday we watched A Shark Tale. We caught part of it over the weekend and liked it. Luckily we had taped it before leaving incase we got around to viewing it. A weekend we are sure not to forget. Now that we are back it doesn't feel like we ever left. I hate that feeling. I'll post pics in a few days, maybe even later tonight. There are over 400 pics. I kid you not. And those are just the ones Niel and I took.

Me and my cone head


Song Stuck In My Head: "In The Cold Cold Night" by The White Stripes