It should have been a restful break from the routine, a quiet few days of early bedtimes and deep breathing. Sitting in a seminar by day, catching up on work by evening. Spending just a little time being calm and still. I had prepped for the Saturday sale earlier in the week by mixing dough and sticking it the fridge, so I would get home Friday evening and spend mere minutes baking off the cookies and still get to bed at a reasonable hour. Easy.
It didn't quite work out that way.
I landed in Washington, D.C. at about 7pm on Wednesday evening. I had made arrangements for dinner with a Maryland friend, and thanks to Amtrak was already running late. Luckily, due to a decent map of the District and our cell phones, she found me outside Union Station and we scampered off for dinner and drinks at Zaytinya, a nifty, trendy mezze restaurant that was packed to the gills with beautiful girls who were getting carded left and right ( we didn't get carded, the bastards). We were lucky to get seats at the bar fairly quickly, and sat sipping wine (me) and lemonade (her) while having a great visit and knocking back fabulous hot, puffed pita breads and yummy tapas dishes (calamari, spanikopita, and yummy fried potatoes with a yoghurty dip). Perfect amount of food for me, but I should have thought twice before the second glass of wine. When I got back to the hotel at 10:00ish, it was all I could do to flop into bed and zone out until morning.
Thursday, the first day of the seminar, was essentially uneventful but for the appearance of a mouse in the conference room. 'Nuff said.
It didn't quite work out that way.
I landed in Washington, D.C. at about 7pm on Wednesday evening. I had made arrangements for dinner with a Maryland friend, and thanks to Amtrak was already running late. Luckily, due to a decent map of the District and our cell phones, she found me outside Union Station and we scampered off for dinner and drinks at Zaytinya, a nifty, trendy mezze restaurant that was packed to the gills with beautiful girls who were getting carded left and right ( we didn't get carded, the bastards). We were lucky to get seats at the bar fairly quickly, and sat sipping wine (me) and lemonade (her) while having a great visit and knocking back fabulous hot, puffed pita breads and yummy tapas dishes (calamari, spanikopita, and yummy fried potatoes with a yoghurty dip). Perfect amount of food for me, but I should have thought twice before the second glass of wine. When I got back to the hotel at 10:00ish, it was all I could do to flop into bed and zone out until morning.
Thursday, the first day of the seminar, was essentially uneventful but for the appearance of a mouse in the conference room. 'Nuff said.
On Thursday evening, my other Maryland-based friends picked me up and whisked me to the Washington Hotel for cocktails. Perfect mojitos and a view from the open air hotel-top bar of the top of the White House. We tracked the armed guard on the roof of the White House for a while until we started seeing black helicopters. (For the record, the guard was wearing incongruous khaki shorts with his Kevlar vest and sidearm -- it was HOT. He may well have been hot, as well -- his calves were certainly shapely, even from a distance -- but we stupidly had brought neither binoculars nor telescope with us.) We had a very serious, philosophical discussion of Men Who Wear Speedos (not my fault!), and headed elsewhere for dinner after spending a small fortune on 2 rounds of drinks. Dinner was at Burma, a small, non-descript Thai joint with phenomenal food. We ordered a few salads, a noodle dish, and an entree (details escape me), and all dug in, properly lubricated with a crisp bottle of white wine. A lovely time was had, and I staggered back to my room in the 11pm range, thoroughly wiped and ready to sleep.
The second and final day of the seminar was similar to the first, up to and including the appearance of the mouse. Some of the ladies were seriously put out by this; I only wished fleetingly that I had worn closed-toe shoes.
At the end of Friday, yet another local friend with a very tight schedule picked me up to run me over to Union Station and grab a cuppa before my train. She has been very supportive of the baking project, and had picked up some parchment and dough scoops for me at her local restaurant supply store to egg me on. Unfortunately, a case of parchment weighs about a billion pounds, so getting my baggage organized and home in one piece was a bit of a challenge. I made it, though, very pleased in my stubbornness that I did it all without the help of redcaps or baggage carts. (Why am I so stubborn? My shoulders are still charley-horsed and Not Pleased with me.)
The second and final day of the seminar was similar to the first, up to and including the appearance of the mouse. Some of the ladies were seriously put out by this; I only wished fleetingly that I had worn closed-toe shoes.
At the end of Friday, yet another local friend with a very tight schedule picked me up to run me over to Union Station and grab a cuppa before my train. She has been very supportive of the baking project, and had picked up some parchment and dough scoops for me at her local restaurant supply store to egg me on. Unfortunately, a case of parchment weighs about a billion pounds, so getting my baggage organized and home in one piece was a bit of a challenge. I made it, though, very pleased in my stubbornness that I did it all without the help of redcaps or baggage carts. (Why am I so stubborn? My shoulders are still charley-horsed and Not Pleased with me.)
I staggered into the house with all my junk at 8:30 Friday evening with cookies to bake for Saturday, and by 8:45 Michael was headed to the emergency room with Quin. He (Q) had had a high fever on Thursday with no other symptoms other than an angry bug bite on his leg. When he showed me his bite at 8:33, it was surrounded by a raised red patch about 4.5" in diameter, with a streak of red heading up past his knee towards his groin. Clearly infected. Michael headed out with him and I was baking by 9pm, alternately shoving pans in the oven and dialing M's cell phone, which wasn't answering.
Just as I was considering heading over to the hospital myself at 10:30, Michael & Q walked in the door with a fistful of Augmentin. Ten-day course, call if the fever spikes again. Bundled Quin off to bed and finished baking by 11pm. Exhausted! That'll teach me to go out of town ever again.
6 comments:
What a summer it's been for you. Poor Quin and poor you, too.
I'm most awfully impressed by all you do, and can only sit in awe of your beautiful baked goods and your fine writing.
Marcia
Oh, Quin's fine -- we're just a bit fatigued with it all. The tally of emergency room visits so far in 2007 is: Kids - 3, My Dad - 1, and My Grandmother - 3. That's enough for the year, don't you think?
Seven ER visits this year is surely more than ample. You are absolved forthwith from any more. (If only,hum?)
The Queen of Buttercream should be above it all, but sad to say, life doesn't work that way. To say that you're a bit fatigued, must be putting it very mildly.
May the coming week go smoothly.
Marcia
Oh, my goodness! Poor Quin! Poor you! I think we both need to have one of those smudging ceremonies to get rid of whatever evil spirits are surrounding us.
OK, so Quin is going to be fine, you'll catch up on your rest sometime in 2008--what about the bake sale?! ;-)
Oops, that last comment was from me--I forgot to sign my name.
Ann
An exorcism is definitely in order for both of us, Ann!
I'll blog about the bake sale later today, I hope..... Not enough hours in the day (but you knew that).
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